Treadmills and Hills:

Midway through winter, you have probably plowed through a few treadmill workouts. Treadmill workouts don’t change your running form significantly (enough to do a running analysis on a treadmill and assess the results), but they do change the forces your body uses to move you along.  So how do you know if you are training safely and properly with hill training on the treadmill?

The study referenced below analyzed the running of both amateur and elite athletes. As all runners speed increased, they all took longer steps, more steps (increased cadence), and were in the air longer and had their feet on the ground less time.

As they ran up inclines (hills), they took smaller steps, more steps (increased cadence) and were in the air less. The elite runners feet stayed on the ground less than the amateur runners.

What this means for your training:

If you are doing cadence training, your cadence will likely change when you change surfaces or run faster. So optimal cadence will depend on whether you are going up hill, down hill or running on a flat surface or running faster or slower.

Elite runners were able to get their feet off the ground quicker on hills. This might be due to them having an edge on strength, so strength training or maintaining running strength appears to be important. Also, if a recreational runner is returning from an injury related mainly to weight bearing (ie. stress fracture), caution should be used in implementing hill training, as it may have the chance to put greater stress on the tissues than flat surfaces due to the runner keeping feet on the ground longer.

Kinematics of Running at Different Slopes and Speeds. J Strength Cond Res 2011 Johnny Padulo, Giuseppe Annino, Gian M Migliaccio, Stefano Dʼottavio, József Tihanyi

(**This section is only a brief analysis of one or a few journal article(s) and the relation to running.  When I am able to review more that are related to a specific subject, I will attempt to update and add information. Keep in mind every runner is unique).

The Under Armour Ventilator II Women’s Visor features a relaxed low-crown six-panel fit with anti-microbial HeatGear sweatband to keep you cool and comfortable. New short brim provides a stylish look with a female fit. Suspension hook and loop back strap with reflective details for safety.

Hat Features:
Low crown sport mesh visor
Anti-microbial Under Armour HeatGear sweatband
New short brim with reflective sandwich brim detail
Reflective logo tape
Embroidered logo
Suspension hook and loop back strap
Fabric: 100% Polyester

I have white but it also comes in two shades of pink which might stay a bit cleaner than the white. I will definitely be purchasing one of these again.

I purchased the Babies ‘R’ Us seamless maternity support for work and also used it for running. Overall, it is fairly comfortable and provided the support my belly needed. The material is fairly thin and breathable and wraps around the entire belly in the front. It has a thicker band at the bottom and sides to help cradle and support the belly. The back did need to be readjusted (usually pulled down) after sitting in it, but it provided enough comfortable support to take the stress off of my back during moving during the day and running in my second trimester. I also had a Medela maternity support band from my previous twin pregnancy. I used this early on and when I couldn’t tolerate full coverage of my belly.

The type of support that is comfortable for running for you is going to be related to how and where you carry your baby and may take some trial and error. I carried the majority of my baby weight very out in front in my belly and my belly was mostly round shaped.  There are other options out there that include:

The Amon maternity support band (this looks like the Babies R’ Us support version),

The Gabriella support band (support only under the belly if you don’t tolerate full belly coverage),

And the Mother-To-Be Maternity Support (this has a lower support panel and an upper support with a hole in the middle for some belly coverage). Good luck finding the one that works for you and happy running!

** (Do watch for any unusual symptoms such as nausea and dizziness, and remove garments-as baby could be pressing on the Vena Cava or other veins blocking blood flow for you.  Although this can happen at any time even without belly support wear, depending on how and where your baby is lying.  Contact your doctor if you have any concerns).

Positive:

1.  Barefoot running will strengthen intrinsic muscles of the foot.

2. Barefoot running may be slightly more efficient in some runners.

3.  Barefoot running decreases forces through the hips and knees (although this does not necessarily mean it leads to less injury).

4. The foot and muscles adapt in the air to barefoot running, before actual touchdown of the foot.

5. Barefoot runners tend to use a faster turnover and shorter steps.

Negative:

1.Foot protection is a lot more difficult with barefoot running.

2.  Humans were not made to run on asphalt and concrete.

2.  Not everyone can do barefoot running; not everyone has the biomechanical efficiency to tolerate the stresses of barefoot running.

3.  You can learn to run barefoot style (midfoot landing first) with shoes on as well.

4.  Barefoot running will stress the plantar fascia and achilles tendon more.

5.  No studies have been completed to state that barefoot running specifically decreases injuries.

1. Run Keeper: This is my favorite overall. Once the run is started, The front interface displays overall time, average min. per mile, calories, current pace in minutes per mile and total miles. In addition, it has a feature to change the direction of the screen, the music automatically starts (playlist is chosen beforehand) and it has a button to bring up the camera should you want to take pictures of the scenery.

One of my favorite features is the touch screen that will feed stats through the voice feature. The only drawback of the front screen is that the touch feature is contained on a small blue portion of the screen. Another favorite feature is that your own customized interval workouts can be added and used with the voice feature.

2. I Map My Run/NB Total Fit: This runs a close second with many of the same features that Run Keeper has plus a whole lot more. The reason it runs a close second is it is a bit too busy for my taste. It has a nice interface to map workouts that displays either 1- the map, 2- running data (time, pace, speed average and current speed) or 3-IPOD interface. A smaller interface of running data is present on the map and IPOD interface for easy access to data.

The voice feedback feature does not have a touch feature but one can set it to give audio feedback at a certain time and distance (ie every 5 minutes or 1 mile). One unique feature that it has is that it maps elevation for each run (I would love to see the Pikes Peak Marathon on it but not willing to run that). It also allows the user to add workouts to the app. Previous routes are saved and mapped. Overall, they’ve thought of everything except the “where to find water” feature.

3. 321Run: This runs a close third due to its simplicity but has an annoying bug in the program. Overall performance is totaled on the front. The easy recording interface shows time, distance, average speed and current mile time. However, the average speed and mile do not display accurately. The touch feature to activate stats via voice is almost enough to make up for this as the whole screen is touch respondent. The program also has some nice preset workouts in time, distance, calories and special programs (ie. marathon). There is a history feature that stores maps of runs and data.