Running for Women Print CE Course

Course components are delivered as printed products:

• Running for Women text

• Recorded webinar

• Study guide

• Continuing education exam

Developed by Jason Karp, PhD, and Carolyn Smith, MD, this course uses the text Running for Women and the accompanying webinar to examine what makes female runners unique and how those differences affect running performance, training, health, and wellness. This authoritative course tackles topics needed for optimally training women in the sport of running and explores how female physiology influences a woman’s ability to train and race.

The course includes the latest research on estrogen, metabolism, and sex-specific performance factors. You will discover the effects hormones have on hydration, body temperature, and muscle function and how these affect when and how to best train female athletes during the menstrual cycle, pregnancy, and menopause. You will also be able to teach your athlete how to

• prevent knee injuries, stress fractures, and other common running-related injuries;

• identify and avoid the risks of the female athlete triad; and

• use sex differences to gain an advantage when training and competing.

This self-guided course allows you to work at your own pace and explore the material through a comprehensive text, webinar, and study guide. Upon the completion of this course, you will be able to create the most effective running workouts for endurance, speed, strength, lactate threshold, and VO2max.

Course Objectives

• Understand how female runners use fuel sources differently from males and explain how VO2max differs in women and men.

• Recognize how fluctuating hormones of the menstrual cycle affect the performance of female runners and understand how to modify training around the two phases of the cycle.

• Outline the training recommendations for pregnant runners in each trimester of pregnancy, monitor exercise intensity, and recognize the circumstances that may prevent training and racing in this population.

• Design a training plan for menopausal and postmenopausal recreational runners and competitive runners.

• Explain the changes in training response as a result of the aging process and implement an effective training strategy for mature female runners.

• Describe the components, importance, and use of various training types, including aerobic power, acidosis threshold, and interval training, as well as understand the application of hill training, fartleks, and tapering techniques.

• Understand the benefits and limitations of speed and strength training in female runners and select the appropriate types of exercises for optimal running performance.

• Build a progressive, systematic program for female runners that takes into account the four phases of training and makes adjustments based on fluctuations of hormones and other female-specific conditions.

• Define the three components of the female athlete triad, understand which runners are most at risk, and make suggestions for the prevention and treatment of each condition.

• Recognize the causes, symptoms, and treatment for the most common injuries in female runners as well as provide instruction in appropriate strengthening and flexibility exercises for injury prevention.

• Understand the energy requirements for optimal female running performance and select the proper fuel before, during, and after race participation.

 Dr. Jason Karp is one of America’s foremost running experts and owner of Run-Fit. He is the 2011 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, 2014 recipient of the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports, & Nutrition Community Leadership Award, and creator of the Run-Fit Specialist certification. Jason has given dozens of international lectures and is a featured speaker at the world’s top fitness and coaching conferences. He has taught USA Track & Field’s highest level coaching certification and has led coaching camps at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. He has written six books and more than 200 articles in international coaching, running, and fitness magazines. He is the senior editor for Active Network.

A competitive runner since sixth grade, he is a nationally-certified running coach through USA Track & Field, has coached high school and college track and cross country, and was a member of the silver-medal winning U.S. masters team at the 2013 World Maccabiah Games in Israel.

Jason received his PhD in exercise physiology with a physiology minor from Indiana University in 2007, his master’s degree in kinesiology from the University of Calgary in 1997, and his bachelor’s degree in exercise and sport science with an English minor from Penn State University in 1995. His research has been published in a number of scientific journals.

Carolyn Smith, MD, is a family practice and sports medicine physician who serves as director of the student health service at Marquette University and head medical team physician for the department of intercollegiate athletics. She also maintains her teaching interests in her role as medical director for the athletic training education program.

Smith is a versatile runner with a career that has spanned more than three decades. After a postcollegiate career running shorter distances, Smith embraced ultrarunning in 2002 and has enjoyed success in distances ranging from the 50-mile run to the 24-hour run. She is a former 24-hour and 100K national champion. She has had the privilege of representing the United States on two 24-hour national teams (2005, 2007) and is a 100K national team member (2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012). 

She is a national age-group record holder. In 2009, she held the fastest time in the world for the 50-mile ultramarathon and was ranked No. 1 in that event in the United States. In 2011 she set a national age-group record for the 12-hour run, finishing first among all participants in the FANS 12-hour ultramarathon in Minnesota, running 83 miles in 12 hours—more than 12 miles ahead of the second-place finisher. She represented the United States for the seventh time in the 100-Kilometer World Championship held in Italy in 2012. In 2012 the U.S. women’s team won the gold medal, an accomplishment Smith was also a part of in 2009.

In addition to a medical degree from the University of Illinois, Smith holds a master’s degree from Northern Illinois University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin, both in exercise physiology. After a faculty position with the St. Michael Hospital residency program in Milwaukee and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Smith joined the Marquette University student health service in 2002.