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UjENA FIT Club 100 Interesting Running Articles

Best Road Races and the UjENA FIT Club is publishing 100 articles about races, training, diet, shoes and coaching.   If you would like to contribute to this feature, send an email to Bob Anderson at bob@ujena.com .  We are looking for cutting edge material.

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Pleasanton: The Masters of Double Racing
Posted Wednesday, February 11th, 2015
By David Prokop Pleasanton, Calif., may be a quiet, relaxed community across the bay from San Francisco, but where Double... Read Article
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Champions of the Double
Posted Monday, September 15th, 2014
Peter Mullin has taken Double Racing® by storm. He broke the 60-64 age group world record in the first Double... Read Article
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Double Racing Has Truly Arrived!
Posted Monday, September 22nd, 2014
by David Prokop (Editor Best Road Races) Photo: Double 15k top three Double Racing® is a new sport for... Read Article
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Pritz's Honor
Posted Sunday, May 11th, 2014
By David Prokop, editor Best Road Races The world’s most unusual race met the world’s most beautiful place, in the... Read Article

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MAXIMIZING YOUR RECOVERY, MINIMIZING YOUR MUSCLE STIFFNESS
Monday, December 17th, 2012
What you do during the recovery break of the Double may be just as important as what you do on the roads in the 10K and 5K.
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by Dave Prokop

While the Double Road Race™ may be a distance race consisting of two legs, there are really three parts to it, and the third part – the recovery break between the 10K and the 5K – is equally important, if not more so, to one’s ultimate success in the competition.

Certainly, maximizing your recovery and minimizing muscle stiffness during the rest break is the key to doing your best in the Double. We can all agree on that.

But how do you do that? Do you just keep moving around during the rest break?  Do you lie or sit down as soon as the 10K is completed and try to conserve every last bit of energy for the 5K to follow? Do you get some sort of physical therapy, such as massage, in the Recovery Zone? Do you do a combination of all of the above? What?

We talked to several respected coaches, elite athletes and therapy experts about the challenge of racing two distances back to back and the best way to approach the recovery period in between. Here’s what they had to say. You pick and choose what you think is best for you. 

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Dave Smith is the track and cross-country coach at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla.  Named NCAA Coach of the Year in 2009, 2010 and 2012, he has guided his cross-country team to victory in three of the last four NCAA Cross-Country Championships. The man obviously knows what he’s doing.

Unlike a lot of college coaches, he says he doesn’t have his athletes double very often in collegiate track meets – for instance, running the 800 and 1500 back to back, or the 1500 and 5000.

“We double very rarely,” he says, “because we find it’s hard on the kids. And when we do have someone double, we feel the best approach is – just be very fit and be prepared to do it.”

From this comment, one can infer, and rightly so, that in order to race two distances within a short time span, being really fit is the key to both running fast and recovering quickly.

When he does have his athletes double, Coach Smith favors a very simple, just-another-day-at-the-office kind of approach. For example, if he’s going to have an athlete run the 1500, then the 5000 an hour and a half later (he won’t have an athlete double unless there’s 1 ½ hours between races), what he has the athlete do is – “Cool down from the 1500, sit around a little bit, then warm up for the 5000.” That’s it!

“In my mind, it’s more of a psychological challenge than a physical one,” he says, “and we don’t like to do something unusual between races which will get the athlete thinking this is going to be very difficult. So we don’t make a big deal out of using hot and cold tubs, having them lay on their back and elevating their legs, using anti-inflammatories like aspirin, that sort of thing. There’s no scientific evidence that works. And I think any physiological help that might provide is outweighed by the psychological burden it puts on them.”

In using this approach, Coach Smith is drawing on his own experience in college. He was a distance and middle-distance runner at Michigan State, and a very good one.

“When I was an athlete, everything distracted me. I worried about everything. I analyzed everything. With me, it was almost a case of paralysis by analysis.”

