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New This Week:

We are publishing from Vancouver, BC this week - enjoying running in shorts for
the first time this winter. It is no wonder that
most of Canada's distance runners have migrated here.

Visit on AssociatesShop.com Online Bookstore for running and triathlon books:
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Runner's and Triathlete's Web Content Partners:

* Sports Nutrition by Sheila Kealey.
Sheila is one of Ottawa's top multisport athletes and a member of the OAC Racing
Team and X-C Ottawa. She 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:
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* Carmichael Training Systems
Carmichael Training Systems was founded in 1999 by Chris Carmichael. From the
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* WatsonLifeSport
Lance Watson is "Just The Winningest Coach in Triathlon". He has been coaching
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This Weeks Personal Postings/Releases:
We have ONE personal posting this week.
Running Research Survey:
Since I sent this message out a number of questions / comments have come up that
I feel compelled to share the responses ---
Who is eligible to complete the survey?
ALL runners and walkers REGARDLESS of speed or distance. Whether you are
preparing for your first 5K or running ultra marathons -
you are equally encouraged to complete the survey. Whether you run competitively
or just for fun - you are equally encouraged to
complete the survey. Whether you've just started running or running you entire
life - you are equally encouraged to complete the
survey.
How do I get a copy of the survey?
The survey is available online - go to http://www.bke-associates.com and select
the "Survey" button
How long does it take to complete?
Approximately 10 minutes.
Is it ok to forward this message to other walkers and runners?
YES! Please do. The more the merrier.
How long will you be collecting data?
The site will remain open until June 1st or until 5000 completed surveys are
received.
Thanks for the help
Bea




This Week's Digest Article Index:

1. Science of Sport: Pre-Race Carbs - Good For Performance
2. Science of Sport: East African running - an alternative explanation for the
East African dominance of distance running
3. Multisport: Who Needs a Coach?
4. You're Never Too Old to Exercise
5. For those on the go, energy bars fit the bill:
6. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
7. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Showing Up
8. For group, salt use leaves a bad taste
9. Distance running injuries: Eliminate these training errors and reduce your
chances of getting hurt
10. A new study at UNH looks at the running economy of older athletes
11. Genes, Muscles and Pills
12. Resting - From Running Past 50 by Richard Benyo.
13. The Weekly Training Mix - What We All Need
14. Ten Commandments of Training
15. Science of Sport: Fatigue, Dehydration and Replacement Drinks
16. The History of Massage
17. The Myth of LSD
18. Running shoes developed by the Army
19. Science Of Sport: Nutrition Advice For Athletes - Focus on Quality and
Choices
20. Sports Psychology - 'How Mental Training Can Improve Your Performance'
What would you be thinking?
21. Ask the Experts: Massage, Bloating and Pain Meds
I'm a 43-year-old triathlete who specializes in sprint- and
Olympic-distance races. The week after racing I sometimes
experience a bloated feeling in my abdomen and swelling in my ankles (though the
swelling isn't noticeable to others), and my skin
feels tight. It seems like I should feel "slim" after racing. Any ideas?
22. The Mythology of Triathlon
23. Get a Grip and Set Your Sights Above Adversity:
24. Progress Reports
From Fitness Running-2nd Edition by Richard Brown, Joe Henderson
25. News Scan - A Collection of News Items:


Runner's Web Weekly Poll:
This week's poll is: "Which of the following technologies have you used?
Chronometer
Fitsense
Nike Triax
Timex GPS
Heart Rate Monitor?"

You can access the poll from our FrontPage as well as voting on and/or checking
the results of previous polls.
Post your views in our Forum at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/runnersweb_forum.html
[Free Registration Required]

Last week's poll was "What is your fastest (all-time) mile performance?"
The results at publication time were:
Answers Votes Percent
1. Sub 4 minutes! 5 3%
2. 4:00 to 4:29 26 17%
3. 4:30 to 4:59 53 35%
4. 5:00 to 5:29 22 15%
5. 5:30 to 5:59 14 9%
6. 6:00 to 6:29 12 8%
7. 6:30 to 6:59 6 4%
8. 7:00 to 7:29 4 3%
9. 7:30 to 7:59 4 3%
10. 8:00 plus 5 3%
Total Votes: 151


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Five Star Site of the Week: Marathon and Beyond.
Marathon & Beyond (M&B), which began in 1997, is a magazine tailored
specifically for marathoners and ultra runners. M&B is edited
and published by former Runner’s World executive editor Richard Benyo and former
FootNotes coeditor and Human Kinetics editor Jan
Colarusso Seeley. M&B is published six times a year by 42K(+) Press, Inc., based
in Champaign, Illinois.
Marathon & Beyond is designed to provide practical advice on running or
preparing to run marathons and ultradistances. M&B includes
easy-to-apply, cutting-edge scientific information, insightful examinations of
the personal side of longer distance running,
profiles of major marathons and ultramarathons, and regular columns focusing on
specific aspects of running. The magazine also
provides readers with a forum for sharing ideas, insights, questions,
experiences, and concerns. M&B reaffirms the spirit of
community, tradition, and collective experience. Marathoners, ultramarathoners,
and those who want to become marathoners or
ultramarathoners will enjoy the presentation of the important and useful
information contained in each issue.
Check out the site at:
http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/

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


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:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/forum.html or from our FrontPage.

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

Book of the Week : The Woman Triathlete
Unlike any other triathlon book on the market, each chapter in "The Woman
Triathlete" is told from the perspective of one of the
sport's foremost female coaches or competitors. Current "Her Sports" magazine
and former "Triathlete" magazine editor-in-chief
Christina Gandolfo enlisted this all-star cast to bring readers the information
they have long been craving to train, compete, and
succeed in this sport.
In total, 15 of triathlon's highest profile women have been assembled to create
this highly comprehensive and detailed guide
Buy the book from Human Kinetics at:
http://www.humankinetics.com/products/showproduct.cfm?associate=880&isbn=0736054\
308

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:

