A FREE WEEKLY E-ZINE OF MULTISPORT RELATED ARTICLES.
The Runner's and Triathlete's Web Digest is a weekly e-zine dealing with the
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7. LifeSport by Lance Watson - Professional Coaching
Lance Watson 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. A Human Kinetics
graduate (sport psychology minor), Lance has had the
opportunity to work with and be mentored by numerous world-class swim, bike, run
and triathlon coaches and liaise with many top
sport professionals (scientists, psychologists, nutritionists, therapists, etc.)
Lance has coached at the 2000 Olympics, 2002 Commonwealth Games and 2003 Pan
American Games. He has been head coach at several
national-team events and coached at various Ironman, ITU World Cup and world
championship events. As well, he was an award recipient
as "Triathlon Canada Elite Coach Of The Year" four consecutive years from
2000-2003. He was the 2004 Olympic Team Head Coach
(Triathlon).
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/LifeSport.html


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THIS WEEK:
We averaged over 11,000 visitors daily for the month of March.

Our monthly Running Trivia Quiz and Pegasus Quiz will be available Saturday,
April 1st.

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winner getting FREE entry into the RunnersWeb5K.com
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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.
From the beginning, the mission of the company has been to improve the lives of
individuals we work with through the application of
proper and effective fitness and competitive training techniques. Whether your
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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* Peak Performance Online
Peak Performance is a subscription-only newsletter for athletes, featuring the
latest research from the sports science world. We
cover the whole range of sports, from running and rowing to cycling and
swimming, and each issue is packed full of exclusive
information for anyone who's serious about sport. It's published 16 times a
year, including four special reports, by Electric Word
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* Peak Running Performance
Peak Running Is The Nation's Most Advanced Running Newsletter. Rated as the #1
Running Publication by Road Runner Sports (Worlds
Largest Running Store) , Peak Running caters to the serious / dedicated runner.
Delivering world class running advice are some of
running's most recognizable athletes including Dr. Joe Vigil (US Olympic Coach),
Scott Tinley (2 Time Ironman Champ) Steve Scott (3 Time Olympian) and many more.
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recognition of it's outstanding achievements.
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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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Running Research News:
RRN's free, weekly, training update provides subscribers with the most-current,
practical, scientifically based information about
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purpose of this weekly e-zine is to improve
subscribers' training quality and to help them train in an injury-free manner.
Running Research News also publishes a complete, 12-page, electronic newsletter
10 times a year (one-year subscriptions are $35); to
learn more about Running Research News, please see the Online Article Index and
"About Running Research News" sections below or go
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Check out the article index at:
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THIS WEEK'S PERSONAL POSTINGS/RELEASES:
We have NO personal postings this week:


THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Athletics: Take in Oxygen to run or race faster
2. Triathlon: Four Ironman Training Rules
3. Multisport: Cooling Your Core
4. Leg Length Discrepancies
There are two different types of leg length discrepancies: congenital and
acquired.
5. Tread rightly: Avoid treadmill mistakes
6. Can Nutrition Limit Exercise-Induced Immunodepression?
7. Marathon Family - Family Needs vs. Personal Achievement
8. A Simple Blueprint for Effective Training
9. Is your back in safe hands?
An expert has claimed that spinal manipulation can be dangerous.
10. Study: Pumping iron helps cancer survivors
11. An exercise paradox: Risk leads to health
No activity is totally safe, as L.A. Marathon deaths attest. But when it comes
to heart health, active people do better than
sedentary ones.
12. Threshold Training - Finding your T-pace
By Jack Daniels, Ph.D.
13. Drink Up And Be Savvy
14. From Runner's World
15. Get ready for caffeine in your pancake syrup and soap
16. Meb Keflezighi and Alan Culpepper
Like thousands of others, these two elite American runners are gearing up for
Marathon Monday in Boston, MA. Find out how they
approach the race and prepare to reach their marathon goal.
17. Dietary Supplements: Who Takes What and Why?
18. Running Gear Essentials
19. Not all Carbs are Created Equal
20. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine - Aspirin Can Cause Hyponatremia
21. Carbo-loading – does it work?
How to nutritionally prepare for a race.
22. Lymphocytes, Immunoglobulins, And Running
23. Pre-conditioning – or how to do the preparatory work needed to stay in
tip-top training condition all year round
24. Understanding Pace Exertion
25. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Which of the following workouts do you incorporate into your training on a
regular basis?
Long runs
Tempo runs
Hill training
Pace intervals
Speed intervals
Running drills
Pilates, yoga, etc.
Other"

