One of the things I find most annoying about summer running is having to slather on the sunscreen before my outdoor runs. And even more irritating than that is when the sunscreen on your forehead drips into your eyes, causing stinging and burning for the rest of your run (and sometimes even hours later). Here are some tips for keeping sunscreen out of your eyes: Put lip balm on your eyebrows. Applying a waxy lip balm to your eyebrows or upper eyelids will create a waterproof barrier that keeps your sweat (and sunscreen) from dripping into your eyes. Try stick sunscreens. Waxy stick sunscreens, such as Coppertone Sport Sunblock Stick, have a similar effect to the lip balm and are less likely than the cream sunscreens to run into your eyes. Wear a visor. A simple visor with a sweat band, like a Headsweats visor, will keep both the sun and sweat out of your eyes when you're running. Do you have tricks for keeping the sweat and sunscreen out of your eyes? Share your tips or recommendations for good sunscreens in the comments section. More: "Help – I Have Sunscreen in My Eyes!" originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 17:00:10. Permalink | Comment | Email this
After an 8-mile run this weekend, a first-time, enthusiastic marathoner-in-training on my team confessed to me, "This is the first time I was bored during a run." He seemed crushed. I don't think anyone had told him that running long distances can sometimes be dull. To avoid that "I'm so bored -- I can't take another step" feeling during your runs, it helps to be armed with some smart, boredom-busting strategies. Here are some things to try: Run with others. Whether it's in an organized road race, with a running group, your significant other, or even your dog, having others around you will definitely help keep your mind occupied and also give you a motivation boost. Change your run time or your route. If you normally run in the morning, go for a sunset run. If your running route is getting stale, shake it up and find a new trail to run on. Do a form check. Take a few minutes to evaluate your upper body form. Are your shoulders moving up toward your ears? If so, roll your head, push your shoulder blades together, and let your shoulders drop. Drop your arms and shake them out. Then re-position them at a 90-degree angle. Your arms should swing at your side, not crossing over your chest. Try to keep your hands and wrists relaxed. Checking your form will not only help you run more efficiently and comfortably, but it shifts the attention away from your mind and helps you get more in tune with your body. Get even more tips on preventing boredom from other runners and share your own tricks. More: How Do You Beat Boredom During Runs? originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 at 10:45:21. Permalink | Comment | Email this
"If Joe Montana wears and endorses them, they must work, right?" That's what you may be thinking when you see those ubiquitous commercials for Skechers Shape-up shoes, but a new study from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) suggests that Shape-ups and others like them - MBTs (Masai Barefoot Technology) and Reebok EasyTone shoes -- won't help you build more muscle or burn more calories as they promise. The idea behind toning shoes is that their unstable sole forces you to find a balance point, making you work harder than if you're wearing regular shoes. To test the claims, ACE researchers conducted two studies. One study evaluated exercise responses to walking in traditional running shoes (a New Balance running shoe) versus the toning shoes. The second study evaluated muscle activation when walking in regular running shoes compared to toning shoes. Their conclusion (detailed in their report) was that, "Across the board, none of the toning shoes showed statistically significant increases in either exercise response or muscle activation during any of the treadmill trials. There is simply no evidence to support the claims that these shoes will help wearers exercise more intensely, burn more calories or improve muscle strength and tone." So how do researchers respond to those who say they felt sore or noticed results after wearing toning shoes? The shoes' cushioning and unstable sole forces you to use different muscles than other shoes, but that doesn't mean you're working any harder, burning more calories, or going to get toned, according to researchers. The silver lining, however, is that spending money on these shoes may motivate inactive people to get moving because they think they're getting a toning effect. So that's a good thing. Have you tried toning shoes? What do you think? Share your review. More: Do Toning Shoes Work? originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 21:01:43. Permalink | Comment | Email this
