July 8 News and Notes

Three-Week Recap

A lot has happened since the last newsletter.  We wrapped up the final week of training for the first half of summer.  Our newer runners got their last taste of circuits for the summer, complete with all the glory that is Rockies.

Our fun day for the week as some Slip n' Slide fun.  That began with a Tic-Tac-Toe relay that pitted the boys against the girls.  The boys came out on top and went home with a pack of slippery goodies.  From there we had a slide-off, where the girls got revenge.

We ended the week with our long run followed by a team breakfast/pool party.  The week also saw Tristin, Jace, and Noah W earn their summer training shirts.

The dead period didn't include any organized training at school or with coaches, but that doesn't mean our athletes weren't hard at work.  Lots of awesome running still happened in the last two weeks!  Runners had the opportunity for entry into a drawing for some CHCKNLEGS shorts by submitting photos of themselves running.  

​The Week Ahead

This week sees us back training together.  To help reestablish come consistency, we'll be meeting as a team every day.  That includes our first taste of aerobic repeats for the summer on Tuesday, some frisbee fun on Wednesday, and a look at something new with our neural day on Thursday.

We'll close the week at as always with our long run and team breakfast.  And expect a number of our returning runners to earn their summer training shirts.  

Our "New" Athletic Director(s)

As many of you have likely heard, our school filled the athletic director opening with some familiar faces.  Bruce Valleroy and Mel Kirn will be tag-teaming the position for the coming year.  I already had a lengthy conversation with Coach Valleroy, and I know our program is in good hands for the season ahead.

​Mid America Rally Run

In speaking with Coach Valleroy, one topic that arose was Rally Run 5k on August 24 hosted by Mid America Rehab to raise funds for the athletic programs of our school and PHS.  There were two areas of concern. 

The first was from a training perspective.  With the run just a week before our first race, there's risk that it could jump start a long racing season prematurely, leading our runners to peak and fatigue before the state meet where we want them to.  This is especially true if the run is performed as a race.

The second and compounding issue was MSHSAA regulations.  While our school doesn't sponsor the run, we are heavily affiliated with it, posing the risk that MSHSAA could interpret it as a school competition.  This would be problematic because the run occurs before the first allowable competition date and includes non-high-school athletes, both of which would constitute bylaw violations.  Even if MSHSAA deemed the event a non-school competition, the presence of our coaches at the event could be viewed as coaching or instruction, neither of which the state allows at non-school competitions.  

Given all these considerations, we decided it was in the best interests of the team if our athletes did not compete in the run.  We certainly wanted to be supportive of a great event for our school.  Instead of running, therefore, our athletes will serve as volunteers at the event and then complete a workout afterwards.  I know this news will come as a disappointment to many of our runners, but I hope the reasons for the decision are clear.

Any team alumni or family members are certainly still encouraged to sign up for the run, which you may do online here.  In fact, I'm organizing a little bit of a competition for any of our former runners.  Stay tuned for more details!

​What Coach Learned

I've had a lot of time to read, watch, and listen over the last three weeks, so it was hard to narrow things down to one tidbit to share.  However, one that did stand out was a section from the recently published PhD dissertation of Bas Van Hooren, a Dutch sports scientist and former national champion in the 3000m.

The text covers a vast array of topics related to injury prevention, but the section that interested me the most was research into the effects of different running speeds, cadences, and surface gradients on the load experienced by the Achilles tendon, patellofemoral joint (top of the knee), and the tibia (shin).  These are the most common areas of pain experienced by runners.

The study found that overall, as one might expect, increased running speeds put greater strain on all three areas.  However, increases by 10 steps per minute over a participant's naturally selected cadence saw significant decreases in strain to all three areas.  This supports strategies I've incorporated into my own running and encouraged in some of our athletes.

To me the most fascinating results came from the research into gradients.  Research showed that running at both inclines and declines placed greater stress on the tibia.   However, running at incline puts greater stress on the Achilles but lower stress on the patellofemoral joint, whereas running at decline puts lower stress on the Achilles but greater stress on the patellofemoral joint.

This might lead one to think that for someone experiencing calf/Achilles pain, a shift to downhill running would be beneficial, while uphill running would be ideal for those dealing with runner's knee.  With a high-end treadmill, this could easily be accomplished.  However, the research showed that the decreased strain on the Achilles while running downhill is outpaced by the increased strain on the patellofemoral joint.  The same is true in reverse for uphill running.  What that means is that while switching to a steady dose of downhill running might alleviate someone's Achilles pain, it would likely ultimately lead to the development of runner's knee.  Likewise, a shift to uphill running to decrease knee pain is likely to set off Achilles tendinopathy.

Rather, the recommendation Van Hooren makes is elimination rather than addition.  Those dealing with shin splints should probably restrict their running to lower speeds and mostly flat surfaces.  Those dealing with Achilles tendinopathy should eliminate most uphill running but shouldn't increase their share of downhill running.   Likewise, those dealing with runner's knee should eliminate most downhill running but shouldn't throttle the uphill running.

Hopefully we won't see too many runners facing any of these conditions, but it does give some insight into how to proceed if they do arise.