Racing flats? Check. Stopwatch? Check. Baking soda? Written by: Matt Fitzgerald There are various dietary supplements that are purported to enhance exercise performance by reducing lactic acid levels in the blood during exercise. Most such claims are based on outdated beliefs about the effects of lactic acid on exercise performance. First of all, the muscles [...]
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Q. Dear Matt, I am a woman, 41 years of age, and have been fairly active with walking, hiking, strength training and dance workouts. I started running last year but stopped after three or four months and did continue with other forms of workouts. I want to do a half marathon as one of my lifetime goals. [...]
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The latest research suggests more fat burning does not necessarily equal better performance. Written by: Matt Fitzgerald It is largely taken for granted in endurance sports that anything an athlete can do to increase his or her capacity to burn fat during races is worth doing. The idea is that fat is effectively an unlimited [...]
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You know what to drink during your workouts. But how about the rest of the day? Written by: Matt Fitzgerald There’s plenty of information available to runners about what to drink during and immediately after workouts. A lot less attention is paid to setting guidelines for what to drink during the rest of the day. [...]
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It’s important–and easy–to keep a record of your runs. Written by: Matt Fitzgerald The training diary is a runner’s tradition that has been around for many decades. It goes at least as far back as Alfred Shrubb, a legendary English runner born in 1878 who kept detailed notes about his workouts, and even published a [...]
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Two new studies provide new insights on the effects of music on the running experience and running performance. Written by: Matt Fitzgerald A number of past studies have explored the effects of music on mood during and after exercise and on exercise performance. Their aggregate results support a general findings that music of the right [...]
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One of America’s most underappreciated runners will attempt to make a statement in Sunday’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon. Interview by: Matt Fitzgerald Only ten Americans have ever run faster over 10,000 meters than Tim Nelson, who set a personal best of 27:31.56 at Stanford University earlier this year. Yet Nelson is less well-known [...]
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Most of us don’t eat enough vegetables. A little creativity can correct the problem. Written by: Matt Fitzgerald Vegetables are good for you. They are chock full of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients (nourishing plant chemicals, many of which function as antioxidants) that benefit our health in all kinds of ways. Among the many studies proving [...]
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Break free from the monotony of the one-lap interval. Written by: Matt Fitzgerald Four-hundred-meter intervals, or “quarters” as they are known colloquially, are a staple of training for many high school and college runners, and for many adult road racers, too. It’s easy to understand why. Four hundred meters is exactly one lap around a [...]
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Q. Dear Experts, I’m 39 years old (40 in November) and have been running for five years after a long stretch of inactivity during my 20s and early 30s. I have run off and on since I was about 10, so I consider myself an experienced runner. I am competing in duathlons and have toyed [...]
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Learn the difference between flexibility and mobility, and focus on the latter. Written by: Matt Fitzgerald As a runner you don’t need to be especially flexible. A normal range of motion in all of the major joints is sufficient to support efficient running movements. What you need more than flexibility is mobility.
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The results of a new study suggest that low-intensity exercise is more effective for weight loss than high-intensity exercise.
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Are you eating these foods and drinking these drinks? Written by: Matt Fitzgerald Runners need a lot of carbohydrate. Why? Because your muscles are fueled primarily on carbohydrate when you run hard. Thus, sports nutrition experts generally recommend that runners get approximately 60 percent of their daily calories from carbohydrate.
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There’s no disputing the fact that the injury rate in running is very high. But is footwear really to blame? Written by: Matt Fitzgerald The injury rate in running is very high. No one knows exactly how high, but whatever the exact number is, it’s a greater number than is seen in virtually any other [...]
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The 2008 Olympic Marathon gold medalist will compete in the Dodge Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon on Sunday. Interview by: Matt Fitzgerald Constantina Dita was considered one of the better–but not one of the best–marathon runners in the world before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Her resume included a victory in the 2004 Chicago [...]
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