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Jargon for running? C’mon. You just put one foot in front of the other. Such a
beautifully simple sport can’t have much of a vocabulary, right? Wrong. Pull that
orthotic out of your mouth, you pronating fool, and learn how to yak like a real
runner.
Achilles tendon: Tendon in the heel. Common injury site.
Butt kicks: Form drill in which you try to hit your butt with your heels as you
jog.
Fartlek: Swedish term for “speed play.” It means to increase speed randomly, as
the spirit moves you, rather than to engage in a structured interval workout.
Hamstring: The large muscles located at the back of the upper leg.
High knees: Form drill in which you try to raise your knees waist-high or
higher as you jog.
Hitting the wall: What happens when you run too far or too fast, and your muscles
switch from burning mostly fat to burning glycogen. This causes muscles to tighten and
burn, forcing you to slow down.
Interval training: A series of hard efforts separated by short periods of easier
running.
Lactate threshold: The level of intensity that can be maintained for 30 to 60
minutes before blood lactate builds to such an extent that it can’t be eliminated
faster than it’s accumulated. Sometimes called “anaerobic threshold” or OBLA
(onset of blood lactate).
Lactic (or lactate): A byproduct of the body’s metabolism. At rest, the body
produces less than one millimole of lactate per liter of blood. Levels above four or five
millimoles per liter can’t be maintained for prolonged periods.
Leg turnover: Not a cannibal’s dessert, but the speed at which you pick up and
set down your feet.
Marathon: A 26.2-mile race. Also: half marathon.
Moleskin: Material used to treat blisters.
Orthotics: Shoe inserts designed to improve biomechanics.
Over distance: Training longer than the anticipated distance of an event. If you
are training for a 10K (6.2-mile race), an over-distance run would be about
15K.
Plantar fascia: Connective tissue stretching from the toes and ball of the foot,
through the arch, to the heel bone. Common injury site.
Pronation: Rolling from the outside to the inside of the foot. Some pronation is
normal and helps absorb shock, but excessive pronation can cause overuse injuries.
PR: Personal Record. Your best time for a particular distance. “I PR’ed that
10K.”
Runner’s knee: Early stage of knee problem characterized by stiffness and a
general ache inside and around the knee. May indicate wearing of the cartilage.
Shin splints: Painful injury to the muscle on the inside of the flat shin
bone.
Speedwork: Series of short, fast efforts aimed at developing sheer speed.
Supination: Rolling to the outside of the foot. Excessive supination can strain
ligaments, tendons and bones.
10k: 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), one of the most common race distances. 5Ks are
popular, too.
Ultra: A term for long-distance running, such as 50 or 100-mile
events.
V02 max: The maximum amount of oxygen an athlete can take in to produce work,
usually measured in terms of oxygen per kilogram of body weight. Elite athletes can record
scores of 80 ml/kg or above.
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