“Running on empty” is a common idiom that can be used to describe a number of scenarios where someone is worn out or unmotivated. For runners that are underfueling, it can be quite literal. Whether you are knowingly or unknowingly underfueling, there are important factors to know about your caloric and nutritional needs.Ìę

Despite the prevailing myth that weight loss boils down to a simple calories in, calories out formula, a variety of lifestyle factors and their ensuing hormonal responses affect the ways our bodies respond to exercise and food. In an effort to maximize weight loss, many people (particularly women) eat as little as possible. “High-performing female athletes are at a high risk of underfueling,” says , MS, RDN, CSSD, and national media spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “This can take place without them even knowing.” There can also be such a focus on creating this calorie deficit that it can be easy to forget what calories actually do: fuel our bodies.

Your body responds to extreme caloric restriction by doing whatever it can to ensure your survival, mostly by conserving energy and putting calories toward its most basic functions. To do this, the body resorts to burning fewer calories. While in this survival mode your body produces more of the stress hormone cortisol, according to . And according to the Hormone Health Network, high levels of cortisol can cause changes to your sex drive and menstrual cycle and might even be linked to anxiety and depression.Ìę

If you’re not eating enough food, it’s also likely that you have some sort of . According to the Micronutrient Information Center of Oregon State University, vitamin D, calcium, potassium, dietary fiber, and are commonly underconsumed in the U.S. Like eating too few calories, symptoms of micronutrient deficiency include fatigue, reduced immunity, lack of concentration, memory troubles, and mood fluctuations.Ìę

This impacts your training in several ways. When the body feels it must prioritize essential functions (like regulating breathing, body temperature, and blood pressure), it doesn’t feel that it’s safe to put resources toward things like rebuilding muscle tissue, which is the process that enables it to build strength. Training sessions, therefore, become harder when we’re underfed. Though you may feel like you’re performing with all you’ve got, you’re actually working at a severe energy disadvantage.

Without enough fuel, you can’t perform at your best. “When energy and intake is too low, it really cannot support the demands of health and high-level performance,” says Ansari. For endurance athletes, it means running out of gas more quickly while racing or out on training runs. Even if you manage to push through a workout made difficult by a lack of fuel, your muscles can’t rebuild, and your body may even resort to using the protein from your muscles themselves.

Runners that chronically underfuel and overtrain are at risk of developing Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S). The syndrome is characterized by impaired metabolic rate, menstrual function, bone health, immunity, protein synthesis, and cardiovascular health.

So, how do you know if you’re eating enough for your activity level? The list below of common symptoms should give you a better idea.

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5 Signs You Aren’t Eating Enough

1. You’re Constantly Tired

Food is energy. As mentioned above, if you’re not eating enough calories, your body is going to use the ones it does have to support vital functions. This means there aren’t any left to do the things you love. If you’re dragging your feet at the gym every day or while out on a run, chances are you could benefit from more food.

2. You’ve Hit a Training Plateau

Have you been working out with greater intensity but aren’t seeing any results? Do you see, as Ansari describes, “decreased performance in the weight room, out on the track or trails,” or feeling like you’re bonking or hitting the wall? Your body could be in starvation mode, fighting to preserve as many calories as it can.

If you’ve hit a ceiling in your weight training and haven’t seen an increase in months, it’s likely that you need to eat more, both to fuel your training and to repair your muscles.

3. You Aren’t Regular

Only about five percent of Americans consume enough fiber each day, according to national consumption surveys. If you are under-eating, the chances of your body getting enough fiber grow slimmer, which can easily lead to constipation. Another factor to consider is dehydration, which also contributes to slower bowels.Ìę

4. Your Brain Feels Foggy

Ansari, who works mostly with runners in high school and college, mentions that poor concentration in school is a symptom of underfueling. You may also feel that at work or even have trouble staying mentally alert during a workout. Your brain relies on proper nutrition to function, as well as the rest of your body.Ìę

5. You Can’t Sleep, Even Though You’re Tired

Appropriate food intake allows for improved blood sugar control. The combination of consuming too few calories and over-exercising leaves your liver depleted of the glycogen stores it needs to keep your blood sugar stable, forcing your body to release stress hormones that eventually lead to the production of new glucose. When stress hormones are high, we have trouble falling–and staying–asleep.

“Someone who is limiting carbs and/or overall calories may experience some sleep challenges,” says Ansari. “Carbohydrates help to make tryptophan, an amino acid that increases sleepiness, more available to the brain.”Ìę

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Adding Fuel to Your Tank

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to give a one-size-fits-all on how many calories your body needs, particularly since your energy expenditure varies every day. The USDA Dietary Guidelines estimate that adult women need anywhere from 1,600 to 2,400 calories a day. However, this baseline estimate doesn’t include the additional calories needed for intense exercise, as their definition of an active lifestyle for their purpose is “physical activity equivalent to walking more than 3 miles per day
in addition to the activities of independent living.”Ìę

While there are many bodyweight calculators available that can tell you what your ideal weight (and thus ideal calorie intake) should be for your age, gender, and height, both fail to consider things like frame size and muscle mass. Ansari recommends connecting with a registered dietitian to really figure out how to meet your needs.Ìę

There are other simple steps you can take to start benefiting your nutrition, like adding more whole foods, especially fruits and vegetables, to your diet. This is especially important if you suspect you have a nutrient deficiency. An RD can help you determine if you need additional interventions like supplements or vitamins.Ìę

You can use these rules to get started, but listening to your body and looking for the above clues–hunger, fatigue, weight loss, fitness plateaus, etc.—will serve as much more reliable indicators of your needs.

“I have worked with athletes who had been underfueling and experienced symptoms of RED-S,” says Ansari. “After focusing on an eating pattern that stressed the importance of nutrition adequacy and timing nutrition appropriately around training, we were able to improve their pace, energy, and the athlete was able to say that they felt stronger than ever before.”

The post Are You Eating Enough? Here Are 5 Signs You Might Not Be. appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

A shoe can make or break your run, no matter your fitness level. Ill-fitting shoes can cause blisters so bad you can’t run anymore, while some shoes just don’t serve your specific gait, compromising your performance.

