Runner's Web Digest - May 21, 2004

The Original Runner's and Triathlete's Web was founded in January of
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now a small business venture which sponsors the OAC Racing Team, a
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The TRACK PROFILE Reader 2004, an in-depth review of the 2003 season
by Bob Ramsak, is now available. Selected from
hundreds of reports filed by the Track Profile News Service last
year, The TRACK PROFILE READER provides a unique look
back at the personalities, stories and events that defined track and
field in 2003. With in depth profiles of the
sport's biggest stars and comprehensive on-site reports from major
competitions, this annual review takes the reader
beyond the results, providing a perfect companion for casual and
diehard fans alike. Check out the book at:
http://www.booksurge.com/author.php3?
accountID=GPUB00341&affiliateID=A000497

The Stretching Handbook:
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cgi-bin/at.pl?a=286905


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New This Week:


***Note: we have been having problems with Yahoo Groups today. Last
week's Digest was reposted and I have been having difficulty getting
this weeks Digest sent***

How To Run and Enjoy the Marathon - (A Practical Guide To The 26.2-
Mile Journey) By James Raia
Chapter 14. Marathon No. 1 (Revisited): Don't Forget The Little
Things is available at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20040521_Raia_Marathon1
4.html

Sign-up for Tour de France Times and win a free copy of the e-book,
The Tour Within The Tour de France. Continuing through the beginning
of the Tour de France, James Raia will forward a copy of his e-book
all about the sites and sounds and people and places of the Tour de
France to five randomly selected new subscribers.
If you're already a subscriber, please tell a friend or colleague
about the offer. He will notify winners via e-mail. It's a simple
equation: sign-up for a free newsletter and win his e-book. To
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We have NO personal postings this week.
Personal Postings, when available, are located after the Upcoming
Section towards the bottom of the newsletter.

Our latest column from Carmichael Training Systems:
Bigger bang for your bucks - Saving for a Sunny Day, is available at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/cts_columns.html


The Tour Within the Tour de France by James Raia:
The Tour de France is the world's greatest cycling event. As the
bicyclists climb into the mountains and quickly pass through the
rolling countryside, many other postcards of life occur away from the
competition - the ambience, the restaurants, the uniqueness of
the villages and the people who live and work among fields of
sunflowers, near ancient castles and among fields of expansive
vineyards. The Tour Within The Tour de France includes 24 essays
about the author's first six years of attending the race.
This ebook cost $7.95.
Order now with your check or credit card at:
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ii=343039393832373631303837353131372e302e656c746f6d616a612e3030312e30&
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[Multi-line URL]


Digest Article Index:

1. Down to a science
Medals rare for U.S. marathoners, steamy Athens could be different.
2. The Science Behind Bonking
When your body stalls mid-run, it's called bonking. When scientists
debate the causes, it's called a food fight. Here's everything you
need to know.
3. Are sports drinks for everybody? How and why to use them
4. Smart Suncare for the Outdoor Athlete
5. Moderate Drinking May Raise Healthy Hormone Levels
6. Sprains are pains, but R.I.C.E. is nice
7. Nutritional snacks, power drinks fail Ottawa's tests
8. 'Active rest' could help runners recover
Physician suggests light exercise in coming days
9. Exercise? Count on It
As an experiment, one author resolved to do nothing that smacked of
purposeful exercise for nine days. Here are his results.
10. Key workouts for a hilly Ironman
11. When the Body Attacks Itself
Autoimmunity: Rates of immune disorders like Crohn's and MS more than
doubled in 40 years.
12. Lifting Legs While Running Drains More Energy Than Thought
13.Scientists endorse Atkins diet:
Low-carbohydrate, high protein diet lead to the greatest weight loss.
14. Low-carb v. low-fat: No clear loser, studies find
After one year, weight-loss on the two diet regimes was about the
same, researchers find.
15. A Sports Turnaround: the Team Doctors Now Pay the Team
16. Talking points of exercise
17. Sodas Raise Cancer Risk, U.S. Study Finds
18. From Runner's World
19. Wake up! You need more sleep
20. A Dietary Mineral You Need (and Probably Didn't Know It)
21. Attack of the Carbezoids
22. Training Nutrition Summary
23. Olympic Hopeful Jessi Stensland, Pro Triathlete - Pre-Olympic
Interview
24. Aging Agendas
Joe Henderson's Running Commentary
25. News Scan


Runner's Web Weekly Poll:

This week's poll is: "Should Transgender Athletes Be Eligible for the
Olympics?"

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 is the probability of terrorist
attacks at the Athens Olympics? "
The results at publication time were:
Answers Votes Percent
1. Zero to 9% 17 16%
2. 10 to 24% 17 16%
3. 25 to 39% 13 13%
4. 40 to 54% 12 12%
5. 55 to 69% 7 7%
6. 70 to 84% 9 9%
7. 85 to 99% 6 6%
8. 100% 23 22%
Total Votes: 104

You can access the poll from our FrontPage as well as voting on
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Five Star Site of the Week: Lornah Kiplagat.
"Welcome to the web site of Elite athlete Lornah Kiplagat and the
High Altitude Training Center (HATC ).
The idea of this site is to give information about Lornah, the HATC
concept and its team, and to detail the coaching opportunities now
available online by Lornah.
We will update this page with regularity focusing on the latest news,
so please keep checking back for latest reports!"
Check out the site at:
http://www.lornah.com/

Send us your suggestions for our Five Star site. Please check our
list of previous Five Star Sites available from the Five Star
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site unless it has undergone a major redesign.


