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6. FRS Plus - the antioxidant health drink.
Free radicals are produced continuously in the human body. They are
unstable molecules that cause damage to healthy cells and are
the by-products of our bodies' natural metabolic processes.
Athletes create free radicals at a faster rate than non-athletes. As
exercise intensity and duration goes up, so does our production
of these harmful free radicals. Some have termed this the "oxygen
paradox". Endurance exercise can increase oxygen utilization from
10 to 20 times over the resting state, with a corresponding increase
in free radical burden.
To offset this increased free radical production in athletes, the body
has some ability to adapt, by increasing our endogenous or
internal supply of free radical scavengers. Free radical scavengers
are compounds that can actively seek out and pair with reactive
free radicals to neutralize their ability to damage cells.
The implication of the oxygen paradox for athletes is that exercise
though healthful in many ways, creates damaging free radicals.
It is essential that athletes strive to consume large amounts of
antioxidants from food and supplements to help augment their free
radical scavenger supply. It has been shown that even short-term
changes in dietary antioxidants can significantly affect the damage
caused by free radicals in exercise.
http://www.frsplus.com/

7. Team Diabetes
Announcing the Latest Fitness Craze:
See the World, Fulfill Your Dreams and Save Lives.
How would you like to take an expense-paid trip to a fabulous
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a Team Diabetes Canada adventure fundraising program.
Our international program allows you to walk or run in a world-class
marathon event in fascinating cities around the world,
including Rome, Reykjavik, Dublin, Amsterdam and Honolulu. We'll train
you to satisfy your personal marathon goals, and you'll save
countless lives.
Benefits of Your Participation
In return for your fundraising efforts, the Team Diabetes Canada
program will provide you with:
Guaranteed, free race registration
Free accommodation and round-trip airfare
Expert, individualized online training support through the Running Room
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Fundraising materials and support
And much more
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THIS WEEK:
Check out our "20 Questions with..." interview with Emma Snowsill,
Australian National Champion triathlete at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050408_Emma_Snowsill.html.

Our site traffic continues to grow. For March 2005 we had an average
of 7,055 visitors per day, a 64.5% increase over the daily
average of 4,288 for March 2004.

Attention All Canadian Marathoners!
See the World, Fulfill Your Dreams and Save Lives.
How would you like to take an expense-paid trip to Amsterdam and raise
money for a worthy cause? If so, participate in Team Diabetes
Canada's Amsterdam Marathon adventure fundraising program. Team
Diabetes' international program allows you to walk or run in the
world-class Amsterdam Marathon. They'll fly you to Amsterdam, pay for
your accommodation, give you training, and much more!
Satisfy your personal marathon goals, and save countless lives at the same time.
For more information visit http://www.teamdiabetes.ca or contact the
Canadian Diabetes Association today at 1-800-BANTING Ext. 7095
or
mailto:teamdiabetes@.... Don't delay! Registration ends April
15th for participation in the Amsterdam Marathon.


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* WatsonLifeSport
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This Weeks Personal Postings/Releases:
We have NO personal postings this week.


This Week's Digest Article Index:
1. Science of Sport: Swedish-Cured Ham Is Right Recipe For Rejuvenated Running
2. Science of Sport: Overtraining Prevention
3. Multisport: Strength and Power Training for Endurance Athletes
4. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
5. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary
6. Of mighty mice & super men
Future is fast approaching as scientifically altered genes in animals
may soon have an impact on athletes and the world of sports
7. The recipe for marathon success
When you're training for a marathon it's crucial to keep fuelling up
with the right kinds of food and drink.
8. Health Benefits Help Peanuts Shed Stigma
9. Coed cycling a chance for growth
10. The Battle Peaks at Heartbreak Hill - But It Began Long Before...
11. Late-life Sleep Problems - What's Normal?
12. Sports Enhancement's Biggest Fan
Andy Miah promotes genetic modification of athletes not only to
improve competition, but also to improve humanity.
13. Science of Sport: Overtraining Prevention
14. Born to Run
Rat studies suggest endurance starts with the genes.
15. Genetic Cause of Muscle Aging Discovered
Damaged mitochondrial DNA provides a target for treating and
preventing physical decline.
16. Sports Nutrition: Sheila's Nutrition Digest Vol. 4 - Beth
Mansfield Interview (Part 2)
17. What you should know about soft drinks
18. From Runner's World
Study: Obesity costs California $21.7 billion
California, the land of body worshippers and vegetarians, is getting
alarmingly fat, with more than half of all adults overweight,
according to a study released Tuesday.
19. Study: Obesity costs California $21.7 billion
California, the land of body worshippers and vegetarians, is getting
alarmingly fat, with more than half of all adults overweight,
according to a study released Tuesday.
20. Explosive-strength training improves 5-km running time by
improving running economy and muscle power:
21. Overtraining
Making a Difficult Diagnosis and Implementing Targeted Treatment.
22. A cyclocross bike may be just the answer to break monotony
23. Numbers that could save your life
24. 'Moon-Walk' Chamber May Speed Orthopedic Rehab
It reduces weight on legs to a fraction of normal gravity.
25. News Scan - A Collection of News Items


Runner's Web Weekly Poll: "Do you plan on watching OLN's live coverage
of the Boston Marathon on April 18th?"