That was the case when pro marathoner Nell Rojas made headlines for . She cited issues with Adidas’ Adizero Adios Pro 2 for the split in 2022.Ìę

“I know that shoe is an amazing shoe, and I know world records have been set in it and marathon winners run in it, but for whatever reason it didn’t work for me and my stride,” she told Women’s Running. “I raced in it and didn’t have good results. I was having a hard time recovering and dug myself into a huge hole, and I think a lot of it was because of the shoe change earlier this year.”

What if runners could save themselves from training in shoes that are ultimately bad for them? What if a software, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), could recommend the perfect shoe for you?

Why the Perfect Shoe Is so Elusive

While pros are bound to a single brand, the rest of us are burdened with choice. Do you choose whatever your speediest friend is wearing? What looks the best? Do you choose one that has excellent online reviews? Or do you visit a running shoe store and rely on a random salesperson’s expertise?Ìę

Maybe you’ve done all of the above and still felt disappointed with the performance of your footwear. For many runners, finding the right shoe is tricky and frustrating. It’s also paramount to success in the sport.Ìę

“It’s the only equipment for running that needs to be perfect,” says Tim McConnell, who owns alongside his wife, Lori. Together, they’ve been fitting runners in shoes for more than a decade. Lori is also a certified running coach and licensed counselor. They agree that wrong shoes can not only make running uncomfortable, but they can also cause serious injuries up the chain.Ìę

So why is the perfect shoe so elusive? For one, just getting sizing correct is a complicated mess. To start, our feet change over time. As we age, feet flatten as ligaments and connective tissue loosen, causing feet to change size. Hormones during pregnancy do the same.

“Even as you get into that run, your foot swells,” says Mark Bouma, a Seattle-based physical therapist. This means your feet will be smaller in the store when you’re trying on shoes than they will be out on the pavement.Ìę

Sizes are also not precise and vary from brand-to-brand. In women’s running shoes, for example, it is estimated that 40 percent are not true to label size according to data recorded from Volumental–a company that makes 3D foot scanners for shoe stores.Ìę

Running Shoe Fit, Meet AIÌę

Many running stores are equipped with 3D foot scanners that measure heel-to-toe-length, ball width, ball girth, heel width, arch height, and instep height. The scanners help store employees recommend shoe size, can generate custom insoles based on the readings, and use AI to recommend shoe models.Ìę

While this is a quick, simple, and free service that stores provide to the community, it’s an extra step that some consumers aren’t interested in or otherwise don’t have access to if they don’t live near a retailer. Instead, consumers purchase shoes online, hope they fit, and return if they don’t. It’s a cycle that causes friction for all parties–retailers, manufacturers, and consumers.Ìę

No one is surprised to hear that the trend of online running shoe shopping is not likely to go away. As reports, eCommerce continues to grow steadily and is expected to balloon to 24 percent of all retail sales by 2026.Ìę

What if there were a way to buy shoes online better? According to research from product recommendations powered by artificial intelligence can potentially affect $194 billion in online sales.Ìę

Artem Semjanow, founder and CEO of the running shoe app , agrees that artificial intelligence and augmented reality can ease pain points for shoppers. His app allows users to scan their foot from their phone to receive the kind of recommendations they’d get in a running store as well as physical therapy recommendations related to any pain they are having.Ìę

As someone who suffered from debilitating foot pain, Semjanow wanted to create a tool that would help people, not just runners, get access to affordable foot care and personalized shoe recommendations. Prior to founding his tech company, Semjanow was at Prisma Labs developing AI photo-editing software.

“I decided that I got tired of improving people’s selfies,” he says. “It’s a cool job, don’t get me wrong. And people pay for self-improvement. But I wanted to make something more meaningful for the world.”Ìę

Through his own experience and what he knew from doctors in his own family is that when you go in with a problem, doctors will always try to take a more conservative approach to addressing your problem before suggesting an invasive treatment. What if he could develop an app that went through those conservative approaches to save users time and money?

What that looks like on Neatsy.ai is giving guidance about basic foot ailments, suggesting physical therapy treatments, and recommending the shoes that you can purchase from the app.Ìę

The system uses augmented reality to create a 3D scan of the foot and artificial intelligence to make the recommendations and answer questions users have, similar to ChatGPT. Arguably more reliable than ChatGPT, Neatsy.ai has been trained using real medical cases in partnership with Harvard Foot and Ankle Research and Innovation Laboratory.Ìę

“They helped us collect the anonymous set of data of different cases for people—pretty much all the 3D foot shapes, and what real doctors have thought that the problem might be and what treatment and shoes doctor recommends in that particular case,” says Semjanow.Ìę

The team will soon publish research on the process of training AI using a mix of in-app scans and obtained medical cases.Ìę

What Is AI Missing?Ìę

When a store associate is conducting a shoe fitting, they are taking a lot of qualitative data into consideration: your running goals, your history with injury. They are watching you run in the shoe to see how your gait is affected.Ìę

“We even listen to the sounds of the runner,” says Lori McConnell. If the footfall is particularly loud or slapping, that might lead them to recommend a different shoe.

Shoe fit is an intricate puzzle when you consider the dynamic nature of the foot, says Craig Fox, D.P.M., an Illinois-based podiatrist. Then you add in the extra layer of performance goals or other tangible variables. “We know the size of your foot changes dynamically as you walk or run. What if you change socks? That may have an effect on shoe size. Even with 13 points of measurement, the challenge persists.”

It’s unlikely that any scan will understand how your foot moves under load, unless it is taken in motion, says Bouma. “If it’s just scanning your foot, you really don’t know what the other joints around the foot are doing.”Ìę

Another complication comes in the changing landscape of shoe design itself. Jon Teipen, principal footwear product line manager at Brooks, notes that shoes are more dynamic than they once were, which changes what we know about fit.Ìę

“You’re looking at more engineered materials that are a lot more intelligent, so they just have a little bit more give to them,” he says. In older designs, shoes would have a repeating mesh pattern with polyurethane (PU) overlays that made the upper more static and less accommodating to different feet. “[Now,] as you put your foot in there, the materials can expand out a little bit more than they used to be able to with all the extra overlays on it.”