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

Book of the Week:
World Record Breakers in Track & Field Athletics.
Michael Johnson's sensational 200-meter performance in the '96
Olympics left those who watched in awe. Johnson graces the cover of
World Record Breakers in Track & Field Athletics as but one example
of what men and women around the globe can do when challenged in
competition to go faster, higher, and farther than ever before.
This one-of-a-kind book is a collector's item, encyclopedia, and wish
book all in one. Athletes, coaches, and fans will enjoy how the book:
• provides a complete and captivating look at those who have set new
world records in the sport,
• selects the three greatest performers for each event, and
• projects future world record marks for the year 2015.
Bannister's mile, Beamon's long jump, and Joyner-Kersee's heptathlon
are but a few of the outstanding performers remembered so vividly
through stories and hundreds of accompanying photographs. You'll find
the details of more than 600 record setting performances organized in
chronological order by event for men and women.
World Record Breakers in Track & Field Athletics is much more than a
listing of dates and statistics; it's a captivating look at the men
and women who had the talent, training, skills, and will to make
their mark in the sport.
Buy the book at:
http://www.humankinetics.com/products/showproduct.cfm?
associate=880&isbn=088011679X

More books from Amazon at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/amazon.html
and Human Kinetics at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/human_kinetics.html

This Weeks News:

Articles:

1. Down to a science:
Medals rare for U.S. marathoners, steamy Athens could be different.
Try as we might, it's at first hard to fathom an American marathoner
leaving Athens with a medal this summer. Olympic glory in the sprints
and a smattering of field events, especially the big boys in the shot
put, perhaps. But Uncle Sam's distance runners just aren't up to
world standards.
So why even suggest it might be different come August? Well, the
answer may be found in what scientists describe as climatic heat
stress. This is a nasty bagful of stuff cooked up by an Athens
summer, like steaming temperatures, humidity, glaring sunshine and
thickly polluted air.
Think Southern California in August, with the mercury touching the
mid-80s when the race starts in the late afternoon. Then, imagine a
26.2-mile trek into the heart of Los Angeles over a course with
steeper hills than runners climb at the Boston Marathon.
We're talking about great equalizers bound to slow the pace. And no
country has sunk more sharp minds, money and science into calculating
the fastest way to get its runners from the sleepy village of
Marathon into bustling Athens. Some of this insight was shared during
a marathon team summit last weekend in Chula Vista, Calif.
"The Athens marathon is different because it is not just how fast you
can run,'' said Dr. David Martin, one of the country's leading sports
physiologists and author of The Olympic Marathon. "It is how well you
can manage the environment. And to my knowledge there is not a
country in the world that is doing what we're doing in terms of
preparing its athletes. We're essentially running a national training
camp. Bringing in the best minds in the country, in terms of
humidity, hills, altitude, nutrition, energy, pace -- all together in
one place, having spent hundreds of hours working together as a team
in how to cope with the environment and conditions.
More...from Sports Illustrated at:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/writers/mike_fish/05/14/straight
.shooting/index.html


2. The Science Behind Bonking:
When your body stalls mid-run, it's called bonking. When scientists
debate the causes, it's called a food fight. Here's everything you
need to know.
Chiang Kai-shek is said to have received news of his army's mutiny
while still in his pajamas. Chances are you will be equally
unprepared for the mutiny of your own body--in other words, for
bonking. We're not talking about the mere cramping of a calf, or the
everyday slowing caused by lactic acid build-up, or the deep muscle
pain sometimes caused by downhill running. Marathoners used to call
bonking "hitting the wall," but it's actually a bodily form of
sedition. In some form or another, it becomes a collapse of the
entire system: body and form, brains and soul.
Consider the muscle-glycogen bonk, where the brain works fine but the
legs up and quit. Then there's the blood-glucose bonk, where the legs
work fine but the brain up and quits. Let's not forget the everything
bonk, a sorry stewpot of dehydration, training errors, gastric
problems, and nutrition gaffes.
And then there's the little-purple-men bonk. "After about 20-K, I
started to see little purple men running up and down the sides of
these cliffs," says Mark Tarnopolsky, M.D., who wears hats as both a
leading sports nutrition researcher and an endurance athlete. "I knew
it was an hallucination, but I stopped in the middle of the race to
look at them anyway," he says. "It was kind of crazy."
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-51-0-0-6263,00.html


