Runner's World - Inside March 2014

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special beginner’s guide

Australia & New zealand edition

your

new

core

9 key exercises to get strong & run better

Stop Sabotaging Your Weight-Loss Efforts

+

P63

march 2014

All–New SHoe guide 22 models tested

3 Find Your Best Fit 3 Best Buys 3 Editor’s Pick

10

✱

PROVEN WAYS TO BUILD MENTAL MUSCLE

(Yes, Even For Health–Savvy Runners)

Iron yoga

A New Way To Cross-Train P46

STEP IT UP Stair Workouts With Big Results P29 SUPER-EASY BREAKFAST RECIPE

…carbs, protein & antioxidants included P42

WHY YOU NEED MORE PROTEIN (AND HOW TO GET IT) P40 BEGINNERS

No Such Thing As Too Slow $8.95 02 $9.70

incl. GST ISSN 1440-5229 incl. GST NZ

PP 349181 / 00853 ISSN 1440-5229

02 9 771440 522018

runnersworldmag.com.au

inside

63 THE STARTING LINE Even if you’re out of shape, our five-step program will get you up and running.

By Jennifer Van Allen

70 SHOE BUYER’S GUIDE We’ve tested and reviewed this season’s top 22 models. Find the perfect pair for you!

By Jeff Dengate & Martyn Shorten, Ph.D.

86 ONE TOUGH MOTHER Sexual violence, drug addiction, spinal reconstruction – Meredith Dolhare has run through it all.

As told to Charlie Engle

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THE NEW CORE CURRICULUM Nine exercises that go beyond abs to improve your posture – and your running.

By Lisa Jhung

REGULARS 6 8 10

RAVE RUN EDITOR’S LETTER RUNNING INBOX

13

Human Race This young mum used running to regain control of her life – and lose 32kg.

PLUS The Intersection (14) Ask Miles (16) Back Story: Brendan Davies (16) What It Takes To… (18)

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I’M A RUNNER Julie Bowen, Actor, Modern Family, 43

personal best

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38

44

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Fitness News What runners should eat: The latest news and advice.

Training Power up stairs to strengthen your heart, muscles and lungs.

PLUS How to tweak your routine for faster results.

Fuel Avoid the mistakes that can sabotage your weight-loss efforts.

PLUS Get better protein. (40) Mind & Body Research-backed mental strategies that will help you run your best.

The Body Shop Add weights to yoga to get strong and improve flexibility.

columns

36 63

46

48 Life & Times When things we hold dear fall apart, running endures.

By Tish Hamilton

70

50 ROAD SCHOLAR

Paul Tonkinson describes the beautiful

agony of track-training in middle age.

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departments 93 Races & Places The Twilight Running Festival puts a different perspective (and time) on racing.

By Jacqui Waters

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on our cover

SPECIAL BEGINNER’S GUIDE

AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND EDITION

YOUR

NEW

CORE

9 KEY EXERCISES TO GET STRONG & RUN BETTER

Stop Sabotaging Your Weight-Loss Efforts

+

P63

MARCH 2014

ALL–NEW SHOE GUIDE 22 MODELS TESTED

3 Find Your Best Fit 3 Best Buys 3 Editor’s Pick

10

✱

PROVEN WAYS TO BUILD MENTAL MUSCLE

(Yes, Even For Health–Savvy Runners)

IRON YOGA

A New Way To Cross-Train P46

STEP IT UP Stair Workouts With Big Results P29 SUPER-EASY BREAKFAST RECIPE

…carbs, protein & antioxidants included P42

WHY YOU NEED MORE PROTEIN (AND HOW TO GET IT) P40 BEGINNERS

NO SUCH THING AS TOO SLOW $8.95 02 $9.70

incl. GST ISSN 1440-5229 incl. GST NZ

PP 349181 / 00853 ISSN 1440-5229

02 9 771440 522018

runnersworldmag.com.au 9 771440 522018 CoverMockup.indd 1

march 2014 Volume 16 Number 9 Cover: CJ Koegel Photographed exclusively for RUNNER’S WORLD

28/01/14 1:00 PM

RW Digital WE’RE ALWAYS RUNNING AT RUNNERSWORLDMAG.COM.AU

42

rave run Photography by Lyndon Marceau / marceauphotography.com runner Chris Ord The Location Delatite River Trail, Mt Buller, Victoria ➔ THE EXPERIENCE Positioned in the Australian Alps, Mt Buller is an easy three-hour drive from Melbourne. At 1805 metres high, the peak is known for its spectacular views and clean alpine air. Runners can climb to its summit from Delatite River, following Klingsporn Track, a route used by stockmen in days gone by for taking cattle into the high country for summer months. Mt Buller features 16 graded trails – classed according to a new rating system for Australian trails, called Trail Score – rated from green (easy/beginner) to black (difficult/experienced) ranging from 3km to 30km. “Mt Buller offers pretty much every type of running a trail advocate could wish for, and for every level of experience,” says runner and Trail Score auditor Chris Ord. “The best thing about running on Mt Buller is that you can run into some pristine, truly wild places and witness some of the biggest mountain views in Australia, yet return to Mt Buller Village day after day to enjoy the luxury of good accommodation, meals, and maybe even a massage.”

