Runner's Web Digest - April 25, 2003

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New This Week:
Bruce Gennari of Brentwood, TN identified the photo as that of John Collins,
Ironman Founder. He wins a copy of Triathlete Magazine's Complete Triathlon
Book.
Triathlete Magazine's Complete Triathlon Book: The Training, Diet, Health,
Equipment, and Safety Tips You Need to Do Your Best
More information on the book is available from:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446679283//runnersweb/104-3129993-743512\
5
In one handy, easily referenced guide TRIATHLETE MAGAZINE'S COMPLETE TRIATHLON
BOOK offers the best advice, stories, and tips from
the top coaches and athletes who have contributed to the magazine over the
years. Appealing to both novices and the most seasoned
athlete, the book strikes a balance between technical depth and
beginner-friendliness by getting right down to the guidelines that
all triathletes can use. In addition, the book offers advice for the various
categories of triathletes: beginners, veterans,
short-course specialists, Ironman specialists, and others. Bearing the name of
the most popular source for information on the sport,
this book is sure to become a classic among triathlon enthusiasts.
You can buy the book here:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0446679283//runnersweb/104-3129993-743512\
5


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: "What process do you support for entry into large events
such as the Boston Marathon?"

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:" What do you believe is the limit for women's
marathoning?"

The results at publication time were:
2:10 or faster 57
2:11 3
2:12 19
2:13 7
2:14 12
Total Votes: 98

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: High-Tech Cycling-2nd Edition.
For serious cyclists, cycling coaches, and triathletes, the quest for a
technical edge never stops. Now two-time U.S. Olympic cycling team staff member
and renowned cycling author Ed Burke leads a team of top cycling scientists to
reveal the latest advances in the sport.
The newest edition of High-Tech Cycling picks up where the first edition left
off, incorporating the most current information on cycling technology,
technique, physiology, and mechanics in one comprehensive book. Thorough
explanations, along with supportive graphs and illustrations, give you an
in-depth understanding of the dynamics between human and machine that combine to
create champions of the sport.
Edmund R. Burke, PhD, was the pre-eminent author of cycling books and articles
since 1986. He wrote or edited more than 16 books on health, fitness, and
cycling, including Serious Cycling and Fitness Cycling. And he completed this
second edition of High-Tech Cycling just prior to his death in late Fall 2002.
Buy the book at:
http://www.humankinetics.com/products/showproduct.cfm?associate=880&isbn=0736045\
074


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 Slideshow is updated on a random basis. Check it out from our
FrontPage.

The FiveStar Site of the Week:
The FiveStar Site of the Week for next week is: Reebok Runner.
This site, which is "powered by Runner's World" provides columns for the High
School Runner, Fitness Runner and Performance Runner.
It also has an "Ask the Expert" feature, race calendars, travel information,
weekly giveaways and more.
Check it out at:
http://reebokrunner.runnersworld.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:
===============

Among Runners, Elite Girls Face Burnout and Injury:
Julia Stamps was a running star from her first strides in seventh grade. She
showed immense promise as a distance runner in her early years in high school,
but then endured years of injury and illness before fracturing her left leg in
two places in an accident two years ago. Doctors told her she would be lucky to
run again, much less race.
Stamps, who is now 24, became a symbol for a generation of high-achieving girls
who withered in adolescence before having the chance to fulfill their promise as
runners. At a time of tender growth, many of them trained at a high level, and
that often led to injury, impaired health or physical and emotional scars.
Doctors and medical researchers say there are several reasons for this. While
adolescent boys generally grow stronger year by year, girls usually experience
more erratic growth.
Doctors say that before the onset of menstruation, girls tend to have brittle
bones and relatively weak muscles, making them prone to injury if they are
training intensely. In addition, doctors say, such training has been shown to
delay menstruation, and this, too, can increase the risk of injury.
Girls' development can affect their athletic performance in a third way,
researchers say. Once menstruation begins, the body often undergoes a series of
changes that inhibit at least temporarily the ability of blood to carry oxygen,
producing a decline in physical fitness.
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/20/sports/othersports/20RUN.html



