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3. Toronto Waterfront Marathon. September 25, 2005:
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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.
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Benefits of Your Participation In return for your fundraising efforts, the Team
Diabetes Canada program will provide you with:
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THIS WEEK:

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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This Weeks Personal Postings/Releases:
We have ONE personal postings this week.
/*Start of Special Posting*/
Athletics: An Open Letter to Athletics Canada
The following letter, written by Steve Boyd, has been circulated among Canada's
athletics community with the intent of addressing
the myriad of problems facing Canadian athletes.
To support this initiative, print, sign and mail the letter or email your
response
To: Athletics Canada
Suite 300-2197 Riverside Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1H 7X3
E-mail: mailto:athcan@...
To the Board of Directors:
We, the undersigned, wish to address the board over concerns arising over the
de-selection of athletes to the 2005 National
Cross-Country Team. We feel that this situation, including both the initial
decision to de-select the athletes in question and AC’s
subsequent published response to the concerns of the broader athletics community
(as expressed in the media and other forums), was
seriously mishandled; moreover, we’re convinced that the mistakes made in this
instance were not the results of some temporary lapse
in judgment. We see this whole episode as one more symptom of a general, long
term organizational malaise, characterized by a
failure of leadership and vision, and a growing lack of accountability to the
core constituency of the sport— namely, athletes and
the club/university level coaches who do the vast majority of the work to bring
them to the elite level. This affair has, for many
of us, justified our cynicism regarding the role of AC as an organization
charged with the promotion of elite level track and field,
road racing and cross-country in this country.
While our immediate concern has been mishandling of the World X-C selection
process (see our demands), we feel that the deeper issue
is the continued use of “self-funding” for national teams, particularly for
junior age athletes, which we think is emblematic of the
general failure of AC to meet its core responsibilities to athletes and coaches.
What many of us found most galling about the World
X-C selection affair was AC’s continued unwillingness to distinguish between
self-funded athletes and fully-funded athletes when it
comes to travel and training rules. It seems to us that AC is bent on requiring
a level of accountability and commitment from
athletes and coaches that, for years now, it itself has been either unwilling or
unable to provide.
More generally, this incident served to remind many of us long term observers of
the extent to which AC has come to rely on the
self-funding option for the mounting of national teams; once presented as a
temporary “stop-gap” measure, self-funding has now
become a staple of the organization’s year-to-year functioning. It would seem,
now that it has habituated a generation of athletes
to the expectation that they must pay to represent the country, that AC has
removed any pressure on itself to find a more permanent
and viable solution to the team funding problem. AC’s response to criticism over
the recent World X-C selection affair indicates
that it has now become content with offering the trappings of a national team
program (rules, guidelines, a rhetoric of “excellence”
and “high performance”) with little of the substance.
The now apparent institutionalization of self-funding by AC is the clearest
indication of its abandonment of any serious role in the
area of athlete development. The role of athlete development in Canada has been
de facto devolved to local clubs and, for final year
juniors and “hopefuls”, the university system (and the NCAA in particular). This
shift of responsibilities is to some extent an
inevitable consequence of the systematic under- funding of this and almost all
other amateur sports in Canada; no one, after all,
expects the federation in its current form to play the leading role in athlete
development. It seems to us, however, that AC could
do much better in supporting the efforts of those of us who ARE now directly
responsible for providing the next generation of Team
Canada members, and that the best way for it to do so, within its mandate of
administering national teams, is by providing full
funding for athletes who succeed in meeting the set standards for international
competition, beginning with junior athletes. If AC
is unable to do at least this to support the efforts of clubs and the university
system, then we feel strongly that its entire
raison d’etre will continue to be suspect in the eyes of its core constituency.
In light of the above, we make the following demands:
1. That AC do whatever it takes to reinstate full-funding for junior national
teams as soon as possible.
The self-funding option has removed the pressure on AC to provide leadership in
this area. The long term use of self-funding also
systematically limits the pool of potential national team athletes at its
source, and, in so doing, harms long term athlete
development in this country.
2. That AC publish a clear plan, including a timeline, for how it proposes to
end the practice of "self-funding" on all national
teams.
Or else that it consider canceling teams that can't be fully funded and stop
using self-funding to hide the public embarrassment
that Canada, a G-8 nation, cannot afford to send athletes to accredited
international competitions, in spite of the fact that many
developing nations manage to do so.
And, in the meantime, that AC:
1. End mandatory training camps, and travel restrictions in general, for
“self-funded” athletes.
We feel strongly that AC should make demands of athletes only in accord with
level of responsibility it is willing or able to
assume. Responsibility between athlete and federation must be balanced.
2. Make junior team funding the priority.
By far the biggest development “bang for the buck” that AC, in its now very
limited capacity, can achieve is through the full
funding of our most talented junior athletes, even if this involves the short
term transfer of resources from other activities. The
possibility of national team participation is very attractive to young athletes,
but many are inevitably put-off by the potentially
high costs involved; full funding for junior athletes is therefore probably the
single best way to ensure the future of elite track
and field in our country.
Signed: “Friends of Canadian Athletics”
Steve Boyd
Past National Team Athlete,
Current Coach and Master’s Competitor
/*End of Special Posting*/


This Week's Digest Article Index:

1. Science of Sport: Getting Ready To Compete At Altitude
2. Science of Sport: Clothing - Technical clothing offers limited benefits
3. Multisport: Cramps and Stitch: Why Do We Get Them and How Can We Prevent
Them?
4. Intensity Based Training improves running time
5. Top 10 Tips for a Fast Transition
6. Take care of 'core' to avoid injury
7. Ten Quick Fixes to Save Your Running Knees and Joints Long Term
8. Science of Sport: Lactic Acid Reduces Fatigue
9. From Runner's World
10. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Following George
11. What you should know about soft drinks
12. Common knee injuries and runners knee
13. Low fat diets might deprive kids vitamins
14. Cranberries May Help Keep Arteries Clear
15. Heart Rate Variability
16. Coach’s tale with Cliff English: What’s the point?
17. Three steps to injury-free training
18. Aspirin-a-day call for over 50s
Men and women aged 50 and over should consider taking aspirin to reduce their
risk of heart attacks and strokes, experts have
suggested.
19. Study: Many Marathon Runners Drink Too Much Water
20. Growing Up with Lydiard
21. The clock that wakes you when you are ready
22. Multisport: Tax Time……..Fitness
Are you filing another extension of your New Year resolutions?
23. Walk for home:
While walking our dog, we were passed by several runners. We wondered why it is
that a runner will use more energy than a walker to
cover the same distance. According to the law of conservation of energy surely
both should use the same?
24. In a slump? How to break that plateau
25. News Scan - A Collection of News Items


Runner's Web Weekly Poll: "How many years have you been a runner?"

