VO2max

The monthly newsletter of RunCoachJason.com

Dr. Jason Karp, running & fitness coach, consultant, freelance writer

Founder & Coach, REVO₂LT Running Team™

June, 2010

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In this issue:  

Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

Moms In Motion

Dr. Karp’s Run-Fit Boot Camp

Abdominals

Running Better

In Press
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Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

If you’re running the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon on June 6, where can you go to get the very best advice on how to make your marathon the best experience of your life?  Well, here’s your chance!  On June 2, I’ll be giving a free clinic at Road Runner Sports in San Diego at 6:00 pm on The Very Best Strategies for Completing the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon.

All attendees receive:
~ 10% discount to Road Runner Sports

~ Raffle for a FREE pair of running shoes

~ Coaching gift certificate from RunCoachJason.com

~ Chance to pre-order Coach Jason’s new book, 101 Developmental Concepts and Workouts for Cross Country Runners  

For more information, go to http://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=125398744151581.

For the second year in a row, I’ll be running as a pacesetter over the second half of the marathon for the sub 3-hour pace group.  As part of my pacesetting duties, you can catch me at the marathon race expo in the speaker/stage area on June 4 (4:00 pm) and June 5 (2:00 pm) at the San Diego Convention Center.

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Moms In Motion

You know what I love about moms?  They’re always in motion.  Literally and figuratively.  On June 5, I will be speaking to the Moms In Motion running group in San Diego about training for a 10K at 8:30 am at the Pacific Beach boardwalk on Emerald Street.  

Moms In Motion is a global network connecting moms through fitness, fun, and philanthropy.  Moms meet other moms with similar interests and fitness goals.  They develop friendships and get the support and guidance they need to reach their goals.  To find a Mom’s In Motion running group near you, go to http://www.momsinmotion.com.  

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Dr. Karp’s Run-Fit Boot Camp

Tired of the same, boring workouts that fail to give you results?  Want to be pushed and motivated by an expert coach and a bunch of your peers?  If you live in the San Diego area, come to Dr. Karp’s Run-Fit Boot Camp beginning June 17, 2010, where you’ll get the best workouts to motivate you and get you in the best shape of your life.  All workouts are running-based and include hills, intervals, fartleks, and circuits, with some body-weight exercises specifically designed to sculpt your muscles.  If you want to be fit, you need to be run-fit!  Dr. Karp’s Run-Fit Boot Camp will be held in Balboa Park’s Morley Field on Thursdays at 6:07 pm.  For more information and to register, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/bootcamp.

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Abdominals

Why do people train their abdominals differently than other muscles?  The abdominal muscles, including the superficial rectus abdominis and external obliques and the deep transversus abdominis and internal obliques, contract and get stronger just like any other skeletal muscle.  If you wouldn’t do 200 biceps curls to shape your arms, why do 200 crunches to shape your midsection?  All the late night T.V. infomercials that claim their revolutionary abs machine will shed fat and inches off your waistline are lying.  Liar, liar, pants on fire!  Since it takes a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose one pound, crunches will only shed fat and inches if you do enough of them to burn thousands of calories (this would take millions of crunches).  So what burns thousands of calories, you ask?  I’ll give you one guess...      

 

Cardiovascular exercise.  You can do as much abs training as you want, but you still won’t see your abs unless you also do cardiovascular exercise (read: run) to get rid of the fat that lays over the muscles and beneath the skin.  All people with flat stomachs or six-packs have a very low percentage of body fat.

           

By the way, the six-pack that you strive for is not six separate muscles or three pairs of muscles; there are no “upper” and “lower” abs.  Each “section” of the six-pack is part of the entire vertical muscle that is separated by horizontal inscriptions of a tendon.  When muscles contract, fibers along the entire length of the muscle shorten.  They do not contract with only part of their length.  There is no evidence that upper and lower sections of the rectus abdominis can be preferentially recruited.

 

It’s funny to watch people in gyms because they tend to make movements that they would never do anywhere else.  I’ve seen lots of people in gyms hang from their arms and lift their legs up toward their chests or lay on their backs and raise their legs toward the ceiling.  When lifting the legs rather than bending the waist, the rectus abdominis is relatively inactive, only contracting statically to anchor your torso in place.  The hip flexors (iliacus, psoas major, and psoas minor) and tensor fasciae latae muscle, rather than the abdominals, are responsible for lifting the legs upward (and it just looks silly).