As a fifth year senior at Michigan State, he finally learned to just focus on running, rather than worrying and analyzing, and in the Big 10 Track and Field Championships that year he accomplished an ironman feat that could only be called impressive by any standards.  Within a 24-hour time frame, he won the 10,000 meters, finished second in the 1500, and was fourth in the 5000! What he did was actually more difficult than we’ve just described because he also had to run a 1500-meter preliminary heat to qualify for the 1500 final.

Here is the actual timeline of what he did – Friday he ran the 1500 prelims, qualifying for the 1500 final, then two hours later he won the 10,000. Twenty hours later, on Saturday morning, he was back on the track, finishing second in the 1500, and 1 ½ hours later he finished fourth in the 5000. Wow! What else is there to say?

And what he did between races was the epitomy of simplicity – in his own words, “Cool down, wait around, then warm up.”

His only concession to the fact he was doing something rather difficult and unusual is that at the end of the first day he took a 20-minute ice bath, the first and last one of his life. 

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Tom McGlynn is Christine Kennedy’s coach, and the superlative 57-year-old runner who holds the women’s world marathon record for her age (2:56:04 ) and will run Sunday, Dec. 23 in the Pleasanton Double, absolutely swears by him. Maybe the following explanation Tom gave us of what he wants Christine to do in the recovery break between the 10- and 5K in Pleasanton gives us an inkling why Christine is so sold on him, because his advice seems sound as a dollar to us. What do you think?

“What’s the best way to approach the recovery break (in the Double), we don’t know. I won’t pretend to know. All I can go on is what we do when a runner is doing multiple races in a track meet. That’s the philosophy I’d follow.

“Ten minutes after Christine is done with the 10K, I’ll have her jog 5-10 minutes very easily to relax the muscles. Then when she comes back, I’ll have her change into dry running gear and put on something warm, so she’s nice and warm.  Then have her eat something light – and by light I mean in the 100 to 200 calorie range (Goo or a Power- Bar, fruit such as an apple, orange or banana). Something easy on the stomach. Then have something to drink – water or a sports drink with electrolytes and carbohydrates. But don’t drink or eat too much.

“Then after that I’ll kinda have her keep moving, perhaps walking around, until about 25 minutes before the 5K starts. And then I’d suggest going for a 5-10 minute jog. After that  do a couple of tempo strides – quick but not all out 20-second runs. And then get your last drink, go to the bathroom and get ready to run.

“I do think there could be some benefit to getting off your feet, but not more than 5-10 minutes. And I don’t think they should sit, because of the pressure sitting puts on the glutes, hamstrings, and it tightens all the running muscles. I’d have them lie down with their feet up on a chair – feet above the heart to help the blood flow.” 

Incidentally, Tom McGlynn, who’s a Penn State graduate and now 40 years of age, with a marathon best of 2:20:40 in his younger days, plans to run the Pleasanton Double himself to get a better handle, from a participant’s point of view, on how to best approach the recovery break between the 10- and 5K. 

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Dr. LeRoy Perry is the most famous sports chiropractor in the world – actually he’s a chiropractic orthopedist, to be technically correct. Coming to prominence in the 1970s when he was featured in an article in Sports Illustrated, he has worked with hundreds of athletes over the years at the International Sportscience Institute he heads in West Los Angles, Calif., or at athletic events all over the world. A five-time official Olympic team doctor, he worked extensively with the East German, Soviet and Cuban Olympic teams. As a result, he’s an expert on the Eastern European sports science techniques that proved so effective in Olympic and international athletic competition over the years. He is presently working on a book titled Beyond Exercise, which, among other things, explores those techniques and delves further into many of the points he raised when we asked him for his recommendations on what runners should do during the recovery break in the Pleasanton Double.

“ First off, before they even run the 10K, they need to warm up and stretch their calves, quads, hamstrings, hips, lower back, upper back and shoulders. And in the hours before, they need to hydrate, drink plenty of water.

