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Take a Sneak Peek into 'Born to Run 2'

Thirteen years after the publication of Christopher McDougall's popular book, Born to Run, the author teams up with renowned running coach Eric Orton for Born to Run 2: The Ultimate Training Guide, a fully illustrated, practical guide to running for everyone from amateurs to seasoned runners, about how to eat, race, and train like the world's best. Born to Run 2 will be available on December 6, 2022, but you can read this excerpt from the book.

Chapter 8: Form - The Art of Easy

Eric promised he could teach running form in ten minutes. If I had to estimate, I'd guess he was miscalculating by a factor of at least 7,000 percent, so I subjected his proposition to lab testing and gave it a try myself:

I hit Pause and checked my watch. Then I tried it again. Each time, I found Eric's estimate to be wildly exaggerated. It wasn't even close to ten minutes. More like five.

One song. One wall. Three hundred seconds. If someone had only shared this secret with Karma Park, it could have saved her a world of misery.

Karma was such a disaster, the Navy honestly couldn't tell if she was a terrible runner or a terrific actor. How she even made it into boot camp was a mystery.

The strange thing was, running was her only weakness. Chuck her out of a boat at sea? No problem. Pull-ups, push-ups, crunches? Piece of cake. Karma was a competitive swimmer and varsity wrestler growing up, so two-hour workouts were in her blood. But ask her to run a mile and a half? In under thirteen minutes? Not a chance. Over and over she tried, and every time she ended up walking, grabbing her ribs from stitches and wincing from aches in her legs.

"I'm pretty sure the recruiter fudged the numbers on my Physical Readiness Test so she could get me in," Karma believes. "I finished the run and thought, Oh crap, I'm a minute too slow, and she's like, 'No, no, you're good.' "

When Karma got to basic training, she gritted her teeth and did her best. The Navy was her ticket to a dream life, so there was no way she was giving up. Karma was twenty-five at the time, with a wife in law school and hopes of becoming a surgeon. The surest path toward financing their future was a career in the military. Besides, she had a debt to pay back. Karma came to America from South Korea at age eleven, and while, yeah, maybe Alabama wasn't the most welcoming place for a foreign kid with budding gender issues, Karma was still deeply grateful for the life her family was able to create there.

"I really wanted to serve this country," she says. "But in boot camp I was in and out of sick bay all the time." Karma chanted the drill instructors' mottoes to herself-Pain is only skin deep! Heel to toe! Heel to toe!-but the harder she pushed, the more she broke down. "At first maybe they were checking that I wasn't dogging it," Karma recalls. "I can see how I would be suspected because I feel that other recruits faked it to get out of running, but I was in so much pain, they knew something else was going on."

Finally, Navy doctors diagnosed Karma with chronic hip displacement. She was ordered to report to the long-term sick bay, where she'd be stuck for as long as it took-a month, six months, a year-for her to either heal or quit. Those were her options: get better, get faster or get out.

Karma was crushed, but privately vindicated: ever since she was young and her mom would sign the whole family up for local 5Ks as a way of assimilating into their new home, Karma knew she couldn't run. "My dad and I would walk at the back of the pack, and I thought, This is the most ridiculous thing ever. We have cars and bikes, why are we running? I was really fit in all the other aspects of PE, but with running, I tried and tried and never got any better."

Back in civilian life, Karma struggled. She put her own education on hold and began managing a Subway so her wife could finish law school. She began putting on weight, but when she tried to exercise, her old leg injuries flared up and she finally discovered the real cause of her pain was rheumatoid arthritis. The medication made her lethargic and bloated, and her body ached so badly she needed a cane to walk.

Karma was in a bad spiral that nothing could stop. Except her wife's lover.

"My wife had an affair with a guy who was really fit," Karma says. "When I confronted her, she told me I was fat. That hit me really hard." So hard that after she and her wife separated, Karma decided to punish herself with the thing she detested most. "I decided to drown my emotional pain by subjecting myself to physical pain," she says. "When I left the Navy I swore off running-I hate it hate it hate it, never running again. This time, I decided to run myself ragged into an early grave. I hated myself and hated running, so this is what I'll do."

For once, Karma's injuries came to the rescue. Her legs seized up before her heart, and while she was searching for a new way to beat on herself, she had the enormous good luck to meet Sheridan. With that amazing woman by her side, parts of Karma that she hadn't even realized were hurting began to heal. For the first time, she had the confidence and support to face her gender identity and begin transitioning to the self that had always been buried.

She also resolved, once again, to get back into shape.

If you're keeping score at home, by now Karma has struck out three times as a runner. Over the years, I've heard a lot of stories like this from busted ex-runners-and lived one myself-but this is the first instance where I thought, okay, maybe it's time for the mercy rule to kick in and let it go for good. But against those odds, Karma stepped up again. When Sheridan gave birth to their first son, Karma set her jaw and decided their baby wasn't going to grow up with a parent hobbled with a cane or gone before their time.

"That's how I began my journey into learning how to run properly," she says.

This go-round, Karma attacked the problem from a different angle: What if her brain was the problem and not her body? Karma is a math whiz and comes from a medical family, so she was a little annoyed at herself for not realizing sooner that if your equation keeps giving you the wrong result, adding the same numbers isn't going to help. Rather than running harder, she thought, maybe there was a way she could run smarter.

Her eureka! moment occurred soon after, when she noticed that her legs hurt more on downhills than ups. That's when it hit her: What if she treated the entire planet like a hill? Get up on her forefoot, in other words, instead of heel-toe, heel-toeing it like she'd always been told.

"When I mentioned this to a friend, she immediately said, 'Haven't you read Born to Run? That's what it's all about.'"

Karma picked up a copy, and there, on page 181, she found the role model who would change her life. Not Ann Trason, the courageous science teacher who nearly outran a team of Raramuri runners in the Leadville Trail 100. Not Scott Jurek, the gracious and unbreakable hero who rose from a rough Minnesota childhood to become the greatest ultrarunner of all time. Karma didn't even see herself in Jenn Shelton, that patron saint of human fireballs, or Caballo Blanco, the lovelorn loner who used running to heal a broken heart.

Nope. When Karma looked into the mirror, grinning back at her was Barefoot Ted.

I'm not happy about this now, but when Caballo Blanco and I first met Ted McDonald, we were ready to Rock-Paper-Scissors over who was going to clunk him on the head and chuck him into the canyon. Ted likes to say "My life is a controlled explosion," which only confirmed my conviction that he has no idea what "control" means.

I was slow to see what Jenn and Billy Bonehead and Manuel Luna liked about Ted. It took a few clashes before I finally got it, including a toe-to-toe shouting match in the middle of Death Valley, where I threatened to leave Ted by the side of the road to die while he was yelling in my face, "I don't care how big you are! I'll fight you!"-at the very moment, by the way, when we were supposed to be crewing for Luis Escobar in the Badwater Ultramarathon.

But I couldn't miss the fact that lots of other people really enjoy him. Ted is a lot on a slow day, but he's also a huge-hearted friend and his own kind of genius. When I sent word to Ted that a group of my Amish ultrarunning buddies were traveling through Seattle en route to a Ragnar Relay, he immediately threw open the doors of his Luna Sandal shop and made them at home in an improvised bunkhouse. Nearly every year, Ted travels back down to the Copper Canyons and hands a wad of cash to Manuel Luna, the Raramuri artisan who taught him how to make huaraches. Not because they're partners; because they're friends.

Still, it was gratifying to see that Luis had as much steam shooting out of his ears as I did after we invited Ted to join us in Colton for our photo shoot. For forty-eight hours we couldn't get a yes or no out of the guy, which would have been fine if he'd just stayed silent as well. Instead, Luis and I kept getting cryptic little teaser texts, like digital art smiley faces that dissolved from our phones a few seconds after appearing. It felt less like waiting for a friend to show up (or not) and more like being stalked by the Zodiac Killer.

Then lo and behold, an Amtrak train pulls into San Bernardino station and out pops Barefoot Ted, a big Santa Claus backpack full of sandal-making supplies over his shoulder. He'd spent six hours getting there, and immediately began hand-crafting a gorgeous pair of custom sandals for each of our volunteer models. While his hands were busy, so was his mouth: Ted cut loose with a thirty-minute spoken-word performance that left us all slack-jawed in astonishment as he prattled on, fluently and kind of brilliantly, about everything that had been rattling around inside his skull while he was captive on the train. ("Turning everything you see into food is a superpower. Do you have it?" is the only line I remember.) Soon after finishing a dozen sandals he was gone, grabbing a lift back to Santa Barbara that same night because, unbeknown to us, he'd had a pressing commitment there all along. What a guy.

As a runner, Ted was a true revolutionary. He was so far ahead of the pack when it came to minimalism, the rest of the country took years to catch up. Not that he didn't make a compelling argument from the start. It's just that in typical Ted fashion, the story took a direction only a man who calls himself The Monkey would follow.

If you recall, Ted only began running in the first place because he dreamed of becoming America's Anachronistic Ironman. Which meant, for reasons known only to Ted, he wanted to spend his fortieth birthday completing a full triathlon (2.4-mile ocean swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run) but only using gear from the 1890s. If Ted has one quality greater than his raw athleticism it's his absolutely bulletproof self-confidence, so when he found he could handle the swimming and cycling but not the running, the problem couldn't be his body: it had to be the running.

Close: it was actually the running shoes. The first time Ted ran barefoot, his planetary axis shifted. "I was totally amazed at how enjoyable it was," Ted says. "The shoes would cause so much pain, and as soon as I took them off, it was like my feet were fish jumping back into water after being held captive."

On a barefooter's blog, he found the Three Great Truths:

Change the way you run That was the opposite of everything Ted had ever been told about running, but everything Ted had ever been told about running wasn't working. Besides, it immediately made sense. No decent basketball player just heaves the ball in the air and hopes for the best. No serious tennis player slashes their racket around like a club. Ted had spent a few years as a teacher in Japan, and he knew that sushi chefs and martial artists spend years perfecting the basic steps of their craft. In the world of movement, form and technique reign supreme.

Ted didn't know any barefoot runners in person, only online, so he set off on this quest for reinvention on his own. He found himself in the same predicament as a Czech soldier he'd heard about who, during the Second World War, spent his long nights on guard duty dreaming of Olympic glory. Rather than stand and shiver, the soldier began running in place, lifting his knees high to clear the snow and, to avoid being heard, landing as silently as possible in his heavy boots.

Back home after the war, the soldier replaced slippery snow with wet laundry: he washed his clothes by running on top of them in a bathtub full of soap and water. (Get a load of that, Mr. 100 Up: one sloppy stride in a sudsy tub and you're not starting over, you're heading to the emergency room.)

Those weird home experiments paid off spectacularly. Coached only by his own ingenuity, Emil Zatopek pulled off the most stunning track performance in Olympic history: at the 1952 Games, he won gold in all three distance events, including the first marathon he ever attempted. 

Despite how fast he ran, Emil took a ton of crap about how awful he looked. Upstairs, Zatopek was a horror. He'd get this grimace on his face, one sportswriter said, "as if he'd just been stabbed through the heart." Zatopek's head lolled around and his hands clawed his own chest like he was birthing an alien baby through his rib cage. But what sportswriters missed was that below the waist, Zatopek was a machine: rhythmic, precise, impeccable.

Ted never did get around to his Anachronistic Ironman-not yet, at least-but otherwise, he was unstoppable. Once he realized that running was a skill to be mastered and not a punishment to be endured, he became a Monkey on a mission.

Before long, he'd ripped out a marathon quick enough to qualify for Boston, and then ran Boston quick enough to qualify for the next one, and from there it was onward and literally upward, as he shifted from long roads to high-mountain ultramarathons.

But what Karma envied most wasn't Ted's remarkable twenty-five-hour finish at the Leadville Trail 100, or his out-of-left-field world record for skateboarding (242 miles in twenty-four hours). She didn't care if she ever ran as fast as Ted. She just wanted to be as healthy. She wanted to follow his footsteps from Hurt Ted to Happy Ted.

"I made a conscious decision to fully embrace forefoot running," Karma says.

Maybe embrace isn't the right word. Since May 3, 2014, Karma hasn't missed a single day of running. Every evening, no matter what kind of storm is blowing through Birmingham, Alabama, no matter if she's fighting a cold or dealing with craziness at the medical office she manages, Karma pulls on her sandals and heads out the door.

Her eight-year-and-counting streak began in true Barefoot Ted fashion: bizarrely. Less than a year after changing her form, the woman who swore she'd never run again was bringing home her first marathon medal. Gone was the cane, forgotten was the specter of crippling arthritis. By changing the way she moved, Karma discovered she could change the way she felt. She soon ramped up from a marathon to a 50K, and that's when things took off. The day after that first ultramarathon, Karma decided to test her soreness by jogging an easy two miles. She was surprised to find her legs actually felt better after that run, so she went out again the next day and the next and thus a streak was born.

To maintain her daily running streak, Karma logs at least one mile a day, but that's just her baseline. During her first year of streaking she also tackled three ultramarathons, and then began creating streaks within her streak: she ran five miles a day for a full year, seven miles a day for ten months, and three miles a day for 1,300 days. Despite all these clicks on her odometer, Karma still felt she needed to borrow one more hack from Barefoot Ted: as a reminder to remain smooth and light, she always runs in a pair of his Lunas.

Karma had never actually met Ted in person until the day he hopped off the train in San Bernardino and blew into our photo shoot like a grinning bald tornado. Ted is usually quick on his feet, but when he came eye to eye with Karma, it took him a few beats to get his bearings.

The person who'd reached out to Ted years ago had never felt at home in her body and was facing two frightening transformations. The Karma in front of Ted today had made it through to the other end. In the past, Karma had looked to Ted for hope and guidance. Now, she deserved something very different. Ted understood, and delivered.

"If you have any questions, ask Karma," Ted said, as he addressed the circle of very experienced and accomplished ultrarunners hanging on his every word about the art of minimalist running. "She knows as much as I do."

This is an excerpt from Born to Run 2: The Ultimate Training Guide by Christopher McDougall and Eric Orton, available on December 6, 2022 by Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of The Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright 2022 by Christopher McDougall and Eric Orton.

 

(11/27/2022) Views: 785 ⚡AMP
by Trail Runner Magazine
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Tips for Your First Ultramarathon

By definition, an ultramarathon is anything longer than 26.2 miles. Maybe you've run a marathon and you want to a new challenge. Maybe you've never run farther than 13.1. Ultramarathons are just like any other running race--any able body person can complete one. Ultras are becoming more popular every year. Whether it's 50K, 50 miles, 100K, 100 miles or more, here are 10 tips for tackling your first ultramarathon.

Don't Carry Too Much Stuff With You

It's tempting to pack everything but the kitchen sink in your hydration vest for those "just in case" moments. But there's no need to carry the extra weight if the aid stations are stocked or you have a crew. Less is best if you can get away with it. 

Know the Aid Stations

Knowing how far apart the aid stations are from each other will help you plan if you need to use a hydration vest, a handheld bottle or strictly rely on course aid. Most races also list what will be available for nutrition and hydration at each station. Decide prior to the race if you will be using your own nutrition or hitting up the fuel provided. 

Stick With Your Hydration/Nutrition Plan

During your training, practice your hydration/nutrition plan. Finding what works for you prior to race day will help eliminate any surprises. Don't be tempted to change things up when you hear some other runners talking about their nutrition plan. Stick with what works for you. Eat early, eat often and don't stop eating/drinking in the later miles because you think you are almost done. The last thing you need is to bonk a few miles from the finish line. Keep up with your nutrition plan for the duration. 

Run by Effort, Not by Pace

There are so many factors that go into your race day pace, like elevation, trail conditions, weather, and terrain that it's best to go by the effort you are putting out rather than what your GPS watch says. 

Don't Let Race Day Adrenaline Dictate Your Effort

Just like any race, it's hard not to run fast as soon as it's go time. The adrenaline is pumping, and you are feeling GOOD. That feeling will not last. Sooner or later, those faster miles will catch up with you.

Power Hike the Hills

Want to know a secret?  Almost every single person in an ultramarathon walks at some point. Even the winners might do it! Power hiking the hills is a great way to conserve energy. Plus, you most likely will cover the hills quicker by hiking than running. 

Run the Mile You Are In 

It's easy to let your mind wander to the miles that lie ahead. However, thinking of running 50 miles at one time can seem impossible. Stay present in where you are. Breaking down the race into smaller sections, like aid station to aid station, will make it seem more attainable. 