1. Science of Sport: Pre-Race Carbs - Good For Performance:
Should you take in some carbohydrate during the hour before your workout or
competition? Many athletes are fond of the practice,
believing that last-minute carbs provide a bit of an edge during ensuing
exertion. The carbohydrate, they argue, goes straight to
their muscles and provides ample fuel for intense activity. Other athletes,
especially those inclined toward prolonged efforts,
contend that the pre-exercise carbs "cap off" muscle-glycogen levels, enhancing
endurance. Since the carbohydrate is usually
dissolved in a sports drink of some sort, it is usually well tolerated by the
stomach and small intestine during exercise.While
these arguments have a certain logical appeal, research has not always been kind
to the idea of taking in carbohydrate shortly
before working out or competing. Basically, scientific investigations have
revealed that carbohydrate ingested during the hour
before vigorous exercise boosts blood-glucose and blood-insulin levels at the
start of exertion. This combo of high glucose and
insulin can then be followed by a rapid drop in blood glucose (a potential
"rebound hypoglycemia") during the first 30 minutes or so
of exercise (1).
This fast fall of blood glucose, when it occurs, is probably caused by the rapid
uptake of glucose by the muscles during exercise,
spurred on by the high insulin concentrations. Key worries for the athlete are
that the rebound hypoglycemia itself might be a
fatigue inducer – and that the high insulin at the start of exercise might very
well block the breakdown of fat during exertion
(this is one of insulin’s characteristic effects). The blockade on fat oxidation
might actually intensify glycogen utilization in
the muscles; paradoxically, then, the athlete taking in carbs in hopes of
"capping off" intramuscular glycogen might actually end up
depleting glycogen at a faster rate than usual (2). Glycogen depletion, of
course, is a significant cause of fatigue.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050304_RRN_PreRaceCarbs.html


2. Science of Sport: East African running - an alternative explanation for the
East African dominance of distance running:
The following original paper from Canada, published recently in the British
Journal of Sports Medicine, is reproduced in full by
kind permission of the BMJ Publishing Group. Br J Sports Med 2003;37:553-555
Researchers have long speculated on the factors that contribute to making an
elite athlete. When a particular group appears to
dominate a given domain, even more speculation and interest is generated.
Current examples from sport include the American dominance
of basketball and the Northern European dominance of Nordic skiing. An example
that has garnered much attention(1,2) is East African
dominance of middle- and long-distance running. Although several empirically
based positions have been advanced to explain the
interindividual variation in performance(3,4), the dominance of black athletes
in certain sports has been commonly attributed to
factors such as social Darwinism – that is, the hardships of slavery resulted in
a degree of genetic selection(5) – and
environmental determinism – that is, physiological adaptations associated with
living under certain environmental conditions (1).
Hamilton (6) examined empirical evidence for a range of influences that may
contribute to East African running dominance, including
environmental, social, psychological, and physiological variables. After
examining research from various disciplines, he concluded
that there was no clear explanation for the East African supremacy. However,
Hamilton argued that psychological factors may
perpetuate this dominance by attributing differences between African and white
running performances to stable external factors,
thereby disempowering white runners and empowering East African runners.
Regardless of the possible existence of physiological
advantages in East African runners, belief that such differences exist creates a
psychological atmosphere that can have significant
consequences on performance.
Stereotype threat
Recent research in psychology has unveiled insights that are particularly
relevant to this debate. It is distinctly possible that
what we believe to be true about our genetic make-up may be more important than
what is actually true.
Stone et al(7) gave black and white students a laboratory golf task that
ostensibly measured ‘natural athletic ability’, ‘sport
intelligence’, or ‘sport psychology’, depending on how the test was presented.
Nothing changed in the test itself, just the
perception of what the test measured. Both black and white students scored
equally well on the sport psychology control condition.
However, black participants outperformed white ones when the task was framed as
a test of natural athletic ability, whereas white
participants outperformed black ones when the task was framed as a test of sport
intelligence. This phenomenon is referred to as
stereotype threat and may be of help in explaining the dominance of certain
sports by specific groups. Although scientific inquiry
into genetic differences between races remains unresolved, previous research
suggests that belief in such differences has a large
impact on performance.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050303_PPO_EastAfrica.html


3. Multisport: Who Needs a Coach?
By James Herrera, MS
Carmichael Training Systems Director of Coaching
Who needs a coach? Ask six time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong about
the benefits of having a great coach. Chris
Carmichael, founder and CEO of Carmichael Training Systems has been working with
the World Champion cyclist since his early days as
a junior National Team member, when Carmichael was the head coach for USA
Cycling. Carmichael’s relationship with Lance has
transformed from that of coach, to advisor, mentor, confidant, and close
personal friend.
The elite coaching team at Carmichael Training Systems, Carmichael’s Colorado
based coaching group, coaches 3000 plus athletes of
all abilities and sports, all over the world. World Champion mountain biker
Alison Dunlap, World Champion time-trialist and Olympic
silver medalist Mari Holden, Olympic swimmer Ed Moses, superbike racers Ben
Bostrom and Miguel Duhamel, Champ Indy car racer A.J.
Almandigger, supercross racers Kevin Wyndham and Timmy Ferry, and women’s
downhill racers Kathy Pruitt and Tracy Moseley are just a
handful of the elite professionals that fall under the guidance of Carmichael’s
coaching staff.
Clearly, the best of the best need the guidance, nurturing, mentoring, and
friendship to succeed at the world’s highest level of
competition. The perceived stress to succeed at this level of competition takes
a great deal of focus, meticulous preparation, and
flawless execution. However, athletes at every level of competition experience
the same perceived stress as the aforementioned
professionals. Masters athletes must have the same level of focus, junior
competitors must meticulously prepare for competition, and
weekend warriors must flawlessly execute their plan of attack.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_CTS_20050303_Herrera.html


4. You're Never Too Old to Exercise:
One of the best ways to ward off health problems as you age is the same as when
you're young, health experts say -- exercise.
"Most of the issues we look at as aging really are disuse. We're meant to move,"
said Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council
on Active Aging, an umbrella group of about 4,000 organizations that deal with
aging populations.
"Exercising is the closest thing to a 'magic bullet,' to ensure longevity and a
good quality of life," he said.
But try selling that to those 65 and older, most of whom are too sedentary for
their own good, says James Blumenthal, a professor of
medical psychology at Duke University Medical School, who has conducted a number
of studies that link exercise to a drop in
depression and a reduced risk of a second heart attack.
"There is good evidence that older people respond just as well to exercise as
younger people do, but most older people don't
exercise," he said.
One reason could be health, acknowledged Milner, who noted that 85 percent of
people over 65 have some health problem that could
deter them from exercising. Another problem: people are often more focused on
external anti-aging remedies than on staying fit.
"Of the $29 billion spent annually on anti-aging, most is spent on external
things, like Botox and breast implants," Milner said.
"None of this impacts inner health. The challenge is to help people realize that
they should focus on prevention rather than
perfection."
More...from Yahoo at:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=97&e=1&u=/hsn/20050226/hl_hsn/yo\
urenevertoooldtoexercise