When athletes age:
It seemed like a good idea. The Unit for Sports and Exercise Medicine at the
University of Helsinki in Finland interviewed 117 former athletes to find out
about the condition of their hips.
The athletes included long-distance runners, soccer players, weight lifters and
shooters. The idea was to find out whether any of these sports were likely to
cause long-term damage to the hip joints.
As reported in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, none of the individual
sports contributed to hip damage. In fact, the only association found was with
how much weight the ex-athletes had gained. Those who had become fat after they
stopped competing were the ones who had most of the bone and joint problems.
More...from Health 24 at:
http://www.health24.co.za/Default.asp?action=article&ContentID=11749



Rust Never Rests:
Rust never rests and neither does its chemical relative, the free radical.
Pollution, preservatives, heavy metals, UV radiation and stress all help to
generate free radicals. Would you believe that oxygen, the element that keeps us
alive, is also one of the biggest threats to the environment and our body. We
can see evidence of destructive oxidation at work everyday when we observe a
rusting piece of metal or even a rotting fruit that spoils when left to air, but
what we can not see is the oxidative force impacting our bodies daily that is
set in motion by free radicals. The by-product of normal metabolism and the
everyday working of our bodies can create unstable oxygen molecules, free
radicals that rove the body seeking to make trouble. Many theorize that free
radical production may be responsible for aging, wrinkles and discoloration,
arthritis, increased susceptibility to certain types of cancer, hardening of the
arteries, neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. Alzheimers, Parkinsons, ALS, etc),
and even diabetes mellitus to mention a few. Oxidative stress" is the term
experts use to describe the havoc wreaked by free radicals.
More...from Cooper Wellness at:
http://cooper.teamcaster.com/LandingPages/landingpage.aspx?PromoID=85&CustID=944\
52&CampID=93&Token=7118bf64-f7c5-43af-a8f3-d4653c77ee81
[Multi-line URL]



Aerobic training is a key to improving fitness:
Marie Guay was working as an aerobics instructor, teaching high- and low-impact
floor workouts and step classes.
She was coming back from knee surgery to repair age-related torn cartilage when
her physical therapist delivered some bad news: "He said, 'You know what? You've
got to stop teaching.' And I thought my world had just bottomed out."
After she slowly built up strength in her knee, the first thing her physical
therapist let her do was climb on a bike.
That's where she found a new world.
Now, four years later, she teaches indoor cycling classes at the Manchester
YMCA. Her students range from beginners who've never climbed on a bike to
long-distance cyclists determined to stay sharp when the weather doesn't
cooperate.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=9767&sidebar=575&category=keep_fit



New hope for U.S. distance running:
Bill Rodgers is having one of those days that jog the memory back two or three
decades. Back to a time when Americans ruled the roads, when "Boston Billy"' and
guys like Greg Meyer and Alberto Salazar were toasted as Boston Marathon
champions.
Another marathon steps off from Hopkinton on Monday. As usual, an American
probably won't be in the picture at the finish. You have to flip back 20 years,
to Meyer in 1983, to find a U.S. winner. Or 1985, if you include Lisa Larsen
Weidenbach's victory on the women's side.
But now there's a glimmer of hope. The state of American distance running had
deteriorated so badly that it finally brought a call to action within the
running community. Over the last couple of years, a handful of elite training
camps have cropped up, and Salazar and others have stepped in as coaches.
More...from Sports Illustrated at:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/mike_fish/news/2003/04/18/straight_\
shooting_marathon/



Fluid - how much do you need?
"Drink plenty of water", is the advice that most marathon runners are familiar
with hearing. Sometimes a figure is given along with this advice: at least 1
litre of fluid per hour should be ingested during a race such as the Two Oceans
marathon. However, ingesting such a large volume is unnecessary and may even be
dangerous.
The common belief is that it is essential to avoid becoming dehydrated during a
marathon, as this is a very dangerous condition. However, dehydration is seldom
a problem. Nevertheless, runners force themselves to drink as much as possible.
In the majority of runners this will result in an excess fluid intake and they
will stop and urinate during the race.
Hyponatraemia
In a small percentage of runners, however, the fluid will accumulate and a
condition called hyponatraemia will develop. This is when the concentration of
sodium in the body becomes very low due to the extra fluid and is therefore also
known as water intoxication.
Slower runners, and runners who stop and walk frequently during the race, are
the most likely to develop hyponatraemia because their sweat rates are fairly
low and they have ample time to ingest sufficiently large volumes of fluid to
potentially cause the development of the condition. Ironically, hyponatraemia is
more dangerous than dehydration.
More...from Health 24 at:
http://www.health24.co.za/Default.asp?action=article&ContentID=11762