You Will Cycle Through Feeling Good and Not-So-Good Multiple Times 

The good thing about the distance in an ultra is that it's long enough to feel good again after feeling bad. Don't feel like the race is over as soon as you start to feel poorly. Assess the situation (usually it's an eating or nutrition issue), and take care of it. You'll probably feel better in a few miles.

Repeat Your Positive Mantras Throughout the Race--Even When You Are Feeling Good

The physical side of running is tough, but the mental side is what's going to get you across the finish line. Having positive mantras on repeat, even when you are feeling good, will keep you mentally in the race. When a negative thought pops up, replace it with a positive one. 

Keep Moving Forward 

A body in motion, stays in motion, right? Resist the urge to linger at aid stations too long. Grab what you need and keeping moving. The more time you spend sitting or standing still means you are losing the forward momentum to keep going.

(11/26/2022) Views: 711 ⚡AMP
by Angela Bakkala
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The Cannon Core Workout For Runners

There’s a good reason why core workouts for runners have become so popular over the last few years. Actually, there are quite a few reasons.

Training your core will deliver a variety of benefits:

Improved running economy, by delaying fatigue late in a race or long run

Increased strength of the core region, including the hamstrings, hips, glute muscles, lower back, and abdominals

Prevention of running injuries, by increasing your ability to withstand the impact forces of running

Give you shredded six-pack abs!!!

Ok, that six-pack promise isn’t really true. Getting ripped abs is mostly genetic and depends more on BMI and diet than anything else…

But still, core workouts are a vital part of any runners’ training program.

That’s because all movement originates from the core. If you want to improve your mobility (the ability to move well), it’s critical to start any movement from a position of strength.

Your core is like a platform where all other movement starts from. The more postural stability you have, the better you’ll move.

And no matter what type of runner you are, you’ll benefit from core training:

Beginners need even more strength training to prevent injury

Older runners need to prevent muscle loss

Those who don’t run races still need to stay healthy

Frequent racers (even virtual races) need to mitigate the higher intensity

Clearly, practically every runner will benefit from a stronger core.

So I’m thrilled to announce the Cannon Core Workout for Runners, a dynamic, runner-specific, leveled core session that will help you build core strength, improve efficiency, and prevent running injuries.

And it’s perfect for beginners or even advanced runners.

Cannon is a different type of core workout than other routines you might find elsewhere for three important reasons.

1. Cannon Core is Runner-Specific

Many other core workouts aren’t actually designed for runners. You’ll see more metabolic or aerobic exercises (“heavy breathing” exercises), a more traditional focus on just the ab muscles, and no balance with the posterior chain.

But not Cannon. I’ve built this routine to be more comprehensive with focus on the chest, glutes, upper back, lower back, and transverse abdominals.

It also is balanced and includes exercises that strengthen the glutes and lower back. These are not typically considered “core” muscles but they do complement them and help us be more balanced athletes.

2. Cannon Core is Dynamic

Many core workouts only include exercises like planks, side planks, bridges, and reverse planks. These are great exercises – but they’re static. They don’t include any movement.

Cannon has a variety of exercises that have you move in a variety of planes of motion. You’ll rotate, cross your midline, and work on single-leg strength.

There’s just no substitute for building athleticism than dynamic movements.

3. Cannon Core is Leveled

Are you a beginner? Or a veteran with years of running and weightlifting experience? Either way, Cannon Core is for you!

That’s because Cannon is a leveled core workout for runners. It includes 2-3 levels for each exercise, allowing you to start where you’re comfortable and move up when you’re ready.

But that’s not all. Not only is each exercise leveled, you can also:

Complete 1-3 sets of the core workout depending on how much time you have and your ability

Perform each exercise for as little as 10-20 seconds or as long as a full minute

More flexibility allows you to get more out of the routine. Start at a beginner level and you’ll be completing Cannon Core a year from now at an advanced level!

(11/26/2022) Views: 624 ⚡AMP
by Jason Fitzgerald
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The Run Streak Might Be the Key to a Fast Spring Marathon

Runner’s World+ Coach Jess Movold shares three reasons how the #RWRunStreak can benefit you in the long run.

When people ask me about my racing schedule for the upcoming year, my answer always starts with the 2022 Runner’s World Holiday Run Streak. If you ask me, the streak is the perfect runway to a training cycle and creates the most beautiful bridge between Fun-Run Season and Full-Send Season (yes, I just made that one up—but I think it will stick around). 

f you’re an avid marathoner, you probably jump between spring marathons and fall marathons, and if you’re like the marathoners I know, you do this every year. This back-to-back marathon schedule doesn’t give you a lot of time for an “off-season” (air quotes because runners don’t have off-seasons, am I right?). But the reality is, everyone needs a break from a serious training schedule—even if it’s a short one. 

It’s important to take time off and allow for some carefree, unstructured miles. That means no forced training plans, no grueling long runs, and not being tied to a training plan or weekly mileage goal. Just running to run. How refreshing! 

Eventually, this becomes less enjoyable. That’s when you know it’s time to set new goals and start working towards something that challenges you again. You might start to plan out your next big race, hire a coach, or commit to a training plan. However, going from unstructured running straight into a rigid training plan can be tough! That’s why I always ease into my training with the #RWRunStreak. 

I could go on all day talking about why I love the run streak (cheers to 1 mile!), but I’m going to give you my three favorite reasons why my training starts with the streak. 

Consistency

You don’t have to constantly follow a training plan. That can put you on the fast track to overall burnout, mental exhaustion, and physical injuries. However, it’s challenging to go from time off to a training plan. Even though structured running has a lot of advantages, it can feel too serious, too soon sometimes. 

That’s why I love the Run Streak! It gets me out the door and into a run—no matter how far—consistently. It keeps running fun while laying the groundwork for a routine. Then, when my training cycle officially begins, it won’t be a shock to run every day.

Rust bust

A ‘rust buster’ is that first hard race back from the off season. Whether you like the term or not, it’s definitely a thing! We all know the feeling when our training stays in the back seat for too long—things start to feel a little rusty. So, test your fitness by doing a race or hard workout after you get back into the groove of training. It hurts so good! 

At some point in my streak, I’ll do a one-mile time trial. Despite the usual lack of fitness, it feels fun because there’s nothing major on the line. Don’t let chasing personal bests steal all the joy from running. Test your body to see what you can do but have fun while doing it. 

Usually, you throw a rust buster race in the beginning to middle part of your training block as a chance to shake off the cobwebs and get back in the swing of things. The streak is a perfect time for this! 

Slow build 

As a coach, I often see runners aggressively jump into their training after the off-season. They increase their mileage or intensity too abruptly, which usually leads to an injury or setback in the middle of their training cycle. There is nothing worse than getting into the groove with training and then having an unexpected interruption.

That’s why I unofficially kick off my spring marathon training with the Run Streak. It allows me to safely and gradually increase my mileage when I feel up for it. If you have a spring marathon on the books, I’m looking at you! The Boston Marathon isn’t that far away. 

That’s why my training starts on Thursday. A slow build throughout the holidays and then, BOOM! I’ll be ready to pick up the pace and buckle down come 2023. 

See you in the streak! 

(11/26/2022) Views: 433 ⚡AMP
by Runner’s World
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South Central Run Club Creates ‘Anti-Turkey Trot’ Thanksgiving Run

A Los Angeles run club is rethinking the annual turkey trot and celebrating the resiliency of South Central.

On Saturday night, the streets of South Central Los Angeles were run by participants of the second annual F*** White Supremacy 5K. The race, formed as an “anti-turkey trot” by the South Central Run Club, hosted close to 100 people. The goal? Start critical conversations while celebrating the resilience of a community that until recently, didn’t offer outlets for runners. 

On November 19, the 5K made a statement not only in name but also for those who participated, with some locals running in their own neighborhood for the first time ever. After the race, which took runners to the University of Southern California and back, participants enjoyed an afterparty that included a DJ, food vendors, and a local artists showcase.

For South Central Run Club co-captains Zaakiyah Brisker and Jazmin Garcia, the event marked another major step forward in efforts to heal their community through running. “A lot of times, you can get discouraged and believe that people don't care,” Brisker told Runner’s World. “I really am so grateful for everybody who was courageous enough to say, ‘let's do it,’ because we all deserve to feel good.”

Forming a running community where it’s needed

When Brisker started running, the South Central resident frequented groups that met on the west side of Los Angeles. Soon Brisker realized she was far from the only person who had to travel outside of her South Central neighborhood to participate in LA-area run groups. In 2018, when she started running in her South Central neighborhood more often, she received a surprising reception. She said people rooted for her as she passed by, unlike on the west side, where running is more popular as a form of exercise. At that moment, she wondered why a run club didn’t exist in South Central, where she knew it could thrive. 

As a first step, Brisker tried to create an Instagram account under the name South Central Run Club, but the title was already taken. So, she reached out and met the group founder, Garcia, who had the same idea earlier on.

Garcia's running journey began in 2018 when she started attending group runs with her sister and friends. But again, those groups always met outside of her South Central community, and she wanted to change that. Garcia, who also grew up in the area, created the account and invited her neighbors of all ages and abilities to join for weekly runs. Brisker joined too.

In 2020, the pandemic paused the group's efforts. But another chance meeting between Brisker and Garcia kicked things off once again. After the duo reunited while working for a local nonprofit, they decided to combine their visions for the run club. 

“South Central has a lot of amazing history of resistance. Sometimes you can walk by something, and you don't know the historical importance of a place,” Garcia told Runner’s World. “We really wanted to highlight those things and have a space where people feel comfortable to come together, run and stretch, and learn a little bit more about our own community.” 

Creating space for healing

In early 2021, they brought the run club back with in-person group meetings. On every run, the captains lead the group in discussions based on a different location that holds historical significance. With each gathering, they hope to expand on the mainstream narrative that's been told about South Central. As Brisker explained, most people's perception of the area is based on hip hop influences and films like Menace II Society and Boyz n the Hood, but there are many more stories to be told. “People have created this narrative about South Central that it's impoverished, there's a lot of gang violence and all this other stuff,” she said. “But there are real people from South Central thriving and existing.”

The club focuses on promoting health and wellness in the South Central community by offering initiatives that introduce the sport and make it accessible for all. They host a walk-to-run program and family days, where members are encouraged to bring family members young and old so they can learn to enjoy running and encourage each other to keep it up. 

One of the family days is held at the South Los Angeles Wetlands Park, which used to be where metro buses were repaired. Like everything they do, picking the park as a meeting spot was done with intention. “It was a place that caused pollution in our community. It's been a few years now, but they cleaned up the space and transformed it into this beautiful park,” Garcia said. “Every time we start there, we like to say that we see this as a metaphor for the work that we're doing, that the transformation for wellness comes from us.”

Rooted in social impact initiatives, the run club highlights the diversity of the neighborhood by drawing attention to local landmarks, including schools, businesses, and places where critical conversations can be had, Brisker said, “We can expose areas that need to be healed so we can come together better as a community.”

For example, the group often meets for runs in front of public schools that were attended by members of the club. Before the run starts, former students are invited to speak on their experience in the American education system, which often neglects the histories of people in underrepresented groups. “You walk out [of these institutions] feeling super alienated because you can't see yourself in history," Brisker said. “We speak to that. We say those things out loud and validate the experience for a lot of people who run with us.”

Celebrating the resilience of South Central

In the same vein, Brisker and Garcia got into an in-depth conversation ahead of Thanksgiving last year. They discussed the need for more awareness around the Indigenous experience surrounding the holiday, which is considered a day of mourning and protest for many Indigenous people. “There's a lot of pain for people who identify as Indigenous, and on top of that, if you're someone who is from an oppressed community, how can you not relate to feeling like no one is talking about your history or that everybody is celebrating around a time when your ancestors had to go through deep pain and traumatic experiences?” Brisker said.

With turkey trots being the most popular footrace in the country, Brisker and Garcia felt it was the perfect opportunity to address how white supremacy has affected their neighborhood. “Racist policies and white supremacy, like red lining, the amount of ICE presence, and the purposeful disinvestment for decades are directly affecting Black and Brown people in our communities," Garcia said. “We wanted to have that conversation, flip it with the F*** White Supremacy 5K, center the joy of our Black and Brown community, and celebrate our resiliency.”

At the inaugural event in 2021, race organizers brought the community together with local businesses and started a fundraiser aimed to support the wellness needs of 3-6 individuals. This year, the fundraiser continued with a higher goal for grant recipients. At Saturday night’s event, the amount of registrations doubled, and participants outside of South Central were encouraged to take part in a virtual run, so they too can start critical conversations and bring healing to their communities.

(11/26/2022) Views: 524 ⚡AMP
by Runner’s World
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Turkey trot runner takes out his competitor at finish line

Nothing says “Happy Thanksgiving” like taking out your opposition in a sprint to the finish at a fun run. When one runner at a 10K turkey trot in Troy, N.Y., noticed that the runner behind him was going to outsprint him, instead of duelling it out, he cut him off, forcing him into a roadside barrier.

In the video, the crowd and race announcer were shocked as the two runners bailed into the finish line. The perpetrator, Xavier Salvador of Washington, D.C., impeded the line of Jack Huber of Delmar, N.Y., with 50 metres to go, after noticing Huber approaching on his right. 

Salvador was given fourth place (31:46) ahead of Huber (31:47), and was not disqualified. Instead of checking if Huber was OK after the fall, Salvador made sure his GPS watch was stopped. 

There was prize money for the top three finishers, but the battle between Salvador and Huber was for fourth place. According to a post-race forum thread, Huber spoke to race officials, but since it was for fourth and fifth place and out of the prize money offerings, they chose not to disqualify Salvador.

Turkey trots are the epitome of a fun run and are a common U.S. Thanksgiving tradition many families participate in before eating turkey. 

 

 

(11/26/2022) Views: 554 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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Brighton Half Marathon is back for its 33rd year

The annual 13.1-mile race returns to Brighton seafront on February 26 2023. It’s organized by Brighton-based charity The Sussex Beacon, which provides specialist support and care for people living with HIV. The race is the charity’s main fundraising event of the year and welcomes around 8,000 runners each year. General entries and charity places for the race are still available now from The Brighton Half Marathon website. 

Runners can also support one of more than 30 partner charities, including local charities such as Rockinghorse and national charities including Alzheimer’s Society and Macmillan. The main race starts at 9:30am on Madeira Drive, next to the iconic Palace Pier, before winding its way around some of Brighton’s most iconic sites including Brighton Marina, The Royal Pavilion, The Hilton Brighton Metropole, the i360, The West Pier and the colorful Hove Beach Huts. The flat course is ideal for beginners and more seasoned runners chasing a personal best!

New to 2023, there’s a one-mile Youth Race, designed for junior runners aged 7-17 and located on Hove Prom. The event gives youngsters a unique opportunity to experience the buzz of race day. Entries are now open

Bill Puddicombe, Sussex Beacon chief executive, said: “The Brighton Half Marathon is our biggest fundraising event of the year and allows us to provide specialist year-round support and care for people living with HIV across Sussex. Nicknamed the ‘Happy Half’, the Brighton Half Marathon is a real community event, with thousands of spectators lining the route and local volunteers helping on the day to create a fantastic atmosphere. We can’t wait to welcome the runners back to our fabulous city on Sunday February 26 for another fantastic event!”

(11/25/2022) Views: 612 ⚡AMP
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Brighton Half Marathon

Brighton Half Marathon

The Brighton Half Marathon is run on a beautiful seafront course, amazing crowd support and one of the first half marathons on the running calendar. A small group of individuals started the race back in the early 1990s and the money raised from that very first race was used to help fund the building of The Sussex Beacon, the charity...

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Kenya doping: World Athletics urged not to ban country despite doping cases

World Athletics has been urged not to ban Kenya from the sport for violations of doping rules by a government minister from the East African country.

The nation is reportedly at risk of a sanction following a string of cases, with 55 of its athletes serving suspensions issued by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

Kenya's situation will be discussed at the World athletics council meeting in Rome next week, BBC Sport Africa understands.

Ababu Namwamba, the cabinet secretary for the Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts, has written to World Athletics president Lord Coe to assure him that Kenya's government is taking firm measures to uphold the integrity of athletics.

"We cannot allow our nation to be banned because of the actions of some greedy unethical individuals," Namwamba said.

"We will target and deal decisively with the criminals and their syndicates. We must work together to eradicate doping and cheating from athletics and sports in general."

Kenya is among seven countries deemed a 'Category A' federation - the highest doping risk - by the AIU, meaning athletes from the countries have to undergo at least three tests in the 10 months prior to a major event to be able to compete there.