“So they run their 10K, then right afterwards they need to warm down and do their stretching again, because from a neuromuscular point of view that resets the brain for better coordination. The stretching is not just about muscle tightness; it’s about neuromuscular re-education – an East German/Soviet principle.

“Think of your brain as a computer. If you’re running the 10K with incorrect technique, or any biomechanical flaws in your technique, you’re setting a pattern, a habit, and the brain thinks that incorrect technique is normal. Therefore, when you go to run the 5K, the tendency is going to be to use those muscles that you’ve made too tight through the incorrect technique and that will create more insult. The stretching breaks this pattern, it reprograms your brain. That’s exactly what we call it – reprogramming.

“To decrease potential injury, you have to warm up before the race and warm down immediately after the race – and that should include stretching. And when you stretch, do it slowly, never ever “bounce.” Breathe as you’re stretching – exhale as you stretch, inhale as you resume your normal posture.

“If you don’t stretch for at least half an hour, and preferably 45 minutes, before athletic competition, you’re setting yourself up for a potential injury – and, by the way, poor performance, where you don’t perform to your optimum.

“In the period between the 10K and the 5K, the magic word is rehydrate – and eating a  banana is also good, not only for the fructose, but the potassium, which prevents muscle cramping. Or have a very light snack, preferably fruit.

“During the recovery period between the 10- and 5K, they’ve got to gauge how much time they have in between, If it’s an hour, they’ll need to warm down for 15 minutes, then take another 15 minutes or more to warm up for the 5K. That leaves another 30 minutes for rest.  Whatever amount of time they have, I’d say they need to spend 25 percent of that time warming down, they need to literally rest for 50 percent of the time (lay down, sit down, unload the body, rest the body) and use the remaining 25 percent of the time warming up for the 5K (doing your stretching, then your running warmup).

“Here’s something else – and this again is an East German/Soviet idea. Your rest period is not a social time. Don’t talk – it takes a lot of energy. This is a time to let your mind relax, your body relax, go inside yourself. If you meditate in your daily life, meditate. If you pray, pray. Listen to music. But stay inside yourself. You want to go internal, not external. Visit your inner space and relax. If your brain is stressed and uptight, your body is uptight.

“Do not forget to empty your bladder or colon. This is a good time to relieve yourself and take pressure off your abdomen. If your abdomen is distended, your back muscles are tight, because your back compensates and becomes tight, therefore creating a potential for injury, which would in this case most likely be a back and/or hamstring injury.

“The thing the competitors want to avoid, obviously, is stiffening up between the 10K and 5K. That’s why they’re warming down, eating the banana, drinking the water, and then warming up for the 5K. The warmdown and drinking water helps flush out any lactic acid from the muscles. They also need to make sure they don’t get cold. So wear some extra warm clothing, and during your rest period cover yourself, keep warm.  While they’re resting, they should shake out their legs, their arms. But they want to rest their body and their mind.

“The more fit you are, the quicker you’ll recover, and the reason why that happens is because your heart (including all organs), your brain, your central nervous system and therefore your muscles, tendons and ligaments have all been preprogrammed for maximum exertion.

“One analogy that we might use here: Good conditioning is like having a good reserve bank account, so when you need to, you can withdraw from the account. Your stretching and the rest period between the 10- and 5K is making a deposit in your reserve account, so you have more resources you can draw on during the 5K.

“After the rest period, they have to go warm up again to do the 5K. They need to do the stretching, then spend 10 minutes or so in their actual running warmup – maybe run lightly for 5-10 minutes, do some windsprints, and then they’re ready to run the 5K.

“One final point: Don’t forget to warm down after the 5K. Spend at least 15 minutes running and stretching.” 

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Tyler McCandless has won the Kauai Marathon in Hawaii the last two years and is one of the favorites to win the men’s division in the Pleasanton Double. With a marathon best of 2:17:09, he trains 90 miles a week and has, by his own acknowledgement, tremendous recuperative power, which should serve him in very good stead in the Double.

