Balance is key for kids to go distance

Adam’s journal

It was a long football season for my son, Will. As the quarterback on a fifth-grade team with a leaky offensive line, he spent more than his fair share of time underneath large piles of 10-year-olds.

Given the studies that are emerging about the long-term injuries, particularly to the brain, that football can cause, it would not break my heart if Will decided to hang up his shoulder pads.

He’s shown an interest in running, so following a recent 5-kilometer race that I ran, he and his younger brother — age 8 — ran the 1-mile kids’ “fun run.”

They both enjoyed it so much that they asked me whether they could run a full 5-kilometer race.

I said yes, and a few weeks ago, they both successfully completed the Putnam City Cancer Classic (which, I must note, benefited cancer research at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation).

Both Will and Theo were proud of themselves for covering more than three miles.

Will ran the whole way, while Theo threw in some walking breaks.

They both seemed to feel great afterward and have repeatedly asked me whether they can run another 5K.

Is it safe to let them follow in my footsteps at this young age?

 

Dr. Prescott prescribes

Running is a great way for Will and Theo to start down the road to lifetime fitness. Physiologically, there is no reason healthy elementary school children shouldn’t try a 5K.

But like every athletic activity for children, it must be done in moderation. Overtraining is one of the most common causes of injury in young athletes. Overuse injuries have seen a surge in recent years, largely attributable to the increased numbers of children who specialize in a single sport at an early age.

It is not uncommon for a preteen to practice and play a single sport many hours each week, year-round. This can cause repetitive microtrauma to particular areas of the body, such as the knees of a soccer player or wrists of a gymnast. Studies have found that such persistent microtrauma leads to overuse injuries such as tendonitis, ligament damage and stress fractures.

Excessive training and competition at an early age can cause psychological stress that leads to anxiety and burnout. So whether it’s running or any sport, be sure your kids are participating because they want to, not because you want them to.

Even when a child experiences success at a sport, it is important to curb the impulse to focus on that activity to the exclusion of others.

A balance of activities — as well as a lack of parental pressure — is the surest path to promoting your children’s physical and psychological health.

Study finds runner’s high isn’t myth

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Adam’s training  journal

I can’t recall the first time I heard the term “runner’s high.” But I’m pretty sure I’ve never experienced it in the quarter-century since I ran my first 5-kilometer race in Stan Smiths (shoes) and a pair of too-short shorts.

It’s not that running doesn’t bring me pleasure. I certainly enjoy its effects: aerobic and cardiovascular fitness, not to mention free rein to indulge in that extra cookie. And almost palpable feelings of accomplishment and relief follow the completion of a workout, particularly a grueling one.

But euphoria during a run? No way. At best, I feel neutral. At worst, I feel like I’m about to lose my lunch (actually, at worst, I have).

I’ve spoken to other runners who say that they have experienced this mythical runner’s high. Are they full of it? Or am I just missing the endorphin boat?

Dr. Prescott prescribes

If there is such a thing as runner’s high, I’ve never made it far enough to experience it. My distance running “career” consisted solely of high school football training runs in the dead of the Texas summer, and I doubt that such miserable activities are even capable of producing endorphins.

But I guess that’s really not an answer.

Once upon a time — not long ago — science lacked the ability to answer your question. To test whether the body was releasing opiates during exercise, we would’ve had to perform a spinal tap before and after a workout to search for a flood of endorphins from the brain. And who’d volunteer to participate in a research project like that?

Today, thanks to advanced imaging technology, researchers can look at runners’ brains before and after a run. Pairing this technique with recently available chemicals that reveal endorphins in the brain, German researchers tried to ascertain whether runner’s high exists.

The study, published last year, found that in the distance runners who served as study subjects, endorphins were produced during two-hour runs. Those endorphins were attaching themselves to the limbic and prefrontal areas of the brain, regions associated with emotions.

These findings complement previous research, which has found that runners have increased pain tolerance.

This research certainly supports what you — and I — have heard from so many: that the runner’s high is real.

So why haven’t you felt it? Perhaps it’s helped buffer you from pain you might otherwise have experienced during a tough workout. It also may be the biochemical explanation for the feeling of accomplishment and relief you described following runs.

As you’ll recall, you’re trying to make good on a pledge to run every day this year. To me, that sounds a bit like addictive behavior. And what fuels addictive behavior?

That’s right — endorphins. So maybe, just maybe, you’ve experienced runner’s high after all.

Study finds running strengthens bones

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Adam’s training  journal
When I decided to give snowboarding a try this spring, the results were, not surprisingly, painful.

It requires less space to talk about the parts of my body that weren’t banged up — eyeballs, inner ears, belly button — than those that were. Because after a day and a half on the slopes, I pretty much ached everywhere.

Still, I like to think I might have become the next Shaun “the Flying Tomato” White had I not taken a fall so epic that it must have registered on the Richter scale. As I stared at the lift overhead (why do these sorts of falls always happen directly under lifts?), I determined that I’d most likely cracked a rib. And thus ended the great snowboard experiment of ’09.

Thankfully, I am now recovered. But it was a month before I could take a deep breath without flinching, let alone wrestle with my kids again.

If you accept my self-diagnosis (I never did get an x-ray), this represents the third time since I began distance running that I’ve cracked a bone in a fall. Yet I’d never broken anything prior to taking up the sport.

Is it possible that pounding the pavement is weakening my bones?

Dr. Prescott prescribes
Let me get this straight. As a 41-year-old, you decide to embark on a sport with a bone-shattering reputation even among those half your age. Then, when you have a high-speed man-meets-slope moment, you wonder whether your daily run is actually the culprit behind your rattled ribs?
Puh-leese.

In fact, doctors have long recommended weight-bearing endurance activities to help preserve bone density. A March study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that among such activities, high-impact exercises like running were most effective at strengthening bone.

Studies (including one from the University of Oklahoma ) have shown that cyclists do not experience similar benefits.

In fact, researchers have found that competitive cyclists began with slightly lower bone density than average, then lost bone mass as the season progressed.

While the reasons for this are not readily apparent, researchers suspect that factors such as the absence of weight-bearing impact and loss of calcium through excessive sweating may play a role.

The studies have looked primarily at competitive racers who spend many hours a day on their bikes. Nevertheless, to be safe, recreational cyclists might want to use calcium-enriched sports drinks on long rides and occasionally hit the weight room or jogging path for some cross-training.

As for you, I’d bet a season pass at Alta that running is actually helping to keep your bones strong. If you want to keep them intact, too, leave the snowboarding to your kids.