Its total of 55 athletes serving bans is the third most of any nationality behind Russia (102) and India (61).

Russia has been banned by World Athletics from competing as a nation in athletics since 2015 but untainted athletes were still able to compete under a neutral flag until the country's invasion of Ukraine in February, when all athletes, support personnel and officials from the country were banned.

Seventeen Kenyan athletes have been sanctioned by the AIU this year for a range of violations, with a further eight provisionally suspended and awaiting the outcomes of their cases.

An overarching ban by World Athletics and the AIU would be a huge blow to the reputation of the East African country, which has won 34 of its 35 Olympic gold medals in track and field events.

The National Olympic Committee of Kenya (NOC-K) welcomed the government's intervention and said it would continue supporting "all efforts and actions as a partner in dismantling all systems and avenues perpetuating the vice of doping in athletics".

A statement from the body said the country had built an "illustrious history" in the sport and that "it is not ready to sacrifice this reputation due to the greed of a few actors".

"We join our voice in pleading with World Athletics and other parties to withhold any punitive measures such as a ban and consider the multifaceted efforts of the Kenyan community, led by the government, as a positive sign and contribution towards a zero-doping environment in Kenya," NOC-K president Paul Tergat added.

Two-time Olympic champion and marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge has said the increasing number of doping cases is "worrying" and "clean sport is the way to go".

The Ministry of Youth Affairs, Sports and the Arts said Kenya has a zero tolerance to doping and is "fully committed to ending the doping menace".

"We must defeat doping and its perpetrators. This is a serious concern and that is why the government is giving total undivided attention," Namwamba added.

"We are treating it as a matter of top strategic national interest."

(11/25/2022) Views: 694 ⚡AMP
by BBC Sport
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Jamaica´s Asafa Powell, 100m world record holder before Usain Bolt, retires

Jamaican Asafa Powell, who held the men’s 100m world record before Usain Bolt, has retired from track and field.

Powell held a 40th birthday and retirement party on Wednesday. Bolt filmed a video to wish his countryman well upon retirement.

Powell last raced in May 2021, according to World Athletics, and did not compete at Jamaica’s Olympic Trials last year.

He raced at the Olympics in 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016, earning 4x100m relay gold in Rio. His best individual finish was fifth in the 100m in 2004 and 2008.

Powell owns the record of 97 career sub-10-second 100m performances, the last coming on Sept. 1, 2016.

Powell lowered the 100m world record to 9.77 seconds on June 14, 2005. He held the mark until Bolt broke it on May 31, 2008, for the first of three times. He is the fastest man in history without an Olympic or world 100m title.

In 2004, Powell had the fastest semifinal time at the Athens Games, then placed fifth in the final won by Justin Gatlin.

In 2008, after injuries early in the year, Powell had the second-fastest semifinal time in Beijing. He placed fifth in the Olympic final again.

In 2012, Powell pulled up in the 100m final and was the last finisher. In 2016, he made the Jamaican Olympic team strictly for the relay.

Powell is the fourth-fastest man in history with a personal best of 9.72 seconds, trailing contemporaries Bolt (9.58), Tyson Gay (9.69) and Yohan Blake (9.69).

Bolt retired in 2017. Gay, also 40, last raced in May 2021. Blake, 32, ran 9.85 in June, his best time since 2012, when he took Olympic 100m and 200m silver behind Bolt.

 

(11/25/2022) Views: 747 ⚡AMP
by Olympic Talk
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Three things this pro ultrarunner is doing to save the planet

Ultrarunner, coach and activist Damian Hall is taking steps to tackle the climate emergency and has advice for runners who want to do the same. U.K.-based Hall is a record-breaking endurance athlete who holds multiple huge FKTs, including the Cape Wrath Trail, Wainwright’s Coast to Coast and the Pennine Way; he also took fifth at UTMB in 2018.

Hall uses his record attempts to raise awareness about the climate emergency, including taking public transport to races and fuelling without animal products or plastic waste. He collects litter and raises money for Greenpeace on his runs, and has recently written his second book: We Can’t Run Away From This.

Hall is also co-founder of The Green Runners, a group that strives to inform runners about their impact on the planet (when training, eating and racing) so they can make decisions about how to change their behaviour.

“Though I think individuals should only fuss about their individual CO2e [carbon dioxide equivalent] footprint so much, there are three big areas where we can reduce our impact,” says Hall. Travel, diet and gear (or kit, as Hall calls it) are what Hall calls the big three. Here’s what we can all do.

Limit travel to races

“For most runners and outdoor folk, the largest slice of their individual emissions will be caused by travel, which accounts for one-fifth of global emissions. Flying is the most carbon-intensive thing we can do, Hall recently explained to Adventure Books.

Hall suggests using public transportation as much as possible, but that can be tricky in North America. Public transportation (i.e., trains) is not nearly as accessible in Canada as in Europe, and with many runners living outside of big cities, travel can seem like a necessary evil in order to race.

While carpooling whenever possible helps, I asked Hall for more suggestions around this. “That’s tricky, and I think individuals who already care and are already making sacrifices shouldn’t punish themselves too much further. We should continue to do the things that give us joy, but maybe with a little less harm to the planet where possible,” says Hall.

Hall’s tip: “Nowadays I ask myself:  A. Do I really need to do the race? B. If so, what’s the lowest-carbon way I can practically travel there? C. Can I stay longer and/or make more out of the trip? D. Offsetting definitely isn’t the solution, but I do it anyway.”

Eat less meat

“Eating meat is terrible for the planet,” says Hall.  “Meat and dairy alone are responsible for 18 per cent of global CO2e, more than travel. Beef is by far the worst offender. This graph turned me vegan,” he adds. “A quarter of our footprint comes from food, and it can be reduced by over 70 per cent simply by cutting out animal flesh and juices.”

What about locally or sustainably-raised meat? Hall says it’s just as bad. “Eating local isn’t usually better environmentally (90 per cent of international food is shipped, which is really efficient). “Food waste is also far more significant than where the food came from and what it’s wrapped in,” he explains.

Buy less gear

Those shoes you purchased because they were touted as eco-friendly? Hall says they’re part of the problem. ‘The industry excels at “greenwash,” bandying phrases like “eco-friendly” about while pumping out an endless stream of products in what constitutes an overconsumption crisis,” he explains. The running shoe industry is responsible for approximately the same annual emissions as the entire U.K., Hall shares.

“Those shoes are almost all made from plastic (i.e., fossil fuels), almost all are non-recyclable and brands tell us we should bin our daps after 300 miles in case they injure us (which no studies prove),” says Hall. Our running attire is just as bad. “The clothing industry as a whole is responsible for many times more pollution again, possibly as much as 10 per cent of global CO2e,” adds Hall. “And then there’s the large range of environmental and ethical issues around the production process.”

Hall’s tip: “The most sustainable kit is the stuff we’re already wearing. We need to buy less and make it last longer.”

‘To me it’s fairly simple: do your best with the big three: travel, kit and diet. No one is, or can be, perfect. We’re just seeking progress,” says Hall, explaining that we don’t need to entirely give up the things we love. He has one more tip for us–advocate. “Help push for system change. Join protests, vote, email your representatives, push for changes in your local running club or race.”

(11/25/2022) Views: 613 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne
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Connor Mantz breaks record, Weini Kelati wins again at Manchester Road Race

Connor Mantz won the Manchester Road Race in record time.

The 25-year-old from Provo, Utah, won the race with a time of 21:04, beating the record set more than four years ago. It's a duel celebration for the runner as he is also celebrating his honeymoon.

In the women’s race, 25-year-old Weini Kelati defended her record-breaking 2021 title, handily winning her second Manchester Road Race. She was named Queen of the Hill.

Much like in 2021, Kelati began her race early and paced with some of the elite male runners. During the race, no other woman could pace with Kelani. For some pockets of the race, Kelati paced by herself, running faster than some of the elite men.

Kelati, an Eritrea-born runner, validated her world-class ambitions by winning two national championships in New Mexico. She turned professional and joined the Dark Sky Distance running club. In 2021, she met the Olympic qualifying standard for 10,000 meters. That year she came to the U.S.  

Wesley Kiptoo, 23 from Kenya, won King of the Hill, which has a $1,000 prize.

Kiptoo came in third place overall, while Morgan Beadlescomb came in second.

Over 10,000 runners were registered for this year's race. It is the final year for longtime race director Jim Balcome, who, with his team, built the race into a world-class event.

The course is a 4.748-mile loop through the town’s central streets. It starts and finishes on Main Street, in front of St. James Church.

(11/24/2022) Views: 737 ⚡AMP
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Manchester Road Race

Manchester Road Race

The Manchester Road race is one of New England’s oldest and most popular road races. The 86th Manchester Road Race will be held on Thanksgiving Day. It starts and finishes on Main Street, in front of St. James Church. The Connecticut Sports Writers’ Alliance recently honored the Manchester Road Race. The CSWA, which is comprised of sports journalists and broadcasters...

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Nine Comrades Marathon runners disqualified for cheating

Nine runners’ results have been disqualified from the 2022 Comrades Marathon following an investigation into alleged cheating during the race.

According to a statement by KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA), the provincial sport organization, the investigation found that nine athletes did not run the entire point-to-point 90 km course and allowed other athletes to run with their race bibs, while some provided incorrect qualification information.

To qualify for the Comrades Marathon, entrants must run a marathon in less than four hours and 50 minutes.

All nine runners are required to return their 2022 Comrades Marathon medal and will be reported to their provincial athletics organization club, which has the right to apply additional disciplinary measures. These runners are prohibited from entering the Comrades Marathon in years to come, according to the Comrades Marathon Association.

According to a statement, this decision is intended to send a clear message to athletes that cheating will not be tolerated: “These investigations are in line with us standing up for the rules of the sport and not condoning cheating in any form,” said KZNA president Steve Mkasi.

Comrades is the largest and oldest ultramarathon in the world, comprising a 90 km route between Pietermaritzburg and Durban, South Africa, and usually alternates directions each year. This year’s race took place on Aug. 28 and was won by a full-time security guard and part-time marathoner, Tete Dijana.

(11/24/2022) Views: 512 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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British man runs 67-minute half-marathon inside Heathrow Airport

Two prominent British YouTubers, Josh Pieters and Archie Thomas Manners, staged a one-of-a-kind race at Europe’s busiest airport, London Heathrow. The duo invited six of Team GB’s top distance runners to race a half-marathon in the waiting area before their flight to Belfast. Steeplechaser Dan Jarvis won the inaugural Heathrow Airport Half in a fast time of 67:30, given the circumstances.There are 500 marathons in the U.K. each year–none of them in an airport.

Every traveller is told to get to the gate two hours before their flight, and Josh & Archie had the idea of using those two hours to host a half-marathon inside Heathrow’s Terminal 5 departure lounge. The YouTubers booked the athletes’ flights to Belfast (because it was the cheapest destination) and wheel-measured a 2.1 km loop around the departure lounge, which the runners would complete 10 times while avoiding other airport patrons (and potentially getting arrested).

Some of the elite athletes included 2:11 marathoner Josh Griffiths, who was eighth at the 2021 London Marathon and 14th at the 2019 Toronto Waterfront Marathon; 2:14 marathoner Ross Braden; and British 100K champion Matt Dickinson.From the video, a pack of four men established an early lead through 10K, with Jarvis taking the lead in the latter stages. Jarvis, who has a half-marathon PB of 67:10 from 2021, broke the tape in front of their gate to Belfast to win the 500-pound purse.

Josh & Archie’s added prize money to attract top-level talent to the race. The concept of their videos is to take on unusual/crazy challenges in a unique public setting. Airport patrons did not seem to care that this event was taking place and gave a few distinct looks. 

The inaugural Heathrow Half champion, Jarvis, is currently training for the 2022 Valencia Marathon on Dec. 4, where half marathon world record holder Letesenbet Gidey is planning to debut.

(11/24/2022) Views: 627 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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David Rudisha mulls over transition to coaching

David Rudisha, the 2012 and 2016 Olympic 800m champion who last raced internationally five years ago, reportedly said he is considering transitioning into coaching.

“Actually I was thinking of coming back but at my age, I can’t make it in my specialty,” the 33-year-old Rudisha said, according to the Star in his native Kenya. “I have been discussing with my coach about coaching so it is an avenue I look forward to exploiting.”

Rudisha, who last raced internationally on July 4, 2017, missed time in the last Olympic cycle due to a quad muscle strain, back problems, a car crash and surgery for a broken ankle. He underwent left leg surgery last November.

In his absence, another Kenyan, Emmanuel Korir, won the 800m at the Tokyo Olympics and this past July’s world championships.

“I would have liked to shift to long-distance races, but my body is meant for short races,” Rudisha said, according to the report. “It won’t be long before I make my retirement plans public, but it’s a joy to watch the boys rule the world because that means we are still strong in the specialty.”

At the 2012 Olympics, the Maasai warrior Rudisha lowered his world record to 1:40.91, leading from the break and towing six of the seven other finalists to personal bests in arguably the single greatest highlight of those Games.

Nobody has run within .97 of a second of Rudisha’s world record since he set it.

(11/24/2022) Views: 748 ⚡AMP
by Olympic Talk
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Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey is set to make marathon debut in Valencia

The Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso announces its elite international line-up for its 42nd edition on December 4.

Some of the best athletes on the international scene will take to the streets of Valencia “Ciudad del Running” with the aim of improving the course record (2:03:00) and seeking the best women’s debut in the history of the event.

Tamirat Tola (2:03:39), the reigning World Marathon champion, heads the men’s line-up alongside his Ethiopian compatriots Getaneh Molla (2:03:34) and Dawit Wolde (2:04:27) in a preliminary list with up to seven athletes with fastest times under 2:05 over the Marathon distance.

Kenya, a world power in the marathon, will be well represented not only by Jonathan Korir (2:04:32), but also by a trio of important debutants over the distance: Alexander Mutiso, Philemon Kiplimo and Kelvin Kiptum. Attention will also be focused on another athlete who will be initiated at 42,195 metres: the Ethiopian Milkesa Menghesa, the winner of the Copenhagen Half Marathon.

In the women’s category, the spotlight will be on the long-awaited debut of Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey (currently world record holder in the 5000, 10000, 15K and half marathon, two of which were achieved in Valencia), who will make an eye-catching debut in a marathon on 4 December with the realistic ambition of beating the time of 2:17:23 (world record for a debutant), but also of getting as close as possible to the women’s world record of 2:14:04 (Brigid Kosgei, Chicago).

The Kenyan Sheila Chepkirui, also a debutant, could become the other female star of the Valencia Marathon in 2022, without forgetting some of the other runners included in this line-up with excellent times: Sutume Kebede (2:18:12) and Etagegne Woldu (2:20:16), who achieved second place last year in this marathon.

Marc Roig, international elite coach for the Valencia Marathon, assesses the line-up: “We are very proud that Letesenbet Gidey has chosen Valencia to make her marathon debut. It is a clear demonstration that we are an attractive marathon and of the very strong links between Gidey and the city of Valencia. But, as ever, the Valencia Marathon is not based on a single name: fifteen of the women have run under 2h26 and fourteen of the men under 2:07. And let’s not forget the three debutants with 58 minutes and another one with 57 minutes in the half marathon”.

(11/24/2022) Views: 602 ⚡AMP
by AIMS
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VALENCIA TRINIDAD ALFONSO

VALENCIA TRINIDAD ALFONSO

The Trinidad Alfonso EDP Valencia Marathon is held annually in the historic city of Valencia which, with its entirely flat circuit and perfect November temperature, averaging between 12-17 degrees, represents the ideal setting for hosting such a long-distance sporting challenge. This, coupled with the most incomparable of settings, makes the Valencia Marathon, Valencia, one of the most important events in...

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Emma Coburn’s Pumpkin Spice Muffins

American track superstar and Olympian Emma Coburn, author of the cookbook The Runner’s Kitchen, says that she savours these muffins in winter when pumpkin spice vibes are at their peak: “I often eat these as a snack before my afternoon run. They give me good fuel but are easy on my stomach.”

These muffins are a staple in our household–simple and quick to make, they’re also really adaptable. If you’re looking to cut sugar, using applesauce as a substitute has worked great for me, and I’ll often add a handful of nuts and grated carrot or zucchini. The recipe also works perfectly as a loaf–the smell of it cooking will have you adding it to your weekly rotation.

Emma Coburn’s Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2 tsp ground ginger

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup sour cream

1 15 oz (425g) can pumpkin

Directions

Preheat the oven to 180 C (350 F). Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salad, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger.

