Conquering Endurance Running: Minimizing Risk and Running Injury Free

Of the more than twenty million Americans who are running today, most who start do so for the wrong reasons, with the wrong attitude, and tend to lose interest after a few weeks or months. Many quit. This is usually because they become concerned with superficial goals such as time and distance and never discover the more profound mental benefits that running offers. (Lilliefors 15)

Running is much more than it seems. People view it as a way to get in shape, lose weight or even just a hobby. It is much more than that, running is a dumbed down version of a psychologist. Two miles in, a lifetime to go, came directly from what someone's mind wants them to believe during a run, it wants them to quit, cut it short. Why would someone keep going if the only reward they could maybe receive is a shiny piece of metal or to lose a few pounds? Why would someone go to practice and push themselves to the point of exhaustion, get up, and do it again everyday? For most, this would be absurd, but a select few realize the undercover benefits that come with this kind of self induced trauma.

Before camp, I typically ran four or five miles on the days without a practice, but thanks to the training I received there, I now know how to schedule my workouts to best achieve success. Nowadays, my typical training week includes a long run, a tempo run, two scheduled practices with my team, an easy run, and a day off before a cross-country meet. I also learned what these different types of runs do. For instance, jogging over a long distance allows muscle cells to recruit mitochondria, which improves aerobic respiration, while a tempo run – running quickly for a short period of time – “flushes” the lactic acid caused by the repetitive motion of the long run. Running at

The research was done at the Minneapolis heart institute foundation. Data were gathered, and dated back to 1980. The research was reviewed by the Allina Institutional Review Board. Searchable records n=5 billion were being explored. The criteria were: an athlete was part of an organized team or individual sports, which required intensive, or systematic intensive training. The athletes were less than 39 years old at the time of the event (either survivors or non survivors). Out of the 1866 athletes, the specific causes n=1353 of death through autopsy report were documented, and/or clinical evaluations information n=117. The cause of death in the n= 513 athletes were not well documented due to the

What limits the speed and stamina of most endurance athletes is the ability of their heart and lungs to deliver oxygen at a steady rate

Burnout can have severe consequences for athletes, not only adversely impacting motivation and health, but also a subsequent reduction in performance and possible retiring from sport altogether (Madigan et al., 2015). Overtraining can be outlined as an accumulation of training and non-training stress that ends in long term impairment to an athletes performance that includes both physiological and psychological symptoms in which recovery can extend to years (Slivka, Hailes, Cuddy & Ruby, 2010). As overtraining is both physiological and psychological there is little understood about why there is a sudden decrease in all types of performance: resistance, anaerobic and aerobic; what is clear is that while most types of training, even burnout, can be remedied with reduced activity, overtraining is immune to most recovery strategies (Wilmore et al.,

Soon, the exhaustion became routine and it took no effort to change into my running gear and welcomed the continuity. Before I knew it, I began to wake up before my alarm clock and race to the door and begin my run as I could. With my fighting spirit, I was able to push myself to adapt to different types of situations and start to accept them. I motivated myself to endure the pain I had gone through and came out to be a better runner. If I hadn’t pushed myself at this time, I would remain in the same situation and dread running even a mile.

Before asking any questions, Erin starts off by mentioning how amazed she is by runners she states “ But whenever i actually talk to a runner, i see the passion for the sport eeking out of every body movement they make”. She doesn’t understand how they can run for miles and miles without getting tired while she gets tired by just simply chasing after her kids. She figured that a runner would be perfect to interview. She chose Noelle because her and Erin have a lot in common they are both mother of two kids, twins to be exact and both love to do photography. Noelle Isaak just recently began running but in such a little time she has trained hard for marathons, she even fainted at the GO! St. Louis Marathon which was held in extremely hot and humid weather she only ran 21 out of 26 miles. She explains that her training routine is a very long and rigorous process from spending 5 to 7 days a week training for up to 2 to 4 hours and still having to come home to start off her normal day. No matter how many marathons she’s run she still likes to train as if it’s her first race because she believes that running is one of the hardest sports. One question in specific that was interesting was “What do you think is the biggest misconception about the sport or runners in general?” her answer was very open and honest. She responded with “That running must come easy. Until recently i was never a runner. I never felt like i was cut