5. For those on the go, energy bars fit the bill:
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Her face still flushed from a trip to the gym, Melissa
Penney puts a six-pack of chocolate-peanut butter Balance
Gold bars in her shopping cart. "They're a quick fix,' says Penney, 23, of
Somerville, who eats half a bar before she works out
"just for that boost.'
Grocery shelves are bulging with energy bars -- row after row, box after box of
shiny, colorfully wrapped blocks packed with protein
and vitamins, dressed up in flavors such as toffee chocolate chip, caramel nut
blast and oatmeal raisin crisp. And shoppers, pressed
for time, desperate for energy, and in need of something that can be kept in a
desk drawer and eaten between meetings, are scooping
them up in increasingly record numbers. In 2003, it was a $643 million industry,
according to Information Resources Inc., of Chicago
(which doesn't include Wal-Mart in its data); other figures put the number above
$1 billion, and some go as high as $3 billion.
John Webb, 40, of Cambridge, eats about five Harvest PowerBars a week (he's
partial to Cherry Crunch). "They taste good, are
supposedly nutritious, and they fill me up when I don't have time for a meal,'
he says. Sarah Stroker, a 23-year-old vegetarian who
lives in the South End, eats mint and fudge graham-flavored Zone bars as a
quick, easy source of protein; Allison Mechem Weaver, 43,
of Somerville, says that when she has a LemonZest Luna bar every day for
breakfast, "I really do think they make me feel better.'
More...from the San Bernardino Sun at:
http://www.sbsun.com/Stories/0,1413,208%257E24498%257E2619434,00.html?search=fil\
ter


6. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine:
* Interval Training
To become stronger and faster, athletes use a technique called interval
training, in which they exercise very intensely, rest and
then alternate intense bursts of exercise and rest until their muscles start to
feel heavy. Intervals are a fixed number of
repeats of a fixed distance at a fixed pace with a fixed recovery time. There
are two types of intervals: long and short. A short
interval takes less than 30 seconds and does not build up significant amounts of
lactic acid in the bloodstream, so an athlete can
do lots of repeat short intervals in a single workout.
Long intervals take two minutes or more and are very tiring. In interval
training, a runner may run a quarter mile 12 times,
averaging 1 minute, with a 110-yard slow jog between each. A weightlifter may
lift a heavy weight ten times in a row and then repeat
another set of ten. Runners run intervals as fast as they can and recover enough
to run the same fast pace several times. Runners
need very short recoveries between intervals, usually only about 30 seconds; but
weight lifters need much longer recoveries, at
least two and a half minutes. Runners become short of breath and feel a burning
in their muscles when lactic acid starts to
accumulate in muscles, but it takes only a few seconds for a trained athlete to
recover between each hard run. On the other hand,
weight lifters feel burning caused by tearing of the muscle fibers and it takes
a much longer time for the pain to disappear so they
can lift very heavy weights again.
You can apply the concept of interval training to your program at any level of
fitness. When you start a new exercise program,
exercise for 30 seconds, stop for 30-60 seconds, longer if you need it.
Alternate exercising and resting until you feel tired or
your muscles feel heavy. Then stop for the day. The stronger you get in your
sport, the more intense your intervals can become.
You work at your maximum capacity for 30-60
seconds, then take 60-90 seconds to recover, then go very hard for another 30-60
seconds. Do this vigorous interval workout once a
week until you get tired. At first you may only be able to do two or three
intervals, but your muscles get stronger and you build
up the number of intervals you can complete. Go easy the next day or take a
day off if you feel any discomfort.

* Dear Dr. Mirkin: Why do runners wear such skimpy shorts, even when it's cold
or rainy?
Heavy clothes slow you down. A heavy sweatsuit weighing 34 ounces will slow a 10
kilometer time by about 45 seconds. Wearing a
sweatsuit and a nylon outer shell weighing 47 ounces will add almost six minutes
to a marathon time. A lighter running suit weighing
22 ounces will slow you down by about three minutes. To reduce the weight that
they carry, some runners even tear the edges off the
identifying paper number
pinned to their shirts.
The ability of a material to hold water is even more important than its weight.
You perspire when you exercise intensely and sweat
collects in your clothes, making them a lot heavier. Cotton clothes absorb sweat
and keep on gaining weight as you continue to sweat
during a competition. On the other hand, synthetic fibers such as polyester do
not hold much water, so they remain light. The
average competitive runner will run faster by four seconds in a 10-kilometer
race and 20 seconds in a marathon just by switching
from a cotton T-shirt and shorts
weighing 8.2 ounces to nylon ones weighing 5.1 ounces. However, at temperatures
below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, you will run faster by
wearing clothes to cover your arms, legs, fingers and ears. Shivering will use
up far more energy than it takes to carry extra
clothes.

*Dear Dr. Mirkin: What's the best time to do stretches?
Stretching should always be done after your muscles are warmed up. Warming up
raises muscle temperature to make them more pliable
and resistant to injury. Resting muscle temperature is only about 97 degrees,
but a slow jog around the block or any similar warm-up
activity will raise muscle temperature to more than 99 degrees. Then you can do
your stretches, or you can stretch after you finish
your workout.
There's no good evidence that stretching prevents injuries, but stretching that
is done properly can help to make you a better
athlete. Competitive athletes stretch to make muscles and tendons longer to
generate a greater torque about a joint, so they can
lift heavier, run faster, jump higher or throw further. Stretch no further than
you can hold for a few seconds. Bouncing gives you
a longer stretch, but it can tear muscles. Only competitive athletes need to
stretch further than they can hold for a few seconds.
Forceful stretching will give you greater flexibility than slow deliberate
stretching, but it increases your chances of injuring
yourself. If you're over 50, be extra careful because
older muscles are less springy and more likely to tear.


7. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Showing Up:
If John Strumsky was miffed at me for snubbing his friend, it didn't show in his
letter. He gently corrected the oversight.
"In your book Better Runs," he wrote, "you referred to Mark Covert as America's
leading streaker. Without meaning to diminish Mark's
great accomplishments, I submit a copy of George Hancock's streaking lists."
In this case, streaking isn't running around without clothes but running for
years without missing a day. Hancock places Covert's
streak, begun in July 1968, only second among Americans -- more than a year
behind that of Bob Ray. The retired postal worker from
Maryland has run daily since April 1967.
Streaking isn't a practice of mine anymore (my longest ended voluntarily at
almost five years) and not one I necessarily encourage.
But I understand the spirit behind it and admire runners who can tolerate this
everydayness.
These are the Cal Ripkens of running. Ripken didn't miss a single baseball game
for more than 15 seasons.
Admirable as this feat is, Ripken didn't play year-round or daily during the
season. Streaking runners have no off-season, no
rain-outs and no travel days (but also no big-league curveballs to hit, no
sellout crowds to please and no seven-or eight-figure
salary to earn).
Theirs is a professional approach to running. They show up for work each day, no
matter what.
The truest mark of pros in any specialty isn't how much money they earn, if any,
but how well they continue to do the job on their
bad days. Anyone can do well in good health and high spirits. But a pro keeps
doing well when conditions aren't ideal, which they
usually aren't.
Anyone can run on a day when the sky is blue, the temperature mild and the air
still. Anyone can get out after a good night's sleep,
feeling no fatigue or pain, a fine course at his or her feet, and no need to
hurry back.
Not just anyone gets up and out when all the conditions shout "forget it!" When
the demands of the day shove the run into the dark
hours... when the course choice is dictated by convenience, not beauty... when
the temperature leaves the comfort zone, the sky
drops rain or snow, or the wind howls... when sleep-deprived or hung over...
when tight or sore legs beg for a break.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/496.html