In a large bowl, combine the eggs, oil, sour cream and pumpkin. Stir until well combined. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture, and stir until just combined.

Evenly distribute the batter amount in the 12 muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean.

Emma’s tip: use a spring-action ice cream scoop for an easy, tidy way to fill muffin cups.

(11/24/2022) Views: 648 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne
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Four ideas for recycling your retired running shoes

Goodbyes are tough, especially when it comes to your running shoes. Shoes are arguably the most important part of your running wardrobe, which is why runners spend so much time and money looking for the right pair.

The memories and money associated with running shoes are what make throwing them away hard, but there are a few ways to extend their lifespan.

On average, runners should replace their shoes after about 600 to 800 kilometers. That said, how long your shoes last depends on cushioning, structure and durability. Any aches and pains may also indicate it’s time for a new pair of shoes. Usually, this occurs because soles are compressed and no longer provide the same level of cushioning and shock absorption, increasing the stress on your muscles and joints.

1) Treat them as a trophy

If your shoes helped you run your first marathon or complete your first sub-20 5K, take a Sharpie and write the total mileage run in the shoes and its significance to you. Record the race name, date and time, and any other events. Those who aren’t runners may think it is odd house decor, but other runners are bound to think it’s a neat idea. If you don’t want to keep the entire shoe, cut out the tongue and write the info on there. 

2) Relegate them to the gym 

Just because the cushioning may be shot for running, it doesn’t mean they can’t be worn while you lift weights or use the Stairmaster in the gym. Unless there are holes in the soles or a carbon plate… your old runners should be fine to walk around the gym, doing non-impact exercises. 

3) Donate to your local running store

Many independent running stores and Running Room locations across Canada have programs for recycled shoes, giving them to low-income communities or people in need. Contact your local running store and ask if they have a shoe recycling program. With this approach, at least you know they will go to someone in need.

4) Use them for  yard work

The garden is where all good running shoes go to die. Gardening is a strenuous activity, and you need a shoe that’s comfortable and that you’re not afraid to get a little dirty. There is nothing more honorable than grass stains on your old carbon racers.

(11/23/2022) Views: 635 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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Try these short intervals to boost VO2 max

Your VO2 max, the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during dynamic exercise, is an important measure of aerobic fitness. While it’s only one of many factors that determine athletic performance, improving your VO2 max can help you get faster. Short interval sessions are an effective way for runners of any level to target VO2 max and boost speed.

When running short VO2 max intervals, being familiar with running by effort can be useful, especially if you’re using a watch (rather than a chest strap) to monitor heart rate. The lag on your watch won’t accurately report your heart rate during the interval, so focus on running at a hard effort–as fast as you can while maintaining the same effort throughout the entire interval session.

This takes practice, so don’t worry if you find it challenging to find the right pace at first. You can run these intervals on a track, road or trail.

Short interval workouts

While longer intervals and sprint intervals can also be used to boost VO2 max, these short intervals are a simple, fast way to get into the zone. The recovery time (try to keep moving) will probably feel slightly too short.

Warm up with 10 minutes easy running, and try one of the following, adjusting the number of intervals according to your ability:

30 x 30 seconds hard with a 15-second break

20 x 40 seconds hard with a 20-second break

15 x 60 seconds hard with a 30-second break

Cool down with 10 minutes easy running.

These workouts are all made up of short intervals with very short active recoveries to keep oxygen consumption high throughout the entire session. The first few intervals likely won’t feel too taxing, but the intervals will quickly start to add up, so you’ll feel spent by the time it’s complete.

(11/23/2022) Views: 795 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne
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NCAA champion Katelyn Tuohy signs sponsorship deal with Adidas

On Nov. 22, only three days after Katelyn Tuohy won her first NCAA XC Championship, she announced on her Instagram that she has signed a name, image and likeness (NIL) sponsorship deal with Adidas Running.

“Joining the three stripes fam couldn’t feel more right,” Tuohy said on Instagram. “I am excited to join the Adidas team and their amazing crew of student-athletes.”

Two years ago, all NCAA athletes were prohibited from profiting from their fame, and it was not until July 2021 that NCAA passed a rule allowing student-athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness. Although a NIL deal does not have the same monetary value as a pro deal, it allows an athlete to continue competing at the collegiate level while earning money from their image.

According to the collegiate sports website On3, Tuohy is ranked as the 39th most popular female athlete across all NCAA sports and carries a brand valuation of nearly CAD $100,000. 

Tuohy is one of the best-known distance runners in the NCAA right now due; the third-year student at North Carolina State University is a three-time NCAA champion, winning the 5,000m title last spring and the XC individual and team title at the 2022 NCAA XC Championships.  

She began to make headlines as a high school athlete in 2018 when she set a U.S. high school 5K record of 16:06.87. Tuohy also won the Gatorade Athlete of the Year for cross-country, given to the top U.S. high school athlete. She won this award in three of her four years, becoming the only athlete in any sport to accomplish this.

(11/23/2022) Views: 772 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson
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Four tempo sessions you can fit in at lunch

Life can be ridiculously busy at the best of times, and even the most dedicated runner will have occasions where it’s challenging to fit in a scheduled workout. Here, we have four challenging workouts (save these for your harder days) you can fit in before work or on a lunch break, and still have time for a quick shower.

A tempo run involves a prolonged or sustained moderate effort. Tempo sessions are perfect practice for racing, and the key to avoiding injury while doing these is not starting too hard. Coach and author David Roche suggests breaking a tempo session into three parts: for the first third, focus on running smoothly. On the second section, think relaxed, and for the final section, think fast(er).

“A perfect tempo gets slightly faster as it goes, but is enjoyable until the very last push at the end (when you might even sprint for one minute if you’re feeling strong),” says Roche.

Short tempo run

10 minutes easy running to warm up

21-minute tempo run at moderate effort

10 minutes easy running to cool down, with 4 x 30 seconds fast mixed in

Broken-up tempo workout

10 minutes easy running to warm up

2 x 10 minutes tempo run (moderate) with 5-minute jog recovery in between

10 minutes easy running with 4 x 30 seconds fast mixed in

Simple tempo repeats

10 minutes easy running to warm up

 

3 x 8 minutes tempo run at moderate effort, 3-minutes easy recovery running in between

10 minutes easy running to cool down

Longer (still short) tempo run

5–10 minutes easy running to warm up

30 minutes tempo run at moderate effort

5 minutes easy running to cool down

Roche adds a suggestion for time-crunched athletes–don’t let the need for the perfect workout get in the way of a simply good or even OK run.  “If you only have a few minutes on a workout day, mix in some unstructured intervals where you can’t fail–in other words, don’t try to hit particular splits, but run based on effort and leave the watch at home,” says Roche.

Get out there and do what you can, even if time is limited. You’ll feel better than if you did nothing at all, and consistency pays off. Remember to follow a hard workout session with an easy running or recovery day.

(11/23/2022) Views: 692 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne
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Kilian Jornet’s favorite fuel: you’ll feel like you’re ready to summit Everest

Arguably the GOAT of ultrarunning, 2022 UTMB and Hardrock champ Kilian Jornet lives in Norway with his partner (and fellow pro runner) Emilie Forsberg, where they grow their own vegetables and use them to create nutritious meals. They love these bean and lentil burgers, and you will too–full of protein and adaptable to every season.

Forsberg shares the recipe in her book Skyrunner: the burgers take less than ten minutes to prep, and work as a side or main dish. Forsberg writes: “I can eat these anytime, in summer with a light salad and roasted or grilled root vegetables, or in autumn or winter with tasty mashed potatoes, olive oil and salt.” Forsberg and Jornet eat mostly plant-based meals, and the combo of beans and lentils in these burgers packs a perfect plant-based protein punch.

Emelie’s bean and lentil burgers (makes 12 larger burgers)

Ingredients

1¾ cup cooked black beans

¾ cup cooked green lentils

¾ cup cooked red lentils

1 egg

3 Tbsp cornmeal

½ to 1 finely chopped onion

Salt and pepper

Other spices, like turmeric or chili powder, to taste

Olive oil for frying

Directions

Mix everything in a blender or food processor. Form the batter into burgers; fry in olive oil.

(11/22/2022) Views: 704 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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Turkey’s Yasemin Can and Burundi’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo claim Italica titles

Turkey’s Yasemin Can and Burundi’s Thierry Ndikumwenayo secured respective victories at the Cross Internacional de Itálica on the outskirts of Seville in what was the sixth World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold meeting of the season, on a sunny and pleasant Sunday (20).

While Can prevailed over Uganda's Peruth Chemutai in a thrilling clash, Ndikumwenayo unleashed a sprint victory over his training partner Rodrigue Kwizera and a star-studded line-up.

The women’s contest was held over the slightly longer distance of 10.1km, but that was no barrier for Olympic steeplechase champion Chemutai, who took control of the race from the start. After just one minute into the race, only Kenya’s Purity Chepkirui and Nancy Jepleting, Yasemin Can and Ethiopia's Meselu Berhe managed to stay close to the 23-year-old Ugandan. Berhe was the first casualty as she began to lose ground before the second kilometer.

While Chemutai made most of the pacing duties at 3:18/km pace, 2021 world U20 1500m champion Chepkirui ran closest to her shoulder with four-time European cross-country champion Can in third and Jepleting in fourth. The first serious move came just before the fourth kilometer when Chemutai's relentless rhythm began to pay off as firstly Jepleting and then Chepkirui began to falter, leaving Can as Chemutai’s only rival.

Way behind the top-five, Spain's Isabel Barreiro, the winner in Amorebieta, headed a five-woman chase pack which also included steeplechase specialists Irene Sánchez-Escribano and Olympic finalist Carolina Robles, plus 5000m specialists Marta García and Portugal's Mariana Machado.

After successive 2.5km loops of 7:56 and 7:54, Can decided to take charge of the race, moving ahead of Chemutai with Chepkirui 14 seconds in arrears. Midway through the penultimate lap, Barreiro injected a brisker pace in pursuit of Jepleting and Berhe.

Can and Chemutai, timed at 8:01 for the penultimate lap, were locked in battle as they set off on the final lap. The Ugandan, who placed fifth at the 2019 World Cross in Aarhus, tried to get rid of Can on an uphill section with 750 meters remaining, but the Turk held off her challenge to regain the lead, launch her attack some 450 meters from home, eventually crossing the finish line unopposed in 32:31 to the Ugandan's 32:34.

More than a minute further back, Chepkirui secured third place while Barreiro displayed the form of her life as she passed Jepleting and Berhe to finish fourth. A fast-finishing García was a creditable fifth as she pipped Berhe in the home straight.

At the finish line, Can expressed her happiness at the win and felt optimistic about her chances at the European Cross Country Championships in Turin on 11 December, the day of her 26th birthday.

Ndikumwenayo maintains momentum

The men's race started with Spain's 2017 European cross-country silver medalist Adel Mechaal at the front of the pack. The 32-year-old led a large group with all the main favorites such as Ndikumwenayo, his fellow Burundian Rodrigue Kwizera and the Kenyan pair of Stanley Waithaka and Levy Kibet in close attendance.

With the clock reading 11:00, the in-form Ndikumwenayo moved to the front for the first time to head a group of eight. Ndikumwenayo heated up the pace as the leading group covered the second lap in 7:09 for the opening cicuit's 7:21. By halfway, Spain's world 1500m bronze medalist Mohamed Katir was in second place ahead of Kwizera and Waithaka, but midway through the penultimate circuit Eritrea's Merhawi Mebrahtu took the lead and his frantic pace whittled down the lead group to six men. After another swift lap, which only took 7:04, Kwizera led at the bell with Ndikumwenayo and Katir closest to him.

The Castellón-based Kwizera pushed hard throughout the closing lap, setting a cadence that Katir could not maintain before entering the final kilometer. Shortly afterwards, 19-year-old Mebrahtu lost any chance of a podium place and the race became a double Burundian-Kenyan affair, a duel resolved in favor of the former as Kwizera and Ndikumwenayo managed to build a sizeable margin on the Kenyan pair some 500 meters from home.

The two leaders completed the final lap in a brisk 6:50 before negotiating the tricky final bend. Once again, Ndikumwenayo – who ran a world-leading 7:25:93 for 3000m earlier this year – produced a speedy finish and prevailed over Kwizera, but only just as both were credited with the same time, 28:51. Six seconds back, Kibet took third place after overtaking Waithaka in the closing stages.

“This is my third win a row this cross country season,” said a delighted Ndikumwenayo. “I'm surprised because I only began to train a couple two months ago after the summer break but I feel great both physically and mentally. I'll now stop competing and will do a 25-day training camp in the altitude of Sierra Nevada (3479m). My next event might be a New Year’s Eve race in Spain but it's not confirmed yet.”

Leading results

Women

1.- Yasemin Can (TUR) 32:31

2.- Peruth Chemutai (UGA) 32:34

3.- Purity Chepkirui (KEN) 33:47

4.- Isabel Barreiro (ESP) 33:57

5.- Marta García (ESP) 34:07

6.- Meselu Berhe (ETH) 34:08

7.- Carolina Robles (ESP) 34:11

Men

1.- Thierry Ndikumwenayo (BDI) 28:51

2.- Rodrigue Kwizera (BDI) 28:51

3.- Levy Kibet (KEN) 28:57

4.- Stanley Waithaka (KEN) 29:00

5.- Merhawi Mebrahtu (ERI) 29:08

6.- Mohamed Katir (ESP) 29:17

7.- Nassim Hassaous (ESP) 29:27.

(11/22/2022) Views: 656 ⚡AMP
by World Athletics
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Cross internacional de Italica

Cross internacional de Italica

The Cross Internacional de Itálica is an annual cross country running competition it will be held on 21st of November in Santiponce, near Seville, Spain. Inaugurated in 1982, the race course is set in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Italica. As one of only two Spanish competitions to hold IAAF permit meeting status, it is one of...

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Top U.S. decathlete banned three years for doping-related offences

The top-ranked U.S. decathlete, Garrett Scantling, who finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, has been suspended for three years by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for a possible tampering violation stemming from his third out-of-c0mpetition whereabouts failure. Scantling will miss the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Scantling, 29, has the world-leading decathlon score of 8,867 points from the U.S. Combined Event Championships in May. He was one of the favourites to medal at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Ore., but was provisionally suspended on whereabouts only days before it began.

On June 27, according to the USADA, Scantling committed his third whereabouts failure in 12 months, triggering a two-year ban.

During an investigation into his third potential whereabouts failure, Scantling also sent an email protesting his innocence, and was hit with a tampering violation.

Scantling got a one-year reduction for admitting the violation and accepting the sanction within 20 days of being notified of the alleged charge. This ban will leave him out of competition until 2025.

“Unfortunately, there is no leniency for being forgetful. You have to accept responsibility and move on,” Scantling said on social media after the provisional ban.

According to the USADA, Scantling was successfully tested nine times between his first whereabouts failure and his provisional suspension.

“The rules keeping sport fair and clean can be inconvenient, but athletes fulfilling their obligations under the rules is critical to protect the integrity of competition for all,” said USADA chief executive Travis Tygart in a press release.

(11/22/2022) Views: 630 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson
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How hard should your hard workouts actually be?

Most of us have come across a workout that tells us to ‘run hard’ for a prescribed length of time and wondered what, exactly, a hard effort constitutes. Is it a sprint? 5K pace? A half marathon pace? Should it just feel tough? All of these efforts can seem hard given enough duration. Many runners now follow the general rule of 80/20, but how hard should that 20 per cent actually be?

Like most great running (and life) questions, the answer falls somewhere firmly in the ‘it depends’ realm. Performance coach and author Steve Magness points to philosopher Nassim Taleb’s barbell strategy of economics when he explains that we should spend most of our time on either extreme (where the weight would be on a barbell) and stay away from the middle. In deciding how challenging your workouts should be, the same principle applies.

Eighty per cent of our workouts should be on the low-risk, low-reward side

This area is where consistency comes in (I know, I know, we said we’d talk about hard workouts–bear with me here). Magness has outlined his take on easy vs. hard efforts repeatedly, and his explanation seems to work for most runners, whether you’re training for a 5K PB or an ultra.

You’ll be able to run your hard workouts hard if you keep your easy sessions easy–easy workouts are simple, and you are able to accomplish them regularly without risk of falling apart in the workout. This builds a base, fosters good habits, and the workouts are what Magness calls “safe, consistent, small behavioral changers.”