If you're a veteran runner, you probably do interval workouts on a regular basis, and you most likely vary your distance, pace, and recovery time for the intervals. While the recovery interval is the easy part of the workout, it can be tough to try to figure out what's the right amount of time or distance to recover in between hard efforts. A recent study suggests that recovering "by feel" may be the best way to approach your recovery. In the study, published in the journal Pyschophysiology, researchers divided runners into three groups and had them all run five 1000m intervals at 90% effort, with different methods of recovery in between repeats. The first group recovered until their heart rate returned to 130 bpm. Another group recovered for the same amount of time that it took them to run the 1,000m. The third group recovered until they felt rested enough to run at 90% effort. The result? The group that recovered based on their heart rate slowed on the later intervals. The second and third groups both finished the intervals at expected times, but the runners who recovered "by feel" actually took less recovery time, allowing them to finish their workouts in a shorter amount of time. So the lesson here is that it can be beneficial to listen to your body and adjust your workout based on how you're feeling. You may need more or less recovery time, depending on the workout, your training regimen, weather conditions, as well as your sleeping and eating habits. More: The Perfect Recovery? originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 at 17:36:11. Permalink | Comment | Email this
You'd think that running in the heat and humidity would mean you don't have to deal with cold-weather issues like numb feet and toes, but many runners suffer from this problem - and it usually has nothing to do with the temperature outside. If your toes sometimes go numb during runs, you may actually be wearing running shoes that are too small or tying your shoelaces too tight. Your feet swell when you run (especially in the warmer months), so you should be wearing running shoes that are a half size to a full size bigger than your street shoe size. If you have a wide foot, you may need to get a running shoe that has an extra-wide toebox. You can ask a salesperson at a running specialty store for advice on the right shoes. If your shoes aren't the problem, you can also try stopping to stretch when you start feeling the numbness. Sometimes tightness in our legs may lead us to run with improper form, which may put pressure on a nerve and lead to the numbness. So a quick stretch of any part that feels tight may help. When you stop to stretch, also try to move your foot around and massage it a little, just to get the blood flowing to the areas that feel numb. Running on your toes for a short distance - several hundred feet or so -- can also help. If you try those suggestions and don't see any improvement, schedule an appointment with your primary doctor or a podiatrist. You may have a nerve issue called a neuroma. Though it may sound scary, a doctor-recommended under-the-foot pad can help treat the condition by taking pressure off the nerve. The numbness may also be the result of something more, like an illness, tumor or nerve condition. If your symptoms persist, don't wait to get checked out. More: Why Are My Toes Numb? originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 at 11:30:17. Permalink | Comment | Email this
Your sports bra (or your running shorts' back pocket) seemed like the perfect spot to stash your cell phone during your run - until you realized it was sitting in a puddle of your sweat by the time you finished. With lots of sweaty runs and pop-up rain showers, summer is a time of year when many runners accidentally get their cell phones wet during a run. If it happens to you, here's some basic First Aid for reviving a wet cell phone: - Don't try to turn it on again until it's completely dried out. First, shake out as much water as you can and dry it off with a paper towel.
- Take out the battery and the SIM card (the portable memory card) and dry them off with a paper towel. Don't try to dry the inside of the phone - you might break it.
- Pour dry rice into a ziplock bag. Place your phone, the SIM card, and battery in the bag of rice and make sure they're covered. Seal the bag and leave everything in there overnight.
- The next day, take everything out and clean with a damp paper towel. Put the battery and SIM card back in the phone. If it still doesn't work when you turn it on, keep it in a warm place for a while and try again.
