​Are we slower in winter?
Maybe.  Our bodies do a really great job of regulating core temperature by increasing or decreasing heat loss and heat production within the body.  We acclimate to hot weather by directing more blood flow to the skin and increasing our sweat rate.   In winter, when it’s colder outside, the body focuses on maintaining core temperature and warming dry and cold air before it hits your lungs, which can distract from running efficiency.  The body will send oxygen and blood to vital organs to keep them warm, reducing what’s available for the muscles we use to propel us during a run.  Also, muscle contractions may actually be weaker in the cold, due to both the constriction of blood flow and slower nerve signals, leading to less power and strength in our stride. Wearing the right gear and helping the body stay warm can help slow this down, but even with the warmest clothes, prolonged periods in cold temps can cause muscles to tighten impacting stride length, gait and overall pace.  
Cold weather has also been shown to affect VO2 max, which starts to decrease when temperatures drop below 50 degrees Fahrenheit (which also is right around the sweet spot for PR times).  Our heart rate tends to be higher when running in the cold as well, and we metabolize our glycogen stores faster.    All of these factors combine to result in a decrease in performance when running in cold temperatures, with the bigger decrease shown the colder the mercury falls.
With all of these challenges, why DO we run in the cold?  Well, depending where you live, if you didn’t run in the cold, you’d either be on a running break, or on a treadmill for 4-6 months of the year, and that makes it difficult if not impossible to train for those spring and early summer races.  To mitigate the impacts of winter months, make sure to get a good warm up done before heading out, wear layers and gear specific to your climate, be appropriately fueled, recognizing that you may need to fuel more often than you would on a nice 60 degree spring day, and give yourself some grace if your pace is a little slower than you’d like.  Congratulate yourself for your dedication, self-discipline and commitment to your goals!

​The short answer is, YES!  First, what are plyometrics.  Plyometric training is a form of training that uses explosive movements to develop muscular power.  This type of training can get your body to increase the rate of force production and help project or propel your body with greater velocity.  It also helps develop control and production of the ground reaction forces we encounter with each step.  It’s easy to see how this can be helpful for running.  In fact, in a randomized and controlled trial, progressive daily hopping produced increases in running economy.  The subjects in the trial group were directed to perform a prescribed amount of double leg hopping with the number of sets and rest between sets progressing over a 6 week period.  The control group subjects were directed to continue with their regular exercise program without adding the hopping.  Measurable increases in running economy were recorded at treadmill speeds of 12km/h (approx. 8:06 mile pace) and 14km/h (6:59 mile pace) over the six week study period.  A link to the full study results is here:https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-30798-3#:~:text=This%20study%20provides%20first%20evidence,with%20higher%20duration18%2C22.
Plyometric training has also been suggested to support injury prevention.  As with any new exercise, it is important to make sure you have a good foundation.  Before engaging in plyometrics, you must make sure you have sufficient core strength, stability and range of motion, as well as good balance.  It is recommended you have a coach or strength trainer evaluate you in these areas before starting any plyometric training. Then, start with simple with hopping or squat jumps with stabilization between jumps, focusing on form before jumping and landing.   Good luck with your training!
 

​How do you stay motivated to get out there, consistently, and run?  For some people, it’s just part of their routine.  It’s what they do when the alarm goes off, or when they get home from work.  I’m am very routine oriented, and feel all out of sorts if I deviate too far from my normal routine.  Even I, sometimes, need more motivation to get up and out the door.  That’s particularly true when it is dark and cold outside, yet warm and cozy under the covers.  In the short term, I get myself excited to get out there using bribery.  If I promise myself to not miss a run, I’ll buy myself some jazzy new running outfit or accessory, or break out one of the brand new pairs of running shoes still waiting in the boxes.  Those tools are usually short lived.  A much better way to stay motivated is to set a goal.  Maybe it is a race in early spring that will keep you consistent and accountable in the long winter months.  Maybe it’s a time goal, such as breaking a certain time in the mile or 5-k.  Maybe it is simply an aggregate mileage goal per month or over a series of months or just running 4 days every week.  Maybe it is tied to some other health or fitness indicator, such as blood pressure, weight or resting heart rate.  Whatever it is, choose something specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely. Goals will keep you motivated, accountable, and give you a sense of accomplishment that keeps you wanting more.  It also makes the winter go by faster, if that’s possible.  Get out there and just run!