Avoid the middle area

The middle of the barbell, where you log medium effort and gain medium rewards, should be avoided for the most part. If you’re like most runners, the middle ground is where you’ll naturally try to run, and it takes practice to both run slowly on easy days and put in serious efforts on challenging days.

As a coach, I was taught that the middle ground gives you the least bang for your buck. Running slowly most of the time has a multitude of benefits, allows us to recover quickly and will leave room for us to really push in the hard workouts we do; we follow a hard workout by recovering appropriately (or running easily).

Twenty per cent should be harder; with a few workouts a year extremely hard

Magness explains that the remaining 20 per cent of your workouts, your harder workouts, are tough but doable. For many athletes following a training plan these will make up one to two workouts a week.

Paces and efforts may be described as moderate, medium-hard, or hard, and you should feel like you’re putting in work–for a short interval session, this might mean you’ll feel slightly out of breath.

For a long interval session, this may mean you’re working hard to maintain a slightly faster-than-is-comfortable pace over a 15–20 minute stretch. Getting to know your ‘hard’ efforts takes practice, and it can help to ask yourself (or your coach, if you have one) what the goal or intention behind each specific workout is.

A few times a year, Magness recommends going really hard. “What I’d call a perspective changer, or as my athletes refer to as ‘see god days,'” Magness explains. “During these workouts, we want to go as hard as we can, and if we fail that’s OK. It’s all about seeing where our limits are and pushing our perspective of what is hard.”

By mixing the two extremes, the smaller moderately stressful workouts allow us to cement some of the changes from the perspective-changing workouts. Hard is different for everyone and may be different for you on two separate workout days depending on a multitude of factors (the amount of rest you’ve had, mental stressors, the weather).

You’ll become familiar with how challenging your speedwork should be through practice, and once you’ve experienced a ‘go see God’ workout, you’ll never forget the feeling.

(11/22/2022) Views: 643 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne
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Tops Six dos and don´ts of running

Do you want to start running? Or you’ve been running for years? No matter whether you’re a beginner or a pro, these dos and don’ts could help you get more out of your running.

DOS:

1. START OUT SLOWLY

Naturally, you are very motivated at the beginning and want to reach your goal as fast as possible. So what happens? You start off too fast and overexertion, side stitches, and pain are the price you pay for overdoing it. Your body needs time to get used to running. Therefore, run the first kilometer at a moderate pace, i.e. where you can easily hold a conversation. That way you won’t burn yourself out on your long runs.

2. ADD VARIETY TO YOUR RUNNING WORKOUTS

If you always run the same loop at the same pace, at some point you will plateau and stop making progress. Break out of your comfort zone and mix up your workout routine! You can challenge your body in new ways with a variety of running workouts like interval and tempo runs, hill sprints or running on different surfaces.

Also, how about doing some cross training with strength training or other endurance sports?

3. SCHEDULE REST DAYS

Your rest days are just as important as running regularly. Make sure to get plenty of recovery. You don’t want to be tired and exhausted, especially when you are just starting a new training plan, otherwise you will get demotivated quickly. 

DON’TS:

1. EAT A BIG MEAL BEFORE YOUR WORKOUT

You order a big cheeseburger and fries although you have an afternoon run planned? This is definitely the wrong food choice and will slow you down during your training. You won’t be setting a new personal best on that day! Fatty, high-fiber and spicy foods are all a bad idea before running. A high-carb snack like a small bowl of oatmeal or a banana gives you the power you need without weighing you down. Also, make sure to leave plenty of time between when you eat and when you start your run.

2. HIT THE ROAD WITHOUT WARMING UP

A warm-up is designed to prepare your muscles for the upcoming workout. Warming up properly can improve your performance and prevent injuries. You can find the best stretches for warming up before a run on the adidas Runtastic Blog.

3. NEVER CHANGE YOUR SHOES

Running shoes also have an expiration date. Just think of how many kilometers you put on them in a year. There are several factors that influence the lifespan of your running shoes such as your weight, the age of the shoe, your running form, your shoe size, the shoe model and the surfaces you run on. As a rule of thumb, you should change your running shoes every 500 km (300 miles). This helps you avoid injuries.

(11/21/2022) Views: 780 ⚡AMP
by Adidas Runtastic
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Nervous before your race? Try Christmas music

I know the headline may seem odd, but trust me, it’s like ketchup and pizza–don’t knock it until you try it. Ultrarunner and 24-hour American record holder Nick Coury said on a recent podcast that he always listens to Christmas music before races to help him stay relaxed.

“Not many of you know this but before all my races, I listen to Christmas music,” said Coury. “I find it soothing and that it helps me feel grounded and happy.”

The ultrarunner is something of an authority on some esoteric things, like how to negative-split an ultra, something he attributes his success to being able to do. So we trust him on this.

“It stops my adrenaline from spiking or going out too fast,” said Coury. “It’s put me where I want to be for the first few kilometres of a race.”

At first, like many of you reading this, I thought it was odd. After I gave it a chance on my morning run, I couldn’t agree more. There’s something about Michael Bublé or Bing Crosby’s voice that calms your nerves and helps you feel a little more relaxed. 

Research has shown that listening to music can affect the rhythm of your stride and effort level, so it only makes sense that Christmas music would have a relaxing effect due to its slower BPM.

Coury may need to convince me a little more before I start listening to Mariah Carey at my mid-July track meet.

(11/21/2022) Views: 578 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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Amber Zimmerman captured the Philadelphia Marathon on her home course on a frigid day as Dominic Ondoro, a Kenyan who lives in Texas, won the men's race

As the sun began to light Ben Franklin Parkway and the city’s skyline on Sunday morning, spectators and competitors were warming up for the coldest Philadelphia Marathon since 1994. Hands and feet were cold, and even contact lenses froze.

Yet spirits prevailed as the city showed up for those who prepared for this day months in advance.

“I had a phenomenal group of people that last half mile before we made that turn up Kelly Drive, and that saved my life,” said women’s winner Amber Zimmerman, who recently moved to the city.

The temperature at the start was 35 degrees, but the wind made it feel like the low 20s. Eleven miles of the marathon were concentrated in Center City, blocking the wind somewhat. However, at the finish, the wind was fierce along Boathouse Row and Kelly Drive.

“The race was good, but there was a lot of wind,” said men’s champion Dominic Ondoro, who thought he was slowing down because of the gusts. “I enjoyed the course.” The Kenyan runner who lives in Texas broke away from the pack in the last few miles, finishing in 2 hours, 14 minutes, 20 seconds, followed by Gilmar Lopes of Brazil and Bernard Kiprop Koech of Kenya.

Zimmerman triumphed in 2:31:35, her new personal best. Maegan Krifchin of Long Island was second and Fantu Zewude Jifar of Ethiopia took third.

“They’re great runners and they’re brave runners,” Zimmerman said. “And I thought, you know, I’m going to try to be a brave runner to put myself in it.”

In the first half of the race, Zimmerman said she felt strong but hit a wall in Manayunk where her body started hurting. Nevertheless, she pushed to the finish, knowing that others were close behind. A regular runner since 7 years old, she posted her first win in her new city.

“I was thinking about that this week. I get a little bit teary about it,” she said when asked about her journey. “I really tailored my training. I coached myself and I played around with a lot of harder, longer runs, and that really worked out for me this time. I’ve been trying to make myself tougher.”

First-place finishers take home $10,000, plus an extra $1,000 for Zimmerman as a Philadelphian. What will she spend it on? Her blue heeler Doughnut (an Australian cattle dog), she said, pointing to her socks featuring blue doughnuts.

“He’s really sweet and I told him I was going to run this race for him and I was going to win for him,” Zimmerman, who ran at the University of New Mexico.

This year’s marathon was a notable one for the city, as a nonbinary category was added for the first time. Fifty-five runners registered in the category and race director Kathleen Titus said he believes it will grow in years to come, along with prize money for these athletes as well as para-athletes.

“You look at it and it’s a city of diversity as well as adaptivity,” she said. “... Whatever type of an athlete you are, if you’re a runner, we want you to feel that you can come to Philadelphia and participate as you are, in the ability that you are.”

The city also cheered on its first marathon long boarder, Chris Koch, who completed his 13th marathon. The 40-year-old Canadian was born with a partially developed right leg and foot. Shortly after he pedaled across the finish line, he joked, “I couldn’t feel my fingers the whole time.”

Koch completed his first marathon in 2016. “I guess I’m a glutton for punishment,” he said. “It’s a great challenge. I’m a motivational speaker and I encourage people to keep raising the bar and keep pushing themselves. I don’t want to be just talking the big talk.”

Sporting a Bobby Clarke Flyers jersey and blacked-out front teeth, Koch looked the Philly part. After visiting the city when he was speaking nearby, he decided to add it to his marathon list.

“I literally boarded out Ben Franklin Parkway to the Rocky stairs, climbed up the Rocky stairs,” he said. “... I’ve always found marathons [to be] a neat way to see the city.” Koch plans to attend the Flyers-Calgary Flames game at the Wells Fargo Center on Monday night.

Celebrations are in order for Koch and all the finishers. Runners will travel back home, rewind on the Thanksgiving holiday, and return to the grind soon enough.

When asked if she would be running on Monday, Zimmerman said she is probably going to walk. Probably.

(11/20/2022) Views: 764 ⚡AMP
by Bridget Reilly
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Philadelphia Marathon and Half

Philadelphia Marathon and Half

Have the time of your life in 2022 completing 13.11 miles! Runners will start along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in the cultural Museum District and wind through Philadelphia’s most scenic and historic neighborhoods. From the history-steeped streets of Old City, through one of the liveliest stretches of Center City, across the Schuylkill River...

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Sarah Biehl delivers historic performance at 60th annual JFK 50

The 60th annual edition of America’s oldest ultramarathon deserved a special performance, and Sarah Biehl (first photo) more than delivered Saturday Nov 19 at the JFK 50 Mile.

Biehl, 28, of Columbus, Ohio, smashed the women’s race, running away with the victory in a course-record time of 6:05:42 while finishing 11th overall. The previous mark of 6:12:00 was set by ultrarunning legend Ellie Greenwood in 2012.

“Oh my gosh, she was a mile ahead of the record Ellie Greenwood set 10 years ago that nobody had come within five minutes of,” JFK 50 Mile director Mike Spinnler said. “You know, and I hate to do this, gender vs. gender, but it may be the greatest performance in JFK history. 

“Ellie Greenwood was the world champion, Ellie Greenwood won Comrades, Ellie Greenwood won Western States, and she beat Ellie Greenwood’s record by a mile. And we know how hard Ellie had to run that day to win because she was chased. It’s just remarkable and inspiring. She just missed the top 10 overall, and it was the best men’s field ever. Amazing.”

In his JFK debut, Garrett Corcoran, 26, of Salt Lake City, Utah, won the men’s title in 5:29:47 — the No. 5 performance in race history.

Overall, 966 runners reached the finish line within the 13-hour time limit.

For Biehl, this was her third straight JFK. She was the women’s runner-up last year in 6:22:03 after placing fifth in 2020 in 7:22:32 in her ultramarathon debut.

“At the end of the day, I wanted to win,” Biehl said. “Coming here last year and getting second, that was awesome. But after getting second, you have the goal of winning, so that was my main priority. But I also had the course record in mind, too, and the splits and where I needed to be.”

By the time she came off the rocky Appalachian Trail at 15.5 miles, her lead over second place was over 13 minutes. Over the next 26.3 miles on the C&O Canal towpath, the margin increased to more than 19 minutes, and she only continued to add to it over the final 8.4 miles of paved roads to Springfield Middle School.

“I’m ecstatic right now,” Biehl said. “I’m a little in shock, to be honest.”

Caitriona Jennings (third photo), 42, of Ireland, finished second in 6:28:53 — the JFK’s No. 8 all-time women’s performance and a masters (40-and-over) record.

Jennings competed in the marathon at the 2012 London Olympics and was fresh off two big-time ultramarathon efforts, placing first in the European 50K championships last month after taking third at the 100K World Championships in August.

She went into her JFK debut Saturday with the same goal as Biehl’s  — a course-record victory.

“I struggled from the start, pretty much. It just wasn’t my day,” Jennings said. “But fair play to Sarah, she had an absolute stormer. Wow, so impressive, amazing. 

“It’s a lovely course. I was hoping I’d enjoy it more,” she added. “For some reason, I just couldn’t settle. It was a harder race than I expected. I’ve had two tough races in the last (few months), but I’m not making excuses. I was beaten fair and square. Maybe I expected too much of myself today. But you win some, you lose some. That’s what sport is. It just makes the good days all the better.”

Shea Aquilano, 21, of Carmel, Ind., placed third in 6:40:40.

Sub-4:00 miler wins men’s title (second photo).

Corcoran, who used to live in Baltimore, retuned to his former home state with some flair — including running shorts with the Maryland flag design.

“Dude, I’m out here, I’ve got the shorts, I’ve got to rep, right?” he said. “I know where I’m at, and I know I’ll get a lot of love for this.”

Corcoran, who ran a 3:59 mile in college, showed that speed kills at any distance.

“It feels like another life when I ran sub-4:00. I was 19 years old,” he said. “It’s been a fun journey. When I graduated from college, I just about hung up the running shoes, and didn’t really know what I was going to do. 

“I moved to Baltimore for work, and kind of realized it was the best way to have a good social life, at least for me, so I joined a running club, the Falls Road Running Club, and I made a lot of good friends. And once the pandemic hit, all the races got canceled, and I started dragging a friend of mine in Baltimore on these really long runs. I had so much fun and really got into the ultra distance.

“The JFK was a good excuse to come back and see some friends.”

Corcoran took the lead on the towpath around Mile 31 and never relinquished it.

“There was an aid station at 30.5, and (Matthew Seidel), who ended up getting fourth, he was just ahead of me,” Corcoran said. “He turned around and saw me not far behind him and walked for a little bit and then started running with me. He was like, ‘Hey, let’s run together, man. Let’s work together.’ And then, like a quarter-mile later, I just kind of floated away from him. I was like, ‘I guess it’s me by myself now. Hope nobody catches me.’”

Makai Clemons, 26, of San Diego, closed hard to take second in 5:32:19, finishing less than 3 minutes behind Corcoran after trailing him by more than 9 minutes at the end of the towpath section at 41.8 miles.

“I’ve been watching his training on Strava, and he’s been throwing down some filthy workouts,” Corcoran said of Clemons. “I was telling him after the race that he was one of the guys that was on my radar.”

Preston Cates, 25, of Flagstaff, Ariz., placed third in 5:33.23. Overall, eight men finished under 6 hours, a JFK record.

“Back in my generation, we always wondered what would happen if a 28-minute 10,000-meter runner or a sub-4-minute miler started doing the trails,” said Spinnler, a two-time JFK champ who lowered the course record to 5:53:05 in 1982.

"And now they’re doing it. The prize money, the national teams, the international competitions, it’s all there — all the incentive that wasn’t there a generation ago is there. All of the sudden, the sub-4-minute milers are coming to the sport. We had two of them in the race today, and we also had two Olymians. It’s so exciting for the future of the sport.”

Canadian Reid Coolsaet, a two-time Olympic marathoner, ran near the front before dropping out on the towpath.

(11/20/2022) Views: 731 ⚡AMP
by Andy Mason
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Eilish McColgan was named Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year giving her four awards in four days

Eilish McColgan won gold in the women’s 10,000m at this summer’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham

Eilish McColgan was on Thursday night named Sportswoman of the Year at The Sunday Times Sportswomen of the Year awards, in association with Citi. McColgan won 10,000m gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham during the summer, and in doing so broke the Games record set by her mother, Liz, 32 years earlier.

Elish Twitted "Thank you!!! 

This has been such a crazy week. 4 awards in 4 days! 

BT Sportswoman, Sunday Times Sportswoman, Scottish Women in Sport Athlete of the Year and now BASC Athlete of the Year! ??

Thank you!"

"One of the most exciting races I have ever watched was the Commonwealth's 10000m when Eilish pulled away over the last stretch to win gold," says MBR publisher Bob Anderson.  "I was not there but I have watched that video at least 20 times and for sure will watch it many more times. She is so deserving of all the awards she has received.  Well done and we can't wait to watch what's next." 

Eilish McColgan (born 25 November 1990) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2022 Commonwealth Games 10,000 metreschampion with the Games record, and 5000 metres silver medallist.

McColgan is a four-time European Championships medallist, winning silver medals for the 5000 m in 2018 and 10,000 m in 2022, bronze in the 5000 m in 2022, and a bronze for the indoor 3000 metres in 2017.

