Q - Hey Coach. I was recently up at the Metro track Centre at York University and noticed a group of athletes doing a variety of different drills, going about 20 metres, then stopping, then walking back, then going again. I think they were mainly university sprinters.

I'm in my 40s, and run half (PB 1:55) and full marathons. Is there any point in doing these sorts of drills?

A - There can indeed be a point in incorporating mobility drills in to your training as they help increase basic athleticism. Specifically, they can help to increase agility, coordination, running posture, as well as balance. And so doing is likely to improve running efficiency by improving muscle recruitment/activation patterns.  

Additionally, improved athleticism may reduce the ever present risk of injury by strengthening and enhancing the ability to recruit the accessory and stabilizing muscles.

Many of my clients have taken up road racing in there mid-30's and 40's after a relatively sedentary lifestyle, even as far back as high school, and thus may be lacking in athleticism. So I often include the prescription of running drills in their programs.

If the drills are new to you, you can get instruction  youtube videos such as the one posted by the fine American runner, Lauren Fleshman, who has run 14:58.48 (yikes !) for 5 km. on the track. See her video here.  And here's another.  

So give them a whirl...guaranteed to also improve your prowess on the dance floor. 
Picture
taken from Lauren Fleshman's Running Drills video
One other thing. 

You may have also observed athletes doing drills that involve some actual jumping as opposed to shallow skipping, or hopping. These exercises are generally termed plyometrics and they are employed to enhance muscle strength and power (i.e.,the ability to move the  limbs quickly against resistance). 

But for the record I almost never recommend plyometrics for adults because of the high risk of injury. 
Add Comment
 
 
[this is a question I had fun fielding in 1996]

Q - Peter, you often hear that running is 100% mental but that doesn't make sense to me - so what do you think about this?

A - Obviously, making the decision to take up the pursuit in the first place and/or remaining motivated thereafter to persist in training are premeditated in nature. But as for what part the mental side plays in an actual performance, that's another issue, and one, that's interesting to quantify.

What we're talking about is to what extent does the mental state of the performer's mind affect performance. And when we talk about the mental state we're talking about the level of confidence, ability to remain focused, ability to maintain being highly motivated, ability to optimally control emotions, ability to remain alert and capable of execution , and so on.

These are undoubtedly extremely important determinants of performance. But to what extent? Let me take a stab at quantifying this by considering a couple of examples.

Let's first of all look at a fairly high level male miler. Let's assume at his best he's capable of a 4:00 minute mile. I've seen such runners toe the line in a terrible state of mind resulting in poor pacing, disinterest , or loss of heart and just plain giving up. But even in such situations and assuming that the runner completes the race, the final time might at the worse be only 10 seconds slower than his capability. Now 10 seconds as a per cent of 4:00, or 240 seconds, is about 4%.

A second example might be a 20:00, 5,000 meter runner. What might happen in the case of a lousy mental state? For fun, let's see what a 4% slowdown might result in:

20:00 x 1.04 = 20.8 minutes or 20 minutes + 48 seconds. I think 48 seconds over 5,000 meters makes common sense as a possible slowdown attributable to an undesirable state of mind.

I conclude that to perform at one's best you need your mental capability to be 100% and if it isn't, one's performance may be negatively affected as much as 4%. 
Add Comment
 
 
Q- Hey Coach, I'm a woman who's falling apart .....First, my left calf got sore last week after a long run on snowy roads. And then, a few days later, my right hamstring started bothering me, and I don't remember doing anything to bother it..... It is high up (by my butt) on the left leg. Every once in awhile it goes into a spasm for a second. Otherwise, it doesn't hurt. My knee buckles for a second, then it's fine. And this morning I woke up with a slightly puffy knee. What would you suggest ? 

A - What do I suggest?!!! Lady, I suggest you STOP !!Time for a cleanup - for you are flirting with disaster anytime you run with any sort of discomfort. Why? Because the body is causing you biomechanical havoc in its noble effort to protect you from further damage.  