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 "Do you plan on watching OLN's live coverage of the Boston
Marathon on April 18th?"

The results at publication time were:

Answers Votes Percent
1. Yes 29 64%
2. No 16 36%
Total Votes: 45

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Five Star Site of the Week: Tim Don
Tim Don is a British triathlete who competed in the Sydney and Athens Olympics.
"As a junior, Tim was soon marked out for great things. His swift and easy
running style made him ideally suited to take his place
in the new wave of triathletes who used their pace in the third discipline to
distance their cycling and swimming peers.
Bad luck was never far from the heels of the young Don however, with stolen
bikes, crashes and injuries all looming large in his
early career. One aspect of his abilities was never called into question:
stomach for the fight. He quickly gained a reputation for
being one of the bravest emerging talents, often attacking from the front on the
bike to stir up the action. His willingness to take
races by the scruff of the neck often left him staring at silver medals rather
than gold, as more canny rivals took advantage of his
enthusiasm to split the field, but a strong character was starting to shine
through."...
Check out the site at:
http://www.timdon.info/

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: Nancy Clark's Food Guide for Marathoners
by Nancy Clark
This book is a guide to winning nutrition for both first-time and inexperienced
marathoners. Clark writes this book from her passion
for teaching the everyday champions that we all are how to use food to help
achieve our marathon goals. She combines her personal
experiences and professional expertise to teach us to eat well and enhance our
energy. We learn what, when and how to eat to enjoy
not only the process of training for the marathon, but also participating in the
marathon itself with energy to spare.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0971891109/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books
[Long URL]

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: Getting Ready To Compete At Altitude:
By Owen Anderson, Ph. D. (copyright © 2003-2005)
OK - your training has been going great, but there is just one little problem:
You are a sea-level athlete, and your upcoming,
extremely important competition will be held at altitude. What do you need to do
to minimize the negative effects of altitude on
your performance?
Moving your spouse and kids (or your team, if you are a coach) to the site of
competition is not feasible (in most cases), nor would
it be good for your overall fitness. After all, altitude training significantly
reduces the quality of training, teaching runners'
bodies to move along at slower - not faster - speeds.
Naturally, you could take a more-practical approach to the problem. VO2max (and
thus vVO2max) are reduced at altitude (compared with
sea level), and so you could carry out sea-level training which would heighten
VO2max as much as possible (so that the
altitude-related declines take a great VO2max and turn it into a good one,
instead of changing a good VO2max into a mediocre one).
This means a steady diet of training at vVO2max, as well as at speeds ranging
from 10-K alacrity to your very best running pace.
Moving along for long, long miles at slower-than-race velocities won't cut it
when it comes to VO2max enhancement.
Pursuing practicality, you could also make a sincere effort to optimize your
lactate threshold while you are at sea level, waiting
for your altitude adventure. After all, one thing is guaranteed about altitude
running: There will be lots of lactate floating
around in your bloodstream. Maximizing your lactate threshold will be a certain
way to ensure that your muscles will simultaneously
"cough up" less lactate into your capillaries as you scoot along in thin air and
also pull lactate back in (to supply the energy you
need to run) at the highest-possible rate. This means a complementary (to the
VO2max efforts) array of lactate-threshold-lifting
sessions, including lactate stackers (running incredibly hard for one minute,
with two-minute recoveries) and hill climbs so tough
that they make you cry.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050415_RRN_Altitude.html


2. Science of Sport: Clothing - Technical clothing offers limited benefits:
The so-called 'technical' athletic clothing fabrics which purport to promote
sweat evaporation from the skin provide no
thermoregulatory, physiological or comfort advantages when compared with
traditional cotton clothing during or after exercise in a
moderately warm environment.
This was the clear and somewhat surprising conclusion of a new study on eight
well-trained, well-hydrated men, carried out in the
Human Performance Laboratory of Indiana University.
The researchers were investigating the hypothesis that: 'important physiological
variables classically accepted to be affected by
exercise in the heat (ie skin temperature, core temperature, heart rate and
sweat loss) would show less perturbation with garments
made from a fabric with improved evaporative characteristics as compared with
ensembles of more traditional fabrics'.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050415_PPO_Technical_Clothing.h\
tml


3. Multisport: Cramps and Stitch: Why Do We Get Them and How Can We Prevent
Them?
Most triathletes, at one time or another would have experienced either a cramp
or a stitch during a triathlon or a training session.
These complaints can range from mildly uncomfortable to severely debilitating,
but there is no question that they are a great source
of frustration to everyone from recreational exercisers to serious athletes.
Unfortunately, scientists know very little about the
two conditions and how to avoid them. Consequently, there is a lot of folklore
surrounding the topic, making it difficult to know
exactly how to deal with these problems.
What is Cramp?
Cramp is a sudden, tight and intense pain that most commonly occurs in the leg
muscles: especially the gastrocnemius, hamstrings,
and quadriceps. It can range from a slight twinge to an excruciating pain, and
may last for a few seconds or several minutes. A
cramp can be a one-off occurrence or repeat several times before the muscle
relaxes and the pain goes away.
What Causes Cramp?
Cramp is caused when a muscle involuntary and forcibly contracts and does not
relax. While this seems to be due to an abnormal
stimulation of the muscle, the exact mechanism is unknown. Cramp is more likely
to occur in tired muscles therefore poor fitness or
exercising at high workloads can increase the likelihood. Inadequate stretching
and poor biomechanics may also contribute.
Dehydration may contribute to cramp especially when fluid and sodium losses are
high. Sodium is involved in initiating nerve signals
that make muscles contract. A deficit of sodium and fluid may "irritate" muscles
causing them to contract uncontrollably.
Cramp has been attributed to the depletion of potassium and minerals such as
calcium and magnesium. However, this idea does not have
strong support as very little potassium, calcium and magnesium is lost during
exercise. Also deficiency is rare as these substances
are abundant in the diet. It has been suggested that magnesium is relocated in
the body during exercise rather than lost in sweat.
Therefore, a magnesium imbalance in relation to other electrolytes (sodium and
potassium) may be involved. Further evidence needs to
be gained in this area.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050412_TSO_Cramps.html


