Runner's Web Digest - November 12, 2004

The Original Runner's and Triathlete's Web was founded in January of 1997 as a
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now a small business venture which sponsors the OAC Racing Team, a women's road
racing and triathlon club, and the OAC Gatineau
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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
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The Runner's Web Digest is a weekly e-zine dealing with the sports of running
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New This Week:

We have added a Sports Nutrition column written by Sheila Kealey. Sheila is one
of Ottawa's top multisport athletes and a member of
the OAC Racing Team and XC Ottawa.
Sheila has a Masters in Public Health and works in the field of nutritional
epidemiology as a Research Associate with the University
of California, San Diego.
Her column index is available at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/SK_index.html

The Runner's Web has renewed its sponsorship for 2005 of the OAC (Gatineau)
Triathlon - July 9th - and Corporate Relay - October
9th.
For information on these events visit:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/oac_triathlon.html
and
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/corporate_relay.html

Ottawa Gets an Ironman Distance Triathlon. Somersault Promotions has added an
Iron Distance race to their Labour Day Weekend family
of multisport events. The Canadian", a certified ironman distance triathlon &
duathlon, along with the traditional "The Canadian
Half" triathlon & duathlon, "The Canadian Sprint" and "Try A Tri", will be
hosted in the heart of Ottawa at the Rideau Canoe Club on
September 3rd, 2005.
The Runner's Web will be working with Somersault to promote this event, the only
Iron Distance race in Ontario.
For more information:
http://www.somersault.ca/

The Runner's Web is please to welcome SportHill Clothing as an advertiser.
Since 1985, SportHill has been committed to providing the world's best
performance athletic clothing. Each item is designed to meet
or exceed the rigorous requirements of elite runners and skiers including the
Olympic Canadian Cross Country Ski Team. Our clothing
is trusted essential wear for high school, university, corporate and military
teams nationwide
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Our latest column (Training with the Sniffles? By Kristen Dieffenbach) from
Carmichael Training Systems
is available at:
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Our latest column ((This weeks feature - Science of Sport: Are High-Impact
Exercises No More Straining Than Running? by Owen
Anderson) is available at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/RRN_index.html

Check out our latest article from Peak Performance Online (Sports Nutrition:
Eating Before Competition) is available at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/PPO_index.html


We have NO personal postings this week.
Personal Postings, when available, are located after the Upcoming Section
towards the bottom of the newsletter.


This Week's Digest Article Index:

1. Yoga for Runners
Although yoga and running lie on opposite ends of the exercise spectrum, the two
need not be mutually exclusive.
2. Training Zone - Kenyan Secrets
Running fitness' Andy Barber spent a week with some of their finest athletes to
find out
3. Science of Sport: Are High-Impact Exercises No More Straining Than Running?
4. Off-season Training Tips from MarkAllenOnline.com
5. High-Intensity Exercise May Be Helpful in Rheumatoid Arthritis
6. Physical activity in middle age cuts risk of early death
7. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Run Right Now?
8. From Runner's World
9. Fight off winter's ills with exercise, good food
A well-balanced diet high in vitamin E, plus a sufficient calorie intake, can
boost immunity.
10. Heart Health Tied to Social, Psychological Factors:
Studies find several factors outside the body.
11. Uphill or down, walking pays off, but in different ways
12. Study: Special Diets Don't Mean More Weight Loss
13. Sleep Builds Strong Muscle Mass
14. High doses of vitamin E may hasten death
15. The Ultimate Runner's Workout
16. Can caffeine help marathon runners?
17. Cycling - Drop the Weight, Not the Power
18. A Jog in the Pool May Spare Sore Joints
19. New Insights into Muscle Adaptation to Exercise
20. Tips for returning to exercise after you have a baby
21. The Many Benefits of Long Runs
22. Avoiding the Common Cold
23. Case for cross-training, part 4: Non-impact cardio training
24. Steroids boost performance in just weeks
25. News Scan:



Runner's Web Weekly Poll:
This week's poll is: "What would be the best way(s) to manage the excessive
demand for entry into many of the major marathons and
triathlons?"


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: "Which of the following women played the greatest role
in advancing women's distance running globally?"
The results at publication time were:
Answers Votes Percent
1. Grete Waitz 37 38%
2. Joan Ullyot 0 0%
3. Kathrine Switzer 30 31%
4. Joan Benoit (Samuelson) 28 29%
5. Lynn Jennings 2 2%
6. Nina Kuscsik 0 0%
Total Votes: 97

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

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Five Star Site of the Week: Melanie McQuaid
Melanie’s athletic career started when she was in grade 5 - it started with an
elementary school Thanksgiving challenge where
children would get a sticker for every lap of the soccer field, the most laps by
the onset of Thanksgiving weekend would win half an
eraser, and about 1000 laps later, (and she wasn’t the jock kid in elementary,
she was a barrel racing cowgirl at that point), a
career of obsessive competitiveness emerged! Upon arrival to Nanaimo, BC, on
Vancouver Island, Melanie joined the swim team and
became a swimmer, commuting by bicycle at 5am to swim practice. Swimming then
led to running in high school and university, and too
much training and an injury later, Melanie switched to cycling and quickly rose
through the ranks to national team. Meanwhile she
did finish a degree in Chemistry and Biochemistry, using it briefly to finance
cycling aspirations, and now is happily employed as
official Melanie McQuaid agent, motivator, and critic. Melanie lives in
Victoria, BC with her partner in crime Ross Taylor, who she
can still beat uphill on a mountain bike and hiking, although he schools her
mercilessly when the trail tips downwards.
Check out Melanie's website at:
http://www.melaniemcquaid.com/nuke/index.php


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.


If you feel you have something to say that is worthy of a Guest Column on the
Runner's Web, email us at
mailto:webmaster@... or leave your comments in one of our Forums at:
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Our Photo Slideshow is updated on a random basis. Check it out from our
FrontPage.