She holds the European record in the 10 km road race, and British records for the 5000 m, 5 km and half marathon. She also holds the European best in the 10 miles on the roads.

(11/20/2022) Views: 794 ⚡AMP
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New York City Marathon Finisher Ashton Kutcher Is Training His Kids for a 5K

Inspired by his race in the Big Apple, the actor wants to share the sport with his family. Kutcher’s wife, actress Mila Kunis, told People that their kids, Wyatt, 8, and Dimitri, 5, were so inspired cheering for their dad in New York that they wanted to lace up, too.

The kids have already logged a half-mile to kickstart their training. Ashton Kutcher, 44, ran the New York Marathon for Thorn, a charity he started that protects children from trafficking and online child sexual abuse. He raised more than $1 million, part of which came from leading a virtual Peloton series during which he ran alongside celebs, including Kim Kardashian and Kenny Chesney. 

He was one of many celebrities to finish the New York City marathon this year. 

When asked if Kunis will log miles with her family she told People, “I can lie and be like, ‘Absolutely!’ But I’m not.”As many runners can relate, Ashton Kutcher was feeling the finish-line high after last week’s New York City marathon. Since his sub-4 hour finish, the actor has brought his kids into the running fold by starting to train them for a 5K, according to People. 

(11/20/2022) Views: 852 ⚡AMP
by Runner’s World
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Pregnant runners: research says it’s safe to continue into the third trimester

Exercise physiologist and nutrition scientist Dr. Stacy Sims has recently debunked some pregnancy and exercise myths on social media, providing reassurance to people who are already runners, or pregnant individuals wondering if it’s OK to begin exercising.

Sims has also written extensively on the topic on her blog, and cites multiple recent studies, sharing that not only is it safe for runners or those who already have an exercise routine to continue throughout pregnancy, but that women can safely introduce activity into their lives after finding out they are pregnant.

Research has shown that gradually adding exercise to their daily lives can benefit the health of both pregnant people and their babies–Sims suggests walking if you weren’t exercising before pregnancy.

While it was long believed that vigorous exercise during pregnancy is harmful to fetal growth and development, a growing body of research (including a 2019 meta-analysis of more than 32,000 pregnant people) found that vigorous exercise into the third trimester not only didn’t adversely affect birth outcomes but had positive results. Vigorous exercisers had a lower risk of premature labor.

Exercise also appears to be good for growing baby’s lungs, according to a recent study demonstrating that a pregnant person’s physical activity is linked to the lung function in their offspring after birth. Researchers found that babies born to inactive mothers were more likely to be in the group with the lowest lung function, compared to babies born to active mothers.

Sims, who even did a low-intensity cycling workout the day before she gave birth, offers suggestions for pregnant mothers who want to exercise, noting that “the body is inherently smart.” She advises listening to your body and adjusting workouts according to how you feel and how your body changes.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)  also recommends that people with uncomplicated pregnancies are encouraged to engage in aerobic and strength-conditioning exercises before, during, and after pregnancy.

(11/20/2022) Views: 741 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne
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How fast could Uncle Chen run a marathon without smoking?

Earlier this week, we broke the story of the 50-year-old Chinese superstar, Uncle Chen, running a three-hour and 28-minute marathon while chain-smoking cigarettes. His result went viral, making international headlines around the world while being satirically depicted to some as “a hero” and “a generational athlete.”

I have been asked two questions since writing the story: how great is his time? And what time would he run if he did not smoke? I crunched Chen’s 3:28:45 marathon into an age-grade calculator and speculated about how much the smoking held him back.

Chen’s age-graded time (while smoking)

Let’s start with the achievement. His 3:28-marathon would nearly have qualified him for the 2023 Boston Marathon for his age group, which has a qualifying time of 3:25:00 for men aged 50 to 54. When we stuck Chen’s (smoking) time into a running age-grade calculator, which compares your time against the world record for that particular age bracket, Chen’s time scored 66 per cent.

Chen’s age-graded time would be 3:07 (which is excellent).

How much did smoking hold Uncle Chen back?

Now, the hard part. Unfortunately, to my knowledge, there is no smoking-graded running calculator out there, but we can speculate. According to our previous article and the comments on Weibo, Chen only smokes when he runs. What we don’t know is the exact number of cigarettes he had during the marathon.

The photos showed Chen huffing at least two cigarettes, so let’s work with that number.

Running coach, physician and the author of Lore of Running, Tim Noakes, found that smoking (a single cigarette) can reduce running performance by 10 to 15 percent.

Although having one or two cigarettes probably will not do any long-term damage, inhaling a significant amount of carbon dioxide in a short period causes your muscles and airways to tighten up. Tight airways can lead to shortness of breath and wheezing, which are not ideal for marathon running.

On top of that, smoking increases your heart rate, and as a result, less blood reaches your muscles, which leads to fatigue. Other cardiovascular research indicates that a person’s heart rate can jump by around 30 per cent after one cigarette. This means Chen’s heart is working harder than it usually would on a run.

Extrapolating from Noakes’s research, we determined that the cigarettes probably hindered his performance by 15 to 25 minutes. So if he weren’t smoking, his marathon time would likely be between 3:03 and 3:13. 

Smoking or not, it’s still a decent time for a 50-year-old.

(11/19/2022) Views: 613 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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Peter Mburu and Zachariah Kirika ruled the 15th KATA Time Trail this morning in Thika

The 15th Kenyan Athletics Training Academy Time-Trials were held in Thika Kenya on Saturday. Peter Mburu and Zachariah Kirika came first in 10k and 5k respectively. 

Peter retained the title he won in October in a time of 29:43.8 without big challenge as his would-be opponent Zachariah ruled the 5k category in 14:25.9.

Newcomer Jonathan Korir from Ngong finished second in the 10km clocking 30:19.1 with upcoming Raphael Gacheru timing 30:31.8 for bronze.

42-year-old Paul Ng’ang’a was first master clocking 34:42.

In 5Km, Erick Mutuku came second to Zachariah after crossing the finish line in 15:07.9 where Levis Kuria sealed the podium in 15:08.8.

In women, Caren Chepkemoi came first in the 10Km category in a Personal Best time of 36:49.9 followed by come-back Kellen Waithera who managed 37:53.9 while new-find Lilian Musenya led in 5Km in 21:10.9. Hannah Njeri clocked 26:30.6 to finish second.

The KATA Time-Trial, initially programmed to be held on the Track, were held on the 5Km loop after heavy rain made the track unusable.

The December trial, to be held on the track, will take place on 14th and will feature 10,000m and 5,000m respectively.

NAME                       BIB            AGE             TIME

               10Km

1. Peter Mburu       105            24                29:43.8

2. Jonathan Korir     104            28                30:19.1

3. Raphael Gacheru 217           23                30: 31.8

4. Peter Wanyoike   92              26                30:42.2

5. Eston Mugo         87              29                31:02.5

6. Boniface Mungai 100            24               31:06.7

7. Evans Kiguru         82              27               31:16.2

8. Dennis Nyaga       86              24               32:03.0

9. Anthony Mukundi 80            34             32:43.4

10. Paul Ng’ang’a     98             42          34:42.3

11. Caren Chepkemoi 94         19                  36:49.9

12. Kellen Waithera  88           34                  37:53.8

 

 

      5Km

1.Zachariah Kirika    209         21                  14:25.9

2. Erick Mutuku       443         21                  15:07.9

3. Levis Kuria            96           21                  15:08.8

4. Fredrick Kiprotich 78         23                  15:11.3

5. Alfred Kamande   90         24                   16:07.6

6. Michael Mualuko 103       18                    16:33.3

7. John Mutiso         101       18                    17:13.4

8. Samuel Muiruri   72          27                    17:22.1

9. Amos Chirchir     102        22                    18:20.9

10. Lilian Musenya   81         21                    21:10.9

11. Hannah Njeri      78         23                    26:30.6

 

(11/19/2022) Views: 889 ⚡AMP
by Coach Joseph Ngure
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KATA Time Trial Series

KATA Time Trial Series

The Kenyan Athletics Training Academy (KATA) in Thika Kenya stages a monthly time trial. Starting Sept 2021 this monthly event is open to anyone who would like to get an official time on a acurant course. Results will be published at My Best Runs so race directors and other interested people can see what kind of shape our participants are...

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22-year-old runs across Long Island, N.Y., advocating for gun reform

Last weekend, a Queens, N.Y. man ran 120 miles (193 km) from Manhattan to Montauk, at the tip of Long Island, over two days. His goal was to raise $15,000 for Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit organization that advocates for gun law reform.

During his 48-hour run, Matthew Fertig, 22, raised more than $8,000 on his GoFundMe page. He was inspired to make a difference in response to the shooting deaths of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. on Feb. 14, 2018. 

“I was a senior in high school when the Parkland shooting happened, and I know several people that lost friends and family that day,” Fertig says. “Sadly, four years later, we have made a little progress in the fight to prevent gun violence, but not enough.” 

Everytown for Gun Safety was founded in 2013 to educate the public about the harmful effects of illegal guns and to reduce gun violence in the United States. The organization assists local governments and agencies with effective education policies to fight against illegal guns.

Many of Fertig’s friends and family came out to support him on his run, with several taking part in at least one leg of his journey. “My goal is to see the federal government pass a commonsense gun reform,” says Fertig. “There should be strict background checks and a ban on the sale of bump stocks and assault rifles.

“I started planning this run two years ago, so it is hard to put into words how meaningful this past weekend was for me,” he says.

(11/19/2022) Views: 499 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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Virginia man runs half-marathon in full football equipment

On Nov. 12, a Virginia man completed the Richmond Half Marathon in an unconventional manner. Rusty Burrell, 37, of Henrico, Va., ran the entire half-marathon dressed head to toe in the University of Richmond football equipment, and even carried a football.

Burrell rushed for a whopping 23,075 yards (21.1 kilometres) and immediately spiked the football when he crossed the finish line in 2:20:54.

This wasn’t Burrell’s first time running a race dressed in a sports uniform. Earlier this year, he ran a 10K dressed as a Washington Nationals baseball player, and then did a 10-miler in Philadelphia dressed as 76ers great Allen Iverson, dribbling a basketball for the entire 10 miles.

Burrell is a former University of Richmond student-athlete who competed in the 400m hurdles and high jump for their track and field program. The idea for this challenge came to him in the summer, for no particular reason. Then he contacted the school’s athletic department to see if it was possible to get the gear.

According to the Richmond Times, the U of R athletic department made a hard pitch for Burrell to run the half-marathon dressed as the school’s mascot, a gray spider named “Webstur”.

“The helmet was the worst,” says Burrell. “My head ached, and the heat inside the helmet was unbearable.” 

Burrell claims he grabbed water at every hydration station to help cool him down from the heat. ‘It sucked, but I finished,” he laughs.

We aren’t sure how getting touchdowns during a half-marathon works. Would they be worth 21 points?

(11/19/2022) Views: 580 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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Cereal Can Fuel Your Running, Just Use These Tips to Find the Healthiest Options

Not just for breakfast, cereal can fuel your runs when eaten before or after the miles.

Cereal is a convenient, quick bite to put together, and because so many options fill the grocery shelves, it’s easy to find a few favorites for a nutritious pre or postrun snack or meal. And even though it’s still called “breakfast cereal,” it’s become much more than just what kids eat before school. But is cereal healthy? According to experts, it definitely can be, especially for runners. 

To help you make the most of your meal, here’s what to know about the health benefits of cereal, plus how to choose a good-for-you option. 

Is cereal healthy?

“A bowl of cereal with milk or yogurt and maybe some fruit provides healthy carbohydrates and protein, which serve you well for fueling before a run or replenishing after a run,” Carrie Dennett, M.P.H., R.D.N., a Washington-based registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Nutrition By Carrie, tells Runner’s World. “It’s a balanced choice that can also work well as a snack, which seems to be how more people are eating ‘breakfast’ cereal nowadays.”

What should you look for in a healthy cereal?

Part of the appeal of cereal is, of course, just pouring as much as you want into your bowl, but because so many cereals have a lot of sugar, it’s important to pay attention to portion sizes. “Remember that the recommended serving size on a package of cereal is intended to be meal size,” says Dennett. You may not need the full serving size, especially if you’re eating it as a snack or adding fruit and milk to the bowl.

To make sure you keep that sugar number in check, read the nutrition facts. “Make sure the cereal has no more than 5 grams of added sugar, or 10 to 12 grams of total sugar, per serving,” Dennett says. Also, a quality cereal will have about 3 to 4 grams of protein per serving, as well as at least 3 grams of fiber.

“Look for one that’s obviously whole grain, such as oatmeal, or labeled as ‘100% whole grain,’” Dennett adds. The first ingredient listed should be a whole-grain, which may be wheat, oats, brown rice, or corn, or ancient grains such as sorghum, quinoa, or millet, she says.

When you find a cereal or two that you like, Dennett encourages you to tune into your body’s cues to fine-tune the right portion size for you. “You want to move away from a rules-based approach: I can only have the serving size stated on the package or a mindless approach: I’ll keep pouring until the bowl is full,” she explains. 

4 Healthy Cereals

Organic Sprouted Whole Grain Cereal-

A mixture of whole grains, including millet and spelt, this cereal provides the carbs with zero sugar. You also get 6 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein. 

GO Breakfast Cereal

Higher in protein than other cereals (11 grams) and fiber (13 grams), this option makes for a good meal postworkout.

Original Wheat Berry Flakes

Containing whole-grain wheat, flax seed, barley malt, and salt—just four ingredients—this cereal packs zero added sugar, 8 grams of protein, and 10 grams of fiber.

Joe's O's

The whole shebang in a bowl—you get fiber (3 grams), protein (3 grams), and whole grain oats as the first ingredient. 

What should you add to cereal to increase health benefits?

Now’s the time to get creative with your cereal. “What you pour over it or mix with it can up the protein even more,” Dennett says. Low-fat cow’s milk is always a good choice as it contains four grams of protein in a half-cup. You can also opt for dairy-free alternatives, or consider yogurt or cottage cheese.

“Yogurt has more protein than milk, with most Greek and Icelandic yogurts having more protein than traditional yogurt,” Dennett explains. “Some people find that their guts are happier with yogurt than with fluid milk—especially with quality yogurts that have been cultured with probiotic bacteria—which may be most important when eating before a run.”

Topping your cereal with fruit, like bananas or berries, also ups the nutrition, Dennett says. Bananas add potassium and berries add vitamin C, as well as disease-fighting antioxidants and filling fiber. The addition of fruit will also help the flavor if you’ve chosen a low-sugar cereal that needs a little sweetness boost, or if you want some sugar to balance the tang of yogurt or blandness of cottage cheese. 

What about fortified cereal?

One benefit of cereals is that they are generally fortified with essential nutrients, such as vitamin D, an important vitamin for bone health, among other benefits. However, just because a cereal is fortified doesn’t mean it’s “healthy,” Dennett adds. Lots of sugary cereals are technically “fortified,” so go back to checking the ingredients and nutrients, before buying one with the fortified stamp.

The bottom line on healthy cereals

No amount of fiber, fruit, or protein will make a cereal right for you if the high fiber, lactose, or other element of your bowl upsets your digestive system. “As with any prerun snack or meal, each runner needs to test a ‘good idea’ against what their body actually tells them,” Dennett says. 

“Running, jogging, or even walking increase gut motility, specifically emptying of the stomach,” Dennett adds. “Movement makes our digestive systems work a little more quickly than they do when we’re sitting still. The standard recommendation is to wait for two to three hours after a meal before going for a run, and also make sure the meal isn’t large or high-fat, which is why cereal, milk, and fruit can work well.”

Ultimately, Dennett concludes, “every runner has to experiment with what works for them, and trust what their body is telling them.”

(11/19/2022) Views: 724 ⚡AMP
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Why you maybe should run intervals over distance workouts in the cold

As the weather gets colder across Canada and snow begins to cover our beloved running tracks and trails, it becomes harder to find places to train. If you don’t have access to a treadmill or indoor track, it’s challenging to do distance repeats outdoors.

Generally, most Canadians are not racing this time of year due to the cold weather and lack of races. But those who plan on racing in the early spring need to get in workouts to keep in touch with their speed and intensity. Instead of worrying about finding a loop to do your distance workout, do intervals or fartlek training and focus on your perceived exertion.

For example, doing 90-second intervals instead of 400m repeats won’t make too much difference physiologically, though mentally, you can focus on your output rather than hitting paces, which makes the workout more manageable.

Your running pace is also bound to be slower in colder temperatures, as it’s harder for blood to circulate to your muscles and keep them warm.