8. For group, salt use leaves a bad taste:
Michael Jacobson hopes so. As the outspoken executive director of the Center for
Science in the Public Interest, a Washington
nutrition advocacy group, Jacobson has spent the past two decades leading the
charge against everything from sulfites and saccharin
to movie popcorn and Fettucini Alfredo, which he dubbed "a heart attack on a
plate."
On Thursday, when Jacobson announced that salt was his organization's latest
target, he said it "might be the single deadliest
ingredient in the food supply." Jacobson announced that his organization is
suing the Food and Drug Administration in an effort to
get the government to crack down on sodium in the food supply.
'Ticking time bombs'
"The salt in our diets has turned our hearts and arteries into ticking time
bombs, time bombs that explode in tens of thousands of
Americans every year," he said. "The key to lowering sodium is not so much
admonishing consumers as requiring manufacturers and
restaurants to use less salt."
More...from Newsday at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hssalt274159539feb27,0,3809058.story?coll=\
ny-health-headlines


9. Distance running injuries: Eliminate these training errors and reduce your
chances of getting hurt:
It is well accepted that one major cause of distance running injuries are
training errors committed by the athlete concerned. In one
study, James and colleagues (1978) were expecting to show that anatomical and
biomechanical factors were the most likely causes of
running injuries. However, contrary to their hypothesis, they found that some 60
per cent of the running injuries in their survey
were due to training errors. Other researchers such as Brody (1980) and Clement
and colleagues (1981) confirm that training errors
are a highly significant, if not the most common cause of running injuries.
If you commit a training error, it doesn't mean that you are doing the wrong
type of training. Instead, training errors are
generally associated with high volumes or intensities of training, or any rapid
changes in training. This may mean that you are
doing the right type of training but just too much of it, or too much training
too soon. For example, two common training errors
athletes commit are periods of high mileage without easy days in between, and
sudden major increases in mileage.
Understanding why training errors cause injury becomes obvious when you think
about what happens to your body when you train. During
a training run the bones, joints and muscles in the legs and low back are
stressed and this causes damage. Thus a recovery period
must follow the training. During the recovery, the damage is repaired. In time,
regular training combined with adequate rest results
in what is called 'supercompensation'.
With supercompensation, the body responds to the stress by growing stronger.
This happens to all the bones, ligaments, tendons and
muscles. Once stronger, the bones and joints can handle greater stress, absorb
more shock, and the muscles can act more efficiently.
However, if you continue with high mileage training day after day, there is
never sufficient recovery. In time, instead of growing
stronger, your body becomes permanently weakened and an injury will result.
More...from Sports Injury Bulletin at:
http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/0102-running-injuries.htm


10. A new study at UNH looks at the running economy of older athletes:
Writer Ed Eyestone, in the March issue of Runner's World magazine, compares good
running economy with the new hybrid cars. Hybrid
cars are as fast as any vehicle on the road, but they use only a fraction of the
fuel.
It's an analogy that can be used for running, as well.
What's the state of your economy, Eyestone wants to know.
"If you were a car, what kind would you be?" is the question Eyestone has asked.
A new study aimed at helping older athletes is now underway at the University of
New Hampshire.
"The aim is to run farther and faster with less fatigue," says Michelle Zitta, a
UNH senior majoring in exercise science. It's
getting your own engine to be the most fuel efficient it can be by using less
oxygen.
Runners, both casual and competitive, might benefit from the research that's
being done at UNH. The study involves finding out the
affects of aging on running economy. The results should help runners to train in
ways that will help them improve their results as
they age and avoid injuries.
Zitta, 21, from East Swansey, is an avid runner herself. She says she has been
hooked since the seventh-grade when a friend talked
her into going for a run. She ran cross country and track at Monadnock Regional
High School and has been a stand-out on the UNH
women's cross country team.
Her faculty mentor and adviser, Timothy Quinn, PhD, in the Department of
Kinesiology (exercise science) had the idea for the
research project and needed help to get it going.
More...from Fosters Online at:
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050227/SPNEWS05/50224105/-1/\
NEWS20


11. Genes, Muscles and Pills:
Training and regular practice are important. But inherited physical, functional,
and metabolic traits such as muscle strength and
flexibility, maximum oxygen intake, the ability of the blood to carry oxygen,
heart efficiency, power output, endurance, and height
also influence individual preference for activity and sport performance.
In recent years, there has been much interest in identifying genes associated
with fitness and performance. By looking at gene
profiles of athletes, researchers have been able to identify some genetic
differences that are linked with outstanding performance.
Other animal and human studies have also shed light on the subject.
Fitness genes
More than a hundred genes have been associated with fitness and performance in
the scientific literature. Some of the functions
controlled by these genes include the synthesis of:
. fibres that contribute to the elasticity of heart muscle cells, which may
influence the maximum amount of blood pumped by the
heart
. myostatin, a protein that regulates new muscle growth, which may determine
physical strength
. angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE), which is responsible for the activation
of a hormone that regulates blood pressure
. fibres for fast-twitch muscle, which mainly use sugar for energy rather than
fat and are for fast movements rather than sustained
activities (e.g. sprinting)
. growth factor IGF-I that regulates muscle cell growth
. erythropoietin, protein that promotes the growth of red blood cells and may
increase the amount of oxygen reaching muscles and
therefore increase endurance
. protein PPAR-delta, which regulates genes involved in the utilization of fat
Several recent studies on how genetic differences affect physical abilities and
fitness potential are cited here.
More...from Wellness Options at:
http://www.wellnessoptions.ca/html/1/1_tnav_fs.html