He believes that extra level accommodation gives AI an advantage in spitting out a closer-fitting recommendation, as long as the internal measurements are right.Ìę

“On the other side, too, is that the materials have some flexibility and stretch to them. There’s some variants of the actual shoe structure itself that the program’s probably not going to be able to decipher either,” says Teipen. Dr. Fox notes that the same issues persist with foot scanners in store that are designed to narrow in on foot size and not much more. “Just because the shoe ‘fits’ on your foot, does not mean it is the best footbed for your foot type.”Ìę

‘A Footscan Gets You Halfway There’

Even running store owners agree in regard to the tech they use everyday.Ìę

“The scan gives us credibility,” says Tim McConnell who is used to customers not believing him when he suggests they’re wearing the wrong sized running shoe. But many of his recommendations are based on his experience and not necessarily because of the technology. “A footscan might get you halfway there,” he says.Ìę

A lot of that push back has to do with lack of education–adults not understanding that their feet can get bigger–and what industry experts call ‘vanity sizing’ –consumers holding on to a standard of femininity or masculinity attached to confining within a certain shoe size.Ìę

Teipen also sees how a technology like AI can help runners get beyond vanity sizing issues. “Tools like this that are a little bit more objective, might be good for people to get over any mental barriers they have,” he says.Ìę

Semjanow also recognizes the limitations of Neatsy’s use of AI in such a broad category. With so many new shoe models released each year, the app is unable at the moment to recommend the newest, perhaps most advanced shoe models, as it relies on user reviews to generate recommendations.Ìę

“For example, HOKA introduced a new running model for summer 2024, and we just don’t have any data for that,” says Semjanow. Which means app users are more likely to be given recommendations for older models, rather than new ones.Ìę“We want to establish more partnerships with shoe brands to actually get the data for different kinds of shoes before they are launched.”Ìę

It’s important to note that the company does receive a commission from shoes sold on the platform. But according to Semjanow, the commission is the same across the board, so there is no incentive for them to push one brand over another.Ìę

An AI WishlistÌę

AI may not be the perfect shoe conversion tool right now. But there are other ways AI will revolutionize the running shoe industry.Ìę

“The future of footwear lies in reimagining the selection process, focusing not on the shoe as a whole but as a sum of its parts,” says Dr. Fox. “Analogous to selecting eyeglasses, where frames are chosen and lenses are made to specifications, the concept of prioritizing the insole before the shoe itself could revolutionize the shoe buying experience.”ÌęÌę

Brooks is in the early stages of utilizing AI in a generative design process.Ìę

“It’s starting to open up where we can move faster,” says Taipen. When working on a blueprint of a shoe, for example, shifting from a 2D to 3D model, these technologies allow them to modify characteristics faster than the modifying hand drawn designs. “The hope is, as we move into the future, to be able to do actual digital testing.”

With the forthcoming Hyperion Elite 4, for example, Brooks has partnered with Arris, a manufacturing tech company focused on performance products, for the shoe’s carbon plating.Ìę

“What they’re able to do is lay down each fiber individually, so they can add a little bit more stiffness in some spots, a little bit more flexibility in some spots. And then they can run it through their computer and test it and see what the performance and functionality would be. So they can do a lot of iterative testing before actually even building a part.”Ìę

Teipen is encouraged that generative design in AI will only get better.Likewise, Dr. Fox is hopeful about AI and AR in shoe manufacturing and retail.Ìę

“After three decades in podiatry, I’ve witnessed countless patients lugging shopping bags filled with shoes that didn’t quite work. Their stories often echoed the frustration of finding a temporary solution, only to return to the online marketplace in search of the elusive perfect shoe–the unicorn of footwear.”

The post Can AI Find Your Perfect Fitting Running Shoe? appeared first on șÚÁÏłÔčÏÍű Online.

This article is part of a .

For many women, physical activity was fun–until puberty. Newly developed breasts meant experiencing a novel pain with the sports we long loved. Playtime was over.

A 2016 survey of more than 2,000 adolescent girls in the UKÌęÌęreported that their breasts affected their participation in sports. In the same survey, 73 percent reported at least one breast-specific concern, relating to the sports they played.

It’s not uncommon for women to feel pain while running due to improper support of their breasts. A review, published inÌęExercise and Sports Sciences Reviews, notes that a woman who runs at a cadence of 160 strides per minute, experiences her breasts bouncing approximately 9,600 times in an hour-long run.

A supportive bra may not only reduce pain, butÌęÌęshows that it could also improve a person’s biomechanics, improve theirÌę, and positively affect theirÌę.

This paramount piece of equipment hasn’t been around nearly as long as, say, running shoes. That late 19th century invention has benefited from more than 150 years of tweaking and perfecting to the point that the highest level of products have become known as “super shoes.” Let’s take a look at where sports bra innovation has been and where it still needs to go.

The Beginning

Evidence of bra-like garments dates back to 1400 B.C., but bras as we know them today weren’t mass-produced until the 1930s. Sports bras wouldn’t come around for much longer.

Despite the discomfort, female runners made do with what they had.Ìę Like , the first woman to run the Boston Marathon in 1966, did so wearing a tank top bathing suit to compress breast movement.

It wasn’t until 1975 that the first bra designed specifically for athletic use was released. Glamorise, a company that had made brassieres since 1921, made the first known sports bra—the Free Swing Tennis Bra. Not just for tennis, advertisements of the product let customers know the bra could also be used for skiing, bowling, skating, sailing, riding, and cycling, too!

Though it was made from stretchy and supportive performance-oriented materials (Lycra Spandex), it still resembled a fashion bra with thin straps and frilly embellishments. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a start.

The first truly innovative sports-oriented bra hit stores a few years later with the debut of the Jogbra. It was the late 1970s and jogging was trendy. Lisa Lindahl, a 29-year-old University of Vermont graduate student, tried it for the first time and knew that running was for her. She loved it. She didn’t love the lack of breast support, though.

In 1977, Lindahl teamed up with Polly Smith, a childhood friend who had degrees in fashion and costume design, to create a prototype. Lindahl imagined her athletic bra would have stable straps and compression to prevent excessive movement and be made from a breathable, chafe-free fabric.

After several attempts, the infamous first working prototype was two jockstraps—a piece of supportive sports apparel invented for men in 1874–sewn together to serve as a pair of breast cups with shoulder straps. It was originally nicknamed the “jockbra” but Lindahl eventually coined the name “Jogbra” and it stuck.