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 "Which of the following have your purchased
ONLINE in the past year?
Books, Magazines
Coaching Services
Clothing
Heart Rate Monitor
Running Shoes
Speed/Distance or GPS Watch
Sports Drinks, Bars, Gels, etc.
Sports Watch"

The results at publication time were:

Answers Votes Percent
1. Books, Magazines 20 21%
2. Coaching Services 6 6%
3. Clothing 18 19%
4. Heart Rate Monitor 9 9%
5. Running Shoes 20 21%
6. Speed/Distance or GPS Watch 7 7%
7. Sports Drinks, Bars, Gels, etc. 8 8%
8. Sports Watch 8 8%
Total Votes: 96

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Five Star Site of the Week: GeezerJock.com.
"GeezerJock Media LLC publishes GeezerJock: The Masters Sports &
Fitness Magazine. The company also produces the GeezerJock.com Web
site. We view GeezerJock as a platform to profile amateur athletes who
inspire, to document the good and the bad of the Masters
sports scene, and to provide training advice for athletes at any
level. We promise that our writing will be entertaining, our
subjects thought-provoking, and our photography breathtaking.
If this magazine sounds like it's for you, you can get your FREE
subscription by visiting our home page at
http://www.geezerjock.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: No Mountain High Enough : Raising Lance, Raising Me
By Linda Armstrong Kelly, Joni Rodgers
A memoir written by a famous athlete's mother may seem like a blatant
attempt to cash in on yet another aspect of the athlete's
celebrity. Yet Kelly, mother of six-time Tour de France winner Lance
Armstrong, has managed to turn out an honest, fun and engaging
account of her life. For the most part, this is Kelly's story, in
which Lance plays a key supporting role. Kelly painstakingly
recounts her 1960s Texas childhood with a poor mother who moved the
family (sans Kelly's father, who abandoned them) from one lousy
apartment to the next. Though self-sufficient-she landed a job at a
KFC when she was only 13-Kelly was thrown for a loop when she
unexpectedly became pregnant (with Lance) as a junior in high school.
She made the most of her limited circumstances, raising Lance
alone. They'd eat mac and cheese and play silly games at home instead
of going out to the movies; they got used to "stumbling and
getting up again." Kelly relates their trials-as well as the string of
less-than-perfect boyfriends and husbands she went through-in
a winningly homey and self-teasing manner. Not surprisingly, when the
issue of Lance's cancer arises later in the book and mother
and son endure brutal rounds of chemotherapy, readers' heartstrings
get thoroughly strummed, though not unnecessarily so. This is a
sincerely heartwarming tale, laced with true Texas grit.
Copyright (c) Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier
Inc. All rights reserved.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/076791855X/ref=ase_runnersweb/002-\
9742240-4613624?v=glance&s=books

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: Swedish-Cured Ham Is Right Recipe For Rejuvenated Running:
Hamstring strains and injuries are common occurrences in both distance
and sprint running, and exercise scientists have searched for
ways to minimize the risk of hamstring problems during training and
competition. Since deficiency in hamstring strength has been
cited as a key risk factor for hamstring injury (1), many researchers
have suggested that appropriate strengthening of the hamstring
muscles would ease the risk of trouble (2). Studies carried out with
animals certainly support this idea; such research clearly
demonstrates that a stronger muscle can absorb more force prior to
failure, compared with a weaker muscle (3). However, until now no
prospective study has actually taken a look at whether a
hamstring-strengthening regime would actually lower the hurt in
hamstrings
during an extended period of training or a competitive season.
That deficiency has now been corrected, thanks to great research
carried out by the affable Carl Askling and his co-workers at the
famed Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and Sahlgrenska University
Hospital in Goteborg, Sweden. In this new study, 30 male soccer
players from two of the best premier-league teams in Sweden
participated; goalkeepers, injured players, and athletes with chronic
hamstring troubles were excluded (4). The players were randomly
assigned to either a hamstring-training or control group, and there
were no significant differences between these groups with respect to
age, body mass, height, body-mass index, muscle strength,
maximal running speed, or hip flexibility (range of motion) when the
study began.
In the hamstring group, special hamstring training was carried out
over a 10-week period prior to the beginning of the competitive
season. 16 sessions were competed during the 10-week time frame -
every fifth day for the first four weeks and every fourth day
during the last six weeks. A 15-minute warm-up of jogging or cycling
preceded each workout.
The actual hamstring training concocted by Askling and his crew
included both concentric and eccentric actions and was carried out
on a YoYoT flywheel ergometer. This ergometer is a relatively new
training device (5) which requires an athlete to use concentric
muscle actions to start a flywheel into rotational motion - and then
to utilize eccentric muscle actions to decelerate the rapid,
reverse rotational movement of the flywheel. As a unique feature of
the YoYoT ergometer, eccentric overload of muscles is
accomplished, i. e., extra force must be generated by the sinews as
they are stretched out with each attempt to control the quick
motion of the flywheel.
More..from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050408_RRN_Hamstrings.html


2. Science of Sport: Overtraining Prevention:
Overtraining prevention: When athletes train too much, problems start
to crop up in their nervous, endocrine, and immune systems -
problems which can leave the athletes anxious, depressed, low on
energy, and vulnerable to infections. Can "Rusko's Rules" help.
Although the chaos in the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems is
obviously a bad thing, the fact that overtraining seems to
produce its first problems in these three systems has led some
scientists to conclude that careful physiological surveillance might
help to PREVENT overtraining.
For example, during and after a strenuous workout, an athlete's
pituitary gland normally produces a chemical called ACTH which
stimulates the adrenal glands to release a stress hormone called
cortisol into the blood. Therefore, the absence of normal
post-exercise ACTH or cortisol could be viewed as a sign of
endocrine-system 'burn-out' - and a signal that an athlete was on the
verge of becoming overtrained.
Alternatively, an athlete's blood could be checked regularly for T
lymphocytes, key white blood cells which fight infections and
assault tumours. A lack of T-lymphocyte activity, or a decrease in the
concentration of T Iymphocytes, would be a sign of
immune-system failure and might suggest that an athlete had been
training too hard.
The problem, of course, is that monitoring the immune and endocrine
systems in this way is expensive and requires medical
supervision, making the procedures impractical for most athletes.
Another cheaper and simpler strategy, in which athletes simply
monitor their feelings of fatigue and reduce their training whenever
lethargy persists for more than a day or two, has been shown to
be ineffective. The problem is that athletes often report that they
are feeling great on the day immediately before they slip into
the overtrained state.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050405_PPO_Overtraining_Rusko.h\
tml