12. Resting:
From Running Past 50 by Richard Benyo
"When we have done our best, we should wait the result in peace."
- J. Lubbock
People who run are not typically people with a lot of spare time on their hands.
People who run are typically busy people who fit
their running in around full lives or who fit part of their full lives in around
their running. The tendency of runners to be
"doers" rather than "watchers" is both one of their greatest strengths and a
potential weakness that could undermine running to
their potential.
There are four basic elements of training: endurance, strength, speed, and rest.
Most runners do well when it comes to building an
endurance base. Some also do well incorporating strength and speed. But few
runners take the rest part of the equation seriously.
Yet there is evidence in abundance that of the four basic elements, rest is the
most important. Tom Osler, a pioneer of
longer-distance running, put it this way in his classic 1978 book, Serious
Runner's Handbook: "Rest is as important as stress when
building a runner's base."
Some world-class marathoners learned the importance of rest by accident. Twice
in the late 1960s, Australian Derek Clayton was
hobbled with injuries to the point where he needed to undergo surgical
operations to correct lower leg problems. In both instances,
he came off the forced rest to set world records in the marathon, one of them
(2:08:34 in Antwerp on May 30, 1969) which stood for
more than a dozen years. A similar situation involved Joan Benoit. Hobbled with
Achilles tendon and knee problems, she underwent
surgery that forced her to stop running. She went on from this forced rest to
win the first women's Olympic marathon in 1984.
An ongoing running program offers a rainbow of benefits, but every benefit we
enjoy in life comes at a price. In the case of
running, the price is a constant cycle of tearing down and rebuilding muscle and
tissue. Hopefully, the rebuilding brings the muscle
back stronger than it was before it was rested.
But within the rebuilding process, the recuperation of muscle and tissue needs
an environment in which it can occur uninterrupted.
Never more so than with mature runners. A muscle cannot constantly be tested and
retested without ultimately breaking down. In
running, we refer to the breaking down as "overuse." In essence, "overuse" is
simply using and reusing something until it breaks.
Check out the book at:
http://www.humankinetics.com/products/showproduct.cfm?associate=880&isbn=0880117\
370


13. The Weekly Training Mix - What We All Need:
by Rodney Cedaro (M.App.Sc.),
Consultant Sports Physiologist.
What are the essential elements of an endurance training program that will allow
you to get the biggest "bang for your buck" as a
multi-sport athlete given the constraints of available time that most of us are
ruled by in our modern day society?
Unlike training for a specialist sport, training for multi-sports such as
triathlon and duathlon offer various challenges in
addition to benefits for the aspiring triathlete/duathlete.
Firstly the effects of multi-sport training are "cumulative". In other words the
preparation that you complete for one sport will
have some "cross-over" benefits for your other activities. The downside of this
"cross-training" is that the training volume that
can be completed is far greater than what individual sport athletes can absorb,
consequently the potential for chronic fatigue from
overtraining becomes a very real threat for multi-sport participants. However,
by following a basic outline or training schedule
such as detailed herein you should be able to compete safely and close to your
potential. Those of you with ambitions higher than
simply participating (i.e. Those of you that want to race head to head with the
best around) will require a little more work,
refinement and individualisation of your training regimen, but the basics are
here. So let's get started!
Once a week you'll need a long aerobic session: Let's use the example of a
classic distance triathlon throughout this article. By
its very nature such an event (i.e. two to two and a half hours) is "aerobic"
(i.e. requiring oxygen) in nature. It is therefore
imperative that you develop your "aerobic base" in each of the three
disciplines. Set aside your Saturday and Sunday to achieve this
objective. The average swimmer will take approximately 25 minutes to complete
1500 metres, 1:10 to cycle 40 kilometres and 42
minutes to run 10 kilometres. Therefore, over a 2-4 month period the "aerobic"
sessions in each of the three sports should be built
up, slowly and progressively to 50-60 minutes of continuous swimming, 2.5 to 3
hours of cycling and 1.5 to 1.75 hours of low
intensity running. The key to this type of training is that it is LOW INTENSITY
(i.e. 60-70% of your maximal heart rate and not
higher). From a practical perspective use the "talk test". In other words
exercise at an intensity that is moderate enough to allow
you to carry on a conversation with your training partners.
More...from Tri-Training with Rod Cedaro at:
http://www.tri-training.com.au/docs/training_mix.htm


14. Ten Commandments of Training:
by Patti and Warren Finke, Team Oregon
Often when we work with runners, we see that most of their problems are created
by the same training errors. Over the years we have
created a list of 10 common sense rules that can be used to avoid most training
problems. We call them the TEN COMMANDMENTS OF
TRAINING.
1. Have a plan
It is important to have a list of goals and the steps to reach the goals. Doing
this is the key to self confidence and motivation.
Keeping a log of how you do in following your plan helps to see what does and
does not work for you. This will help you to create
better plans in the future.
2. Train seasonally
Plan a 6 - 12 month training program Periodicity is important. No one can
maintain top shape, train at maximum levels or race all
year around. We all need periods of physical and psychological recovery. Build
an adequate base and strength before adding
speedwork. Speedwork is a sharpening technique that is only used for short
periods of time, (8 to 12 weeks), to prepare for racing.
After a period of racing there should be a period of reduced training, rest and
recovery leading into another sequence of base and
strength building.
More...from team Oregon at:
http://www.teamoregon.com/publications/tencom.html


15. Science of Sport: Fatigue, Dehydration and Replacement Drinks:
The Science of Fluid Replacement
There are three kinds of fatigue: (1) anaerobic fatigue, not enough oxygen
getting to the muscles and brain, the kind that hits you
when you run up stairs at full speed and has you gasping for breath at high
altitudes, (2) hypoglycemic fatigue, "low blood sugar"
when you've exhausted the glycogen supplies in the liver and muscles, your arms
and legs feel as if they are made of lead, you mind
is numb and, if you try to increase your efforts, you go into "tunnel vision",
and (3) dehydration fatigue, the loss of water and/or
electrolytes resulting in fatigue in the usual sense of "just plain tired",
muscle cramps and soreness and heat exhaustion among
other symptoms and conditions. The first two kinds of fatigue are usually
self-limiting; your body won't let you keep going any
harder and you'll recover when you have to slow down.
However, when you are dehydrated, as you keep going you become even more
dehydrated no matter how much you slow down and the only
way to recover is to replace the fluids you are losing. The more serious
symptoms of dehydration are classified as "heat exhaustion"
and usually result from losing sweat in physical exertion. Sweating is the
body's response to the build-up of heat from exertion or
hot conditions. Without mechanisms to dissipate the heat, your body temperature
can reach a fatal 45oC (114oF). Although some heat
can be lost via radiation, convection and conduction from the skin, the most
effective cooling is from the evaporation of sweat.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050228_Gookinaid.html


