If you’re old enough, you may be able to remember when Heavyhands was an honest to god craze. About twenty five or thirty years ago, people started showing up to run with these little hand weights that had handles attached to them so that were easier to hold than, say, dumbbells.

The idea was that you would swing the weights while you walked or run, and you would get twice the workout in the same amount of time. The idea was developed and popularized by Leonard Schwartz, a middle aged doctor who was looking for something other than running to get his cardio in, and it was a good idea.

Of course, it didn’t work. The craze came and went, and for the most part, the little Heavyhands weight found a resting place in closets, never to be used again. This was not actually Dr.Schwartz’s fault, to be fair, and there is a lot of merit in what he had to say.

The problem was is that Heavyhands were supposed to give you a vigorous arm workout, but this required actually swing the weights while you ran or walked, keeping a steady pace. This is what you were supposed to do, but it isn’t what most people actually did. Instead, they just carried the weights as they ran.

Now, if the Heavyhands weight were fifty-pound beasts, this might have worked, but since they only weighed a pound or two, the effect was negligible and people soon quit using them. Much like the Atkins diet, most of the people doing Heavyhands had never actually read the book.

This is a shame, because Schwartz was on to something. He did meticulous research into how pumping hand weight affected oxygen uptake and energy burn, and his personal results were impressive.

The highest VO2 maxes in the world tend to be held by rowers and cross-country skiers, both of whom use all their limbs for their sport. This led Schwartz to reason, correctly, that using the arms would allow you to build your cardio system in a whole new way.

This is good stuff for the serious runner. This allows you to continue to build your cardiovascular endurance without endless speed work or infinitely increasing mileage. Instead, with the hand weights correctly used, you can radically improve your ability to get oxygen into your system, which will in turn radically improve your running.

What you probably shouldn’t do is run with the Heavyhands weights. If you do, and you’re a competitive runner, you’re going to mess up your biomechanics for the actual races, which is not something that anyone wants.

Instead, replace some of your mileage for at least six weeks or so with Heavyhands walking at as brisk a pace as you can manage, while swinging the weights to forehead height or so. This is going to be a lot harder than it sounds, but it can add a lot wind to your lungs and a lot of speed to your runs faster than you can say Heavyhands.

Image Credit: HomeGymCentral.com

Dan Gable, legendary Olympic wrestler and coach, once said, “If something is important, do it every day. If it’s not important, don’t do it.” There’s a lot of truth to that, because a lot of what we do, even with running, involves honing skills that only come with hours of practice.

In fact, it’s said to take ten thousand hours of practice to truly be considered a master at something. That’s two hours of training a day for fourteen years, which is a lot of work and dedication. But, you know, there’s something to be said for the idea of less is more. It’s actually possible to get better at running without running.

At least, for controlled periods. You can’t expect to not run for years and then suddenly come back and smash your previous records, but a short period away from pounding the pavement can actually be just the thing to bust you through a plateau. The trick is that you have to be able to do it right.

Runners notoriously have the some of the highest injury rates in athletics. While these are not generally as dramatic as Joe Theisman’s femur getting snapped like a twig by Lawrence Taylor, it is an insidious problem that will creep up on many if not most runners at some point.

The trouble is repetitive stress, where the body repeats the same action over and over and over. While practice is necessary and good, you can easily get too much of a good thing by doing the same thing all the time, every time. Think of office workers who eventually need surgery because of typing, now imagine the pounding your knees and ankles take.

Even beyond the damage repetitive stress is doing to your body, there’s also the fact of accumulated fatigue. Virtually anyone who trains to get better, which everyone who takes running even a little seriously, is going to be fatiguing their body little by little, in ways that aren’t obvious except over the long term.

The answer to all of this is to stop running. Now, obviously, you should be just sitting on the couch instead of running, although there is something to be said for the rejuvenating effects of vegging out for a week or two every year or so.

No, instead you’ll want to replace your running with another hard aerobic activity for six weeks or so every so often. The best time to do this is right after a hard race, to give your body some time to rest and recover.

