Difference between revisions of "Main Page"

Revision as of 19:27, 12 July 2012

This site is dedicated to making you a better runner, whether you’re a beginner or a competitive athlete. Many of the articles are general in nature, but specific attention is given to the marathon and ultramarathon distances. I don't claim to have any specific training beyond my own experience as a competitive ultrarunner and I advise you to Trust No One. I’m a believer in the scientific method, and so this site is a mixture of my personal perspective and my analysis of the available scientific evidence. I also believe that Documentation Is Evil and therefore try to keep things short and to the point. You can contact me to ask questions, suggest articles, or to disagree with what I've written. If you want to follow my training, I post all my runs, at Dailymile so check out http://www.dailymile.com/people/JonathanS, or see me on Google+.

1 Critical Tips

If you only read a few tips, these are the ones that I believe are most critical.

Running Breakthroughs The things that have radically improved my running.
Cadence, Arm Position and Cadence Q&A The most important tip I give most runners is to improve their cadence.
How Often To Run Less can be more
Modified Nike Free The ultimate running shoe?
Practical Hydration and Hydration 101 Dehydration is dangerous, but hyponatremia (low blood sodium) is more likely to kill a runner. Understanding the simple rules can keep you safer and perform better.
- Drink if you're thirsty. Over-hydration kills!
- Electrolyte Capsules
Nutrient Timing When you eat is more important than what you eat! Covers optimum sports drink, as well as recovery. More at #Nutrition Tips

2 General Running Tips

Motivation and Mental fortitude
Starting to run Start with a simple walk/run pattern and build on it. It's the easiest way.
Running Safety
Stillness in Motion
Is cycling or running better?
Running and long term health Is running bad for you? Does it wear out the joints? See what the science says!
Running in the Rain
Running in the Cold (See Traction Aids)
Running in the Heat
- Running heat calculators
  - Running Heat Model The math behind the heat calculators
  - Perceived Temperature For Runners What will the temperature feel like when running?
  - Heat limited running pace How fast can you run at different temperatures/humidities?
  - Optimum Running Temperature What's the ideal temperature to run at?
- Heat Acclimation Training
- Impact of Heat on Marathon Performance
Running in the Dark and Running Lights
Running Trails
Running and Lower GI Problems and Running and Stomach Problems
Running Economy and Calories burned running and walking

3 Training Tips

Supercompensation

Golden Rule of Training
Supercompensation Why exercise does not make you fit
How Often To Run Less can be more
Overtraining
- Overtraining Syndrome and Training Monotony
Individuality and the Experiment of One Everyone is different
Downhill Running Why uphills are easy and downhills are important
Introduction to Workout Types
- Warmup and Cooldown
- Introduction to Interval Training and Safe Speedwork
  - Practical Interval Training
  - Practical Aerobic Intervals and Aerobic Interval Training 101
  - Tabata High Intensity Interval Training
  - Medium Intensity High Volume Intervals
  - Downhill Intervals and Downhill Running Speedwork that builds endurance
  - Broken 5K My favorite speedwork
  - Yasso 800s
- Recovery Runs and Toxic Miles
- Fartlek
Training Plans
- Jack Daniels Running Formula and Limitations of Jack Daniel's Running Formula
  - VDOT
  - VDOT Calculator and VDOT Based Intensities
- FIRST (Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training) "3plus2" - running three days a week
- A Comparison of Marathon Training Plans
Race Simulation
Top 10 Marathon Training Mistakes
The importance of a training log and Training Log Comparison
- SportTracks - The best training log, with extensible functionality via plugins.
- Dailymile - This is my top pick for social logging. Casual runners can use this site as their only training log, or combine it with SportTracks fir more sophisticated analytics.
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
Walking Breaks
Heat Acclimation Training - especially important for spring races
Training for your first 100 mile race
Altitude Training
- Altitude Training Approaches
- Comparison of Altitude Training Systems
- Intermittent Hypoxic Exposure and Intermittent Hypoxic Exposure 101
- AltoLab (The altitude training system I use)
- Viagra, Exercise and Altitude Surprisingly, Viagra (Sildenafil) may improve performance at altitude.
- Altitude Training 101
Stretching
Weight Loss and Performance

4 Racing Tips

NYC Marathon by Martineric

The Golden Rule of Racing
Tapering
Top 10 Marathon Racing Mistakes
Pre-Race Meals
In a race, walk before you have to
Impact of Heat on Marathon Performance It's surprising just how much difference a small temperature increase makes
Your First 100 Mile Race
Racing 2 Marathons Thoughts on racing two marathons in short succession
Back to Back Marathons For running marathons on consecutive days
The Last 10K The marathon is a 10K race with a 20 mile warm up
A Great Marathon Some thoughts on what makes a marathon great
Pacing Your Marathon An answer to 'What is the best way to pace a marathon?'
- Using a marathon pace group
Race Checklist
Going out too fast A common problem at the start of races.

