A FREE WEEKLY E-ZINE OF MULTISPORT RELATED ARTICLES.
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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

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

* Carmichael Training Systems
Carmichael Training Systems was founded in 1999 by Chris Carmichael.
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focus is recreational, advanced, or you are a
professional racer, the coaching methodology employed by CTS will make you a
better athlete. Check the latest monthly column from
CTS at:
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* Running Research News
Note: Owen Anderson has had to discontinue his weekly column on the Runner's Web
die to his increases commitments on his web site
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and Answer feature and to allow us to publish his
weekly column from his Newsletter.

Running Research News is a monthly newsletter which keeps sports-active people
up-to-date on the latest information about training,
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Send in your training related questions for Owen to answer to
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Time Olympian) and many more. This bi-monthly newsletter has been around for
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* WatsonLifeSport
Lance Watson is "Just The Winningest Coach in Triathlon". He has been coaching
triathlon and distance running since 1987. Over the
years, Lance has coached some of the most successful athletes in the sport of
triathlon and duathlon.
Check out the Lance Watson Online Article Index at:
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THIS WEEK'S PERSONAL POSTINGS/RELEASES:
We have ONE personal posting this week:

"Hi guys,
Are anyone using DailyTrain Training Log ?
tks,
mailto:otriatleta@..."


THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Fatigue and Iron Deficiency in Athletes - A Patient's Guide
2. Sportsmedicine: EPO - The Endurance Athlete’s Steroid
3. Nutrition: The Skinny on Sugar
4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Talking Walking
5. Real-life muscle
Those bench presses might not help you unload the trunk. A new fitness plan
could.
6. Making the best better
It's a tough old world. The difference between sporting glory and failure is
often measured in milli-somethings.
7. M2 Fuel-burning Efficiency---Food for Thought
8. News for 21 Million Osteoarthritis Sufferers
9. Exercise Goes High-Tech on Minn. Campus
10. The Ironman Workout
It's the world's most legendary endurance race, but it's also a whole new way
for weekend athletes to get in amazing shape. Ready to
add some Ironman to your life?
11. From Runner's World
12. Running—The Most Democratic of Sports
Running is a very democratic endeavor.
13. Avoiding the Cold Snap
14. Loafing around: Bread and athletes
15. Training Through the Winter
16. Loud noises 'bad for the heart'
17. Best in Gym
Of all the machines at health clubs, which one is really the best?
18. Six ways to train for recovery
19. Hydration, Sodium Intake and Calories
20. Balancing Aerobic and Anaerobic Training
There is much talk about "CROSS TRAINING" but what does this mean, how do you
quantify a cross training workout and what does sports
science tells us is best to do?
21. Six Building Blocks of Distance Running
22. The Fearlessness of Extreme Youth
Jim Ryun, Tim Danielson, Marty Liquori.
23. Nutrition Performance
Mmm, Potassium. This crucial mineral helps keep you hydrated and aids in
recovery. Here's how to get it .
24. Fall marathoners: Time to take a break
25. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"What is your favourite medium for getting the latest news on athletics and
multisport?"

You can access the poll from our FrontPage as well as 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 RESULTS:
"On which of the continents have you run?"
The results at publication time were:
Answers Votes Percent
1. Africa 12 9%
2. Antarctica 1 1%
3. Asia 16 12%
4. Australia 14 11%
5. Europe 31 24%
6. North America 48 37%
7. South America 7 5%
Total Votes: 129

FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: Ben Pullman - Kiwi Triathlete.
"I was born and raised in Auckland New Zealand. Sports are huge in NZ so I have
been playing some kind of sport ever since I can
remember. It started with soccer and went onto basketball, skateboarding and
tennis before realizing that running came naturally and
that was what I enjoyed to do. I joined my first running club at age 8 and
pounded the track before moving to cross country which I
found pushed me further and suited my abilities a little better.
Always liking a change, I entered my first triathlon at age 10 and found that
this was the challenge I was looking for. Over the
next few years I competed for fun having some success at national secondary
school level. My first international race was the
duathlon world championships in 1998 in St Wendel, Germany. The race did not go
to plan but it was a great learning experience and
really motivated me to kick on and get better. Between 1998 and 2003 I spent
most of my time racing in New Zealand with a couple of
races a year over in Australia to mix things up and see how I was improving.
In 2003 I headed back to Germany to race for a club (ALZ Sigmaringen) to test
myself further. I didn't compete in the main league
(Bundesliga) for our first team but I did well racing for our second team in the
LBS Liga (4 wins from 4 starts). The following year
in 2004 I raced in the Bundesliga for ALZ's first team and competed in several
ITU points races in Europe and Asia. I am now taking
on the next step in my journey by taking on the world cup series. This is the
premiere racing in our sport and I am striving to
develop into a leader on the circuit."

Check out Ben's site at:
http://www.benpulham.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.

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


BOOK OF THE WEEK: Breakthrough Triathlon Training.
By Brad Kearns
The perfect triathlete training guide—whether you’re a beginner or are simply
looking to improve your performance
Breakthrough Triathlon Training helps you discover your own abilities, identify
weaknesses, and overcome pitfalls on the way to
triathlon success. Brad Kearns shows you how to set realistic goals, and
provides all the nuts and bolts of training, including
sample exercises and flexible workout schedules to fit the demands of everyday
life.
From the Back Cover
"Breakthrough Triathlon Training will help you connect with that deep love of
the sport that can be your greatest weapon for
success."
--Lance Armstrong, from the foreword
Get on the journey to peak performance with this inspirational training guide
From former top-ranked professional triathlete and thirty-time winner Brad
Kearns, this simple and refreshing guide to reaching your
personal best will help you discover your own abilities, identify your
weaknesses, and overcome pitfalls on the way to triathlon
success. Like having your own personal trainer to guide and inspire you, this
unique book covers much more than just physical
conditioning, giving you the mental preparation and toughness you need on the
road and in the water.
Using a holistic approach as he addresses every level of the sport, Kearns shows
you how to:
Use the power of pure motivation to perform at your ultimate potential
Train your body properly for peak performance
Discover the secret regimens of top endurance athletes and how to make them work
for you
Design a personalized weekly, monthly, and annual training schedule
Give every single workout a specific purpose to avoid burnout
Filled with sample exercises and flexible workout schedules, this inspirational
guide helps you fit the demands of triathlon
training into everyday life--and enrich the way you live every day.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0071462791/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books