​I’ll keep this short, much like my run this morning in 90% humidity.  We all know summer running feels harder, but ever wonder the real impact on your body and performance?    You may think you are just powering through it but that easy run may actually translate into an effort day if you don’t dial it back enough.  When we run in high heat and humidity, not only does our body temperature rise, but our bodies use more oxygen, and use glycogen stores faster and impact our ability to handle the lactate output.  Your aerobic system is working harder to keep up and your heart rate shows it.  From an optimal 50-55 degrees, about every 10 degrees of heat costs you 2-3% in performance and efficiency.  When the temps hit the 80s and above, your body has to work more than 10% harder to achieve the same performance result.  If your goal race is expected to be in hot and humid weather, by all means you should seek to train in race day conditions as much as possible.  Your body can adapt to running in heat but it takes time.  You really need a few weeks of heat training to start acclimating, even longer if you aren’t able to get 60-90 minute runs in.  Your body will start adapting right away but the more time you give it to get acclimated, the better off you’ll be on race day. 
When running in heat, start out slow.  Those first few runs should be shorter and slower so you aren’t taxing your system.  Hydrate early and often.  Even if you don’t usually drink a lot during a race, you will need more liquid when it is hot. Help your body retain fluids by using fuel that contains electrolytes, use salt tablets or try salty snacks before your run.  Experiment during your hot training runs so that you aren’t trying something new on race day.
If you aren’t training for anything, just take it easy.  Slow down, drink water and enjoy your miles.  And if you live in a four season climate, remember these days when the snow starts flying!  

Much of what you are about to read is really common sense advice, but as the taper tantrums tart to wind down and the pre-race jitters set in, sometimes common sense goes out the window.    You’ve worked hard, followed your training plan, fueled your body well, sacrificed time with family and friends and rested up all in an effort to accomplish your goals.  Don’t blow it by making some avoidable mistakes!  Here are some pretty basic reminders of what to do (or not) in the day or two before your goal race.
Hydrate.  Everyone knows you want to be well hydrated at the start of a race.  Let’s be honest, you should be drinking lots of water all of the time, but under normal conditions, you can address the early signs of dehydration by pounding a bottle of water or two and go about your day.  Not so easy at the start or in the middle of a race.  Who wants (or is even able) to run with a bottle of water sloshing around your gut with every step.  You need to start the hydrating process in the day or two before the race so that when you wake up on race morning, you can drink a small amount of water and be ready to go. 
Move.  Yes, you should be resting your legs the day before a race but don’t be a coach potato.  You want to keep things moving and loose.  Some people like to do a short shake out run, and that’s fine as long as it is super short and nice and easy.    If you are traveling by car, plane or train the day before a race, try to take frequent breaks when driving, and get up and walk around on the plane or train as often as you can.  If that’s not possible, just doing simple calf raises and glute and quad contractions and releases from your seat can help to get blood moving and loosen things up.
Massage.  That’s a no-no the day before a race.  If you’ve been regularly getting massages throughout your training cycle, it is fine to have a massage on race week, but do it 3-4 days prior.  Exercise, especially of the intensity a race brings, may impair recovery from your massage and increase post-massage (and post-race) soreness, not to mention you may arrive at the start line sore from your massage!  If you’ve got some tightness to work out, stick with some light foam rolling and stretching the day before your race.
Carb loading.  Put this in the same category as hydration.  You need to be loading up those glycogen stores for days, not hours, before your race.  We’ve all used pre-race carb loading as an excuse to gorge on a big delicious carb-laden bowl of pasta, myself included.  Many of us run so we CAN eat things we otherwise wouldn’t allow ourselves.  But when it comes to the night before a race, be smart.   Eat earlier, keep the portion reasonable, and avoid heavy cream and cheese based sauces that may have you making more visits to the porta-potties than your race plan accounts for.
Lay out everything you need for race morning the night before (or a few days before if you’re packing for a destination race).  Check the weather forecast for both start time and finish time so you know if you’ll need layers to drop off as your race unfolds.  Make a list of what you need, including what you plan to eat and drink on race morning, fuel for during your race, undergarments, socks, clothes, sunglasses, hat, warm weather gear if it’s a winter race, running belt, bib pins (if the race venue doesn’t provide them), sunscreen and everything else you normally run with.  And please, do not forget your sneakers!  Yes, I have a friend that went to a race without sneakers, really.  It actually is not hard to do, especially if traveling to a race, and you leave your sneakers for last minute packing to avoid stinking up everything else in your bag.  That’s why making a list really helps.  You can double check the list before you leave the house or hotel, and ensure you’ve got everything.
Nothing new on race day.  Nothing, not clothing, not sneakers, not pre-race food, not racing fuel, nothing.  The only exception would be out of necessity if you forget something because you haven’t followed my advice above in making a list and checking it off before leaving for your race.
And finally, have fun!  We run because we love it.  Goals are great, they keep us motivated but don’t get so wrapped up in numbers that you forget to enjoy the run.  It is a privilege to be able to run, and not something that everyone is able to do.  