16. The History of Massage:
The genesis of massage can be traced back to the Chinese book Con-Fu of the
Toa-Tse from 3000 BC, which is also the oldest known
book written about massage. This is a method of relief for people with minor
injuries, pains and discomfort. As rubbing relieves man
of minor discomforts, probably early man also learnt that by rubbing certain
plants on the affected area could help out in easing
the pain. This probably resulted in development of the current system of massage
The root word for the word ~Massage~ is the Arabic word ~mass~h~ - which means
to press gently. While massage has been existing in
its basic form, only recently has it taken its new avatars. Perhaps the
earliest description of massage is from China where Chinese
priests practiced the art of ~Qi Gong~ - this was the meditative movement to
reveal and cultivate the vital life force. This
treatment relied on the presumption that all illness is due to an imbalance of
~Qi~. The Japanese monks who were studying Buddhism
in China in about 1,000 BC, observed this healing method and took it back to
Japan. At that time, the Japanese practice of medicine
mostly consisted of diagnosis and treatment with massage-type methods. Thus,
they were able to enhance on the Chinese style by
introducing new combinations. This was named Shiatsu--- where ~shi~ means
finger and ~atsu~ meaning pressure.
Massage was famous in many civilizations: Native Americans used heat and massage
with herbs to treat many problems; ancient Greeks
valued the benefits of massage using it in most avenues of daily life and
developed techniques to help athletes; Romans learnt
medical techniques from the Greeks. Galen, a notable physician to several
Emperors in the first century AD, used massage to treat
many types of disease and physical injuries.
Massage techniques were also practiced by Hippocrates (460 to 377 BC) ~the
father of medicine~ with the use of herbs and oils. Homer
has described massage as a ~welcome relief to exhausted war heroes~. However,
massage took a back seat with the coming of dark ages
and renaissance where touching got associated with pleasures and thus massage
was considered sinful. This was the period that did
not allow
further progress in this field of medicine.
There were very few advances in massage Pehr Henrik Ling, father of modern
massage, established the Royal Central Institute of
Gymnastics in Sweden in 1813. He formalized a series of gymnastic movements and
massage techniques that came to be known as Swedish
massage. These techniques included stroking, pressing, squeezing and striking.
While the modern medical fraternity was reserved in its opinion regarding the
use of massage as a healing technique, it was in 1992
that the ~Touch Research Institute~ was established at the University of Miami
School of Medicine. This institute is devoted to the
study of touch and has established facts through various researches that massage
is useful. It has established that massage can
induce weight gain in premature infants, alleviate depressive symptoms, reduce
stress hormones, alleviate pain and alter the immune
system in children and
adults with many medical conditions.
Tiffany Proffot is the owner and operator of Alta Massage, Inc.one of the
leading information resources on the subject of massage
available on line. For more info visit http://www.altamassage.com


17. The Myth of LSD:
Source: Mike Ricci
Most of us have heard the acronym 'LSD' and we know that it stands for 'Long
Slow Distance'. I decided to write this article about
LSD to debunk a few myths. I don't think of 'Long Slow Distance' as being as
slow as most people think. Years ago we were taught
that running slow would make us faster and I admit that I harped on this when I
first started running. What I have learned over the
years is that LSD or "running slow" is relative to each person.
Having started running at the back of the pack, it took me some time to improve,
but to be honest it caused me to use more brain
power than aerobic power. I was walk-on at my college for the cross country team
because they needed a seventh man. Most of my
teammates ran at 5:15-5:35 per mile pace for a 10k. I started out at 7:00 per
mile pace and one of my goals was to break 40:00
someday - a blazing 6:25 pace! That is pretty slow especially in the world of
cross country running. I had a lot of work to do to
reach my goals.
I didn't start out with a heart rate monitor, knowing my max heart rate, VO2 max
or anything else. I knew that my five mile time was
34:50 which makes my pace just about 7:00 per mile. From here I worked backwards
and decided to run about 1:00-2:00 slower per mile
for my training pace or somewhere between 8:00 to 9:00 pace. I typically ran 10
mile runs in 85-90 minutes and for shorter runs I
ran 3 mile runs in 25 minutes. My running wasn't anything blazing fast; it was
just simply 'running'. I ran hard enough to stress my
system, and easy enough that I could repeat it day after day and week after
week. Those two facts were the keys to my improvement:
Frequency and Repeatability.
More...from TriFuel.com at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/run/the-myth-of-lsd-000678.php


18.Running shoes developed by the Army:
A new high performance running shoe which has been developed in association with
the British Army has been launched at the Army
School of Physical Training. The shoe, named the PT-03 and produced by British
sportswear company UK Gear, is the first commercial
product ever to be produced in association with the Army. It bears the Army's
famous crossed swords logo and embodies the Army's
values and standards. During the development of the shoe, Army fitness
instructors from the elite Army Physical Training Corps
advised on its design and tested the shoe over a six-month period. The entire
project from concept, through design, testing and
manufacture has taken UK Gear eighteen months to complete and has resulted in a
unique association with the Army. David Hinde,
managing director of UK Gear, said: "The PT-03 is a high performance running
shoe. It has been created with the help of some of the
fittest people on the planet - the Army’s own fitness instructors - which means
it will stand up to the demands of any runner.
Whether they are an elite athlete or occasional jogger, when people buy the
PT-03 they will know they are buying the best".
More...from Run the Planet at:
http://www.runtheplanet.com/pages/refer/articles/armyshoes.php



19. Science Of Sport: Nutrition Advice For Athletes - Focus on Quality and
Choices:
As you continue your basic training and prepare for the coming race season, you
appreciate the importance of matching training with
the proper amounts of energy, carbohydrate, protein and fats (See "The Feed
Zone: February 16th"). During this training cycle, you
can also focus on types of food choices you consume to provide quality nutrition
and variety to your daily and training diet.
Daily Diet
This is one of the best times of the year to experiment with new foods and
recipes. While you can still keep convenience and time in
mind (what's good, quick, and easy?), don't keep falling into the same old food
choices and meals. Variety in foods also provides a
variety of nutrients, keeping your diet balanced and interesting.
Focus on maintaining a strong immune system. Training stresses your body, and
taking a few days or a week off from training due to
an illness, could hold back your training efforts. Focus on quality
carbohydrates provided from whole grains, fruits, and
vegetables.
Grains and more
Tired of the same repetitive rice, potatoes and pasta? Even if your aren't,
experiment with some whole grains. Many of these foods
can be prepared in less than 15 to 20 minutes, and cooking them can easily
become part of your weekly routine. Some good whole grain
choices include kasha or buckwheat, which is a great source of fiber and
magnesium. Barley is an ancient and nutritious high fiber
whole grain. Pearl barley has had the outer husk removed, but is still high in
soluble fiber (that kind that lowers cholesterol) and
can be prepared in 10 minutes. Qunioa has also been around for thousands of
years and is common in South American cuisines. It is
higher in protein than most grains, and a great source of copper, iron, and
magnesium. Of course brown rice (prepare ahead of time
if necessary) is more nutritious than white rice, and whole meal pasta is also a
better choice than more refined varieties. Other
whole grains include amaranth, bulgur, millet, steel-cut oats, teff, and wheat
berries. Other highly nutritious carbohydrate choices
include sweet potatoes, and all varieties of the in-season winter squash. Dried
beans and lentils are also highly nutritious and
great source of carbohydrates, a good source of protein, and high in fiber,
calcium, and B vitamins.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050302_VELO_Ryan.html