They evolved and improved their initial designs, which did a good enough job at the time—especially compared to anything else that was available to women athletes—but there was no scientific testing to prove its performance value, as is the standard today.

In 1978, Dr. Christine Haycock, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, published the first research on breast biomechanics to better understand what was causing women pain while exercising.

Based on her research, Dr. Haycock recommended that sports bras have the following qualities: constructed with a non-elastic material that is absorptive; provide firm support; no seams near the nipples; no metal or plastic clasps touching the skin; and the ability to add padding to reduce traumatic injury in contact sports.

As the original American running boom gained momentum, more and more women were getting involved, and the Jogbra became a staple of the small but growing women’s running movement. Another friend of Lindahl and Smith, Hinda Miller, came in to help grow Jogbra Inc. (JBI) to the industry leader it quickly became, selling first in running specialty stores and later department stores. According to the , sales topped $500,000 in the initial year.

On November 20, 1979, the Jogbra—with its compression front panel, elastic straps, and wide supportive rib band—was issued its first patent. It was made from cotton, polyester, and Lycra for comfort, durability, and support.

Although competing brands emerged, Jogbra became a cultural phenomenon that, in addition to providing comfort and support for running, also represented the freedom for women to participate in sports and a sense of modern athletic feminine style. Not only did Jogbras not resemble traditional lingerie, but they were offered in a wide range of colors.

The Middle

As time went on, other sports brands started to recognize women as a worthwhile target demographic.

Moving Comfort, one of the largest brands of the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, can trace its roots back to 1977, when runners Ellen Wessel and Elizabeth Goeke stitched together custom-made running clothes on a Singer sewing machine.

In 1979, Nike, then a nascent sports apparel and footwear brand, introduced its first women’s athletic wear line. The company began studying breast motion in women in the 1990s at the Nike Sports Research Lab, and it eventually led to the development of the first compression sports bra in 1999.

By the 1990s, women’s sports apparel was booming. JBI was sold to bigger players: first to Playtex in 1990, then the Sara Lee Corporation in 1991 and eventually becoming the Champion Jogbra Division. Moving Comfort was eventually purchased by Brooks in 2007.

But by the early 2000s, sports bras were still not reaching their full potential.

“When I started in the industry, there were very few options [still],” says Julianne Ruckman, senior manager of apparel product line management at Brooks. Ruckman has been contemplating sports bra design since 2003, when she worked with Harpo Studios to outfit women for transformation segments on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She remembers the options available having stiff components, adjustability in the wrong places, lack of size variety, and were generally unappealing.

Slowly, brands designing sports bras for bigger-breasted women began to take space in the industry. Prior to that, styles existed in the range of extra small to extra large, Ruckman recalls.

“I can tell you, if I put a lineup of six different 34Ds, they’re going to carry their tissue and look very different.”

Narrow sizing doesn’t work for the array of body types in the world, Ruckman insists. (As an example, Brooks has 46 unique sizes across two collections of sports bras today.)

A lot of the changes that have been made to sports bras aren’t visible. In the 1990s and 2000s era of bra design, every component was visible with chunky seams connecting “comfort stretch panels” to “support panels” like a puzzle made of a patchwork of materials. Sports bras on the market today look and feel more simplistic by design.

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“It may have looked like we walked away from support, because you didn’t see all of the same work, you didn’t see where things were engineered in,” Ruckman says. Now bras have more internal engineering and are made from advanced material that can alternately provide comfort, support, compression, and style.

Over the duration of Ross Weir’s career consulting on sports bra research and development, he’s seen brands invest more in their teams to create better products.

“Twenty years ago it was unlikely we would be working with a biomechanist within the brands team, but today it’s not all that uncommon,” says Weir, co-founder of Progressive Sports Technologies, a sports tech and apparel consulting firm. “We also see roles like anthropologist, mechanical engineer, and materials scientist in these product development teams.”

Today, runners have access to the most advanced breast support in history. Brands still have interest in innovating. In 2017, released the Enlite Bra, launching an era of smart designing and fabrics that allow for more natural movement of the breasts and responsiveness.

Nike has taken their process a step further, unveiling a robotic mannequin capable of sweating that mimics the soft tissue in breasts in 2022. The tech is being used to test new sports bra designs without relying on human models. The brand has also revealed that it is using data visualization and avatars to take into consideration the wide range of curves, heights, and body weights of sports bra wearers.

The End?

Nearly 50 years later, the invention of the sports bra is still being celebrated. In 2019, Lindahl wrote a memoir called ), that told stories about women in business dealing with success, power issues, and personal growth. Three years later Lindahl, Smith, and Miller were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame for their achievement in developing the world’s first functional sports bra.

However, even with all the advancements since the first designs, more than 40 percent of both physically active women and elite female athletes report stillÌęÌęsuggesting that sports bras have not hit the mark of what they are designed to do.

ŽĄÌęÌęof women in Australia found that straps—either slipping off or digging in—are rated the most problematic feature. Tightness around the chest was the next feature women disliked most.

Have sports bras come as far as they reasonably can?

Weir notes that it’s not uncommon for a woman who finds a sports bra comfortable to relax in, will find it uncomfortable during physical activity, and vice versa.

“Comfort is a simple word for a complex sensation. It continually evolves as we interact with products, especially our clothing,” he says. Women want to be able to go from one activity to the next without changing bras.

According to theÌęExercise and Sports Sciences ReviewsÌępaper, the next level of breast support may come from electromaterials that can sense changes in breast movement and adjust the level of support automatically.

Ruckman notes that solving for variability in breast sizes within a single person—factoring in that the left and right breast can be different cup sizes and that breast size can change over the course of a month due to the menstrual cycle—and improving on/off maneuverability are top priorities for sports bra designers right now.

“Support is the expectation, comfort is the goal,” says Ruckman.

To see a melding of the competing desires, Weir notes that consumers may have to pay higher prices for sophisticated solutions to truly balance comfort and support.

“I have no doubt that the product could be rapidly improved and custom fit be offered if the consumer’s sentiment changed to value the sports bra in the same way as sports shoes,” he says. “This is one of the biggest barriers the sports bra sector faces in bringing new innovative products to market.”

The quest to build a better sports bra still continues.

