Runners World: Stay (Running) In Place

All of the Ways to Run While Sheltering in Place, Ranked from Best to Worst
From backyards to balconies, creative running courses have been resurrected in wild places during the coronavirus pandemic.

By HAILEY MIDDLEBROOK APR 23, 2020/Runners World On-line

With races cancelled and lockdown orders in place across the globe because of the coronavirus, some runners have turned to creative measures to get in their miles. Ultrarunners have measured out 50-plus mile courses in their small neighborhoods. Others have logged serious mileage on the treadmill. And some have completed marathons on the track, on a rooftop, inside a building, and even on a balcony. Here, we’ve ranked the weirdest places we’ve seen people running during the pandemic, ranked from best (the most approachable option) to worst (the one most likely to make us say, “I’ll pass”).

(Link to article)

RUNSAFE: "Too Much, Too Soon"

In the British Journal of Sports Medicine March 2020, we discuss the “too much, too soon” theory. 

In running, it is widely accepted that athletes sustain sports injury if they train ‘too much, too soon’. However, not all runners are built the same; some can tolerate more running than others. It is for this reason that prescribing the same training program to all runners to reduce injury risk is not optimal from a coaching perspective. Rather, runners require individualized training plans. 

In acknowledgement of athlete diversity, it is therefore essential that researchers, assisted by runners, coaches and others, ask the right causal research question in studies examining sports injury etiology. In the article, we conclude “In the light of the limitations of population-based prevention that intends to provide all athletes with the same advice, we argue that a stronger emphasis on research questions targeting subgroups of athletes is needed. In doing so, researchers may assist athletes, clinicians and coaches to understand what training advice/program works best, for whom and under what circumstances”. 

In this light, participants in the Garmin-RUNSAFE Running Health Study, are a part of one of the first research studies that, based on a priori defined criteria, seeks to understand what running advice works for certain runners.

Read more about causal questions and the “too much, too soon” theory here:
https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2020/03/05/bjsports-2018-100245 
Note that the publisher owns the copyright for these publications so only the abstracts are available for free.

RUNSAFE: The "Wrong" Shoe?

A new publication from the RUNSAFE group that has surfaced March 2020 in the journal Footwear Science. Here, we highlight that the cause underpinning running-related injury occurrence is the relation between exposure to training load, internal tissue loads, and tissue capacity - with tissue load exceeding its capacity being the key biological mechanism in the development of injury.

On this basis, we examined the beliefs of running shoe salespersons and physiotherapy students regarding the influence of running shoes and foot pronation on running injury occurrence. Unfortunately, both populations hold beliefs that do not align well with current understanding of causes underpinning running injury occurrence. 

In the article, it reads “…the use of the terms “wrong shoes” or “adequate shoes” is likely inaccurate terminology. Viewed from a causal perspective, “wrong shoes” effectively do not exist as you are able to run a shorter or greater distance depending on the choice of running shoe… Despite this evidence, it remains common practice to recommend running shoes based on foot morphology and foot pronation”. If you find the topic appealing, you are able to read the abstract of the article here:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19424280.2020.1734869