Previous Books of the Week:
From Human Kinetics,
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/human_kinetics.html
From Amazon
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/amazon.html
More running and triathlon books from Associates Shop
http://associatesshop.filzhut.de/shop/index.php?ID=90c9f271c1a519abc4a69299be707\
5a9



THIS WEEK'S NEWS:

1. Fatigue and Iron Deficiency in Athletes - A Patient's Guide:
Dr Ruth Highet - Sports Physician
Which athletes are most at risk of fatigue?
Probably the most common non-injury problem that I see presenting in sports
medicine practice and usually several times a week is
the "fatigued athlete".
The sporting background that "the afflicted" athlete/patient most often comes
from is triathlon, multi-sport, cycling or distance
running. Why this is the case is not the subject of this article. Suffice to say
that the potential for athletes to overtrain in
these sports is huge due to the physical and "time" demands of training
intensively in more than one discipline.
Most sportspeople that I know in the sports of triathlon/multi-sport are also
very goal-driven people. Most are already involved in
or studying towards careers that are also very time-consuming and there is only
"X" number of hours in the day. The aforementioned
athlete may therefore have great difficulty in "fitting it all in". In
struggling to do so, sleep, something every athlete needs
plenty of, is the area where the athlete tries to make up some time from.
The multi-sport athlete who presents with unexplained fatigue will often fit
into the above basket of simply too much work/training
and not enough rest. However we cannot make that diagnosis without ruling out
some of the medical causes for fatigue and staleness.
More...from Medic8.com at:
http://www.medic8.com/healthguide/articles/fatigueandFedeficinathlete.html


2. Sportsmedicine: EPO - The Endurance Athlete’s Steroid:
Read the sports section of any newspaper lately and you will no doubt see the
headlines dealing with Lance Armstrong’s alleged use
of EPO. Apparently, he is accused of testing positive for having used the
substance to enhance his performance during several Tour
de France cycle races. Actually, the use EPO in endurance exercise is nothing
new and it has been recognized as an ergogenic or
performance enhancing substance for several years. This article aims to provide
some basic information on EPO, its mechanism of
operation and the dangers involved with its use by athletes.
What is EPO?
EPO is an abbreviation for erythropoietin. Contrary to many of the articles
currently in the media, erythropoietin is not a drug –
it is a peptide hormone produced naturally in the body, manufactured and
released from the kidney. The role of EPO is to stimulate
bone marrow to manufacture more erythrocytes (red blood cells). This has the
effect of increasing the hematocrit - the percentage of
blood by volume composed of erythrocytes. Special oxygen sensitive cells in the
kidney are able to determine the concentration of
oxygen in the blood, and this is the suspected mechanism for its release into
the blood stream.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20051124_BOSS_EPO.html


3. Nutrition: The Skinny on Sugar:
By Scott Dwyer
We have all looked at a nutrition label to find out exactly how much sugar our
mid-afternoon snack has or have opted for a diet
drink, because regular ‘has too much sugar’. But what exactly are sugars and
what role do they play in an athlete’s diet?
Sugars are simple carbohydrates, and although there are numerous sugars that
exist, there are a few that stand out in the athletic
diet. First and foremost is glucose. Also known as blood sugar, or dextrose,
glucose is a main source of energy for the body and the
only source of energy that can be used by the central nervous systems. Fructose,
or fruit sugar, is another monosaccharide (single
sugar) the body uses after it is converted to glucose in the liver. Sucrose, an
important disaccharide (double sugar) is a polymer
of glucose and fructose and is easily recognizable to most of us as common table
sugar. Maltodextrin is a polysaccharide (multiple
sugar), a long-chain polymer of glucose. It is important because it provides
glucose for energy, but as a long chain polymer, it
does not have the sweet taste that is characteristic of the other sugars
mentioned. All of these sugars are high glycemic index (HI
GI) carbohydrates, meaning that they will cause a rapid increase in blood sugar.
As an athlete, this is important for both “quick
energy” during exercise and muscle glycogen restoration after exercise.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_CTS_20051123_Sugar.html


4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Talking Walking:
Time and space ran out before my next column for Marathon & Beyond reached its
intended end. Never mind that no subscriber will see
it until next March. Lead times being what they are, this piece for spring had a
fall deadline.
Its title, "Talking the Walk," resembles the one above. It begins by confessing
that I once resisted walking.
I not only ran my interval recoveries and grabbed drinks on the run. I also
avoided walking anywhere, anytime.
I did what many other runners still do: come to a stoplight, run in small
circles while awaiting a break in traffic, thinking that
walking or stopping would bring down a deadly lightning bolt.
My walk-avoidance went beyond running. I would run for hours, but would drive a
half-mile to the grocery store. There I'd circle a
parking lot until a space opened up at the front door. Anything to keep from
walking.
This all changed, for reasons and in ways that my Marathon & Beyond column
explains. More than 30 years ago I quit thinking of
walking as cheating or wimping out, and became a walk-breaker. None of my last
dozen marathons would have been possible on my
battle-scarred legs and minimal training without those breaks.
Yet the M&B column ends with another confession. I know how most runners are,
priding themselves on "never walking." So with the
University of Oregon running classes that I teach and my Marathon Teams, walk
breaks are optional, not required.
The last paragraph of that column tells of no longer dancing in place at
stoplights, fighting for prime parking spots or using
drive-through windows. Yet my walks during runs are infrequent. They come only
when unusual distances, discomforts or dangers demand
such breaks.
For now, I'm waiting to lean more heavily on walking until I really need it.
That time might not be far off.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/537.html


5. Real-life muscle:
Those bench presses might not help you unload the trunk. A new fitness plan
could.
THE world is an unstable place. And your exercise routine needs to deal with
that.
Weight machines, most of them anyway, aren't enough. They may build biceps or
tone thighs, but they won't strengthen your core or
tune up your neuromuscular connections.
But functional fitness will. The new buzzwords in the fitness industry are about
building a body that looks fantastic in a mirror
and breezes through the real world, with its pitted sidewalks, heavy grocery
bags and rambunctious toddlers.
Gyms and personal trainers are increasingly preaching this gospel as an umbrella
approach to exercise — and, though research has
been limited, studies in older adults back them up.
It's "a larger, more holistic approach," says Todd Durkin, owner of Fitness
Quest 10, a personal training and workout facility in
San Diego. "You're looking at where the body is weak, where it's breaking down —
looking at the body as a whole."
This broadening interest explains the explosion of exercise "boot camps," and to
a lesser extent the profusion of yoga and Pilates
classes. Suddenly old-fashioned calisthenics such as push-ups and squat thrusts
are in vogue again. All of these use the body's own
weight as resistance, focus on dynamic movement, and demand core strength.
Gina Miranda discovered this style of training after repeatedly picking up her
9-pound infant daughter. "A couple of times I pulled
my back out lifting her," says the 32-year-old San Diego mom. "It's just a few
pounds, but it was really hard on me."
With the help of an instructor, she balanced on stability balls, ran agility
ladders like a football player and weaved through cones
— all components of functional fitness. A few months later, she says, "the
strain was gone. And as she got heavier and heavier, I
was stronger and stronger. I felt like I could carry her and get on with my
day."
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-he-functional14nov14,1,5224851\
.story?coll=la-health-fitness-news


6. Making the best better:
It's a tough old world. The difference between sporting glory and failure is
often measured in milli-somethings.
A millisecond on the track or a millimetre in the jumping pit.
So how do you turn that silver into gold?
Technology is playing an ever-increasing role in helping athletes to improve.
BBC Sport spent the day with a team of biomechanists at one of the UK's High
Performance Centres in Birmingham to investigate.
HOW IS BIOMECHANICS APPLIED TO SPORT?
Biomechanics is the study of forces and the effects of those forces on and
within the human body. In sport, it's about optimising
your technique and avoiding injury.
Working alongside the coach, a biomechanist will study the athlete to solve any
problems which might be limiting sporting potential.

A sprinter may be wasting energy with excess hip movement, or a long jumper may
have too low a take-off.
More...from the BBC at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/athletics/4400722.stm


7. M2 Fuel-burning Efficiency---Food for Thought:
Nutritional strategy is a popular and oft-analyzed subject in the triathlon
training world. Indeed, the multi-sport world has a
habit of working itself into a state of indigestion when it comes to the subject
of fueling and nutrition for endurance events.
Having observed yet another Tri-forum thread on fueling for a 1/2 IM event and
the varying exhortations of how much to eat (see the
Biggest Whopper below), I thought it would be more useful to redirect the
conversation to how little one should eat, while also
viewing the never-ending fueling discussion within the context of better
considered general training methods.
It is my experience that during training, endurance athletes should practice
eating as little as possible while not bonking. Common
sense tells us that the body does not enjoy ingesting and digesting large
amounts of food while exercising vigorously under what are
often uncomfortable weather conditions.
Energy diverted to the digestive process would be better spent if directed to
the legs and arms we use to move us forward. Logical
enough.
If training is a practice in bodily adaptation, then more thoughtful
consideration ought to be given to teaching the body to perform
without having to rely upon systemically disruptive additive fuel.
Let us consider the oft-regurgitated mantra that "we must train slow to teach
the body to burn fats." Must we really?
More...from Triathlon Coach at:
http://www.triathloncoach.com/articles/m2fuel.html


8. News for 21 Million Osteoarthritis Sufferers:
The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) said osteoarthritis patients should
welcome the results of a new clinical trial
sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that showed that the
combined use of two dietary supplements -- glucosamine and
chondroitin -- provided significant pain relief for sufferers of the joint
disease that afflicts tens of millions of Americans.
The Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT) adds to a
growing body of scientific evidence showing that the two
supplements can safely alleviate pain from osteoarthritis, a chronic condition
known as the "wear-and-tear" kind of arthritis that
afflicts 21 million Americans each year. Sixty-six million Americans -- nearly
one in 3 adults -- have various forms of arthritis,
the leading cause of disability among Americans over age 15, according to the
Arthritis Foundation.
The six-month GAIT study involved 1,500 osteoarthritis patients who were given a
placebo or daily doses of 1,500/mg of glucosamine
hydrochloride and/or 1,200 mg of chondroitin sulfate or 200 mg of the common
prescription pain medication celecoxib. GAIT found that
a combination of the two supplements "is effective in treating moderate to
severe knee pain due to osteoarthritis."
The new findings are consistent with the vast majority of more than 50 published
clinical trials that have demonstrated the safety
and benefit of the two supplements, said Andrew Shao, Ph.D., CRN's vice
president of scientific and regulatory affairs. "This
gold-standard NIH-sponsored study adds to the strong body of human clinical
trials that supports the use of glucosamine and
chondroitin for significant and long-lasting relief of joint pain and
improvements in mobility," Dr. Shao said.
"The body of science demonstrates that these supplements are both safe and
beneficial for joint health." In other research,
preliminary results from a 24-week clinical trial in Europe – Glucosamine Unum
in Die Efficacy (GUIDE) Trial -- found that
glucosamine sulfate was more effective in relieving osteoarthritis pain than the
pain medicine acetaminophen.
More...from the MatureMarket.com at:
http://www.thematuremarket.com/SeniorStrategic/osteoarthritis_sufferers_U.S-5954\
-5.html


9. Exercise Goes High-Tech on Minn. Campus:
With the click of a mouse, Cassie Pap flips through cable TV channels, her legs
pumping away on a recumbent exercise cycle.
She settles for MTV and reaches for the mouse to turn up the volume during her
2-mile workout. On another day, Pap might check
e-mail or write a homework assignment using a flexible keyboard that will
survive hundreds of sweaty fingers.
Her options are part of the latest technology upgrade on campus:
computer-equipped exercise equipment.
"It's easier to work out with something in front of you to keep you
entertained," said Pap, a freshman at Minnesota State
University, Mankato. She credits the new equipment with motivating her to
exercise nearly every day instead of just once in a while.
Campus officials, planning a renovation of the recreation building, hit on
high-tech as a way to get more students to exercise, and
brought in the school's technology staff to help out.
More...from the Washington Post at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/20/AR2005112000380.\
html


10. The Ironman Workout:
It's the world's most legendary endurance race, but it's also a whole new way
for weekend athletes to get in amazing shape. Ready to
add some Ironman to your life?
My heart rate picks up as we pedal our road bikes onto the St. Vrain Canyon
Road, about 15 miles northwest of Boulder, Colorado, and
start climbing into the Rockies. It's a bright, clear morning, and everything --
the red sandstone, pungent pines, clink of gear
changes, my breathing -- seems amplified. The tarmac snakes upward for 21 miles,
but two-time Hawaiian Ironman winner Tim DeBoom's
smooth 90 rpm cadence makes it seem like he's somehow being pulled to the top.
After 15 minutes my heart rate is thumping at 75
percent of my maximum, and DeBoom is a speck in the distance. Two whitewater
kayakers descending the St. Vrain River race by, and I
imagine they are the last remaining oxygen molecules exiting my veins.
Another 15 minutes and DeBoom loops back to check on me. "It's beautiful, isn't
it?!" he says. I'm too out of breath to reply. My
heart rate has reached 97 percent of its max, my cadence has slowed to 30 rpm
despite being in the easiest gear, and I'm on the
verge of toppling over when DeBoom finally announces we can head down. Barely
pausing to take in the view, we start our descent,
quickly hitting 45 mph as the scenery becomes a blur. When we're finished, I'm
exhilarated. We've done 27 miles in 90 minutes, a
great workout for me -- a warm-up for DeBoom.
Of the 200,000-plus Americans who will compete in a triathlon this year (up from
50,000 in 1995), Tim DeBoom -- who will be gunning
for his third Ironman title on October 15 -- is frequently considered to be
number one. I, on the other hand, am holding fast at
about 10,000th. But it doesn't matter who you are or where you rank -- we're all
members of Triathlon Nation, one of the country's
fastest-growing sports and a craze that just 20 years ago was considered an
insane novelty that appealed only to the most hardcore
athletes. Now health clubs are offering triathlon classes, and nearly every
weekend scores of races are held around the country for
competitors of all levels. The reason so many of us are hooked is that not all
triathlons are as physically demanding as people
thought. Training in three sports simultaneously is actually easier on creaky
joints than training for a marathon, swim meet, or
cycling event alone -- and is a more fun and effective full-body workout. Even
if you never enter a race, you can use the
cross-training secrets of triathletes to get in Ironman shape, as you'll see
once you do the Ironman-inspired beginner's plan.
I'm a classic case of how accessible the triathlon game has become. Sure, I was
a decent swimmer back in high school, but until five
months ago I basically just knew how to ride a bike and was lucky to run a
10-minute mile. I signed up for the Full Throttle
Endurance triathlon class at New York City's Chelsea Piers because I wanted a
more structured and fitnessy workout than my weekend
soccer games in the park. Now I find myself gearing up for the New York City
Triathlon -- and its 1-mile swim in the Hudson River,
26-mile bike ride, and 6.2-mile run. Of course, that's only a quarter the length
of the 2.4, 112, and 26.2 miles DeBoom will swim,
ride, and run in this month's Ironman.
More...from the Men's Journal at:
http://mensjournal.com/healthFitness/0510/race_ironman.html


11. From Runner's World:
* Coach's Corner
You Can Do It: "You can run a marathon successfully by training just 4 days a
week with mileage topping out at 35 to 40 miles a
week. The key is completing those all-important long runs, which prepare you
mentally and physically to handle the marathon
distance." - Art Liberman, long-time coach and
veteran marathoner
* Injury Prevention
Inflexible leg muscles can put strain on your back and often runners with back
pain have tight hamstrings. Try the following
exercise to stretch your hamstrings.
Lie on your back with your nonexercising knee bent and your foot on the floor.
Extend your other leg out straight. From your hip,
lift your straight leg as far as you can, aiming your foot to the ceiling. Hold
for two seconds, release, and repeat 10 times on
each side.
* Performance Nutrition
Can we talk turkey? As the star attraction on your Thanksgiving table, the big
bird deserves a proper amount of attention. And that
applies not only to its initial performance but also to sub-sequent appearances
in the continuing drama of leftovers. There's good
reason to treat this turkey right. White-meat turkey is hands down the winner in
the meat and poultry Oscars. With less than 3 grams
of fat per 3 ounce cooked serving, it's leaner than any other cut around. And
even the dark meat, which weighs in a little higher at
about 6 g. per serving, qualifies as a super-smart choice.


12. Running—The Most Democratic of Sports:
Running is a very democratic endeavor.
In many ways running is the most democratic of sports. Anyone can participate
anywhere she or he chooses. It matters not if running
athletes are rich or poor, female or male, old or young. Ethnicity, race,
religious persuasion, and orientation are irrelevant. Size
has no bearing. Location-location-location becomes anywhere-anytime-any distance
in the runners’ world.
There are no rich franchise owners—anyone can be a race director. Running clubs
and national organizations are staunchly democratic,
with no aristocratic elite; they are open to all, and at every level.
Running can be done alone, or with small groups, or with thousands.
Running is one of the oldest of athletic activities, and the most utilitarian in
origin. Nobody asks a runner about occupation, but
may inquire as to pace, base, and next race. No one tells a runner she is not
welcome. It is wide open, for all.
Running is also the most portable of sports. It depends only on attitude, not on
latitude or geographic location. Except for busy
highways or other dangers (never run on Interstates, for example), there are few
roads, streets, neighborhoods, parks, paths, and
trails where runners are not seen. This portability means that traveling is no
obstacle. And running is running whether residing in
Florida or Minnesota, Flanders or Manitoba.
More...from Cool Running at:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/1/1_39/runningthe-most-democrati.shtml


13. Avoiding the Cold Snap:
Far more than just an escape from the notorious British weather, warm weather
training – often at altitude – can be an invaluable
tool in preparing athletes for the rigours of the competitive season.
Charlie Pedlar, EIS Physiologist for the London region, explains how
acclimatisation to particular environments forms an essential
part of an elite athlete's training schedule…
Q: Why do athletes travel thousands of miles to take part in warm weather
training?
Charlie Pedlar: Warm weather training usually means a break from the
inconsistent British weather, allowing the athlete to follow a
programme which can be adhered to with no risk of any weather problems
preventing regular training.
CP: There may be other reasons, such as superior facilities, less traffic on the
roads, other groups of athletes etc. Additionally
and perhaps more importantly from a physiological perspective, many competitions
are held in warmer climates so personal experiences
of training and competing in the heat are crucial.
Q: Are you saying that the British weather isn’t conducive to high performance
training?
CP: Physiologically it is necessary to acclimatise the body to whatever
environment the athlete will be competing in. Those athletes
who are acclimatised will have a significant advantage over those who are not.
That said, it is perfectly possible for athletes to
compete in temperatures as low as -15°C provided they have the right equipment
to keep the extremities warm. In most English sports
temperatures this low are never an issue.
More...from the English Institute of Sport at:
http://www.eis2win.co.uk/gen/news_05coldsnap211105.aspx