You can access the poll from our FrontPage ( http://www.runnersweb.com) 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:
"If you are unable to run, what do you do?"
Answers Votes Percent
1. Cycle 55 27%
2. Pool run 20 10%
3. Swim 29 14%
4. Row 10 5%
5. Use elliptical trainer 16 8%
6. XC-ski 22 11%
7. Other 16 8%
8. Watch TV 35 17%
Total Votes: 203


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: Colgate Women's Games.
The nation's largest amateur track series - 32 years running.
The Colgate Women's Games is the nation's largest amateur track series open to
all girls from elementary school through college.
Held at Brooklyn 's Pratt Institute, competitors participate in preliminary
meets and semi-finals over five weekends throughout
January. Finalists compete for trophies and educational grants-in-aid from
Colgate-Palmolive Company at New York's Madison Square
Garden in February.
Our goal is to provide an athletic competition that helps the participating
young girls and women develop a strong sense of personal
achievement, self-esteem, instill the importance of education and provide a
training ground for those who might not otherwise
participate in an organized sport.
Check out the site at:
http://www.colgategames.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: Runner's World Performance Nutrition for Runners
How to Fuel Your Body for Stronger Workouts, Faster Recovery, and Your Best Race
Times Ever.
Book Description
This newest addition to the heralded Runner’s World series offers runners
up-to-date nutrition advice based on the latest science
Runners have different nutrition and recovery needs than other endurance
athletes. Yet until now, they’ve had no nutritional
resource specifically addressing their concerns.
This comprehensive guide distills the newest thinking in the science of exercise
nutrition into practical, hands-on tips that will
help runners stay healthy, recover faster, enjoy better workouts, and race
successfully. Readers will learn:
• detailed information on nutritional topics important to runners, from
balancing internal energy stores to proper hydration
• how to customize their diets to their individual training needs
• shopping tips and dining-out strategies to help runners maximize their
nutritional intake
• the top 5 pre-race meals and top 5 healthiest snacks for runners
• nutritional tips for special populations, including women, children,
diabetics, and older runners
About the Author
MATT FITZGERALD is a runner, triathlete, and coach. He has written for such
publications as Running Times, Men’s Fitness,
Triathlete, and Runner’s World. The managing editor of the sports nutrition Web
site, www.poweringmuscles.com, he lives in San
Diego, California.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594862184/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books


THIS WEEK'S NEWS:

1. Athletics: Take in Oxygen to run or race faster:
INTERVAL TRAINING at VO2 MAXIMUM PACE, at 10 to 15 seconds per mile faster than
5K pace improves running efficiency.
Runners with a high VO2 maximum absorb more oxygen; they can race faster.
Economic runners burn less oxygen at a given pace: they’re frugal with oxygen
use. They too can race faster.
The best 5K and 10K and marathon performances are run by athletes with high VO2
max and good running economy.
Regular training at 2 mile & 5K race pace improves both VO2 max and running
economy.
The aims of Interval Training then, are:
Improve Maximum Oxygen Uptake Capacity or VO2 Max - the amount of oxygen which
you absorb.
Get more efficient at using the oxygen you absorbed.
Improve leg turnover and running economy.
Just what does VO2 MAX mean?
VO2 max, or Maximum Oxygen Uptake Capacity, to use its formal name, is the
amount of oxygen we can absorb into our cells in one
minute while working at full capacity. It’s a measure of fitness expressed in
milliliters per kilogram per minute.
Olympic Champ Steve Ovett’s coach Frank Horwill says:
“The best way to improve VO2 max is to run between 80 and 100 percent of VO2
max. One hundred percent equals the athlete’s 3K pace;
95 % equals 5K speed; 90 % is 10K speed.
“Work physiologists believe training at 95 % VO2 max brings the best results -
though one Russian physiologist of note - Karibosk,
thinks 100 % (3K or two mile pace) is better because it tunes up the anaerobic
pathway.
“Physiologists are agreed the percentages at the higher level (100 - 95 %)
should be done for 3-5 minutes’ duration, repeated many
times in one session, with a short recovery. The lower percentages (90 -- 80 %)
should be for 10-20 minutes, also with short
recoveries.”
At 2 mile pace, or the speed you can maintain for 10 minutes, the heart, lungs
and entire circulatory system work at maximum
capacity to maintain speed. This stimulates your VO2 maximum to increase while
also improving your running biomechanics so that you
waste less energy.
Months of long runs have increased your VO2 max substantially. Now it’s time to
make additional VO2 max gains by training at close
to your maximum oxygen uptake pace. Applying this modest stress to your lungs,
muscles and circulatory systems will stimulate your
VO2 max to rise: you’ll be able to race faster.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060331_Holt_VO2Max.html


