Do you understand what’s being said?

/ Training / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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"If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself." – Albert Einstein

We all know the person who knows it all. This person has no trouble talking your ear off with big words and scientific names. You’re blown away by this person’s knowledge. You can’t keep up with all the terminology. Unfortunately, a lot of what this person has to say is lost on you because you simply can’t follow along.

However, here’s something to think about. Does the person really know what he or she is talking about? How are you to know? All you know is you don’t know what he or she is talking about.

It’s easy to memorize and use a few big words. For certain personality types, it can also be quite fun. It makes them feel smart, even if they aren’t totally sure of what they are talking about.

In my experience, the bigger the words and more inaccessible the language the person uses, the less the person actually knows about what he or she is talking about. The better one’s ability to explain things in plain, everyday language, the better grasp of the topic that individual has. The Einstein quote above articulates this phenomenon quite well. If a person can’t explain what he or she is talking about in plain language that anyone can understand, how well does that person really understand what he or she is talking about?

More important, if you don’t understand what that person is talking about and that person can’t or won’t use plain language, what are you getting out of the discussion? Frustration? Confusion? Certainly not useful, actionable knowledge.

Next time you encounter someone using big words, don’t hesitate to ask them to explain in more plain language. If they are truly knowledgeable on the topic, they will appreciate your request and gladly do so. If they don’t, they probably don’t know the topic as well as they would claim and you’re not going to get anything out of the conversation anyway so you’ll know all you need to know to end the conversation with the confidence that you’re not losing anything by doing so.

Running and knee osteoarthritis, pre-run static stretching

/ Roundups / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Two studies in this post that remind us to keep an open mind until the science is settled.

Running and knee osteoarthritis

If there is one health factor for which it seems running may be bad for us, that would be knee osteoarthritis. Do we essentially wear our knees out by running? Possibly.

Or, possibly, not.

These results, the team says, suggest that regular running does not raise the risk of knee osteoarthritis among the general population; it may actually protect against the disease.

Is it a sure thing? Hardly. However, this is a positive sign and this also makes sense intuitively. While we do place a lot of strain on our knees while running, most runners will not run upwards of 1 hour per day. For the other 15 hours (if you figure 16 waking hours a day) we’re carrying less weight around on our knees as the average runner weighs less than the average non-runner.

Which is harder on the knees? Running 1 hour or less per day or carrying extra weight all day? It’s hard to say for sure but this gives us some hope that there is another positive health aspect to running. At the very least, it might not be bad for us in this one way it has seemed it could be. Again, hardly a sure thing right now but definitely something I’d like to see more on.

Pre-run static stretching

We’ve heard a lot in recent years about how pre-run static stretching is probably bad for your running performance. It makes sense. Elastic muscles are more efficient as they can act like springs or rubber bands to store energy when stretched and release that energy upon contraction.

However, a new study suggests this may not be the case:

These data suggest that SS of short duration (<30 sec) may actually improve acute speed performance, whereas SS of moderate duration may not hamper speed and agility performance.

What to make of this? Personally, I’m not taking too much into this at the moment, other than to keep an open mind. Maybe static stretching is bad. Maybe it’s actually good. It’s hard to say right now. This is the nature of science, though. We don’t always have a clear picture of things.

2015 Boston Marathon prediction contest

/ Miscellaneous / 1 minute of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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Win some cool HillRunner.com gear!

It’s Boston Marathon time! You know you’re already thinking about who will win and how fast the winning times will be. Why not win something with your predictions?

We’ll have two winners, one each for the men’s and women’s races.

How to enter:

– Pick the top 3 for each race

– Pick the winning time for each race

– Get them to me, via comments, contact form, email, Twitter, Facebook or any other method available.

Scoring

If one of your chosen top 3 wins: 5 points

If one of your chosen top 3 finishes second: 3 points

If one of your chosen top 3 finishes third: 1 point

2 bonus points for each runner who finishes the exact place you pick for them.

In case of tie, the tiebreaker will be whose predicted time is closer to the actual winning time.

Again, the men’s and women’s races will be scored separately. We’ll have a winner for each.

Here is the most recently updated elite entries list I was able to find.

The elite women start at 9:32. I will accept any entries received by 9:00 Boston time (8:00 Central) race morning.

Priorities

/ Training / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

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I’ve seen more of this than my running shoes over the past few days

I’m purposely scheduling this to appear while I’m on a family vacation. I’ll have spent 3 days at Disney parks with my wife and 7 year old daughter by the time this appears. I have no idea what my training will have looked like during those 3 days or in the days following as I’m spending time in airplanes and visiting family I see very infrequently. You know what? I don’t really care what my training looks like. I hope I can get out for some runs but I’m not worried about what those runs will consist of.

I say that just as I’m approaching my spring racing season. Seems crazy, doesn’t it?

We all need to decide where running fits into our list of priorities. I can only hope that, for anyone reading this, family comes before running. Beyond that, there may be other priorities ahead of running or there may not. When you figure out your priorities, though, you have to keep them in mind. For me, this week at least, that means running takes a back seat. I’ll be back at it soon enough but, for now, I’m busy creating memories that I will have for the rest of my life and I can only hope my daughter also will. That’s far more important than one week’s worth of training.

So, next time you have to decide between running and something else, decide what your priorities are and make the wise decision. I believe that, this week, I’m making the wise decision even if it means I’m a few seconds slower in my next 5K. I won’t regret missing out on those few seconds at all.

Running in polluted air

/ Health and Fitness, Training / 2 minutes of reading

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Just one topic this week. The reason will be more clear if you read Thursday’s blog post.

This is a very interesting question, though. I think we’ve beaten the "running is good for you" topic to death recently.

But what about in pollution? This is a question I’ve wondered about frequently. I’ve always felt that running in pollution is probably better than not running at all and what limited research has been available has mostly confirmed that. However, there has been a lack of long term research on this topic.

Well, Alex Hutchinson found a study that covered this topic.

The result?

There were a few hints of possible interactions. For example, people who cycled or gardened were 45 percent less likely to die from respiratory diseases during the study than non-exercisers if they lived in low- or moderate-pollution areas, but only 23 percent (for cycling) or 19 percent (for gardening) less likely in high-pollution areas.

Common sense of course says breathing polluted air is bad for you and that’s clear in these results. That means, as much as possible, it is wise to avoid the most polluted areas. Try to stay away from busy highways when running and things like that. However, more importantly, exercise is better than none regardless of the air you’re breathing.

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