Book of the Week: Athletics: "My Story So Far" by Paula Radcliffe
"I tied my laces with hands that were shaking." The injury and illness that had
threatened to dash her Olympic dreams struck Paula
Radcliffe devastatingly on race day in Athens.

Paula Radcliffe has managed to be both very successful in her field and
incredibly popular with the Great British Public. She was
the underdog for so long -- narrowly missing out on medals in the 1999 World
Championships and the 2000 Sydney Olympics -- that fans
longed to see her win. Paula's rosy manner hides a tough resolve to succeed and
in 2002 her luck began to turn. She won gold medals
at both the Commonwealth and European championships and started to grab the
headlines, bringing Britain's focus back to athletics.
Paula's bravery is not limited to the track, however. She has become a
passionate spokesperson against drug cheats and, inspired by
her own battle with the condition, she is widely admired for her patronage of
asthma charities. And even though Athens in 2004
proved to be more Greek tragedy than triumph, her popularity remains undimmed.
Her remarkable life story of highs and lows is fully
chronicled in this fascinating and inspiring autobiography.
Buy the book at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/074325242X/runnersweb-21

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. Yoga for Runners:
Although yoga and running lie on opposite ends of the exercise spectrum, the two
need not be mutually exclusive.
By Baron Baptiste and Kathleen Finn Mendola
During the course of an average mile run, your foot will strike the ground 1,000
times. The force of impact on each foot is about
three to four times your weight. It's not surprising, then, to hear runners
complain of bad backs and knees, tight hamstrings, and
sore feet.
The pain most runners feel is not from the running in and of itself, but from
imbalances that running causes and exacerbates. If you
bring your body into balance through the practice of yoga, you can run long and
hard for years to come. Although yoga and running
lie on opposite ends of the exercise spectrum, the two need not be mutually
exclusive. In fact, running and yoga make a good
marriage of strength and flexibility.
Striking a Balance
Runners who stick with running are most likely structurally balanced individuals
who can handle the physical stresses of the workout
with minimal discomfort. Yet, many runners don't survive the imbalances that
running introduces. Often, they suffer from chronic
pain and are sidelined by injury.
A typical runner experiences too much pounding, tightening, and shortening of
the muscles and not enough restorative, elongating,
and loosening work. Without opposing movements, the body will compensate to
avoid injury by working around the instability.
Compensation puts stress on muscles, joints, and the entire skeletal system.
If you're off balance, every step you take forces the muscles to work harder in
compensation. Tight muscles get tighter and weak
muscles get weaker. A tight muscle is brittle, hard, and inflexible. Because
muscles act as the body's natural shock absorbers,
ideally they should be soft, malleable, and supple, with some give. Brittle
muscles, on the other hand, cause the joints to rub and
grind, making them vulnerable to tears.
Muscle rigidity occurs because runners invariably train in a "sport specific"
manner—they perform specific actions over and over
again and their focus is on external technique. This repetitive sports training
or any specific fitness conditioning results in a
structurally out of shape and excessively tight body.
Yoga's internal focus centers your attention on your own body's movements rather
than on an external outcome. Runners can use yoga
practice to balance strength, increase range of motion, and train the body and
mind. Asanas move your body through gravitational
dimensions while teaching you how to coordinate your breath with each subtle
movement. The eventual result is that your body, mind,
and breath are integrated in all actions. Through consistent and systematic
asana conditioning, you can engage, strengthen, and
place demands on all of your intrinsic muscle groups, which support and
stabilize the skeletal system. This can offset the effects
of the runner's one-dimensional workouts.
More...from the Yoga Journal at:
http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/192.cfm


2. Training Zone - Kenyan Secrets:
Running fitness' Andy Barber spent a week with some of their finest athletes to
find out.
If you LIVE like a Kenyan, TRAIN like a Kenyan, EAT like a Kenyan, SLEEP like a
Kenyan, and REST like a KENYAN will you RUN like a
Kenyan? Running fitness' Andy Barber spent a week with some of their finest
athletes to find out.
Easy. That was what life with some of the world's greatest athletes was like.
Yep, easy. There were hours spent in front of the TV,
a flask of tea in the lounge meant you didn't even have to walk to the kitchen
for a drink, naps were taken left right and centre,
each night was an early night, and even walking to the Tesco store half a mile
away was done at low speed. All in all an
unbelievably easy life. Hardly what you'd expect when living at the house where
many of the world's top athletes base themselves for
European racing.
But yes it was incredibly easy. Oh, except for the training that is. There was
just one run a day, true. But it was a lung searing,
leg sapping, gut wrenching, remorseless burn that started at 8 min mile pace but
within 20 minutes saw me running at absolute,
everything-at-it, flat out pace and still being dropped by the rest of the group
in the way you'd expect Gebrselassie to see off a
sumo wrestler.
Dog walkers and the local 'get-your-knees-up' hecklers looked on in sympathy as
I was blasted out of sight with consummate ease by a
couple of blokes who looked dressed more for a stint of Carol singing than
clocking sub-five minute miles around Bushy Park,
Teddington.
Perhaps my suffering was understandable. Let's face it Thomas Nyariki has
clocked a 12min 55sec 5K and I remembered watching Evans
Rutto finishing a close second to Haile Gebrselassie in the 5K at the Nuremburg
Grand Prix. Bung into the equation up and coming
talent in the form of George Okworo and it was obvious I stood no chance in this
training group.
More...from OnRunning.com at:
http://www.onrunning.com/runners_services/training/features/kenyansecrets.asp