– mtbuller.com.au

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training

AIM HIGHER: A steep grade raises your heart rate fast.

Step It Up Stair-climbing strengthens your muscles, heart and lungs for better running

BY MATTHEW SOLAN

medius, that get neglected during regular runs,” because you’re balancing on and activating one leg, briefly, as the other moves to the next step. Strengthen these areas and you’ll reduce your risk of injury.

Finally, stairs are much steeper than most hills: Indoor stairs have a roughly 65 per cent grade, while Sydney’s Heartbreak Hill is less than 10 per cent.

That’s why climbing them accelerates your heart rate so rapidly and makes you breathe faster to take in more oxygen.

This, in turn, improves your VO2 max – the maximum amount of oxygen you can utilise during intense exercise. “This teaches your body to use that oxygen

and convert it to energy quicker,” says Moore. A greater VO2 max means you can run harder and for longer durations.

A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that short bouts of stair-climbing five days a week for eight weeks improved VO2 max by 17 per cent among young women.

Weave these stair workouts into your weekly training and watch your performance reach new heights.

RUN UP LIKE...A COMPETITOR A handful of races, including the Eureka Climb in Melbourne and Sydney’s Tower Stair Challenge, involve ascending, as fast as you can, multiple flights of

by MATTHEW SCOTT

I

F YOU BORROW one element (besides running) from Rocky Balboa’s training regimen, make it stair-climbing. The plyometric motion strengthens the same muscles as lunges and squats, and taxes your lungs and heart as you power to the top.

“Stairs force you to work against gravity, and this helps build two essential needs for runners: strength and power,” says Anne Moore, an exercise physiologist and running coach. You need both, whether you’re kicking to the finish of a 5K or trying to maintain pace during the later kilometres of a marathon. Moore adds that stair-climbing “forces you to utilise muscle stabilisers, like the gluteus

stairs (88 – or 1642 steps – for the Eureka Climb). Speeding up stairs takes a lot of explosive power, so you quickly reach your anaerobic threshold (AT), the point where your body creates more lactic acid than it can process. “Training beyond your AT leads to an improved threshold level and ultimately a faster pace before you ‘feel the burn’,” says running coach and 2:44 marathoner John Honerkamp.

This is helpful even if you don’t aspire to stair-racing. (If you do, see racing tips in “Tower Aid,” below, and find events at towerrunning.com.au.)

THE WORKOUT: After a 10-minute warm-up, run hard up stairs for 20 to 30 seconds, then walk back down.

Repeat for 20 to 30 minutes. Or run stairs for 10 minutes after a long run to help your body build endurance and learn to push through fatigue.

RUN UP LIKE...A WARRIOR These weekly stair workouts aren’t for the faint-hearted: you go slow up and fast down. Doing this helps build middistance endurance because you are putting out a more consistent effort. It also is a great calf burner, since you rely on your calf muscles to soften your steps as you come down.

THE WORKOUT: Warm up for 10 minutes. Then climb 20 to 30 seconds up the stairs at a tempo effort – slowing as needed to keep your ascending pace

by Eyes Wide Open IMAGES | Barry Alsop (Van Dalen)

Tower Aid

consistent – and without pausing, run back down. Repeat the cycle for 30 minutes.

Follow the Leader Advice from the world's best runners

RUN UP LIKE...A GYM RAT If hot weather forces you indoors and you can’t find a stairwell to run, you can use your gym’s StairMaster to perform an interval workout (20 to 30 seconds hard, then 30 to 60 seconds of recovery, repeating for 20 to 30 minutes) or a tempo workout (30 minutes at a comfortably hard effort). Or use a treadmill. “Set at a steep incline, the treadmill is very similar to running stairs because you use many of the same muscle groups to propel yourself,” says Honerkamp. Obviously, adjust your speed accordingly – you may find that a fast walking pace is the most you can handle.

THE WORKOUT: After a 10-minute warm-up, crank up the incline (slowing your pace as necessary) to 15 per cent (or whatever the machine’s maximum incline is – the higher, the better). Do one minute at the hardest pace you can manage, then reduce the incline to zero and recover for one minute. Follow with two minutes at maximum incline and two minutes of recovery, working your way up, minute by minute, to five minutes of each. Then work your way back down to end with one minute hard and one minute recovery.

