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The Science of Running Economy

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[[File:Paula Radciffe NYC Marathon 2008 cropped.jpg|right|thumb|300px|Paula Radcliffe, the holder of the women's world record for the marathon (2:15:25) has gained much of her improvement through greater Running Economy.]]
[[Running Economy]] is how much energy it takes you to run. The better your economy, the faster and further you can run. Running economy is obviously determined to some extent by biomechanical efficiency, especially [[Cadence]]. Changes in things like arm movement and the amount of "bounce" can have a direct impact on running economy. However there There is some evidence that biochemical changes may have a significant impact on running economy. For instance, slow twitch [[Muscle|muscles]] require less oxygen for the same level of work as fast which muscles do, and burning fat requires more oxygen than carbohydrates. =Why Should You Care?=Running Economy can vary by as much as 30% between runners of a similar [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]]<ref name="Daniels-1985"/>. The two charts below show the [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] and running economy of Paula Radcliffe over a 10 year period<ref name="Jones2006"/>. Over that time Paula Radcliffe's race performance dramatically improved even though her [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] did not. This suggests that for elite athletes at least, improvements in running economy are critical. It's generally believed that Running Economy is more "trainable" than [[VO2max|V̇O<sub>2</sub>max]] in athletes that have been training for years<ref name="Moore2016"/>.
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<ref name="PaavolainenHakkinen2003">L. Paavolainen, K. Hakkinen, I. Hamalainen, A. Nummela, H. Rusko, Explosive-strength training improves 5-km running time by improving running economy and muscle power, Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, volume 13, issue 4, 2003, pages 272–272, ISSN [http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0905-7188 0905-7188], doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1034/j.1600-0838.2003.00340.x 10.1034/j.1600-0838.2003.00340.x]</ref>
<ref name="Santos-ConcejeroGranados2013">Jordan Santos-Concejero, Cristina Granados, Jon Irazusta, Iraia Bidaurrazaga-Letona, Jon Zabala-Lili, Nicholas Tam, Susana Gil, DIFFERENCES IN GROUND CONTACT TIME EXPLAIN THE LESS EFFICIENT RUNNING ECONOMY IN NORTH AFRICAN RUNNERS, Biology of Sport, volume 30, issue 3, 2013, pages 181–187, ISSN [http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0860-021X 0860-021X], doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.5604/20831862.1059170 10.5604/20831862.1059170]</ref>
<ref name="Moore2016">Isabel S. Moore, Is There an Economical Running Technique? A Review of Modifiable Biomechanical Factors Affecting Running Economy, Sports Medicine, volume 46, issue 6, 2016, pages 793–807, ISSN [http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0112-1642 0112-1642], doi [http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0474-4 10.1007/s40279-016-0474-4]</ref>
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