A graduate of Penn State, now living in Boulder, Çolo., where he’s working towards his Ph.D. in meteorology, Tyler told us this is his plan for the recovery break in the Pleasanton Double:

“Normally I do a 20-minute warmup and a 20-minute cooldown. But in between the races in Pleasanton, I’ll shorten it to 10 minutes.  So after the 10K, I’ll jog lightly for 10 minutes. After that, I’ll just relax for 30 minutes or so, and then do a 10-minute warmup before the 5K.

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“During that 30-minute relaxation time, if it’s cool I’ll put on a little more clothing, make sure I stay warm, moving around, sitting down, lying down with my legs elevated, not sitting in one spot for too long. Having some Gatorade, maybe a Power-Bar.

“If the weather is nice, I’ll probably stay outdoors (during the recovery break). If it’s not, I’ll go indoors.”

Tyler says he didn’t double in college, although he has run a 5000 on the track one day, and a 10,000 the next day.

“It’s all about fitness in college,” he said of running two distance races back to back. “This is a bit more extreme, but it’s the same idea.” 

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Daniel Tapia became the first American since 1999 to win the California International Marathon in Sacramento, Calif., on Dec. 2, thus breaking a 12-year foreign stranglehold on the event. Providing he’s sufficiently recovered, the 26-year-old from Prunedale, Calif., in the Salinas area should be right in the thick of things in the Pleasanton Double.                 

Running in the wind and rain in Sacramento, Daniel prevailed over a field that included several outstanding African runners and two Americans who had run in the 2:11-2:12 range. His winning time was an excellent (under the circumstances) 2:16:29, just over a minute slower than his personal best of 2:15:26.

Here’s how he intends to spend the recovery break at the Pleasanton Double:

“The best thing to do is not to sit, but keep on jogging, not the full time, but part of the time. Because when you’re jogging, you’re promoting blood flow throughout your body, especially to those areas that are sore or damaged from running hard. The longer my cooldown is, the better I recover. The longer and more gradual the cooldown is, the better for your muscles. The cooldown for your postrace is almost as important as your prerace warmup, although it’s never described or emphasized that way, because if you do a good cooldown or warmdown, your body will perform better in the next hard effort, whether it be a race or a hard workout.

“So after the 10K, you need to do a really good, long cooldown. And the second warmup (before the 5K) will not have to be emphasized as much because your muscles will already be warmed up, although you still need to do a warmup before the 5K.

“Also, a lot of people might be afraid to take in some electrolytesor water (during the recovery break) or to have something to eat. But they need to do it, because they need to replenish their fluids, electrolytes and carbohydrates.”

Daniel says that before a race he’ll usually have some toast with honey, or a whole grain bagel with peanut butter and honey – and then some bananas.

“That’s normally my pre-race meal. High-energy food. It’s always worked for me. During the recovery break in Pleasanton, I plan to drink some water and Gatorade, or CytoMax, if I can get my hands on it, because it has less sugar than Gatorade and more electrolytes. I will probably eat a banana or a toasted peanut butter-banana sandwich.”  

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Andrew Maksym came to Los Angeles for the 1984 Olympics as a masseur with the Canadian Olympic track and field team. A native of Warsaw, Poland, with a wealth of education, training and experience that qualifies him as a true massage master, he’s been in Los Angeles ever since, working at his craft at Dr LeRoy Perry's International Sportsience Institute as well as in private practice. Among the athletes he’s worked on over the years are Marie-Jose Perec of France, winner of three Olympic gold medals in the sprints, Maurice Greene of the U.S., world recordholder in the 100 meters, John Walker of New Zealand, Olympic champion in the 1500 meters, and Kathy Freeman of Australia, winner of the Olympic gold medal in the 400 meters at the Sydney Olympics.

Here’s how Andrew responded when we asked for his thoughts on what runners should do during the recovery break in the Double:

“I’m a massage therapist, not an exercise physiologist or coach, so I’m really not an expert on what these runners should do during the recovery period in general. But what I can say is that after they finish the first race (the 10K) and complete their warmdown, they should get a 10-15 minute massage, mainly on the legs, but also the shoulders and lower back to some extent.  

