There’s an article in the NY Times today about the efforts of athletes driven out of wintery conditions to replicate their outdoor training indoors.

It’s an interesting enough read, although I think it muddies the waters a bit by mentioning indoor running, indoor cycling and indoor rowing all in one conversation.  It’s widely agreed that the difference between indoor and outdoor cycling is more pronounced because the effect of air resistance is more important at cycling’s much higher speeds, and the difference between actual rowing and rowing machines is more pronounced because of the very different emphasis on technique.  Perhaps discussing it in the same conversation as those two activities might lead one to overstate the indoor/outdoor differences in running as a matter of association.

I’ve always contended that a workout’s a workout, and in the absence of a bib and a timing chip it’s less about the measurable “performance” and more about the exertion and physical adaptations.  If I get on the treadmill and a given pace feels too easy for the type of workout I’ve chosen, I’ll just dial up the machine’s speed by a half mph or run for 15 minutes longer.  As long as I’m conscious of the situation and I don’t start to believe that I’m becoming Kenenisa Bekele, I don’t see it as a big deal.  And as Brian Sell mentions in the Times article, beyond comfort there are practical reasons to take a workout indoors.  Slipping on ice and bashing my hip, or getting smoked by a car that didn’t see me in the shortened daylight can really hamper a workout.  I have yet to be hit by a Mustang at the gym, though I have been hit on by a Cougar.  Hey-Ohhhh!

(Sorry I don’t have a handy internet link for you, but for those of you who own Dr Tim Noakes’ encyclopedic Lore Of Running there’s a good explanation of research relating to the effects of wind resistance on runners of different speeds on page 58 in a section called “Environmental Conditions”.  It might be a handy reference next time someone tells you to set the treadmill incline at 1% to compensate for a lack of wind resistance indoors.)

“Diaper backward spells repaid. Think about it.”
Marshall McLuhan

GRANT: Vicky, what would you say is going to be the coolest feature of our new blog?

VICKY: Good question.  I think it will the interaction with readers.  Is that what you were thinking?

GRANT: No.

VICKY: You were thinking about the multimedia aspect.  Putting on podcasts, vodcasts, chat sessions?

GRANT: No, not that.

VICKY: Hmmm, oh yeah, interviews with authors and athletes.

GRANT: No, not that either.

VICKY: Reading inspiring stories and great literature?

GRANT: No.

VICKY: Our hilarious back and forth banter and unique writing style?

GRANT: Good one, but no not that.

VICKY:  I give up then because this is becoming really stupid.

GRANT: Okay I’ll tell you.  I think what is going to be incredibly awesome about this blog is cutting and pasting our heads on other people’s bodies.

VICKY: Born to Run:  A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen is about Christopher McDougall’s journey to find the secrets of the world’s greatest distance runners. Here’s an excerpt from the publisher’s website:

“Full of incredible characters, amazing athletic achievements, cutting-edge science, and, most of all, pure inspiration, Born to Run is an epic adventure that began with one simple question: Why does my foot hurt? In search of an answer, Christopher McDougall sets off to find a tribe of the world’s greatest distance runners and learn their secrets, and in the process shows us that everything we thought we knew about running is wrong.

Isolated by the most savage terrain in North America, the reclusive Tarahumara Indians of Mexico’s deadly Copper Canyons are custodians of a lost art. For centuries they have practiced techniques that allow them to run hundreds of miles without rest and chase down anything from a deer to an Olympic marathoner while enjoying every mile of it. Their superhuman talent is matched by uncanny health and serenity, leaving the Tarahumara immune to the diseases and strife that plague modern existence. With the help of Caballo Blanco, a mysterious loner who lives among the tribe, the author was able not only to uncover the secrets of the Tarahumara but also to find his own inner ultra-athlete, as he trained for the challenge of a lifetime: a fifty-mile race through the heart of Tarahumara country pitting the tribe against an odd band of Americans, including a star ultramarathoner, a beautiful young surfer, and a barefoot wonder.

With a sharp wit and wild exuberance, McDougall takes us from the high-tech science labs at Harvard to the sun-baked valleys and freezing peaks across North America, where ever-growing numbers of ultrarunners are pushing their bodies to the limit, and, finally, to the climactic race in the Copper Canyons. Born to Run is that rare book that will not only engage your mind but inspire your body when you realize that the secret to happiness is right at your feet, and that you, indeed all of us, were born to run.”

GRANT: The author seems like a pretty cool dude too. I visited the publisher’s website and found out he’s got a really interesting writing path. Here’s what they had to say about the author:

“Christopher McDougall is a former war correspondent for the Associated Press and is now a contributing editor for Men’s Health. A three-time National Magazine Award finalist, he has written for Esquire, The New York Times Magazine, Outside, Men’s Journal, and New York. He does his own running among the Amish farms around his home in rural Pennsylvania.”