3. Multisport: Strength and Power Training for Endurance Athletes:


4. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine:
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: Will hard exercise cause an early menopause?
Vigorous exercise can cause some women to miss periods, but it does
not cause an early menopause. The only known causes of early
menopause are smoking, drinking heavily, being severely malnourished
or having a severe wasting disease. Each woman is born with
about 4 million eggs in her ovaries. Each month, an egg is released
from the ovaries; it travels into the uterus, and if it is not
fertilized, it is lost with the menstrual bleeding. At the same time,
thousands of eggs in the ovaries deteriorate each month.
Eventually, at the average age of 52, a
woman runs out of her viable eggs and she stops menstruating forever.
Some female athletes have irregular periods or no periods, usually
because they do not eat enough food to meet their calorie
requirements or because they have polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).
These conditions can prevent the release of an egg each month
and make the woman infertile. However, this has no effect on the time
of menopause because the thousands of eggs continue to
deteriorate at the same rate, whether or not a woman exercises or has periods.
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: In last week's ezine, you talked about drinks made
with fructose, but you didn't mention fruit; isn't that where
fructose comes from?
Yes, but fruits contain so many other important nutrients that we
recommend getting at least five servings per day. Whole fruits
contain fiber which slows the absorption of sugar/fructose. For
diabetics,we recommend eating fruits ONLY WITH other foods, not
alone as snacks;
this further slows the rate of absorption and helps to keep blood
sugar from rising too high.
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: I tried to do a century (100 miles) bike ride, but
couldn't finish. How can I do better next time?
Cycling very fast once or twice a week helps you to cycle faster over
longer distances. Cycling many miles slowly does not. To
increase your endurance, you have to strengthen your leg muscles
against increasing resistance, using the same motion that you use
in your sport. The best strength training for cycling is to cycling
short distances very fast once or twice a week. A good
once-a-week workout includes alternating 30 seconds at near maximum
pace with 60 second recoveries until your thigh muscles start to
stiffen. You cannot cycle very fast more often
than twice a week because fast cycling damages muscle fibers and it
takes time for muscle fibers to recover. This same principle
applies to all sports requiring endurance, such as running, skiing,
rowing or skating.


5. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary:
Competition at Its Best
Too many track seasons have raced past since I first hit my stride as
a runner. Stumbling onto the right combination of speed,
distance and consistency led that spring to my first state high school
title in the mile. That season gave another prize far more
lasting -- a first lesson in what competition can be at its best.
This story has its prologue in Chicago, where I spent the 1960 summer
running races with the elders of the sport, grizzled vets in
their 20s and 30s. Until then I'd viewed competition as
me-against-the-world. I didn't hate my competitors, but did fear them
for
what they tried to take from me. I didn't care to cozy up to them between races.
Hal Higdon would find fame as a writer, but at the time he was an
Olympic hopeful. Gar Williams would later serve as Road Runners
Club of America president, but then he was a runner almost as talented
as Higdon.
The two of them warmed up together for their races. Imagine that,
competitors acting like friends.
Arne Richards was an early prototype for today's road racer,
compensating with enthusiasm for what he lacked in talent. He offered
to pace me in my first track race longer than a mile. Imagine that,
competitors cooperating.
I took their lessons back to school in the fall. My senior year was to
be a race against the stopwatch now that all serious
competitors from the past season had graduated. I hadn't counted on
creating a rival.
Don Prichard, a half-miler from another school, told me, "I'm thinking
of stepping up to the mile. Would you be willing to give me
some training advice?"
This is the nicest question one runner can ask another: "Can you
help?" I happily handed over some tips.
Don would repay the favor by locking us in a season-long contest
between runners who liked and respected each other. We worked
together without giving an inch to the other in competition.
Don, like me, now trained through the winter. Almost no one else in
our state did at the time, so we shared a big head start.
He followed my old plan of mixing modest distances with regular speed
training. I tried something new -- the longer, slower
base-building suddenly in vogue since Arthur Lydiard's New Zealanders
won two Olympic races in Rome.
Don's training worked better than mine, at least at first. He won the
first mile he ever race, while I lagged 10 seconds behind.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/501.html


6. Of mighty mice & super men:
Future is fast approaching as scientifically altered genes in animals
may soon have an impact on athletes and the world of sports.
There are mice in Lee Sweeney's laboratory. Cute-looking mice with
little ears, tails, fur. Some are black, some white. At first
glance, they look like regular mice.
Look again.
Some are beefier than others. Their shoulders and legs ripple with
muscle, as much as 40 percent more than normal mice, and they
outweigh the others by half. They look like they're on steroids. But
they're not.
The mice were genetically engineered in Sweeney's lab at the
University of Pennsylvania. The purpose of the experiments: to produce
extra muscle. The mice represent hope - for the elderly whose
weakening muscles place them in increasing danger of falling as they
age, for people suffering the crippling effects of muscle-wasting
diseases such as muscular dystrophy. Members of both groups write
often and beg Sweeney to let them be his next subjects.
But the majority of those seeking Sweeney's muscles are among the
healthiest people on the planet. They come from the world of
sports.
In the six years since he published his first set of results, Sweeney
has received an average of three e-mails per week from
athletes and coaches looking for an edge in their quest to go higher,
faster, stronger. The inquiries surge every time another
advance is announced.
"Initially, I thought they were jokes," Sweeney said.
No one was kidding. Athletes asked to undergo the procedure. A high
school football coach wanted his entire team treated. A college
wrestling coach made a similar request.
Sweeney's "mighty mice" herald the next big thing in performance
enhancement: the field of gene therapy.
The various techniques used to transfer genes, such as ones that
promote muscle growth, are still in the developmental stage.
Questions abound regarding safety and effectiveness for use in humans.
Researchers hope their work will treat and cure a host of
genetic-related diseases. But increasingly they recognize that the
potential for abuse by athletes - gene transfer used not for
therapy, but for enhancement - not only exists, it is inevitable.
More...from Newsday at:
http://www.newsday.com/sports/ny-sunspec4182761mar20,0,4909281.story?coll=ny-spo\
rts-headlines


