A few Running Tips.

My Achilles tendon gave me a slight bit of trouble at the start of yesterdays’ hill run, which will likely prohibit any intensive training this weekend; though hopefully it is a sign of the regeneration of tissue fibre, rather than any significant tear in the muscle fibres around the ankle. I increased my mileage slightly over the 10% compared to last week, so this allows me the opportunity to delay any long run till Wednesday or Thursday if I sense any weakness at the back of the ankle at the start of Sunday’s run.

On another note I picked up a number of running tips over the past week, as I researched ways to improve my physical fitness, recovery-stress, and ways to deal with common running injuries. Two of interest to others runners are:

The body is made up of 66% of water, while muscles are made up of 75% water. A loss of 3% of water from muscles during exercise will result in the 10% depletion of strength and 8% loss of speed. Carbohydrates store water and for each unit of carbohydrate stored, the body converts it to ‘glycogen’, which is bound by nine units of water. When the body begins to burn glycogen (released by the muscles), it also releases water, helping to maintain body temperature and athletic performance.

The nutrient ‘Creatine’, which helps the body during extensive anaerobic exercises is made up of three amino acids ‘arginine, methionine and glycine’. Top sports athletes take creatine as a supplement because it promotes muscle regeneration, recovery after exercise, and improves energy management during intensive workouts (creatine can be found naturally in meats). Creatine helps reload ‘cell’s’ with energy after a sprint, helps muscle growth, while also increasing muscle size (as it increases water concentration within the muscle). Some nutritionists recommend that in the days leading up to long endurance races, creatine should be taken as a supplement to help prevent dehydration. This is also achieved by drinking water with a pinch of salt added, to prevent it been flushed through the system to quickly, especially just before a race.