Runners' aids improve performance, reduce injuries

For years, runners and running coaches talked about only three things: training, training and training. But as more and more of them see their 10k and marathon careers cut decades short by an endless parade of injuries, the emphasis and interest on technique and products that protect joints and connective tissue have skyrocketed. Here are four that will help keep you going for the long run.

-- Roy M. Wallack

Cadence-keeper beeper

Seiko DM-50 metronome: Not an athletic product per se, but a musical instrument aid seen in orchestras, this clip-on beeper provides an audible marker for runners aiming for an ideal cadence.

Likes: It works. A favorite tool of top L.A.-area coach Steve Mackel and other adherents of the popular ChiRunning method, the metronome's high-pitched squeak trains runners to increase their cadence to an ideal rate of 180 steps per minute. The higher the cadence, the lower the fatigue and injury rate, because time on the ground with each foot strike is minimized. The quantity of beeps is adjustable from 30 to 250 per minute, and volume is also adjustable. Weighs 1 ounce and clips on the waistband of running shorts.

Dislikes: None.

Price: $24.95-$34.95. (800) 586-3876; www.metronomes.net/SeikoDm50.htm.

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Arm swing straighteners

e3 Fitness Grips: Shaped plastic hand forms that encourage a vertical arm-swing, which is said to reduce the excessive side-to-side hip and shoulder swaying that can lead to injury over the long term.

Likes: Instantly effective. Running on a treadmill facing a mirror, I could see that my hands immediately swung more vertically and less across the chest. Here's how it works: Sacramento inventor and coach Stephen Tamaribuchi discovered that flexing the thumb tightens ligaments all the way up the arm, pulling the elbow into the ribs, enhancing balance by stabilizing the shoulders, back and hips. Well-known in the Sacramento area, the grips are associated with many anecdotal stories of injury reduction, including 2001 World 100km silver medalist Rich Hanna, who told me that they saved his running career.

Dislikes: You have to hold something in your hand as you run. But they are only 2.5 ounces each, and you quickly get used to it

Price: $39.99 (note: a smaller-sized female-oriented grip debuts July 15). (888) 590-GRIP; (916) 483-2686; www.biogrip.com.

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Hyponatremia stoppers