7. The recipe for marathon success:
When you're training for a marathon it's crucial to keep fuelling up
with the right kinds of food and drink.
You'll perform better if your diet includes the right type of food in
the right amounts and at the right time.
We asked Karen Reid, a nutritionist at the English Institute of Sport,
for some top food tips as the countdown to race day gets
underway.
Three Days To Go
In the final few days before the race you should be building up
reserves of muscle carbohydrates, known as glycogen. This is the
most important fuel for endurance athletes.
Typically, an athlete will need 10gms of carbohydrate per kilogram of
body mass to ensure good glycogen stores. For example, a
runner weighing 70kg needs 700gms of carbs.
It may be difficult to get all of this from potatoes, bread, pasta and cereals.
More compact sources of carbohydrate - which you can get from sugary
foods such as jelly sweets, jaffa cakes and soft drinks - are a
useful addition at this time.
More...from the BBC at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/4325577.stm


8. Health Benefits Help Peanuts Shed Stigma:
Peanuts, a dietary outcast during the fat-phobic 1990s, have made a
comeback, with consumption soaring to its highest level in
nearly two decades and more doctors recommending nuts as part of a
heart-healthy diet.
When peanut butter and snack peanuts plummeted as Americans switched
to lowfat diets, the peanut industry responded with studies
showing the health benefits of peanuts. Total consumption of peanuts
jumped last year to nearly 1.7 billion pounds, compared to 1.5
billion pounds the year before.
The amount of snack peanuts eaten climbed to 415 million pounds in the
2003-2004 crop year, the highest since the mid-1990s. And
peanut butter consumption soared to 900 million pounds, from a low of
about 700 million in the '90s.
"Mothers gave us peanuts and peanut butter. Now, we've figured out
that Mom was right. But it took a lot of researchers and
universities to figure that out," said Don Koehler, executive director
of Georgia's Peanut Commission.
The federal government's latest dietary guidelines say peanuts, which
contain unsaturated fats, can be eaten in moderation.
More...from Newsday at:
http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ats-ap_health10apr03,0,1073953.story?coll=ny-\
leadhealthnews-headlines


9. Coed cycling a chance for growth:
OK, guys, you like cycling ahead anyhow, so go.
Go on. Git. See ya later, hot shots.
All right, ladies, listen up.
Don't you just hate that? You're cycling along at a pretty good pace
when the testosterone rushes by in a pack of wannabe Lance
Armstrongs.
And you wonder, "Will I ever be able to keep up?"
Basic physiology puts women at a disadvantage. We have less lung
capacity and muscle mass, which is why experts say the top male
cyclists will continue to speed past the top female cyclists.
But that doesn't mean you can't hang with the boys circling White Rock Lake.
Just think like Armstrong.
Kristin Armstrong, that is.
Ms. Armstrong (no relation to Lance) is a member of the T-Mobile
Professional Cycling Team. The Boise, Idaho, resident also competed
in the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Even she knows what it's like to be left behind by the guys sometimes,
but she says women can use the gender gap to their advantage.
"It's not a physical thing. It's a mental barrier," she says. "You
have to go there with confidence. I always figure to get stronger
I have to train with the men, and I don't want to hold them back."
Ms. Armstrong says women need to come into coed cycling knowing all
the basics such as how to fix a flat, how to ride a straight
line and how to communicate with other cyclists.
Start out cycling in small groups of women to get over the initial
wariness of riding in a pack, she advises. And take advantage of
any special women's bike clinics.
She mentions one forming in her town where women learn what type of
bike to buy, what to eat and drink and how to ride together.
"I think that's a great step in the right direction for women because
there's a lot of women out there who want to be fit on the
bike but don't know how to integrate themselves in these groups of
men," she says.
More...from the Dallas News at:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/healthyliving/stories/032905dnli\
vbike.9c9d4.html


10. The Battle Peaks at Heartbreak Hill - But It Began Long Before...
On April 18, twenty thousand marathoners will tackle the world's most
prestigious course. For some runners, earning a Qualifying
entry time has taken several attempts; for all, it's meant at least
one excellent marathon performance within the past 18 months.
Want to hear some of the stories? Visit our website feature to read
true personal experiences from our members. And maybe, you'll
get inspired to Qualify for '06 and beyond. If so, we've got the tools
to get you there-including free targeted training programs
you can import directly to your NikeRunning.com Training Log.
More...from Nike at:
http://www.nike.com/nikerunning/usa/home.jhtml?promoID=em#marathon_monday


11. Late-life Sleep Problems - What's Normal?
As people age, there are lots of changes. Some are welcome, like
retirement and a chance to pursue new activities. But then there
are some changes that aren't so welcome. Poor sleep is one of them.
Learn not only what might be causing sleep problems, but find
out a variety of ways to win back a restful night.
Webcast Transcript
ANNOUNCER: The good news is that today many of us will live into our
80s, 90s or even further. The bad news? As many as 25% of
healthy seniors report sleep difficulties, and it's higher in those
with health problems.
CHARLES REYNOLDS, MD: The highest rates of insomnia, difficulty
falling or staying asleep, not feeling well rested, occur in older
Americans, more commonly in women than in men, and are perhaps even
more common among elderly with fewer psychosocial or economic
resources.
ANNOUNCER: There are, of course, a variety of age-related physical
conditions and medications that can deprive the sleeper of a good
night's rest.
CHARLES REYNOLDS, MD: Heart disease causes angina at night or
difficulty breathing, and can thereby lead to disturbed sleep.
Arthritis, pain at night. The rate of sleep disordered breathing, what
doctors call sleep apnea, tends to increase with age.
ERIC NOFZINGER, MD: Certainly if there's any type of major brain
change or structural problem or a dementia of some type, then those
things can severely fragment sleep at nighttime.
ANNOUNCER: Frequent trips to the bathroom, a common problem aging
adults know all too well, can disrupt sleep.
CHARLES REYNOLDS, MD: I think that's a big deal, having to go to the
bathroom during the night. Generally, as we age, our ability to
concentrate urine diminishes, so we have to go to urinate more often.
One of the ways that we try to help older people diminish the
impact of frequent urination at night is to tell them to gently fluid
restrict themselves after five or six in the evening.
More...from the Orange County Register at:
http://ocregister.healthology.com/webcast_transcript.asp?f=sleep_disorders&c=sle\
ep_latelife&b=ocregister&spg=NIP