2. Triathlon: Four Ironman Training Rules:
You’ve watched the award-winning telecasts of the race for the past several
winters. Your friends have gone off and raced at Lake
Placid, Wisconsin, or Florida and come home changed people. You’ve felt
compelled, you couldn’t resist—you signed up for an Ironman
this year! Congratulations, you have an exciting road ahead of you. It’s a road
that you will need to pave with a lot of hard work!
But success will not come from hard work alone—smart training is critical in
such a challenging endeavor. To make the most of your
efforts, follow these four Ironman training rules.
Rule #1: Rest as diligently as you workout.
When you workout, you break your body down. On the level of cells and tissues,
and on a cumulative level, your body is damaged when
you workout. In order for you to improve, you must allow your body to
sufficiently repair itself. Working out hard, without adequate
rest, will bring short-term improvements, but guaranteed long-term problems
(i.e., overtraining syndrome, injuries, burnout, poor
performance). Ample rest on the other hand, will allow you to steadily improve.
So what constitutes rest? Rest is time spent doing activities that are low-key,
physically and mentally. Rest is your chance to be
“off” in a world that wants you to constantly be “on”. You are resting when you
are watching a movie, reading a book for pleasure,
listening to music, socializing with family and friends, or doing similar
activities. During this time, your body can sufficiently
dedicate itself to repairing itself. When you are working out, working,
commuting, or doing chores you are doing, not resting. Rest
does not come easy to many triathletes. Many are busy bodies who must always be
doing something and who feel that rest is a waste of
time. Learning to rest and making it a priority will help you tremendously.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060330_THS_Rules.html


3. Multisport: Cooling Your Core:
By: Colin Izzard, CTS Senior Coach
There are various environmental factors that lead to a diminished ability to
perform in cycling and sports. A change in core
temperature is one that very frequently affects athletes. Maintaining core
temperature within a very small window is critical for
your health and performance.
To begin with let’s look at how your body maintains core temperature in hot
conditions. The hypothalamus is your body’s thermostat,
and essentially controls the sweat glands. When the body senses that its
temperature is rising above ideal levels, the hypothalamus
jumpstarts your sweat glands. The evaporation of the sweat from the skin is your
body’s primary method of cooling itself. Increasing
blood flow to the skin is another cooling method your body uses. Instead of
evaporating fluid to cool the skin, moving warm blood
closer to the skin’s surface allow heat to radiate into the cooler environment
through convection.
Having a basic understanding of how the body controls core temperature gives you
a few more things to think about. Hydration,
clothing, time of day for training all play important roles in controlling core
temperature. As the temperature rises and the body
sweats more, you have to keep a close eye on hydration levels. Loss of fluids
occurs both through sweating and respiration
(breathing). Athletes in dryer areas will have to take respiratory losses into
account more than those in humid climates. The
average sedentary person requires 1.5 liters of water a day, but athletes will
need far more than this, up to a gallon or more.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_CTS_20060328_Cooling_Core.html


4. Leg Length Discrepancies:
There are two different types of leg length discrepancies: congenital and
acquired.
Congenital means you are born with it. One leg is anatomically shorter than the
other. Through developmental stages of aging, the
brain picks up on the gait pattern and recognizes some difference. The body
usually adapts by tilting one shoulder over to the
"short" side. A difference of under a quarter inch is not grossly abnormal, does
not need a lift to compensate and usually does not
have a profound effect over a lifetime.
Differences over a quarter inch can take their toll on the spine and should
probably be compensated for with a heel lift. In some
cases, the shortage can be so extreme that it requires a full lift to both the
heel and sole of the shoe.
The acquired shortage is by far the most problematic. In my practice, I see four
problems always associated with acquired shortage:
1. Iliotibial band syndrome (pain on the outside or lateral part of the knee).
2. Piriformis syndrome (butt pain, not to be confused with sciatica, where the
pain runs down the back of the leg).
3. Hip pain.
4. Low back pain.
Contrary to popular belief, the acquired shortage is a pronation problem, first
and foremost. The reason is that, while you may look
identical on both sides of your body, the left and right don't work exactly the
same. The same goes for pronation. As you develop,
the brain picks up on the patterns of two feet, recognizing the slight variation
in gait. The body compensates by rotating one of
the hip bones (called the ileum). The ileum can rotate either backward and
downward (called PI Ileum for posterior inferior) or
forward and upward (AS Ileum for anterior-superior). This pulls the leg higher
into the hip socket, causing the leg to function
short, changing the alignment of the muscles around the hip and spine.
Unfortunately, this causes those muscles to work unequally
and inefficiently, and ultimately causes pain.
More...from Cool Running at:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/leg-length-discrepancies.shtml