3. Science of Sport: Are High-Impact Exercises No More Straining Than Running?
Individuals who run in their sports are sometimes told to avoid "high-impact"
exercises for their legs, including "plyometric"
activities which involve bounding and "drop-jumping" from benches and platforms,
in the belief that such exertions carry with them a
high risk of injury. As a result, many running athletes avoid high-impact
drills, even though such efforts are believed to increase
running power. Are the high-impact-exercise naysayers correct? Should athletes
who run really stay clear of such activities?
In an attempt to find out, researchers at the Hebrew University Medical School
in Jerusalem, Huddinge University Hospital in Sweden,
and the Indiana University Medical Center recently took a look at the forces
acting on the shin bones (tibias) of athletes during
both running and jumping activity (1). The choice of bone as a general tissue to
study and the selection of the tibia as a specific
bone to monitor were excellent decisions. The tibia is very prone to stress
fractures in athletes who run (in fact, about 50% of all
stress fractures in athletes occur in the tibia), and it is believed that
jumping exercises may increase the risk of such fractures.
In addition, bone is a highly mechanically responsive organ which must be strong
enough to withstand both high, sudden forces as
well as low-level repetitive impacts; it is important to understand which kinds
of forces are most likely to induce bone injury.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20041112_RRN_High_Impact.html


4. Off-season Training Tips from MarkAllenOnline.com:
Time for a break from all the training – mentally and physically – so you’re
fresh when the new season gets started.
Here are some off-season training tips which will help our US and Northern
hemisphere members. (If you would like to read about the
results of the MarkAllenOnline team in Kona, click here.) If you live in the
southern hemisphere please check the Ironman Australia
web site where you will see a training section and an article by Mark more
applicable to you this time of the year. You can save
these training tips for your winter.
I find that most triathletes tend to respond to the off-season in one of two
ways. Some take too much time off and get totally out
of shape, and others keep training hard and are seen running intervals at the
track. I do recommend a bit of a break this time of
the year. I also recommend enough training concentrating on aspects often
forgotten during the racing season.
Take a physical and mental break
Once you finished your last race of the season it is time to take a break. It is
important to let your body recover, but perhaps
more importantly, let your mind rest from all the training and racing stress.
Play a team sport, go hiking with your loved ones or
go on a skiing trip. You can still do some running, swimming or biking. Just
keep it fun and unstructured. New activities will
invigorate you. Not to mention that your non-triathlete friends and loved ones
would be glad to see you.
Concentrate on technique
Once you get started with triathlon specific training, keep it easy-to-moderate
and work on your technique. The best time of the
year to work on technique is the off-season. During the racing season many
athletes are so worried about split times and distance
that they forget about technique. Get your swim coach to film your stroke.
Concentrate on pedaling circles while on the bike.
More...from IronmanLive.com at:
http://vnews.ironmanlive.com/vnews/topstories/1099589161


5. High-Intensity Exercise May Be Helpful in Rheumatoid Arthritis:
High-intensity exercise does not increase joint damage in rheumatoid arthritis
(RA) and may even be protective, according to the
results of a randomized trial published in the November issue of the Annals of
the Rheumatic Diseases.
"Recently, a long term high intensity weightbearing exercise programme was shown
to be effective in increasing the physical
capacity, functional ability, and emotional status of patients with RA when
compared with usual care physical therapy (UC)," write
Z. de Jong, MD, from Leiden University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, and
colleagues. "At this moment, little is known about the
effects of exercise on radiological joint damage of the hands and feet."
The Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients In Training (RAPIT) study compared the effects
of UC with high-intensity weight-bearing exercises.
The 281 completers of this two-year, randomized trial were evaluated for the
rate of radiologic joint damage (Larsen score) of the
hands and feet. Factors potentially affecting outcome were disease activity, use
of drugs, change in physical capacity and in bone
mineral density (BMD), and attendance rate at exercise sessions.
Compared with the 145 participants in UC, the 136 participants in high-intensity
weight-bearing exercises developed less radiologic
damage after two years (mean increase in damage, 3.5 ± 7.9 vs 5.7 ± 10.2; P =
.045). Based on separate analysis, the difference in
rate of increase of damage was more pronounced in the joints of the feet than in
the hands, and the rate of damage was independently
associated with less disease activity, less frequent use of glucocorticoids, and
with an improvement in aerobic fitness.
More...from Medscape at:
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/493194?rss
[Free registration required]


6. Physical activity in middle age cuts risk of early death:
Regular light to vigorous exercise is important for everyone in their 50s and
60s, but especially for those with many heart risk
factors
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- A new study gives people in their 50s and 60s another reason
to get off the couch and be physically active --
especially if they have conditions or habits that endanger their hearts, like
diabetes, high blood pressure or smoking.
The study, based on data from 9,611 older adults, shows that those who were
regularly active in their 50s and early 60s were about
35 percent less likely to die in the next eight years than those who were
sedentary. For those who had a high heart risk because of
several underlying conditions, the reduction was 45 percent.
And the adults in the study didn't have to run marathons to get the
death-reducing benefit: The reduction was seen even among those
who walked, gardened, or went dancing a few times a week, as well as those who
pursued more vigorous activities. Even those who were
obese had a lower risk of dying if they were regularly active.
The results, published in the November issue of the journal Medicine and Science
in Sports and Exercise, are from a study by
researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School and the VA Ann Arbor
Health Care System. It used data from the Health and
Retirement study conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research.
More...from EurekAlert at:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2004-11/uomh-spa110504.php


7. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Run Right Now?
What's in a name? Everything, say the publishers of books.
The cover spurs sales -- with its image, its colors, its typography and
especially its title. This is why the publisher does the
naming.
At most the author suggests a name and uses it as a working title. During the
writing of my latest book I thought of it as Running
Long. "Long" could be taken two ways, long in distance and in years.
If asked for a different name, I would have suggested Winning Running. I'd spent
much of the book telling how to win as a runner.
Barnes & Noble, the publisher, didn't choose my original title. Nor did it ask
for my second choice.
The editors there christened the book Run Right Now. At first I was cool to this
title, mainly because it wasn't mine. But by the
time I saw the first copy, the name had grown on me.
Run Right Now. B&N gets good mileage from these three little words.
They imply three different meanings. "Right now" can mean correctly, immediately
or temporarily.
The title can represent running the right way. Not that I have a corner on
absolute truths, but the book represents the best ways to
run that I know. These are based on long experience, which is to say many
mistakes made and most of them corrected.
The title also can stand for running right away. Even as an author I say, don't
spend too much time reading and planning and
analyzing. I'd love to hear that a runner read one page and was moved to drop
the book and go run right now.
And finally the title can mean running right for now. Current practices change
along with interests and abilities. The right
approach for now might not stay that way in the long run.
This book comes in three parts. Each covers what runners most want to know at
different stages of their evolution. These parts
follow the typical path -- from exerciser to racer to fun-runner (or as I
prefer, life-runner).
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/470.html


8. From Runner's World:
* Coach's Corner
A long run gives you the chance to practice skills you will need in a marathon,
such as drinking fluids and eating energy foods.
Long runs build confidence in your ability simply to run for a long time.
Equally important, you learn patience. The long run forces
you to slow down and pace yourself wisely.

