How to running Information

Most runners should train the same way that competitive runners do, even if they jog only for fitness. Here’s a program that you can follow even if you do not plan to compete. First get a physical exam to assure that you are healthy. Then start out by running every other day until your legs feel tired or hurt. Gradually work up to the point where you can run for thirty continuous minutes.

Then start your training program. Plan one fast and one long workout a week. The other workouts should be at a slower pace and can be skipped if you feel tired. Your fast run can be on Wednesday and your long run on Sunday. Wednesdays, start out slowly and gradually increase the pace until you start to feel uncomfortable as you breathe hard and your muscles start to hurt. Slow down until you recover and gradually pick up the pace again. Repeat until your legs start to feel heavy.

Each week try to improve by spending more time running fast and less time running slow. Take the next day, Thursday, off because your legs will be sore. On Friday and Saturday, jog slowly a short distance. On Sunday, try to run for 30 minutes, and each week, extend the time running until you can stay out for 60 to 90 minutes or more of brisk running. Take the next day off. Then jog slowly on Tuesday and try to run fast again on Wednesday. The same principles can be applied to any endurance sport you use for fitness, such as cycling, rowing or swimming.

Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties. For more information and hundreds of fitness and health reports, visit http://www.DrMirkin.com

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Should you wear socks with your running shoes, tennis shoes or any other workout shoes?

The main purpose of socks is to keep your feet and shoes from smelling. Foot odor is caused by bacteria or fungi rotting old skin. Your skin turns over every 28 days. A new cell starts on the bottom layer of skin, then another skin cell forms underneath it. The process continues until the bottom cell reaches the top and is sloughed off as dander or dandruff. If you don’t wear socks, your old skin deposits in the shoes where it rots and emits an offensive odor. Socks prevent the old skin from getting into your shoes, and washing your socks gets rid of the old skin.

The bacteria that rot your old skin grow luxuriously when the skin is wet. If you have a problem with foot odor, try pouring a small amount of powder into the toes of your socks before you put them on will help to keep your feet dry during the day and prevent bacteria from growing. Avoid wearing the same pair of shoes more often than every other day so they can dry out between use. You can also kill the bacteria by applying a common deodorant containing aluminum chlorohydrate to your feet at bedtime and sleeping with socks on.

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Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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How can sled dogs run more than 100 miles a day for weeks on end, while humans can’t possible recover from such abuse of their muscles? A study from Ohio State University Shows why (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, August 2005). How long you can exercise a muscle depends on how long you can keep stored sugar, called glycogen, inside that muscle. Muscles burn carbohydrates, fats and protein for energy during exercise. They get these sources from both the bloodstream and from the muscles themselves. However, when a muscle runs out of its stored sugar, it hurts, becomes more difficult to coordinate and requires far more oxygen than usual. So a limiting factor in how long you can exercise a muscle is how much sugar you can store in a muscle, how quickly you use it up, and how quickly you can restore sugar the sugar in your muscles.

Humans take a long time to restore muscle glycogen. Top marathon runners restore muscle glycogen in anywhere from a day to several days. This study shows that sled dogs can restore muscle glycogen almost as quickly as they are fed. They were able to restore more than 50 percent of their resting muscle glycogen after two consecutive 100-mile runs even when fed a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet. Humans could never replace muscle glycogen that fast.

The only way that you can teach your muscles to store more glycogen and preserve it better is to train by running (or cycling or swimming) lots of miles and doing long depletion runs taking more than three hours at least once a week. Doing too many depletion runs will delay recovery of your muscles so that you will not be able to do your expected very fast short interval runs that teach you how to run fast.

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Dr. Gabe Mirkin has been a radio talk show host for 25 years and practicing physician for more than 40 years; he is board certified in four specialties, including sports medicine. Read or listen to hundreds of his fitness and health reports at http://www.DrMirkin.com

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