“Often the break between sports events, such as in the pentathlon or decathlon in track and field, for example, is very short. And after a period of intense competition, the athlete has to again be well prepared for the next event. So whatever the length of the break, it’s important to restore vitality and replenish spent energy.

“Massage is vital to this process, as it removes from the cells and tissues metabolites, or waste products, generated during physical activity. Removing metabolites allows for energy sources, which are chemicals, lost during competition to be replenished.

”During activity, muscle cells use different substances (sugars) to produce kinetic energy (movement). Without replenishing, the muscle cannot perform on the same level.

Massage speeds up this process, causing the regeneration of the muscle through the removal of the metabolites to be faster and the absorption of the nutrients to be greater. Increased circulation as a result of massage improves oxygenation of tissues and cells, and, of course, oxygen is needed to produce energy.

“That’s why I say that after the race (the 10K) is finished and the athlete completes the warmdown, as soon as possible thereafter they should get a short massage that’s about 10-15 minutes long.  Following the massage, they should rest for a period of time, 10 minutes perhaps, not necessarily in a passive way, but rather without including activities that mimic those of the event. This period of rest could include deep, slow breathing, a few minutes of meditation, and maybe even some light stretching.

“Then after that period they should start their warmup routine to prepare for the next race (the 5K). It doesn’t need to be as long and intense as their previous warmup because their bodies will still be warmed up from their earlier effort. Plus they will want to carefully conserve their energy because they still have another 5 kilometers to run and they already spent a lot of energy in the first race.

“During this warmup,  more attention should be given to stretching. Usually during a warmup, the stretching is considered the lesser part of the process. But at this time (warming up for the 5K), I’d say the stretching should be emphasized almost as much if not more than the physical exercise (i.e., the actual running warmup).

“There’s a lot more I could say about massage that I think would be relevant to runners, but time doesn’t permit that here. Anyone wanting more information is welcome to go to my Website www.massagebymaksym.com.” 

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Barry Anderson is Bob Anderson’s younger brother. An excellent runner in his high school and college days (he ran 4:20.7 for the mile and 1:53.8 for the half mile in high school). he later coached the womens track and field team at his alma mater, Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, for 10 years (1973 to 1983).  At the Pleasanton Double,  he’ll be the Director of Operations. As an experienced coach and runner, he offered these thoughts about making the most of the recovery break in the Pleasanton Double:

“As a high school and college middle-distance runner, I ran many doubles on the track at distances from the half mile to the 2 mile, and I later coached many athletes who have run multiple events in a single track meet.

“While the distances involved in the Double are longer (a 10K, followed by a 5K), I believe that what a runner does between events to recover and prepare for the second race is essentially the same, whatever the distances you’re running.

“Following the first event, it is vital to do a thorough cooldown that would consist of very easy running for at least 5-10 minutes. Even doing some walking to extend this cooldown, which could be called the initial phase of the recovery, would be appropriate. With experience, the athlete will become more aware of what they feel is a sufficient cooldown to get the first race ‘out of their legs.’

“After the cooldown, I believe the athlete should just rest by lying down with feet slightly elevated. It is very important to maintain warmth during this relaxed, resting stage.

“If the recovery period is an hour or less, as is the case in the Double, the final step for the athlete is to do a brief warmup prior to the start of the second race. Since the effort put forth in the first race should have provided a deep-core body warmup, only some light running and a few strides at or below race pace should prepare the runner for the start of the 5K.

“Another important point for the athlete to consider is that he or she may feel a higher level of fatigue during the early stages of the second leg than they normally do in a race, so they will need to push through that to maintain the desire pace. On the other hand, many athletes will actually experience the ‘second wind’ concept and perform near maximum levels right from the gun in the second race. It’s an individual thing that can only be partially influenced by the kind of warmup you do. In other words, that sense of fatigue may be more psychological than physical.