3. Are sports drinks for everybody? How and why to use them:
They have names that make you feel as if you're working out just by
drinking them -- Gatorade, Accelerade, Cytomax, Endurance, Raw Dawg,
SoBe Adrenaline Rush, and Red Bull -- but I was confused about
sports, recovery, and energy drinks.
I wasn't sure whether they had any real value, so I did a little
research.
Most experts agree that sports drinks are helpful if you're involved
in high-intensity activity for long durations or if you sweat a lot.
"We don't believe everyone should be drinking sports drinks," says
Robert Murray, director of the Gatorade Sports Science
Institute. "They were formulated for those who would benefit most,
such as soldiers, construction workers and professional athletes."
Leslie Bonci, director of sports medicine nutrition at the University
of Pittsburgh Medical Center, says if you're exercising occasionally
for less than 45 minutes, you're probably not a candidate for these
drinks.
"The reason sports drinks are helpful to competitive endurance
athletes is because of the difficulty of consuming calories from
whole foods during the event," says Nancy Clark, author of Nancy
Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook (Human Kinetics, 2003).
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?
story_id=10736&sidebar=573&category=eat_right


4. Smart Suncare for the Outdoor Athlete:
From golf to windsurfing, summer is the time for outdoor sports.
Exciting as this may be, extended periods under the sun mean a higher
risk of sun damage. Protection is essential, and different activities
call for different kinds of sunscreen. Join our panel of
dermatologists for some expert tips on safe fun in the sun. Topics
will include:
Can a sunscreen really be "waterproof"?
What does "sweatproof" mean?
Should sunscreen be reapplied more often when you're physically
active?
Are convenient sticks and gels as protective as other types of
sunscreen?
More...from the Denver Post at:
http://denverpost.healthology.com/webcast_transcript.asp?
f=skinhealth&c=suncare_athlete&spg=SCH
Watch the video at:
http://denverpost.healthology.com/video_player/redirect_friend.asp?
=skinhealth&b=denverpost&c=suncare_athlete&webcast=suncare_athlete
[MultiLine URL]


5. Moderate Drinking May Raise Healthy Hormone Levels:
Moderate drinking may boost levels of a hormone that is believed to
help protect against artery disease. The findings could help explain
some of the cardiovascular benefits of moderate drinking.
"People consuming alcohol in moderate amounts may have a healthier
hormone status," Dr. Henk F.J. Hendriks at TNO Nutrition and Food
Research in the Netherlands told Reuters Health.
"The implication of this piece of research is that it further
substantiates the notion that moderate alcohol consumption is
consistent with a healthy lifestyle," Hendriks said.
Many studies have shown that moderate drinking is associated with a
reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Moderate tippling may lower
the risk of artery disease through its effects on inflammation, blood
clotting and on the way the body metabolizes fats in the blood.
There is growing evidence that sex hormones also may be involved in
the development artery disease. For example, some studies suggest
that high levels of a hormone called DHEAS, or
dehydroepiandrosterone, may help keep blood vessels healthy. Levels
of DHEAS naturally decline with age.
Hendriks and his colleagues set out to measure the effect of moderate
drinking on levels of DHEAS and other sex hormones.
More...from Reuters at:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=15EBINTTKYAAKCRBAE
ZSFEY?type=healthNews&storyID=5150858


6. Sprains are pains, but R.I.C.E. is nice:
When it comes to regular exercise, even the most cautious fitness
fanatics may experience sprains or strains, which can derail their
program. But what's the difference between the two injuries, and when
do you need to see a physician?
According to the National Institutes of Health, sprains involve
injury to one or more ligaments, while strains involve injury to
tendons or muscle tissue. Both types of problems can range from mild
to severe.
Generally speaking, sprains occur when a joint is forced out of its
normal position as the result of a sudden twist or fall. While
sprains can occur in any joint in the body, the most common location
is the ankle. Other common locations include the wrist and the knee.
Signs of a sprain can include pain, swelling and the inability to
move. Experts recommend seeing a doctor if the joint is so severely
injured that it appears disfigured, or the pain impairs the ability
to walk more than four steps.
Strains, on the other hand, occur when a muscle or tendon is twisted
or pulled, and they typically affect the back and hamstring muscles.
Common causes of strains include a blow to the body from
participation in contact sports like football or soccer, or improper
lifting of heavy objects. Racquet sports can also lead to elbow
strains.
More...from CNN.com at:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/HEALTH/05/14/rice.treatment/index.html


7. Nutritional snacks, power drinks fail Ottawa's tests :
Canadians gulp down around $1-billion worth of energy drinks, power
bars and weight-loss products every year, but most of the products
don't live up to their nutritional billing and fraud is a major
concern, according to documents obtained by The Globe and Mail.
A Globe review of 120 product tests by the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency last year found that only 43 received a "satisfactory" rating.
In other words, only 36 per cent of the drinks, bars and supplements
tested by the CFIA actually contained what was on their label or met
regulatory standards.
Similar testing in 2002 found a compliance rate of about 40 per cent,
while testing in 2001 resulted in just 6 per cent getting a
satisfactory score.
Some of the samples that did not make the cut last year included
products by Shoppers Drug Mart Corp., Loblaw Cos. Ltd., Kellogg
Canada Inc. and familiar brand names, including Life, Presidents
Choice, Slim-Fast, Clif Bar, Vector and Red Bull Energy Drink.
More...from the Globe and Mail at:
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040514.wsnack15/BNSt
ory/Front/