* Injury Prevention
"Guilt has injured more runners than potholes or tree roots. Look at your
workouts and races objectively and if things aren't going
that well it's okay to take a break. We often think the opposite because of
guilt. We think we're not working at it hard enough--and
throw ourselves into hard workout after hard workout after hard workout." -
Keith Brantly, a 1996 Olympic marathoner and the 1998
Pittsburgh Marathon champion

* Performance Nutrition
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, especially for runners. While
you're sleeping, your body drains carbohydrate from
your liver. If you skip breakfast, your body starts the day without enough
carbohydrate to fuel your brain. This makes work-related
tasks such as reading and concentrating more difficult. If you run at noon in
this calorie-deprived state, you'll struggle through
with tired legs and a growling stomach-a terrible combination.

* Words That Inspire
"If you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds' worth of distance
run--yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
and--which is more--you'll be a Man, my son!" -Rudyard Kipling, English
short-story writer, novelist, and poet

* Editor's Advice
"When you're on a treadmill, set the elevation to 1 or 2 percent to account for
the lack of wind resistance and the aid of the
treadmill's motor."
-Warren Greene, RW gear editor

*Training Talk
"Racing a marathon is unlike racing any other distance. Because of the length
of the race, a slight miscalculation in pace can be
magnified tenfold at the end." -From Runner's World Complete Book of Women's
Running by Dagny Scott.


9. Fight off winter's ills with exercise, good food:
A well-balanced diet high in vitamin E, plus a sufficient calorie intake, can
boost immunity.
Although the flu has gotten all the publicity thanks to the unexpected shortage
of this year's vaccine, influenza is just one of
many diseases that pounce during the winter months. The good news: There are
plenty of other ways — such as eating right — to help
reduce the risk of annoying and sometimes dangerous illnesses. And none of these
measures involves waiting in long lines, winning a
vaccine lottery or taking a quick trip to Canada.
The most widely promoted disease-fighter is that cornerstone of personal
hygiene, regular hand-washing. Other simple steps include
moderate exercise and good sleep. Here's what experts — and the latest science —
suggest:
• Walk daily. Besides burning calories, walking helps strengthen the immune
system by briefly increasing levels of white blood
cells that serve as a defense against infection. In fact, regular walking may
protect you from common winter illnesses.
Studies show that people who walk regularly have half the number of sick days
for colds and upper-respiratory infections as those
who don't walk at all, said David Nieman, professor of health and exercise
science and director of the Human Performance Laboratory
at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-he-leanplate8nov08,1,6031990.s\
tory?coll=la-health-fitness-news
[Long URL]


10. Heart Health Tied to Social, Psychological Factors:
Studies find several factors outside the body.
MONDAY, Nov. 8 (HealthDayNews) -- A host of new studies finds various social and
psychological factors can have a significant impact
on heart health.
Specifically, research presented at the American Heart Association meeting in
New Orleans Sunday and Monday posit that people who
practice yoga and meditation, who are married, who believe they have a strong
social network, and who perceive themselves as not
terribly anxious have better outcomes in several cardiovascular categories.
Researchers at Yale University, for instance, found that yoga and meditation
relaxed arteries in people with cardiovascular disease.
Thirty-three people with or without cardiovascular disease were subjected to
three one-and-a-half-hour yoga and meditation sessions
per week for a total of six weeks. At the end of the study,
endothelial-dependent artery dilation improved by 69 percent in those
with cardiovascular disease. There was no improvement seen in the healthy group.
More...from HealthScout at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/522192/main.html


11. Uphill or down, walking pays off, but in different ways :
NEW ORLEANS It turns out that whether a stroll is taken uphill or down, the
cardiovascular system benefits, a finding that
researchers predict could yield important clues in America's increasingly urgent
quest to slow its twin epidemics of heart disease
and obesity.
Scientists from Austria, in a study that a leading U.S. cardiologist deemed
unique, reported that while both uphill and downhill
jaunts produce a healthier heart, the biochemical consequences are different
depending on the direction, a discovery that
researchers said demonstrates the exquisite complexity of the coronary network.
The findings could one day lead to better recommendations about which gym
exercises most benefit which patients, depending on
whether they are diabetic, obese or have other conditions.
The research was presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions
2004, which continue here through Wednesday. And
while scientists are reporting on high-tech discoveries like a mesh wrap
designed to swaddle an ailing heart and restore it to
better functioning, their minds are also trained on ways of preventing and
slowing heart disease in the first place.
More...from IHT at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2004/11/08/news/walk.html


12. Study: Special Diets Don't Mean More Weight Loss:
Dieters looking for tricks to lose weight got more bad news on Tuesday with the
publication of a study showing diets that restrict
certain food groups do not take any extra weight off.
But adding whole grains may help, another study showed.
A study of 80 overweight or obese people showed that they all lost the same
amount of weight regardless of whether they were on an
extra low-fat diet or one targeted at the so-called glycemic index, which aim to
cut foods that affect insulin.
"Despite all the controversy about diet ... a calorie is a calorie is a
calorie," said Dr. Ernst Schaefer of Tufts University in
Boston, who led the study.
"No matter how you lose weight, you lose the same amount of weight," added Dr.
Robert Eckel of the University of Colorado Health
Sciences Center and president-elect of the American Heart Association.
The Heart Association has stuck with its recommendations that weight loss
requires a boring but effective approach -- eating less,
exercising more, and basing the diet on vegetables, fruits, whole grains and
little fat or meat.
More...from Reuters at:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=6762167


