Runner's Web Digest - March 7, 2003

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References/URLs:
Most references in the digest which do not have a specific URL listed
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contained in the Digest are available from the Runner's Web Site or from
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New This Week:
Sharon Donnelly, Olympic Triathlete, 1999 Pan AMs Champion and 3-time Canadian
champion was the winner in our Photo ID contest. She correctly identified the
photo as that of US Olympian Sheila Taormina exiting the swim area at the Sydney
Olympics .
Sharon is currently in Australia avoiding the snow and minus 20 Celsius degree
weather we are currently experiencing in Eastern Ontario.
For the next 2 weeks each Monday we will post a photo on the FrontPage of the
Runner's Web.
The first person to respond via email with the correct identification will win a
copy of the new book, "The Expert's Guide to the Triathlon".
More information on the book is available from:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/rw_expertsguide.html

The winner of our Pegasus Quiz for March was Jeff Platt of Calgary has correctly
identified the photo as that of Cuban 400/800 Montreal Olympics winner Alberto
Juantorena of Cuba

We have no personal postings this week.
Personal Postings are located after the Upcoming Section towards the
bottom of the newsletter.

This week's poll is: "Should elite female runners be allowed a male pacemaker
during a race?"

Cast your vote at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running.html
Post your views in our Forum at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/runnersweb_forum.html
[Free Registration Required]

The previous poll was: "Should Paula Radcliffe attempt the 10K/Marathon double
in Athens?"

The results at publication time were:
No 13
Yes 75
No opinion 3
Total Votes: 91

You can access the poll from our FrontPage as well as voting on and/or
checking the results of previous polls.

Book of the Week: Fitness Running
By Dick Brown
From customizable workouts to rock-solid running advice, Fitness Running
provides workouts from one of America's most respected coaches. Together with
coauthor Joe Henderson, Dick Brown lays the groundwork for a detailed approach
to running that will help you increase your fitness, maintain your stamina,
recover from injury, and prepare you for the races ahead.
Buy the book at:
http://www.humankinetics.com/products/showproduct.cfm?associate=880&isbn=0736045\
104

If you feel you have something to say that is worthy of a Guest Column
on the Runner's Web, email us at
mailto:RunnersWeb@...
or leave your comments in one of our Forums available from our FrontPage.

Our Photo of the Week, which was being updated several times during the
week, has been replaced with the Photo Slideshow which will have a
random number of photos you can cycle through. Check it out from our
FrontPage.

The FiveStar Site of the Week:
The FiveStar Site of the Week for next week is: the Budapest Marathon site.
This event has been going on since 1984 when the race had 625 men and 25 women.
The race now has over 4,000 runners.
The multi-lingual site is well organized and contains reams of information on
the event, it's history and on Budapest.
Check out the site at:
http://www.budapestmarathon.com

Send us your suggestions for our Five Star site. Please check our list
of previous Five Star Sites available from the Five Star Window under
the link "Previous Five Star Sites" as we do not wish to repeat a site
unless it has undergone a major redesign.

Be sure to check out our Flash Page where we list all recent additions
to the Runner's Web. This page is updated before Monday morning each
week.


This Weeks News:
===============

Extremes of Exercise Have a Downside:
Scientists are beginning to suspect that maintaining peak athletic condition
comes with a catch: Human beings who turn themselves into lean endurance
machines risk making themselves sick -- perhaps seriously so.
Mounting evidence suggests that bodies strained by prolonged and strenuous
exercise without proper rest are vulnerable not only to muscular and skeletal
problems, but to infections and perhaps even disease.
"There are red flags all over that the immune system is under stress and not
performing well," said David Nieman, a former marathoner who studies extreme
exercise as director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian State
University in Boone, N.C. "Some immune-cell functioning is down for hours. Some
is suppressed for days."
More...the Newhouse News Service at:
http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/seeman030503.html