VICKY: I totally agree. I was on Christopher’s website and there’s some really fascinating information on topics like barefoot running. Didn’t Ryan write a blog about this recently?

GRANT: Yes he did. It’s definitely a hot topic in the running community.  I suggest you also check out Christopher’s You Tube video: Christopher McDougall on why he was BORN TO RUN.

VICKY: Well folks, there’s lots of stuff out there on this book and this author. I find getting to know the author and the idea behind the book makes it a more interesting read so enjoy and let us know what you think! You can leave your comments on the site or email us at irunbookclub@gmail.com.

“What appears to be the end may really be a new beginning” by unknown author.

GRANT:  Hey Vic. Welcome back.

VICKY:  Hey Grantster. Welcome back to you too. It’s hard to believe they wanted us back.

GRANT:  Back for another adventure!

VICKY:  On the road again!  Amazing.  I am psyched!

GRANT:  For those of you who have no clue who we are, allow us to introduce ourselves by quoting from iRun Magazine’s Spring 2009 issue: “Self-described ‘running nerds’, Vicky and Grant are co-workers who ‘spend their lunch hours at the nearest bookstore and will often be seen around the office getting excited about a new energy bar or running gadget’.”

VICKY:  Good memory Grant. I’d forgotten that iRun Magazine officially introduced all the Running Blog Idol contestants in that issue. To be honest the only thing I remember from that issue is Adam Van Koeverden’s naked torso on the cover.

GRANT:  Of course. I should have known when iRun Magazine approached us to write a blog, you would pick up right where you left off with Van Kayak.

VICKY:  Merely pointing out my memories of that issue in particular (sigh). Now back to our blog. Some of you may recall the title of our last blog entry as Running Blog Idol contestants: “The End is Only the Beginning”. Little did we know at the time how true that would be in a matter of months. Now that we are once again part of the iRun Magazine family, let me tell you that it feels great to be back.

GRANT:  It sure does. As many of you know, Vicky and I are not only runners but we are also avid readers. So, when iRun Magazine did a Guest Editor call-out for ideas, we submitted one about creating a runners’ book club. We thought it would be the perfect combination of our two shared passions: running and reading. Hence the title of our blog:  “iRun, iRead:  The Runners’ Book Club”.

VICKY:  We have tons of ideas for blog posts about books we’ve read, are reading and will be reading that relate to running or would be of interest to runners. However, this will not be a book review blog so don’t look for a list of books and little stars rating them on a scale of 1 to 5.

GRANT:  There are many great books out there to inspire, motivate, educate and inform you on how to be the best runner you can be. We hope that through our blog, you’ll find some to add to your reading list.

VICKY:  This time around though, we hope to throw in some podcasts into the mix because we know sometimes reading can get a little boring. Plus, we’re excited to do interviews with authors and some of our readers to spice things up a bit.

GRANT:  Don’t forget that I will undoubtedly be cutting and pasting our heads into a variety of hilarious images! This is going to be awesome and we hope you’ll tag along for the ride!

VICKY:  Alright then, let’s get started! As our first book, we have decided to read the national bestseller “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall.

GRANT:  Come again soon for some thoughts, discussions and general ramblings about the book. It looks like it’s going to be a wild read!

Hello my name is Josh and I’m addicted to running.

Hello readers,

I’m excited to be able to share my workouts and general running thoughts with you all!  My name is Josh I am a recent University of Guelph graduate.  My time at Guelph was spent doing a lot of running, eating, sleeping, and every now and then some studying.  The city of Guelph has a very strong running community focused around the University team (multiple national titles over the last decade) and a strong post-collegiate group (currently boasting 2 Olympians and 3 World Championships participants).

You can likely imagine I’ve taken part in some pretty epic workouts, for example 14x400m with 75 seconds rest averaging 63s/400m or 5x Mile with 5 minutes rest averaging 4:45.  Each workout you experience a pain like no other but for some reason at the end of everyday it’s worth it and you wouldn’t trade anything in the world for it.

I’m currently living in Ottawa and enjoying all the amazing activities this city has to offer: snowshoe running, skate skiing, long blades on the canal and the occasional spin class.  Of course all these are fine and dandy but deep down more often than not I have that urge to just run some fast intervals!

For my first Blog I wanted to introduce myself but I also wanted to share one I had written last week after a workout that was sort of a sample but I really like the topic.

The word of the day is Sandbagging!

What is Sandbagging you ask?  Let me put it this way: saving ones energy during a workout so that your final interval is fastest.

The Workout: Jog warm up followed by 3 sets of (4x 200m, 1x 1200m/30sec rest between each interval) 3 min rest between sets.  200’s were at 33 sec until the final set 34 sec and the 1200’s were 3:39, 3:39 & 3:33 respectively.