13. Sleep Builds Strong Muscle Mass:
Dr. Bill Misner, Ph.D., Hammer Nutrition
You and your training partner carefully measure the optimal protein intake for
the “max” in muscle growth response. You both take
the exact same anabolic state-of-the-art supplements and follow the same
“perfect” workout dictated by your aggressive, but
prominent personal trainer. Your partner’s gains are what you’d hoped for...what
went wrong? Deep sleep patterns may mean the
difference between big anabolic gains and none at all! Both bodily repair and
anabolic growth occur only during quality rest, and
when deep sleep patterns become routine. How many of us have been able to resist
that nodding, drowsy, insistent call to sleep? If
we give in, what are we going to miss? What could we be doing instead? Even the
most mature, health-conscious adults may, at times,
view sleep as an unwelcome intruder into their work, play, or leisure
activities. Time spent sleeping accounts for 27 to 35% of a
person’s lifetime; assuming a person sleeps 6.5 to 9.0 hours per day, this
slumber time accounts for 166,000 to 230,000 hours over
an average 70-year life span!
How long can a person go without any sleep? Based on small animal studies in
which the subjects have been exposed to extreme sleep
deprivation, scientists have estimated that the average human may not live past
10 days without sleep. Not as clear, however, are
the exact physiological mechanisms resulting from sleep deprivation that
ultimately lead to death. It has been suggested by some
that the hypothalamus, which regulates several of the body’s metabolic
activities, is not able to control body temperature after
being deprived of sleep for many days
More...from Transition Times at:
http://www.transitiontimes.com/viewstory.cfm?ID=5985


14. High doses of vitamin E may hasten death:
Taking high doses of vitamin E may increase a person's overall risk of dying in
any given year, according to a controversial new
analysis. The US researchers say the finding - whose cause is unknown - suggests
people should stop taking high doses of the popular
supplement.
Earlier studies suggest vitamin E, an antioxidant, has either no effect on
mortality rates or lowers the risk of dying from
cardiovascular disease. And unlike some other antioxidants, such as vitamin A,
vitamin E does not accumulate in the body,
potentially becoming toxic.
So US dietary guidelines, while not recommending vitamin E supplements, set a
high upper limit of 1500 international units (IU) for
their daily intake. Most of the 25% of US adults who take vitamin E supplements
take them in large doses - greater than 400 IU per
day.
More...from the New Scientist at:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996653


15. The Ultimate Runner's Workout:
Nike's running guru, Alberto Salazar, has a plan to save American running --
starting with you. The secret: You'll speed up by
slowing down.
It's just weeks before the Olympics, and all over the world athletes are
punishing their bodies, straining and groaning through the
most intense workouts of their young lives. Here at Nike world headquarters, in
Beaverton, Oregon, though, 29-year-old Dan Browne
isn't even breathing hard. As he glides along the trails at a 6:45-per-mile pace
that is a full minute and a half slower than his
usual race clip, the only sound he makes is the steady thwick, thwick, thwick of
his feet landing in the soft carpet of woodchips.
Eventually he emerges from the stands of cherry, poplar, and pine that envelope
the 175-acre campus and cruises to a stop on the
meticulous lawn outside the Lance Armstrong Building. In a few moments he will
break a sweat for the first time this afternoon -- in
a hot tub. Browne smiles a bit sheepishly: "Alberto really feels that the most
important thing for me in Athens is to go in feeling
rested."
Alberto, of course, is Alberto Salazar, the legendary American distance runner
who is now the apostle of a radical new training
philosophy that goes by the motto Train slower to race faster. If Salazar's
approach is right, Browne -- who just eight years ago
failed even to medal at the NCAA championships -- won't be the only amazing
turnaround story. The other one will involve a slightly
bigger entity. Over the past three decades the U.S. has been to distance running
what Jamaica has been to bobsledding; the last time
an American man brought home Olympic gold in a race longer than 400 meters,
Richard Nixon was president. Since then, Kenya,
Ethiopia, Morocco, and seemingly the entire United Nations General Assembly have
routinely chewed up and spit out the boys wearing
red, white, and blue.
More...from the Men's Journal at:
http://www.mensjournal.com/healthFitness/0409/workout_running.html


16. Can caffeine help marathon runners?
This past Sunday morning, 35,000 runners got up at the crack of dawn to arrive
at Staten Island by the 8 a.m. deadline before the
New York City Marathon.
Many of these groggy athletes will be tempted to get a quick pick-me-up from a
cup of coffee -- or a caffeine pill or two.
Should runners be downing jolts of java or popping pills before a 26.2-mile
race?
That depends on who you ask.
Lawrence Armstrong, a professor at the University of Connecticut, said that
endurance sport performance improved by 20% to 50% for
32 to 77 minutes after ingesting an amount of caffeine roughly equivalent to two
cups of coffee.
"Caffeine certainly does have ergogenic properties," Armstrong said. "It allows
you to exercise longer, and the outcome of the
exercise will be better in terms of competition."
However, elite athletes like Marla Runyan aren't convinced.
"I definitely don't think it has much of an enhancement value, especially
physically," said Runyan, a two-time Olympic distance
runner. "The negative consequence of drinking too much coffee would far outweigh
any possible benefit."
Americans in general are attached to their morning coffee. According to
Armstrong, Americans consume 200 to 400 milligrams of
caffeine per day -- between two and four cups. The world average for daily
caffeine intake is 70 milligrams.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11324&sidebar=13&category=running