Try to pick and activity that will keep your lungs and legs in shape while giving them a new stress to adapt to. Try running stairs exclusively, or taking up biking for a while. The trick is that you need to work hard.

If you do it right, you find that when you come back to running you will be able to with a lot more vigor and energy then you previously had, and you may even gain the momentum needed to hit some brand new personal records.

Probably the worst thing you can say about fartlek training is that it kind of has a funny name, which probably still gets giggles at high schools everywhere. It’s appeal to lowbrow humor not withstanding, incorporating fartlek training is probably one of the best things you could do for your running training.

Fartlek is a Swedish word meaning speed play, and the basic idea is to intersperse periods of different running speeds into your running. This isn’t quite the same as interval work, although the basic idea is similar; you want train your muscles in new ways to increase your overall speed.

The average runner, someone who runs to keep fit and maybe does the occasional race, usually trains by doing a warmup, a run at a fairly steady pace, followed by a cooldown. This is an effective way to train up to a point, but you will reach a plateau fairly quickly where you are going to need more to increase your speed.

By incorporating the fartlek concept, you are exposing your body to new stresses to cause it to adapt, and you do this by incorporating a variety of running speeds into your run, rather than just holding a steady pace.

The word play in the translated title is actually the key to making this system work the way it’s supposed to. Think of kids who are out playing, who will walk, run and jog at seeming random intervals. This is what you are trying to emulate.

So at one session you might spend ten minutes running at a steady pace, then sprint for a minute, then walk for a minute, then sprint again, and so on. The idea is keep the shifting speeds random and unpredictable. If you feel like running fast do it,, if you don’t, walk for a while.

There are a couple of reasons this works. One of the big ones is that your body basically has two energy systems, the aerobic and the anaerobic, and fartlek training helps you train then both. A lot of runners only focus on developing their aerobic energy system, which leaves them using only part of what their bodies are capable of.

Another way that it helps is the related concept of muscle fibers. Your body has slow twitch muscle fibers, which are more endurance oriented, and fast twitch fibers, which are more power and speed oriented. If you want to maximize your speed and continue to improve, you absolutely need to make sure you develop both of them.

Of course, subjecting your body to new things is also just plain good for you. Your body is unimaginably complex, and every bit of novelty is going to cause some kind of adaptation that will work to your benefit,, even beyond the big energy systems and muscle fiber benefits.

And fartlek training is just fun. Bounding and sprinting, setting mini challenges for yourself like running a certain number of telephone poles’ distance full title before slowing down, makes even a route you’ve run a thousand times seem like a brand new world.

Injuries are the bane of any serious runner, and many not so serious runners. These can both be the acute, like a torn tendon, or chronic like stress fractures. The average runner spends a lot of money on shoes and orthotics that are designed to minimize the chance of injury and keep them running better for longer.

But what if the shoes are the problem?

That’s the question being asked by proponents of barefoot running, who believe that the altered gait that is produced by heavy, shock absorbing shoes isn’t help us avoid injuries, it’s causing them. What if everybody would be a lot better off if they ditched the shoes and started hitting the road barefoot, or something close to it?

It seems like a strange idea, but there is a lot of evidence that the barefoot folks might have a point. Shoes absolutely do change your stride, moving you from a shorter, toe first stride to a longer stride where the impact is on your heels. In fact, this change in stride was the entire point of the original Nikes, which were designed to allow a longer and theoretically faster stride.

The problem with this is that it shifts your weight from something designed to work as a natural shock absorber, the front of your foot and toes, and transfers it to something that is absolutely not designed for that kind of abused. Think about jumping up in the air; you wouldn’t land on your heels, would you? When you do this, the heavy padding we associated with modern running shoes becomes an absolutely necessity.

The idea of barefoot running being superior has been around for decades, at the very least, but the idea got a big boost in 2009 with the publication of Christopher McDougall’s best seller about the lost tribe of ultra runners, the Tarahumara, who run hundreds of miles in nothing but thin sandals made from truck tires.