Tips for a successful race to the top Practice taking one or two steps at a time to see which way allows you to maintain a faster pace.

Use the railings to pull yourself up: If your arms are long enough, grab the railings on both sides. Otherwise, use both hands on one railing, pulling up hand

over hand to distribute the effort between both of your arms.

Try chewing gum to prevent dry mouth in stuffy stairwells.

(The stairs in many tall buildings tend to get very little foot traffic; some are used only during fire drills.)

LUCY VAN DALEN, 25, of Auckland, represented New Zealand at the London 2012 Olympics (1500m) 1 RACE STRONG “When I'm gaining a base for the track season I do 5-mile tempos at 5:30 pace each week. The sessions are mentally and physically challenging and help me endure the long track season.”

2 THINK STRONG “I draw a lot of strength from my faith when I am running; praying or repeating a passage from the Bible. During the Olympics it helped me not to focus on the pain I was experiencing but rather on the beauty of running for my country.”

3 SWIM STRONG “A typical cross-training session for me involves a 3km swim set: 3 sets of 400m (freestyle) with 20 sec rest, 300m (backstroke/breaststroke/ freestyle) with 20 sec rest, 200m (freestyle 50m fast/50m relaxed x 2) with 20 sec rest, 100m (freestyle), with 1 min rest between sets. The session is a combination of endurance and speed, and therefore helps me feel like I’m working hard when forced off the road.”

runnersworldmag.com.au

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the new

CORE

curriculum

This nine-exercise routine stretches and strengthens your body from your neck to your knees, improving your posture and, in turn, your running

BY LISA JHUNG PHOTOGRAPHS BY GUIDO VITTI ILLUSTRATIONS BY FRANCESCO BONGIORNI 52

march 2014

take a moment to assess yourself Is your neck bent toward the page (or the screen)? Are your shoulders hunched? If your year-one teacher could see you now, would she tell you to sit up straight?

If you answered yes, you’re not alone.

Most of us tend to slump our heads forward and round our shoulders. When we stand – and run – we have even more problems: Runners often have strong quads and weaker hamstrings and glutes, and this imbalance can pull the pelvis forward to create a “butt out” look.

If your posture is faulty, your running suffers. Healthy posture, whether you’re standing in line or racing a marathon, maximises power in big muscles, like the gluteals and obliques, and allows your organs to work better – including the lungs. Being more upright opens the diaphragm and makes breathing easier.

One cause of bad posture is a lack of core strength. “But I do planks!” you say. Well, targeting just your abs – or even just your abs, hips and glutes – isn’t enough.

“I consider all the muscles in the trunk the core,” says Charlie Merrill, a physical therapist. Author and creator of the Foundation Training program Eric Goodman defines it as “anything that connects to the pelvis – above or below it.”

By addressing lower-body muscles – weak hamstrings and tight hip flexors, for instance – and upper-body muscles, like a tight chest and weak midback, we can train to have better posture. These nine key exercises target the “new core” to get you sitting, standing and running in a healthier, more efficient way – one your year-one teacher would be proud to see.

runnersworldmag.com.au

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autumn shoe guide

Brooks PureFlow 3 Mizuno Wave Inspire 10 A$200; NZ$239.95

It’s rare that we see a sub-285-gram shoe that offers lots of stability and cushioning yet has a flexible forefoot. It’s a tough combination to execute. But Mizuno succeeded with this update to the Inspire. “It had plenty of stability and comfort on long runs without the extra weight,” says Roseann Bills, who also tested the Asics GT-2000 2 and, previously, the Saucony Guide 6. Much of the stability comes from a thin but rigid plastic Wave plate, which fans out into two layers under the inner edge of the heel.

BOTTOM LINE Defies the old “stability equals heavy” thinking. mizuno.com.au

A$199.95; NZ$249.95

AFTER TWO YEARS on its initial platform, the Pure line gets an overhaul. Fans of earlier versions will be happy to know that, even with major changes, the shoe tested functionally the same as version 2 both in RW Shoe Lab tests and on realworld runners. The midsole foam is still a high-quality material that offers excellent cushioning, given how close to the ground it positions your foot, but the overall width of the sole has been reduced to make the landing even smoother. Pods of rubber on the outsole have been reshaped, heel Cushioning giving the forefoot slightly more flexibility Firm Soft than in previous versions. The upper, too, Forefoot Cushioning Firm Soft received a number of modifications that flexibility contributed to improved fit, including a less more change to the direction the “burrito” tongue Weight: 256g (M); 193g (W) opens – it’s now fixed at the arch and wraps Height: 29.4mm (heel); 22.9mm (forefoot) to the outside.