17. Cycling - Drop the Weight, Not the Power:
As much attention as professional and elite amateur athletes receive, the
reality is that cyclists in the 30-50-year-old age group
make up the majority of the athletes most coaches work with. As grown-up men and
women with full-time jobs, families, and mortgages,
your priorities and goals are likely to be significantly different than those of
aspiring professionals and Olympians, but they’re
just as important and valuable. Almost every cyclist wants to be a stronger
rider and a faster climber, and as a result, a common
combination of goals is to simultaneously increase sustainable power and reduce
body weight.
When you’re reasonably new to the sport of cycling, and perhaps carrying more
weight than you’d like, it’s pretty easy to achieve
these two goals at the same time. Your fitness level has so much room for
improvement that any amount of training, preferably
structured, leads to improvement. Likewise, increasing your activity level above
sedentary is enough to shed weight. What you’re not
seeing, however, is that your fitness and your bodyweight goals are like two
trains picking up speed and heading straight towards
each other: when and if they collide, everything comes to an abrupt halt.
When Goals Collide
To improve your fitness, your training intensity has to be sufficient to
overload your energy systems, and as you make progress, it
takes more intensity or longer workouts to create that overload. Increasing the
amount of work you do in training raises the number
of calories you have to consume to fuel your workouts. At the same time, the
process of losing weight requires that you consume
fewer calories than you expend. As your progress towards your goals, and your
training leads to both improved power and weight loss,
the difference between the calories you need to support your training and the
caloric restriction you need for weight loss gets
smaller, and may eventually disappear.
This is the point at which many athletes stagnate: the quality of your training
is suffering because you’re restricting your caloric
intake in an effort to lose weight. Of course, the point of losing the weight
was to improve your performance, but instead of being
faster and stronger, you’re lean but losing power because you can’t sustain
training at a level high enough to even maintain, let
alone improve, your fitness.
More...from RoadCycling.com at:
http://www.roadcycling.com/news/article900.shtml


18. A Jog in the Pool May Spare Sore Joints:
Runners looking to ease their aching limbs may want to move their act from dry
land to the pool.
So-called deep-water running, exercise experts say, offers a low-impact way for
injured runners to stay in shape, as well as an
alternative form of exercise for anyone who needs a break from the punishing
effects of pounding the pavement.
Running is great for cardiovascular fitness, but every time a runner's foot hits
the ground, it creates a powerful force —
increasing the risk of lower-body injuries. Deep-water running, performed with
the help of a flotation device, takes away the impact
while keeping the cardio benefit, according to Jennifer Padilla Loupias, an
exercise physiologist at St. Rose Dominican Hospital in
Nevada.
More...from ABC News at:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=226396


19. New Insights into Muscle Adaptation to Exercise:
Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified the skeletal muscle
changes that occur in response to endurance exercise
and have better defined the role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in
creating new blood vessels, a process known as
angiogenesis.
VEGF is a protein known to trigger blood vessel growth by activating numerous
genes involved in angiogenesis.
The researchers' new insights could provide a roadmap for medical investigators
as they seek to use VEGF in treating human
conditions characterized by lack of adequate blood flow, such as coronary artery
disease or peripheral arterial disease.
Using mice as animal models, the researchers found that exercise initially
stimulates the production of VEGF, which then leads to an
increase in the number of capillaries within a specific muscle fiber type,
ultimately leading to an anaerobic to aerobic change in
the muscle fibers supplied by those vessels. The VEGF gene produces a protein
that is known to trigger blood vessel growth.
The results of the Duke experiments were presented by cardiologist Richard
Waters, M.D., Nov. 8, 2004, at the American Heart
Association's annual scientific sessions in New Orleans.
"It is known that exercise can improve the symptoms of peripheral arterial
disease in humans and it has been assumed that
angiogenesis played a role in this improvement," Waters said. "However, the
clinical angiogenesis trials to date utilizing VEGF have
been marginally successful and largely disappointing, so we felt it would be
better at this point to return to animal studies in an
attempt to better understand the angiogenic process."
More...from DukeMedNews at:
http://www.dukemednews.org/news/article.php?id=8262


20. Tips for returning to exercise after you have a baby:
By Tara Smith
1. Consult your healthcare provider before beginning any exercise program. In
general it is safe to resume regular exercise once you
receive clearance from your healthcare provider after giving birth, normally at
6 weeks for a vaginal delivery and 8 weeks for a
cesarean-section delivery.
2. It is never selfish to do something for yourself. You will find it easier to
meet the challenges of motherhood when you are fit
and healthy. When you are happy, the whole family benefits.
3. Start slowly and build gradually, especially if you did not exercise during
all or part of your pregnancy. You are less likely to
continue with a fitness program if you overdo it in the beginning.
4. Drink plenty of water, at least 8 ounces a day -- more if you are exercising
-- and even more if you are nursing. Water is
critical to keeping you hydrated during this important time, when your body is
still in recovery mode from the hard work of
developing (and if you are nursing, sustaining) a baby.
5. Continue to take prenatal vitamins if you are nursing, and if you aren't, a
good vitamin/mineral supplement is advised.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11328&sidebar=575&category=keep_fit



