IMPROVE YOUR TECHNIQUE

Training of the economy career allow us to run faster with less effort. All effort of the body intends to move forward without wasting energy. For this, the runner has to move his arms and legs coordinated, doing large strides forward without jumping up too and minimizing the time of foot contact with the ground.

Training economy career  will be on a flat and straight surface. It will be on about 30-50 meters long. It should be on soft surfaces with high energy absorption since it has a high impact on muscles.

It is recommended to introduce technical training in one of every three workouts for good adaptation and assimilation of stimuli. Before you start, you have to warm up intensely and finish with a good stretching session.

It is not advisable to train the technique after an intense workout or a race since it is not good for the muscles nor the joints

It is important to learn a good execution because if it can not generate more harm than benefit.

In the following editions a series of exercises will be explained to improve technique.

QUANTIFICATION OF THE LOAD IN ENDURANCE SPORTS

The training load is defined by volume, intensity and density.  The volume is the distance or time used. The intensity is the speed or the power employed. The recovery is the time of rest in respect of the effort time.

A training session can be harder than other trainings. The reasons could be: decrease break time, increase the volume or increase the intensity. Making a bad quantification can give two problems:

• -          Increasing very little the hardness between sessions.

• -          Increasing the hardness between sessions by above normal, so it causes an increase the risk of injury.

The volume is quantified in time because is better for compare various levels of performance.

You can see a table where there are different physiological levels. For quantify you should work out the time that you train by the value pertinent.

                                                                       

LEVEL	VALUE
<UAE	1
UAE	2
UAE-UAN	3
UAN	4
>UAN	6
PAM	9
LAC I	15
LAC II	50

UAE: aerobic threshold/ UAN: anaerobic threshold/ PAM: maximum power/ LAC: lactic capacity

RUNNING AND CROSS-TRAINING

First of all, we’ve to clear up that we’re not talking about CrossFit (this fashion functional training method to develop strength). We refer to combine other sports more than running to take advantage of the benefits they can bring us.

This is also a way to complement our training, not the best way to improve or to overtake our scores.

Cross-training is commonly used to maintain the motivation, avoiding the monotony and the boredom.

Also, it is remarkably good to increase power and strength in muscles which are not currently involved on running conventional training. This helps you to prevent injuries too and to avoid overtraining.

The most recognised ways to combine running training are:

-Swimming, which helps us to develop the aerobic capacity, and to get stronger our upper body.

-Cyclism is a great way to empower our leg muscles, especially the quadriceps. It’s good too for reducing the impact taken by our knee and ankle joints.

-Elliptical machine: this is a good way to train when we’ve our feet or ankles barely damaged. It can also pull you through a rainy day.

-Aquarunning, this has raise in popularity the latest years, above all to rehabilitate after an injurie.

I hope you find here some alternative ways to do exercise at the same time you are working to be a better runner!

Why am I injured?

The risk of injury is greater when a bad gesture is performed repetitively, even more during running, which is a cyclical sport. Our body is connected for this reason the cause of the injury can be anything. The injury may be in the structural level, for decompensation or imbalances. Training run technique is recomended for decreasing the risk of injury.

On the other hand, the weight of the athlete also it can increase the risk of injury because the weight of the athlete and the impact of their strides have a direct relation. Running helps you to lose weight but you must have a useful workout plan. A good diet joins the training of performance factors will allow a great fitness without risk of injury.

Another important factor is the hardness of the surface because each stride against the surface generates an impact to the joints. If the ground absorbs the impact, the risk of injury will decrease. If you run by surfaces that it absorbs the impact you will decrease the risk of injury. Here you can see a list of superficies:

• Asphalt, treadmill and dry sand have low absorption capacity.
• Wet sand and lawn have high absorption capacity.

Here are some brief reasons why a runner may fall injured. In future editions we will expand the information.