For example:  if you are walking barefoot and step on a sharp object (e.g., broken glass), without you even thinking about it, you will recoil, immediately pulling back your foot.

You see, our wonderfully designed bods do not like discomfort and our nervous system is "wired" to instruct our muscles to contract in ways to move our parts away from painful stimuli - and, did I say, without our even thinking about it.

As some pop singer says, you are "Born This Way"…for your own good and survival.

Anyway, here's the deal. If you are running along with a discomfort gotten from too much, too soon, or from an accident, muscles, in their protective pursuits, will start behaving (i.e., contracting) differently. And this can result in a novel use of the muscles, that over the course of many miles can result in muscle tightening and aches.

An important exercise physiology principle to have in mind:… Wait for it... If a muscle is asked to contract in a novel way, it often results in Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS), developing about 36 to 48 hours. So you can see how a vicious cycle can ensue. [good article here]

So I say if you’re experiencing a continuation of soreness and/or the subsequent development of new aches, then STOP the running…. and cross train at a moderate effort level for at least 2 full days (pool running and swimming is my recommendation) until the pains subside, possibly include cold water or contrast baths [review articles here and here ], and make the next run an easy one of 20 to 30 min. to probe.   
Add Comment
 
 
Q – How do you teach 5K runners to pace themselves from start to finish. Or what pace starting results in best 5K finish time?

A – Yep....many folks are like a beagle just let off the leash, adrenaline glands a wailing with the unique excitement associated with the crowds, the pomp and the pageantry at the many of the race start lines nowadays. Away they tear, with powerful strides, manufacturing copious amounts of carbon dioxide with every bound....tall and proud !! 

Then it happens... other natural laws starting imposing their particular rules and regulations.....mainly, a severe need to supply and use the adequate amounts of oxygen that  their magnificent running muscles are demanding for such intensity... but alas they cannot....and so they “turn in to pretzels” and fall far below their early pace and end up posting performances that are not doing themselves justice and feeling quite embarrassed...and  moping in a corner at the post race reception...... so common.

So what to do.

You need to train the runner’s intuitive clock....his or her sense of pace. They have to learn what effort levels are associated with particular paces (e.g., running 8:30 per km. is easy, while running 5:30 per km. is full out, and so on...) ...They have to learn pace: a skill that can definitely be trained.

And a recommended way to accomplish this is to introduce repeated opportunities for the athlete to practise specific paces. This is why interval training can be so beneficial, as the athlete, over and over again in a given workout session, runs interval distances (e.g., repeat 800 metres), timing each one. It’s a biofeedback bonanza!

Also, particular designs of interval workouts are an excellent tool in revealing what a reasonable goal pace should be. For example, whatever you can average for 5 x 1000 metres, taking a 2:00 recovery, gives a good indication of what the runner might best try (within 5 or 10 sec.) as a race pace.

Such sessions can of course be conducted on 400 metre tracks, where the runner/coach can easily monitor the pace, even at intermediate points while doing an interval. For example, if the runner is wishing to do 800 m. repeats in 4:00, then pace at every 200 m. (60 sec.) can be checked to see if a speed up or a slowdown is in order.

With the advent of Garmin watches and the accuracy of Google Earth (my preference) you can conveniently do the timed session on accurately measured roads which is especially advisable for anyone road racing.

If you want to get to Juilliard, PRACTISE ! 
1 Comment
 
 
Q - A friend of mine was training for his first marathon in the fall, and had been mainly using a treadmill and even for all of his long runs (up to three hours). He ran a 10K race a few weeks ago before the marathon, and was expecting to get a PB of under 41 minutes, since he had already run a few sub-41's on the treadmill. So he was disappointed with his finishing time of 41:45, which started him thinking about the difference between road running and treadmill running. 