At the right intensity, interval workouts are suitable for all runners, from beginners to experienced. The great thing about interval training is it can be tailored to any individual and their goals and needs, plus it’s easy to track. Research has shown that it’s the most effective way to run and will help get you to your goals faster and help you enjoy running along the way.

Make sure you stick to plowed roads and lit-up streets with proper footing while doing intervals to ensure your safety. If you can’t get your workout in safely, it’s not the end of the world if you push it back a day or two.

(11/19/2022) Views: 706 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson
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Camille Herron’s 100-mile world record may go unratified

Renowned ultrarunner Camille Herron beat her previous world record 100-mile time at the Jackpot Ultra Running Festival in Henderson, Nev., in February, setting a new record that the USA Track and Field (USATF) committee has decided not to ratify, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

Herron, 40, won the race in 12:41:11, beating second-place (and first male) finisher Arlen Glick by more than 30 minutes and surpassing her own 2017 record of 12:42:40 by almost a minute and a half. The race doubled as the USA Track and Field 100-mile road championships, and Herron, who is a champion of clean sport and respected for holding herself and others to high standards in competition, was celebrated globally.

A certified race is always remeasured (course verification) after a record is set–the Jackpot Ultra was measured post-race in February, found to be accurate, and Herron’s record was thought to be clear while not yet official. In October, USATF official Brandon Wilson returned to the Jackpot course and measured once again, determining that the course was short by 716 feet, coming in at 99.864336 miles.

The record ratification process is often lengthy, but there has been no clarification as to why the USATF returned to the course in October, without race director Ken Rubeli (who has since sold the race) present.

Herron and Conor Holt (her husband and coach) have expressed frustration with the USATF’s process and lack of transparency, along with Rubeli, who sent a letter to USATF questioning the accuracy of measurements made eight months post-race.

“I set a world record in that race, and now they’re telling us that we don’t know whether the course was 100 miles or not,” Herron said to the Post. She shared that the situation has been stressful for her, and has impacted her performance in races since.

“My time is now that I’m in the best shape of my life. And, I mean, these moments can be fleeting. I put my heart and soul into that performance, and it was such a big deal for the sport and the history of the sport that it needs to count,” Herron said.

The Jackpot Ultra is held on a 1.17-mile loop, and the distance was questioned after Wilson (the measurer in February) attended the event, because his wife was running in the 100-mile race, and noticed a discrepancy between the course being run and the certified course map on the USATF website.

Former race director Rubeli explains that he changed one turn on the course for safety reasons, “due to a near collision between a runner and a baby stroller,” adding that he compensated for the change with precise cone placements on the course–something that wasn’t taken into account in Wilson’s February measurement.

Herron, Rubeli, and others are firm on their stance that Herron’s 100-mile record should stand, and the situation is ongoing. “It’s not a done deal yet that it’s unratified,” explains Herron. “USATF wasn’t working with Rubeli the last eight months, so we think the lack of communication created the current situation.”

Herron who describes herself as “propelled by joy and tacos,” has remained positive on social media, noting that she’ll be chasing several of her world records at the upcoming Desert Solstice Invitational, an elite-level event held on a track in Pheonix, Ariz.

(11/18/2022) Views: 723 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne
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Benefits and Protection Strategies for winter time running

Winter is coming. And if you’re tempted to blow off a workout in anticipation of snow, ice, cold, or rain, you’re not alone. Research from the Journal of Sport and Health Science suggests that many people use winter weather as an excuse to forego exercise.

Outdoor exercise, including running outside in the winter, can be good for you in a number of ways. It provides opportunities to boost your vitamin D exposure. It can also help you get some of the physical activity that your doctor (and other experts) are always encouraging everyone to get on a regular basis.

You’ll want to approach running in winter with safety in mind. Here are some tips to keep you safe and warm.

Tips for running in cold weather

Don’t just tie the laces on your running shoes, jam a hat on your head and head outside. Take some time to prepare in advance of your winter runs.

Check the weather forecast. Find out how cold it really is, as well as whether any rain or snow are likely, which could affect the safety status of your running path.

Dress appropriately. Think layers. With several layers of clothing, you can gradually shed one (or more) of them when you warm up and start to sweat. Then you can put them back on when you need them so you don’t get chilled.

Start slowly. If you haven’t been running much up until now, resist the temptation to launch yourself into a sprint right away. Spend some time building up your endurance gradually.

Wear something reflective. If the weather is gray and cloudy, it may be harder for drivers to see you. Add some reflective tape to your running jacket or clothing.

Stay hydrated. You might not remember to drink fluids as often as you would in the hot summer months, but your body still needs water. Drink some beforehand and take water with you to drink along the way.

Warm up and cool down. Give your body some time to adjust on both ends of your run.

Tell someone where you’re going. Just in case something unexpected happens, make sure a friend or family member knows where you’re planning to run and when you’ll be back.

Pay attention to the weather. Monitor the wind and temperature in case you need to cut a workout short.

Stop if something goes wrong. If your chest starts to hurt, you feel lightheaded, or you worry that you might have pulled a muscle in your leg, don’t keep pushing forward. Head inside and call a doctor if you’re concerned.

What to wear when running in cold temperatures

There’s an old expression often attributed to the people who live in Scandinavia that’s applicable here: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” So, if you want to run outside when the air is frosty, it’s important to have good clothing.

Remember: You’ll warm up and start to sweat, so keep that in mind when you get dressed. That’s when those layers come in handy.

Here are suggestions for your basic outdoor run wardrobe. You may need to vary some of it, depending on how cold it is where you live:

Gloves. In cold weather, your feet and hands are especially vulnerable to the cold — and at risk for frostbite. Don’t forget the gloves or mittens, whichever you prefer. You could even wear a pair of thin gloves made from a material that wicks away sweat, then put a heavier pair of mittens or gloves on top.

Socks. Put the cotton socks back in the drawer and choose socks that will wick away perspiration and keep your feet dry and warm. Wool socks are a good choice.

Running hat. A lightweight hat or beanie that covers your ears should be on your must-have list. Again, it’s never a bad idea to choose a fabric that wicks away moisture.

Base layer. Wool or a technical fabric should be your go-to choices for long-sleeve shirts that function as a base layer to keep your body warm. As with your socks, avoid cotton since it can get and stay wet next to your skin.

Pullover. Don this item of clothing after you put on your base layer. Some people like wool, others like fleece.

Jacket. Here’s another layer for you. Some runners prefer a wind-resistant layer on top. Depending on the weather, a waterproof or water-resistant jacket might be a good option for you. Pockets are a matter of personal preference, but remember, they can be a good place to temporarily stash your gloves if you need to do so.

Running tights or pants. Some runners love a fleece-lined legging to run in. In very cold climates, some runners layer a pair of tights under a pair of pants.

Running shoes. Make sure you wear running shoes that fit your feet correctly. If you wear thicker socks in the winter, make sure your shoes accommodate them. Look at the bottom of the shoes, too. You want to make sure they have enough traction to grip the road or trail, so you don’t slip if it’s slippery from rain, snow, or ice.

Sunscreen. If your face is exposed to the elements, it’s vulnerable, too. Apply a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30.

Optional: sunglasses or goggles. Some runners prefer to wear eye protection to block the glare from the sun, or even from ice or snow.

What are the benefits of running in cold weather?

While there may be some risks associated with running in cold weather, there are certainly some benefits, too.

Increases your aerobic activity

A major benefit of running in cold weather is that you’re getting some aerobic exercise.

Adults need an average of 150 minutesTrusted Source of moderately intense aerobic activity or 75 minutes of more vigorous exercise each week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). A couple of brisk runs outside could easily help you achieve those goals.

Revs up your metabolism

Additionally, the cool temps themselves might actually rev up your metabolism and help change your body composition.

Burns calories

A 2014 studyTrusted Source found that men who were exposed to cooler temps overnight for a month experienced a significant increase in brown fat, which burns calories rather than storing them as white fat does.

If you’re looking to shed a few pounds — or keep the weight off that you’ve already lost — this could be a benefit that motivates you to keep on heading out the door.

 

(11/18/2022) Views: 704 ⚡AMP
by Healthline
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Peres Jepchirchir named chief guest for Great Ethiopian Run

Reigning Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir is the guest of honor for this years’ edition of the Sofi malt Great Ethiopian Run International 10km road race set for Sunday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The race will see up to 500 elite athletes compete in both men and women categories with more than 40,000 participants expected to run in three waves of red, green and yellow which symbolises the Ethiopian flag.

Ethiopian athletics legend Haile Gebrselassie, who is a two-time Olympic 10,000m champion started the race 20 years ago with the first edition taking place in 2001. Local athletes have dominated all editions since then.

Jepchirchir, who is also the Boston Marathon champion, is excited to be gracing the race in what will be her first visit to Ethiopia.

“I’m glad to be invited for the Great Ethiopian Run International 10km road race as a guest of honour and I would love to meet with Haile and get some tips from him. I have not been to Ethiopia and I’m looking forward to also interact with my competitors and share one or two things concerning the sport,” said Jepchirchir.

Race General Manager Dagmawit Amare told Nation Sport the race is a symbol of unity and they are happy to host another  event.

“Every year in November, is the month that we are proud to be Ethiopians and in the past 21 years, the race has brought joy and unity in athletics. This year we expect more than 40,000 participants including 500 elite athletes from Uganda, Kenya, and Eritrea,” said Dagmawit.

According to the Runners World, the race held in Addis Ababa annually is possibly one of the best in the world where there is a mix of elite and fun runners.

The Great Ethiopian Run also organizes Hawassa Half Marathon, Women 5km race in March, Europe Day children races in May and Entoto Park Predator Run, which is held every month in Addis Ababa, IFH Relay Races and Great Bokoji Run.

Also invited for the event is two-time Boston Marathon champion Moses Tanui. He is expected to hold discussions for a partnership between Great Ethiopian Run and the Eldoret City Marathon, which is his brainchild.

(11/18/2022) Views: 849 ⚡AMP
by Bernard Rotich
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the Great ethiopian 10k run

the Great ethiopian 10k run

The Great Ethiopian Run is an annual 10-kilometerroad runningevent which takes place inAddis Ababa,Ethiopia. The competition was first envisioned by neighbors Ethiopian runnerHaile Gebrselassie, Peter Middlebrook and Abi Masefield in late October 2000, following Haile's return from the2000 Summer Olympics. The 10,000 entries for the first edition quickly sold out and other people unofficially joined in the race without...

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Kiplimo, Waithaka and Chemutai are ready to run well in Seville

The Cross Internacional de Itálica in Santiponce on the outskirts of the Spanish city of Seville – the sixth Gold standard meeting in the current World Athletics Cross Country Tour – always boasts a mouth-watering line-up, and this year’s race on Sunday (20) is no exception.

The men’s 10.1km contest features world silver and bronze 10,000m medalists Stanley Waithaka of Kenya and Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda. The latter, who turned 22 earlier this week, is also the world cross-country silver medalist and already won here in 2019.

Kiplimo boasts an impressive 26:33.93 PB for 10,000m and enjoyed a fantastic summer season this year, winning double gold at the Commonwealth Games just a few weeks after his bronze medal at the World Championships. His last appearance came at the Great North Run in Newcastle a couple of months ago where he won against a strong field.

Waithaka finished seven hundredths of a second ahead of Kiplimo in Oregon to take his first senior global medal.

But they will face stiff opposition from the first four finishers at last weekend’s Cross Country Tour race in Atapuerca in the form of ThierryNdikumwenayo, Kenya's Levy Kibet, Burundi’s RodrigueKwizera and Eritrea's MerhawiMebrahtu.

After living in the country for eight years, Ndikumwenayo was granted Spanish nationality 10 days ago, but the 25-year-old from Burundi is not yet eligible to represent Spain in international events. He proved to be in stellar form in Atapuerca and will aim to maintain that momentum on Sunday while his closest opponent there, Kibet, will be eager to confirm his runner-up place ahead of Kwizera was no fluke.

Defending champion Kwizera reportedly resumed training for this cross-country season a bit later than usual after spending some weeks in his native Burundi for family matters, but the 22-year-old is rounding into form and he should be in contention for a podium place once again. Meanwhile teenager Mebrahtu, the world U20 5000m silver medalist, will also be a contender after his recent top-four finishes in Soria and Atapuerca.

Spanish hopes rest mainly on the in-form NassimHassaous, a top-10 finisher in all his appearances so far this cross country campaign.

Entries for the women’s race, also contested over 10.1km, are headed by Uganda's Olympic steeplechase champion PeruthChemutai. Illness prevented the 23-year-old from competing in Atapuerca last weekend, but she now seems fully recovered and ready for her first outing since taking bronze at the Commonwealth Games in August.

Despite the longer than usual distance, Kenya's 2021 world U20 1500m champion Purity Chepkirui should play a key role on Sunday following her overwhelming win in San Sebastián two weeks ago and her runner-up finish in Atapuerca last Sunday.

She will be joined by her fellow Kenyan Nancy Jepleting, winner in Zaragoza last month, while Ethiopia will be represented by MeseluBerhe, runner-up in San Sebastián and seventh in Atapuerca.

Turkey's four-time European cross-country champion Yasemin Can is also entered, as is Portugal's 2019 European U20 3000m silver medalist Mariana Machado, and Spain’s Isabel Barreiro, who finished just six seconds behind Can last weekend.

Previous winners in Santiponce include KenenisaBekele (2003, 2004 and 2007), Fernando Mamede (1984 and 1985), Paul Kipkoech (1987 and 1988), Paul Tergat (1998 and 1999), Moses Kipsiro (2008 and 2009), Leonard Komon (2010 and 2011), Linet Masai (2010 and 2012) and Paula Radcliffe (2001), among others.

Weather forecasters predict a sunny day and temperatures in the 16-18C range by the time of the event.

(11/18/2022) Views: 634 ⚡AMP
by World Athletics
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Cross internacional de Italica

Cross internacional de Italica

The Cross Internacional de Itálica is an annual cross country running competition it will be held on 21st of November in Santiponce, near Seville, Spain. Inaugurated in 1982, the race course is set in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Italica. As one of only two Spanish competitions to hold IAAF permit meeting status, it is one of...

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Running community pillar’s son suffers devastating accident

If you’ve run any races in Canada in the past 10 years, chances are you’ve had some help from Andre Okenge, though you might not realize it. Nineteen years ago, Okenge escaped the Rwandan genocide, found his way to Canada and has been employed Sportstats, the race-timing company, ever since. On Oct. 23, as reported by iRun, Okenge’s 19-year-old son, Stephane, was a passenger in a serious car accident in Nebraska, where he plays basketball, resulting in a spinal cord injury that has left him a quadriplegic (paralyzed from the shoulders down).

Stephane remains in intensive care at Bryan Medical Center West Campus in Lincoln, Neb., with severe damage not only to his spine but also to the surrounding tissues, including some of the muscles he uses to breathe. (He needed to be intubated following the accident.) 

The young basketball player was a freshman at York University in York, Neb., 60 km west of Lincoln. His passion for basketball began when he was a youngster living in Uganda; later he attended the Canada Topflight Academy (a basketball academy in Ottawa), and then played in the AAU in Oklahoma. He was recovering from a shoulder injury when the accident happened.

Stephane will spend time in a specialized spinal cord facility before being discharged to come home to Canada. Meanwhile, his medical bills are mounting, and his insurance is capped at $500,000. His relatives have started a GoFundMe page to help offset the costs associated with his care, and with the equipment he will need once he returns home to Canada.

Stephane’s father, Andre, is a much-valued member of the Sportstats team. “Andre Okenge has been part of the Sportstats team every single weekend for 19 years and he is loved by the entire Sportstats team,” Marc Roy and Isabelle Fradette of Sportstats are quoted as saying, “as well as the race organizers he has worked with over the years.” 

(11/17/2022) Views: 781 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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Legendary climber Alex Honnold is also a ninja ultrarunner

On Saturday, world-renowned climber Alex Honnold surprised runners and fans when he hopped into the Red Rock Canyon 50K Ultra, just outside of Las Vegas, running to sixth place in five hours and twenty-three minutes. Honnold, 37, has a home in Nevada with his wife, Sanni McCandless, and their daughter June.

Ultrasignup shows Honnold as having completed one other ultra in 2011, but he’s also flown under the radar with some running accomplishments, including a casual R2R2R (Rim to Rim to Rim) of the Grand Canyon in 2021–an endurance challenge that is on many runners’ bucket lists.

