Gravity Fx Fitness

In a study involving 20 marathoners, runners who drank Montmorency cherry juice recovered faster after running a marathon.

The tart cherry juice was consumed twice a day for 5 days prior to the London marathon and for 2 days after.  These runners recovered strength more rapidly and saw a decrease in inflammation and oxidative stress.

Tart cherries have high amounts of anti-oxidants and  appears to increase the rate of recovery after strenuous exercise.  Long distance endurance events can cause muscle damage and inflammation, taking several days to recover.

During this time, the athletes’ muscles may not contract as efficiently as they did prior to the event.  The juice contains phytochemicals known as anthocyanins.  These contain anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.

One of the researchers, Dr. Glyn Howatson of Northumbria University, thinks that this could have some impact on those suffering with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia, and thinks that further studies should be completed.

This study was reported in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports in 2009.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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Can using a run-walk method increase your running performance?  I just read an interesting article on marathon running that you might find interesting.

The article was featured in Competitor magazine, a Chicago free publication geared to the active lifestyle.  The author is a running coach who has used this method of run-walking to qualify for the Boston marathon over a dozen times.

For the record, I have never, nor will I ever, run a marathon.  At my size, I’m not designed for endurance races – but what this guy says, makes sense.

He recently watched one of his pupils run a marathon.  The runner used a planned run-walk strategy.  This might not sound that out of the ordinary, as I’m told that many runners end up walking here and there while completing a marathon.

Instead of running until fatigued and then resorting to walking, the walk portion is planned into the marathon and in the training, as well.

You would take regularly scheduled walk breaks throughout your run, in order to stay “fresh” throughout your marathon.

This lets your breathing return to a more comfortable rate and gives your muscles and joints a break from pounding the pavement.  Sounds like something that would work well for those increasing their training mileage or older runners, too.

In the early portion of the race, your times would be slower, but you make up for it on the back half.  In fact, the runner mentioned set a PR in his marathon, while running a slightly faster second half of the race -

something unheard of.  This might be something that could improve your running performance and allow you to enjoy it more.

From someone who has worked with injured runners before, I’m guessing that this might cut down on overuse injuries.

This method also works for resistance training.  Stay tuned for an article on how you can apply this type of method to build lean muscle tissue (increased metabolism) and increase your strength with density training.

Get moving!

Brian Morgan

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