5. Tread rightly: Avoid treadmill mistakes:
The treadmill offers a great workout for a great many people, but too many
people are doing it all wrong, say experts in the field.
You may be making several mistakes on the treadmill that you aren't even aware
of.
"Everyone makes mistakes," says Rick Morris, professional running coach and
author of Treadmill Training for Runners (Shamrock Cove,
301 pages, $15.95). "I train other runners, and even I make mistakes on the
treadmill."
The most important thing to keep in mind is to walk or run on the treadmill the
exact same way you would without the treadmill. "You
want to mimic what you would do when you're outside," says Morris.
With that, here are the top five mistakes people make on the treadmill. If
you're making these, you may not be getting the most out
of your workout, and worse, you may be hurting your body.
1. Hanging on
"That's the biggest one I see," says Jennifer Poulsen, fitness manager of 24
Hour Fitness in Arnold, Mo. When you hold onto the
rails, you're holding your weight up, and not using your legs to hold your
weight up. "In that case you aren't getting your heart
rate up, and you're not burning enough calories."
If the workout is so tough you can't do it without holding on, take it down a
notch and work at your level.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12779&sidebar=13


6. Can Nutrition Limit Exercise-Induced Immunodepression?
Prolonged exercise and heavy training are associated with depressed immune cell
function. To maintain immune function, athletes
should eat a well-balanced diet sufficient to meet their energy, carbohydrate,
protein, and micronutrient requirements. Consuming
carbohydrate during prolonged strenuous exercise attenuates rises in stress
hormones and appears to limit the degree of
exercise-induced immune depression. Recent evidence suggests that antioxidant
vitamin supplementation may also reduce exercise
stress and impairment of leukocyte functions. Further research is needed to
evaluate the effects of other antioxidants and dietary
immunostimulants such as probiotics and echinacea on exercise- induced immune
impairment.
IMMUNE FUNCTION AND THE NUTRITION OF ELITE ATHLETES
The immune system protects against, recognizes, attacks, and destroys elements
that are foreign to the body. The immune system can
be divided into two broad functions: innate (natural and non- specific) and
acquired (adaptive and specific) immunity, which work
synergistically. Any attempt of an infectious agent to enter the body
immediately activates the innate system. This so-called "first
line of defense" comprises three general mechanisms with the common goal of
restricting microorganism entry into the body: 1)
physical/ structural barriers (e.g., skin, epithelial linings, mucosal
secretions); 2) chemical barriers (e.g., pH of bodily fluids
and soluble factors such as lysozymes and complement proteins); and 3)
phagocytic cells (e.g., neutrophils and monocytes/
macrophages) and cytotoxic cells (natural killer cells). Failure of the innate
system and the resulting infection activates the
acquired system, which aids recovery from infection. Monocytes or macrophages
ingest, process, and present foreign material
(antigens) to lymphocytes. This is followed by clonal proliferation of T- and
B-lymphocytes that possess receptors that recognize
the antigen, engendering specificity and "memory" that enable the immune system
to mount an augmented cell-mediated and humoral
(antibody) response when the host is re-infected by the same pathogen. Critical
to the activation and regulation of immune function
is the production of cytokines, including interferons (IFNs), interleukins
(ILs), and colony- stimulating factors (CSFs). A
fundamental characteristic of the immune system is that it involves multiple
functionally different cell types, which permits a
large variety of defense mechanisms. Assessing immune function status therefore
requires a thorough methodological approach
targeting a large spectrum of immune system parameters. However, there are
currently no instruments available to predict the
cumulative effects of several small changes in immune cell functions determined
in vitro on host resistance to infection.1
A heavy schedule of training and competition can lead to immune impairment in
athletes, and this is associated with an increased
susceptibility to infections, particularly upper respiratory tract infections
(URTI).2,3 This exercise-induced immune dysfunction
seems to be mostly due to the immunosuppressive actions of stress hormones such
as adrenaline and cortisol. Since many of the
immunological changes to acute exercise appear to arise in response to stress
hormones, factors such as exercise intensity and
duration and subject fitness, which influence stress hormone secretion, will
affect the immune response. Both circulating leukocyte
numbers and functions are affected by catecholamines,4 which are elevated by
acute exercise in an intensity-dependent manner.
Subject fitness has a bearing on the relative intensity of a bout, and will
therefore alter the immunological outcome to an acute
exercise bout.5 Furthermore, exercise-induced elevations in cortisol affect the
leukocyte count and function, and the secretion of
this hormone is affected by the intensity and duration of exercise.6
More...from Red Orbit at:
http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/442823/can_nutrition_limit_exerciseinduced_i\
mmunodepression/index.html?source=r_health



7. Marathon Family - Family Needs vs. Personal Achievement:
Are your personal wants and needs conflicting with your family's wants and
needs? If it is easy to separate your personal wants and
needs from your families you'll need to keep reading. This pattern of thinking
automatically puts you at odds with what your family
is wanting from you. Essentially, you highlight the differences in your goals
and this keeps you focused on trying to bridge those
differences rather than embracing the similarities. Let's take it a little
further... planning is then a most crucial task in
carving out enough time for yourself personally to accomplish what you need to
get done. Planning is hard enough without making it
the focal point in your life to a degree where your personal happiness hinges on
the schedule.
What is the quick fix, or the million dollar solution? There is not a quick
fix, but there is a way to try and flip things around
to emphasis the similarities in your personal goals and your family goals.
Which in turn should put some fun back into planning (I
am referring to the ole' 2 birds with one stone saying).
Step number 1: Write down everything that you are trying to accomplish and
write down what you want your family to do or
accomplish. Note that it needs to have the same time frame. If a personal
goal is to run a marathon this year then make sure your
family goal has goal and timeframe that is similar.
Step number 2: Write down what are the critical items that your family
essentially needs to do.
Step number 3: Analyze how a personal goal and a family goal or family want can
be tied together. The example here is fairly
simplified for explanation purposes real family planning can be a lot harder and
more complex depending on your situation. If
running a marathon is a goal and a family vacation is also a goal then why not
combine them into one trip.
Step number 4: Only attempt one change and try to make it a small one.
Sometimes it takes a little time to identify similarities
let alone try to incorporate a change that may change a family pattern. Once
you successfully made one small change go back to
step one and identify another item you want to tackle.
NOTE: Once you begin to incorporate change you also need to decide did it work
for all that where involved. Also the change that
you make may also bring out new dynamics that maybe pleasantly surprising (I am
naturally optimistic).
At the end of the day it is about aligning your personal goals with your family,
so that you and your family can benefit from
learning about what it takes for a family member to achieve success in what they
choose to do. It also helps bring a deeper
understanding to your family about each member.
For questions and feedback please email Scott Winter at
mailto:info@...


8. A Simple Blueprint for Effective Training:
The Four Rules of Running
You've probably figured out by now that running isn't like other sports. For one
thing there aren't a lot of rules to follow. There
are no "out-of-bounds" or "offsides" or "celebrating too much after finishing."
But since it's human nature to want at least a few
rules, runners have made some up! These "Four Rules of Running" should become
the foundation of your running program. They will
ensure your continued enjoyment and improvement as a runner and help keep things
fun and interesting as well.
Rule #1: Stress and Rest Your training program should consist of a combination
of training stresses followed by recovery. In other
words, "hard" one day, then "easy" for a day or two. Then hard again. This
"hard/easy" approach allows you to continually improve
your fitness level-and stay motivated. "Hard" doesn't mean that you're sucking
wind at the end of your run. Maybe it's just a run
where you increase the distance or speed slightly. "Easy" can mean a day off or
a shorter, slower run that allows your body to
refresh itself. Using this method from workout-to-workout, week-to-week and even
month-to-month, will help you avoid the beginning
runner's #1 Mistake: Doing too much too soon. It'll be easier to get out the
door when you're not sore or tired all the time.
Rule #2: Repetition - To improve their free throw shooting, basketball players
practice shooting free throws, not jumpers from the
top of the key. The same principle goes for runners. Your body improves at what
it practices. If you wanna be a better runner, you
gotta run. Adding other workouts like cycling or swimming is a great way to
maintain or improve your overall fitness level, but
putting one foot in front of the other is the only way to continually get better
at running.
Rule #3: Variety - The body adapts pretty quickly to a consistent routine.
Without stress, there's no stimulus. When that happens,
your fitness level plateaus, your motivation weakens and you stop improving. To
avoid this, you should vary your training from
day-to-day. Use different types of workouts. Vary the amount of training.
Emphasize different types of runs for a period of time
such as a month.
Rule #4: Gradual progress - Sure, you'd like to be fit and fast tomorrow. But it
just doesn't work that way. Doing too much too soon
is the highway to burn-out or injury. Instead, think like the tortoise, not the
hare. Take it slow. Increase your training
gradually. What's the rush, anyway? Be in it for the long haul.
More...from Road Runner Sports at:
http://www.roadrunnersports.com/cgi-bin/rrs/rrs/sduTraining.jsp?lid=410000000100\
69822