12. Sports Enhancement's Biggest Fan:
Andy Miah promotes genetic modification of athletes not only to
improve competition, but also to improve humanity.
Baseball's drug scandal is so 20th century. While former slugger Mark
McGwire pleads the fifth over steroids, today's athletes plead
with researchers for genetic tweaks. It's widely assumed they'll have
them by the 2008 Olympics-if not sooner.
Anti-doping agencies have reacted predictably, with the World
Anti-Doping Association (WADA) banning "gene doping" in 2003. But the
advent of genetic enhancement has also provided a crowbar for prying
open debate over enhancement-prohibition, genetic and
otherwise.
At the forefront of this debate is ethicist Andy Miah, author of the
book Genetically Modified Athletes. Against the backdrop of
baseball's steroid brouhaha, Miah recently landed in Toronto where he
made the case to a cramped room in the University of Toronto's
Athletic Centre.
To Miah, there's far more than medals at stake. How we handle genetic
enhancement in sports, he argues, will affect how we handle
genetic enhancements in general. "The gene doping debate is about what
kinds of humans count," he says. "Sports offer a way for
enhancements to become embedded in society."
Athletic hypocrisy
At just over five feet with spiky black hair and goatee, the
baby-faced Miah could easily be mistaken for a student at the
Starbuck's where we met a day before his talk. (Confession: at about
the same height and baby-facedness, the same could be said of
me-and I can't even grow a goatee.)
As a professor at the University of Paisley in Scotland, however, Miah
teaches such courses as "Becoming Posthuman" and writes
regularly on cyberculture, bioethics, sports and genetic enhancement.
His writing has gained urgency and notoriety as genetic enhancement
moves from science fiction to fact.
More...from BetterHumans at:
http://www.betterhumans.com/Features/Columns/Forward_Thinking/column.aspx?articl\
eID=2005-04-04-1


13. Science of Sport: Overtraining Prevention:
Overtraining prevention: When athletes train too much, problems start
to crop up in their nervous, endocrine, and immune systems -
problems which can leave the athletes anxious, depressed, low on
energy, and vulnerable to infections. Can "Rusko's Rules" help.
Although the chaos in the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems is
obviously a bad thing, the fact that overtraining seems to
produce its first problems in these three systems has led some
scientists to conclude that careful physiological surveillance might
help to PREVENT overtraining.
For example, during and after a strenuous workout, an athlete's
pituitary gland normally produces a chemical called ACTH which
stimulates the adrenal glands to release a stress hormone called
cortisol into the blood. Therefore, the absence of normal
post-exercise ACTH or cortisol could be viewed as a sign of
endocrine-system 'burn-out' - and a signal that an athlete was on the
verge of becoming overtrained.
Alternatively, an athlete's blood could be checked regularly for T
lymphocytes, key white blood cells which fight infections and
assault tumours. A lack of T-lymphocyte activity, or a decrease in the
concentration of T Iymphocytes, would be a sign of
immune-system failure and might suggest that an athlete had been
training too hard.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050405_PPO_Overtraining_Rusko.h\
tml


14. Born to Run:
Rat studies suggest endurance starts with the genes.
If you can't finish the marathon or can't even start one, try looking
at your family tree.
Researchers say animal studies suggest your tendency toward the
playing field or the couch could be in your genes.
In a series of experiments that lasted through 15 generations, rats
who were bred for performance outran and outperformed their
couch-potato counterparts by several degrees.
"This underscores the fact that the genetic basis of our endurance
ability is pretty high, surprisingly high," said Richard Howlett,
a faculty member in the department of medicine at the University of
California, San Diego.
"They [the rats] were destined to be better performers," added Dr.
Todd Schlifstein, a sports rehabilitation physician at New York
University Medical Center in New York City.
Howlett is co-author of three papers being presented April 5 at the
annual Congress of the International Union of Physiological
Sciences, in San Diego. The papers are part of a much bigger project
involving numerous collaborators.
More...from Health Scout at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/524923/main.html


15. Genetic Cause of Muscle Aging Discovered:
Damaged mitochondrial DNA provides a target for treating and
preventing physical decline.
Damaged mitochondrial DNA has been linked to age-related muscle
weakness, providing a target for treating and preventing physical
decline associated with aging.
The finding, by researchers at the Mayo Clinic, is a step towards
understanding muscle aging, says lead investigator K. Sreekumaran
Nair.
"Nobody believes you can reverse the aging process completely-but we
can improve the quality of life," says Nair.
Less expression
Mitochondrial DNA is essential for the production of adenosine
triphosphate (ATP), the chemical energy that cells use to function.
Reductions in ATP reduce muscle endurance, which contributes to the
muscle weakness and loss of muscle mass associated with aging.
To investigate this process, Nair and colleagues examined muscle
samples from 148 healthy men and women aged 18 to 87.
They found that older participants had more DNA damage and reduced
mitochondrial DNA abundance, resulting in reduced gene expression
and in turn reduced ATP production and less muscle endurance.
More...from Better Humans at:
http://www.betterhumans.com/News/news.aspx?articleID=2005-04-06-2



16. Sports Nutrition: Sheila's Nutrition Digest Vol. 4 - Beth
Mansfield Interview (Part 2):
Sheila's Nutrition Digest
In this new series, XC Ottawa (and OAC Racing Team) member Sheila
Kealey will help athletes choose the best foods for performance
and overall health. 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.
Last week, I interviewed Beth Mansfield about nutrition counseling for
athletes - Sheila's Nutrition Digest Vol. 4 - Beth Mansfield
Interview (Part 1). In this issue, Beth outlines common problems that
she's observed in many athletes and offers sports nutrition
guidelines.
You've been counseling athletes about their nutrition needs for years.
Are there some nutrition issues and concerns that you see
more than others?
Most people, athletes and non-athletes alike, tell me that they are
aware of the importance of good nutrition, but when they sit
down to eat, their eating patterns are often less than optimal.
90% report that they are not eating properly
45% report having days when they don't have enough energy to exercise
84% do not eat an hour before working out
76% wait an hour or longer to eat after exercise
Only 10% eat 6 times per day
Here are some other key problems I've observed, and general guidelines:
Many athletes also don't take in enough carbohydrate rich foods
One key problem is the lack of high quality carbohydrate in everyone's
diets. This is likely a result of the fascination with low
carb dieting and the rapid weight loss that occurs. Unbeknownst to
most is that the rapid weight loss initially seen on a low carb
diet is water loss. For each gram of carbohydrate stored in the
muscles another 3 grams of water are stored along with it. This
"metabolic" water ensures that the muscle cells are well hydrated and
can keep functioning optimally throughout your training
sessions. One tough training session can use up a large chunk of your
muscle carbohydrate (and muscle water) so it is not surprising
that we see huge weight losses within a day or two of eating a low
carb diet. But then comes the knockout punch - if you do not
replace this muscle carbohydrate you lose the ability to train hard -
so low carb eating is not for athletes or anyone trying to
improve their fitness level.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050407_SK_Mansfield_Part2.html