Lactic acid and running: myths, legends and reality - the ABC:
Most runners still believe that lactic acid is released during hard or
unaccustomed exercise and that this is what limits running performance, as well
as being the cause of stiffness. Neither is correct. But not even is the
terminology of "lactic acid".
Lactic acid does not exist as an acid in the body: it exists in another form
called "lactate", and it is this that is actually measured in the blood when
"lactic acid" concentration is determined, as is done from time to time. This
distinction is important not only for the sake of correctness, but more
importantly, because lactate and lactic acid would have different physiological
effects.
The greatest myth is that lactic acid is the cause of the stiffness felt after
an event such as a marathon. Stiffness is due mostly to damage to the muscle,
and not an accumulation of lactic acid or lactic acid crystals in the muscle.
More...from Time-To-Run.com at:
http://www.time-to-run.com/theabc/lactic.htm
Things your mother forgot to tell you about blood lactate:
When Marc Rogers travelled to St. Louis back in July, 1984 to begin
post-graduate research in exercise physiology at Washington University, he also
commenced training for the St. Louis Marathon, which was scheduled for November.
Before getting into his hard-core marathon preparations, Marc underwent an
exercise test in the St. Louis lab and learned that his VO2max was 70 ml/kg/min,
while his lactate-threshold (LT) velocity was reached at 78 per cent of VO2max,
or at 54.6 ml/kg/min.
Marc proceeded to train very aggressively, combining high-intensity work with
high mileage (about 80 miles per week) and was re-tested in early November.
Despite the heavy-duty training, Marc's VO2max had moved upward by nary a
millilitre of oxygen, clinging stubbornly to the same 70-ml mark of mid-summer.
Fortunately, though, Marc's LT had gone through the roof, climbing from 78 to a
lusty 90 per cent of VO2max (or 63 ml/kg/min). And yes - Marc won the St. Louis
Marathon that autumn, primarily because of his huge advance in LT.
To understand what actually happened to Marc, and to discover how you, too, can
make major gains in LT and performance, we need to tell a tale about something
called lactate. The first chapter of this lactate parable will centre around a
key physiological process called glycolysis.
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0175.htm



Exercise Is Good for Your Brain:
I've been involved in the science of exercise for over 40 years. The number one
reason people give as to why they exercise is not that they feel it will prolong
their life, or that it will prevent disease, but that it makes them feel better.
We have several explanations as to why that is the case but now, for the first
time, we have scientific proof that exercise actually causes changes in the
brain. A study published in the February 2003 issue of the Journal of
Gerontology: Medical Sciences, shows that three key areas of the brain adversely
affected by aging show the greatest benefit when a person stays physically fit.
A group of researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign studied
brain scans of 55 volunteers over the age of 55. Using high-resolution magnetic
resonance imaging, the scientists found anatomical differences in gray and white
matter between physically fit and less fit subjects. The gray matter is the part
of the brain involved in learning and memory, while the white matter helps to
transmit signals throughout the brain. Usually, after the age of 30, these
tissues begin to shrink and become less dense in a pattern closely matched by
declines in cognitive performance.
More...from Dr. Cooper of Cooper Wellness at:
http://www.cooperwellness.com/022803_article01.asp?referrer=nl



Ottawa Runners:
Ottawa Sport: Indoor Facility Study Dead
From Ken Parker, RunnersWeb.com:
The study for a badly needed indoor training facility for the city of Ottawa is
dead.
The Runner's Web, in response to numerous requests over the past months, this
week received confirmation that the business study phase which staff was
instructed to do last February (2002) has not and will no be done.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_indoor_20030224.html
You can read one coaches reaction to the news of the death of this initiative
at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20030304_burrows.html