4. Intensity Based Training improves running time:
Regardless of your running goals, we all like to see our efforts pay off. One
true measure of improvement is time. Are we running
faster?
One of the most effective methods for improving running times is Intensity Based
Training, or IBT.
With IBT, you spend less total time training but more time going faster. IBT
works by building speed and power in small increments
and increasing the time little by little. In order to run faster, you need to
train faster.
Distance training only gets your body accustomed to steady running for the
amount of time you expect to spend at a particular event.
Conversely, with IBT, you gradually add time to your workouts only after you
have noticed an adaptation from your higher intensity
workouts. As a result, with an IBT approach, you essentially go faster and
farther without the fatigue from continual distance
training.
One of the key effects of IBT is the conversion your muscle fibers undergo.
Muscles are primarily made of two different kinds of
fibers, fast- and slow-twitch, both of which can be manipulated through
exercise.
Fast-twitch muscle fibers are more powerful in nature, need no oxygen to perform
but have little or no endurance strength. A
sprinter would have more fast-twitch muscle fibers in his or her body.
More...from The News-Press at:
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050412/HEALTH/504120301/1\
051/HEALTH


5. Top 10 Tips for a Fast Transition:
Newbie triathletes generally regard the transition area as a place to rest and
regroup - a place to celebrate the completion of one
leg of the race and prepare for the next. Sometimes, it feels like the gravity
in transition areas is ten times normal with food,
drink, sunscreen and friendly volunteers happy to chat. Out on the race course
everybody is pushing forward in the same direction
but in the transition area, athletes are milling around in all directions and
the sense of racing can disappear.
How many hours of swim practice would it take to lop two minutes off your swim
time? Probably hundreds, maybe even thousands. How
many hours of transition practice would it take to lop two minutes off your
transition time? Maybe only one! Many triathletes are so
focused on swim, bike and run splits they forget the clock is still running in
the transition area. Every second counts. Transition
practice isn’t as fun as running but it is a good investment of your training
time.
Triathletes looking to win need to shift their entire mental focus and integrate
the transition seamlessly into their race. The
transition is not a rest area but a place to speed in and out of, in the fastest
time, with the least energy.
Lynda’s Top Ten Tips For A Fast Transition
#1 Practice your plan Have a plan of exactly what you are going to do and
practice it over and over again until you are fast with no
mistakes. Practice it physically several times over in training and then
rehearse it mentally several times on race morning. By the
time you are in transition in during race you should be moving on autopilot.
Never try something new on race day.
More...from TriFuel.com at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/triathlon-training/top-10-tips-for-a-fast-trans\
ition-000788.php


6. Take care of 'core' to avoid injury :
Alaskans thinking about shaping up this spring might consider the example of
42-year-old former Olympic marathoner Chris Clark of
Anchorage.
Not so much for all the things she accomplished a few years ago, which were
considerable -- finishing first in the Olympic trials in
2000, bettering dozens of higher-ranked runners who were younger than her, then
running a personal best 2:31:35 in the wilting heat
of the Summer Games in Sydney, Australia, to finish in the top 20.
But more so for the things she didn't accomplish. Clark didn't seriously injure
herself in the process. Yes, she had to nurse foot
problems in the buildup to the Olympics while logging up to 75 miles of running
a week. But she didn't blow out her knees. She
didn't tear her hamstrings. She didn't pull a groin. She didn't hurt her back.
Which makes Clark all that much more exceptional, since the majority of distance
runners somehow end up injuring themselves. In a
1998 Runner's World magazine survey of its own subscribers, about seven of every
10 respondents said they'd suffered some sort of
running-related injury that prevented them from running in the previous 12
months.
More...from the Anchorage Daily News at:
http://www.adn.com/life/story/6371135p-6249083c.html


7. Ten Quick Fixes to Save Your Running Knees and Joints Long Term:
1. Take at least 1-2 rest days per week. This means no impact giving your joints
a rest from the pounding forces that running
produces. Less experienced runners may need 2-3 rest days per week. Remember
that you are weaker after a work out and only get
stronger through proper recovery. Try to circumvent this process and injury
becomes likely. He (or she) who recovers first wins.
2. Perform no more than 1-2 "break through" or high intensity interval work outs
per week. Speed work puts more stress and the body,
and requires more recovery time. This type of work must performed prescriptively
and carefully. Try to schedule your speed work or
intervals work outs the day prior to a rest or recovery day.
3. Train in 2-3 day cycles, with a rest or recovery work out in between cycles.
This allows your body to adapt to the stress of
training. Some athletes will need more rest and less training, especially as
intensity increases. A rest or recovery work out is
best scheduled after an increase in weekly mileage.
4. Change your shoes out frequently. A good rule of thumb is at least 3x per
year for a high volume runner. You may want to write
the date you purchased your shoes in permanent ink on your shoes for reference.
Buying shoes is expensive, but so is your insurance
deductible.
5. Take the supplements Chondroitin Sulfate and Glucosamine. I don't recommend a
lot of supplements, but this combination has shown
promise in clinical studies, and in control groups of people suffering from knee
pain. One works as an anti-inflammatory
(Chondroitin); the other helps regenerate cartilage (Glucosamine). I know of
several orthopedic surgeons who are recommending the
supplement to their patients. It is definitely worth a try.
More...from The Sports Factory at:
http://thesportfactory.iuplog.com/default.asp?item=84805