20. Sports Psychology - 'How Mental Training Can Improve Your Performance' :
What would you be thinking?
Imagine you have been leading the Olympic triathlon since the start of the race,
only to find another athlete arriving at your
shoulder 5 km from the finish. This situation could stimulate two possible lines
of thought that would result in quite different
outcomes in the race. Clearly, the athlete who thinks, “This year I really
thought I had it. I have worked so hard and now I have
blown it. I really am a loser . . .” will drop off the pace and fall back.
However, there is a far greater chance of success for the
athlete who thinks, “Well, here she is. The woman they call the best triathlete
ever. And she has only been able to catch me with 5
km to go. I will just tuck in behind the soon to be ‘ex-number one’, let her do
the work for a change, and see if I can break her
later. After all, my 10 km time is as good as hers, and in a close finish I will
have the crowds behind me as they always back the
underdog.”
It is in situations such as this that sports psychology becomes so important.
Champion athletes commonly exhibit a high degree of:
motivation, commitment, positive thinking, focus, and mental toughness, among
other factors (Gould, 2001).
Background
Psychology is the study of how we think and behave. Sport psychology is a
science in which the principles of psychology are applied
in a sport setting (Cox, 1990). Issues Sport Psychologists are interested in
include, but are not limited to; what motivates an
athlete, how athletes regulate their thoughts, feelings and emotions, and how
they manage anxiety and arousal states in order to
maximise performance (Parker, 2000). The principles involved in Sport Psychology
are usually applied to enhance performance. The
field embraces many concerns and concepts, such as motivation, arousal,
reinforcement, psychological preparation, attitudes,
attention, emotional health, and stress management (Davies, 1989). Rushall,
1995, proposed that sport psychology could assist
athletes in the following ways:
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050302_TSO_Psychology.html


21. Ask the Experts: Massage, Bloating and Pain Meds:
I'm a 43-year-old triathlete who specializes in sprint- and
Olympic-distance races. The week after racing I sometimes
experience a bloated feeling in my abdomen and swelling in my ankles (though the
swelling isn't noticeable to others), and my skin
feels tight. It seems like I should feel "slim" after racing. Any ideas?
There are a number of reasons you may have these symptoms, but chances are your
bloated feelings may have more to do with your diet
and lifestyle than with racing.
A bloated stomach is often caused by a sudden increase in fiber from vegetables,
fruits and beans. If this is the cause of your
bloating, try easing up on these foods and reintroducing them into your diet
gradually.
Bloating can also be a result of hyponeutremia (water intoxication) but this
generally occurs during racing. If you're drinking
large quantities of water in the days following racing, this could be the
problem. If so, decrease your water consumption and
increase sodium intake until your symptoms subside.
Since your ankles are also swelling and your skin "feels tight," general fluid
retention (having nothing do to with diet) may be the
problem. Possible causes of fluid retention include:
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11517&sidebar=630


22. The Mythology of Triathlon:
"Does Triathlon have a mythology?” you ask? “How can we already have a
mythology? The whole sport’s only 25 years old?”
Maybe we’ll create our own myths. In 500, or 5000, years the story of Mark and
Dave in ‘89 will be told over and again around
campfires, to children as they go to bed, and at formal gatherings. Maybe. But
that’s not what I’m referring to.
I’m talking about the mythology that’s within us already, and how our sport acts
as a conduit and a conductor, allowing us to
reprise and replay themes buried in places inside us too deep to detect through
conscious thought. Buried though they may be, these
themes are a strong and integral part of us.
“But myths aren’t real,” you’ll argue. “It’s the nature of a myth that it’s
based on a probable lie.”
Yes and no. Any particular myth, as it is literally recounted, may not be
representative of true facts. Yet the narrative upon which
any myth is based is very much true, and is hardwired onto our circuit boards,
certainly culturally and maybe genetically.
Consider any mythology with which you’re familiar: the legend of Arthur, the
epic of Beowulf, Sinbad, the Arabian Knights, the
Nibelung, Norse mythology, Greek (Jason, Odysseus, Hercules) and Roman (Romulus,
Aeneas) mythology. To assign relative value to
these stories and persons solely according to their basis in literal fact would
be to miss the point.
More... from SlowTwitch.com at:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/lifestyle/mythology.html


23. Get a Grip and Set Your Sights Above Adversity:
Resilience. Call it what you will - the ability to weather stresses large and
small, to bounce back from trauma and get on with
life, to learn from negative experiences and translate them into positive ones,
to muster the strength and confidence to change
directions when a chosen path becomes blocked or nonproductive.
Or you can sum it up as actualization of A.A.'s serenity prayer: "Grant me the
serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the
courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."
Dr. Wendy Schlessel Harpham, a Dallas physician, wife and mother of three, is
the epitome of resilience. Struck with a recurring
cancer in her 30's that required a decade of debilitating treatments, she was
forced to give up her medical practice. She turned
instead to writing books and lecturing to professional and lay audiences to help
millions of others and their families through the
cancer experience.
Dr. Jennifer P. Schneider of Tucson is another classic example of resilience.
Also a physician, she has a lifelong history of
emotional and physical traumas. Her mother left her at age 5. Dr. Schneider
weathered two divorces, a child with a mild form of
autism, a broken leg that required two operations and took more than two years
to heal, and most recently the most horrific trauma
of all, the death at 31 of her daughter, Jessica Wing, after a two-year battle
against metastatic colon cancer. To cope, Dr.
Schneider said, she focused on things she could control, her patients and her
writing.
More... from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/01/health/01brod.html