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On Sunday, November 6, Joe Drake will run his 15th marathon since first giving the distance a go in 2019. The 26.2 miles he’ll run through all five boroughs of New York City come only four weeks after he ran the Chicago Marathon on October 9.

But that short recovery period is nothing compared to his 2021 racing season. Last year, Drake racked up six marathons in seven weeks, when he ran all the World Marathon Majors (WMM) consecutively (The Tokyo Marathon was canceled, so he ran that one virtually in Seattle, where he lives with his wife).

Due to circumstances surrounding the pandemic, the 2021 WMM spring races were postponed to fall, presenting an unprecedented chance to run Berlin, London, Chicago, Boston, Tokyo, and New York consecutively. The opportunity seemed historic. “This is a thing that–hopefully–no one will ever get a chance to do again,” says Drake. “So why not?”

He made it through, framing the first five marathons in his mind as just another long run in his training. “Then you only really train for the last one,” he says.

Running as Medicine

Drake’s relatively new penchant for marathoning might seem extreme, but since retiring the same year as he was diagnosed, training (and experimenting with training) has been a rewarding way to fill his new wealth of time. Even after tackling a lot of miles in 2021, and dabbling into relay racing with the 208-mile Blue Ridge Relay earlier this year, you won’t see Drake slowing down with his hobby anytime soon.

That’s because it’s more than just a hobby. Running is his medicine.

Just before retiring from his job as an engineer, Drake was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease (PD). The neurodegenerative disease is progressive, with symptoms that affect motor function and non-motor related symptoms that can affect mental health, energy, and concentration.

“Before I was diagnosed, I was tripping and falling sometimes,” says Drake. As a lifelong soccer player, he noticed he was struggling to make routine plays. He developed a hand tremor.

Running keeps Drake’s symptoms at bay and significantly slows the progression of the disease. “Even training for that first marathon, I was surprised that the symptoms had gone away,” he says. For Drake, PD medication makes it possible to have the energy and baseline to do the amount of exercise needed to slow the disease progression.

The Promising Science Exploring Parkinson’s and Exercise

According to the Parkinson’s Foundation, a minimum of 2.5 hours of exercise per week – especially when started early on – can help a person with PD maintain and improve mobility, flexibility, and balance. Movement is also proven to be beneficial in stabilizing mood, which is essential as PD impacts the areas of the brain that produce dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine.

Scientists have known for a while that exercise is extremely beneficial for people with PD, but narrowing down why has been a challenge. Research published in August in the looked specifically at the hormone irisin, which is secreted into the blood during aerobic exercise. The researchers tested the hormone on mice that had Parkinson’s or similar symptoms by injecting a viral vector which increased levels of irisin. After six months, the mice who received the injection had no mobility deficits, while the control group did.

“It was very effective,” says Dr. Ted Dawson, co-author of the study and director of the Institute for Cell Engineering at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Dawson notes that the intervention was very early on in the disease progression in the mice. “One of the things we would like to do is even start it later when the disease is much more entrenched, and see whether it has beneficial effects,” he says.

Though the findings with irisin are promising, Dr. Dawson notes that it’s probably just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to exercise’s effects on PD. “It’s very likely muscle would secrete other peptides from endurance exercise. The beneficial effects of exercise on overall wellbeing and metabolic effects probably also account for the benefit of exercise,” he says.

Whatever the reason, Drake knows that, without a doubt, endurance training improves his quality of lifeÌę in more ways than he could have imagined.

Community, Running and Parkinson’s Disease

Through marathoning, Drake has been invited into a community of other people affected by PD, too, while running for the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s Team Fox. “I’ve seen people with Parkinson’s all over thriving, despite the disease,” he says. And though everyone is different, he wants people to know “you can still lead a very active and rich life,” with Parkinson’s Disease.

In September Drake released his memoir, , complete with a cover illustrated by his sister who also has PD. His diagnosis has brought him closer to her, as well as another brother who also shares the diagnosis to whom he had hardly spoken for 40 years. “Now, whenever I go visit the family on the East Coast, I always stay with him. He gets a bicycle ready for me. We go on a long bike ride together. We cook meals together. My wife and I stay at his house. I have Parkinson’s to thank for that reconciliation,” says Drake.

So no, Drake isn’t going to stop running anytime soon. He’s hanging on for the cure. “My personal feeling is that I want more people who are afflicted with the disease to understand that, if you do the exercise, you can slow the progression of the disease, so you’re in that much better shape when the cure comes.”

And besides, he still wants to get that real Tokyo Marathon medal.Ìę

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The shift in training attitudes over the past few years has been palpable. Where “no pain, no gain” was once a phrase we’d see commonly on nonsensical posters and spewing from the mouths of sweaty gym bros, it’s now just a cringey core memory that pops into our psyche from time to time. Did I really think that was motivating at one point in my life?Ìę

“All through the 90’s and early 2000’s there was a big fitness boom that came about and a push for people to stay active,” says Susy Delgado, founder of the California-based KW Recovery Lab. For two decades she’s worked in physical therapy clinics and clinical settings as an athletic trainer where she has seen the rise in weekend warriors and everyday athletes firsthand.

With that rise, one puzzle piece was missing: recovery. “It’s definitely well woven into our culture now to keep moving, but with no direct recipe or pathway or access to be able to keep moving comfortably,” she says. Without focus on recovery, that movement won’t matter.

What Is Recovery Anyway?

In 2018 when she opened the Recovery Lab she’d field many confused phone calls about what exactly the business was for. Now in 2022, Target has a “Recovery” aisle. Delgado is fielding fewer questions while the recovery business is booming.

Researchers are also trying to understand how and why recovery benefits performance at the same time recreational athletes want to know how to utilize all the biometric health monitoring data now at their fingertips thanks to Whoop, Oura, Biostrap, Garmin, and the like.

Take published in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. The researchers wanted to answer the question, does ditching the digital training plan in favor of personalized recovery days equate to improvements in performance? For the recreational runners participating in the study, the answer was, yes.

Of the 30 runners in the small study, 14 were put into a training group following a standard 10K training plan. The other 16 were given individualized plans where their training load was either increased, decreased, or maintained twice per week based on their recovery metrics. And while both training groups ran faster 10K times at the end of the study, those with the individual plan saw nearly double the improvement in their times than the group following the standard training plan.