Should student get screen for heart disease before athletics? Sadly In today’s society, student athletes are dying of heart attacks, at an early age. Which is why student athletes should be required to get screened for heart disease. When the individual gets a screening, they should take both popular diagnostic tests, such as the electrogram (EKG) and the echocardiography (ECHOS). Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the leading cause of death in young athletes (Drezner at al., 2007). SCA in young athletes is not only a concern for the medical community, but also for the community’s at large. SCA occurs when electrical impulses in the heart become rapid or chaotic, which causes the heart to stop beating. Approximately 1 in 220,000 youthful student competitors experience sudden cardiac death (SCD) every year (baggish et al., 2010). Athletes are known to be some of the healthiest people in society, however SCD while being active in sports is odd, its manifestation is universally recorded in the media, caused by the age and health conditions of the athlete. The latest events in many parts of the world show that congestive heart failure of student athletes is still a reality and it keeps challenging experts in cardiology that take care of student athletes (Ferreira et al., 2010). It has come to mind that some easy pre-participation screening, adding a physical, electrocardiograms (ECG/EKG) additionally gathering

Participation in high intensity sporting activities is widely considered to be a contributor to positive cardiac health. However, for a portion of the athletic population, sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) poses a serious risk (Chatard, Mujika, Goiriena, & Carre, 2016). Although considered rare with estimates of one death every three days in the United States (Pigozzi, Rizzo, & Maffulli, 2009), the impact of the often-fatal event resonates through society due to the young age of the athlete and the immediacy of the decline of the perceived healthy person (Chatard et al., 2016).

Right out of the blocks, near the very start of the race, one of the runners was badly knocked down, and in a quarter-mile race at such a high level of competition, fractions of a second determine the winner. Anyone knocked down is quite simply out of the race. But accidents like this are sometimes unavoidable in the crowded running of the competitors. Even though he was far behind, this competitor leaped back to the track and continued to race with all-out speed and effort. The fact that he was twenty yards away from the nearest competitor and made the attempt to rejoin the short race seemed ridiculous. Nonetheless, this man ran at such an astonishing pace that the spectators were goggle-eyed and on their feet, mesmerized by the unfolding

Piper, Steven, and Brynne Stainsby. "Addressing the risk factors and prevention of sudden cardiac death in young athletes: a case report." Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association 57.4 (2013): 350+. Academic OneFile. Web. 27 Oct. 2015.

"Runners are the 'healthiest sick people in the world'", according to ultrarunner Jeff Robbins. In an email that I received from him he added, “One of the problems with the ultras is that you are always stressing things to the limits. Therefore problems tend to crop up. Half the fun in this sport is learning to deal with adversity no matter how it comes." Injury is a runner's most dreaded and aggravating obstacle. Sometimes no matter how much the mind wills it, the body cannot go on without causing itself permanent damage. Pushing beyond these limitations will eventually cause the body to rebel and self-destruct. There are preventative measures that can be taken to stop these

In an attempt to understand the underlying biological differences of these runners Pui W. Kong hypothesized that one variation is, “related to the fact that Kenyans generally live and train at high altitude (around 2000 m above sea level) influencing their oxygen capacity” (Kong, 2008). One study that addressed this compared Kenyan runners oxygen uptake, as well as blood ammonia

Certain aspects of training programs can be manipulated by changing the environment and exercise. For example, some athletes may incorporate extreme environments and strength training sessions into their training regime to improve their endurance. In addition to exercise, an athlete may alter their diet to achieve higher energy levels and speedier recoveries. A distance runner may fuel up with carbohydrates before a marathon to have a reasonable glycogen storage in the liver. Alternatively, a body builder will ingest high amounts of protein after a training session to help build muscle and quicken recovery. Because of contrasting nutritional needs and training, the physical composition of athletes may vary. According to Burke and Cox (2010), distance runners tend to have a slimmer build, with little overall body fat. In comparison, body builders have prominent, sculpted muscles with fluctuating body fat levels. Consequently, personalized nutritional needs and training has made it easier for athletes to obtain a physique capable of achieving their sport.