Building a Better Runner: Science-Based Training for Peak Performance
199
Building a Better Runner: Science-Based Training for Peak Performance
199eBook
Available on Compatible NOOK devices, the free NOOK App and in My Digital Library.
Related collections and offers
Overview
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781641120166 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Nextone Inc |
| Publication date: | 09/03/2019 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 199 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
THE MODERN RUNNING BOOM
The late, great Dr. George Sheehan once said, "We are all an experiment of one." Dr. Sheehan was a running guru to millions of runners and a personal friend. He knew the modern era of running started with, among other things, Frank Shorter's winning the gold medal in the marathon in the 1972 Munich Olympics. This win brought immense excitement to the sport in America, as an American had not won this event for decades. Dr. Sheehan correctly perceived the modern era of running would produce great advancements in medicine and the science of human performance. We everyday runners would be the lab rats for this great experiment. I credit Dr. Sheehan's passion for the sport, along with Dr. Kenneth Cooper's research and publication on aerobic fitness and performance, as the spark for changing countless lives for the better.
As the sport matured, along came a challenger of incredible determination. His name is Bill Rodgers, and he wrote the foreword to this book.
Bill came back to the sport after a brief absence when he watched the Boston Marathon in the Massachusetts town he called home. He knew he could one day win the greatest marathon in the world. And after a couple of fits and starts, he sailed to a 2:09:55 win in 1975, wearing a hand-scrawled GBTC Track Club t-shirt. It shocked the marathon world once again to know we had the talent to run with the best. The running boom was well underway from Shorter's Olympic victory, but it was clear that running was destined to take many average hobby runners to new heights. Now, Bill was far from a hobby runner, having run under nine minutes for two miles in college. As the years passed, Bill and Frank dueled in the most famous races in the nation. But Rodgers had an "everyman" allure that inspired average runners to work harder and see exactly what was in there. Rodgers won four Boston Marathons, four New York City Marathons, and hundreds of other important races across the world, as well as being a teammate of Frank Shorter and Don Kardong in the 1976 Montreal Olympic marathon.
In 1979, Japanese National Champion Toshihiko Seko came to Boston to dethrone the great Rodgers at the Boston Marathon. Rodgers had been beaten by Seko at the Fukuoka Marathon, the equivalent of the Japanese National Championship. Rodgers was not one to take a beating, by even a great runner, lying down. Bill responded with a blazing 2:09:27 new American marathon record, soundly defeating Mr. Seko. When Rodgers toed the line, the bar was automatically set higher for the competition. Sports Illustrated featured him on the cover with the caption "The King of the Roads," and he indeed was. He had the longest streak of wins without a defeat ever achieved. The world had become whipped into a frenzy by these events and now took to this brutally difficult sport as if it were a secret potion of pleasure.
Knowing them, running against them (with futility, for the most part, I might add), and immersing myself in the running world created a love for the sport that has, at times, simmered as a failing candle and then blazed as brightly as a bonfire for over fifty years. It spurred me to create the great Charleston Running Club and cofound the even greater Cooper River Bridge Run, one of the largest 10k races in the world.
Therefore, this book is dedicated to the great Bill Rodgers; Olympic Gold Medalist Frank Shorter; the great Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson, my friend the late Dr. George Sheehan, the guru of running from the seventies to now; human performance researchers like Dr. Edward Fox; Dr. Kenneth Cooper of the Dallas-based Aerobics Institute; and the millions of my runner friends who search for the best within and never quit.
By the way, there is another statistic below about runners that was found during years of research by the best human performance scientists in the world. It was thought to be true even as far back as the sixties but subsequent research showed this to indeed be the case. I have certainly seen it in the runners I have known, and that number is in the thousands.
Curiously, runners, as a group, achieve at higher levels in all aspects of life. That fact doesn't surprise me. A human who is willing to take on the challenge of the marathon or the 5k doesn't generally accept failure in other areas of their lives. Their IQs tend to be higher, as well. It is not known if this is cause or effect, but it is interesting. We do know that aerobic exercise improves blood flow to all areas of the body, and that includes the brain, so it does make sense.
Hopefully, this book will ignite the spark or fan the flame in you. But it is not a book for the faint of heart. This book is a plan to make a good runner great and a great runner terrific. So, if you are willing to follow it, plan to excel. If you don't plan to follow it, put it down, as it will only collect dust.
WHY DO HUMANS RUN?
A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR DEVELOPMENT
Why is this section important in a book on distance running? To understand where we are seeking to go, we need to understand where we have come from and how we got here. Anthropologists generally accept that humans evolved from moving on four limbs to two. We didn't necessarily evolve from apes, as some believe, but we appear to be a completely different offshoot, as Homo erectus eventually became Homo sapien and the Neanderthal was a victim of survival of the fittest, though their DNA is still traced in many cultures.