Nocturnal heart rate variability (HRV), muscle soreness, heart-rate running speed index, and subjective feelings of fatigue were the markers used to determine a runner’s level of recovery. Based on those markers, some of the runners with the personalized plans ended up with either more demanding or less demanding training plans and still saw marked improvement.

The parasympathetic nervous system is generally responsible for rest, recovery, and repair, which is why it can be helpful to track information related to the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems, like heart rate variability and resting heart rate. (Of note, the Whoop strap uses HRV and resting heart rate, as well as sleep performance to calculate recovery scores. Oura uses HRV, resting heart rate, and body temperature to calculate a readiness score. High HRV indicates more parasympathetic activity–a rested state–while a low HRV indicates the body is still in stress mode.)

RELATED: Alcohol Can Tank HRV, Resting Heart Rate, and Sleep

Taking Charge Of Recovery

While the technology is inching in the right direction, it’s also true that recovery data is not perfect, which is why runners should be empowered to take ownership of their own recovery.

Studies like this one beg the question, have we been paying enough attention to our recovery on a given day? Should we give ourselves greater flexibility in our training plans? And how do you do that if you don’t have the benefit of a coach or recovery wearable to cue you?

Some Recovery Basics

What does ‘recovery’ actually entail?

First, there is the musculoskeletal system, where we often feel soreness and pain from training. Damage done to muscles and connective tissue during a workout result in a diminished ability for those in question to function at a peak level until fully repaired. Muscle damage also depletes the ability to transport blood glucose, in turn depleting the ability to replenish glycogen stores. And those glycogen stores do need to be replenished, ideally before the next demanding run.

Last, metabolic byproducts that accumulate while running, like lactate, need time to flush out, otherwise it can hinder the electrical stimulus needed for muscle contraction.

Part of the enjoyment that comes from endurance training is in the self-discovery: figuring out what your body can and can’t do and how to condition it to do the things it couldn’t before. Delgado notes that an attitude of self-discovery can transform your recovery as well.

One way to start planning your recovery with the same intent as your training is to follow the FITT approach: Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type.

Frequency

How many days per week do you devote to recovery? Is there flexibility in your plan to schedule in more or less for what your body needs?

In the case of the study cited earlier, researchers checked in and modified runners’ plans only twice a week, which might be more feasible than trying to reorganize your training on a daily basis based on the previous day’s recovery.

Intensity

What intensity of recovery works best for you? Are you a legs-elevated couch potato? Or are you spending a rest day out cycling with the family? If you are focused on active recovery, think of how to limit the intensity of your workout in order to not overtrain.

Easy runs also play an important role in recovery, but only if you truly keep them easy, which Emily Bennewies, a running coach with Wellness in Motion in Boston, cites as her most essential rule of recovery. “I think everyone, regardless of where they’re at in their running, or what else might be happening besides running physically, that’s one thing we can all definitely do better.”

Time

There are three time periods of recovery that runners should account for: short-term (think between intervals), training recovery (the time between workouts), and long-term (the time you might take off after a race or large training block).

Running coaches like Bennewies can help you to block out and shift around rest days based on your ever-changing life schedule.

Type

Are you focused on active or passive recovery? What modalities will you be using to recover? Recovery is more than just the absence of training. Studies have shown that active recovery–light-intensity movements–return your body to a state of homeostasis faster than passive recovery.

There are many modalities you can use, all of which have some scientific backing behind them (, stretching, massage, compression, etc.). Delgado recommends focusing on what works best for you.

“If [there was] one thing that I learned in working with patients in the PT setting, it was that you could bring all the science and data to the person, but if psychologically, that person is just not comfortable with extreme heat, or extreme cold, they are not going to let it work in their favor,” she says.

At KW Recovery Lab when a new client is brought in, they can expect to learn about each type of equipment available, the recovery modalities, and the science behind each. But after a few months of experimenting, Delgado expects the athlete to know what the ideal practice is for them. “By month three, you are now an expert and you’re telling us what you need, instead of us telling you.”

She hopes that understanding how to use all the ‘tools’ in your personal recovery ‘toolbox’ is empowering to athletes.

RELATED: Your Watch Doesn’t Know How Much Recovery You Need

And it should go without saying that adequate sleep and fueling are essential in a runner’s recovery plan. According to from the American Council on Exercise (ACE) scientific advisory panel, “the most important factor determining the timeframe to recovery is muscle glycogen replenishment.”

When asked what she thought the top priority in recovery should be, Nancy Gomes, a certified sports nutritionist simply stated it was eating and drinking enough. “Making sure, particularly female athletes, get adequate protein with some carbohydrates after they train as quickly as possible is key,” she says.

Consuming enough carbohydrates will refill those glycogen stores and protein will begin the muscle repair process.

Health wearables are also helping runners discover other nutrition habits that boost recovery on a personal level. Think of it as a micro-experiment where you are the test subject.

Through experimentation with her Whoop, Gomes has learned that on days when she is under-recovered, focusing on hydration, probiotics, and omega-3s does wonders for her. “Whoop has actually helped me determine those are some of the most important factors for me to help improve my recovery,” she says.

How to Tell if You Need More RecoveryÌę

If you don’t have a biometric health device, there are still signs you can pay attention to that point to overtraining. The biggest red flag being a loss of period for people who menstruate, as well as chronic fatigue, which are both signs of low energy availability.

Research has shown that an elevated resting heart rate in tandem with decreased performance over a week’s time also indicates a state of increased stress.

Working with a running coach or sports nutritionist can help point out any blind spots you have in your recovery. “What we tend to see with really all types of athletes, even the most dedicated ones, is we can be stubborn sometimes with what we think we’re capable of, or what we want to be able to do and not always listen to our bodies,” says Bennewies.

Though she does look at HRV with the runners she coaches, Bennewies tends to stick to the tried and true method of self check-in, something anyone can do. “I think that is honestly the best gauge of if you’re ready to go out for whatever run, whether that be a couple of easy miles, whether that be some speed work, or whether that be a longer run.”

And sure, we all know how to handle the days when we wake up feeling on top of the world just as well as the days we feel like the livingÌę dead. It’s the murky in-between days that are the problem, the days where you don’t know if a run will nudge you into overtraining or is just what you need to kick yourself into a higher gear.