Connect mind and body to prevent overtraining, conflicting goals:
The most common and most costly mistake made by casual and serious exercisers
alike is habitual overtraining, which results in a decline in health, fitness
and motivation levels.
Exercise is a form of physical stress to your body. When you exercise, you are
actually fatiguing your muscle fibers, heart, lungs and other systems of your
body.
In the recovery period, your body's natural ability to adapt to the stress
placed upon it enables you to grow stronger and fitter - the desired response to
exercise.
This simple principle of stress and rest is a fundamental law of fitness, yet
it's ignored by many highly motivated, goal-oriented exercisers.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=9758&sidebar=575&category=keep_fit



Stretching the legs and spine
[From the LA Times]
Get into the habit of stretching out your legs and spine whenever you can. It
can help release tension during long periods of sitting or standing and after
your workouts.
1 Sit very tall on a flat, level surface with your legs extended in front of
you. Flex your feet so your toes point upward and your heels reach forward.
Inhale and reach your arms overhead at shoulder width.
2 On an exhale, bend forward at your hips, maintaining a straight spine as you
reach for your toes. (If you cannot touch your toes, hook a towel around the
balls of your feet, holding each end of the towel.) While grasping your feet,
slowly stretch forward, keeping your legs and spine straight. Hold the stretch
at least 30 seconds while you continue to breathe deeply and relax the backs of
your legs and neck.



Genetic testing beckons:
CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- As the women's eight boat pulls up to the dock,
concluding a practice session here at the U.S. Olympic training center, science
goes to work. Two assistants race over to the boat and take pin-pricks of blood
from the rowers to determine their individual lactic acid levels immediately
after exertion.
On other days, they will be hooked up to a machine to determine how much oxygen
each can take in while exercising. Some of them will undergo muscle biopsies, to
determine the constitution -- fast-twitch vs. slow-twitch -- of their fiber.
Someday, U.S. womens' national team coach Harmut Buschbacher also would like to
get genetic profiles of young rowers.
More...from ESPN at:
http://espn.go.com/otl/athlete/monday.html
For more on "Sports' brave new world":
http://espn.go.com/otl/athlete/thursday.html



Eat more carbs, less sugar: WHO report:
GENEVA - The World Health Organization is calling on countries to take action on
nutrition and exercise.
WHO has teamed up with another United Nations organization - the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) - to warn people about the dangers of bad diets
and lack of physical exercise.
A report by the two organizations links diet, nutrition and exercise to several
chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, cardiovascular
diseases and dental disease.
More...from the CBC at:
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/04/23/Consumers/WHOdiet_030423



It's go time:
For most of us, now is the time to begin structured, albeit aerobic, training
By Lance Watson and Stefan Timms
When many triathletes first start to train, they simply swim, ride and run as
hard as they can until they get into shape. What these athletes are missing is a
well-structured training program and an understanding of training progression.
The key to achieving this structure is periodization. Periodization is used to
break long-term training plans into smaller segments. These smaller segments
focus on specific training tasks and target increased fitness and performance
while reducing the risks of injury, overtraining and illness. We suggest that
you divide your training program into four periods: foundation/base,
preparation, specialization and transition -- with a broad training goal for
each period.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_CTS_20030425_Watson.html
View other columns by CTS at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/cts_columns.html



From Runner's World:
Go Long: "A weekly long run of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours increases blood volume,
builds new capillaries, and teaches your body to spare muscle glycogen and use
fat as a fuel source. not to mention, it increases endurance." - Ed Eyestone

Stay on your Feet: Don't sit as soon as you finish a marathon. Stay upright and
keep walking to avoid cramping. Your leg muscles need blood to be pumped through
them. Otherwise, your legs will become very sore and stiff.

Lynn Williams said, "I think to feel peaceful in one's life there has to be
balance. My running gives me that. Among all the chaos with my kids, household
and business, a 30-minute jog in the woods allows me to really breathe and keep
the demands of the day in perspective."

Tomato to the Rescue: It's possible that natural tomato lycopene as well as
beta-carotene may help protect skin from sun damage. Results of a new study by
German researcher Wilhem Stahl suggest that tomato and lycopene antioxidant
supplements may help lower the risk of sunburns.

