Six Minute Mile
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The best Apple Watch yet for runners

The best Apple Watch yet for runners

Also today: Avoid overuse injuries and plateaus with these tips

June 25, 2024

Minute 1: Can muscular asymmetries cause injury?

Achieving your health goals often depends on finding balance. That's true for the things going on outside your body, like the foods you grab or the workouts you tackle, as well as what’s going on inside. It turns out that achieving balance within your muscle groups is critically important for enhancing performance and avoiding injury. That was a revelation for Green Bay Packers running back Christian Watson and he offers insights that can help all of us weekend warriors: “Packers’ Christian Watson believes he’s found answers for recurring hamstring woes.” By working with an injury specialist, Watson underwent diagnostic testing and found he had a whopping 20% asymmetry in his left and right hamstring strength. That meant his left leg was doing more work to compensate, and his right leg was getting overexerted when he attempted to use it with equal strength. By developing his right hamstring during the offseason, he was able to reduce the asymmetry by 10% to 12%, and he’s aiming to have as little as 6% going forward. Muscle asymmetries can be just as much of a problem for runners as they are for football players, which is why you may want to search for: “Muscle Imbalances In Your Legs: 8 Exercises To Identify And Fix Them.” By using single-leg exercises like a pistol squat or leg press, you can observe the differences in strength between each leg and adjust your training load accordingly. In addition to asymmetries between left and right muscles, imbalances can also occur in the form of antagonistic pairings. That’s when muscles that pull against each other (e.g. the quadriceps and the hamstrings) are unequally developed, which can lead to an increased likelihood of strain if left unchecked.

#HamstringHarmony

Lumen measures your metabolism with a single breath

Minute 2: Track your training load, vitals, and more with the new Apple Watch update

If you’ve paid attention to tech news over the past 15 years, one thing seems fairly certain: smart watches will continue to get smarter. In fact, if we were giving the Apple Watch a report card, it would get all A’s after the latest announcements from their world developer’s conference: “Apple Watch introduces new Training Load feature for runners.” You’ve probably heard about the 10% rule, which suggests you should never increase your weekly mileage more than 10% from week to week. It’s solid advice, but the truth is, every runner will have different tolerances to increased workload. That’s where the personalization of Apple’s Training Load and Vitals features can help. Training load will track the duration and intensity of your exercise, comparing it against your 7-day and 28-day averages so you know if you’re overperforming or underperforming. The Vitals tracking then syncs up with your training load to show you how your exercise is affecting things like heart rate, sleep duration, and more. The Apple Watch updates are exciting, but if you’re looking for a tracker that’s cheaper, simpler, or longer lasting, then you might want to consider one of the “Best GPS Running Watches of 2024.” Apart from the Apple Watch Ultra 2, most of Apple’s offerings don’t have the battery life or durability you’d want to see for a serious outdoor adventure. For that, you may want to consider an option from Coros, Garmin, or Suunto.

#WatchAndLearn

Minute 3: Watch out for these artificial dyes and chemicals

Throughout the 20th century, the world experienced several waves of “Red Scare,” but it wasn’t always political in nature. For a period of time, red food dye was public enemy #1 for parents, and that’s “Why Red M&M's Once Disappeared For More Than 10 Years.” Certain red food dyes were shown to increase the risk of cancer, and although they’ve been removed from consumption, some nutritionists warn there are still some dyes to watch out for today: “11 Popular Foods That Contain Harmful Dyes & Chemicals.” Candy, being one of the most colorful foods, could be a problem for children with attention disorders. Studies indicate that removing artificial dyes from kids’ diets could improve the symptoms associated with ADHD, although the findings are somewhat mixed. You should also look out for foods with a bright yellow color like pickles. They often contain dyes like Yellow 5 and 6, which may themselves be safe, but have been found to be contaminated by carcinogens. If you want to dig a bit deeper into the risks, you can read this review of the scientific literature from the Food Network: “Artificial Food Coloring: Good or Bad?”

#RedAlert

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Dehydrated before or after going on a run?

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Minute 4: Avoid overuse injuries and plateaus with these tips

The Greek philosopher Hereclitus once said: “No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.” His message was that change is inevitable, and it is wise to harness its power. Even though several millennia have passed since he delivered that wisdom, it’s still useful advice for athletes, especially if you’re looking to avoid a plateau: “Quick Question: How Often Do I Really Need To Switch Up My Workouts To Avoid a Plateau?” First of all, we should note that more change isn’t always better. The way we get stronger and faster is by performing the same exercises over and over again with increasingly higher volume or intensity. However, at a certain point, our muscles’ adaptations will either hit a point of diminishing returns, or you’ll face an overuse injury that will force you to slow down. Before that happens, you can elect to change your exercise routine to stimulate your muscles in a new way, spurring another period of growth. That’s partly why so many endurance runners find success with cross training, and if you want to learn more about that, you can read: “Cross Training for Marathon: A Complete Guide for 2024.” Cross training can be a way to develop strength and cardio outside your main activity, or a means to active recovery. Typically, experts recommend engaging in one or two cross training sessions a week, and if you’re a fan of bodywork exercises to build hip, core, and leg strength, you’ll want to fit this move into your schedule: “I added this one move to my abs workouts and it improved my core strength, mobility and coordination.”

#ChangeForGains

Enter the Medtronic TC 10 Mile Drawing By June 26

Minute 5: Quick Intervals

In our last issue, we took a look at the ways runners can stay safe in the heat. Unfortunately, the problems don’t stop when you finish your workout. Lots of folks struggle to sleep during the hot summer months, and that’s why we went right to the experts at Eight Sleep to learn “The Role Temperature Plays in Sleep Quality.” The short answer is, hot temps can be just as bad as hot coffee before bed. Lucky for us, we’ve been sleeping at the perfect temperature thanks to their new Pod 4 mattress cover. They sent us over a model to test which we really loved, and you can read our full review on our site here.
Typically, when we’ve got a pain and someone tells us to walk it off, we’d roll our eyes and groan. Well, it turns out that in the case of chronic lower back pain, they may have a point. According to a recent study, those who engaged in regular walking experienced less pain, as well as longer periods of recurrence between bouts of pain when compared to a control group. To read the details, check out: “Walking brings huge benefits for low back pain.”
In our opinion, the 10K deserves a bit more love. It’s often overshadowed by longer events like a marathon, and it’s not quite as popular as a 5K, but we’re not sure why, because it really is a rewarding distance to race – just long enough to force you to train and not short enough to rely simply on your inherent speed. If you need tips or fresh ideas on how to approach 10K training, you should check out these: “10K training plans for every runner.”

Minute 6: Daily Inspiration

Among all the joints used while running, your hips might be the most important, and according to Alexander Whitehair (aka @realgame.athletics), the key to healthy hips is versatility and control. That was the thesis of a recent clip he shared, demonstrating a medley of hip exercises. We’ve sampled these moves ourselves and they helped to loosen up our hips after decades of running that seemed to convince this ball joint into thinking it could only move forward and backward. Reader be warned: these moves take a lot of balance, so don’t try them all at once without a proper warmup!