None of what is said in this book is meant to be controversial or religious or nonreligious. But one thing is certain about humans, and that is, we have much to continue to discover. I am absolutely convinced that becoming upright created a faster human, however, who could improve the quality of their diet. The ability to capture food animals added a more high-quality amino acid complex and more varied fats for survival during times of less food and to help the female provide for the infant. This change developed more strength, higher cognition, and greater longevity in humans. The most ancient form of humans appears to have originated around the Rift Valley of Africa. At least, this is the prevailing consensus of the archaeology and paleontology world so far. Humans have inhabited the area for over a million years and less developed primates, for even longer. Humans still move through the area, hunting, gathering, and simply commuting.
As the eons passed, the human form became more upright and leaner, faster, and more sociable, with longer legs and greater planning ability. Faster humans could catch more food, resulting in healthier bodies and an improved chance of infant survival. Humans, like other animals, have communication skills and have learned there is security and strength in grouping. Different groups assembled into tribes, thus adding more security and enhancing communication skills to other people. One group of Homo sapien moved out of Africa to the North, and at the same time there was another group of Homo sapien that originated in the Indo China region. This group moved West toward the middle Eastern area of Turkey and the surrounding regions, and also, this same Indo China man moved East toward the Pacific Islands and North, eventually crossing the Bering Strait about 30,000 to 50,000 years ago, into the North American Continent. The group moving out of the Rift Valley, migrated essentially North. At the same time, however, there was incredibly, a separate and yet identical DNA version of Homo sapien developing in Indo China. This group eventually spread West, intermingling with the African human and also migrated East, into what we now consider as Asia. From there, they moved across a land bridge of the early Bering Strait and down through North America about 30-50,000 years ago. These people we know as our Native Americans. The Pacific islands are populated by these same groups. It is truly wondrous that modern DNA studies can now connect these groups and help to age their migration patterns.
Then there was the ancillary effect of becoming faster and more equipped to move and think. For, originally, we were not at the top of the food chain. There were other animals whose desire it was to make a meal of us. Being able to escape predators was a key factor in our survival as a species.
As we adapted and became faster, we hunted and chased previously unavailable food animals for longer distances at higher speeds. This varied and improved our diets and helped us grow taller. As we grew taller and more efficient, our surface-to-mass ratio became greater, and our weight became adapted to long-distance running for survival and hunting. Now, we could cool our bodies better during long, hot chases, and we moved closer to the top of the food chain. Thus, the runner was here to stay.
As our brains developed, culture, tribes, and speech came about as a way to communicate, socialize, and plan. To prepare young humans to hunt, play developed and is with us still today. Play, in its many forms, is the result of preparation to hunt, though it is not necessarily critical to our survival now. However, it is seen in nearly all higher forms of mammals — including dogs, cats, squirrels, and horses — all types of social animals, and even down to lower forms of life. Play also improves communication, strength, and socialization. Our body is a miracle of complex chemical reactions amassed into an incredible form with intricate problem-solving ability, and it is, in my humble opinion, a gift from above. We contemplate our existence, search the stars, work, fight, and play. All of this has a purpose. For all our shortcomings, humans are fascinating. And one of the most interesting parts of this fascinating animal is our desire to compete and improve. Hence, we have the reason for this book's existence.
As we evolved, the modern man, Homo sapien, interbred and became more upright. Body type and muscle groups became more sophisticated. Slow twitch or endurance fibers developed to carry us long distances, and fast twitch fibers developed for speed, to get us there more quickly. Tribes of socialized groups teamed up to combine effort, and we learned how to hunt, herd, farm, and in addition to previous gatherer knowledge, we began to form villages, then towns and cities. One downside, unfortunately, of this socialization was the need to control "turf." Competition for food led to warrior groups and battles to control food-producing areas and provide buffers from opposing groups. Warriors needed to be fast and strong, use the best weapons, and be able to think on their feet. Thus, the earliest "training" to win came to the fore. The Romans are a good example of what strategy, fitness, and desire to win over all enemies and territories can produce in a human. The morality of conquering others through fighting is not what we are here to decide, though. And it wasn't just the fighter with the best tools who won. It was the man or woman who absolutely refused to lose as well. And that is, indeed, what we will address. Competition was inevitable. Hence, along came the first competitive long-distance runners.
The training system used here is an indirect result of how men and women became athletes due to the need to survive. Be it the miler or the marathoner, both need the same system of training, just in different ratios and speeds. The science of becoming the best runner possible is pretty much established now. We have had the basic knowledge for some time. What has been lacking is the assimilation of different aspects of training into a cogent schedule package, with the reasons for these schedules explained, as to make sense of the workouts. Diet will be addressed only as to how different fuels are assimilated and absorbed for use and the necessity of certain nutrients for better performance in endurance sports. Dietary expertise cookbooks and nutrient concentration will, however, be recommended. The avoidance of injury will be addressed, and the accepted therapies for recovery in the unfortunate event one suffers an injury will be included in more depth.