8. 'Active rest' could help runners recover:
Physician suggests light exercise in coming days.
Michelle Lanouette of Tumwater finished her first marathon Sunday.
Now that the marathon is over, Lanouette will spend the next few days
recuperating from weeks of hard training.
Lanouette, 21, a student at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore.,
said she plans to do "absolutely nothing" today.
"I don't plan on getting out of bed," Lanouette said with a laugh.
And she plans to not run for the next two weeks.
Lanouette's recovery plan is just what the doctor ordered.
Terra Bowles, an Olympia family physician and a marathon runner, said
anyone who ran Sunday's marathon should take it easy for the next few
days.
Bowles suggested using the next couple of days as a period of "active
rest." That means going for a long walk, a really slow run or a nice,
easy bike ride. Keeping active "helps to mobilize lactic acid and
promote the muscles' recovering quickly," Bowles said.
But at least for the next few days, the activity should be light.
More...from the Olympian at:
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20040517/sportssection/51855.shtm
l


9. Exercise? Count on It:
Suppose there was a way to avoid all the bother involved in finding
the time and the will to exercise. And imagine it required nothing
more than toting up the calories spent in normal everyday activities
and ensuring that they matched or exceeded the calories coming in.
How many people out there would take that route instead of hitting
the health club, pounding the pavement or grunting in front of the
latest Pilates polka video? Let's see a show of hands. I thought so.
Could it be done? I set out to see.
As an experiment, I resolved to do nothing that smacked of purposeful
exercise for nine days. That's right, Richard Simmons, nothing. No
power walking, no getting friendly with a Nautilus machine, no yoga-
robics, no daily workout besides the motion of normal activities. I
decided to keep the exercise -- I mean, the calculation -- simple:
Forget about fat calories, metabolic rates and all that; this was
just subtracting the in from the out. There would be no dietary
modification, either; my regular fare would suffice. The test, I
thought -- somewhat wrongly, but more about that later -- would be to
see whether balancing the input and the output would keep my weight
constant. I'd prove that the power of arithmetic could overcome the
problem of exercise!
More...from the Washington Post at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57537-2004Jan5.html


10. Key workouts for a hilly Ironman:
If your goal Ironman boasts a challenging, hilly course, then you'll
need to prepare appropriately in order to have your best performance.
Tailoring your training to meet the rigors of a hilly course will
make you faster on the bike and leave you fresher for the run. And
developing skills to help you choose proper gearing, pacing and race-
day strategy are also essential -- as is effective mental prep to
help build confidence.
Pumping up
Hitting the weight room can increase your overall strength and power.
Focus primarily on specific leg exercises likes squats, lunges, leg
extensions and flexions. Start off with two to three sets of low
weight with high repetitions (i.e. 20 to 30 reps) for four to six
weeks to allow your body to go through an adaptation phase. After
this phase, you will be able to start increasing the weight, but keep
in mind that the goal is an increase in overall sport-specific
strength, not maximum power or muscle mass.
After a workout in the gym, hop on the stationary trainer for 60 to
90 minutes and perform several over-gear repeats: low-cadence riding
at 50 to 60 rpm in a big gear. Include three to five 10-minute work
intervals with five minutes of easy spinning after each effort. If
you prefer to do this set on the road, find a five-minute hill with a
moderate grade and tackle it in the seated position, maintaining a
cadence of about 50 to 60 rpm. Rest on the way down and repeat three
to six times.
More...from InsideTri at:
http://www.insidetri.com/train/spmd/articles/2221.0.html



11. When the Body Attacks Itself :
Autoimmunity: Rates of immune disorders like Crohn's and MS more than
doubled in 40 years.
The immune system is a thing of beauty—subtle enough to distinguish
dangerous invaders like viruses from benign interlopers such as food;
clever enough to recognize when the body's supposedly friendly cells
turn cancerous and should be eliminated. But the immune system can
also go seriously awry. When it begins mauling healthy tissues, the
result can be any one of 80 autoimmune diseases such as lupus or
rheumatoid arthritis. "It's the price we pay for having such a
dynamic, finely balanced system," says immunobiologist Jeffrey
Bluestone, director of the Immune Tolerance Network at the University
of California, San Francisco.
Must we limit ourselves to treating the symptoms of these disorders,
or could we modulate the immune system itself? Immunologist Marc
Feldmann and rheumatologist Ravinder Maini of Imperial College London
posed that very question in the mid-1980s. Doctors scoffed. But three
drugs for rheumatoid arthritis emerged from their research, and the
same drugs are also proving useful for conditions like Crohn's
disease and juvenile arthritis. This year Maini and Feldmann won the
Lasker Award for clinical medical research. And some of their
colleagues are talking Nobel Prize.
More...from MSNBC at:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3606213/



12. Lifting Legs While Running Drains More Energy Than Thought:
The movement of your legs in the air when you run may consume more
energy than you suspect.
Northeastern University researchers say they've demonstrated that,
contrary to previous findings, swinging your legs in the air while
running requires a significant amount of energy. Previous research
concluded the force produced when the foot is on the ground is the
only way to determine energy cost when a person runs.
However, the Northeastern researchers found significant energy is
used to fuel muscles that move the leg while it is off the ground.
In their study, the researchers estimated energy use by measuring
blood flow to the hind leg muscles of guinea fowl. They concluded
that movement muscles consume 26 percent of the energy used by limbs
while running. Standing muscles consume the remaining 74 percent of
the energy.
The study appears in the Jan. 2 issue of Science.
This method of using blood flow to estimate energy consumption offers
a technique to provide information about other aspects of energy
consumption during running. That could help researchers better
understand which specific muscles are used to support weight and how
differences in body size and speed affect energy use, which may
improve knowledge of rehabilitative medicine.


