I was very fortunate to have Andrea Toppin on the blog this week! Andrea is an amazing runner and is starting her career as a DC!

We cover topics ranging from her own training and what it is like to run in Olympic Marathon Trials to starting out a career focused on treating runners. We even dive into creating a sub specialty within treating runners. 

You can find more about Andrea on her Instagram @atop1212

The video will only be up for one week, and then we will put up some summary points. This video had SOOO many great clinical pearls, don't miss it before it is gone. 

I get lots of questions about the most common changes in running gait, and overstriding is at the top of the list! Check out the video to learn what overstriding is and quick/easy ways to identify and correct it. 

I have also included a link to one of my favorite drills that you can download to help your runners improve form!

We will go into depth into overstriding in the Level 1 course, and in Level 2 we talk about the 4 sub-categories of overstriding. 

Runners love a good excuse not to run, so they secretly want you to tell them that they shouldn't run because they are having pain (Except not, they hate not being able to run and will likely not return to you if all you do is tell them not to run!)

So...if you want to work with runners getting their pain down is essential so that they can keep running without making things worse. Getting back to health ( and rid of pain) requires a comprehensive approach, but there are times that you just need to get an angry tissue calmed down so that you can continue with your other skills/knowledge. For me, laser has been a great way to get rid of pain so we can do the strengthening, gait retraining, and other things that will keep the pain away. 

I recorded a lecture with LightForce lasers for the American Academy of Sports Physical Therapy that you can see how I use laser in my practice and how to appropriately dose laser for different conditions. 

Happy to share my own experiences...

Stephen Littlewood joins this post for an expanded look at Cardiac Drift and breathing. Stephen is a retired Marine Intelligence Officer who specializes in ultra endurance athletes and has a great practice in Virginia doing gait analysis and metabolic testing.

This expands on our previous blog post identifying what Cardiac Drift is. Check that out if you aren't familiar with it first, then dive into more detail here.

In this episode you will find:

• 3:00 For clients using smart devices that show heart rate, when should they monitor for cardiac drift and how will they know if it may be affecting their training
• 5:03 Cardiac drift impact on interval sessions and importance of recovery
• 6:57 Cardiac drift is something that we can monitor and train for, and we discuss training methods to limit the negative impact of cardiac drift
• 9:20 Heat acclimation
• 10:50 Saunas and why I want my wife to let me get one!
• 13:00 Non-training things we can do including nutrition, hydration, weight lifting
• ...

If you had to pick the two most influential articles that you read this year (could be from any year, you just have to have read them this year), what would they be?

One of my favorite parts about working with runners is that there is endless learning opportunities. I have a list of articles to read that would take me a month to get through, but these two below rose to the top of my list this year!

Below are the articles with brief summary and link. Please leave a comment here or in the Facebook group with your top 2 articles you read in 2020!

1. Moving Beyond Weekly “Distance”: Optimizing Quantification of Training Load in Runners Paquette et al 2020 (Think this is a free JOSPT article)
   • This clinical commentary discuss the enormous challenge in quantifying training load and why weekly miles is probably not the key. The articles discusses alternative methods including Session RPE and Acute to Chronic Workload ratios. Future research may look...

I'm just going to say it...very few runners do a jumping program and that is a big mistake! There are some exceptions, but pretty much every runner should have jumping as a part of their training program (at least for some portion of time).

In this video I am going to share 3 determinants of running efficiency and how plyometrics are extremely effective in improving them. 

This is so important, that our Level 2 course teaches the Loading Level Assessment. Learn about how to assess and prescribe plyometrics that match the runner's current level. 

Please leave comments with your number one question about adding plyometrics to runners!!

A must watch interview for anyone who works with Ultra-runners or is looking to do an Ultra themselves! Geoff is a PhD from the University of Michigan who studies running biomechanics and physiology, and he is also an elite Ultra runner who just placed 5th at the JFK 50 miler. 

We unpack lots of great stuff in the interview including benchmarks for Ultra training, nutrition, recovery, and much more. Check out the show notes below and learn more about how to get in touch with Geoff:

2:11 JFK 50 Mile Race Report

13:38 What are benchmarks and key workouts to prepare for an Ultramarathon

16:23 Geoff’s primary workout that he does Saturdays during a training plan

19:00 How Geoff uses lactate testing to tailor his training paces

24:34 The breakdown of Geoff’s typical training week

29:44 What baseline fitness is needed to start an ultra plan and how long should an ultra plan last

31:30 The fundamentals that Geoff focused on to make him less injury prone during his training...

Ellen Davis RD, CSSD, LD is a Registered Dietician and a Board Certified Sports Dietician joining us to talk about Off-Season Nutrition!

Ellens shares how her personal experience as a collegiate runner that got injured because of training and nutrition mistakes turned into a career helping other runners avoid the same mishaps. 

In this interview we discuss:

• When is the best time to make nutrition changes (3:30)
• Top priorities for runners in the off-season (4:40)
• How to get runners to focus on nutrition in the off-season (5:32)
• Should injured and non-injured athletes look at nutrition differently (8:56)
• The role of stress and anxiety in nutrition and disordered eating (13:27)
• Challenging the idea of good and bad when it comes to food (17:05)

To learn more and get in touch with Ellen, you can find her on LinkedIN or email

Watch out for upcoming Nutrition Course from RunDNA!

Heart Rate Training offers a low cost way to measure the intensity of a workout....BUT it is not perfect. Knowing how your heart responds to exercise is important so that you are not over or under training. 

When creating training plans for runners, it is important that you (and them too!) understand cardiac drift. 

In this video we will talk about:

1. What Cardiac Drift is
2. The two main causes
3. How to reduce it
4. Tailoring workouts to avoid letting cardiac drift intterupt your fitness

References:

Colakoglu M, Ozkaya O, Balci GA. Moderate Intensity Intermittent Exercise Modality May Prevent Cardiovascular Drift. Sports (Basel). 2018 Sep 15;6(3):98. doi: 10.3390/sports6030098. PMID: 30223593; PMCID: PMC6162481.

Stanley J, Buchheit M. Moderate Recovery Unnecessary to Sustain High Stroke Volume during Interval Training. A Brief Report. J Sports Sci Med. 2014 May 1;13(2):393-6. PMID: 24790495; PMCID: PMC3990895.

Hamilton MT, Gonzalez-Alonso J, Montain SJ, Coyle EF....