8. Science of Sport: Lactic Acid Reduces Fatigue:
In 1929, the revered exercise physiologist A. V. Hill isolated frog muscle cells
and forced them to fatigue by stimulating them
electrically. He noticed that as the frog fibers became increasingly tired, they
tended to accumulate large quantities of lactic
acid (1). Adroitly, Hill transferred the froggy sinews to a saline solution
which allowed the lactic acid to dissipate, and with
this dissipation came a renewed vigor on the part of the cells.
Although many explanations were possible for these interesting events, Hill
settled on the idea that the piling up of intracellular
lactic acid was a principal cause of muscle fatigue. His hypothesis was
"verified" by later work which seemed to suggest that
intracellular "acidosis" caused by a build-up of lactic acid could thwart force
production by the key proteins inside muscle cells
(2).
Of course, when A & B occur together, and the removal of B is associated with
the reversal of A, it is tempting to think that B
causes A. But just as high rates of under-age drinking are not really linked
with improved SAT scores, lactic acid does not truly
promote tiredness in muscles. The problem is that when one focuses strictly on A
& B, then C, D, and E are ignored. The occurrence
of two things together does not prove causation, especially in biological
systems - where an incredible number of variables are
interacting simultaneously.
Later research, in fact, showed that the lactic-acid-fatigue link was very
tenuous. One study, for example, found that individuals
whose muscle cells are incapable of producing lactic acid actually experience
fatigue more quickly, compared with persons whose
muscles spew out large quantities of lactic acid (3).
Another investigation found that the acidosis effect, by which an acetous
intracellular milieu puts the stopper on muscular force
production, was present at low temperatures - but was barely noticeable at
typical body temperatures (4). Other work carried out
with single muscle cells has shown that acidic conditions have no effect at all
on fatigue (5)!
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050409_RRN_Lactic_Acid.html


9. From Runner's World:
* Coach's Corner
Got rhythm? "Think about your favorite music while you run, whether Mozart or
Metallica. Try to recall lyrics to entire songs and
sing them out loud. (A standard 5-minute rock song will carry you through a
half-mile or more.)" -Hal Higdon
* Injury Prevention
Stretch Those Calves: With your heel on the ground, prop your toes against a
step, tree, or wall. Hold the stretch for 10-15 seconds
and repeat on the opposite leg. Caution: Do not let your heels hang off a step.
Doing this can overstretch the muscles and cause
injury.
* Performance Nutrition
Many of the natural pigments in fruits and vegetables are potent antioxidants,
so the more pigment a fruit or vegetable has, the
more healthful they are to eat. Plant breeders have already released a number of
new cultivars of potatoes, carrots, and squash
selected for their high pigment/antioxidant contents. Many berries are already
naturally dense in pigment. So eat a variety of
naturally brightly colored fruits and veggies every day for maximum antioxidant
punch.
* Coach's Corner
"A strong core, which includes your lower back, abdominal, and hip muscles,
makes it easier to maintain good, upright, effortless
running form. When runners with weak cores get tired, they start leaning too far
forward. That's biomechanically inefficient, and
will even limit your lung capacity." -Janet Hamilton, an Atlanta-area running
coach & exercise physiologist
* Injury Prevention
Right after you run, ice any ache that might develop into an injury. Use a cold
pack, or massage the area with ice until your skin
turns pink and feels numb. This typically takes 10 to 15 minutes.
* Performance Nutrition
Spring tonics--made from dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)--are based on the folk
wisdom that early greens stimulate and renew
energy. Czech researchers have just discovered one way such a tonic might help:
Dandelion root tea stimulates the growth of 14
strains of bifidobacteria--a probiotic. These useful bugs knock out bad ones
that can cause diarrhea; they can also reduce allergy
symptoms and ease irritable bowel syndrome.
* Words That Inspire:
"In the face of uncertainty, there is nothing wrong with hope." -Dr. Bernie
Siegel, doctor who has done groundbreaking research on
breast cancer
* Editor's Advice:
"Always take ID along with you while running. Because drivers' licenses can be
awkward to carry, try "T-Tags" or "Road-IDs,"
identification strips that attach to your running shoe, wrist, or ankle." -Katie
Neitz, RW associate editor
* Training Talk:
"People often ask how some competitors' feet can look so good at the end of a
long race when most racers' resemble hamburger. The
answer is very simple: conditioning. The human body is incredibly good at
adapting, be it to heat, cold, altitude, endurance, or
physical load."
-From Runner's World Guide to Adventure Racing by Ian Adamson


10. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Following George:
Old people, sometimes to the irritation of the young, talk often and long about
their physical ailments. Runners don't wait until
they age to do that, though the years give us more to discuss.
Three men whose ages averaged 65-plus sat at dinner recently, detailing their
prostate health. The eldest, a world record-holder for
his age, told of his successful surgery. The next was healthy himself but said,
"I know 15 runners who are dealing with prostate
cancer."
To me, the third man in this conversation circle, the topic was disturbing. I
asked questions of the others but didn't tell them
about my overdue biopsy. I hadn't told anyone except my wife Barbara, who spent
most of 2004 dealing with breast-cancer treatments.
If you think this is a men-only story, substitute the word "breast" for
"prostate," and "mammogram" for "PSA." Prostate cancer is
for men what breast cancer is for women -- a scourge from which our fitness
seems to give little protection.
I'd delayed the biopsy for the trip that brought me together with the two
tablemates. A routine physical exam that week had turned
up a high enough reading on the prostate-cancer screening test, the PSA, to
warrant a call from the doctor.
"We need to biopsy you right away," he had said. "With this reading, the chances
of it being cancer are one in three. Can you come
in tomorrow?"
I couldn't, but promised to be checked right after the weekend trip. I'll spare
you the details of this testing (except to say get
it done if the routine screening shows anything suspicious). I will tell you, if
you haven't had the experience, that the wait for
results was more painful than the doctor's needles.
When my own words are inadequate, I often turn to George Sheehan's. A column
about him ("Tears for a Winner") appeared here during
my week of suspense.
Eighteen years ago this spring, George's week-long wait ended with the worst of
verdicts. He had prostate cancer. It had spread into
his bones, beyond the reach of surgery and other treatments.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/502.html