14. Loafing around: Bread and athletes:
By Nancy Clark, M.S., R.D.
With the fall of the Atkins Diet, athletes are (thankfully) returning to eating
bread and other starchy foods. They've realized
carbs are not fattening; rather, excess calories are fattening. Bread and other
grain foods are rightfully re-establishing
themselves as the foundation of each meal.
The government's dietary guidelines encourage us to eat six to 11 servings of
breads and grain-foods each day -- of which at least
half should be made from whole grains (i.e., whole wheat, rye, oats, corn).
Enjoying this many servings of grain-foods is an easy
task for hungry athletes who commonly devour six servings at breakfast alone,
such as a hefty bowl of cereal (four servings) with an
English muffin (two servings).
Yet, confusion still abounds regarding the role of bread in a sports diet. Some
weight conscious athletes still fear bread as a
fattening enemy. They ask "Can I really eat toast at breakfast and a sandwich at
lunch -- and not get fat?" Other athletes wonder if
bread made from refined white flour is "evil." The purpose of this article is to
replace some of the myths and misconceptions
regarding bread and other grain foods and offer a grain of truth.
Myth #1: White bread is worthless; it has no nutritional value.
False. Although the refined white flour used to make bread may have been
stripped of fiber, magnesium, zinc and several other
nutrients, at least five nutrients have been added back by enriching the flour
with B vitamins (thiamin, niacin, riboflavin, folic
acid) and iron. Some white breads offer more of these vitamins than whole wheat
breads. But not all the lost nutrients are replaced,
so the optimal sports diet includes primarily whole grain breads and cereals.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12513


15. Training Through the Winter:
By Jeff Horowitz, Bruce Buckley and Eric Sorenson
Nothing puts the deep freeze on an athlete’s motivation like winter. Balmy
months of sun-soaked back roads and shady trails fade
into memory, as icy paths, snow banks and subzero wind chills become a bitter
reality.
But by being creative, you can develop a winter training program that is both
fun and challenging. So before forfeiting your sweat
time for sofa time, consider the possibilities. Here are some winter training
tips for runners, bikers and triathletes.
Tips for Runners
Cold weather doesn’t have to keep you from running. On the contrary, winter
training can help you avoid boredom and injury, and set
you up for great springtime racing. Here’s the plan.
Step One: Have a good recovery, especially if you ran a fall marathon. Take a
day off completely for every hour you ran in your last
race, and then train lightly one day for each mile you ran in that race. If your
fall racing season peaked with a marathon, your
recovery period should take about four weeks, with 26 days of light training and
three to five days off. Plan to do three easy four-
to five-mile runs every week at 60 to 90 seconds over your marathon race pace,
and an easy six- to seven-mile run on the weekend.
Step Two: Slowly increase the training. Elevate your midweek maintenance runs to
six miles each during the next two months, and
increase your weekend run to eight easy miles, with a 10- to 12-miler thrown in
every third weekend. During this phase, you’ll
recharge your physical and mental batteries while maintaining a good endurance
base. Think of it this way: If, during the fall
races, you were a race car screaming down the track at full throttle, you are
now a muscle car cruising the boulevard, engine
growling, restrained.
Step Three: Get the right gear. Proper clothing can tame even the most frigid
mornings. Wear technical, non-cotton clothing that
includes a long-sleeve pullover; a breathable but water-resistant running
jacket; gloves or mittens; tights; and a headband or knit
hat to cover your ears. Also, consider buying trail shoes for running on snow
and ice. Plan to feel chilled at the start of your
runs. As you warm up, you’ll feel perfectly comfortable.
More...from Sweat Magazine at:
http://www.sweatmagazine.com/story.cfm?story_id=8026&publicationID=308&pageID=56\
45


16. Loud noises 'bad for the heart' :
Living or working in a noisy environment could increase a person's risk of a
heart attack, a study says.
Environmental noise, such as traffic, increased heart attack risk twofold to
threefold, a German study in the European Heart Journal
found.
Risk appeared to be related to how loud rather than how annoying the noise was,
so current noise safety levels may need to be
stricter, say the authors.
Experts urged people not to be alarmed, saying more work was needed.
Bad for hearts
Lead researcher Dr Stefan Willich, from the Charité University Medical Centre in
Berlin, said: "We seem to be looking at a threshold
at which risk occurs and remains constant above this, and this appears to be
around 60 decibels."
Sixty decibels is the level of noise typically experienced, for example, in a
busy large office.
More...from the BBC at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4460694.stm


17. Best in Gym:
Of all the machines at health clubs, which one is really the best?
WALK into most gyms, and it is obvious which cardio machines are the favorites.
Quite often rows of treadmills are parked on prime
real estate in front of the televisions. Close by, stationary bikes also crowd
the floor. And rightly so: these are the two most
popular machines for a cardiovascular workout at health clubs. Lately their
dominance has been challenged by a newcomer, the
elliptical motion trainer, at right, a machine that aims to replicate running
without the stress on joints.
But of all the machines at health clubs, which one is really the best, the
latest fads aside? Stair climbers, which were a huge hit
in the early 1990's, are used by scarcely more than half as many exercisers
today, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers
Association. Does that mean they are no longer effective?
These questions are particularly apropos today, when many feasts of turkey and
trimmings will add up to 3,000 calories, according to
the American Council on Exercise. Leaving aside New Year's Day and its
compulsory rituals of atonement, perhaps no other moment
illustrates the uphill battle for fitness than Thanksgiving. Even the most
dedicated exerciser is unlikely to run the four hours it
would take a 160-pound person to burn off such a heavy meal.
Once folks do get around to working off the pumpkin pie and Zinfandel, which
machine at the gym will help the pounds come off
quickest? Which will do it without undue joint stress? And which will best
condition the heart?
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/24/fashion/thursdaystyles/24Fitness.html


18. Six ways to train for recovery:
Your fitness doesn't increases while you run, but during the recovery process
that unfolds between runs. The stress of running flips
a number of hormonal and genetic switches in various parts of your body,
allowing each part to adapt in a way that renders it better
prepared for the next workout. But these adaptations can unfold only when your
body is at rest.
Since the majority of fitness adaptations occur through recovery, the goal of
your training program should be to maximize recovery.
In other words, instead of recovering to train, as many runners do, you should
train to recover.
The difference is more than semantic. When you recover to train, your focus is
entirely on the workouts themselves. Rest is just a
necessary evil. You assume that merely completing a workout suffices to deliver
benefits -- which isn't true.
When you train to recover, you look at workouts against the backdrop of the
recovery opportunities that precede and follow them --
without these, there's no benefit from running. This leads you to adopt better
ways of balancing your workouts and rest periods that
will allow you to experience greater fitness gains from the same amount of
training. Here are six specific ways you can train for
recovery:
More...from Active.com at:
http://active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12544