13.Scientists endorse Atkins diet:
Low-carbohydrate, high protein diet lead to the greatest weight loss.
Following a low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet is a more effective
way to lose weight than following a low fat diet, say US researchers.
Two studies published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine
found weight loss was greatest when people followed an Atkins-style
diet.
Cholesterol levels also seemed to improve more on a low-carb diet
compared to a low-fat diet.
However, the research was funded by the Robert C Atkins Foundation.
And critics say there are still serious doubts about the long-term
effect on health of adopting such diets.
The studies
In the first study, researchers at Duke University Medical Center in
Durham, North Carolina, assigned 120 obese volunteers to either a low-
carbohydrate, high-protein diet or a low-fat, low-cholesterol, low-
calorie diet.
After six months, the people on the Atkins-style diet had lost an
average of 26 pounds, compared to an average of 14 pounds in the
conventional low-fat diet group.
The low-carbohydrate, high-protein diet also had a good effect on fat
levels.
More...from the BBC at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3722221.stm


14. Low-carb v. low-fat: No clear loser, studies find:
After one year, weight-loss on the two diet regimes was about the
same, researchers find.
Over a six-month period, low-carb diets like Atkins and South Beach
result in greater weight-loss than traditional low-fat diets, but by
one year, the results are about the same for each regime, according
to two new studies.
While the research is, by no means, the final word in the fierce diet
debate, it will no doubt provide a boost to the immensely popular but
much disparaged proponents of low-carbohydrate weight-loss.
Even Walter Willett, chairman of the department of nutrition at
Harvard University and one of the world's foremost nutritional
experts, said that, based on the new research, "We can no longer
dismiss very-low-carbohydrate diets." He stressed, however, that this
should not be taken as an endorsement.
Rather, Dr. Willett said, the message to retain is that people who
are overweight should "experiment with various methods of weight
control" to find the one that works best for them and "find ways to
eat [that] they can maintain indefinitely rather than seeking diets
that promote rapid weight-loss."
More...from the Globe and Mail at:
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040518/H
LOWCARB18//?query=carbohydrate


15. A Sports Turnaround: the Team Doctors Now Pay the Team:
Once, professional sports teams paid the best physicians they could
find to treat their players, but that practice could soon be as old-
fashioned as the house call.
These days, groups of doctors or hospitals are paying the teams.
In an upside-down scenario spawned by an increasingly competitive
health-care market, hospitals and medical practices — eager for any
promotional advantage — have begun bidding to pay pro teams as much
as $1.5 million annually for the right to treat their high-salaried
players. In addition to the revenue, sports franchises get the
services of the provider's physicians either without charge or at
severely discounted rates.
In return, the medical groups and the hospitals are granted the
exclusive right to market themselves as the team's official hospital,
H.M.O. or orthopedic group. In a nation of aging baby boomers and
weekend warriors with aching, tattered joints and ligaments, being
designated the place where sports stars are nursed back to playing
shape has precious value.
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/18/sports/othersports/18DOCT.html



16. Talking points of exercise:
Chatting might not be good for top athletes, but a buddy can provide
motivation for others.
For years, researchers have debated the pros and cons of conversing
during aerobic exercise.
The effort of speaking and listening might cause people to slow down,
some argue. Others contend that an engaging talk can enliven and even
intensify a workout. The challenge has been to design a study that
mimics the rhythms and realities of conversation during exercise.
Physiologists at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania have
created such an experiment — but the results may not settle the issue
for everyone.
They measured heart rate and calories burned in 24 college students
who carried on conversations while working out on a treadmill. The
students exercised at both their maximum exertion, and at 70% of
their maximum, a more comfortable pace that experts recommend to
sustain aerobic fitness.
In the less intense exercise session, "We tried to simulate a 20-
minute conversation, just get people chatting, as they would do in
real life, in their own way, during a normal workout," said
physiologist Ronald Deitrick, one of the study's authors.
The investigators found that jawboning during the run did not cause
significant changes in calories burned or heart rate when the
students were exercising at the more comfortable pace. Only when
participants pushed themselves beyond 80% of their maximum did they
find conversation too difficult.
"What this suggests is if you're a competitive athlete exercising
with a friend, then it's not a good idea to talk when you're testing
your limit," said Deitrick.
But people are more likely to keep up a workout routine when sharing
it with a friend, psychologists find. A good conversation distracts
attention from sensations of exhaustion or pain. And for those who
are social, working out is more fun when it includes jokes and
gossip.
"During normal aerobic exercise, the conversation seems to be a
matter of focusing attention, rather than doing a lot more work,"
said Deitrick. "You're burning the same amount of calories, getting
the same workout, the same benefits, that you would be without
talking."
From...the LA Times