21. The Many Benefits of Long Runs:
The snow melts. Your Gore-Tex suit is back in the closet. Spring marathons loom
on the horizon, and runners everywhere are putting
in long runs to prepare. But, why run long? What do these annual rites of spring
do for you?
There are at least 7 physiological benefits to long runs, and there are other
advantages as well. Let's start with the physiology.
#1: Surround your muscle fibers with capillaries. Capillaries are the smallest
blood vessels. Several capillaries typically border
each muscle fiber. They are the transportation system for the cell, bringing
oxygen and fuels in, and waste products such as carbon
dioxide out. Long runs increase the number of capillaries per muscle fiber,
which improves the efficiency of delivery and removal.
#2: Shuttle oxygen with more myoglobin. Myoglobin in your muscle cells serves a
similar function to hemoglobin in your blood-it
carries oxygen from the cell membrane to the mitochondria. Long runs increase
the myoglobin content of your muscle fibers, so more
oxygen can reach the mitochondria to produce energy.
#3: Make mighty mitochondria. The mitochondria are the aerobic energy factories
in your cells. Long runs increase the number and
size of the mitochondria in your muscle fibers. With more mitochondria, you can
produce more energy aerobically, and maintain a
faster pace.
#4: Increase aerobic enzyme activity. Enzymes in the mitochondria speed up
aerobic energy production. Long runs increase the
activity of these enzymes, which improves the efficiency of the mitochondria. So
you not only have more and bigger energy factories,
but they are also more efficient.
#5: Fill the tank with glycogen. Long runs teach your muscles to store more
glycogen. Glycogen is the storage form of carbohydrate,
and when you run low, you slow down. How do long runs lead to greater glycogen
storage? Running long distances uses up the glycogen
in your muscles. Our ancestors were at risk of being eaten when they ran out of
glycogen. Fortunately, glycogen depletion stimulates
the muscles to store more glycogen-to help prevent future depletion. Because the
faster you run the more glycogen you burn, running
your long runs at a reasonable pace is a more effective way to deplete your
glycogen stores (and hence stimulate the muscles to
store more) than jogging.
#6: Burn more fat. Long runs not only increase your ability to store glycogen,
they also allow your muscles to conserve glycogen by
burning more fat. As you increase your endurance training, you rely more on fat
and less on carbohydrates at a given speed. As a
result, your glycogen stores last longer. In a marathon, that means that "the
wall" moves closer and closer to the finish line.
#7: Muscle fiber masquerade. The higher the percentage of slow twitch fibers in
your muscles, the greater your likelihood of success
in the marathon. That's because slow twitch muscle fibers naturally have more of
the 6 adaptations we've already discussed than do
fast twitch fibers. Well, for those of you not genetically endowed with a high
proportion of slow twitch muscle fibers, there is
good news. Long runs give your fast twitch fibers more of the characteristics of
slow twitch fibers. So, although top sprinters will
never become world-class marathoners, with enough training their fast twitch
fibers will gain some of the beneficial attributes of
slow twitch fibers. There may be hope for Flo-Jo after all!
More...from Pete Pfitzinger at:
http://www.pfitzinger.com/labreports/longruns.shtml


22. Avoiding the Common Cold:
'Tis the season to be jolly--but it's also the season for colds, which can make
your holidays much less fun.
While there are things you can do to lessen your chances of getting sick, there
are also many so-called remedies and preventive
measures that just don't work. Here's some information to help you sort out fact
and fiction--and boost your chances for a healthy
holiday.
The truth about . . .
GETTING CHILLED Despite what your mother may have told you, going outside
without a hat will not increase your chances of catching
cold. In studies by Britain's Common Cold Unit during the 1940s, volunteers who
were wet down and then exposed to cold air were no
more likely to catch cold than control subjects in cozier conditions. Those
results have been confirmed in many more studies since.
BEING IN CROWDS According to some experts, it can take up to several hundred
hours of exposure to a cold virus to catch a cold--so
you are more likely to catch cold from someone you spend a lot of time with,
such as a family member, rather than through a chance
encounter with strangers. Still, as cold virus particles can hang in the air for
hours after someone coughs or sneezes, it is wise
for the immunocompromised (including very young infants with immature immune
systems) to avoid large gatherings or, if impossible,
to wear surgical masks.
WASHING YOUR HANDS Most cold viruses are transmitted via hand-to-nose or
hand-to-eye contact. For that reason, washing your hands
frequently is the single most important thing you can do to prevent the spread
of germs. The Centers for Disease Control recommends
washing your hands with soap for 10 to 15 seconds (about the time it takes to
sing "Happy Birthday to You"), as it is both the soap
and the scrubbing action that help dislodge bacteria. However, it is not
necessary to use . . .
More...from DukeMedNews at:
http://www.dukemednews.org/news/healthtip.php?id=5096


23. Case for cross-training, part 4: Non-impact cardio training:
This series is adapted from Matt Fitzgerald's forthcoming book, "Runner's World
Guide to Cross-Training." Part 1 begins here.
Runners have long used low- and non-impact forms of cardiovascular exercise to
keep in shape when unable to run due to injury.
But today many elite runners perform endurance cross-training workouts
throughout the training cycle to promote recovery and to
provide an additional training stimulus without increasing the risk of injury.
The current standard among the elite runners who take this approach is one
active recovery workout in the pool or on the bike each
week.
But a few cutting-edge runners do a lot more endurance cross-training -?
sometimes as much as they do running -? because they
experience a significant crossover fitness benefit alongside substantially
reduced injury risk.
It makes sense. The pounding that running inflicts on the body causes it to
break down through injury well before its fitness
potential is tapped out.
Adding an activity like pool running, bicycling, or walking to one's running
allows a runner to realize more of this fitness
potential without additional pounding.
Here are basic guidelines for the three uses of endurance cross-training:
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11314&sidebar=13&category=running


24. Steroids boost performance in just weeks:
Even a low dose of testosterone can give athletes a big performance boost - and
in a fraction of the time thought necessary, a study
initiated by New Scientist has found. The finding will reinforce calls for
drug-testing regimes to be radically stepped up.
The received wisdom is that testosterone must be injected weekly for at least 10
weeks. Yet sports scientist Robert Weatherby of
Southern Cross University in Lismore, New South Wales, Australia, who conducted
the study, found the biggest increase in performance
came after just three weeks.
Power boost
Taking testosterone for short periods only, taking smaller doses, or doing both,
would reduce the chances of athletes getting caught
by drugs testers. "Athletes have probably already figured this out, and we are
just confirming that scientifically," says Randall
Urban of the University of Texas at Austin, who has studied the effects of
testosterone on older men.
More...from the New Scientist at:
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996265


25. News Scan:
* Health Tip: The Dangers of Bitter Cold
(HealthDayNews) -- As the days become colder, the Mayo Clinic warns people to
take precautions against hypothermia.
Hypothermia occurs when your body can't maintain a normal temperature of about
98.6 Fahrenheit. An internal temperature of 95 F or
lower signals hypothermia.
Each year, nearly 700 Americans die of hypothermia. Those at greatest risk are
older adults, children, people who are mentally ill
or otherwise lose their judgment about when to seek shelter, and people who are
intoxicated, homeless, or caught in cold weather.
Your best bet against hypothermia is to wear protective clothing and avoid
becoming wet in the bitter cold, which can lead to the
greatest loss of body heat.