McDougall, a runner himself, charts the barefoot movement in his book, and eventually overcomes his own running related injuries by using a barefoot program. All of which makes for an interesting story and great anecdotal evidence, but what does the science say about it?

Unfortunately, there haven’t been any long term controlled studies about the issue. A review of the various reports on the issue does indicate that barefoot runners suffer from significantly less chronic and acute injuries to the ankle and lower leg, as well as four percent less energy cost. So the science seems to indicate that the barefoot running group has merit, but more studies are need before conclusions are made.

Although the hardcore in the barefoot running crowd actually do run in their bare feet in all sort of conditions, most people actually use a very thin shoes with out padding to protect their feet from stones, broken glass and the other detritus of modern lift that can be hard on runner’s feet. The most popular shoes for this is weird looking foot glove called the Vibram Five finger, but other options are out there for people who want to try barefoot running with growing a set of hooves.

If you’re running, then you need to be lifting weights. The benefits of resistance training are just too big for any runner to ignore. A good weight lifting program will help prevent injury, help give you more energy, and shave time off your runs, all good stuff.  But you need to go about it in the right way, or you can end up overtrained and injured. Here’s a quick guide to getting started with resistance training.

Pick Exercises That Give The Most Bang For Your Buck

The best exercises are the ones that hit the most muscles at once. You want to spend as little time as possible in the gym while still getting the best result, and working your big muscles is the way to do it. The absolute best exercises for runners are deadlifts, squats, bench press, rows, and the shoulder press. These five exercises will work virtually every muscle in your body from your toes to your neck.

Keep Your Sets and Reps Reasonable

You absolutely do not need to spend hours in the gym doing endless sets of infinite reps. Generally speaking, three sets of five to eight reps is going to be plenty. Always try to do more reps at each work out and when you get beyond eight reps, add enough weight to take you back down to five reps. This way you continue to get stronger without having to spend your whole life in the gym.

Stop Short of Failure

On every set, you always want to leave a little in the tank for next time, so stop a rep or two short of not being able to move the weight anymore. You don’t run until you collapse, and you should lift that way either. You should try to leave a weight session with more energy than you started with.

Try Three Days a Week

Working your whole body, three days a week, works for almost everybody, so long as you’re managing your energy and recovery. If you find that you’re continually dragging during your weight workouts, or that you don’t seem to have the energy you want when you’re running, you can scale it back to twice a week and see how it suits you.

Work Through Soreness

When you first start lifting weights, you are almost certainly going to get sore. This is just one of those unavoidable facts of life. You might be tempted to wait until you’re not sire anymore to lift again. This is a common reaction, and it’s almost always a mistake. You should work through the soreness, and you’ll find that your body will adapt and stop getting sore. Soreness is not a good indicator of recovery, and for the most part, it’s something you should ignore.

Note that we’re talking about soreness and not the kind of pain you get when you’re actually injured. If you do hurt yourself, which is unlikely but still possible on a good weight lifting plan, you need to take time off and recover, just as you would with a running injury.

Image courtesy of (ariel)

As a runner, I am constantly looking for ways to decrease the necessity for rest while increasing my ability to recover. Part of the reason is that I don’t want to be sore all of the time, and finding the correct training and recovery balance is important for that. The other part of the equation is that I want to recover faster so that my body can take more pain…which means I have more time to train.

I don’t like rest days…I hate them. I’m born to run and any day spent without some sort of physical activity is one in which I just don’t feel as accomplished as the days before. Sure, you could say that running might be an unhealthy addiction, but compared to other self-medications, like booze or drugs, I’m OK with my running habit.

So with that being said, I’d like to discuss 5 ways that I’ve been able to train my body to recover faster.