“This approach to the recovery period is based on my experience with highly trained athletes between the ages of 16 and 22 in events of two miles and less. With a longer distance double, one would expect additional weariness in the legs – particularly for older runners or those who are not at the highest fitness levels. Given the format of the Double, it is possible that the slowest runners may only have a recovery period of 10 to 20 minutes. In that case, it may be more advantageous to just walk around throughout the recovery period, then perhaps do three or four 100-120 yard strides shortly before the 5K starts.” 

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You’ll notice there’s a consensus here – the thing to do during the recovery break is to keep moving, at least some of the time, so you don’t stiffen up. But what about the Double Road Race™ competitor who isn’t very fit? Someone who might even find it challenging to simply complete the two legs. It’s all well and good to talk about warmups and warmdowns and staying in motion at least part of the time during the recovery break. But how is someone who hasn’t trained very hard going to do all that when it may be all that individual can do to simply complete the 10K and 5K?

An argument could be made, therefore, that if you’re not very fit (a “deconditioned athlete,” as Dr. Perry might say, using the technical terminology of sports science) and doing the 10- and 5K back to back is above and beyond anything you’ve done, so the warmdown and warmup during the recovery break might be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, then maybe not doing much in between the 10K and 5K might not be a bad idea.

Daniel Tapia firmly disagrees. “That would be a bad idea,” he says, “even if you’re not a very fit person, because if you go from a hard or taxing effort to a complete stop, your muscles will be more sore and they’ll cramp up. It’s like running your car at 60 miles an hour and then suddenly you go down to zero and stop. It’s not good for your engine.

”For the person who’s not very fit, they’re not going to have as long a rest period in between to start with because it will take them longer to complete the 10K. So in the shortened rest period they’ll have, they may only need to cooldown for five minutes, then walk around a little bit, do some stretching (maybe some assisted stretching, which is even better), take some foods and liquids, and then do a very brief and light warmup for the 5K.”

Dr, LeRoy Perry, for his part, holds firm to his 25-50-25 formula (25 percent of the recovery break should be warmdown from the 10K, 50 percent rest and 25 percent warmup for the 5K) – even for the athlete who’s not very fit.

And Barry Anderson shares a very interesting anecdote that applies here. A few months ago in Eugene, Ore., Barry was speaking to Joe Henderson, running columnist and former editor of Runner’s World, who now teaches a class at the University of Oregon for people who want to run the marathon. Joe was saying that so many newcomers to the marathon try to run the race nonstop, so they gradually run slower and slower, like a windup toy losing energy, until they cross the finish line, rather the worst for wear, in 5-6 hours. Joe’s theory is that if these people would stop and walk periodically during the marathon, if only for a few minutes, they could run a faster time and have more fun doing it.

Back to the Double Road Race™: Could Joe’s approach be effectively transposed to the recovery break of the Double? After completing the 10K, simply regard the recovery period as your elongated walking break, then run the 5K!

One concluding point of a more general nature needs to be made: If you’re in reasonable or better shape, and after running the 10K you don’t have the energy to do a proper warmdown . and then a proper warmup before the 5K, the conclusion seems clear: You ran the 10K too hard! To be sure, you can run the Double that way, but what kind of aggregate time will that give you?

Remember: The Double Road Race™ has three parts – Run, Rest, Run. You must execute all three parts correctly if you want to do your overall best in the competition.

In that regard, the Double may be likened to the triple jump, or what used to be known as the hop, skip and jump, in track and field. In fact, this is an unlikely but almost perfect analogy.

If a competitor in the triple jump tries to leap too far in the first phase, the hop, he will lose his forward momentum and not be able to achieve anywhere near the result in the final two phases, the skip and the jump, to register an optimal overall distance. Rather, the key in the triple jump is to execute the event with a form and a rhythm where you can leap a significant and mechanically proportional distance in each phase, thus resulting in your best performance, your best aggregate distance, if you will, of the three phases combined.

The Double Road Race™ is exactly like that.

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Double Road Race