To Run or Not to Run

There's an age old debate on the merits of distance running and its benefits for fastpitch players. Texas A&M head coach Jo Evans once told me,

"I don't care how fast you can run the mile. I care how fast you can run 60 feet."

Every college coach I've ever spoken to agrees with this statement, and most college softball programs do not incorporate distance running into their workouts. The common misconception among parents of amateur players is that there is no need for their daughters to ever run long distances as part of their training. I've even been told by parents as well as coaches that their players should not ever run long distances because it could be detrimental to their knees.

This entry goes over a short list of why all athletes SHOULD be doing some kind of distance work on a regular basis as well as dismissing some of the myths about running.

Overall Speed & Strength Improvement - Like it or not, running long distances with proper form is a full body workout. With the right recovery methods, long distance running can be a huge asset in gaining strength and speed. Can we guarantee that you will run a 2.5 if you start running long distances? Of course not. Training your body to become stronger and training your muscles to more efficiently distribute oxygen/use lactate however, can and will result in improvements in speed and strength.



Endurance - It's common knowledge that running increases the longevity of one's athletic ability. This is vital to young fastpitch players who spend sun up to sundown on the softball field during tournaments. Combining long distance running with a healthy diet makes 2 straight days on the diamond a walk in the park.

Enhance Explosive Power - Softball is a sport based on explosion. Everything from bursting out of the box to sprinting to catch a fly ball in deep left. Explosive power comes from our body's Type IIb Fast Twitch Fibers. These types of fibers are recruited in activities that require an all out burst of power and only act for an extremely short period of time, as the total length of their contractions usually last only 7.5 milliseconds. Due to their low capillary level, they do not make use of oxygen nearly like slow twitch fibers do causing them to fatigue much more quickly than all other muscle fibers. In long distance running, increased numbers of capillaries are produced, resulting in an increased ability for your body to transfer blood gasses and essentially deliver more oxygen faster to working muscles, thus creating more powerful explosiveness on the field.

These are a few great reasons to run or jog in long distances. There are many other reasons, (less directly related to softball) to run long distances as well such as: strengthening of the heart and mind, weight management, increase immune system defenses, slow the aging process, enhance the glow of skin, reduce the risk of blood clots, and improve the lungs.

On to the myths...
First of all, any doctor will tell you there's nothing wrong with a healthy athlete incorporating running into their routine. (In fact, many doctors even prescribe running to some unhealthy individuals such as those battling cancer as a method of treatment.) It's never going to be counter-productive to an athlete (except for maybe sumo wrestlers) to train long distances. I always had a hard time buying into the idea that long distance running was bad on the knees, so softball players shouldn't do it. Football players of every age group from 6 years to the pros run long distances. Basketball players run even more than that. Are they in any less need of healthy knees than softball players? I read several studies by hundreds of doctors all concluding that long distance running in responsible amounts is not detrimental to a human body's knees. This Study from the Stanford Department of Medicine, in fact took men and women over 50 with bad knees and actually showed that the medical conditions of their respective knees IMPROVED throughout the study which focuses entirely on the effects of long distance running on the knees.

Granted, college coaches aren't going to ask you what your 10K time is during the recruiting process. They don't care how well you run long distances, and they shouldn't. They will however care about: Overall Speed, Endurance, and Explosiveness. See the connection?