Long runs make you stronger if you do them correctly

By Cobi Morales
How far should you go on a long run to become a stronger and faster runner? The problem seems to be that the majority of runners tend to run longer distances that are often shorter than they should be and do so too fast, thus they often peak too early and finish less than "strong", you know the feeling of being burned out.
What are the physiological benefits of long runs? The benefits include an increase in the number of capillaries per muscle fiber which improves efficiency and an increase in the myoglobin content of your muscle fibers. What does all of this mean to you? Well, the more oxygen can reach the mitochondria, the greater energy production which results in keeping a faster pace for extended periods of time.

 With the original question in mind, here is a chart on how fast and how long you should go to become  stronger:

What pace or effort?
Effort - Easy super easy

 *Advanced runners should keep a pace that is around 2 minutes slower than their half marathon pace.

 *Intermediate runners should keep a pace that is around a minute slower than their half marathon pace.
 

 Note: This is our own personal philosophy to easy long runs, there are of course other approaches which often suggest faster paces.

What distance?

 Here is a reasonable ELR build up for a half marathon (we generally suggest  one easy long run every 2-3 weeks )

Faster more advanced runners:

 12M
15M
18M
18M

Intermediate level runners:

12M
12M
15M
15M
18M

Good luck everyone !

Cobi Morales 

Chronic fatigue? Try Nuun

Not being well hydrated manifests itself in many ways. Here are some of the more common symptoms reported by those who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome:

 Dehydration can be a cause of fatigue when you have chronic fatigue syndrome. Nearly all body functions are about fluid balance, and even small changes in fluid balance can affect our performance and daily life. If this fluid is not replaced blood volume can drop. As a result, the heart has to work harder in order to supply the skin and muscles with oxygen and nutrients.

As dehydration progresses, the body redirects blood to the working muscles and away from the skin, impairing your body's ability to diffuse heat. The increase in internal heat then results in muscle cramps, light-headedness, and fatigue. If you have chronic fatigue syndrome, you will identify with this symptom.

It's common for our bodies to experience dehydration when we have chronic fatigue syndrome. Dehydration can interfere with our natural thirst reflex - many who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome are dehydrated and don't even know it.

Our bodies are about 70% water. Vital organs like the kidneys, brain, and heart can't operate properly without a certain minimum of water and salt. Dehydration is caused by a loss of water and important blood salts like potassium and sodium.

When your body experiences dehydration, it results in subtle tension in your tissues, muscles and organs. This restricts blood flow. Because your blood flow is restricted, it becomes a dumping ground for toxicity. The result is that you feel as though you are hung over and your muscles ache...common to chronic fatigue syndrome sufferers.

   How Nuun helps?

One Up Your Water with Nuun, an electrolyte enhanced drink tablet formulated to dissolve in water and designed to keep you optimally hydrated wherever you are throughout the day.

Nuun’s special formulation of electrolytes helps increase the amount of water that’s absorbed into the blood stream. That means more of the water you drink is actually used to hydrate you instead of being eliminated because the electrolyte balance wasn’t right. Nuun is not energy.  Designed just for hydration. 

Remember

We know most of you hydrate during exercise, but you need to do it throughout the day to beat chronic fatigue. 

Cobi Morales

 

The Perfect Match

By Cobi Morales

Laura Ortiz came into iRun to buy some running shoes expecting to get the best and most comfortable shoes she can wear. What she didn't know is that the moment she walk into the store our staff members had something in mind more relevant than just a pair of comfortable shoes for her natural leg. ( Laura has a prosthetic right leg )

What we saw was, we needed to find a shoe for her natural  leg  that can match ground contact and reaction forces coming from the ground on her carbon fiber prosthetic leg.

After trying different pairs of shoes and seeing her run up and down the sidewalk outside of the store we found the perfect match!

 There is no discrepancy between her prosthetic leg and her natural leg in a pair of Mizuno Wave Prophecy's which have a similar density and respond well with the carbon fiber leg. We are so happy  we found the perfect shoe for Laura.  Without forgetting to mention, she is a natural talented runner as you can see on the video below with a natural smooth running form.

 At www.iruncompany.com, when it comes to running, we take our job seriously.    

Cobi Morales 


 

Are light weight shoes a business opportunity ?

As our first year anniversary approaches we have been fortunate to meet and fit so many new runners into their new pair of running shoes and now we can proudly say "we have survived the tendency towards light weight shoes". How did we do it? By defining one philosophy: Running should be enjoyable and achieved by working on each individuals abilities to run. A skillful runner can run in virtually any shoe due to his ability, but for the rest of us, functional running shoes help us get the run done and in most cases being able to run pain free. These days everyone is trying to move into a much lighter shoes because a new theory proposes that "less shoe=more natural" . After successfully fitting hundreds of people and being able to have a close contact with skillful runners who run more than 80 miles a week at paces sometimes under 7 minutes per mile, we can clearly say: The industry is  trying to reinvent running  when in reality people are coming back to us for a more functional shoe. We believe that by training hard, commitment  and a good pair of running shoes, anyone can improve running.
Light weight shoes have been around for a long time, the only problem is that people these days seem to not know how to use them properly. A light weight shoe should be worn for shorter runs, speed training or races, not for every day training.
Yes, light weight shoes make you run faster, but do we really want to run fast every single day of the week? Most likely the answer is NO.  
We are not the only ones defining one philosophy, Matt Fitzgerald is a regular contributor to competitor.com, Triathlete, Inside Triathlon and Competitor magazine who wrote and article called Good Running Form Is A Matter Of Not Being Lazy  The statistics say that South Florida is one of the slowest running communities in the nation. All it takes is to drive North a few hours to find faster runners who don't seem to be concerned about training with light weight shoes.


We take running seriously!

Cobi Morales

Functional Running shoes

Functional running shoes are the most important piece of equipment that a runners has. They help prevent injury and they may help the running gait be more efficient and  helps you run with a proper alignment of your body.



All the runners need the best protection that running shoes can provide - the running shoe needs to absorb shock, control motion, be flexible and be durable. 
There is no best running shoe. Every runner is different; every brand of running shoes is different; each model of running shoe is different - the challenge is to match the features of each runner to the features of a particular brand and model of running shoe.
Example:
With overpronation, the ankle collapses, this causes the joint surfaces to function at unnatural angles to each other. When this happens, joints that should be stable now become very loose and flexible.


Below is the before & after on how  running shoes can help facilitate  normal function and help overcome many of the minor biomechanical problems that interfere with a motion.

Cobi Morales