17. Sodas Raise Cancer Risk, U.S. Study Finds:
Carbonated drinks may raise the risk of esophageal cancer, a usually
fatal disease, researchers reported on Monday.
Several studies presented at a meeting of cancer and gastrointestinal
experts in New Orleans showed that what people eat and drink could
affect a range of cancers.
"This research supports the widespread medical recommendations for
healthy eating," said Dr. Lee Kaplan of Massachusetts General
Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
A team at Tata Memorial Hospital in India found a strong correlation
between the rise in per capita consumption of carbonated soft drinks
in the past 50 years and a documented increase in rates of esophageal
cancer in the United States.
Team members studied U.S. Department of Agriculture data to find that
per capita consumption of carbonated drinks rose by more than 450
percent, from 10.8 gallons on average in 1946 to 49.2 gallons in
2000.
More...from Reuters at:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=5UJTQT3L32TE2CRBAE
ZSFEY?type=healthNews&storyID=5170416


18. From Runner's World:
*To the Max: "The best and most efficient way to increase your
aerobic capacity is to run slightly faster (10 to 30 seconds per
mile) than your 5-K race pace. Faster runners should be closer to the
10-second figure, and slower runners closer to the 30-second figure.
For example, if you can race a 5-K at 7:40 per mile, you should run
your max VO2 workouts at 7:20 to 7:30 pace. This isn't a pace that
you can maintain very long in training. You can run for distance (800
meters) or time (3 to 5 minutes)." -Amby Burfoot

*A leg-length discrepancy isn't painful in itself, but it can cause
other problems and injuries. Here's a home test for determining if
you have a leg-length discrepancy: In your underwear, stand with good
posture in front of a full-length mirror. Look to see if your
shoulders are level (if you've played a lot of throwing sports, your
dominant shoulder will hang lower and may not be an indication of leg-
length discrepancy). Look at your pelvis, then let your body sag and
look again. Put your fingers on the bony areas at the front of the
hip and look to see if they are level. If they're not, place
magazines under the foot of the shorter leg, building up until both
sides are even. If the difference amounts to more than a half inch
and you have suffered from foot, ankle, knee, thigh, hip or back
pain, see a sports-oriented physician. If the difference is about 1/4
inch, try a 1/4-inch cork heel lift in all your shoes and see if this
relieves the problem.

*Wrap it Up: When you lunch on a whole-wheat wrap filled with veggies
and lean meat, no mayo, you get the perfect mix of carbohydrates,
protein, and vitamins.

*"Once a week, run somewhere special. Maybe there's a scenic park, a
road rarely traveled, or a golf course that you can hit at dawn. Make
this run an event with breakfast planned afterward. Recruit other
running friends to go with you." -Katrin McDonald Neitz, RW associate
editor

*"Muscles need fuel to grow. If you don't eat, all of the weight
lifting in the world won't make your muscles larger. You need 2,500
extra calories to build 1 pound of muscle. And you burn 300 to 500
calories during every hour that you lift weights, so you need to eat
a lot." -From Eat Smart Play Hard by Liz Applegate


19. Wake up! You need more sleep:
More than one-third of Canadians are seriously sleep-deprived, a new
study says, leading to a moodier, clumsier and generally less alert
adult population.
The major problem is that Canadians don't place enough value on a
good night's sleep, says Dr. Paul Caldwell, a family physician and
author of Sleep: The Complete Guide to Sleep Disorders and a Better
Night's Sleep.
"We don't understand it, we don't value it, we don't see it as being
very important," said Dr. Paul Caldwell.
The study, released Tuesday by The Better Sleep Council of Canada,
found that 34.7 per cent of Canadians average less than six hours a
night. For good health, on average, adults need between seven and
eight hours of sleep per night, Dr. Caldwell told globeandmail.com.
Six hours is "far less than you need," he said.
Other recent studies have shown, however, that sleeping extra long,
more than nine or ten hours a night, can actually shorten your life.
More... from the Globe and Mail at:
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20040504.wsleep0405/BN
Story/National/



20. A Dietary Mineral You Need (and Probably Didn't Know It):
A health-conscious woman asked me the other day whether she should be
taking magnesium with her calcium. I thought not, but that was before
I had examined the many studies defining the role of this too-often-
ignored mineral nutrient.
Magnesium is important to nearly every function and tissue in the
body, from the heart to the bones and nearly everything in between.
It plays a critical role in a vast array of acute and chronic
diseases. Some 350 enzyme functions depend on it, including the
enzyme that generates energy for every cell in the body.
But studies strongly suggest that when it comes to magnesium, most of
us may be running on less than a full tank.
Magnesium is readily available in foods that form the basis of a
healthful diet - whole grains, fruits, dark-green leafy vegetables
and nuts. But the highly processed foods that most Americans live on
are sorely lacking in the mineral. The latest national studies found
that as many as three-fourths of Americans do not consume enough to
avoid the adverse effects associated with chronic magnesium
deficiency.
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/18/health/nutrition/18brod.html


