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Our weekly run/walk is scheduled for 6:00pm tonight—hope to see you at the north end of the Blackstone Boulevard path in Providence. Meanwhile, here's an interesting NY Times article shared by one Frontrunner about the inevitable deceleration that comes with age and what we can do about it: Why Runners Get Slower With Age (and How Strength Training May Help) By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS SEPTEMBER 9, 2015 Young runners are different than you and me. They have more speed. And to achieve that swiftness, they use certain leg muscles quite differently than runners past age 50 do, according to a new study of runners’ strides at different ages. The study also intimates that many of us might be able to reinvigorate our flagging pace with the right type of strength training. Science, competitive records and lived experience all show that runners slow with advancing age, even the great ones. The current world marathon record for men, for instance, 2:02:30, was blazed by a 30-year-old, and is nearly an hour faster than the world record of 2:54:48 for the 70- to 75-year-old age group, which was set by Ed Whitlock, a Canadian. He later ran the world record for the 80- to 85-year-old age group with a 3:15:54 clocking that, although blisteringly fast by my standards, was more than 20 minutes slower than his septuagenarian self. While most of us accept this diminution in speed as inevitable and logical — we’re older, of course we’re slower — surprisingly little is known about the actual bodily underpinnings of the decline. But there have been hints. Past studies have found that our aerobic capacity declines as we reach our 40s, dropping by about 10 percent per decade after that, even if we vigorously exercise. So a serious 60-year-old runner will have more endurance capacity than sedentary people his or her age, but less than his or her 40- or 50-year-old self. However, lower endurance capacity does not automatically mean slower running speeds. Theoretically, with age, we could run at the same pace as we once did, although doing so would require using more of our already diminished endurance capacity — meaning that it would feel more difficult. But we don’t. We slow down. That process intrigued Paul DeVita, a professor of kinesiology at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., and president of the American Society of Biomechanics. In 2000, he and his colleague Tibor Hortobagyi published a famous study showing that older people, when they walk, take shorter steps than younger walkers, and rely less on the muscles around their ankles and more on the muscles around their hips to complete each stride than do younger walkers. Dr. DeVita suspected that a similar change in form might be occurring among runners. But there was little evidence to support that idea. So for the new study, which was published last month in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, Dr. DeVita set out to learn more. He and his colleagues from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the United States Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Mass., recruited 110 experienced, recreational runners between 23 and 59 years of age. They invited the men and women to the Runners’ Clinic at Wake Forest and fitted them with reflectors designed to capture how they moved. Then, while the researchers filmed them, the volunteers ran repeatedly at their normal training pace along a track containing a device that could measure how forcefully they struck the ground. The researchers then integrated this data to create profiles of the runners’ form, which they then compared by age. The differences were striking. With each passing decade, the runners’ stride length and preferred speed dropped by about 20 percent. Meanwhile, runners older than about 40 displayed much less activation of and power in the muscles of their lower legs, especially those around the ankle and in the calf. Consequently, Dr. DeVita and his colleagues found, these runners pushed off more weakly with each stride and did not rise as high into the air as younger runners, a change in form that accelerated as runners reached their 50s. Interestingly, the scientists did not see any accompanying increase in the activation of the runners’ hip muscles, as they had seen in walkers. The older runners used their ankle muscles less but not other muscles more. Instead, they simply slowed down. In many ways, this shift away from reliance on the lower-leg muscles during running makes physiological sense, Dr. DeVita said. There is evidence, he said, that those muscles age earlier than other muscles in the body do, with connections between cells in those muscles and the nervous system faltering and the muscles’ repair systems weakening earlier than in other muscles. “Achilles’ tendon and calf injuries tend to increase” as runners get older, he pointed out, probably because those tissues become particularly fragile. To lessen the chance of such injuries and potentially also maintain more of our speed as the years pass, he said, we probably should consider strengthening our calf and ankle flexor muscles. (The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends a variety of such exercises at orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00667.) Of course, this study was looking at individual runners at one point in their lives. To more precisely understand how age affects running form, Dr. DeVita said, scientists will need to follow the same runners for decades, which he and other researchers hope to do. It is also important to look at how any alterations in running form dovetail with changes over the years in physiology, he said, especially the decline in aerobic capacity. Perhaps the body, recognizing that it has to work much harder to run as fast as it once did and that some muscles are no longer as spry as they once were, opts against speed. “It may be a protective adaptation” to slow down, Dr. DeVita said.
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Just reminding everyone that we ARE meeting today (Labor Day, 7 September) for the stretch-run-yoga session at 6:00 PM. For those of you who didn't join us last week, we are meeting right across the Narragansett Boat Club on the East Side of Providence. There is a some park space facing the river which will be our yoga spot. If you use GPS, drive up to 2 River Road, Providence and look for us gathering in the park. We want to start on time at 6 PM. If you plan on joining us for the 5-10 minute stretch portion, we ask that you please arrive a few minutes before 6:00 PM.
As the days grow shorter, Frontrunners Rhode Island will be trying out a new venue for their Monday yoga-run sessions. Starting August 31 (Monday), we will be meeting at Blackstone Park, right across The Narragansett Boat Club on the East Side of Providence. We will have a beautiful view of the river and have more sunlight during our yoga class. Walkers will be able to walk around the new paved trail or along the Seekonk River while runners can run a 3.3 mile route up to Groto Road and back to the park.