Cramps and Stitch:
Just about everyone who has ventured out to do some exercise has experienced
either a cramp or a stitch at some time in their lives. These complaints can
range from mildly uncomfortable to severely debilitating but there is no
question that they are a great source of frustration to everyone from
recreational exercisers to serious athletes. Unfortunately, scientists know
very little about the two conditions and how to avoid them. Consequently, there
is a lot of folklore surrounding the topic, making it difficult to know exactly
how to deal with these problems.
What is cramp?
Cramp is a sudden, tight and intense pain that most commonly occurs in the leg
muscles especially the gastrocnemius (calf), hamstrings (back of thigh) and
quadriceps (front of thigh). It can range from a slight twinge to an
excruciating pain, and may last for a few seconds or several minutes. A cramp
can be a one-off occurrence or repeat several times before the muscle relaxes
and the pain goes away.
More...from the AIS at:
http://www.ais.org.au/nutrition/FactCramp.htm



Taken too much to heart:
The long accepted formula for figuring one's 'target' rate during a workout is
irrelevant for most exercisers, experts say.
Anyone who has ever climbed aboard a treadmill or elliptical trainer at the gym
is familiar with the little charts or electronic displays that provide
information about "maximum" or "target" heart rates. The charts are supposed to
tell you whether your workout is intense enough for someone your age to build a
healthy heart or burn off fat.
But now exercise physiologists say that information is flawed and irrelevant for
most gym rats.
The maximum heart formula has no scientific foundation, said Robert A. Robergs,
director of the exercise physiology laboratories at the University of New
Mexico. Rather, the formula for calculating one's maximum heart rate -- 220
minus one's age -- was based on observation and "superficial estimates," Robergs
said. His research, co-written with University of New Mexico colleague Roberto
Landwehr, was published last year in the Journal of Exercise Physiologyonline.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-he-newexert3mar03,1,3807160.st\
ory?coll=la%2Dhealth%2Dfitness%2Dnews
[Multi-line URL]



Carbo-loading: Eight last-minute nutrition tips for endurance athletes:
"I'm in a two-day rugby tournament. I need food help!!"
"This weekend, I'm riding in a 100-mile bike event. What should I eat the day
before?"
"For a charity fundraiser, I'm participating in a 24-hour aerobathon. How can I
avoid hitting the wall???"
If you have looming in the near future an endurance event - century bike ride,
marathon, or any other competition that will tax your endurance - you may be
concerned about the best nutritional preparations.
The good news is, even if your training is over, you can still significantly
enhance your performance with winning food strategies.
Without a doubt, what you eat and drink during the last few days and hours
before exhaustive exercise makes a difference. By eating wisely and well, you
can enjoy lasting energy without hitting the wall!
Here are eight last-minute nutrition tips for enhancing endurance.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=9674&sidebar=573&category=eat_right



From Runner's World:
Some runners are particularly prone to dry feet, which invariably leads
to painful cracking skin. Use a moisturizer or foot cream every day. Rub
it into the skin until your feet feel soft and smooth. The best time to
moisturize your feet is immediately after a bath or shower. Applying
moisturizer at that time will help retain some of the water from your
shower. - Adam Bean, RW managing editor

"Always remember that car drivers can't see you as well as you can
see them. Run on the left side of the road, facing traffic, and give a
wide berth to passing traffic. Run slowly and conservatively, without
any sudden bursts of speed or attempts to cross over to the other side
of the road."


Athletics: An Internet Shopping Experience:
From Ken Parker, RunnersWeb.com:
For sometime I had been trying to find a pair of the new Nike Air Durham Plus
shoes in Ottawa, Ontario only to be told that Nike Canada was not bringing this
shoe into the country.
Last Thursday I decided to shop on the internet.
Since I carry an ad for Road Runner Sports on my website I decided to give them
a try.
I went to the their website and found the shoes but was unable to complete the
credit card authorization online as it is for US based customers only.
However, they did display a 1-800 number which I called. After a short wait I
was connected to a very pleasant operator who quickly took my order, my credit
card information and method of delivery - I opted for FAST.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_internetshopping_20030223.html
Visit Road Runner Sports at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/RoadRunnerSports.html