17. What you should know about soft drinks:
Got a two-can-a-day habit? You're not alone. Carbonated soft drinks
account for more than 28 percent of beverage consumption in the
United States, according to the National Beverage Association. And
this has more than doubled over the past 20 years.
Certainly, nobody should mistake soda for a health drink, but is it
really all that bad? Here's the latest on soft drinks and your
health.
What's in it?
Soft drinks consist mainly of water, carbon dioxide (which creates the
fizz), flavoring, artificial coloring, caffeine (except
caffeine-free varieties), acidulants (such as phosphoric acid, citric
acid, malic acid or tartaric acid), preservatives, potassium
and sodium, and, of course, sweeteners.
A 12-ounce can of regular soda contains about 150 calories and between
40 and 50 grams of sugar (in the form of high fructose corn
syrup or sucrose), equivalent to about 10 to 12 teaspoons. In diet
sodas, artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose,
acesulfame K and saccharin take the place of corn syrup, but otherwise
the ingredients of both the regular and diet versions are the
same.
What are the issues?
Obesity: Many health experts blame the increase in non-diet soda
consumption in large part for high obesity rates in the United
States and the health problems associated with it, such as type 2
diabetes. With each can of regular soda providing about 150
calories, if you drank one can a day without cutting back on other
calories, you could gain about 15 pounds a year. If you're trying
to lose or control your weight, the National Institutes of Health
recommends you quench your thirst with water, sparkling soda with
a splash of fruit juice or an occasional diet soda.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11598



18. From Runner's World:
* Editor's Advice
"Try to incorporate relaxation techniques into your training and
racing. Before a workout, get into a relaxed mode to help
regenerate energy that has been drained away by stress. When you are
ready to race, use relaxation to regulate stress right up to
the start of the event." - Amby Burfoot, RW executive editor
* Words That Inspire
I may have been an inspiration for people beginning to run, but I've
learned just as much from all those people who have run with
me."
-Grete Waitz at Road Running Hall of Fame induction ceremony


19. Study: Obesity costs California $21.7 billion:
California, the land of body worshippers and vegetarians, is getting
alarmingly fat, with more than half of all adults overweight,
according to a study released Tuesday.
The study estimates that overweight and inactive Californians cost
$21.7 billion a year in medical bills, injuries and lost
productivity.
It noted that a decade of overeating and sitting in front of the
television has given California "one of the fastest rates of
increase in adult obesity of any state in the nation," and there is
sign that the rise is slowing.
Nearly 53 percent of Californians over 25 are overweight, and more
than 17 percent are obese, or extremely overweight, the study
found.
The rates among Hispanics, blacks and adults with less than a high
school education are even higher and exceed 60 percent, said the
study, which was prepared for the California Department of Health Services.
The findings come in a state led by former bodybuilder Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, who crusades against junk food in schools and
wants vending machines stocked with fresh vegetables, milk and other
healthy products.
More...from CNN at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitness/04/06/overweight.california.ap/index\
.html


20. Explosive-strength training improves 5-km running time by
improving running economy and muscle power:
Endurance Training Enhances the function of the cardiorespiratory
system and the oxidative capacity and glycogen stores of the
muscles (e.g., Refs. 1, 20). Heavy-resistance strength training
results in neural and muscle hypertrophic adaptations that are known
to be primarily responsible for improved strength performance (e.g.,
Refs. 13, 15). A specific type of strength training,
explosive-strength training, may lead to specific neural adaptations,
such as the increased rate of activation of the motor units,
whereas muscle hypertrophy remains much smaller than during typical
heavy-resistance strength training (13, 15, 39).
It has been suggested that simultaneous training for both strength and
endurance may be associated with limited strength development
during the later weeks of training, whereas the development of maximal
O2 uptake (O2 max) is not influenced as much (e.g., Refs. 10,
16, 18, 22). These observations are mainly based on experiments in
which heavy-resistance strength training has predominated and the
subjects have been previously untrained. However, proper strength
training used simultaneously with endurance training may also
result in some improvements in strength performance of endurance
athletes (22, 35).
Many endurance-sport events require high aerobic power, and O2 max is
a good predictor of endurance performance in untrained
subjects. However, some other factors, such as running economy (RE) or
peak treadmill running performance, may be better predictors
of endurance performance than O2 max in a homogeneous group of
well-trained endurance athletes (e.g., Refs. 4, 6, 30, 32). The
endurance athletes must also be able to maintain a relatively high
velocity over the course of a race. This emphasizes the role of
neuromuscular characteristics related to voluntary and reflex neural
activation, muscle force and elasticity, and running mechanics
(13) as well as the role of anaerobic characteristics in elite
endurance athletes. Bulbulian et al. (5) and Houmard et al. (21) have
shown that anaerobic characteristics can differentiate well-trained
endurance athletes according to their distance running
performance. Heavy-resistance strength training has improved the
endurance performance of previously untrained subjects (e.g., Refs.
17, 28, 29) or RE of female distance runners (24) without changes in
O2 max suggesting that neuromuscular characteristics may also
be important for endurance performance. Consequently, Noakes (31) and
Green and Patla (12) have suggested that O2 max and endurance
performance may be limited not only by central factors related to O2
uptake (O2) but also by so-called "muscle power" factors
affected by an interaction of neuromuscular and anaerobic characteristics.
In the present study, muscle power is defined as an ability of the
neuromuscular system to produce power during maximal exercise
when glycolytic and/or oxidative energy production are high and muscle
contractility may be limited. Peak velocity reached during
the O2 max treadmill running test has been shown to be a good
indicator of endurance performance in middle- and long-distance
running events (e.g., Refs. 4, 31, 32). Noakes (31) has suggested that
could also be used as a measure of the muscle power factor
in endurance runners. However, in addition to the neuromuscular and
anaerobic characteristics, the aerobic processes are also
strongly involved in (e.g., Ref. 19). Recently, it has been suggested
that peak velocity in the maximal anaerobic running test
(VMART), which is influenced both by the anaerobic power and capacity
and by the neuromuscular characteristics without the influence
of O2 max could be used as a measure of muscle power (38).
More...from the Journal of Applied Physiology at:
http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/86/5/1527