11. 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


12. Common knee injuries and runners knee:
Do your knees sometimes give you the blues? If so, you're in good company:
common knee injuries are the curse of many athletes,
especially runners.
For instance, about 60 per cent of all runners are injured in an average year,
and about one-third of those misfortunes occur at the
knee, producing a yearly knee injury rate of one in five runners ('Running
Injuries to the Knee,' Journal of the American Academy of
Orthopedic Surgeons, vol. 3, pp. 309-318, 1995).
If your knee injury pain is lateral (on the outside edge of a knee), then it's
likely that you are suffering from one of the most
common knee complaints - iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS). As you may have
learned the hard way, ITBS may aggrieve your knee enough
to drastically limit or even completely stop your training.
Iliotibial band syndrome has been around since man (and woman) first learned to
run, but it wasn't actually described in the medical
literature until 1975 (Sports Injuries and Their Treatment, p. 56, J. B.
Lippincott Publishers, Philadelphia, 1975). The syndrome is
often labelled an 'overuse' injury, but that's a very poor way to describe the
origin of the problem, since it implies that the main
source of difficulty is excess mileage. The truth is that runners can be
afflicted with ITBS on a regime of just five to 10 miles
per week, even though such volume would hardly constitute overtraining. The key
source of iliotibial band syndrome disorders is
actually a lack of strength and flexibility in the iliotibial band, sometimes
combined with a perverse fondness for running either
on the track or on crowned roads, as you'll see in a moment.
Abduction and adduction
What exactly is the iliotibial band? It's not a jazz group whose members tap in
time to their music with their tibias. The central
feature of the iliotibial band is a key muscle, the tensor fascia lata, which
runs down the outside of the thigh just below the hip.
Like all muscles, the tensor fascia lata has a band of connective tissue at each
end which bind it to bone. The upper band merely
ascends vertically a short distance to attach at the top of the hip (thus the
name ilio-), but the lower one runs all the way down
the side of the thigh before attaching to the lateral side of the tibia, just
below the knee (hence the name -tibial).
Overall, the iliotibial band scoots down the outside of the leg from the hip to
below the knee, kind of like a broad stripe in one's
'musculo-tendinous uniform'. If you're curious about the muscle's name, the word
'tensor' means 'makes tense', 'fascia' means
'band', and 'lata' signifies 'wide', providing a pretty accurate description of
the characteristics of this key muscle.
If you do some digging in any human anatomy book, you'll find that the key
action of the tensor fascia lata and its associated bands
of connective tissue is supposedly to 'abduct the thigh' (in the patois of human
anatomy, 'abduction' means moving a body part away
from the midline of the body). At first glance, this 'key action' seems to make
sense. If you activate a muscle which originates at
the hip and runs down to the outside of the leg just below the knee, wouldn't it
simply pull the leg outward, away from the other
leg and from the imaginary centre line of the body, a bit like flapping a wing?
Of course it would, but how useful is that motion
during running? In fact, how instrumental is it to everyday life?
More...from the Sports Injury Bulletin at:
http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/0168-knee-injuries.htm


13. Low fat diets might deprive kids vitamins:
Low fat diets might be fine for adults, but at least one small study suggests
grown-ups using that approach for their families could
be depriving young children of vitamins they need.
University of Nebraska-Lincoln nutrition scientist Judy Driskell said her recent
study of preschool children living in Lincoln found
two-thirds of them lacking the recommended levels of vitamin E and one-third
short on vitamin C -- a finding attributed mainly to
parents sharing their eating habits with their children.
"Parents are eating a lot of low fat and nonfat products, and we're finding they
also give their children such things as skim milk,"
Driskell said. "The low fat diet is probably associated with their being low in
vitamin E."
Some child nutrition experts expressed shock at the study's findings, noting
that vitamin deficiencies -- particularly of vitamin
C -- are considered uncommon in the United States.
"It doesn't take that much fresh fruit intake ... to get a recommended daily
allowance of vitamin C," said Dr. Terrill Bravender,
director of adolescent medicine at Duke University Medical Center in North
Carolina.
Bravender also noted debate in the medical field about how much vitamin E is
needed for good health, particularly for young
children.
Driskell and colleagues from the university's Institute of Agriculture and
Natural Resources tested major antioxidant vitamin
levels, which include vitamins E and C, in children ages 2-5 at four Lincoln day
care centers. They tested blood samples from 22
ethnically diverse boys and girls -- the only ones whose parents gave permission
for the study.
More...from CNN at:
http://us.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/diet.fitness/04/12/childrens.vitamins.ap/index.htm\
l


14. Cranberries May Help Keep Arteries Clear:
Research on pigs revealed vascular benefits from powdered juice.
SUNDAY, April 3 (HealthDay News) -- In a study in pigs, cranberry juice helped
relax blood vessels clogged with high blood
cholesterol and narrowed by atherosclerosis, according to a study by researchers
at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary
Medicine.
The pigs used in the study had a genetic defect -- familial hypercholesterolemia
(FH) -- that causes them to develop high blood
cholesterol, which in turn causes atherosclerosis and vascular dysfunction.
However, some of these pigs were fed cranberry juice
powder, made from whole cranberries, for six months and their blood vessels
started to function like those in normal pigs.
FH pigs that weren't fed the cranberry powder had much less vascular relaxation
than either normal pigs or the FH pigs that ate the
cranberry powder.
The study was to be presented Sunday at the Congress of the International Union
of Physiological Sciences, in San Diego.
"Since the abnormal functioning of blood vessels is an important component of
heart disease, finding ways to improve vascular
function in patients with high cholesterol and atherosclerosis is critical to
helping protect these patients from consequence such
as heart attack or stroke," study lead researcher Kris Kruse-Elliott said in a
prepared statement.
"The value of fruits and vegetables in our diet has recently been an area of
intense research, and studies like this help us to
understand the specific mechanisms by which the nutrients we consume can protect
against heart disease," she said.
The research team now plans to determine which components of cranberries are
most important in improving vascular relaxation.
[From Health Scout]


15. Heart Rate Variability:
Resting heart rate (RHR) has long been used to give a guide to recovery.
However, with so many external factors easily able to
affect RHR, more effective and reliable methods have been developed. For
endurance athletes, a morning orthostatic HR test can be
used to monitor RHR, heart rate variability (HRV) and HR response to posture
change. Over the last ten or more years many methods
have been used to analyse orthostatic HR recordings, with mixed success. Only
recently has a method of analysis been used
effectively to track recovery and fatigue in elite athletes.
This method focus' on HRV to establish the athlete's state of fatigue/recovery.
More...from Endurance Sports Training at:
http://www.endurancetraining.com.au/HRV.htm