'45,000 once filled these slopes with their din ...':
When the Olympics go home next year, they will find that their old haunts have
stood the test of time. When the Greeks defeated the Persians at Marathon in
490BC, and since Athens then did not have CNN, the soldier Pheidippides was
dispatched to deliver the good news.
The battlefield is now thick with orange groves and olives, and at the place
where Pheidippides began his run sits a pleasant and unassuming little football
stadium. The change shed is marked "Undressing Room". Nothing has been lost in
the translation if you consider that the shameless attire of ancient athletes
did not stretch even to a masking agent.
Pheidippides duly footslogged his way to the capital, where legend has it that
he exclaimed "niki", or "victory", then collapsed and died. Today, he would say:
"The traffic was a killer." But he would suffer no worse indignity than a
mandatory drug test.
More...from the Age at:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/07/1046826530163.html



Top Prize Money winners in Track & Field:
[From TrackProfile]
With two Energizer meetings and the Energizer overall awards, there was a
significant jump in prize money over the past two weeks. Two $50,000 world
record bonuses were rewarded at the Norwich Union Indoor Grand Prix in
Birmingham, GBR on February 21st: to Haile Gebrselassie for his 8:04.69 run
in the 2-Mile and to Svetlana Feofanova for her 15-7 ¾ (4.77m) clearance in
the pole vault.
Top 15 Prize Earners (US $)
[25 meetings contacted, 17 reported * as of 06-Mar]
MEN - [Total: 746,516]
1. Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 55,500
2. Christian Olsson (SWE) 45,904
3. Coby Miller (USA) 41,472
4. James Davis (USA) 37,520
5. Jason Gardener (GBR) 30,352
6. Walter Davis (USA) 26,124
7. Jamie Baulch (GBR) 25,760
8. Jadel Gergorio (BRA) 19,872
9. Daniel Caines (GBR) 16,960
10. Marek Plawgo (POL) 15,520
11. Ramon Clay (USA) 15,012
=12. Mehdi Baala (FRA) 9,936
=12. Yago Lamela (ESP) 9,936
14. Aleksandr Glavatskiy (BLR) 9,072
=15. Colin Jackson (GBR) 9,000
=15.Marlon Devonish (GBR) 9,000
WOMEN - [total: 585,216]
1. Svetlana Feofanova (RUS) 109,000
2. Muriel Hurtis (FRA) 45,468
3. Zhanna Block (UKR) 32,512
4. Regina Jacobs (USA) 30,000
5. Stacy Dragila (USA) 12,500
6. Philomena Mensah (CAN) 11,880
7. Kajsa Bergqvist (SWE) 10,616
8. Karin Mayr (AUT) 9,930
9. Naroa Agirre (ESP) 9,396
10. Lidia Chojecka (POL) 9,104
11. Jolanda Ceplak (SLO) 9,000
12. Susanna Kallur (SWE) 8,752
13. Cydonie Mothersill (CAY) 8,024
14. Maria Mutola (MOZ) 7,884
15. Kelly Holmes (GBR) 7,132
* Meetings either provided prize money information, or confirmed that they
did not offer prize money, or opted for individually negotiated appearance
payments or performance bonus payment structures.
The TRACK PROFILE REPORT is a news and feature-oriented bi-weekly
newsletter. Subscribers also receive The TRACK PROFILE Dispatch, exclusive
same-day on-site updates from major national and international competitions
in addition to late-breaking news.
Subscriptions: $35/year for 26 issues.
Free Trial Subscription available through April 17.
Next issue: Thursday, March 20.
Sign up at www.trackprofile.com/dispatch.html or send an email to
mailto:bob@...