The fine line between being too rested and too fatigued is very important. No matter how informative a book may be, it is the athlete's responsibility to learn to read his or her body. There are age, genetic makeup, consistency, and duration of training issues that can only be accepted by the athlete himself or herself that will affect the effectiveness of this training system, naturally. But every person who chooses to maximize their ability to become the best they can be will experience some or a lot of success. This is the guide. You are the facilitator.
THE EARLY COMPETITORS
Running originally developed, as previously noted, to ensure survival. But as communities and towns became more preferred places to survive, trade, and learn, the natural inner competitor came into play. Leaders, tyrants, and the general citizenry used athletic competition as a way to establish rank in society and display power. But it was not just about political power. Athletes became the heroes of the community while, at times, making war to establish the top tier appear a less attractive option for opposing groups to consider. This notion of competition is apparently genetically encoded in animals.
Movement, feats of strength, and performing at a higher level than the norm was coming together all across the globe at the same time as socialization became more common. I do not believe, and I think most modern anthropologists do not feel either, that this was a coincidence. Religion or belief in a higher power is not thrown into the mix here, as I (and this opinion is mine) firmly believe there is no coincidence in the universe and there is a higher power that brings order to the direction and development of man. Whether the reader accepts or denies any of this statement is personal, however, and has no discussion here on the science of training.
So, let's pursue this treatise as it pertains to established scientific methods of becoming a better athlete. Belief has helped me, but your thoughts on this are your own. Here is an idea of how many different groups eventually seized upon this beautiful sport and the inner freedom it brings.
THE AFRICANS
As was earlier mentioned, modern man is believed to have developed in Africa, as far as we have currently established, in the central valley and northern areas we call the Rift Valley and near Morocco. There is new evidence that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred in some areas, and there was also an Indo China component of the development of modern man. The research and archaeology in the area supports the developmental theories of man on four legs to man on two and then man upright becoming leaner and faster, with increasing endurance capability. The human body adapts to its environment, be it extremely cold, as in the Eskimo natives of northern climates, or extremely hot, as in the Rift Valley. As the Africans developed and became stronger, they spread out across the continent and differing climates made it important to tune the body as efficiently as possible.
There is now evidence, pointed out in the work of Dr. David Reich of Harvard University, that initial migration of man was north to the Northern Europe areas and an east-to-west migration from Indo China, as well as an eastern migration of these peoples to the Pacific Islands and north to the Siberian Peninsula. Central Africans have more stout bodies than East Africans. The East African areas of Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, and the surrounding lands around Egypt and Morocco and down through the Rift area produced an incredibly well-suited climate and terrain to develop the distance runner's body. The heat and necessity to traverse long distances to find food and water improved these individuals into virtual running machines. High surface area to body mass, high VO2 (volume of oxygen the body is able to uptake and utilize, per breath) uptakes from living at altitude, and the mental ability to stay after the prey for miles and miles made them the prototype distance runner we think of today. They are always a force to be reckoned with in races from the mile to the marathon.
More stout African bodies developed in the Congo region and in the Central African jungle areas for the necessity of strength to avoid lethal attacks from incredibly strong prey. Sometimes the human was the prey, so strength and great bursts of speed were needed to avoid death. Hence, they developed more fast twitch or 'speed' muscle fiber. Their bodies today represent the fabulous sprinters we see. Athletics allow us to see us as we were developed, as well as what we do now for play and work. And the African athlete represents us many times at our best as determined and physically strong and developmentally darn near as good as we get.
THE GREEKS
The ancient Greeks developed out of Northeast Africans mingling with Western Europeans and migration to more ambient environments. The Greeks then intermingled with lighter skinned humans from cooler environs. As they evolved and socialized with additional groups developing to the East, they let the natural desire to compete out and utilized competition to showcase the best warriors and hunters, rewarding them with status in society. Most know the story of the Greek General Miltiades giving a warrior the task of running the plains of Marathon to Athens after a victory in battle against Persian invaders and collapsing in death after delivering the news. This is where we get the name of our 26.2 mile race, called the Marathon. The Greeks are also credited with the creation of the Olympics, to impress leaders and make sure other cultures knew who they were dealing with. Running, wrestling and other games of strength and skill were appreciated by the public and the games gave them a way of becoming involved, through spectatorship or participation. These games had another effect, as well. They substituted for actual battle and relieved the pressure valve of aggression inherent in humans and most animals.
(Continues…)
Excerpted from "Building a Better Runner"
by .
Copyright © 2019 Terry Hamlin.
Excerpted by permission of Vertel Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
ENDORSEMENTS,
FOREWORD,
INTRODUCTION,
THE MODERN RUNNING BOOM,
WHY DO HUMANS RUN?,
THE EARLY COMPETITORS,
SO HOW DOES THIS MACHINE WORK?,
THE DISTANCE RUNNER PROTOTYPE,
THE PHASES OF TRAINING,
CHAPTER TWO,
CHAPTER THREE,
THE FEMALE,
COMMON INJURIES AND TREATMENTS,
GLOSSARY,
INDEX,