Bennewies recommends setting check-in points along the run for days when you’re feeling iffy. Give yourself five minutes of running, for example. If that doesn’t feel good, you can turn back towards home and call it a day. If you feel alright, give it another five minutes and check back in.

“A good way to know if you’re under recovered is just feeling like you can’t necessarily hit the splits that you’re looking for,” says Bennewies. “Sometimes you can feel great and still not hit the split.”

Bennewies can usually guess how a runner feels based on the data she sees from the workout, but what matters most is how they say they feel. There’s no truer indication of your recovery than what your body is telling you.

And while there may not be an exact prescription for recovery yet, every time we move the needle toward training smarter not harder, it is a win for longevity in the sport.

LISTEN: Recovery Pitfalls with Christie Aschwanden

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It might not be what you want to hear, especially as temperatures begin to drop and sleeping in and staying warm become more tempting. But it’s true: Humans are uniquely built for running in high and low temperatures. We turned to science to help us understand a little bit more about how (and why) our bodies can push the limits when it comes to running in cold weather and running in the heat.

Some Like It Hot

While we are generally considered weaker runners than many animals, anthropological studies suggest that, during our hunter-gatherer days, humans adapted to be able to endure high-heat running in order to wear down faster prey. (This doesn’t apply just to men. reveal that in some ancient cultures, women were also hunters.)

Lewis Halsey, from the University of Roehampton, and Caleb Bryce, from the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust, tested this theory in modern time by pitting . They analyzed results from the UK’s Man vs. Horse Marathon, the Tevis Cup 100 and Western States Endurance Run, and the Old Dominion 100. Looking at 260 humans and 350 horses, they found that hotter temperatures affected the speed of both groups, but it affected horses far more than it did humans, even with horses’ superior cardiovascular system.

Several studies examining endurance runners (conducted in a lab setting) suggest that female runners are than men.

Runners who tackle the hottest races in the world where temperatures get up to 120°F (races like Marathon des Sables in Morocco, or The Speed Project and The Badwater Ultra which both cross through Death Valley) have all sorts of tricks up their sleeves to get it done. Some have been known to train in actual saunas to prepare, while others utilize gear hacks like freezing their clothing beforehand.

Bring On the Cold

On the other end of the spectrum, our ability to run can keep our core warm enough in cold-weather conditions to offset heat loss, according to a study conducted in the U.K. in 1997. As warm-blooded creatures, our body has the ability to reduce blood flow and retain heat when we need it through a process called vasoconstriction. This enables our torso to stay warm during runs in cold weather. “Because exercise generates heat as a by-product, the cold isn’t deleterious to doing exercise,” says Halsey. “Indeed, it can be a help because heat is lost from the body more quickly.”

But, to make the most of this ability, you need to be well-rested and well-fed: Several studies suggest that fatigue and energy imbalance can impair these natural responses and make you more susceptible to hypothermia.

As humans, we can also wield our brain power and technology when biological processes fail us. The right can help us run in even the coldest conditions, like at the annual . Chicago runner Beata Larson, who completed this Southernmost marathon in 2019, says that 90 percent of the advice she received prior was just about the gear: “Layers, specialized windbreakers designed for Arctic temps, polarized ski goggles, masks, gloves, and pants.” She describes temps at the starting gun to be around -10°F, -20°F with windchill.

And with the snowy, icy terrain, she had to be prepared to run in the cold for a longer time period. “Running was so different because you’re on ice covered with snow. So, you take a stride forward and sometimes slip a stride back.” She ended up as the second female finisher at 5:30:32. The current women’s record for that race is 4:20:02, set by UK runner, Fiona Oakes.

“I won’t complain about 40 degrees for the Chicago Marathon anymore,” Larson says.

Even though we have evolution and genetics to thank for the way we can adapt to harsh conditions (and proof from fellow runners that it’s indeed possible), it doesn’t mean it’s safe to go out and run in just any condition. In heat, it’s important to know about . Likewise, . Make sure you’ve done your research before stepping out into a potentially dangerous situation.

Larson’s winter weather advice: “Don’t stop if it’s too cold. Run inside on a treadmill, but get outside as much as possible.”

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A lot of runners use the extreme heat of summer to train for fast fall running. And, yes, it’s important to push yourself beyond your comfort zone, but there are cases where that may do more harm than good — like running in pollution.

If you live in the western part of the United States, the tail-end of summer is met with ashy, hazy sky from wildfires you likely can’t even see. As of this writing, there are 93 active large fires blazing on. And seeing a film of ash on your doormat might have you wondering, “Should I be running in this?”

But even on presumably clear days or in areas far away from fire — you might be wondering, what am I inhaling? We probed experts to help you take your health into your own hands. Here’s all about what’s up in the air — and what you can do about it.

The Dirt on Dirty Air

What, exactly, is hitting your lungs when you go for a run? “Air pollution is like a recipe that varies by location, weather, season, and time of day,” says Michael Koehle, the head of University of British Columbia’s Environmental Physiology Lab and a leading expert on exercise and air pollution. “The recipe includes a mixture of various gases, like carbon monoxide or smog, and particles like dust and pollen.”Ìę

Diesel exhaust, for example, can trigger asthma. Other pollutants, like ozone (a key component of smog), can be harmful to the cardiovascular system and can even cause cancer. “The lungs are taking the air we breathe and transferring it on to our blood cells, which immediately goes to the heart to be pumped to the rest of the body,” says Jason Way, a naturopathic doctor in the San Francisco area. “Over a prolonged period of time, smog can decrease your ability to run at your full capacity.”

Wildfire smoke can cause some of the same issues as other pollutants because it is made up of particulate matter, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, and other chemicals and minerals. Although, according to the California Department of Public Health and the California Air Resources Board’s , the long-term health effects of cumulative exposure from multiple seasons hasn’t been studied enough to make definite health claims.Ìę

“We do know that when the air quality is bad, people with respiratory disease such as asthma are more likely to use their medications and have symptoms that make them seek health care. It can result in increased visits to the emergency department and being hospitalized,” says Dr. Colleen Reid, assistant professor of geography at the University of Colorado, who researches the health effects of exposure to air pollution and wildfires. “There is also some evidence that people with heart disease may also be affected.”