The Great Weight Debate:
You're sick of trekking to aerobics class or sweating it out on the treadmill,
but you want to lose weight. Haven't you heard?? A growing number of svelte
citizens are dumping the jumping and taking the slow-motion way to fitness...
And in only minutes each week!!!! Skeptics say, not so fast! Your blood's
pumping, your body's racing. You've always been taught this is the best way to
become a lean, mean exercise machine. Now stop... "Nice and slowly." Fitness
expert Fred Hahn says we've got it all wrong... That the key to total fitness is
simple: pump iron...period. Frederick Hahn, fitness expert, author:"The
slow-burn strength training program works the muscles using a technique of very,
very slow lifting of the weight." Fred's popular program consists of ten
exercises that take a minute and a half each... And get this, you do it just
twice a week for a total of thirty minutes!!! But, Fred says this program is far
from a walk in the park. "You tax the cardiovascular system very heavily and
that's why you don't need to do formal aerobics in order to improve
cardiovascular health."
More...from WLBT at:
http://www.wlbt.com/Global/story.asp?S=1165193&nav=2CSfEOI5



Plantar Fasciitis:
Got a nagging pain in the arch of your foot or your heel? Does it tend to
hurt most when you get up in the morning, then ease up as you walk around on
it a little bit? Odds are you are suffering from plantar fasciitis, an acute
inflammation of the band of tissue that supports the arch. Our managing
editor, Marc Chalufour was able to keep his pain at bay for two years simply
by taking a piece of athletic tape and wrapping it once or twice securely
around his arch and over the top of his foot before each run. If your pain
is more acute, or you want to know more about this injury, you can get all
the details at http://www.runningtimes.com/issues/02apr/pf.htm.
For a more secure and intricate taping method to help take the pressure off
the fascia at the bottom of your foot, visit
http://www.runningtimes.com/special/plantarfasciitis.htm.
Left untreated, plantar fasciitis can become chronic, so take care of this
troublesome injury as soon as you can.
From the new Running Times Training Newsletter. Subscribe here:
http://www.runningtimes.com/newsletter/signup.htm



'Age is just a number':
One man's journey from middle-age paunch to sculpted abs -- all at the age of
60.
This, guys, is what 60 looks like when you eat healthy and exercise for 30 to 40
minutes a day, six days a week.
That the average 60-year-old looks more like the Pillsbury Doughboy and most of
us think that's normal, says it all about the North American lifestyle, says
Bill Yeomans, a retired Edmonton school teacher living in St. Albert.
Yeomans was a Doughboy once himself with all kinds of excuses for not shaping
up. Then his 78-year-old dad, living the same couch-potato life as Bill only
half a world away in Australia, got out of bed one morning and died of a heart
attack.
More...from Canada.com at:
<http://www.canada.com/health/story.html?id={59E23B99-BF18-4607-8777-988AFF1A95F\
0}>


Ironman record despite the pain:
Remarkable Tauranga doctor Matt Brick has achieved the unthinkable _ and he did
it with an excruciatingly painful leg injury in the world's toughest race with
just seconds to spare.
In a day for race records, Brick became the first 40-year-old in the southern
hemisphere to break ironman's magical nine-hour mark, collapsing across the tape
with just seconds to spare.
His incredible feat came in Saturday's Ironman New Zealand race in Taupo, with
the 40-year-old Tauranga Hospital orthopaedic surgeon finishing in 8hr 59m 50s.
Arms pumping, long legs striding and his grim face masking the pain, Brick was
spurred on by several thousand screaming spectators lining the finishing chute.
He sprinted the last 300m to break the finishing tape with seconds to spare.
More...from MyTown.co.nz at:
http://www.mytown.co.nz/story/mytstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3198730&thecity=bayofp\
lenty&thepage=home&type=nzh&storytoolsnzh=1
[Multi-line URL]