21. Attack of the Carbezoids:
A few weeks ago I was in Florida, where I first heard the plaintive
cries of the orange growers. The Florida Department of Citrus had
just launched a national advertising campaign extolling the virtues
of drinking OJ. Why? Because consumption has decreased about 5
percent in the past three years, as a morning glass of juice is a
major no-no for the Atkins Diet and South Beach Diet Low-Carbezoids
who currently hold sway over the nation's eating habits.
There is an amusing game being played out across the country: Atkins
ate my industry. The potato growers have joined their voices in the
whiners' choir, as have beer manufacturers. Anheuser-Busch took out
full-page ads in 31 newspapers last month, taking issue with the anti-
beer claims of the South Beach Diet. Earlier this month, the maker of
Ronzoni pasta, likewise proscribed by the 'zoids, filed for Chapter
11 bankruptcy protection.
Even the people who make Krispy Kreme doughnuts blamed depressed
earnings on low-carb mania, though why anyone -- other than
physically overtaxed policemen, that is -- eats doughnuts is beyond
me.
With the exception of the doughnuts, what do all these foods have in
common? None of them is the least bit bad for you. Sure, too many
beers, too many french fries, and 10 servings of orange juice a day
make for a bad diet. But it's ironic, to say the least, that
Americans are turning away from perfectly healthful food groups just
so some quack nutritionists and diet docs can sell books
More...from Boston.com at:
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/05/20/attack_of_
the_carbezoids/



22. Training Nutrition Summary:
Source: Rich Strauss
The longer the training/racing event, the more critical proper
hydration and fueling becomes. An event like an Ironman is
essentially an eating contest on the bike and run. The "race" doesn't
start until about mile 16 of the run. The smart guys pay very close
attention to getting this stuff dialed in before the race. I have a
well-wired plan based on hundreds of hours in the saddle and on the
road.
Fueling
Your body burns mostly fat to produce the energy to pedal a bike.
However, it needs carbohydrate to burn that fat. Carbohydrate is
stored in the muscles as glycogen. A well trained endurance athlete
has about 2000 calories of glycogen stored in the body, between liver
and intra-muscular stores. This is enough for about 2-2.5 hours of
intense exercise. Once you burn through these stores, your body has
to switch to a much less efficient means of producing energy. Your
perceived exertion increases dramatically and you are suddenly unable
to maintain the same pace. More importantly, you brain only works on
the burning of glycogen, not fat. When the glycogen is gone, you will
feel dizzy and disoriented. This is called Bonking. For those of us
who have been there, we don't ever want to go back. Boom, boom, out
go the lights. For events longer than about two hours, you will need
to take in some carbs to supplement your glycogen stores.
More...from TriFuel at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/nutrition/000489.php


23. Olympic Hopeful Jessi Stensland, Pro Triathlete - Pre-Olympic
Interview:
Q: How does it make you feel to be an Olympic hopeful?
A: Proud is a word that comes to mind. I also feel a responsibility,
to live out the dream 100%. I'm excited to have made it this far,
and have the opportunity that so many others dream of, though at the
same time I'm trying to find a balance between savoring every moment
of the journey, and yet never stop pushing forward, because there's
still so much work that goes into accomplishing what comes after
that . . . becoming an Olympian.
Q: When you were a child, did you have dreams of participating in the
Olympics, or having a career in sports?
A: The Olympics have always been special to me. I never set out to
make sport my career. I've just always followed my heart.
Everything I do in life I do for 2 reasons: to be happy and to be my
best. They go hand in hand. I believe I'll only be my best if I do
what makes me happy. A career in sport has been one of the results.
As long as I continue to learn, grow and be challenged, I'll continue
ride the wave, and shoot for the Olympics. Do I believe it's
possible . . . of course!
More...from Transition Times at:
http://www.transitiontimes.com/viewstorylocal.cfm?
ID=4608&ett2local=Washington


24. Aging Agendas:
Joe Henderson's Running Commentary
Nothing illustrates the rush of years more than a long-delayed visit
to an old hometown. Seeing friends again after all this time puts a
face on our aging.
For about a decade in the 1960s and '70s I lived on the outskirts of
the Stanford University campus in northern California. These were
also my best years as a road racer, and not by chance. Races abounded
in the Bay Area at a time when they still were scarce most other
places.
Runners were abundant too. Here's where I really got to know the
friendliness of the long-distance runner. Groups of us took long runs
together on Saturdays, then met again the next morning in friendly
competition.
In the late 1970s I left this area and these friends. Since then I'd
seen too little of this place and these people. Many of us had
completely fallen out of touch.
Then I went back for the first time in too many years. The Fifty-Plus
Fitness Association invited me there to speak at its race.
Fifty-Plus promotes active aging. Its events at Stanford included a
day of workshops, an awards banquet and an 8K run. I can't recall
spending many better weekends as the gap between past and present
closed here.
The surface changes in some old friends were startling, as I'm sure
mine were to them. But we quickly looked past this as we rediscovered
the same person we'd known before.
Inevitably some stories were sad. My longest-time friend in this area
now cared for his wife with advanced Alzheimer's... a former
ultrarunner now wore a pacemaker and defibrillator in his chest... an
87-year-old lay critically ill in Stanford Hospital.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/441.html


