Science nerds, explain why I run my workouts and races faster, if I do strides the day before

Compared to what, doing them on the same day, or prior to the day before ?

Strides build/maintain muscle tension so your legs are nice and springy on race day

It depends... What do you mean under logical explanation?

Bra-ket wrote:

Strides build/maintain muscle tension so your legs are nice and springy on race day

that^

The general consensus is that it is due to post activation potential. Check out this article.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3164001/

Pretty much it is the idea that a muscle contraction can improve the ease of future muscle contractions. Furthermore, it can help increase bloodflow the day before, helping the muscles have an increased oxygen supply which allows them to be better "rested". Obviously this does not meant he muscles actually have rested, but a short stride can increase contraction and oxygen without causing significant fatigue to occur.

Strides signal to your body and your brain how to run fast efficiently.

It is like the final rehearsal for a big speech.

You are informing your brain and central nervous system that running with that form is the current thing. It then prepares to do it, and shows up ready at the start line.

Brains and central nervous systems like to do things by rote and habit, that way they become easier.

Placebo effect, which works best on weak minds.

MSinExercisePhysio said: Pretty much it is the idea that a muscle contraction can improve the ease of future muscle contractions.

this doesn't sound like science to me, because, basically, everyone has muscle contractions, whether they do striders or not.

get out of bed in the morning, walk to the bathroom, go down stairs, walk around the kitchen eating granola while shouting at the kids to put their homework away, you are pretty much having muscle contractions the whole time. and according to this theory, those contractions will, "improve the ease of future contractions," too.

for this "muscle contraction," theory to make any sense, you would have to have a rational explanation for why folk who have muscle contractions without doing striders don't, "improve the ease of future muscle contractions."

in other words, what is special about strider contractions that makes them different to other more ordinary contractions. and, your explanation would also have to account for the fact that your muscles don't know that you're doing striders. to a muscle fiber a contraction is just a contraction, and it neither knows nor cares whether you are striding, having sex or riding a bicycle.

I think this is an interesting topic, but I don't think we've quite nailed the "scientific," answer the OP asked for.

cheers.

cotton shirt wrote:

MSinExercisePhysio said: Pretty much it is the idea that a muscle contraction can improve the ease of future muscle contractions.

what is special about strider contractions that makes them different to other more ordinary contractions.

cheers.

The amount of contractions for each stride, the force applied.

cheers.

Surely you are not this dumb.

He wants to nail a scientific answer. As if such a thing were possible?

I wonder if he keeps all his old issues of Athletics Weekly going back to 1952 in a binder on a specially made bookcase in his bespoke man cave?

This is an interesting question. I was taught by Jim Spivey over a decade ago that my track performance would be better if I did strides the day before a race as opposed to taking the day off. I always do it now.

Anecdotally, Tour de France riders typically ride easy for hours on their rest day. Sherwin and Liggett (announcers) would say it was so they wouldn't stiffen up from the lack of exercise.

I suspect... and this is only a guess... that after more than 24 hours of inactivity, the body shifts into a stronger repair mode than it does with moderate activity. It takes a day or so of exercise to shift back into the optimal performance mode.

Anyone know if this is correct?

a lot of it comes down to what you didn't do. You won't race fast if you run a hard 12-miler with strides the day before.

fisky wrote:

This is an interesting question. I was taught by Jim Spivey over a decade ago that my track performance would be better if I did strides the day before a race as opposed to taking the day off. I always do it now.

Anecdotally, Tour de France riders typically ride easy for hours on their rest day. Sherwin and Liggett (announcers) would say it was so they wouldn't stiffen up from the lack of exercise.

I suspect... and this is only a guess... that after more than 24 hours of inactivity, the body shifts into a stronger repair mode than it does with moderate activity. It takes a day or so of exercise to shift back into the optimal performance mode.

Anyone know if this is correct?

For any race there seems to be an ideal amount of activity the day before. Some days doing nothing helps. Some days that's the worst thing you can do.

I think what happens in the Tour de France is that if they don't ride on the rest day, the nervous system crashes and yes probably goes into super recovery mode and they just ride badly on the next stage.

But it seems like you are said: Surely you are not this dumb.

If you think what I said is so dumb, why don't you explain why it is dumb. just being gratuitously rude to people doesn't advance the conversation very much, does it?

cheers.

Muscle tension.

Otherwise known as the difference between "having," and not "having" legs on a given day.

Define a "stride"

cotton shirt wrote:

But it seems like you are said: Surely you are not this dumb.

If you think what I said is so dumb, why don't you explain why it is dumb. just being gratuitously rude to people doesn't advance the conversation very much, does it?

cheers.

OK. Strides are a movement specific to faster running. That's why we run for training rather than munching granola and yelling at kids.