Preparation keeps the body on the ball:
The best and cheapest running investment I've made in recent years is one of
those big exercise balls that you roll on to ease the aches and pain brought on
by sitting or standing too much.
After last week's Runners Medical Forum, I'm heading out to a sports store to
buy another ball, this time one of those smallish medicine balls.
Michael Adesso, a physical therapist who runs the University at Buffalo's Sports
Medicine therapy satellite office on Youngs Road, brought one of those medicine
balls to the medical forum at D'Youville College. He had the audience feeling
stretched out for a run just watching him.
The idea that Adesso and other therapists have been stressing in recent years is
strengthening the body's core, the muscles, tendons and ligaments, both front
and back, that keep us upright and keep us from developing back and other
problems.
"Try to mimic what you are going to do," Adesso said as he swung the weighted
ball in what he called diagonal chops, slowly swinging it over one shoulder and
down toward the opposite knee, imitating the rotation of running.
More... from the Buffalo News at:
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030302/6009739.asp



Diving-suit marathon runner is Pride of Britain:
Diving-suit marathon man Lloyd Scott was named Fundraiser of the Year at the
Daily Mirror's Pride of Britain Awards this week.
Former Leyton Orient and Dagenham goalkeeper Lloyd, 41, completed both the
London and New York marathons this year in an antique diving suit, breaking the
record for the slowest ever marathons in five days.
Lloyd was presented with his award by TV sports presenter Gabby Logan on Monday
night, as he took a breather on his latest challenge - a 1000 mile charity
challenge run.
The ex-fireman, who now lives in Rainham, Essex, said: "I've seen the Pride of
Britain Awards for the last four years on TV and I have just been in awe of the
people on there.
"I feel delighted but humble. To me this award is the ultimate."
Lloyd, a former leukaemia sufferer, has raised a total of £1.25million for
cancer charities.



B.C's Canada Games team uses sports psychology as training tool:
Even when she's just sat down to enjoy a scrumptious meal, Christina Sharun is
picturing the perfect goal.
In addition to her quirky pre-game superstitions - she always wears one white
sock and one black sock - the native of Nanaimo, B.C., says visualization is a
key part of her preparation.
"It's almost second nature now," said the captain of British Columbia's women's
hockey team at the Canada Winter Games. "I find myself visualizing plays while
I'm eating my supper. It becomes just a part of things and you don't think about
it anymore."
B.C. team officials have determined that developing the mental muscle is just as
important as the physical training. That's where Laura Farres comes in.
As one of two "mental trainers" on B.C.'s mission staff, Farres is giving the
athletes the tools they need to become more well-rounded.
More...from Canada.com at:
http://www.canada.com/sports/story.html?id=DF6BB5E9-0F69-4BCE-A169-6B9F9E1D7D0C



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Athlete Tip of the Week:
When it comes to women's athletics, Stacy Dragila is about as revolutionary as
they come. The 31-year-old claimed the first-ever Olympic gold medal in women's
pole vault at the 2000 Games in Sydney. She also became the first and only
women's pole vault world champion with victories at both the 1999 and 2001 World
Championships. On top of that, Dragila is the current world record holder in
pole vault by virtue of clearing 15 feet, 9.25 inches in 2001. As if those
accolades aren't enough for her to stake her claim as pole vault queen, she has
also won five U.S. Outdoor championships, six U.S. Indoor championships and is a
two-time Jesse Owens Award winner.
However, long before she took hold of a pole and began clearing unprecedented
heights, Dragila participated in a slightly different type of competition: goat
roping. Growing up on a farm in Northern California, Dragila was a member of the
local 4-H club and gained an interest in the rodeo after watching her older
brother participate. She quickly developed a love for goat roping, a sport that
requires a rider on horseback to gallop alongside a running goat, hop down,
catch the goat and tie its legs together in a matter of seconds. It's a very
exact discipline and takes hours of practice to develop the skills necessary to
be successful. Dragila took time to offer a few tips on how to maximize your
goat roping potential.
Keys to Goat Roping
Tip #1: Find a fast horse that you can work well with.
"It is important to have a fast horse that runs straight. The rider and the
horse must work well together to make this happen."
Tip #2: Execute a quick dismount off the horse.
"A quick dismount is probably the most important thing, as this is where you can
cut time. You must be daring enough to jump off the horse while it is running as
fast as you can manage!"
Tip #3: Focus on the goat.
"You must focus on the goat once you hit the ground. The goat is tied in such a
way that it has slack to run, so you must follow the rope up the center in order
to catch it."
Tip #4: Tie the goat in such a way that it doesn't have a prayer.
"The last thing is you must tie the goat with a precise and tight wrap around
three legs so it cannot escape."