Sweet Laces: The week before a marathon, put fresh laces in your race shoes.
This simple (and cheap) safeguard could save you a lot of grief on race day. -
Katie Herrell, online coordinator

Boston Recap: If you missed televised coverage of the Boston Marathon you can
find all the important details and post-race coverage in our special online
Boston Section. You'll find the final results as well as all of this year's
Beantown gossip right here:
http://www.runnersworld.com/events/boston03/home.html




Three Stages of Athletic Development:
Source: Solar Tri
I have seen many athletes or aspiring athletes start out in a training program
that is new to them with the expectations of certain time goals and/or race
results. Some of them attain these goals, but most athletes in a new sport have
expectations of themselves that are unrealistic. In my first year of triathlon,
after repeated disappointment with my race results, I came across a quote in an
article about Tim DeBoom. To paraphrase, it stated that an athlete had to train
for around 5 years before they could even think about "racing" an Ironman. This
hit home, as I was convinced that I was an Ironman distance racer that hadn't
performed up to specs in my first Ironman (Canada '00 in 15:43). Upon further
investigation, I've found research that backs the "training stages" theory. It
can be broken down into three specific stages:
More...from Trifuel at:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/triathlon/000062.php



Keep it Fun:
Don't get wrapped up in training and racing.
I think sometimes, many of us have a tendency to get a little too wrapped up in
racing and training and we forget that this stuff is supposed to be fun. In a
time of advanced training tools and techniques, faster, lighter and better....
everything, it's easy to get so focused on technology and performance that we
forget to make sure the experiences are enjoyable.
I know many people who won't even get in the saddle unless it's going to be a
ride of at least 20 miles. Anything less is "just not worth it".
More...from Transition Times at:
http://www.transitiontimes.com/viewstorylocal.cfm?ID=1956&ett2locale=Pennsylvani\
a&ett2local=Pennsylvania




Authors set out on Olympic Odyssey:
ATHENS, Greece (April 22, 2003 12:02 p.m. EDT) - Fourteen writers from across
the world have started writing a collective work of fiction along the lines of
the "Odyssey", Homer's epic saga from Greek mythology.
The 300-page book, which bears the provisional title "Global Novel," is part of
the cultural events around the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and is bankrolled by
the Greek government.
Greek Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said the project would help "civilize
globalization".
"As soon as a text is complete, it... will be immediately available on an
Internet site which we will create. Upon reading it, the next writer will start
writing his part," explained Andaios Chrysostomidis, head of the foreign
literature department at Kastaniotis, the Greek publishers of the novel.
The final book is expected to be published in Greek around Christmas. A team of
24 translators will put the text into 12 more languages.
More...from Nando Times at:
http://www.nandotimes.com/sports/story/863469p-6035472c.html




Upcoming Events:
==============
April 26, 2003:
Get-In-Gear 10K - Minneapolis, MN
http://getingear10k.com/

Country Music Marathon - Nashville, TN
http://www.cmmarathon.com/

St. Anthony's Triathlon - Florida
http://www.satriathlon.com/

Television:
USATF Golden Spike Tour 4:30 P.M.
USA vs. the World at Penn Relays NBC

April 27, 2003:
Kingston Half Marathon and 5K
http://www.kingstonhalfmarathon.ca/

Cleveland Marathon - OH
http://www.clevelandmarathon.com/

Big Sur Int'l Marathon - Carmel, CA
http://www.bsim.org/

Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon - OK
http://www.okcmarathon.com/

La Jolla Half-Marathon - CA
http://www.lajollahalfmarathon.com/

St. Anthony's Triathlon - Florida
http://www.satriathlon.com/
ITU Site
http://www.triathlon.org/world-cup/wcup2003/st-anthonys/index.htm

St. John Ambulance Marathon - Waterloo - ON
http://www.bond.net/~stjohn/marathon/

Times Colonist 10K - Victoria, BC
http://www.timescolonist10k.com/

Ottawa District Run for Physiotherapy - Ottawa, ON
http://events.runningroom.com/site/?raceId=351


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

Check our Upcoming page for more events at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/rw_upcoming.html

This Weeks Personal Postings/Releases:
We have NO personal postings this week-
Television and Online Coverage:
[Check local listings as event times are subject to change]

Check out our new Runner's Web Television Links page at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/rw_television.html



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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
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