16. Coach’s tale with Cliff English: What’s the point?
By Cliff English/www.competitiveedgetraining.com
March 8, 2005 -- I am going to take a brief break from reporting on the status
of my team’s training camp in Tucson. All right, I
can’t resist the urge -- but I promise to be brief. Things are great: training
is going well, weather is awesome and we are all
getting some sun.
This week I want to talk about training. What really is the point? We will not
delve into the many psychological reasons of “why” we
do it but rather take a look at what we decide to do with the time we allot to
training. This brings us to one of the most important
components of training: specificity. By now this is a fairly common term, but
still many athletes do not make a practice of
specificity in their training.
Most of you have a single competitive season planned for the North American
summer (just to keep things simple), so let’s identify
the phases of the year:
Transition phase: The period (about two to six weeks) after the end of last
season’s competitive phase (and at the beginning of your
2005 season training plan) during which you took time off and included
unstructured training.
More...from Triathlete Magazine at:
http://www.triathletemag.com/story.cfm?story_id=9497&publicationID=92&pageID=173\
2


17. Three steps to injury-free training:
In my eight years as a triathlete, I have experienced every overuse injury you
can name. The silver lining to this cloud of pain and
frustration is that my frequent breakdowns have taught me a lot about how to
prevent and overcome injury.
The most important ingredient in the recipe for progress in triathlon is
consistency, and the key to consistency (besides
discipline) is staying healthy.
Every triathlete should make health maintenance the top priority of his or her
training. If you do this, fitness will more or less
take care of itself.
Here are my three golden rules for training injury-free, all learned the hard
way.
Stay in balance
Muscle imbalances are a causal factor in relation to a majority of overuse
injuries. No muscle ever works alone. In order to
function optimally, each muscle needs to cooperate with other muscles, and
optimal cooperation, in turn, requires that cooperating
muscles be balanced in terms of their length, elasticity, and strength.
Most triathletes come to the sport with pre-existing imbalances that are due to
individual physiology, adaptation to lifestyle
(especially sitting), and past injuries.
Training itself tends to exacerbate some of these imbalances and to create new
ones, and eventually these lead to injury.
For example, running often creates tight, strong hamstrings and tight iliotibial
bands while leaving the vastus medialis (the muscle
on the inner side of the front of the thigh) relatively loose and weak. As a
result, the kneecap can begin to track incorrectly
during running, leading to cartilage damage.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11490


18. Aspirin-a-day call for over 50s:
Men and women aged 50 and over should consider taking aspirin to reduce their
risk of heart attacks and strokes, experts have
suggested.
A 25-year study of 2,500 men, to appear in the British Medical Journal, found
the middle-aged are at high enough risk to benefit
from daily doses.
Author Professor Peter Elwood, of Cardiff University, called for wider use of
the drug.
But the British Heart Foundation warned it might be harmful for some people.
Over 50s
Professor Jeremy Pearson, associate medical director of the British Heart
Foundation, said: "Taking a daily dose of aspirin -
already routinely prescribed for people who have had a heart attack - is likely
to be beneficial for many people over the age of 50.
"The risks and the costs are low, and the potential benefit is significant.
More...from the BBC at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4439577.stm


19. Study: Many Marathon Runners Drink Too Much Water:
As many as one in eight marathon runners may risk falling ill by drinking too
much water during races, researchers said in a study
released days before the Boston Marathon.
A study of 488 competitors at the 2002 Boston Marathon released on Wednesday
concluded that 13 percent probably consumed so much
fluid that their blood salt levels fell dangerously low -- a condition known as
hyponatremia.
One of the runners that year, 28-year-old Cynthia Lucero, died of hyponatremia
four miles from the finish line. Race organizers have
since mounted an educational campaign to warn runners about the dangers of
excessive drinking.
"Hyponatremia -- and, particularly, severe hyponatremia -- may be a greater
problem than previously recognized," said the team of
researchers, led by Christopher Almond of Children's Hospital in Boston.
The 26-mile Boston race, due to be run on Monday, is the world's oldest annually
contested marathon.
Writing in this week's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, Almond
and his colleagues declined to say how much fluid
runners should consume during such a race because individuals vary in size and
the rate at which they perspire.
But they said runners should find their best level of hydration by weighing
themselves before and after training runs. If they have
gained weight at the end, they have probably taken in too much fluid, the
researchers said.
"The strongest single predictor of hyponatremia was considerable weight gain
during the race," they concluded.
Drinking three or more liters (6-1/2 pints) during the race, drinking every
mile, running at a slower pace, being a woman, and being
lean -- with a body-mass index of less than 20 -- increased the likelihood that
a runner would gain weight by the end of the race.
More...from Reuters at:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=8173778


20. Growing Up with Lydiard:
As twin boys of six, my brother Colin and I landed in Auckland, New Zealand,
after emigrating with our mother from Nairobi, Kenya,
where we had been born. This was January 1965. My father had to remain in Kenya;
he was not able to leave; the political situation
was not unlike Zimbabwe's now. They had to sell our little home and coffee
plantation for "peanuts."
My mother, an experienced secondary teacher with good university qualifications,
was unable to get teaching work, so took on menial
factory work for some time. This was before the days of equal pay for women. So
the only place my mum could afford was a damp little
flat at 92 Owairaka Avenue, in the suburb of Mt. Albert, Auckland. We were
promptly enrolled at Owairaka Primary School. Owairaka
Primary School was a little school with its own concrete swimming pool, and
several older weatherboard classrooms, with a modern
block built in the early 60's.
On the east side of the road were all the good houses on the slopes of Mt.
Albert. Some lucky kids lived up there. The dividing line
was Richardson Road. Owairaka Primary was on the west side. Around it on three
sides were all the "state houses." Just below the
school grounds on the west side was a little park that none of us ventured into;
it had state houses backing onto it from three
sides, and you'd get a hiding from any one of several gangs who lived down there
if you ever went into it. The only safe time was
sometimes in summer when they had a version of Little Athletics. The park was
called Murray Halberg Park.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/issues/05may/lydiard6.htm


