Like Email and Texting and Tweeting are not hard enough to keep up with, now your son has joined a sport that has a language of it's own. Hope this helps....
Negative splits - running the last half of a race faster than the first half
Nurmi, Paavo - Finnish distance runner, one of the "Flying Finns", winner of 9 Olympic golds
2 Mile-What Freshman Run
5K-What Junior Varsity and Varsity Run (3.1 Miles)
10k - distance of 10,000 meters or 6.2 miles
15k - 15,000 meters or 9.3 miles, an odd distance, not quite a 10-miler, sort of a "tweener" on the way to a half-a-thon
Bear - point in the race or interval where lactic acid buildup physically changes your stride as if you were carrying a bear on your back
BODY MASS INDEX -(BMI) is number that reflects the percentage of body fat in proportion to lean body mass
Bonk - crashing in a race (usually a marathon) attributed to running out of fuel
Cardiac creep - pulse rate increases despite pace stays same due to dehydration. Heart pumps harder to carry the same amount of oxygen
Flats - non-spiked shoes
CINDERS - This running track which is composed of fine rock, carbon, ash, and slag is indicative of the pre-synthetic era.
Chub rub - chafing caused by fat thighs rubbing together
Cool-down exercises - allows your body to relax and to return to a resting state after you have completed it. Also, performing a cool-down is the best way to minimize muscle fatigue and soreness due to the high muscle exertion from your major activity/workout
Cutdown - is the opposite of a ladder or an interval workout of decreasing interval lengths, such as 800-600-400-200 meters.
CROSS-COUNTRY RUNNING - It is a sport in which teams of runners compete to complete a course over open or rough terrain faster than other teams
CUSHIONING - The ability of a shoe to absorb the impact of footstrike
Cross training - training strategy which uses other forms of aerobic exercise such as swimming, cycling, cross country ski
Bodyglide® - lubricating product to prevent chafing and skin irritation
DELAYED ONSET MUSCLE SORENESS (DOMS) - This type of muscle soreness normally peaks about 48 hours after a particularly intense or long run
Dirty dozen - A set of 12 - 400 meter intervals
DNF - did not finish
DNS - did not start
Double-clutch - a pattern of breathing in which a runner inhales two breaths for every breath exhaled
EASY RUN - A slow run done at a conversational pace
EST - explosive strength training, using sprints and jumps rather than weights and machines for conditioning. Uses sprint and jumping exercises that maximize height and distance and minimize contact time on ground.
Fartlek - Literally, "speed play" in Swedish. It refers to interval workouts of mixed intensity, i.e. a combination of fast and slow running.
FAST TWITCH - Muscle fibers that determine if a runner is suited to sprint
FELL RUNNING - Fell running is the sport of running and racing, off road, over upland country where the gradient climbed is a significant component of the difficulty.
FLOPPER - A runner who has a habit of collapsing in dramatic fashion in a non-winning position (usually second place) at the conclusion of a race
GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM (GPS) -GPS are used when pedometers fail in terms of accurately measuring distance. This is usefol for plotting your course when training, as well as the distance you are planning to cover.
Glucose - Basic form of sugar. Appears in the blood
Half marathon - A 13.1 mile race
HEART RATE MONITOR (HRM) - The HRM is a device that determines how hard or how little your body is working by measuring the number of your heart’s beat per minute (BPM).
HILLS - These are workouts done where a runner runs up a hill fast and jogs down then runs up again.
Hit the wall - a sudden bonk in which you die so suddenly it is as if you ran into a wall
INSOLE - It is the removable inner part of a running shoe that sits on top of the midsole and provides cushioning and arch support.
Intervals - system of training using repeated short distances at greater than or near race pace
INTERVALS - It is a type of workout where a set distance is run repeatedly with a recovery jog between.
Jack rabbit - taking off fast from the start
JOGGING - It is a type of slow running.
JUNK MILES - Many miles run at a slow pace, attributed to a training strategy by runners who confuse high mileage counts with improvement.
KICK - It is a finishing sprint at the end of a race.
Ladder - is an interval workout of increasing interval lengths, such as 200-400-600-800 meters.
LONG-DISTANCE TRACK EVENT - These are running events which range from 3,000 meter steeplechase, 5,000 meters, and 10,000 meters.