21. Overtraining:
Making a Difficult Diagnosis and Implementing Targeted Treatment.
In Brief: Overtraining syndrome is a serious problem marked by
decreased performance, increased fatigue, persistent muscle soreness,
mood disturbances, and feeling 'burnt out' or 'stale.' The diagnosis
of overtraining is usually complicated, there are no exact
diagnostic criteria, and physicians must rule out other diseases
before the diagnosis can be made. An orthostatic challenge shows
promise as a diagnostic tool, but the subjective feelings of the
patient remain one of the most reliable early warning signs.
Prevention is still the best treatment, and certain subjective and
objective parameters can be used by athletes and their trainers
to prevent overtraining. Further studies are needed to find a reliable
diagnostic test and determine if proposed aids to speed
recovery will be effective.
Overtraining has for decades been one of the most popular topics in
meetings and journals dealing with top-level sports. The problem
has been well known for 70 years (1), but many specifics concerning
overtraining are still very unclear. Researchers have tried to
determine what happens to athletes when they begin to overtrain. How
does the pathologic condition of the whole body progress? If
the pathology and physiology of overtraining were better understood,
we could have uniform criteria for the early recognition of
impending overtraining and should be able to diagnose and cure the
overtraining state with greater efficiency. Prevention is still
the best cure, and athletes, coaches, and physicians need to recognize
the early warning signs.
What Is Overtraining?
In medical literature, the word "overtraining" has had many meanings.
It has been used to mean overload training, overreaching, and
overtraining syndrome. Overload training, a few days of hard training
followed by short-term fatigue, is an essential part of all
athletes' training. The physiologic homeostasis of the body needs to
be displaced by intensive training stimuli so that performance
capacity can be improved, a process called reaching or
supercompensation (2). Several days of intentionally heavy training
are
followed by some days of less intense training and rest to achieve
supercompensation and peak performance.
More...from the Physician and Sportsmedicine at:
http://www.physsportsmed.com/issues/2001/05_01/uusitalo.htm


22. A cyclocross bike may be just the answer to break monotony:
You've ridden every road within a 50-mile radius of your home so many
times you know every crack in the pavement. Does the mere
thought of doing the same old rides make you nauseous?
Are you starting to see the dirt roads along the way and wonder where
they go as you fantasize about hills not yet climbed and
rednecks not yet encountered? Granted, some of you are so obsessed
with specificity of training (and not getting dirty) that you've
never considered anything beyond two skinny tires and smooth tarmac.
But if you are starting to feel bored to tears by routes that
were once exciting, it's time for you to "cross" over.
Many triathletes own a mountain bike and in the off-season -- or very
early season -- they actually use it, but only if it's not too
close to their sacred triathlon season. There seems to be an
underlying assumption that it's OK to go off-road, but only if it's
not
during serious training time.
"No sir, we sure don't want mountain bike riding to ruin the upcoming
tri-season! What if we're not on our aerobars by January?
Maybe we'll grow hair on our legs and start enjoying a little dirt
coating on our two front teeth. Maybe we'll start laughing during
rides and forget to wear our heart rate monitor (the horror)! Surely,
we'll miss out on some crucial neuromuscular development."
Wrong!
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11524&sidebar=26&category=triathlon


23. Numbers that could save your life:
Admit it, you're obsessed with numbers. You memorize your mile splits,
know your average time for 100 meters in the pool, how far
you run each day, and maybe even how many crunches you can do in a
minute. But, quick--what's your blood pressure? How about your
fasting blood sugar?
Healthy living goes beyond just measuring how fast you can go or what
your max heart rate is. In fact, it's the numbers that can't
be measured with a stopwatch that mean most to your health. Consider
that heart disease, the number one killer of American women,
when combined with stroke kills twice as many women annually as all
forms of cancer combined.
If you haven't had your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar
measured in the past couple of years, it's time to see your
physician.
The pressure is on
High blood pressure rates are on the rise, with approximately 50
million Americans having high blood pressure, or hypertension.
According to the American Heart Association, the number of deaths
linked to high blood pressure rose 53 percent between the years
1991 and 2001. This increase is linked to an aging population, a rise
in obesity and the amount of processed and sodium-rich foods
Americans eat. Tragically, one-third of those with high blood
pressure, commonly referred to as the silent killer, are unaware they
have it.
So how low should you go? Scientists with the Joint National Committee
on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation and Treatment of High
Blood Pressure released stricter blood-pressure guidelines in 2003.
What once was considered "normal" or "high-normal" (120/80 and
139/89) is now referred to as "prehypertension." Normal blood pressure
is now defined as less than 120/80. Why the change? Recent
studies have shown that the rates of heart disease and stroke begin to
rise earlier than previously believed.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11599


24. 'Moon-Walk' Chamber May Speed Orthopedic Rehab:
It reduces weight on legs to a fraction of normal gravity.
A positive air pressure chamber that provides buoyancy equal to that
of "walking on the moon" may enable patients with hip or other
lower-extremity orthopedic surgeries to begin rehabilitation soon
after their operation, researchers report.
Traditionally, patients must put off rehab until they can use swimming
pools, parallel bars or walking devices.
The special lower-body air pressure chamber was developed by
researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). To use
the device, the patient steps into a clear Plexiglass box, stands on
an exercise treadmill and fits a Neoprene sleeve around the
waist to create an airtight seal.
Technicians can adjust the air pressure in order to vary how much
weight the patient experiences while on the treadmill. For
example, air pressure can provide buoyancy so the patient's legs carry
just 5 percent to 10 percent of their actual body weight
while exercising.
As the patient's surgical wounds heal and they begin to regain
strength and flexibility, the pressure in the chamber and the amount
of body weight carried is gradually increased to match his or her progress.
The UCSD team tested the chamber with nine healthy volunteers, aged 20
to 55. They found that standing, walking and exercising on
the treadmill with the lower body at high positive air pressure is safe.
Details about the pressure chamber were presented this weekend at the
Experimental Biology conference, in San Diego.
From health Scout.




