Running economy,mechanics, and marathon racing shoes

ABSTRACT

The choice of marathon racing shoes can greatly affect performance. The purpose of this study is to metabolically and mechanically compare the consumer version of the Nike Vaporfly 4% shoe to two other popular marathon shoes, and determine differences in running economy. Nineteen subjects performed two 5-minute trials at 4.44m/s wearing the Adidas Adios Boost (AB), Nike Zoom Streak (ZS), and Nike Vaporfly 4% (VP) in random order. Oxygen uptake was recorded during minutes 3–5 and averaged across both shoe trials. On a second day, subjects wore reflective markers, and performed a 3-minute trial in each shoe. Motion and force data were collected over the final 30 seconds of each trial. VP oxygen uptake was 2.8% and 1.9% lower than the AB and ZS. Stride length, plantar flexion velocity, and center of mass vertical oscillation were significantly different in the VP. The percent benefit of the VP over AB shoe was predicted by subject ground time. These results indicate that use of the VP shoe results in improved running economy, partially due to differences in running mechanics. Subject variation in running economy improvement is only partially explained by variation in ground time.     

‘A galaxy of sporting events’: sport’s role and significance in the Festival of Britain, 1951

The 1951 Festival of Britain has long been seen as a key moment in the country’s post-war history – especially in terms of popularising modern architecture and contemporary interior design, as well as symbolising the transition from acute economic austerity to a long period of relative affluence. However, successive writers have largely or completely ignored sport’s role in the Festival project. This paper argues that, in fact, sporting fixtures played an important role in the national and local festivities which were staged between May and September 1951. Their range, diversity and popularity means that the Festival should begin to be seen as a more successful and less insular event than previous studies have suggested. On the other hand, the support that such fixtures received from various newspapers and via the airwaves – courtesy of the BBC – indicates that the Festival faced far less media (and, indeed, political) opposition than its organisers liked to suggest and most historians have hitherto accepted. By studying the Festival’s sports programme, therefore, it is possible to gain fresh insights into the project as a whole and reassess its overall performance.     

Differences in technique between sprinters and distance runners at equal and maximal speeds

In the finishing kick of a distance race, maximizing speed becomes the focus even if economy may be sacrificed. If distance runners knew how to alter their technique to become more sprint-like, this process could be more successful. In this study, we compared the differences in technique between sprinters and distance runners while running at equal and maximal speeds. Athletes consisted of 10 Division I distance runners, 10 Division I sprinters, and 10 healthy non-runners. They performed two tests, each consisting of a 60-m run on the track: Test 1 at a set pace of 5.81 m/s, while Test 2 was maximal speed. Video was collected at 180 Hz. Significant differences (P < 0.05) between the sprint and distance groups at maximal speeds were found in the following areas: speed, minimum hip angle, knee extension at toe-off, stride length, contact time, and recovery knee at touchdown. In Test 1, sprinters and distance runners displayed many of the same significant differences. The control group was similar to the distance group in both trials. As distance runners attempt to sprint, the desired adjustments do not necessarily occur. Distance runners may benefit from biomechanical interventions to improve running speed near the end of a race.     

PROSPECTIVE TEACHERS' AWARENESS AND EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS: ASSOCIATIONS WITH PROPOSED STRATEGIES FOR BEHAVIORAL MANAGEMENT IN THE CLASSROOM

This research examined whether prospective teachers’ emotion regulation styles, dispositional empathy, and conceptions of competent student emotion and behavior were predictive of their attitudes about bullying and proposed responses to peer conflict. Overall, participants perceived physical bullying as more serious than verbal and relational bullying. Prospective teachers also expressed higher levels of sympathy for victims and a greater likelihood of intervention in response to physical bullying. Regression analyses demonstrated that valuing emotional competence and the role of teachers in supporting its development were meaningfully associated with expressed support for victims and with proposed responses to the perpetrators of this type of classroom aggression. Interestingly, those respondents who reported higher levels of situationally specific sympathy for victims (and not dispositional empathy) also reported that they would be more likely than their counterparts to intervene on their behalf. The emotional reactivity component of dispositional empathy was, however, positively associated with regulated responses to peer conflict involving a difficult child. The emotion regulation variables, although associated with the outcome measures in correlational analyses, were not unique predictors of prospective teachers’ bullying attitudes.     

Science on Saturday Morning: children's perceptions of science in educational and non‐educational cartoons

The Federal Communications Commission is considering whether to strengthen the implementation of the Children's Television Act of 1990, which requires broadcasters to air educational and informational programs for children. Some broadcasters have opposed such measures, arguing that not enough children will watch educational programs. This argument assumes that children distinguish between educational and non‐educational programs, find educational programs less appealing, and consequently are unlikely to watch them. The present study tests these assumptions directly, through a comparison of two animated programs set in prehistoric times, Cro (an educational program about technology) and The Flintstones (a non‐educational program). Results indicated that Cro’s technology content was salient to children but, contrary to the above assumptions, children did not distinguish between the programs on the basis of their educational content, and both programs were highly appealing.