25. News Scan:
*Principles Of Training - Dr. Gabe Mirkin's E-Zine
You will not become a better athlete by doing the same training
regimen each day. Athletes train by taking hard workouts on one day,
feeling sore on the next, and not taking another hard workout until
the muscles stop feeling sore. It's called the hard-easy principle.
If you want to become stronger or faster or increase your endurance,
you have to exercise hard or long enough to make your muscles burn.
Then your muscles will be sore for one or more days. If you try to
exercise hard when your muscles are damaged, you will tear them and
the muscles will weaken. If you wait for the soreness to disappear,
your muscles will be stronger than they were before your workout. As
you continue to take stressful workouts only after the soreness
disappears, you will become progressively stronger and faster and
have greater endurance. Athletes in most sports train once or twice a
day in their sports, but they do not exercise intensely more often
than every 48 hours.
There is a difference between the good burning of training and the
bad pain of an injury. The good burning usually affects both sides of
your body equally and disappears almost immediately after you stop
exercising. The bad pain of an injury usually is worse on one side of
your body, becomes more severe if you try to continue exercising and
does not go away after you stop exercising.

* Is honey more healthful than sugar?
You may have heard that honey is better than sugar because it's a
quicker source of energy, a richer source of minerals and less
fattening, but actually, honey and table sugar are almost the same.
Both contain two simple sugars called glucose and fructose. Table
sugar has its sugar bound into one molecule, but it is split
immediately in your intestine to two single sugars. Since honey and
table sugar are processed the same way, honey is not a quicker source
of energy.
They are equally fattening even though ounce for ounce, honey has
fewer calories than sugar. Honey contains water which has no
calories and refined sugar does not. A tablespoon of table sugar has
64 calories while a tablespoon of honey has 46 calories, but to
obtain the same amount of sweetness you must use enough more honey to
make the calories equal. Honey does contain iron and calcium while
table sugar does not, but to meet your needs for iron, you would have
to eat 10 cups of honey a day, and for calcium, you'd need to eat 40
cups.

*Product Review - Aromatherapy Essential Oils
Aromatherapy oils are popular throughout the world but are not used
to a great extent in the sporting world.
Essential oils are extracted from many different plants. They have
important properties for medicine including killing bacteria, viral
and fungal infections, healing wounds, reducing inflammation and
regulating hormones.
They also stimulate the immune system, repel bugs and insects, aid
blood circulation, decrease sinus and lung congestion and in a
massage oil or liniment can warm and relax muscles.
Different oils tend to have different properties. Some are relaxing
or act as a sedative, other are stimulating. They are added to
massage oils, vaporised in an oil burner, added to the bath or simply
place a few drops on a pillow at night.
Possible areas of benefit in sports medicine include muscle relaxing
and recovery, prevention and treatment of illness, virus and
infection, mental focusing and concentration.
For more information on individual oils visit www.return2fitness.co.uk
From: Mike Walden - www.sportsinjuryclinic.net

*Better leg mileage
A short-legged person uses about 10 per cent more calories than a
long-legged person, to travel a given distance, say Karen Steudel and
Michael Tilken of the University of Wisconsin. Also, when they
plugged data about human ancestors into their walking-efficiency
equations, they found that modern humans have by far the best body
design for walking.
"Due to the larger mass and shorter legs of Neanderthals, their
energetic cost of walking would have been about 30 per cent greater,"
says Ms. Steudel. Possible advantages of shorter legs include: more
power for climbing and hunting; less effort to keep warm in cold
weather.



This Weeks Featured Events:
*Please verify event dates with the event websites*

Coming Up:

May 22, 2004:
Colonel By Classic 5 & 10K - Ottawa, ON
http://www.somersault.ca/3may22.html

Home Depot Invitational - Carson, CA
http://www.homedepotinvitational.com/

Ogden Marathon - Ogden, UT
http://www.ogdenmarathon.com/

Ottawa Early Bird Triathlon & Duathlon - Ottawa, ON
http://www.somersault.ca/2may22.html

Television
CBC Sports Saturday interviews gold-medal triathlete Simon Whitfield

May 23, 2004:
Courir pour le Plaisir - Casablanca, Morocco
http://www.amsd.ma/amsd/index.asp

Florida Half-Ironman Triathlon - Walt Disney World, FL
http://www.amsd.ma/amsd/index.asp

Cellcom Green Bay Marathon - WI
http://www.cellcomgreenbaymarathon.com/

Nordstrom Beat the Bridge - Seattle, WA
http://www.beatthebridge.org

Runner's Life Provincial Duathlon Championships - Peterborough, ON
http://runnerslife.ca

Sydney Morning Herald Half-Marathon - AUS
http://halfmarathon.smh.com.au/

Tempe ITU America's Continental Cup Triathlon - AZ
http://www.triathlon.org/international/int-2004/tempe-2004/index.htm

Woody's RV World Marathon - Red Deer - AB
http://www.reddeermarathon.org/

For more complete race listings check out our Upcoming Races Check
the Runner's Web on Sunday and Monday for race
reports on these events at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running.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.

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