           

To decrease the stress on your spine when doing crunches, bend your legs at the knees with your feet on the ground.  You can also lift your legs in the air and cross them at the ankles, which will tilt the pelvis downward, pressing the small of your back against the ground and decreasing the arch in your back.  To increase the activity of the abs, lay on a movable surface, such as an inflatable exercise ball.  And don’t forget to run.

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Running Better

Living in San Diego, I see a lot of runners.  And I see a lot of runners running badly.  Many of these runners run marathons.  Many of these runners get injured training for marathons.  One of the reasons they get injured is because they haven’t learned how to run before attempting to train for a marathon.  It’s like playing in a tennis tournament before learning how to hit a backhand.  Or entering a golf tournament before learning how to swing a golf club.  Or entering a triathlon before learning how to swim.  Or... you get the idea.  If people spent time learning how to run and practicing correct running mechanics, there would be much fewer injuries.  If you want to be a better runner, start by running better. 

For inexperienced runners, drills can help improve running mechanics and coordination.  Running has an under-recognized neural component.  Just as the repetition of the walking movements decreases the jerkiness of a toddler’s walk to the point that it becomes smooth, the repetition of specific running movements can make a runner smoother and improves running economy, the amount of oxygen used to maintain a given speed.  With countless repetitions, the runner’s muscle fiber recruitment pattern becomes ingrained, allowing for smoother running mechanics and a more efficient application of muscular force.  In addition to the neural adaptation obtained with drills, drills can increase flexibility, since their dynamic action moves joints through an exaggerated range of motion.

Want to learn more about running better with specific drills?  Schedule a session with me to work on your running mechanics at http://www.runcoachjason.com/coaching.  Don’t live in San Diego?  No problem!  Schedule a consultation with me at http://www.runcoachjason.com/consulting and have all of your running questions answered live!

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In Press...

My highly-anticipated second book, 101 Developmental Concepts & Workouts for Cross Country Runners, published by Coaches Choice, will be released next month.  The book contains 30 insightful training concepts and 71 workouts to give you the competitive advantage.

How to Survive Your PhD: The Insider’s Guide to Avoiding Mistakes, Choosing the Right Program, Working with Professors, and Just How a Person Actually Writes a 200-Page Paper, my self-help book for graduate students published by Sourcebooks, Inc., appears in bookstores nationwide and online at Sourcebooks.com, Amazon.com, Borders.com, and BarnesandNoble.com.  A special, autographed copy of the book can be ordered at http://www.runcoachjason.com/publications.

Speed Dial: All Runners Can Get Fit Fast—and Have a Little Fun—by Playing with Their Pace, my article on fartlek training, appears in the June, 2010 issue of Runner’s World.

The Components of Training for Distance Runners and Training Theory, my two chapters in The Ultimate Runner: Stories and Advice to Keep You Moving, appears in bookstores nationwide and online at Amazon.com.

High Cost of Fuel, my article on everything you need to know about carbohydrates and the marathon, appears in the June 3, 2010 issue of Athletics Weekly, the world’s only weekly track and field magazine.

 

Exercise in the Heat, my article on exercising in the heat and how to combat dehydration, appears in the June, 2010 issue of IDEA Fitness Journal, the premier trade magazine for fitness professionals.

Strength Training For Distance Running: A Scientific Perspective, my article on the role of strength training in distance running performance and how to do power-type workouts to improve your running, appears in the June, 2010 issue of Strength and Conditioning Journal, the professional journal of the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

5 Lessons I have Learned From Physiology and How They Can Make Your Clients Better Runners appears online at Personal Training on the Net, the premier online education resource for personal trainers and fitness professionals.

Chasing Pheidippides: The Science of Endurance, my article that discusses the science behind endurance and how you can improve yours using the most up-to-date scientific training methods, appears in the May/June, 2010 issue of New Studies in Athletics, the official technical publication of the International Association of Athletics Federations, the world governing body of track and field. 

Lactate Threshold Training, my article on everything you wanted to know about lactate threshold and how to improve it, appears in the June, 2010 issue of the United Kingdom’s Ultra-Fit magazine.

Marathon Fuel, my article on everything you wanted to know about carbohydrates and the marathon, appears in the Summer, 2010 issue of Duke City Fit, Albuquerque, New Mexico’s premier fitness magazine.

Chasing Pheidippides: Training to Combat Marathon Fatigue, my article that discusses the major causes of fatigue in the marathon with advice on how to combat them, appears in the June, 2010 issue of Tri News, the official newsletter of Triathlon Club of San Diego.
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To view past newsletters, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter.

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©2010 Dr. Jason Karp.