24. Progress Reports:
From Fitness Running-2nd Edition by Richard Brown, Joe Henderson
You're in luck. Whatever your goal is in running you have precise ways to
measure your progress toward it.
Running is imminently measurable. You work with the objective standards of
distance and time, not with subjective systems of points
scored or comparisons with an opponent.
Say your goal is to increase the distance of your longest run or your total
weekly distance. You know you've done it as soon as you
add laps around the track or extend your road course. Or say your goal is to run
a certain distance faster than ever before or to
improve your overall pace. You know you've succeeded as soon as you look at your
wrist-stopwatch and check the time.
Maybe your goals are even more personal. They might be centered less on how far
and fast you run and more on how it makes you look
and feel. You might run primarily to control your weight. You know if it's
working each time you step on the bathroom scale.
You might run to keep your cardiovascular system in shape to boost your energy
and endurance throughout the day. You can tell how
effectively you're training this system by checking your resting pulse rate for
the stronger, slower beats you're seeking.
Changes in performance results and physical signals do occur. They come to
almost everyone who takes a serious approach to running
at almost any age and initial state of fitness. But these changes don't come
instantly - not overnight, not in a week, and not even
in as long as a month. These are long-term reactions as the body slowly adapts
to the work asked of it. A season from now, a year
from now, a decade from now . . . then you can look back proudly at how far
you've progressed. But where do you look? In the records
you keep. We recommend that you keep a diary, journal, or log of your workouts.
That way, you capture two of running's beauties: its
measurability and comparability.
Distance, time, weight, and pulse are all quickly and easily measured. By
writing them down today, you'll be able to compare them
accurately with what you achieve in the near and distant future. Then you'll
know exactly how far you have traveled. Your personal
accounting can be as simple as a notation on a calendar or in a notebook. Or it
can be as sophisticated as one of the published
diaries or computer disks available commercially for this purpose. You might jot
down a few quick numbers. Or you may add words of
commentary about the experience. Where and how you keep your records doesn't
matter. Just make sure to keep them consistently and to
cover the essentials.
Performance Results
At the very least note the distance of each run and the time it took. Other
factors you might include are the type of workout (easy,
long, fast), the pace per mile or kilometer, the weather and terrain conditions,
and how you felt.
Pay special attention to the harder workouts. These are the timed intervals,
steady-state, and tempo runs, and races that give the
best indications of your performance status. Compare them with previous workouts
of the same type.
Physical Readings
Listen to your body. It's telling you how your training is going. Get in the
habit of recording your resting pulse as you wake up
each morning. A lowering of that reading over time means that your
cardiovascular fitness is improving. If you notice a sudden jump
of five beats or more in your heart rate it could mean that you're overtraining
and need a rest. Know what your norm is so you can
act when it changes.
Also, record your weight each morning. Most runners expect some long-term weight
loss or at least to hold their weight at its
present level. But a sudden drop of 3 pounds or more (1-plus kilograms) isn't a
good sign. Again, it could signal that you've
exceeded optimum training, and a break is best.
Check out the book at:
http://www.humankinetics.com/products/showproduct.cfm?associate=880&isbn=0736045\
104


25. News Scan:

* Q. I am a 23-year-old runner, and the back of my heel has been sore for the
past two weeks. I seem to have some swelling just in
front of the Achilles tendon. This all happened after running on a hilly course.
I went to my doctor who took an X-ray. He said I
had a fracture in the back of my ankle. How could I have done this just running
on hills? He does not want me to run for four weeks,
but I am in training for the upcoming 10K race. What can I do?
A. Without seeing the X-ray, it's hard to know exactly what you have, but it
sounds like an os trigonum. This is an unfused portion
of the talus bone in your ankle in the area you describe. An MRI of the ankle
can discern whether this is an acute injury. If the
swelling is severe and alters your gait, then I would agree with your physician
but allow you to cross-train on an exercise bike as
long as the swelling and pain don't increase. Many times, this little piece of
bone needs to be removed surgically to stop the
swelling.
[From Dr. Doug Cutter is director of the Sports Medicine Center at CJW Medical
Center (Chippenham). ]

* The Importance of Even Pacing for Top Performance
If you want to get the best possible gas mileage while driving your car on the
highway, you set the car on "cruise control". This
serves to minimize accelerations and decelerations of the car. Accelerating a
mass is more energetically costly than maintaining the
velocity of the mass. So, in the car we try to maintain constant speed. In
endurance events, this same "constant velocity" strategy
plays a role in achieving peak performance. But there is also another reason.
Unlike the car, as we increase power output, our fuel
demands not only increase quantitatively but change qualitatively. We already
know that as physiological power output increases
above the lactate threshold intensity, blood lactate production increases
non-linearly. So, a brief period of high intensity effort
elicits a substantial physiological cost, the accumulation of protons (acid),
which tends to inhibit muscular force production.
During a training effort, excess acidity accumulated during a short burst up a
hill cannot be eliminated without a substantial pace
reduction on the flat. However, this is not the case during a limit effort. An
early misuse of pace results in lactic acid
accumulation that cannot be eliminated without a subsequent decrease in speed.
The loss in speed during recovery, or fatigue,
exceeds the gain in speed during the intensity burst. It has been suggested that
for each second gained by going under optimal pace
in the first half of a race, 2 seconds are lost on the backside due to premature
fatigue. Of course, at the same time, even pacing
does not mean sub-maximal effort! It means precisely distributing your effort
over the distance of the race! Fitness alone is not
enough to accomplish this. We must have a keen sense of how our body should and
will feel throughout the effort, a sense that takes
practice!
[From Masters Athlete Physiology and Performance]

* From Runner's World:
* Editor's Advice
Be Patient: "Expect to put in 6 to 10 successful track workouts before you begin
to see some payoff in your races." -Amy Gorin, RW
editorial intern
* Training Talk
"One of the most powerful moments in my life came in sharing someone else's
victory. I was pacing the first half of a marathon. A
young man stayed with me step for step for 13 miles. I relinquished the pacing
to a friend at the halfway point and went to the
finish line to wait." -From John Bingham, No Need For Speed
* Words That Inspire
"It takes as much courage to have tried and failed as it does to have tried and
succeeded." -Anne Morrow Lindbergh

* Running Shoes Help Sneaker Business: Thanks to an increase in running shoe
purchases, the overall consumer spending for athletic
footwear in '04 was up 3.1% to $16.4 billion. Running shoes accounted for $4.74
billion of the total, an increase of 4.9% reported a
study by the NPD Group for SGMA International. Coming in at #2, basketball shoes
with 22.2% of all sales.


*End of Articles*



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

March 4-6, 2005:
European Indoor Athletics Championships - Madrid, Spain
http://www.european-athletics.org/


March 6, 2005:
Bay to Bay 12K - St. Petersburg, FL
http://www.runbaytobay.com

Cayman Islands Marathon - Georgetown, CI
http://www.CaymanIslandsMarathon.com

Gate River Run 15K - Jacksonville, FL
http://www.gate-riverrun.com
*USA Men's and Women's Championship/USARC

LA Marathon - CA
http://www.lamarathon.com
NBC4tv
http://www.nbc4.tv/marathon/index.html

Napa Valley Marathon - Napa, CA
http://www.napa-marathon.com

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

Send this to a Friend:
Forward the Runner's Web Digest to a friend and suggest that they subscribe at:
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Your Feedback and Comments:
Comments, contributions and feedback are always welcome via this list at:
mailto:runnersweb@yahoogroups.com and in our Runner's Web
Forum, available off our FrontPage. If you post to the mailing list and get your
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Have a good week of training and/or racing.

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


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The TRACK PROFILE Reader 2004, an in-depth review of the 2003 season
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END...OF DIGEST...