5 Barefoot & Minimalist Running

6 Ultrarunning Tips

7 Nutrition Tips

My daily salad, with lots of beets

Nutrition is Important
Mid Run Fueling
Beetroot and Running Performance A simple way of improving your performance.
Gels
Nutrient Timing When you eat is more important than what you eat! Covers optimum sports drink, as well as recovery.
- Fellrnr's Go Juice What I drink when I train and race
- Chocolate Milk for Recovery Tastes great as well
- Fructose Useful when exercising, but unhealthy at other times
The Runners Diet and Weight Loss
Magnesium My favorite micronutrient. It's critical for runners, but also good for migraines and preventing diabetes
Carbohydrates and Glycemic Index
Protein
- Protein Powder Contamination
MSM and Migraines
GOMAD Grazing
Sleep and Obesity

8 Injury prevention and healing

General recommendations
- Coping with Injury
- NSAIDs (Ibuprofen/Acetaminophen) for runners, impairs healing and interferes with hydration
- Running and Illness Should you run with a cold or other illness? How does running affect your immune system?
- Racing while injured
- Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
- Joint Supplements
- Anticancer Advice on avoiding and mitigating cancer
Preventing and Fixing injuries
- Cryotherapy - Ice for Healing Amazing heeling, but never use a gel pack
- Trigger Points Why you don't fix the place it hurts
- Overtraining
  - Overtraining Syndrome and Training Monotony
- Stretching While it is a common belief that runners should stretch, the evidence refutes this.
Blisters
- Blister Prevention If I can avoid blisters, you should be able to
- Should you pop a blister? It's a bad idea, but sometimes you have to.
- Blister Prevention and Socks
- Toughening Feet
- Taping your feet to prevent or treat blisters
- Injinji Liner Socks
- Extreme Shoe Modifications
Specific Injuries
- Knee Pain, AKA 'Runner's Knee'
- Shin Splints
- Iliotibial band syndrome AKA ITBS; pain in the outside of the knee
- Cramps
- Plantar Fasciitis My experiences with PF
- Sore Feet
- Mortons Neuroma

9 Weight Loss

Nutrient Timing When you eat is more important than what you eat! Covers optimum sports drink, as well as recovery.
Weight Loss and Performance
Body Fat Measures
CoolSculpting Using cold to reduce body fat
The Runners Diet and Weight Loss

10 Gear Reviews

Best Running Watch
Injinji Liner Socks, Dry Max Socks and Blister Prevention and Socks
Modified Nike Free
Zeo Sleep Monitor
Why compression clothes?
- Under Armor Heat Gear Top Cooler than bare skin
- A review of graduated compression wear
Injury prevention and treatment
- Thumper - deep muscular massage
- Theratherm - for heat treatment
- Injury prevention using 'The Stick'
- Teeter Inversion Table
Portable Pharmacy
Headphones for Running
Dirty Girl Gaiters
Race Ready Shorts and Tights
Arm Warmers
SunUp Dawn Simulator
Body Fat Measures
- Skinfold Calipers A cheap and easy way of checking your own body fat
- Body Fat Scales
Running Lights

11 Book Reviews

12 Race Reports

13 Software

SportTracks Dailymile Plugin
SportTracks Polar ProTrainer Sync Plugin
Garmin Foot Pod Calibration Tested with 310XT - reports of success with other Garmin devices is mixed
VDOT Calculator (online)
Marathon Pace Band (online)
Running Efficiency Calculator and Alternative Efficiency Calculator
Hypoxic Timer Software for Intermittent Hypoxic Exposure
Wiki Missing Link Finder Not a running utility but a tool for finding missing links in Mediawiki

14 Off Topic and Tangents

Email Etiquette
Training Macrolog My high level training notes
Observations from 2011 Umstead 100 Aid Station
2011 Statistics
Thoughts on Marathon Pacing
The Ivan Scale Of Perceived Suffering
Back Surgery
Slowing up at Weymouth Woods 100K
Notes from a high mileage experiment
Internal Control Index
Remixing Music For Running
SafeHex How to setup a safe browsing environment and notes on virus removal
Why Google+ rather than Facebook

15 External Links

These are links to articles that I would have added to this site if they did not already exist.

A great proprioception by the author of "Brain Training for runners". This article has most of the valuable points from the book - http://www.active.com/running/Articles/Sensory_cues.htm
An analysis of elite runner's weekly mileage and performance showing that 'more is not better' http://www.powerrunning.com/Training/An%20Interesting%20Analysis%20of%20Some%20Elites.htm
A comparison of ultramarathon difficulty based on finish times - http://realendurance.com/index.php?FinishTimeList&s=ul
A compendium of links to other ultrarunning sites, including a race calendar and the most comprehensive list of ultra marathon training programs I've found. http://www.ultramarathonrunning.com/training/index.html
One of the best ways of understanding your muscles is Body Smart, a flash based site that animates the muscles of the body. http://www.getbodysmart.com/ap/muscularsystem/menu/menu.html
myTrainLocal is a site for finding local running groups. http://www.mytrainlocal.com
For the best running product reviews, check DC Rainmaker http://www.dcrainmaker.com/p/product-reviews.html
If your GPS does not show the right distance on a race, which is right, the GPS or the course measurement. http://www.hamptonrockfest.com/hamptonhalf-GPS.html

@@ Line 177: / Line 177: @@
 ** [[Extreme Shoe Modifications]]
 * Specific Injuries
+** [[Knee Pain]], AKA 'Runner's Knee'
 ** [[Shin Splints]]
 ** [[Iliotibial band syndrome]] AKA ITBS; pain in the outside of the knee