So here's my question: Are there any physiological differences between running on a treadmill and running outside? Does my friend NEED to run outside regularly in order to more closely approximate the race-day conditions for his fall marathon? 
Picture
A - So the magic "carpet" didn't produce eh? Given that your buddy supposedly ran more than one sub-41, I too would say that the 41:45 was a disappointment - assuming of course that the 10 km route was flat and that the weather was reasonable on race day.  

There was a revealing study conducted several years ago that demonstrated equality of the energetic cost of treadmill and outdoor running with the use of a 1% treadmill grade over a duration of approximately 5 min and at velocities between about 9:00 and 5:20 per mile pace, which includes your buddy's pace. 

What this means is if you want to do the same amount of work in terms of oxygen usage on a treadmill, for a given running speed, you need to be running the speed at a slope of 1%. 

[Here's the reference for the study: 
A 1% TREADMILL GRADE MOST ACCURATELY REFLECTS THE ENERGETIC COST OF OUTDOOR RUNNING Abbreviated Journal Title: J Sports Sci Date Of Publication: 1996 Aug Journal Volume: 14 Page Numbers: 321 through 327 -
and you can read the study's abstract here]

The 1% slope requirement in part makes up for the fact that the runner while on a treadmill is not "pushing" through the atmosphere, and so isn't dealing with wind resistance.  

It begs at least one question? How certain is your friend that he was running the pace he thinks he was? I say this because a treadmill's calibration can be off. 

When I was involved in research and doing treadmill testing, the protocol required that rather than relying on a speedometer, we would determine and adjust the speeds by putting a tape marker on the belt and counting the number of times it appeared in a time period, mutilplied by the length of the belt, which in turn enabled the calculation of the belt's speed. 

So it's always possible your friend's treadmill could be off, or if it's cheap or faulty, may even be affected by the runner's weight. 

Another way of getting at this, may be for your friend to observe his heart rate while on the treadmill running at 41:00 minute pace, at a 1% slope, and then see what it is while running on an outdoor track at the same speed with no wind. 

If he is certain that the treadmill readings (slope too) are accurate and he's seeing differences in his heart rate responses it may be that he is more economic (using less oxygen) on the treadmill. There are slight differences in the biomechanics, which might account for this. 

Another possible factor is the definate difference that exists between the cushioning of the foot strike on a treadmill versus on tarmac or cement. The impacts are quite different, and over the course of a lengthy run, a runner who has only done the long runs on the more forgiving surface (treadmill), may find his legs getting sore at a relatively earlier point in a road race on asphalt, posing a nasty limitation. 

I see this is getting a tad long-winded, so I'll finish this answer by saying you want the real thing, at least a substantial amount of the time in your training. Certainly being accustomed (psychologically and physiologically) to striving under a wide variety of weather conditions, and dealing with the responsibility of executing the pace, is a strong argument for this. 

Of course when the temperature is 10 degrees, and the wind is howling and the snow's on the ground, the treadmill can be the least worst of two evils. As a matter of fact there have been very successful, elite runners - Ingrid Kristiansen (former world marathon record holder of 2:21:06 from 1983) for example - who have successfully used treadmills in their training instead of dealing with harsh weather. 
Picture
Ingrid Kristiansen
1 Comment
 
Kenyan Dominance 11/04/2010
 
Q - Coach: I just read an startling article by David Monti at Competitor [see here] telling how the male Kenyans have won 90% of the fall marathons....with the Ethiopians winning the other 10%.  Is there any way Canadians or Americans can compete with these guys?

 A – Absolutely, the North Americans can compete. But I know at this juncture it does appear rather daunting, considering:

        1) according to the IAAF stats, as of Nov. 3/10, the 
           number of different Kenyans running under

                2:05:00 = 3

                2:06:00 = 6

                2:07:00 = 11

                2:08:00 = 23

                2:09:00 = 40  !!

        2) and Canada’s current fastest marathoner is Reid   
            Coolsaet at 2:11:23. [this may change after this 
          weekend's  New York City Marathon where Simon Bairu 
          is competing] - [ed. note: Bairu had to drop out of the 
          NYC Marathon - see account here.  