LSD - long slow distances
MACRONUTRIENTS - Macronutrients are major nutrients that the body needs in large quantities. It is important to have a balanced intake of macronutrients to assure maximum function and performance of the body.
MARATHON - long distance race run over 42 km 195 m or 26 miles 385 yards. Introduced at the first modern Olympic Games in 1896 to commemorate the run by a Greek courier from Marathon to Athens in 490 BC.
MIDDLE DISTANCE - It is a running event which exceeds the distance covered by sprints up to 5000 meters.
MPD - miles per day
OUTSOLE - It is the material, usually made of hard carbon rubber found on the bottom of most running shoes.
PACE - It is the speed at which movement occur
PEDOMETER - Pedometer is a device you can use to check the number of steps you make during a training session.
PR and PB - refer to the same basic thing, running your Personal Best or setting a Personal Record. For example "I ran a PR in that race" means I ran my fastest time ever at that distance. You can have multiple PRs, say for a course or a distance or even for the year. You decide.
RUNNERS KNEE - is a condition called Chondromalacia patella. That's why we call it runners knee. PFS (Patello-Femoral Syndrome), which is the kneecap (patella) rubbing on the front of the thigh bone (femur), is another form of Runner’s Knee. It’s most often caused by overuse, doing too much too soon, ostheoarthritis, insufficient muscle development and/or improper alignment, including wrong or worn-out shoes or running on slanted pavement.
Runner's Trots - refer to gastrointestinal problems on the run.
QUADS - four large muscles at front of thighs; or four shots of espresso before a race if your old.
RABBIT - a runner who pushes the field to a better time then drops out of the race before the final laps
PYRAMID - is a combination of a ladder and a cutdown, such as 200-400-600-800-600-400-200 meters.
ROAD RUNNING - It is running a set distance on an established road.
RUNNER'S DIET - A runner’s diet is composed of a moderate amount of healthy food divided into five food groups namely carbohydrates, dairy roducts, protein, fruits, and vegetables
RUNNING ECONOMY - It refers to how much oxygen you use when you run
RUNNER'S LUBE - lanolin product to reduce chafing and skin irritation
ARCOMERES - muscle contraction unit of measure
SANDBAGERS - a fast runner with a talent for acting who will masquerade as a slow runner to lure the competition into complacency. Lance Armstrong used this technique during the 2001 Tour de France. As he climbed L'Alpe d'Huez he grimaced in apparent pain. With his fellow riders thinking he was in trouble, he caught his top rival, took a long, hard look at him, then pulled ahead at stunning speed.
Second wind - Going from being tired to feeling strong again.
SHIN SPLINTS - This refers to the pain on the lower leg area due to increased activity of a runner.
SINGLES - running once per day. Example: "I ran fifty miles last week, in singles" means that the runner ran once per day for a total of fifty miles, as opposed to running twice or three times per day.
SLOW TWITCH - Muscle fibers that determine if a runner is suited to distance running.
SPIKESTER - track runner who wears spikes
SPLITS - the time to a given point in a race
SPRINTS - It is a short running race in athletics.
STRIDE - the distance traveled in a single long step
STITCH - is a side cramp, usually on the right side.
SUPINATOR - not enough inward motion of foot; likely to have a high, rigid arch (same as under-pronator)
SWEATS - sloppy, loose fitting cotton clothing which absorbs moisture and gets very heavy when wet
TEMPO RUN - usually a two to five mile run at 80 - 90% effort
THINCLADS- runners once recognized by their lightweight shorts and singlets
Trading Paint - What happens when things get dicey between runners battling for position. Most often occurs on the track when someone has had enough of being boxed in. More blatant examples occur on narrow and isolated trail sections of cross country courses away from any observers which holds the DQ risk to a minimum. This occurrence usually is accompanied with some very bad words being loudly exchanged by the affected parties. The first definition applies to auto racing, with the only difference being hand gestures substitued for bad word exchanges.
TRASH TALK - a less succinct, ineloquent, poorer cousin of "smack". Usually taking the form of a rambling retort, typically including a personal attack on your mother.
TROUT, WIMPY - metaphor for someone who can't handle real hills...like some of the weaker members of any anadromous fish species that actually use fish ladders to get around dams
WOOFING - "Woofing is any outlandish, outrageous, inflammatory, ridiculous, unsupported, sophmoric, or otherwise brain-dead commentary or predictions regarding a specific team, player, or athletic event.