* From www.SportsInjuryClinic.net
Are Sports Medicine journals relevant and applicable to practitioners and
athletes?
A study in Belfast, Northern Ireland asked the very same question! They examined
the evidence base of sports medicine research and
assessed how relevant and applicable it is to everyday practice.
Original research articles, short reports, and case reports published in four
major sport and exercise medicine journals were
studied and classified according to the main topic of study and type of subjects
used. Interestingly, results showed the most common
topic was sports science, and very few studies related to the treatment of
injuries and medical conditions.
The majority of published articles used healthy subjects sampled from the
sedentary population, and few studies have been carried
out on injured participants. They concluded 'there is a dearth of studies
addressing diagnostic and treatment interventions in the
sports medicine literature'.

* Product Review - Memory Foam Pillows
It is suspected by some sports medicine professionals that many injuries are
caused by lifestyle factors such as posture, type of
work, sitting position or sleeping position rather than the occasional game of
football or a run!
Memory foam pillows are becoming more popular as they mold under the bodies
weight and heat to form a perfect support for the head
and neck whilst sleeping.
The result is good support for the neck and better spinal alignment helping to
relieve neck and back pain and relaxing muscles.

* I hear so much about Pilates. Is it a good exercise program?
Pilates is an increasingly-popular form of exercise designed to strengthen the
"core," or abdominal and back muscles, that many
fitness-wannabes forget in their focus on fitter hearts and bigger biceps.
First introduced to this country in the 1920s by its inventor, Joseph Pilates, a
German boxer, the technique involves working out on
mats or on specially designed equipment. It's kind of a combination of the deep,
focused breathing and meditative focus of yoga,
plus the challenge of doing abdominal exercises over and over.
"It's excellent. It really strengthens the core," said Miriam Nelson, an
exercise physiologist at Tufts University. "It focuses more
on strength and muscular endurance than aerobics. It's also a good complement to
weight training."
But finding a good Pilates teacher can be tricky.
"There are huge injury issues from poorly trained instructors who don't know
what they don't know," said Kevin Bowen, chief
executive officer of the Pilates Method Alliance, a nonprofit group based in
Miami.
There are many different schools of Pilates and vastly different levels of
training -- in some cases, just a weekend workshop. So
far, there is no national certification system, although Bowen's group is trying
to create just that.
In the meantime, it pays to ask your potential Pilates teacher how long they
trained and how much teaching experience they have.
You should also shop around for someone you like, said Kathy Van Patten, a
Pilates teacher who runs BodyWorks Studios in Boston. "Go
to different classes and different studios and see which teacher you connect
with."

*Let's Talk Turkey - Holiday Eating
Are you still nibbling on Halloween candy? If so, give it away, or throw it
out! Thanksgiving, and the rest of the holiday season,
is fast approaching, and with these holidays comes the temptation for us to
overeat. Get out your calendar now, and see how many
holiday meals, parties, and open houses you have scheduled between now and
January 2. Being generous, we counted up ten events -
Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Day, New Year's Eve and Day, plus two company
parties and three open houses. Over the next 51-
days, we'll eat a total of 153 meals if we eat three-meals-a-day. Wow - do you
realize that our 10 special event meals account for
fewer than seven percent of the total meals?
The goal between now and the end of the year is to eat healthy, and watch our
calories, for the 143 meals that are not special
events. That way, when we finally get to our special events, we can feel good
about eating, in moderation, everything that's
offered.
Calorie and fat cutting tips include:
Fill your plate with plenty of vegetables and fruits.
Choose complex carbohydrates that have lots of fiber to help fill you up (for
example, brown rice rather than white).
Use fat-free yogurt, sour cream, and half-and-half, and 1 percent skim milk,
rather than fattier versions.
Choose lean fish, poultry, and meats, and broil, grill, roast, stew, or steam
your selections.
Eliminate "high risk" snack items and sweets from your cupboards until the
holidays are over. Replace with low fat, low calorie
fresh veggies, crackers or pretzels, and reduced fat cheese. Don't purchase any
snack food that you enjoy to the point of always
wanting more.
With a little bit of planning, the clothes we are wearing today will still
comfortably fit in early January.
Jill Turner is the director of operations of Cooper Concepts, Inc., a division
of The Cooper Aerobics Center. We started following
Jill's journey to wellness in May 2003 when she disclosed that she is an average
40-year-old woman striving to become more healthy
and fit.
From CooperWellness.com.




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

November 13, 2004:
CIS XC Championship - Guelph, ON
http://cisport.ca/e/championships/cross_country/2004/results/race_course.cfm

Help Santa 2-Miler - Ottawa, ON
http://www.zone3sports.com/Help%20Santa%20Info.htm

SunTrust Richmond Marathon & NTELOS 8K - Richmond, VA
http://www.richmondmarathon.com

November 14, 2004:

Clarksburg Country Run 30K - Clarksburg, CA
http://www.rungoldmedal.com/clarksburg.html

Harrisburg Marathon - Harrisburg, PA
http://www.harrc.org

Marathon of the Palm Beaches - West Palm Beach, FL
http://palmbeaches.org/index.php?src=gendocs&link=Marathon%20Ron&category=Marath\
on

Monaco Marathon - Monte Carlo, Monaco
http://www.monaco-marathon.com

USA 50 km Championships - Peachtree, GA
http://www.usatf.org/events/2004/USA50kmChampionships/

Women's Only Continental Triathlon - Puerto Rico
http://www.triathlon.org/international/int-2004/san-juan-women-only-2004/index.h\
tm

For more complete race listings check out our Upcoming Races, and Calendars.
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.


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

For Triathlon Coverage check out The Sports Network at:
http://www2.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule/tvsked_sport.php?region=ONTARIO&schedule_id=\
25

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Have a good week of training and/or racing.

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Runner's Web
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