But if we are to become competitive, it may be helpful to examine why we are not. I had a similar question about 10 years ago which I responded to in my old Newsletter, and, since I believe much of what I wrote still pertains, I have just added it to the Reading Room section.
Add Comment
 
Running on Grass 11/03/2010
 
Q - Hey Coach, what do you think about running on grass?

A - Let me get this straight: you are not a snowboarder right?...  seeking a different runner's high :)  Ok....so like turfs up... 

I am a HUGE proponent of grass running for every level of runner, for the following reasons:

1) Seldom will you encounter a truck or car and thus are nicely removed from traffic's toxic fumes. Just you and mother nature's kind offerings. A nice psychological break from the urban landscape.  

2) Nicely groomed grass (and that's what you want to seek out)  is a very forgiving surface. So each foot impact is offered a cushioning experience that is so much gentler vs. asphalt or concrete on the joints throughout the body, i .e., ankles, knees, hips, vertebral column. (note - I do not recommend running on frozen grass) 

3) Your shoes just love it, as they just laugh at the grass blades paltry efforts to wear them down: is that all you got blades?   

But here's the big one !  Wait for it....

4) Each foot plant is a unique opportunity that will never be repeated.  Why? The grass and soil surface is uneven; thus, each foot plant is dealing with a particular surface topography that will be, to some extent, different from any other foot plant. Ever! 

Is that not cool?  It's like no two snowflakes are alike (for fun, you may want to visit www.snowcrystals.com and read the article here. 

And when we land we endeavour to retain balance and flow of movement in a forward direction - recruiting muscles (auxiliaries or stabilizers) to relax or contract as needed in order to do this and thereby maintain optimal efficiency.  A beautiful thing. 

And in my book strengthening the stabilizers and their ability to recruit  in the best interest of balance results in reducing the ever-present chance of getting injured, as well as, enhancing running efficiency,i.e., using less oxygen at a given running speed.  

Ah I so long for those days when I would fall out of bed in the mornings, and head out to do a lap of the Islington golf course -totally ignoring the "Beware of Dogs" signs.  

Add Comment
 
 
Q - Hey Coach, I've been reading a lot about how Steve Prefontaine was a drinker, and yet he set many American records. Can alcohol be that bad for you?

A -  Sure, Prefontaine drank, as do many elite athletes, and it may well have been a factor in his car crash death, although whether the autopsy blood test was conducted appropriately seems a matter of some debate. But that’s another discussion. (BTW, I was and remain a huge fan of Pre – here’s an unfortunately low quality youtube video of his winning the NCAA 3 mile Championships, with about 12 stitches in his foot, due to a diving accident a few days before... But here's  one of the best Pre videos for capturing the essence of this charismatic runner)  

Many athletes maintain that having a couple of drinks helps them relax - it simply serves as a strategy for anxiety control, and this may be particularly the case around an important competition, and even afterwards.  

Others will defend their quaffing by arguing that a good bender, once in a while, almost seems to provide a psychological escape and release from their otherwise Spartan lifestyle, but then they immediately stumble back on the wagon.

And then there are those, who will actually plan for bender as a motivator, setting a date to really let loose, once the big race is out of the way.

From my point of view, I have a couple of prime concerns, apart from the obvious ones of:
     - drinking under age
     - alcoholism  
     - the far greater risk of accidents while under the                       influence
     - the immediate impact on performance after a binge   

The first is the recognition that alcohol is high in calories: one gram = 7 calories, while one gram of carbohydrate or protein is closer to 4 calories; thus weight management is an issue.   