1. Ice baths – Most people refuse to try ice in any form. Yeah yeah…it is pretty darn cold, but once you get used to the routine you stop hating it so much. Ice packs work OK, but a cold ice bath is one of the most effective ways to reduce inflammation and speed up recovery. The trick with an ice bath is not to get the temperature to near freezing and in fact many times you don’t even need ice to reach the right temperature. Let the water run and slowly add ice until the water gets into the 40’s or low 50’s, which is plenty cold enough to reduce your core temperature and start the healing process. The first time might be tough, but you’ll get used to the feeling very quickly. After 10 seconds, you’ll be in recovery heaven.
2. Amino acids – Amino acids are the building blocks for protein, which means that your muscles need them in order to repair and rebuild. There are a few great amino supplements on the market, but any is better than none. The great thing about amino supplements is that they are fed directly to your starving muscles, which speeds recovery and will ensure that you get the most benefit from your training.
3. Recovery drink – A good recovery drink taken post-race or post-workout can help you improve recovery by leaps and bounds. Immediately after a workout, prepare a mixture of 1/4 protein and 3/4 carbohydrates. The protein will work to repair your muscles while the carbohydrates will help to restore what you lost during your workout. Your body can then focus on recovery rather than digging for energy sources.


4. NSAID’s – Motrin, Naproxin, and the rest of the NSAID crew can help to reduce inflammation, which will help your body rebuild at a quicker pace. The trick with these is not to become dependant and only use them when you need to. Natural methods are better, but when left without options or when in considerable pain, 400 mg of Motrin can do the trick.
5. Stretching – This is the lost art…most people don’t like to stretch, but it must be done. Post-workout stretching is just as important as pre-workout stretching is. When you stretch after a workout, you’ll keep your muscles from contracting and tightening up, which will help conserve energy and allow your body to feed essential nutrients to your recovering muscles. It will also increase blood flow, which helps oxygenate your legs and prevent more serious conditions.

Runners need to spend as much time thinking about recovery as they do about training. It might not be as sexy, but ensuring a speedy recovery will help you to reap as much benefit as possible from your workouts. After all, what’s the point of training if your body cannot take advantage of it?

The following is a guest post from Charlene Jaszewski, a fellow runner and resident of New York City. This is a great post about a problem that most of us deal with from time to time. Make sure to leave a comment at the end of the post.

If you’re like me (and god help you if you are), your number one problem on a run is not coming up with enough energy to complete your run, it’s keeping your mind from going crazy during the run. If you’re just running 45 minutes, it’s easy enough to keep your mind entertained with scenery on the way out and back. But once you start pushing your mileage up up and away, it becomes more important for you to keep your brain in check.  Here are some methods I use.

1. Listen to fast music.

If you listen to the iPod Nano, you can define a “Power Song” that you can pull up in those instances where you need an extra kick.

2. Do a mantra.

Mantras are words repeated during meditation to calm and control the mind. I discovered mantras during a failed attempt at a meditation practice. However, I found by accident that a speeded-up mantra DOES work while running. Obviously “OM” doesn’t work for this purpose, but the Hare Krishna one does. It goes like this:

Hare krishna hare krishna
krishna krishna hare hare
hare rama hare rama
rama rama hare hare

3. Find a rabbit

Here’s how it works. Run in an area with other folks (easy enough to do in the city where I live) – in your sights, find someone who is running ahead of you, but JUST A HAIR FASTER. He/she is your rabbit. Make it a challenge to catch up to them. If you’re feeling ballsy, you can even try to pass them, but don’t get too cocky. And don’t make it apparent that you’re chasing them or you might creep them out. Then again if you do, they will run away faster, creating an even greater challenge for you.

One recent rabbit and I did a speed/up slowdown for almost 45 minutes – I would catch up to/pass them, then when I would slow down, they would speed up/pass me. Glorious! And unless your rabbit is extraordinarily cute and you want to have a post-rabbit conversation, you don’t even need to say “thanks for being my rabbit.”