21. The clock that wakes you when you are ready:
ARE you a real grump in the mornings? Do you wake up every day feeling tired,
embittered, aggrieved, and all too ready to hit the
snooze button? If so, then a new alarm clock could be just for you.
The clock, called SleepSmart, measures your sleep cycle, and waits for you to be
in your lightest phase of sleep before rousing you.
Its makers say that should ensure you wake up feeling refreshed every morning.
As you sleep you pass through a sequence of sleep states - light sleep, deep
sleep and REM sleep - that repeats approximately every
90 minutes. The point in that cycle at which you wake can affect how you feel
later, and may even have a greater impact than how
long or little you have slept. Being roused during a light phase means you are
more likely to wake up perky.
SleepSmart records the distinct pattern of brain waves produced during each
phase of sleep, via a headband equipped with electrodes
and a microprocessor. This measures electrical activity of the wearer's brain,
in much the same way as EEG machines used for medical
and research purposes, and communicates wirelessly with a clock unit near the
bed. You program the clock with the latest time at
which you want to be wakened, and it then duly wakes you during the last light
sleep phase before that.
More...from New Scientist at:
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18624956.600


22. Multisport: Tax Time……..Fitness:
Are you filing another extension of your New Year resolutions?
We are in April and for some of us it still seems to be January 1st, 2005 to
start with the New Year's resolutions. We amuse
ourselves with the thought of finishing races of all kind. Triathlons,
Marathons, Running races, you name it. Time flies by and here
we are! For some, it's still not warm enough, or the days continue to be too
short. Believe me! We can start with a list of excuses
that can go on and on.
The biggest drag is to know that you are almost in season and you are not fit,
we wanted to do so much. That can really get you
down. You feel mentally flat because for whatever reasons you don't feel like
going for a run or a bike ride, and when you do you
feel worse because you slacked all winter and the fitness level is so low that
it does not become enjoyable any more.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20050415_WH_Tax_Time.html


23. Walk for home:
While walking our dog, we were passed by several runners. We wondered why it is
that a runner will use more energy than a walker to
cover the same distance. According to the law of conservation of energy surely
both should use the same?
A runner uses considerably more energy than a walker covering the same distance,
but does not violate the law of conservation of
energy.
The kinetic energy of a moving object is proportional to the square of the speed
of the object. So a cart moving on a frictionless
track with no air resistance would have four times the kinetic energy of a
similar cart moving at half the speed, and would use four
times as much energy to get up to speed and to slow to a stop at the end.
“Some energy is wasted as heat. While runners sweat profusely, walkers barely
break a sweat, indicating a difference in heat
generated at different speeds”
Now consider the differences between a walker and a runner, both of whom need
additional energy inputs to overcome drag, which slows
them down. The runner is airborne for part of each stride, requiring energy over
and above that of the walker to give the body
vertical acceleration against gravity, and to break the fall on the way back
down. Energy is also lost as muscle groups work in
opposition to each other to provide stability and fine posture control.
More...from New Scientist at:
http://www.newscientist.com/backpage.ns?id=mg18624953.200


24. In a slump? How to break that plateau:
There's no better feeling in the life of a runner than getting fitter. When
every workout seems both faster and easier than the
last. And there's no worse feeling than the dreaded plateau. When your speed and
endurance unexpectedly level off, and before you
know it you're training hard just to keep from sliding backward. And you ask
yourself, "What happened?"
There are a few common causes of stagnation in training. Often it is an
indication that you have peaked -- that your body has
reached the short-term limit of its adaptive potential. This is likely to be the
case if you have been increasing your training
steadily for many weeks, or increasing it a little too rapidly. The only
solution here is to take a short break from running, maybe
do some enjoyable cross-training for two or three weeks, and then begin a fresh
training program.
That's the worst-case scenario. Other times a plateau is merely an indication
that you need a brief recovery period to absorb recent
training before you resume your build-up. In fact, whenever you encounter a
plateau, the first thing you should do is cut back on
your training mileage by 20-30% for a week and see if that doesn't bring you
around.
More...from Active.com at:
http://active.com/story.cfm?story_id=11562&page=1


25. News Scan:
* Cycling Interferes With Running
Gottschall, J. S., & Palmer, B. M. (1997). The acute effects of cycling on
running kinematics. Medicine and Science in Sports and
Exercise, 29(5), Supplement abstract 493.
The effects of an intense bout of cycling on ensuing running kinematics were
investigated. Speed, heart rate, and perceived exertion
were also measured. This study has relevance for triathlon and cross-training.
Male triathletes (N = 10) completed two trials on separate days. First, a 30-min
high-intensity effort on a windtrainer was
immediately followed by a 5 km run. Second, Ss completed a 30-min run at the
same heart rate as that measured during the cycling
bout in the first trial, and then immediately followed with a 5 km run.
After the cycling bout, Ss ran with a shorter stride length and a higher stride
frequency, heart rates were higher, and the rating
of perceived exertion was lower.
Implication. This investigation demonstrates the negative effects of cycling on
running performance. Although this effect cannot be
removed in a triathlon event, it does demonstrate a detrimental effect for
cross-training advocates. The value of cycling for
running performance must be questioned for uses other than exercising while
injured or if done at low intensity levels as general
active recovery.
* Cycling Cross-Training Is Detrimental To Running Economy
Pizza, G. X., Flynn, M. G., Starling, R. D., Brolinson, P. G., Sigg, J., Kubitz,
E. R., & Davenport, R. L. (1995). Run training vs
cross training: Influence of increased training on running economy, foot impact
shock, and run performance. International Journal of
Sports Medicine, 16, 180-184.
After 30 days of normal training, male runners (N = 11) were subjected to 14
days of reduced training (80% of normal). Ss then ran
on 10 consecutive days (100% of normal) as well as performing 8 additional
morning workouts of the same volume and intensity. The
morning sessions were performed on a treadmill or cycle ergometer so that a
comparison between specific training and cross-training
could be made. Running economy, foot impact shock, and lactate were assessed
during a submaximal treadmill run before and after the
10-day period. Following the submaximal assessment, a 5 km time trial on the
treadmill was performed.
After cross-training VO2max was significantly higher than after specific
run-training indicating a detrimental effect. No
significant changes occurred in run performance, resting heart rate, or blood
pressure. Both training programs had similar effects
on other measures: RER, carbohydrate oxidation, and lactate were significantly
lower, and foot impact was significantly higher.
Implication. Cross-training (cycling) in periods of increased run-training loads
was detrimental to running economy and is not a
beneficial training alternative.
[From Coaching Science Abstracts]