Drive up to 2 River Road, Providence, and look for us gathering in the park area across the boat club. See you at 6:00PM! Join Frontrunners RI at 6:00pm on Monday 24 August for our regular stretch—run/walk—yoga session with Erik Strzempko in Lippitt Park. Yoga is a fantastic way to open up the body and improve breathing, especially for many of us who sit for long periods each day, our bodies folded and crumpled, our breathing made shallow. We hope to see you Monday at 6:00pm at the end of Blackstone Boulevard (see map, below). Bring a mat if you have one, but otherwise, Erik has plenty of mats and blocks to loan out. Afterwards many of us head out for cheap eats at a nearby restaurant and you're welcome to join us. Drop-in-the-bucket donations of 2-5 bucks to support Frontrunners events and expenses are appreciated but are not expected. Just bring your tired bod and warm spirit and we'll be happy to have you.* Here's an article from the Human Kinetics website about the benefits of yoga for runners (with a section on how it improves stability and mobility excerpted below): Stability (Strength)
Mobility (Flexibility)
* Frontrunners is an LGBTQ group open to straight allies. Last night, as we arrived for our weekly run on the Boulevard, we encountered a sharp looking pair of gentlemen waiting patiently on a park bench. We soon learned that their names were Bud and Don and after a little chatting, we were very impressed to discover that Bud was the founder of the first Frontrunners group (San Francisco, 1974) and Don was an inaugural member of the club.
Bud's a Cranston, RI native and RISD alumnus, in town for his 60th high school reunion this weekend. What a great privilege it was to hear their story about how Frontrunners evolved from a band of "lavender joggers" to the legacy of today's International Frontrunners, a solid network of LGBTQ clubs around the world—from Liverpool to Little Rhody. We took a few photos of some of our gang with Bud and Don. We hope to cross paths again very soon, but meanwhile we're grateful for the opportunity to have met these two guys—our distinguished founding members. Our first yoga-run-walk event had a wonderful turnout on August 10, 2015. The group gathered at Lippitt Memorial Park at 6:00 PM under beautiful mid 70's weather. After a brief orientation yoga instructor, Erik Strzempko, provided a 10 minute dynamic stretching routine followed by a 40 minute run/walk along Blackstone Boulevard. The gang regrouped and completed an exhilarating 40 minute yoga routine.
Thank you to all the 18 participants (Don & Scott, Brian, Tim, Rob, Danny, Kyle, Rene, Deidre, Scott C., Denise, Dee, Ike, Michael, Ali, Jordan, Scott M., and of course, Eric). Frontrunners RI wishes to thank everyone who chipped in some money that will be going towards future club events. We hope to see even more of you next Monday! Monday 10 August
6PM in Lippitt Park at the end of Blackstone Boulevard in Providence. Hope to see everyone there. Well, not everyone. That would be way to crowded. Thanks to Peter and Ike for having the whole crowd down to Westport for our annual summer gathering. The weather couldn't have been finer, and after running and biking various distances before noon we all chowed down on an incredible lunch. What a fantastic time we had. A handful of us lingered to take a walk on the beach at the end of a great day, taking in the impressive Westport sunset. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more perfect day or better company.
Frontrunners Rhode Island is adding a Monday evening stretch-run-yoga combo to complement our weekly Thursday runs, led by the talented and generous Frontrunner/Yogi, Erik. Join us this Monday at 6:00pm at the triangular park across from our usual gathering place (Lippitt Memorial Park if you're looking for it on Google Maps, see below); bring water and a mat if you have one. Erik has some mats but the less he has to tote along with him the better. • The schedule will be: 6:00 - 6:10: Dynamic Stretching with Erik 6:10 - 6:45: Run or Walk (be sure to return by 6:45) 6:45 - 7:30: Yoga with Erik Please note that the yoga portion will be accessible to all and won't be anything overly complex. It will obviously be geared toward runners/walkers. The warm up doesn't really require a mat and can be done in sneakers so if you want to leave your mat in your car until after the run/walk that might make the most sense. Erik has enough mats for about 12 people so if you don't have a mat he can probably provide one. Remember, there is absolutely no required donation. It is free to all. If you do want to donate to future Frontrunner activities ALL donations go directly to Frontrunners RI. Frontrunners Rhode Island had the pleasure of running with Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza during a Sunday 3 mile run earlier this summer. All are welcome to run with the mayor every Sunday at 9:00 AM at Roger Williams Park!
"LGBTQ Shorts: Transcending Boundaries" at Flickers: Rhode Island International Film Festival. http://sched.co/3wTm @RIFilmFest #RIIFF2015
What a great gathering this evening! Several new runners joined our gregarious group as we enjoyed the beautiful summer weather in Providence. We miss some of our regulars as many are currently away on vacation. Looking forward to more summer runs.
Several RI Frontrunners (Brian, Danny, John B, Scott, and possibly Arthur) will be running the July 24 Blessing of the Fleet 10 Mile Race in Narragansett, RI. Let's wish them the best of luck and good weather! http://narragansettlionsclub.com/sub_category_list.asp?category=16&title=Blessing+Road+Race Let's hear it for Frontrunners Rhode Island founder Brian Patrick Mulligan, who won his division in today's Narragansett Bay Half Marathon. Here he is alongside a couple of ain't-half-bad runners Geoff Smith and Amby Burfoot, both Boston Marathon winners. Attaboy Brian, but where's your Frontrunners singlet, eh? Summer.
Sunshine. Good people. Good health. It doesn't get much better than this folks. Join us tonight on the Boulevard.
A nice little film about running. Anyone who sticks with it will tell you there's a lot of truth in this. Not pictured are the many new folks who have joined us in recent weeks. Stick around to have your mug included on the blog!
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