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New Training Strategy Cuts 30 Minutes Off Your Marathon Time
As global marathon running becomes more popular, we find more research into methods that can improve marathon performance. A paper based on 206,000 London Marathon runners has unearthed a new one: Join a running club.
The effect of running-club membership was particularly evident among male and female runners in the 18 to 39 age group. Male club members finished the marathon 40 minutes faster than non-club runners.
For females, the gap was 30 minutes.
What makes club membership so powerful? The researchers suggest that it’s the “structured running programs, advice and training from experienced coaches and seasoned runners, guidance on running form, nutrition, hydration and running gear.”
Also: “Humans are social animals who instinctively form groups with the aim of increasing cooperative behavior.” Increased group productivity has been shown in business organizations as well as in sports.
The results of the current paper also indicated that club membership helped runners maintain strong marathon performance as they aged. It negated “the adverse effect of age on marathon pace.”
Conclusion: Membership in a running club could provide the boost an individual needs to become “eligible to apply for a place in some of the more prestigious world marathons like Boston, New York, and Chicago.” More at PLOS ONE with free full text.
Twins Study: Vegan Diet Lowers Calories, Slows Aging
The medical field called “geroscience” has been growing rapidly in recent years, because there are more older individuals in many countries. Also, “Aging is associated with increases in health care costs and financial stress on social insurance systems.” Geroscience aims to limit these costs by “slowing down or reversing the molecular changes that occur with aging.”
One excellent way to explore this important subject is through twin studies. Take a group of twins with identical genetic makeup, and put them on two-separate regimens to see if anything happens. That’s what this study did.
The subjects were 22 pairs of identical twins who were all following a healthy, omnivorous diet. One of the twins was then put on a vegan, total-plant diet for 8 weeks, while the other twin continued eating his/her normal omnivorous diet. Researchers were looking for changes in “DNA methylation”--an epigenetic process that is associated with cancer and other diseases.
Result: Subjects on the vegan diet exhibited “a significant decrease in epigenetic age acceleration,” which should lower cancer and other health risks. They also consumed 200 calories/day less, and lost about 5 pounds more during the 8 week period. It’s possible that the weight loss, and not the vegan diet, contributed to the decreased age acceleration.
The researchers argued for a “nuanced” interpretation of their findings. They pointed out, for example, that the omnivorous eaters showed increases in tryptophan and serotonin that could impact mood regulation. Also, vegans must be careful to get enough B 12 in their diets.
Still, they concluded: “We observed significant changes using epigenetic age clocks among healthy identical twins, suggesting short-term advantageous aging benefits for a calorie-restricted vegan diet compared to an omnivorous diet.” More at BMC Medicine with free full text.
Pace Lights & World Records: Why Are The Lights Allowed?
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games will conclude Sunday with the running of the women’s marathon. But some of the big issues will remain unresolved.
One of those: Should we try to protect records set in an earlier era without new technologies like Super Shoes and WaveLight pacing of endurance races?
You expect to read scientific opinion papers on this subject, but you don’t necessarily think that one will be co-authored by a former world record holder like Kenenisa Bekele, who is racing the Men’s Olympic Marathon on Saturday. However, that’s the case here in a “Viewpoint” at the J of Applied Physiology with free full text at the Download link.
Bekele and co-authors ask why World Athletics allows pacing lights while prohibiting coaches or managers from providing “live physiological or biomedical data.”
“There should be some level of consistency in the rules,” the authors argue. “Is feedback allowed or not allowed?” It seems a reasonable question.
World Athletics hasn’t responded. Presumably the track & field federation likes the new records that have been set with super shoes and pacing lights. After all, records create more excitement than non-record performances. Alex Hutchinson takes a deep dive into new technologies and the evolution of records here at Outside Online.
SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss
HERE’S WHAT ELSE YOU WOULD HAVE RECEIVED this week if you were a subscriber to the complete, full-text edition of “Run Long, Run Healthy.” SUBSCRIBE HERE.
# Why you should make “happiness” a top training priority
# Research Update: Fuel Your Muscles & Fitness With Creatine
# Don’t get bamboozled by “epic workouts”
# Can squats improve performance & reduce injuries?
# Not so fast: Incidence of bone injury is 1.61 times higher in athletes who use “fasted training”
# Just finished a marathon? You’d better wash your hands
# Root for Dakotah Lindwurm in this weekend’s Women’s Olympic Marathon
# Hal Higdon explains how to survive those inevitable “bad days”
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby