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The Department of Kinesiology''s focus was to create a program to help enhance their
training protocols with the goal of getting the participant or the runner safely to the
start line in October and also maximize their perform along the way.
The College of Health Sciences has been fantastic for supporting the runners in the Claws versus
Paws Challenge. They've helped us with training programs, injury prevention, they did a lot
of kinesiology testing to really help us determine what pace we should be going out for the marathon.
We tried to look at Nutrition, what to eat, when to eat, the Biomechanics of shoes, and
then also looked at the Aerobic profiles of these runners, as well as looking at that
psychological aspect and getting into coping with stress.
So the first thing we did was give them a battery of psychological tests, involving
their grit or stress or coping.
Then we also did another component of testing called a functional movement screen. They
looked for areas of weakness that they could identify to help them perform better. And
then additionally, we did an aerobic profile and tested individuals, the O2- max to find
out their functional capacity and also their lactate threshold where they can run their
fasted for the longest period of time. In addition we can use that information to predict
their finish time.
It's been great to know what condition you're in and try to push those targets and really
increase your maximum thresholds.
The students in the department really stepped up to this initiative.
This is a really good opportunity for us to apply what we've learned in all these classes
into a real world setting where people are coming in with an outward goal they're seeking
help with.
There are a number of variables that we measure including heart rate, oxygen consumption,
carbon dioxide output, and then we piece that together with some of the blood measures.
We continuously increase the intensity that we're working at.
The Chancellor is in very good shape and he was very competitive and pushed himself to
the limits there so we were able to get really good information on his performance.
Myself as a scientist, I've become very interested in testing they've been doing.
It's interesting, it kind of verifies what I thought my marathon
pace should be based on the testing we went through. The numbers they came up with are
what I felt my body, after running 25 marathons, was in the shape to do.
It's very exciting for us to see his passion filter out through the university campus.
Being able to see those runners sign up for such a huge event and know they're going
to tow the line on race day and our department had a little influence in helping them get
to that point, is amazing.
Team Paws will truly dominate in October.
I think Team Paws is going to win. We're pretty excited about our team and what we're doing,
and it's been great training with everyone on the campus.