4. Cityzagging:

*Only to be undertaken by the very agile and quick, requires dense population and wide sidewalks

Part of my run home involves three long city blocks near Central Park. The sidewalks are very wide (10-15 ft) and there are pockets of people every 20 feet. While running home, it’s necessary to zig and zag between people to keep up my pace. But now instead of zigging when I have to, I CREATE zigzag situations. Like a pocket of people only five feet spread instead of ten.  It’s really fun because not only do i get the workout benefit of varying my speed, I get the mental challenge of estimating the ideal speed/trajectory to avoid plowing people over.

Charlene Jaszewski is a freelance communication optimizer who lives in New York City a stone’s throw from Central Park, just the way she likes it. You can read her thoughts on social media, usability and randomness at www.theredheadsaid.com.

Boston Qualifying Information

This is the offical Boston Marathon Qualifying Information from the Boston Marathon Association. You can use these time to find out how to qualify for Boston. Find your age group and use the time listed as your official necessary Boston Marathon Qualifying Time. Then, visit FuryFitness.Com to look for races that help you get qualified for Boston.

The qualifying races most frequently used are listed below. Please note: This is not an all inclusive list. All qualifying races must be certified.

This is a 6-week guide for all of you runners to be out there, trying to figure out how to start running without getting injured or being sore a week later.  Like many people, I decided to get into running at a later age and wasn’t sure what type of program or routine would be best.  Being that I was very eager to get started, I proceeded to go out and run as fast as I could around my neighborhood.  When I got tired, I started walking until I could breath again. 

This continued over and over and as I got frustrated at my lack of ability and endurance, I gave up for a few months.  I burned right through the initial "excitement phase" in 1 session and was already done with running.  What I realized after this (months later), was that by jumping too quickly into running without being prepared and knowing what I was doing, I sold myself short. 

So I went out and started soaking up all the information I could. I bought every running magazine and spent hours online reading articles and posting on discussion boards (such as those found at http://forum.runnerstrainingguide.com).  Finally, I came up with a perfect starting routine that built me up slowly and allowed me to run enough to feel like I accomplished something every time.  Years later, I’m competing weekly and loving the running lifestyle. First, here are a few keys:

1. Running involves more than just your leg muscles. To properly build yourself up to running shape (being able to run more than a mile at a time without stopping) you will need to strengthen your entire body. I recommend some time in the gym or at least supplementing with some squats, lunges, and ab work whenever you can.
2. Don’t go for broke right off the bat. Whenever you go running (at least in the beginning), make sure you start off slow and easy until your heart starts getting more blood to your legs.
3. Breathe in your nose and out your mouth. Use a nice and easy breathing pattern and don’t start sucking for air as fast as you can.  A large portion of running has to do with proper breathing. 
4. Stretch! Both before and after you run, spend 10-15 minutes stretching.  Proper stretching will warm you up and keep you from being sore later.
5. Last but not least: Rest! Rest is very important and will allow you to stay refreshed and heal properly.  Try to plan so you can alternate between running and rest days.

Ok, now that we’ve touched on a few tips, lets talk about routines.  For the purpose of this guide, I’m going to assume that you’ve never run on a consistent basis if at all.  If you find this guide is too easy for you, bump up the pace, distance, or time to meet your needs. A quality routine will consist of about 2-3 days of running for the first 2 weeks mixed in with some walking to keep your heart rate up without killing your legs and lungs.  After that, we’ll slowly start removing the walking until you can comfortably run a mile.  From then on, you will know enough to formulate your own routine based on this guide and those found on the rest of the site.

Week 1     

Day 1: Alternate between 1 minute runs and 1 minute walks for a total of 10 minutes. If you find that 1 minute is not sufficient with either cycle, then change accordingly (i.e. 1:30 run/0:30 walk or visa versa).     

Day 2:  Repeat day 1 workout, but add an additional 4 minutes to your total time.     

Day 3:  Alternate between 1:30 minute runs and 1:30 minute walks for a total of 12 minutes.

Week 2     

Day 1:  Alternate between 2 min runs and 2 minute walks for a total of 12 minutes.     

Day 2:  Alternate between 2 minute runs and 2 minute walks for a total of 16 minutes.     