19. Hydration, Sodium Intake and Calories:
Practicing your hydration and fuelling strategies will allow your system to find
out what combination of fuel, sodium and water your
body will tolerate as well as what amounts you require for optimum performance.
You can be as fit as you’ve ever been going into a
race, but if you don’t control your fluid and fuel intake the whole day will
unravel. Three areas that will determine your success
or failure in a race include hydration, sodium replacement and fuelling. This is
assuming that your nutrition in general is very
good. I’ll be writing more about that in a future article.
Hydration
As your body loses water through respiration, sweat and elimination it must be
replaced or your system will draw water from your
blood to ensure that it has adequate reserves to keep your system functioning
and, quite importantly, to keep it cool.
Everyone sweats at different rates. You can roughly find out how much you sweat
(and about how much you need to replace on an
ongoing basis) by doing the following test:
go to the washroom prior to the process;
before getting dressed weigh yourself to determine your starting weight;
measure, in liters, all the liquid you’ll be consuming during the workout;
don’t forget to add up the weight of all the food you eat too. This will
generally be fairly simple as we usually eat energy
bars/gels and the like which have a set weight associated with them;
add the weight of all the food and fluid you consume to your pre-workout body
weight. 1 L of fluid weighs 1 kg (1000 grams) or (2.2
lbs);
after the workout take off all your sweaty clothes, towel off and then weigh
yourself;
take your pre workout body weight and add the total weight of everything you ate
and drank. Then subtract your post workout body
weight.
The resulting value is the total weight of fluids you’ve lost during the
workout. Assuming you didn’t rush off to the washroom for a
bowel movement, then this would be the amount of sweat and moisture in respired
air you lost. If, for example you’ve lost 6 pounds
over a 3 hour workout (say a base cycle on the windtrainer), that would be 2.7
kg (6(lbs) / 2.2kg = 2.7 kg or L) of fluid per 3
hours, or almost 1 liter of water an hour.
You can repeat the process for the other sports and in different environmental
conditions (hot, cold, dry, humid) and see if the
values match up or differ. Please get use to consuming this amount of fluid
whenever possible during your workouts. You’ll be able
to get away with skimping on the fluid intake on a shorter workout, but
attempting a fluid conservation strategy during longer
training sessions and races will catch up to you very quickly and result in a
poor performance. So if you train your body to take in
the fluids it will need over a certain period of time, then you won’t have as
much trouble being able to keep your required intake
settled in your stomach come the day of your big event.
More...from the Bentley Coaching Files at:
http://www.swyft.ca/sbentley1.html


20. Balancing Aerobic and Anaerobic Training:
There is much talk about "CROSS TRAINING" but what does this mean, how do you
quantify a cross training workout and what does sports
science tells us is best to do?
It is said that during a heated debate between athletes from rival sports on
"who is fittest" that cross training events
(triathlons) began. However, for years before this mid eighties "debate"
athletes often used different sports to add variety and a
new "secret" to their level of performance. Cyclists would go running. Swimmers
lift weights. Ball sports players would go to
circuits and do supplementary "weights" exercises. Then one day a clever person
termed this "cross training". A suitable definition
of cross training is:
"a form of training which involves performing more than one aerobic activity to
exercise different muscle groups and to provide
variety. A cyclist, for example, in addition to cycling may include jogging and
swimming in a programme of cross training" (8)
However, the FITBODY definition also includes resistance training. This is in
line with the American College of Sports Medicine
recommendation, and also logic which suggests that too much aerobic work makes
for skinny, low muscled individuals.
THE AEROBIC BALANCING ACT
Okay, so we need to do aerobic work for the heart, lungs, blood lipids and
"calorie" usage. However, we also need resistance
training to maintain muscle mass, reduce injuries and maximise resting metabolic
rate (the number of calories you use at rest). This
leads most people to combine both disciplines in one session to make the most of
their valuable time. A recent cross-training
medical handout(9) suggests that fitness enthusiasts combine:
More...from Joe Beer at:
http://www.jbst.com/archive/cross1.html


21. Six Building Blocks of Distance Running:
This article describes the five varieties of strength- and speed-building
workouts, along with the benefits of each and the most
productive ways to use these tools.
Before we begin, though, a plug for an unofficial sixth workout: the easy run.
Too many runners, are hell bent on increasing speed
and mileage, completely overlook the importance of the easy run, often running
themselves into injury.
Your body needs a chance to rest, so make sure that somewhere between those
killer hill workouts and gutsy interval sessions you
manage to squeeze in some rest -- and plenty of it. Give yourself at least one
or two easy days per week. Run a relatively short
distance, at a pace that seems almost too slow. Or just take the day off
altogether. And above all, listen to your body. When your
legs feel like dead weights, which means they need some time to recover.
Recovery (i.e. the easy run) is probably the most important
piece of a good training program, and it should not be dismissed. However hard
you push yourself during your other days of "quality
runs," make sure you give yourself a chance to recover.
The big five building blocks are: fartlek, hills, intervals, tempo runs and the
long run.
More...from Tome-To-Run at:
http://www.time-to-run.com/training/articles/blocks.htm


22. The Fearlessness of Extreme Youth:
Jim Ryun, Tim Danielson, Marty Liquori.
Nobody told them they couldn’t run so fast. A four-minute mile had been
unthinkable just 20 years earlier, and now teenagers were
trying to turn the trick? No, Jim Ryun, Tim Danielson and Marty Liquori had no
idea that—as mere high school students—they weren’t
supposed to be competing with the fastest men in the world, much less making
their records obsolete.
What these boys accomplished between 1964 and 1967 appeared to be a natural
progression. Roger Bannister became the first man under
4:00 in 1954, Don Bowden was the first American in ’57, then Ryun did so in ’64.
Danielson and Liquori, each at the close of their
senior season, joined the ranks in ’66 and ’67, respectively. Great things
appeared to be on the horizon.
Then the years began to pass and nobody matched those performances. The
naysayers and pessimists used this drought as evidence that
U.S. miling was dead. But however valid that argument, its proliferation has
clouded the fact that the performances of the ’60s were
not a natural progression, they were a giant leap forward, that represent the
golden age of miling in America.
June 5, 1964, Los Angeles, CA
Though he would soon be viewed as the greatest miler in U.S. history, Jim Ryun
was grossly out of place at the 1964 California
Relays in Modesto. Talent aside, he was a gangly junior from Wichita East High
School who’d never travelled west of Colorado
Springs. One coach, upset that a high schooler was receiving a spot in the mile
field instead of a more experienced runner, referred
to him disparagingly as a "kindergartener." Ryun’s subsequent 4:01.7 high school
record was enough to convert even this critic, who
congratulated him afterwards. "Sometimes kindergarteners can do a pretty good
job, too," Bob Timmons, Ryun’s coach, said proudly.
The pair then returned to Kansas for two weeks to prepare for the Compton
Invitational, a race for which they both had high
expectations. After his success at Modesto, Ryun was now ready to attack the
goal that he and Timmons had set after only the third
race of his career—to be the first high school runner under four.
One man who left Modesto impressed with the young runner was three-time U.S.
mile champion Dyrol Burleson. When asked what he
thought of the young runner at this point, Burleson recalls with wonder, "He was
so far ahead of anything we’d ever seen. I was
aware that he was our future." Burleson, also planning on racing at Compton,
would not have to wait long to have his initial
impressions confirmed.
The 1964 Compton mile was, without doubt, one of the great mile races in U.S.
history. The field was filled with men whose legacies
Ryun was chasing, or had already caught. There was Archie San Romani, whose
school record at Wichita East now belonged to Ryun; Tom
O’Hara, from whom Ryun would later wrest the American 1500m record; Jim Grelle,
who would set the mile record the following year,
but then cede it to the Kansan just 11 days later.
More...from the Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/issues/01may/youth.htm