The second is how the alcohol consumption affects the amount and quality of sleep, remembering that much of the adaptations to training actually take place when we're sleeping, which is about 25 to 30 years of our lives. 
Picture
By the way, this reminds me of a story. The time I ran the Boston Marathon in 1977.I was clipping along at a healthy pace of about 3:45/km., when, at around 17 miles, the roadside crowd suddenly began roaring. Now I thought they were roaring for me because back at that time the Boston newspaper published the bib numbers and names of the entire field of participants. And many of the spectators were holding the newspaper, so I thought they noticed I was from Canada and were kindly cheering me on.   Not so. Just as the crowd reach a crescendo, a barrel-chested male runner, built like Adonis, went sailing past me...effortlessly, I might add......while guzzling a bottle of beer, and disappeared far ahead....this was immediately followed by a disquieting silencing of the throngs.....true story! Sweet dreams! And stay thirsty my friends.....within reason.  
Picture
Coach Pimm toasting
Add Comment
 
 
Q - I'm a runner and I recently started weight training. I was wondering if I should include arm exercises like bicep curls. What do you think Coach? 

A - First of all, I'm glad you've decided to incorporate weight training in to your program- the stronger you are everywhere, the better, including the arms. 

Sure, you can do bicep curls, and that will make that victorious flexed arm pose that much more impressive. The bicep is the bulky muscle that is traditionally flexed and most obviously displayed when one flexes their arm, particularly noticeable when the hand is facing towards the shoulder to which it is being pulled. 

For clarification, here's a pic showing off my bicep ;) 
Picture
Doing the popular bicep curl exercise with a barbell addresses this muscle. 

However, when you run, your arms are carried in a bent-at-the-elbow fashion with the forearm tilted so that the hands are actually facing each other with the thumbs on top. When the arm is held in this position, the bend (or flexed state) at the elbow is being most significantly handled by the brachioradialis muscle which is the upper ridge of muscle of the forearm. 

Picture
If you put your hand in the running position underneath a table and apply an upwards force, you will feel and see the brachioradialis flex.

So, to target this muscle, I highly recommend you include hammer curls, as shown in the pictures below taken from that great site ExRx.net. You can see an animation of this exercise here. 

Flex on. 
        (Above pictures used with permission by ExRx.net 2012)
Add Comment
 
 

(Note - this is a question Coach Pimm fielded in his newsletter, News and Views, April 28, 1997. 

At the time, the world record was 2:06:50 held by the Ethiopian, Belayneh Dinsamo. The current WR is 2:03:59, set in 2008 by the Ethiopian, Haile Gebreselassie.  You can see the progression of the men's world record here. 

We're getting there.....) 

Q- Peter I read an article in the April 18 edition of the Globe and Mail written by John Kettle who wrote in reference to the sport of marathon running, "improvement has not only been unattainable, but for more than a decade, previous achievement has not been matched". What's your view on this? And are we at the limit? 

A- I saw the article which was written by a guy who bills himself as a futurist and he was trying to make what basically is a sound point, while making it interesting - which is why he chose the marathon to substantiate his point. 

His point was that historical statistics can show that a limit to achievement is exists. I don't think this is particularly disquieting - after all, most of us are comfortable with the speed of light defining some sort of limit. 

I think what bugged some of you about the article was that he insinuated that because the winning times of the men's Olympic marathons have not improved in the last 3 Olympics, we are closing in on the limit whereas runners know that there are factors other than those limiting human performance that would account for the apparent stalling. 

These factors include running to win, as opposed to time; weather, and course conditions. Another increasingly apparent trend is the tendency for the world's best marathoners preferring to point towards the money races, rather than Olympic Glory 

Kettle also insinuated that if the trend of improving times that occurred between 1896 and 1984 had continued, then by the year 2004, the wining time for the men's marathon would be sub-2 hours. The insinuation is that we are not on our way to seeing such a time posted by this time. 

However, there's no question that we may in fact be seeing someone walloping the current world record. And as far back as the early 80's I made the point that if we put together in one athlete the running economy of a Frank Shorter and the maximum oxygen intake of a Steve Prefontaine (i.e., 85 ml./min./kg.) than we would see a marathon of around 2:01. Well it appears that there are such candidates in existence now - one is possibly Paul Tergat, who last year ran a sub 58 minute half marathon, which is the kind of capability required to run the 2:01.  

Mark my words.
Add Comment