Now I’ve been working out with some of Canada’s best young runners for the past five years and Sandbagging is something that you will get mocked mercilessly for (see also winning the warm-up).  I’ve been training on my own for a while and I guess I felt like I owed myself a good final interval and so last night at the end of my workout yes I put down an awesome last interval at the expense of a few 200’s that could have been faster but now my confidence is SKY HIGH!

Here’s the question (there are likely a few schools of thought) is it better for me at this stage to do what I did and take the confidence boost or should I have drilled all my intervals and thrown myself to the wolves on the final one risking a potential blow to my confidence?

Whatever you decide make sure you do your own little cost/benefit analysis, some need the confidence from numbers while some can take confidence away from knowing they emptied the tank for a full workout.  Next time I will empty the tank and let you know what works for me!

Thanks for reading and please pretty please never hesitate to comment with thoughts and concerns!

Josh Roundell

 Hey everyone – this is officially my first foray into the world of blogging (ooooh, very exciting)!   And what more exciting a topic to blog about than the world of running and shoes.   Okay, well maybe not the most exciting thing to everyone but most of us do spend a large part of each day in some sort of footwear (and most of us on this website do enjoy running).   In the next couple of weeks I will write about some common footwear mistakes, how to pick the correct shoes, how to know when it’s time for a new pair and what’s new in the world of running shoes.  I would definitely welcome any questions and will do my best to get answers up quickly!

So, in the spirit of a blog about shoes, my first blog is going to be about barefoot running!   The current issue of iRun magazine (out today)  is about picking the proper footwear for you so I thought I might add a little aside about a very popular topic in running these days – barefoot running.  I wrote this for another forum a few weeks ago and have posted it here:

I don’t think many experts will disagree with the potential benefits of moving towards a more efficient running style. However, we do have to be cautious with making these changes too quickly without the proper foundation.

We base many of the barefoot, ‘simplistic’ (although it is far from simple!) styles of running from tribes in South America and Africa that do run many barefoot miles each day with a significantly lower rate of injury, and typically at a much greater speed. This is certainly a model that we would all aspire to be like for our running. However,  most of us live very differently from those types of runners. For many of us, we sit all day at work which can cause certain muscles to shorten and tighten. As well, we may have certain strength imbalances and/or other genetic predispositions (fallen arches or high, rigid arches, leg length discrepancies, etc.) that may put us at greater risk of injury. Often the problem with immediately ditching our regular shoes and going out for a run barefoot or with a minimalist shoe is that we haven’t yet addressed some of these underlying problems.

That being said, there are many potential gains to be made from transitioning to a better running technique and getting away from overly cushioned running shoes. (It is the over cushioning that is often much more of a problem than the motion-control features of a shoe.) By improving our running efficiency, we set ourselves up to run both faster and likely with less injury. We associate swimming with technique and will spend a good portion of each workout doing drills, and yet we don’t attribute the same gains with running technique and running drills. Many runners who are able to run with minimalist shoes or barefoot either have been blessed with good genetics or more likely, have run track as a kid (or as an adult) and have done drills to ingrain proper technique.

Here are a few suggestions that I would make for those looking into improving their running technique:

(1) Find out where your weak spots are and fix them. It’s not just muscles in the foot and lower leg that cause injuries, but more likely it is the larger muscle groups in the thigh and hip. For example, if a runner is weak through the hip, especially on one side only, it can cause all kind of issues down below. Unfortunately, in most cases no amount of barefoot running will fix this. Going through a proper strength assessment with a professional and working on your weak spots is a great place to start.

(2) Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility. We do often sit a good part of the day and things get tight. We then expect our bodies to adapt to high mileage, intensity and new techniques which is often a recipe for injury. Improving flexibility through better stretching, yoga, and deep tissue work (i.e. sports massage, ART, etc.) means that our bodies will be so much more accommodating to change. Once strength imbalances are taken care of and flexibility is improved, we already have dramatically increased the odds of being successful with any kind of change in technique.

(3) Find a good running coach or go to see a professional who can help with proper technique.  One of the keys to proper technique is doing it properly. This sounds straight-forward but many people will read theory and incorporate it improperly which can cause even more problems. Adding insult to injury, if strength imbalances and flexibility issues aren’t first taken care of, many runners won’t be able to perform the technique properly anyway. Video analysis can be very beneficial for this so that you can actually see what you are doing and track changes over time.

For those willing to put the proper amount of background work in, a gradual change towards better running technique can be very rewarding for both reducing injuries and for gaining speed. For the lucky some (generally those with the right genes and the appropriate lifestyle) it may require very little background work. For the others, it can take years, if ever, to be able to run barefoot or in minimalist shoes. Regardless of whether we are able to run barefoot or with minimalist shoes or not, by improving flexibility, strengthening, and technique, we’re still much better off in the long run (no pun intended!).

Thanks for reading!

Ryan