* Toronto Waterfront Marathon Joins Running USA
The Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon has become Running USA’s first
Canadian race member. The sixth annual race will be held
on September 25th, 2005 and expects to draw more than 10,000 runners from over
20 countries for its marathon, half marathon and 5K
races. The Toronto Waterfront Marathon features a flat, fast and scenic course
that start and finishes at Metro Hall in the heart
of the Downtown, next to the CN Tower, the SkyDome, Roy Thompson Symphony Hall,
the Hockey Hall of Fame, Harbourfront Centre, and
the Theatre District. The marathon and half marathon courses both run alongside
the picturesque Lake Ontario shoreline. The race
has been the site of notable age-group performances. In 2003, Ed Whitlock
became the first over 70-year-old runner to break three
hours for the marathon with a 2:59.10 performance. In 2004, at age 73, Whitlock
lowered the mark to 2:54.49. Also last year,
93-year-old Fauja Singh set a world best for 90+ runners with a 2:30.02 half
marathon run.
Alan Brooks is the race director of the ScotiaBank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
The race website is
www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com.

* Different types of environmental enrichment have discrepant effects on spatial
memory and synaptophysin levels in female mice.
Lambert TJ, Fernandez SM, Frick KM.
Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Environmental enrichment paradigms that incorporate cognitive stimulation,
exercise, and motor learning benefit memory and synaptic
plasticity across the rodent lifespan. However, the contribution each individual
element of the enriched environment makes to
enhancing memory and synaptic plasticity has yet to be delineated. Therefore,
the current study tested the effects of three of these
elements on memory and synaptic protein levels. Young female C57BL/6 mice were
given 3h of daily exposure to either rodent toys
(cognitive stimulation) or running wheels (exercise), or daily acrobatic
training for 6 weeks prior to and throughout behavioral
testing. Controls were group housed, but did not receive enrichment. Spatial
working and reference memory were tested in a
water-escape motivated radial arm maze. Levels of the presynaptic protein
synaptophysin were then measured in frontoparietal cortex,
hippocampus, striatum, and cerebellum. Exercise, but not cognitive stimulation
or acrobat training, improved spatial working memory
relative to controls, despite the fact that both exercise and cognitive
stimulation increased synaptophysin levels in the neocortex
and hippocampus. These data suggest that exercise alone is sufficient to improve
working memory, and that enrichment-induced
increases in synaptophysin levels may not be sufficient to improve working
memory in young females. Spatial reference memory was
unaffected by enrichment. Acrobat training had no effect on memory or
synaptophysin levels, suggesting a minimal contribution of
motor learning to the mnemonic and neuronal benefits of enrichment. These
results provide the first evidence that different elements
of the enriched environment have markedly distinct effects on spatial memory and
synaptic alterations.
[From National Library of Medicine]

* Tip of the Month- By coach Matt Russ
Race Week Readiness
Remember this; "there is nothing you can do to increase your performance on race
week, there is everything you can do to screw it
up." Do not think you can gain that last little bit of speed. It is more
likely to work against you if you try to train hard on a
race week. Reduce your volume overall. Include a few race paced efforts in
your work outs, but make them shorter than usual- well
within your parameters. Take a day off two days before your race. The day
before your race perform a pre-race ride or brick,
shorter than race length. Check out the course and practice technique; include
a few short raced paced efforts. Make sure your
equipment is in proper order. Mentally go through your racing process, then
relax!

* Improving Endurance For The Run:
Question:
For my run I think I need more endurance. I seem to lose energy and slow down
after I get off the bike, which is my best leg of the
Tri. What can I do to strengthen my run leg and how should I do that w/in the
next 9 weeks? I can run 7 minute, or a bit under,
miles but after the swim and bike that time gets cut down.
Answer:
There are several things you can do to improve your performance in the run. Do
bricks (bike/run workouts) more often. This can be
something as simple as running just 20 minutes after a 40 minute ride. Also, in
a race, you might be expending too much energy on
the bike and therefore the run suffers. You need to pace yourself on the bike.
This is a triathlon, not just a bike race. If you
have no injuries or back/knee problems, I would recommend plyometrics. This
would be two times a week, ideally three, for about
15-20 minutes. I know time is an issue when training with family, work etc. In
addition, I would recommend running in the hills at
least once a week. Also doing the speed skill of 8 X 20 seconds all out sprints
up hill with a minute walking back for recovery. One
other thought as I don't know your details such as current training or past
history is to extend your long run of once a week to
1:30-2:00 hours. This will help develop endurance.
Have fun and Keep Tri-ing!
Wes Hobson


*End of Articles*



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

April 15, 2005:
Middle East Triathlon
http://www.middleeasttriathlon.com

April 16, 2005:
Charlottesville Marathon - Charlottesville, VA
http://www.charlottesvillemarathon.com

Earth Day Half Marathon - St. Cloud, MN
http://www.earthdayhalfmarathon.org

Honolulu Triathlon, HI, USA
http://www.honolulutriathlon.com

Pat's Run - Tempe, AZ
http://www.patsrun.com

Television: IAAF world cross-country championships
CBC 1400-1500



April 17, 2005:
Honolulu Triathlon, HI, USA
http://www.honolulutriathlon.com

London Marathon - UK
http://www.london-marathon.co.uk
Live Internet Coverage
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/4441865.stm

New Jersey Marathon - Long Branch, NJ
http://www.njmarathon.org

Mt. SAC Relays - Walnut, CA
http://vm.mtsac.edu/relays/2005

Raintree Run - Lawrence, KS
http://www.sunflower.com/%7Emcdaneld

Run for Reach - Ottawa, ON
http://www.reach.ca/run/index_g.html

Sallie Mae 10K - Washington, DC
http://www.thesalliemaefund.org/10k

Vancouver Sun Run - BC
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/specials/sunrun/index.html

April 18, 2005:
Boston Marathon - MA
http://www.marathon.jhancock.com
Boston Channel
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/bostonmarathon/index.html
Boston Globe
http://www.boston.com/sports/marathon
Boston Herald
http://sports.bostonherald.com/marathon
Runner's World
http://www.runnersworld.com/events/boston05

Boston Marathon Television Coverage on OLN
11:30 a.m. 3 hours of live, wire-to-wire coverage
8:00 p.m. taped delay replay


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...