If I'm carrying my phone in my pocket or SPIbelt, especially during summer running, I slip it into a ziplock bag to protect it and I've never had a problem! More: How to Save Your Wet Cell Phone originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Friday, July 16th, 2010 at 09:20:45. Permalink | Comment | Email this
If you often carry disposable plastic water bottles on your runs or use them at the gym, you may be a bit fearful about reusing them because of Internet rumors reporting poisoning from repeated washing and rinsing. Another rumor that's been circulating suggests that freezing a water bottle (a little trick I always recommend to keep water cold during hot runs) may release dioxins (chemicals) from the plastic. Is reusing or freezing plastic bottles hazardous to your health? Check out this informative video that separates truth from rumors. The bottom line: Freezing water bottles is perfectly safe. As for reusing them, it's bacteria, not chemicals, that can be harmful to your health, so make sure you're washing them thoroughly. (And, no, don't put them in the dishwasher.) More: Photo by George Doyle Is It Safe to Reuse or Freeze Plastic Water Bottles? originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 16:27:33. Permalink | Comment | Email this
One of the runners on my team is recovering from a hip stress fracture and she's been slowly getting back to running after a long recovery period. She said to me recently, "A hip stress fracture is the worst running injury, right?" While I don't doubt that a stress fracture is painful and extremely frustrating to recover from, I've never had one (knock on wood), so it's tough for me to rank them among other running injuries. But I thought it would be interesting to ask runners to share their worst running injuries. What has been your worst and most frustrating injury? Was it very painful? Did you have a very long recovery period? Do you have an injury that keep recurring? Share your experience and advice for other runners on how they can avoid the same injury or deal with it if they're suffering with a similar injury. More: What Was Your Worst Running Injury? originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at 10:52:14. Permalink | Comment | Email this
The running team that I coach meets for our group long run on Saturday mornings and we usually start at 8:30 a.m. This morning we offered the team two start times: 7:00 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. We've been experiencing some extreme heat and high humidity here in New York City, so it's not difficult to figure out which start time was more popular. Yep, we had almost twice as many runners show up at 7:00 a.m. to try to beat the heat. As the 7:00 a.m. crowd finished their runs, some of them said they didn't think they would have been able to go as far as they did if they had started later. When it's hot outside, morning -- especially before sunrise -- is the coolest time of the day to run. It will be hotter in the evening because the roads will radiate accumulated heat. Of course, most people don't have an easy time dragging themselves out of bed for those early morning, "beat the heat" runs. So if you need some help to get moving early in the morning, try some of these tips: Get a morning running buddy. If you usually run by yourself, try to recruit a running friend to meet you in the morning. Or, find a running group that meets in the morning. You'll be less likely to skip your run if you know people are waiting for you. Put your alarm clock out of reach. If your alarm clock is across the room, you're already out of bed and a lot less likely to say, "Just 10 more minutes..." Have a training schedule. If you're training for a specific race and following a training schedule, it's much harder to blow off those morning runs. You'll think to yourself, "I have to be ready for that half-marathon," or, "My schedule says 5 miles today. Gotta run." Think about your plan the night before. Plan out your run the night before -- how far, for how long, what course you'll run. Doing so will help you get more motivated for your run and ensure that you have enough time for your run before you start the rest of your day. Get more tips for getting motivated to run in the morning. And if you're a regular morning runner, share your advice for successful early runs in the comments section or in the discussion in the Running & Jogging forum. More: Beat the Heat – Run Early! originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Saturday, July 10th, 2010 at 19:28:57. Permalink | Comment | Email this
I've been talking to a lot of runners recently who've said they've been walking parts of their outdoor runs because the heat and humidity makes it's too difficult to run the entire distance. Taking walking breaks can be a smart move, even when the temperature isn't soaring. Walking helps you increase your muscle endurance without putting as much stress on your joints and muscles as running does. And short walking intervals can break up the monotony during a long run or race, which can help you deal with the mental challenges. It's great for runners, especially beginners, to embrace walking as part of their overall strategy for completing long runs or races, or as a cross-training activity for non-running days in their training schedule. Here are some ways you can incorporate walking into your running routine: - Walk for the warm-up and cool down portions of your runs.
- If you're training for a half or full marathon, go for a 30-minute walk the day after a long run. Walking will help loosen up your legs and work out some of that muscle soreness. Plus, being active the day after a long run gets you both physically and mentally used to running on fatigued legs, which you'll do in the later stages of your half or full marathon.
- Try a run/walk approach, where you run for a certain period of time or distance, and then walk for a different interval.
- Walk through the water stops during a race. Some runners like to break up their running by walking through water stops so they don't have to try to drink on the run.
More from the About.com Guide to Walking: Photo by Comstock Take a Walking Break originally appeared on About.com Running & Jogging on Friday, July 9th, 2010 at 10:29:37. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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