BOTTOM LINE A shoe that handles a lot of kilometres. brooksrunning.com.au; brooksrunning.co.nz

heel Cushioning Firm

Soft

Forefoot Cushioning Firm

Soft

flexibility less more

Weight: 264g (M); 210g (W) Height: 34.2mm (heel); 22.4mm (forefoot)

A neoprene band keeps the upper snug against your feet.

Puma Faas 600 S A$140; NZ$160

heel Cushioning Firm

Soft

Forefoot Cushioning Firm

Soft

flexibility less more

WEIGHT: 256g (M); 216g (W) HEIGHT: 30.0mm (heel); 20.9mm (forefoot)

TESTER'S TAKE Adam Marsh on the Brooks PureFlow 3 Age 41 years old Height 183cm Weight 70kg Arch Flat Kilometres 70 per week Years Running 25 Occupation Media

“My feet were extra tired during this testing period (I ran two marathons), so it was a nice shoe to supplement with during training. I really enjoyed the comfort level and felt great in a thin pair of running socks on roads and gravel paths.”

Illustration by LAUREN CROW

The S means “stability,” but wear-testers say the 600 S excels in the cushioning department. “I felt a lot of rebound without the shoe being too soft,” says wear-tester Harry Chandler. As for stability: Puma has incorporated a few non-traditional devices, like a flared wall on the inner edge of the midsole and a rubber patch embedded slightly deeper into foam under the arch, to help stabilise the foot.

BOTTOM LINE A soft option for fasterpaced workouts. puma.com.au; puma.co.nz

New Balance Fresh Foam 980 Nike Flyknit Lunar 2+ A$220; NZ$240

Nike continues to fine-tune its Flyknit upper on the shoe that won our Editor’s Choice award a year ago. The knit construction is an improvement over the first iteration, especially the dense stitching through the midfoot that helps lock the foot in place. But some testers reported that the ankle collar rubs at the achilles. The shoe’s smooth ride remains intact, thanks to Nike’s lightweight and flexible midsole foam.

BOTTOM LINE The knit upper conforms to a lot of foot shapes.

1300 656 453; 0508 478 478

A$170; NZ$200

FRESH FOAM is another shoe that was announced with great fanfare, with many folks assuming the shoe would be über-cushioned like the Hoka One One Conquest and Brooks Transcend. (New Balance’s tagline: “The science of soft.”) What we found: a fairly standard training shoe. Measurements from the RW Shoe Lab show the cushioning to actually be firmer than average, and the flexibility was right down the middle. “The shoe has a good fit, but it also feels oddly generic,” says David Alm, a wear-tester who regularly trains in lightweight footwear, including other New Balance models. That’s not to say it’s a bad heel Cushioning Firm Soft shoe; it’s just not the shoe we expected. The Forefoot Cushioning cushioning is consistent with other shoes of Firm Soft similar profile (how high it positions your flexibility foot from the ground). less more BOTTOM LINE Best for lightweight runners Weight: 253g (M); 210g (W) with average arches.

Height: 29.3mm (heel); 22.7mm (forefoot) newbalance.com.au; newbalance.co.nz

heel Cushioning Firm

Soft

Forefoot Cushioning Firm

Soft

flexibility less more

Weight: 239g (M); 193g (W) Height: 33.0mm (heel); 21.5mm (forefoot)

Mizuno Wave Rider 17 A$200; NZ$239.95

The Wave Rider is like a contestant on The Biggest Loser: It just keeps shedding astonishing amounts of weight. In only two years’ time, it went from 318 grams down to 270 grams. Much of that weight savings comes by replacing overlays on the upper with lightweight films. That may have contributed to a roomier fit, which some testers felt was too loose – especially through the midfoot.

BOTTOM LINE A durable shoe that will work at nearly any speed. mizuno.com.au heel Cushioning Firm

Wear-testers say the upper is “light” and “plush.”

Runners’ data and computers aided in sidewall design.

HOW IT FITS

New Balance Fresh Foam 980

Soft

Forefoot Cushioning Firm

Soft

flexibility less more

Weight: 270g (M); 219g (W) Height: 35.1mm (heel); 21.0mm (forefoot)

Snug

Loose

The image at left shows the new 980 has a good fit from heel to toe. This was confirmed by our testers. “I loved the fit of the upper,” says Jay Barry, a 2:38 marathoner. “It fit snugly, although the tongue rode up too high relative to the fit of the shoe.” runnersworldmag.com.au

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