What the heck are Nightshades, and what do they have to do with running?
By Tammy Cumo
 
Quick disclaimer.  I do not have a medical degree, nor a degree in nutrition.  What I do have is google, and that’s what I turned to when endless months of rest, recovery, and rehab were not making my ‘overuse’ injuries go away.  It all started last summer, three days into my taper after an almost painless marathon training cycle, IT band syndrome hit.  In the three weeks leading up to the marathon, I only ran twice, and then hobbled through the marathon.  Within weeks, bilateral foot, ankle, peroneal tendon, knee and hip pain developed.  I stopped running altogether for nearly 3 months.   Countless doctors, MRIs, X-Rays, cortisone, bloodwork, sports massage, and physical therapy.  The pain during running improved within a few months.  Running, however, triggered flare-ups of pain and inflammation a day or two later, sometimes severe enough to disrupt sleep.  Perhaps the oddest fact was there seemed to be no correlation to the length or intensity of the runs with the levels of pain and inflammation that followed.  A short easy run might send me hobbling for days whereas a long or hilly run the week before resulted in little or no pain.  Desperate for answers that the doctors couldn’t provide, I turned to google for other potential causes of pain and inflammation.  Enter, Nightshades.  Nightshades are a plant group that, according to some sources, can cause pain in inflammation in some people.  Among a long list of Nightshades are tomatoes, potatoes, all types of peppers, eggplants and others that contain certain alkaloids that have inflammation inducing properties.  They also hide in many spice blends that contain these components, such as paprika, cayenne pepper, and many Mexican spices containing hot peppers.  I started looking at my food log to see what I had eaten in the periods around some of the worst times of pain.  Tomatoes, peppers, white potatoes (hello French fries…), salsa, tomato sauce (think PIZZA!) and the list goes on.  These are common foods on my dinner plate, but they did seem to appear more frequently in the days leading up to some of these unexplained flare-ups.  Running out of options, I decided to completely eliminate the Nightshade group of foods from my diet as an experiment.  While the initial result was not complete elimination of pain, there was a significant reduction and I was able to run more and run longer, without suffering the consequences.  Is it the Nightshades or something else?   I’m only on week 3, so the jury is still out but I’m optimistic I may be on to something.  The moral of this story is don’t give up.  If you love running and something is getting in the way, keep searching.  Be your own advocate.  Think outside the box.  But remember, if you are hurting in more than a ‘I’m sore from my workout’ kind of way, see your doctor, and if you think it could be diet related, work with a nutritionist. 
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Tammy Cumo
[email protected]
Instagram @5run8coaching