25. News Scan:
* Fashion meets function for the woman on the go
When exercise boredom strikes, many people look for fun distractions
to keep up the enthusiasm. For some, it's a new class; for
others, the latest fitness video. And then there are those who look to
new clothes for a pick-me-up. Fitness-conscious fashionistas
might consider the latest from New Balance - a running skirt.
New Balance running skirt: This A-line skirt is an alternative to
shorts, leggings and pants, and has a built-in seamless brief. The
skirt is a polyester-Lycra blend, the brief a nylon-Lycra blend, and
both are designed to keep moisture away from the skin. The idea
of a short skirt to run in might not seem that bizarre when you
consider that bike skorts have infiltrated the cycling world. Those
skorts are part of what served as inspiration for New Balance,
according to Erika Toner, the company's apparel product development
manager. Another factor was versatility. "People don't look at clothes
for just one purpose," she says. "They don't want a garment
only to work out in, but also for going shopping and picking up the
kids. Plus, the line between fitness and fashion is blending.
Fitness clothes are inspired by fashion, and everyday apparel is
pulling from fitness."
Price: About $45. For stores, go to http://www.newbalance.com .

* Altering steroid receptor genes creates fat burning muscle
And it creates resistance to weight gain and lowered inflammation
The Salk Institute scientist who earlier discovered that enhancing the
function of a single protein produced a mouse with an innate
resistance to weight gain and the ability to run a mile without
stopping has found new evidence that this protein and a related
protein play central roles in the body's complex journey to obesity
and offer a new and specific metabolic approach to the treatment
of obesity related disease such as Syndrome X (insulin resistance,
hyperlipidemia and atherosclerosis).
Dr. Ronald M. Evans, a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator at The Salk
Institute's Gene Expression Laboratory, presented two new
studies (date) at Experimental Biology 2005 in the scientific sessions
of the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular
Biology. The studies focus on genes for two of the nuclear hormone
receptors that control broad aspects of body physiology,
including serving as molecular sensors for numerous fat soluble
hormones, Vitamins A and D, and dietary lipids.
The first study focuses on the gene for PPARd, a master regulator that
controls the ability of cells to burn fat. When the "delta
switch" is turned on in adipose tissue, local metabolism is activated
resulting in increased calorie burning. Increasing PPARd
activity in muscle produces the "marathon mouse," characterized by
super-ability for long distance running. Marathon mice contain
altered muscle composition, which doubles its physical endurance,
enabling it to run an hour longer than a normal mouse. Marathon
mice contain increased levels of slow twitch (type I) muscle fiber,
which confers innate resistance to weight gain, even in the
absence of exercise.
Additional work to be reported at Experimental Biology looks at
another characteristic of PPARd: its role as a major regulator of
inflammation. Coronary artery lesions or atherosclerosis are thought
to be sites of inflammation. Dr. Evans found that activation of
PPARd suppresses the inflammatory response in the artery, dramatically
slowing down lesion progression. Combining the results of
this new study with the original "marathon mouse" findings suggests
that PPARd drugs could be effective in controlling
atherosclerosis by limiting inflammation and at the same time
promoting improved physical performance.
Dr. Evans says he is very excited about the therapeutic possibilities
related to activation of the PPARd gene. He believes athletes,
especially marathon runners, naturally change their muscle fibers in
the same way as seen in the genetically engineered mice,
increasing levels of fat-burning muscle fibers and thus building a
type of metabolic 'shield" that keeps them from gaining weight
even when they are not exercising.
But athletes do it through long periods of intensive training, an
approach unavailable to patients whose weight or medical problems
prevent them from exercise. Dr. Evans believes activating the PPARd
pathway with drugs (one such experimental drug already is in
development to treat people with lipid metabolism) or genetic
engineering would help enhance muscle strength, combat obesity, and
protect against diabetes in these patients.

* Running in a polluted urban area for 30 minutes is equivalent to
smoking a pack of cigarettes a day - American Lung Association
"Even for healthy people, long-term exposure [to air pollution] is
associated with decreased lung function and increased
mortality." - Dr. John Gray
Ontario Medical Association


*End of Articles*



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

April 9, 2005:
Great BUPA Ireland Run - Dublin, IE
http://www.greatrun.org/events/event.asp?id=6

Ironman Arizona - Tempe, AZ
http://www.ironmanarizona.co

Papa John's 10 Miler - Louisville, KY
http://www.papajohns.com/louisville/index.htm

Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K - Richmond, VA
http://www.sportsbackers.org

April 10, 2005:
Canberra Marathon - AUS
http://www.canberramarathon.com.au

Cayman Brac Turtle Triathlon - CI
http://www.bracturtletri.com

Mercury News Run - San Jose, CA
http://www.mercuryrunwalk.com

More Marathon - New York, NY
http://www.nyrr.org/race/2005/moremarathon/index.ph

Rotterdam Marathon - Holland
http://www3.rotterdammarathon.nl

Spirit of St. Louis Marathon/Half-Marathon - MO
http://www.stlouismarathon.com

Whidbey Island Marathon - Whidbey Island, WA April 16, 2005:
http://www.whidbeyislandmarathon.com

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

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.

Ken Parker
Runner's Web
mailto:webmaster@...
http://www.runnersweb.com/running.html
A running and triathlon resource portal


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END...OF DIGEST...