23. Nutrition Performance:
Mmm, Potassium. This crucial mineral helps keep you hydrated and aids in
recovery. Here's how to get it .
Even Freud would concede that a runner who finishes a marathon with bananas on
the brain is not thinking impure thoughts. There's a
simple, physiological reason for the water-and-bananas combo that's become a
staple in almost every postrace recovery tent: Water
hydrates and bananas supply potassium.
Potassium is a mineral that works with sodium (also a mineral) to balance the
fluids and electrolyte levels in your body. And since
steady fluid levels help to regulate your heartbeat and prevent muscles from
cramping, potassium is of particular importance to
runners. "Think of it as the gatekeeper for fluid movement in and out of the
body's cells," says Lisa Dorfman, R.D., a sports
nutritionist at the University of Miami's athletic department. Most of the
sodium in your body is stored outside your cells, while
most of the potassium is stored within. Yet because of their different
concentration levels, potassium constantly wants to get out
and sodium wants to get in. The transfer of these two crucial minerals in and
out of the cells--the "sodium-potassium
pump"--comprises 20 to 40 percent of an adult's resting energy expenditure.
Put that adult in motion, running, and studies have shown that he or she will
finish a marathon with more potassium outside his or
her cells than inside. That's why you feel weak, your legs might start to cramp,
and you may begin to feel bloated. But thanks in
part to that unoriginal (albeit useful) banana and water foisted upon you at the
finish line, the imbalance returns to normal in
about an hour.
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-53-84-0-8955,00.html\


24. Fall marathoners: Time to take a break:
In the sport of running, fear comes in many forms. Sometimes, it's the fear of
trying something new or facing a new challenge and,
of course, there is always the fear of failure.
However, all of them pale in comparison to the sheer terror a runner feels
standing at the top of a flight of stairs in the days
after running a marathon.
Unless you have ever run 26.2 miles, you have no idea how a few simple steps can
turn gravity and a person's own body weight into a
torture device. To say running a marathon can make you sore is an
understatement.
Training for a marathon is a long, arduous process that involves 18 weeks of
gradually tearing down an athlete's body and rebuilding
it. Once a runner hits the starting line, he or she has developed a highly tuned
aerobic and energy distribution machine. That's the
good news.
The bad news is, it's wrapped inside an abused and overworked skeletal and
muscular system. It's the equivalent of driving a car
200,000 miles, dropping a high-performance engine in it and trying to race the
Indianapolis 500. The engine should hold up fine, but
chances are, the chassis is going to have a few worn-out or broken parts before
it's over. This is the reality a marathon runner
faces, a truth not every one of them wants to accept.
Repair and rebuild
That's why I am making a heart-felt plea to all those runners out there who made
the commitment to run a fall marathon this year and
have subsequently trembled at the top of those stairs: It's time to take a
break.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12547


25. Digest Briefs:
* TriSwimCoach Tells Triathletes What They’ve Been Dying to Hear: Get Some Rest
Even resting can be a challenge to many triathletes. Discover how to make the
most of this final and crucial phase of triathlon
training.
San Diego, CA (PRWEB) November 22, 2005 -- TriSwimCoach, a leading triathlon
resource site and creator of the eBook The Complete
Guide to Triathlon Swimming, gives advice on resting prior to the big race:
“Most people train for months and forget that 2 weeks before the race it's time
to think about resting, “ says Kevin Koskella, owner
of TriSwimCoach. “Many triathletes find this more difficult than swimming 5,000
yards, biking the hills, or running a half
marathon!”
Here are some things TriSwimCoach suggests people keep in mind during the “rest
period” before a race:
”1. Do longer warmups and warmdowns. You can keep your distance up, but start to
add more to the beginning and end portion of your
workout. This 'active rest' will assure that you are well rested for your race
but not out of shape.
2. Avoid big meals and sugar. Tapering is an adjustment for your body, and your
immune system may not be as strong during this time.
Big meals and carbohydrates like sugar will wear your immune system and leave
you susceptible to colds and flus. Keep in mind that
as your workout intensity decreases, you must decrease calorie intake
accordingly.
3. Get as much sleep as you can before midnight. Ideally, get to bed by 10:30.
The sleep you get before midnight is the most crucial
to your recovery. You will feel more rested if you can do this for at least 2
weeks before your event.
4. Lay off the strength training. This is more of an individual call (some
people feel better if they are doing some strength work
all the way up until the event, others will be too broken down unless they take
a good 2 weeks off), but at the minimum, you should
go lighter in the weeks leading up to your event.
5. Avoid caffeine. It may be tough if you are a coffee addict, but 2 weeks of
not having that morning cup will give you more natural
energy for your race. Take it from 6-time Ironman champion Mark Allen- he
practiced this for every race and it worked pretty well
for him!
6. Increase your meditation or yoga. Less time working out means more time to
prepare mentally! If you don't do yoga already, don't
start now. However, find some quiet time during the day to get away from work
and working out to clear your mind. Think about how
easy that swim will be since you are well-prepared with Tri Swim Coach!
7. You will have more energy during your rest or taper period. Don't be tempted
to use it! Save it for your event and you will be
glad you did.”
For this and other tips on triathlon training, visit www.triswimcoach.com.

