OLD SCHOOL RUNNING TIP: JUMPING ROPE TO RUN FASTER

KEEPING OUR SPIRITS UP WITH PATRICK DEMPSEY

Langelier lights up when she talks about another popular Herbal Revolution product, Fire Cider. The spicy infusion contains garlic, onion, ginger, horseradish, honey, and hot peppers in an apple cider vinegar base. Langelier said that many drink a shot of it straight for health, but she also encourages using it in salad dressings, soups, and various savory recipes.

“Every year, I add it to the salsa I make,” she said. The potent formula provides an umami flavoring when mixed into a recipe.

Langelier said her recipes are designed to be enjoyed anytime, not simply as a reaction to illness.

“I want people to enjoy these recipes whenever they feel like it,” she said. “It’s preventative care; why get a cold or flu when you might be able to use it in your diet to avoid it all together?”

Herbal Revolution: 65+ recipes for Tea, Elixirs, Tinctures, Syrups, Foods + Body Products that Heal can be found on the Herbal Revolution website, and on Amazon where a Kindle version is also available. Langelier also suggested checking with local, independent bookstores.

Jenna Lookner lives on her family farm in Camden. Always curious, she enjoys exploring her natural, cultural and epicurean surroundings with her husband and three rescued mutts.

Jumping Rope TO RUN FASTER

By Heidi Walls, MD

Fitness trends come and go, but jumping rope might be one exercise for runners to adopt. Plyometric training—a form of intense training that generates strength at a high speed—leads to neuromuscular adaptations, including increased power and stiffness, which can improve running performance.

Jumping rope requires quick rebounds that recruit mainly the foot muscles and joints, a type of plyometric training that would be useful for runners. A recent study in the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance set out to investigate this. A group of amateur runners were randomly assigned to an experimental group or a control group. The experimental group modified their regular warm-up routine to include jumping rope for two to four sessions per week with a total time of 10 to 20 minutes per week. After 10 weeks, runners in the experimental group had greater arch stiffness and statistically significant improvement in their three-kilometer run time compared to the control group. So, for runners looking for a way to increase their speed, incorporating jump rope training drills into their warm up may be a great way to do so. Dust off that jump rope and get going!

PHOTO Getty Images

Reference article: García-Pinillos F, Lago-Fuentes C, Latorre-Román PA, PantojaVallejo A, Ramirez-Campillo R. Jump-Rope Training: Improved 3-km Time-Trial Performance in Endurance Runners via Enhanced Lower-Limb Reactivity and FootArch Stiffness [published online ahead of print, 2020 Mar 12]. Int J Sports Physiol Perform. 2020;1-7. doi:10.1123/ijspp.2019-0529

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