Put your best foot forward!
"Studying the truth speculatively is useful as a way of collecting preaching
material. But remember that unless you meditate constantly your light of truth
may go out."
Ancient Zen yarn
It has always seemed to me that out of the three activities we attempt to master
as triathletes, running holds the most dubious position. It's the safest of the
three disciplines; if you stop swimming you may sink, if you stop pedaling
you'll fall over but if you stop running - it just becomes a walk. It's also the
discipline we have been practicing the longest; most of us have been running
since we were three years old and have developed deeply ingrained habits and a
certain style of running. There is a chance that you may have never been in the
water or on a bike but, no matter what, we have all run at some point in time.
Because of all of this, running may be the simplest of our three sports, but it
is by no means the easiest. The impact of running brings more frequent injuries,
heart rates are generally highest on the run, and often times, because of
familiarity of running, it is the most challenging to change technically. I
bring this up because I believe that the run is the most important part of a
triathlon.
More...from ACME Coaching at:
http://www.acmecoaching.com/mr_three0201_travel.asp



Bricks for Your Legs:
By Coach Brendon
Triathlon and Duathlon are consecutive events that result in your legs feeling
like bricks when you come to run. This fact flies in the face of the way most
people train for triathlon. Clearly bike to run workouts (known as bricks
because that is what your legs feel like when running after cycling) are
important. Swim before work. Run after work. Cycle the next day etc. This
pattern of training results in athletes that are good at individual events with
some recovery between. Seems fairly obvious that you need to simulate bike to
run. But how many 'Brick' workouts and what should these consist of?
More...from EnduranceCoach.com at:
http://www.endurancecoach.com/


Mark Steinle explains why following a structured training plan will maximise the
effectiveness of your training.
Mark Steinle has been the fastest British runner in the London Marathon since
2000, with a PB of 2:09.17. He made his Olympic marathon debut in Sydney and is
a regular international on the roads having come from a strong cross-country
background.
Following a training plan has a number of benefits such as:
- increasing the likelihood of achieving your training goals
- ensuring your training relates to your chosen race distance
- helping identify areas of fitness to improve
- reducing the chance of sustaining an injury
- being motivational as you track your progress through the plan
- ensuring optimal race preparation.
More...from TimeOutDoors.com at:
http://www.timeoutdoors.com/Run/training/4RUNMRS01031501E.htm


Cycling - Willamette gone again for '03:
For the second year in a row, Oregon's Tour of Willamette, regarded as one of
the premier stage races in the U.S., has been canceled. According to race
director Larry Smith, the lack of a title sponsor, combined with overwhelming
costs for police escorts, killed the race.
"We'd been holding our breath, hoping to secure a title sponsor," Smith told
VeloNews. "But it just didn't go fast enough. The economy is just soft right
now. Everyone is holding on to their money."
Without a title sponsor, Smith could not cover the cost of police escorts, which
he has deemed crucial to running a safe race. "I know there are organizers out
there that run races with open roads," Smith said, "and everyone is supposed to
follow the centerline rule. But to me, that's like playing Russian roulette.
It's too big a race to run without an enclosure."
More...from VeloNews at:
http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/3518.0.html