* CA Races Announce Half Marathon Triple Crown
Three scenic Southern California half marathons have formed an alliance to
create a Half Marathon Triple Crown award to honor
participants who finish all three half marathons in the same calendar year, race
officials announced yesterday. The three races
include the Carlsbad Half Marathon (January 15), the La Jolla Half Marathon
(April 23) and the America’s Finest City Half Marathon
(August 20). Finishers of the 2006 Half Marathon Triple Crown will receive a
commemorative medal and be recognized on race web sites
as winners of the “Half Marathon Triple Crown – 39.3 Miles of Paradise.”
* Whidbey Marathon Signs Deal with Nature’s Path
The Whidbey Island Marathon and Seattle-based Pro-Motions Events, Inc. have
announced agreements with Nature’s Path Organic on a
three-year title sponsorship and with adidas Seattle on a one-year presenting
sponsorship. The fifth-year events will be called the
Nature’s Path Organic Whidbey Island Marathon & Half Marathon presented by
adidas Seattle. The races will be held on April 2.
* Colorado Colfax Marathon Announces Sponsors
The Colorado Marathon Partnership, Inc., the organizers of the new Post-News
Colorado Colfax Marathon, has announced the lineup of
sponsors to date for the May 21 event. The sponsor list includes the Denver
Newspaper Agency (The Denver Post and Rocky Mountain
News), Keller Williams Realty, FirstBank, University of Colorado Hospital, Craig
Hospital, the Hyatt Regency at the Colorado
Convention Center, and Channel 9 (KUSA). The event includes a marathon, half
marathon and five-person marathon team relay. The
race will host the 2006 National WTFUSA Wheelchair Marathon Championships, the
2006 National USA Track and Field Club Marathon Relay
Championships, and the 2006 USA Track and Field Colorado Marathon Championships.
* NBMA Selects New Jersey Marathon as its 2006 Race
The National Black Marathoners' Association (NBMA) has selected the 10th Annual
New Jersey Marathon for its 2006 annual marathon.
The New Jersey Marathon will be held on April 30 in Long Branch, NJ. The NBMA is
a not-for-profit organization that encourages black
Americans and others to pursue a healthy life-style through long distance
running and walking and serves as a vehicle for black
American distance runners across the nation to meet in mass at a single
marathon.
From Running USA at:
http://www.runningusa.org/

* Tip of the Month from Dave Scott
Use the off-season to start or to reintegrate a strength and conditioning
program to your training. The first type of strength
exercises should focus on building stability. Core stability training is
essential to virtually all sports performance and injury
prevention. The body's core muscles are the foundation for all other movement.
The muscles of the torso stabilize the spine and
provide a solid foundation for movement in the extremities. Now is not the time
to be developing sustained strength or power.
Exercises on a stability ball, work with medicine balls, Pilate's and Yoga are
all excellent tools for increasing core stability.
Introduce multi-plane exercises such as a plank exercise, “pointer dog” or any
up/down movement like Yoga’s downward dog/upward dog.
Additional exercises such as a side lateral plank which targets the obliques,
fit ball crunches with knee lift and stretch cord
“wood choppers” all hit the abdominals and combine a twisting element to work
the entire set of abdominal muscles. Also, performing
lateral leg lifts, leg circles and leg kickbacks on all fours strengthens the
hips, glutes and abs, which are the foundation for
core stability. These are just a few examples of exercises that can be
incorporated into your program. I encourage you to seek the
advice of a qualified trainer.
At three to four weeks into the strength training program start to work on
balance, coordination and alignment. Introduce single leg
exercises, for example a bent over row on a single leg, three-point touch (left,
center, right) on a single leg and block step-ups
(step forward, back and lateral movements) all trigger the glutes and quads. Use
of a balance or wobble type apparatus or even a
fitness ball improves balance, coordination and posture, while reducing the risk
of injuries through enhanced neuro-muscular
awareness and kinesthetic awareness. Concentrate on working the glutes, hips and
core (low back and abs).
Have a question? Email Dave at mailto:info@....



THIS WEEK'S FEATURED EVENTS:
*Please verify event dates with the event websites*


November 27, 2005:
Harrisdirect Seattle Marathon - WA
http://www.seattlemarathon.org/

Ottawa Dome Distance Dance - Ottawa, ON
http://www.ottawalions.com
** First Athletics Event to ever be contested in the Dome, North America's only
indoor 400M track**

Space Coast Marathon - Melbourne, FLA
http://www.spacecoastrunners.org/marathon.html

December 3, 2005:
Nike Team Nationals - Portland, OR
http://www.nike.com/nikerunning/usa/home.jhtml?ref=global_home#nike_team_nationa\
ls

OUC Orlando Half Marathon - Orlando, FL
http://www.orlandohalf.com/

Thunder Road Marathon, Charlotte, NC
http://www.runcharlotte.com

Winter Sun 10K - Moab, UT
http://www.moabhalfmarathon.org/winter/winter.html"

December 4, 2005:
Laguna Phuket Triathlon - Thailand
http://www.lagunaphuket.com/triathlon

Las Vegas Marathon - NEV
http://lvmarathon.com

Marathon of the Palm Beaches - West Palm Beach, FL
http://www.marathonofthepalmbeaches.org

Standard Chartered Marathon - Singapore
http://www.singaporemarathon.com/2005/nl/october/index.html


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/

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

Send this to a Friend:
Forward the Runner's Web Digest to a friend and suggest that they subscribe at:
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YOUR FEEDBACK AND COMMENTS:
Comments, contributions and feedback are always welcome via this list at:
mailto:runnersweb@yahoogroups.com and in our Runner's Web Forum, available off
our FrontPage. If you post to the mailing list and
get your email returned, please contact the Runner's Web at
mailto:webmaster@... to notify us of the problem. To update your
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Forward the Runner's Web Digest to a friend and suggest that they subscribe at:
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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
Runner's Web Online Store
http://store.runnersweb.com
RunnersWebCoach
http://www.runnerswebcoach.com


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This application was recently featured on National TV - please see the following
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TrainingPeaks.com by Wes Hobson.
Find the training program that fits you at:
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Triathlon Meetup
http://triathlon.meetup.com/r/d5n6/d5n6/0/http://triathlon.meetup.com/?a=d5n6/
Triathlon Meetups! Happening THIS month, find out when .

TriSwim Coach - The Complete Guide to Triathlon Swimming
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adidas' running apparel at 15% off! All running shorts, pants, and
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The Stretching Handbook:
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The Stretching Video in a DVD version. With the DVD version you're able to use
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**END...OF DIGEST...**