In 2017, Honnold became the first climber to ascend Yosemite’s El Capitan without ropes, documented in the popular film Free Solo, and holds numerous speed-climbing records. He’s also known for long traverses–in October he established a roughly 60-kilometre traverse that included 14 Red Rock multi-pitch routes, hiking and scrambling for well over 7,000 metres of vertical in a 32-hour push. He called the traverse Honnold’s Ultimate Red Rock Traverse or HURT.

While an ultra may seem like a natural extension of those long traverses, Honnold did share some thoughts on trail running back in 2016 with Trailrunner Mag, when he explained that he felt running wasn’t particularly beneficial to climbing.

“It uses energy that could better be used doing my actual sport. But at the same time, I like running around and seeing new trails,” Honnold said. “I just enjoy moving quickly through new areas outside. I really like new trails and hills. I like seeing new things.” 

“Sometimes it’s just nice to run,” he shared. “Like a kid.”

While most of us can’t comprehend summitting a steep rock face without a rope, the joy of running like a kid is something we can all relate to. It’s unlikely we’ll see Honnold challenging Jim Walmsley to a run-off any time soon, but the accomplished athlete may pop up in an ultra near you, ninja-like. You never know.

(11/17/2022) Views: 869 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne
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How to prevent dehydration at your next race

It’s no secret you need to be well hydrated to perform your best, but did you know that being hydrated for a run should start far before the gun fires on race day and continue long after you cross the finish line?

According to Runner’s World Magazine, in warm or humid environments, being more than two percent dehydrated can cause a decline in your running performance. Dehydration causes your blood flow to drop, decreasing your body’s ability to transfer heat, and forces your heart to beat faster. This is when your body starts to shut down and your ability to cross the finish line becomes much more difficult.

In addition to your training schedule, incorporate these hydration tips before, during and after your run.  And always remember to listen to your body because proper hydration will depend on the heat, soreness and distance.

Before you hit the pavement

In the days leading up to your run or race, drink plenty of water and nonalcoholic drinks. Alcohol dehydrates you and can prevent you from getting a good night’s sleep, a critical aspect of a pre-race routine.

An hour or more before your race begins, drink about 16 ounces, or two cups, of water. Be sure to stop drinking at this point so you don’t have to go to stop to use the restrooms along the race!

Right before the start of the race, you can drink a half to a full cup of water to ensure you’re still properly hydrated, if desired.

During the race

Hydration while out running is simple: drink if thirsty. Research has shown this approach helps to prevent under hydrating, which leads to dehydration, as well as over hydrating. However, a general “rule of thumb” during your run is:

For every 20 minutes of running, drink 4-6 ounces (roughly one cup) of water.

If you run faster than an 8-minute mile, it is recommended to drink 6-8 ounces (more than one cup) of water every 20 minutes.

When you are running for 90 minutes or more, adding a sports drink to replace the lost sodium and electrolytes will help you absorb water faster and stay hydrated longer.

After you’ve crossed the finish line

Most experts believe you should drink at least three cups of water after you have finished a run or race. However, flavored or protein drinks such as iced green tea, coconut water, chocolate milk or a low-fat smoothie are also excellent options post-run.

(11/17/2022) Views: 708 ⚡AMP
by A Healthier Michigan
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Internet reacts to Paris 2024 Olympic mascots

The Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee unveiled the new mascots for the 2024 Games, and the Internet is skeptical. It’s difficult to know what they are meant to represent–both mascots display the French colours of blue, white and red, and they are vaguely triangular.

The organizing committee revealed that they are meant to represent Phrygian caps, which originated in Eastern Europe and came to represent the freedom won during the French Revolution, but the Internet has other ideas.

“They look like one of those hats Papa Smurf used to rock,” wrote one Twitter user.

“What’s it supposed to be? A bird with sneakers?” wrote another.

Several others expressed the peculiar triangular-shaped figure looks like a cartoon of a female body part brought to life.

According to the Olympic organizing committee, the mascot, who goes by the nickname Les Phryges, was designed to represent the Phrygian cap, a red bonnet famously worn by Marianne, the personification of freedom and democracy against all forms of oppression during the French Revolution.

This is the third connection the 2024 Games has made to the French Revolution (1789-1799). The route for the Olympic marathon follows the same course as the women’s march on Versailles, which was one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution. The logo for the Paris Olympics also pays tribute to the French Republic, combining three symbols–a gold medal, a flame and Marianne.

Although we are 600 days away from the start of the 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games, the mascots are already on sale online. The goal of the mascots is to connect with kids, fans and French culture. 

(11/17/2022) Views: 607 ⚡AMP
by Marley Dickinson
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Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Paris 2024 Olympic Games

For this historic event, the City of Light is thinking big! Visitors will be able to watch events at top sporting venues in Paris and the Paris region, as well as at emblematic monuments in the capital visited by several millions of tourists each year. The promise of exceptional moments to experience in an exceptional setting! A great way to...

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Kenyan Abel Kirui set to run next month's Fukuoka Marathon

Two-time former world champion Abel Kirui leads a strong contingent of Kenyan elite runners to next month's Fukuoka Marathon.

Kirui, 40, with a personal best of 2:05:05, faces stiff opposition to win the event set for December 4.

This will be Kirui's first marathon of the year having last participated in the 2021 Milan Marathon, where he finished 11th in 2:06:52.

Kirui said he has what it takes to win the race despite the competition. "Marathon running is never easy but I have had good preparations and I am looking forward to having a good outing,” added Kirui. 

Kirui will have fellow Kenyans Kenneth Keter and Silas Too for the company. Keter has a personal best of 2:06:05 set at the 2021 Amsterdam Marathon, where he finished eighth while Too has a PB of 2:06:32 posted in the Eindhoven Marathon last year.

James Gitahi, who finished third last year in a time of 2:08:25, will be aiming to go two places better this time around. Last year's winner Michael Githae will be aiming to defend the crown he won last year when he clocked 2:07:51.

Githae is upbeat about his prospects despite placing 11th at the Tokyo Marathon in March this year at 2:07:55. Githae also won silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last August.

“I did not do well in Tokyo but I have trained hard for Fukuoka for the past three months. It's a very good field, especially the Kenyans and Ethiopians but I'm up to the task and ready to defend my title,” he said. 

Vincent Raimoi will be making his debut in the full marathon at the event having clocked 59:51 at the 2020 Ras El Khaimah Marathon in UAE, where he finished fifth. The Ethiopian athletes in the event will be led by Teshager Yegzaw and Yemane Tsegaye. 

(11/16/2022) Views: 618 ⚡AMP
by William Njuguna
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Fukuoka Marathon

Fukuoka Marathon

The Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship is one of the longest running races in Japan, it is alsoan international men’s marathon race established in 1947. The course record is held by Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia, running 2:05:18 in 2009. Frank Shorter won first straight years from 1971 to 1974. Derek Clayton set the World Record here in 1967 running 2:09:37. ...

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Finalists announced for Women's World Athlete of the Year 2022

The names of the five finalists for Women’s World Athlete of the Year have been confirmed, as the countdown to the World Athletics Awards 2022 continues.

The five athletes, who represent five countries from three area associations, have achieved sensational performances across a range of athletics disciplines in 2022, at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22, World Athletics Indoor Championships Belgrade 22, one-day meeting circuits and other events around the world.

The finalists are (in alphabetical order):

Tobi Amusan, NGR- World 100m hurdles champion- Diamond League, Commonwealth and African 100m hurdles champion- Set a world 100m hurdles record of 12.12

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, JAM- World 100m champion, claiming a fifth gold medal in the event- Diamond League 100m champion- Ran a world-leading 10.62 among her record seven sub-10.70 100m races of the season

Kimberly Garcia, PER- World 20km race walk champion, winning Peru’s first ever World Athletics Championships medal- World 35km race walk champion in a South American record to complete a race walk double- World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships 20km bronze medalist

Sydney McLaughlin, USA- World 400m hurdles and 4x400m champion- Broke the world 400m hurdles record with 51.41 at the US Championships- Further improved the world record to 50.68 to win the world title

Yulimar Rojas, VEN- World indoor and outdoor triple jump champion- Diamond League triple jump champion- Improved her world record to 15.74m in Belgrade

Voting procedure for 2022 World Athletes of the Year

A three-way voting process determined the finalists.

The World Athletics Council and the World Athletics Family cast their votes by email, while fans logged their decisions online via the World Athletics social media platforms where a record 1.3 million votes were registered.

The World Athletics Council’s vote counted for 50% of the result, while the World Athletics Family’s votes and the public votes each counted for 25% of the final result.

Voting closed on 31 October.

The World Athletes of the Year will be announced on World Athletics’ social media platforms in early December, as part of the World Athletics Awards 2022.

(11/16/2022) Views: 698 ⚡AMP
by World Athletics
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Can Running help alleviate symptoms of PTSD?

Running can help alleviate symptoms of PTSD and may help a patient identify and associate negative thoughts and emotions with positive ones. PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by very stressful, frightening or distressing events.

In fact, researchers have examined the effects of running on PTSD patients, finding that the activity can induce unwanted physiological responses and helps patients associate negative emotions with positive ones. 

PTSD stats show that about 6% of the US population will develop PTSD at some point in their lives. Women are more likely to develop PTSD than men, and people who have experienced multiple traumas are also more likely to develop the disorder.

And this can, luckily, be alleviated with regular exercise. 

PTSD and Exercise

Exercise can, indeed, help alleviate PTSD symptoms. 

There is a growing body of evidence that physical exercise can help individuals recover from trauma. Physical activity reduces anxiety and stress levels and is known to increase cognitive function. 

It can also improve coordination and focus. It also helps with breathing. The benefits of exercise for PTSD go beyond mental health.

Running helps the body release mood-boosting neurochemicals. It also improves self-efficacy. This is important because it counters the feelings of helplessness associated with PTSD. 

Runners are also more likely to be able to focus better. In addition, running can help people associate negative emotions with positive ones.

Several studies have shown that aerobic exercise can alleviate the symptoms of PTSD. However, these studies use retrospective self-report measures, which can be prone to bias and inaccuracy. 

Also, several of the studies did not report the duration of the traumatic event in the participants. Despite these limitations, aerobic exercise is generally accessible and inexpensive, and it has been proven to improve cognitive functioning.

Deep Breathing

Researchers have shown that running and deep breathing can alleviate the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

Running and deep breathing stimulate the ANS, causing physiological responses that help PTSD patients associate negative emotions with positive ones. 

Symptoms of PTSD include a hyper-vigilant state, inability to connect with others, and recurring intrusive thoughts. These symptoms can be debilitating.

PTSD is triggered by traumatic events, which can occur over a long period of time or in a single incident. During a stressful event, the body responds by raising its heart rate, blood pressure, muscles, and reflexes. 

Eventually, this response is reversed, and the body returns to a normal state. However, when the stress response continues for too long, the brain is “stuck” and can no longer function normally. 

Recovery from PTSD involves unsticking this response.

People with PTSD may try to avoid unpleasant memories and feelings. However, numbing oneself can only worsen the symptoms of PTSD. 

The body cannot escape the emotions it feels under stress, and avoiding these feelings can also affect their relationships and their quality of life.

How Running Helps

Running can help alleviate PTSD symptoms in several ways. 

For starters, exercise is therapeutic and can help a person sleep better. It can also give a person purpose. It’s important to choose an activity you enjoy and find a way to incorporate it into your daily routine. 

Running can be fun and relaxing, which can help a person relax and have more clarity. Even a short walk can help a person feel refreshed and can help them deal with their trauma.

Many people suffering from PTSD have symptoms that develop a few weeks or months after the trauma. Symptoms can include increased anxiety and depression, and trouble concentrating. 

They can also have changes in their sleeping patterns, aches and pains, and a decreased appetite. It can also cause people to become dependent on alcohol and other substances to cope with the symptoms.

Although it’s best to engage in prolonged activity, even short runs can help. Moreover, running is beneficial because it can release feel-good hormones that relieve traumatic stress. 

An Alternative: Art Therapy

Art therapy is a great way to process traumatic memories and help a person deal with the symptoms of PTSD. 

(11/16/2022) Views: 672 ⚡AMP
by Colorado Runner
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Try this eight-minute leg routine to ramp up speed and strength

Coach and ultrarunner David Roche of Boulder, Colo. is well known for his three-minute mountain leg workout, a routine that is suitable for a wide variety of runners, from ultra-endurance athletes to those training for a 5K.

While the mountain-leg routine helps runners get strong, Roche shared in Trailrunner Mag that there was a need for a speed-focused routine for runners looking for help nailing faster paces.

Before doing this routine, note that if you aren’t struggling with speed, the mountain leg workout should be a sufficient boost for you, and you can safely increase reps as you gain strength.

Roche recommends speed legs only for athletes “who have evidence they need it, whether from health issues or imbalances or weakness at higher outputs.”

Make sure you aren’t adding any new exercises to your routine if you’re recovering from an injury, and ease into the routine, starting without weights of any kind. Roche suggests not rushing between exercises and says: “Do not go to failure. We’re looking to do some work, not get worked.”

Eight-minute speed leg routine

Warm up with a brisk walk or slow run, or do this routine following your workout (add these exercises to a hard workout day, so that your easy days stay easy).

10 x alternating rear lunges on each leg

Since rear lunges are easier than the rest of the exercises they’ll help you warm up, and Roche says to avoid going anywhere near failure. Focus on using controlled motion up and down, with your back knee getting close to the ground. Quads, glutes and hamstrings will all be engaged in these lunges, with both eccentric and concentric movements–great for descending and climbing. Alternate legs to avoid getting too tired.

10 x Bulgarian split squats on each leg

With your trailing leg on a bench or platform a few feet high, go up and down, staying in control. Roche says you’ll feel this in the butt and high hamstrings—make sure you start with no weight. Avoid this one if you have any pre-existing injuries or concerns.

10 x single-leg Romanian deadlift on each leg

Roche is firm on this one–start without weights. Firmly plant your foot and bend your knee slightly, raising the other leg parallel to the ground. Push down and pull back with the engaged leg to raise up to center, with controlled up and down motion.

10–20 x goblet squats

With legs shoulder width or a bit wider apart and feet slightly out, do a typical squat. Some people like to go to 90 degrees or beyond, but Roche says he prefers staying a bit higher. After you adapt to these exercises, it’s OK to use slightly heavier weights.

20–50 x single-leg step-ups

Runners familiar with the three-minute mountain legs will recognize the burn of the step-up portion to wrap up the speed leg routine.”Go up and down a bit more rapidly now, with the burn concentrated in your quadriceps,” says Roche. “It should feel almost exactly like climbing up a steep grade.”

Roche suggests going for a walk after the speed leg routine and making sure you have an easy running or recovery day planned to follow.

(11/16/2022) Views: 736 ⚡AMP
by Keeley Milne
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Coros introduces limited-edition Molly Seidel watch

The endurance sports watch company Coros has released a limited Molly Seidel edition of the Pace 2, which celebrates the Olympic bronze medallist’s achievements and captures her unique and fun personality. 

The design of this special edition watch was a collaborative process with Seidel and her team, and features colors to represent her: two shades of green (her favorite color–a vibrant green to match her Puma race kit, and a more earthy green as a nod to the environment). 

Seidel’s limited edition Pace 2 comes with two watch bands: a green silicone band and an extra nylon band with Seidel’s famous “full send” catchphrase after she won bronze in the marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

The watch also comes with a scannable QR code to a custom 12-week marathon training plan created by COROS, Seidel and her coach, Jon Green of Verde Track Club in Flagstaff. 

Seidel was using a Coros watch before she signed on as an official athlete for the brand. When she won her Olympic bronze, Seidel wore the Coros Apex, and made headlines as her bronze-medal-winning marathon quickly became the most kudo’d women’s activity on Strava. In November 2021, she officially signed on as a Coros athlete and was the top American at the 2021 New York City Marathon, where she wore the lighter-weight Coros Pace 2. 

The Pace 2 is an excellent watch for anyone who likes to walk, run or cycle daily and wants to understand the simple statistics around their exercise. The watch also has everything you need for serious training, with stellar 30-hour GPS battery life and easy-to-understand metrics and statistics.

“This watch is Molly, and it represents all aspects of her personality, from her grit and determination to her youthful energy,” said Dan Suher, Director, Global Sales at Coros. “It is an honor to celebrate everything she has already accomplished in her career and know how much is still to come.”

The Coros Pace 2 Molly Seidel edition is available now on Coros.ca and through select running specialty retailers with a retail price of CAD $349.00.

(11/15/2022) Views: 852 ⚡AMP
by Running Magazine
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