Stupidity should be cured, says DNA discoverer:
Fifty years to the day from the discovery of the structure of DNA, one of its
co-discoverers has caused a storm by suggesting that stupidity is a genetic
disease that should be cured.
On 28 February 1953 biologists James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the
structure of DNA - the chemical code for all life. The breakthrough revealed how
genetic information is passed from one generation to the next and revolutionised
biology and medicine.
But in a documentary series to be screened in the UK on Channel 4, Watson says
that low intelligence is an inherited disorder and that molecular biologists
have a duty to devise gene therapies or screening tests to tackle stupidity.
More...from the New Scientist at:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993451


Upcoming Events:
==============
March 1 - 23, 2003:
Guide to St. Patrick's Day Races
http://www.runningtimes.com/special/03stpat.htm

March 8, 2003:
Bayou City Classic 10K - Houston, TX
http://www.bayoucityclassic.org/

Gate River Run 15K - Jacksonville, FL
http://www.1stplacesports.com/rrinfo.htm

Bay Island Triathlon - Roatan, Honduras
http://www.bayislandstriathlon.com/Schedule.htm
ITU Site
http://www.triathlon.org/international/int-2003/bay-islands-2003/event-details/e\
vent-details.htm

Devonport Triathlon - Australia
http://www.devonporttriathlon.com.au/
ITU Site
http://www.triathlon.org/international/int-2003/devonport-2003/event-details/eve\
nt-details.htm

March 9, 2003:
ITU Alagna Winter Triathlon - Italy
http://www.triathlon.org/international/int-2003/devonport-2003/event-details/eve\
nt-details.htm
ITU Site
http://www.triathlon.org/winter-tri/win-2003/events-2003/alagna-2003/index.htm

Valley of the Sun Marathon - Mesa, AZ
http://www.valleyofthesunmarathon.com/

March 14-16, 2003:
IAAF World Indoor Championships - Birmingham, England
http://www.wica2003.com/
IAAF Site
http://www.iaaf.org/WIC03/index.html
BBC Site
http://www0.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/sport/athletics/index.shtml

March 15, 2003:
Catalina Marathon - CA
http://www.pacificsportsllc.com/CatalinaMarathon/athlete.htm

March 16, 2003:
Lisbon Half Marathon - Portugal
http://www.lisbon-half-marathon.com/

March 29-30, 2003:
IAAF World XC Championships - Lausanne, Switzerland
http://www.cross2003.ch/homepage.html
IAAF Site
http://www.iaaf.org/WXC03/index.html

August 1 - 17, 2003:
Pan American Games - Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
http://www.santodomingo2003.org.do/

August 23 - 31, 2003:
9th IAAF World Championships in Athletics - Paris 2003 St-Denis, France
http://www.paris2003saintdenis.org/en/accueil.html

This Weeks Personal Postings/Releases:
No personal postings this week.

Television and Online Coverage:
[Check local listings as event times are subject to change]

USA Track and Field 2002 Elite U.S. TV Schedule
http://www.usatf.org/news/2002TVSchedule.shtml

OLN Triathlon Broadcast Schedule:
[PDF Format]
<http://www.triathlon.org/tv/tv-2001/broadcast-schedule/oln-broadcast%20schedule\
.pdf>
[2 Line URL]

TVGrid.com
http://www.tvgrid.com/

CBC Sports Schedule
http://www.cbc.ca/sports/schedule/

CTV Sportsnet
http://www.ctvsportsnet.com/index.shtml

Sundays @ 1P.M. EDT
Track & Field: The Running Zone
http://www.canoe.ca/TheRunningZone/home.html


Runner's World VCR Alerts
http://www.runnersworld.com/dailynew/home.html#vcr

USATF summer track broadcasting listing
http://www.usatf.org/news/2002TVSchedule.shtml

SportsOxygen.com
"A Woman's View of the World"
http://www.oxygen.com/sports/

Bikes on TV.com
http://www.bikesontv.com/


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Have a good week of training and/or racing.


Ken Parker
Runner's Web
runnersweb@... <mailto:runnersweb@...>
http://www.runnersweb.com/running.html