Day 3:  Alternate between 2 minute runs and 2 minute walks for a total of 12 minutes.

Week 3     

Day 1:  Alternate between 3 minute runs and 1 minute walks for a total of 12 minutes.      

Day 2:  Alternate between 4 minute runs and 1 minute walks for a total of 15 minutes.       

Day 3:  Alternate between 3:30 minute runs and 30 second walks for a total of 16 minutes.

Week 4     

Day 1:  Run/Jog for 5 minutes, walk for 1 and repeat.     

Day 2: Run/Jog for 7 minutes, walk for 1 and repeat.     

Day 3: Run/Jog for 5 minutes, walk for 1 and repeat twice.

Week 5      

Day 1:  Run/Jog for 10 minutes, slowing down instead of walking to rest.     

Day 2: Run/Jog for 14minutes, slowing down instead of walking to rest.     

Day 3: Run/Jog for 12minutes, slowing down instead of walking to rest.

Week 6 (Victory Week!)     

Day 1: Run at a steady pace for 12 minutes.     

Day 2: Run at a steady pace for 16 minutes.     

Day 3: Run at a steady pace for 14 minutes.

By now, you should find this program too easy and you’ll be chomping at the bit to unleash your fury and tear up the roads.  You should have no problems running a mile in this time period and in fact you should be running close to 1.5 miles if you are working hard enough.  All it takes to become a runner is to start running consistently, which is why I love running so much.  First, you’ll be competing against yourself and soon you’ll find you just might want to try the next level…competing against others in a 5k or 10k.  Remember, stick to the basics and don’t burn yourself out.  Good Luck!

People ask about running all the time, but the most pertinent question I get is why. Most of the time, it is phrased in a manner such as “what is wrong with you that you like running so much?” Well, every person has their own reasons and they vary as much as the weather, but for me running is religion.  Running gives me a sense of peace that I don’t find anywhere else.  The daily jogs through my neighborhood allow me to see the world in slow motion. I also often find that I do my best thinking when I am alone on the run. I guess you could say it is meditation. However, this probably isn’t the case for all runners and so we’ll talk about many of the benefits of running and some of the top reasons to run.

• Running can help you lose weight and keep it off.  Running burns hundreds of calories and on an hour run you can burn upwords of 1,000 calories. Even at a slow pace, runners will see a positive impact very quickly.
• Running builds a healthy cardiovascular system.  Are you tired of getting winded just bringing in the groceries or walking up a flight of stairs?  Running can really improve your lung capacity, breathing, and oxygen distribution.
• Running builds a healthy heart.  Some people say that your heart only has so many beats, so why shorten your life by running? This is rubbish and it is proven that running can help you live longer by strengthening your cardiovascular system.  This includes a slower heart rate (helping your heart live longer), improved bloodflow, and less toxicity in the body.
• Running strengthens bones and muscles.  This one really makes a difference in how you feel.   Your bone density improves and your muscles grow and harden, giving you a confident and strong posture.  Studies have shown that running actually improves joints over time as well.  Who doesn’t want a stronger body?
• Running is great for the mind and fuels the competitive spirit.  Running is a solo sport for the most part, and you’ll find that your only competition is yourself.  Running teaches you how to move through adversity, control your body and mind, and push yourself harder than you would normally.  I have never felt this kind of exhileration anywhere else in life.  Runner’s high is part of it (it is free and legal!), but oddly enough by crossing running barriers you’ll find yourself crossing personal barriers too.
• Running is a stepping stone to greater things.  Many of you have set goals to run and never followed through.  Aren’t you tired of setting goals and not achieving them?  Set out to run and stick to it and you’ll find running as a stepping stone to greater things.

Running has many benefits and there are many more than I’ve listed here.  There are so many reaons to run and these top reasons to run are just the start. It really is a lifechanger in more ways than one.  Don’t let the fear of getting started stop you from seeing these benefits in your life. The key is like Nike says, “Just Do It.”