Exercising outdoors in areas with increased air pollution is not advised, according to the World Health Organization, because the increased respiration also increases the amount of harmful particles coming into your lungs.Ìę

Pollution can also undo some of the benefits of exercise. For example, there is emerging evidence that aerobic exercise can have a . However, some studies (like one cited by Oiselle Volee team member Taisa Kushner, Ph.D., in ) show that those benefits are inhibited when people exercise outdoors in polluted areas.Ìę

And what about the masks we’ve been wearing to keep each other safe from the virus? Dr. Reid explains that while the cloth and surgical masks are effective in slowing the spread of the virus because they catch many of the droplets we exhale, they’re not very effective in protecting us from the air we breathe, “and therefore do not help protect the wearer from the tiny particles in the air from the wildfires.”

That’s not to say you must stick to indoor treadmill runs forever-more, especially if has left you without that option. These expert tips can help you determine the safety of your outdoor run.

4 Ways to Minimize Your Exposure to Air Pollution

Quality check.

provides air quality data in partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Parks Service, NASA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and tribal, state, and local agencies. Visit their site to check the outdoor air quality index (AQI) in your area before you head out. If the AQI measures more than 150 (100 if you have asthma or other breathing issues), hit the gym or be extra alert for any symptoms like shortness of breath, coughing, or throat irritation while you run.

Another similar option is the or . Dr. Reid explains that AQI may differ between apps and websites, depending on the monitoring systems and how they choose to calculate the exact AQI number. “But you can use the AQI category to give you a sense of whether the air quality is good for a run,” she says.Ìę If it’s listed as “Good” or “Moderate,” it’s probably safe for a run, while “Unhealthy,” “Very Unhealthy,” or “Hazardous” are probably better to hold off on.

Time it right.

Koehle says it’s key to be aware of when you run outside to be sure you’re breathing in the best air. “Pollution levels are higher during rush hour and in the heat of the day, so it’s better to go out early or in the late evening,” he says. Ground level ozone is the result of a chemical reaction between pollutants and sunlight, which means that it will be at its worst if you try hitting the pavement in the middle of the afternoon when the sun is strongest.

Go green.

Some studies show that you may breathe in 100 times more pollutants running within a mile of the highway than you would in a more rural area. Avoid congested areas if you can, and run in a park or a quieter neighborhood with tree coverage whenever possible. Minimize your time near busy roads since pollution drops significantly once you’re as little as 200 yards away from the congestion. Or dedicate high pollution days to a fresh air trail run.Ìę

Eat right.

Loading up on foods rich in can help your body eliminate toxins picked up from pollution, Way says. Try sticking to leafy greens, broccoli, tomatoes, bell peppers, oranges, berries, nuts, and seeds, and drink plenty of water.

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As early as the 1850s, scientists have been studying glycogen, a unique energy storage system for carbohydrates, in the human body. About 70 years later scientists discovered an apparent link between fatigue in marathoners and carbohydrates as a fuel source. But it wasn’t until the 1960s that it was confirmed that muscle glycogen played a major role in endurance performance.

Since then? Scientists like Brent Ruby from the University of Montana argue that the whole conversation has become oversaturated with fad diets, quick fixes, and marketed with unsubstantiated claims.

It’s true that muscle glycogen reserves are essential for prolonged, intense exercise (like a marathon or a long training run). And not properly restoring that lost muscle glycogen—which happens through the consumption of carbohydrates—can lead to low blood sugar, fatigue, and can affect performance.

Knowing that, runners and other endurance athletes might be eager to hear what the “perfect” recovery food or drink might be (the secret sauce, if you will). For years, the researchers at The Montana Center for Work Physiology and Exercise Metabolism have been studying various recovery diets to try and prove that the recovery market has become unnecessarily overcomplicated.

“[Sports nutrition has] become this really odd cult culture of ‘This is the best practice,’” says Brent Ruby. “It’s like, you’re making it so complicated that you’re making it inaccessible for individuals that are really depleting things on a regular basis.”

In their most recent study, Ruby and his team looked at the recovery effects of one of the most basic foods: potatoes. And they found that, yes, as popular sport supplement food and drinks.

“You could argue that potatoes are just a surrogate carbohydrate for any carbohydrate,” says Ruby. “You could replace potatoes with rice, bagels, whatever.”

In the study, published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, they looked at an equal number of male and female athletes. The subjects consumed one of two diets immediately after a 90-minute glycogen depleting cycling session and again two hours later. The diets were either sports supplement–based (first: rehydrate salt tablet, Powerade, Lara Bar, Gatorade energy chews; second: rehydrate salt tablet, Gatorade drink, Cliff Bar, and Cliff Bloks Energy Chews) or potato-based (first: potato pancakes, syrup, apple sauce, hash browns; second: potato gnocchi with pasta sauce and french fries). The total macronutrients in both diets were comparable, and they found that the muscle glycogen recovery was equal in men and women under both diets.

The key takeaway from the study, according to Ruby, is the number of carbohydrates consumed. “It can come from this source or it can come from [another] source, and regardless of how you pour it in to the vessel, the body, the muscle is going to respond favorably—as long as the macronutrient distribution, specifically the amount of carbohydrates relative to body mass, are provided,” says Ruby.

That sweet spot of carb intake after a depleting workout is 1.2 to 1.6 grams of carbs per kg of body weight directly after the exercise and again at two hours. With just a little math (hello, ), you can open up your recovery meals to more options. A 150-pound woman, for example, would need between 81 and 102 grams, which is equivalent to a bowl of oatmeal with yogurt, nuts, and a sliced apple, with a side of toast.

“Not only is it simpler, it’s also more sustainable. Humans like to have a diverse diet,” he says.

Ruby, who is a former runner and jokingly refers to himself as a recovering triathlete, hopes his research will allow endurance athletes to cut themselves some slack and be more playful with their meal planning when it comes to glycogen recovery. “You can be more selective and during those training sessions, start to become creative,” he says. “Develop your own food practice journal of what works, what doesn’t work.”

To spark your imagination, here are some good carbohydrate sources:

• Steel-cut oats
• Whole-grain toast
• Tortillas
• Bagels
• Brown rice
• Quinoa
• Fruit (oranges, apples, bananas, blueberries, mangoes)
• Potatoes (pancakes, gnocchi, hash browns, baked potatoes)
• Chickpeas
• Lentils
• Yogurt
• Milk

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