9. Is your back in safe hands?
An expert has claimed that spinal manipulation can be dangerous.
Every day an estimated 80,000 people visit an osteopath and a further 50,000
seek out a chiropractor to alleviate their back pain.
So what are they to make of a damning indictment of those who practice these
therapies by Britain's leading expert in complementary
medicine?
Chiropractors and osteopaths deal mainly with headache and back and neck pain
Should they continue to pay fees of up to £60 an hour to have their backs
''cracked'', their joints pulled apart or their muscles
teased out? Or should they dose up on painkillers instead?
Chiropractors and osteopaths use spinal manipulation and massage techniques to
treat the misalignment of vertebrae and other bones.
Now, Edzard Ernst, professor of complementary medicine at the University of
Exeter's Peninsula Medical School, says that the
benefits of such techniques are ineffective at best and at worst, seriously
damaging.
In his report, published this week in the Journal of the Royal Society of
Medicine, Prof Ernst analysed 16 reviews of research into
spinal manipulation between 2000 and 2005. He concluded that the evidence does
not confirm that it is an effective treatment for a
range of conditions. He also said that the risk of mild adverse effects such as
headaches and serious, though rare, complications
such as stroke, means spinal manipulation should not be recommended at all.
No surprise then that the professor's findings have been roundly rejected by
chiropractors and osteopaths alike, who have criticised
both the methodology of his research and his conclusions, and accused him of
waging a campaign against practitioners.
More...from the Telegraph at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/main.jhtml?xml=/health/2006/03/23/hosteo21.xml\
&sSheet=/health/2006/03/25/ixhmain.html


10. Study: Pumping iron helps cancer survivors:
Weightlifting appears to improve breast cancer survivors' outlook on life,
suggests one of the first studies to scientifically
measure the effects of such exercise.
About 80 percent of women who took up twice-a-week weight-training saw improved
scores on a quality-of-life survey, researchers
said, in a study to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Cancer.
In contrast, 51 percent of participants in a control group did.
The physical and psychological benefits of exercise are well-documented. But
this study is the first to apply scientific methodology
to looking at how weight-training helps women who have had breast cancer.
"This may seem like common sense to most folks, but there's really been no
literature or science where researchers tried to quantify
and verify the effect," said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical officer
for the American Cancer Society.
Researchers recruited 86 women from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in late 2001
and early 2002. Each of the women had completed
successful treatment of breast cancer within the previous three years.
Half the women were assigned to an exercise group. For three months they met
twice a week with personal fitness trainers to develop
a weightlifting regimen. They were then encouraged to follow it for another
three months.
The second group had no such regimen.
Researchers asked women in both groups a series of questions about physical
well-being, marital happiness, sexual activity and other
aspects of life.
More...from the Mercury News at:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/living/health/14194572.htm


11. An exercise paradox: Risk leads to health:
No activity is totally safe, as L.A. Marathon deaths attest. But when it comes
to heart health, active people do better than
sedentary ones.
The deaths of two runners during last week's Los Angeles Marathon are a sobering
reminder that doing something good for yourself can
sometimes have a bad outcome.
In people with heart disease — those who know it and those who don't — recent
studies have confirmed that exercise can indeed
trigger a heart attack or sudden cardiac death. A piece of plaque can break off
from an artery and stop blood flow. An irregular
heartbeat can develop, slowing blood flow to the brain. Or blood pressure can
increase to the point of placing a dangerous strain on
the heart.
It's scary enough to make a fitness buff store those sneakers in the closet for
good.
But it would be a mistake for people to equate exercise with danger, health
experts say. Although working out can precipitate a
heart attack or sudden death during the exertion and for about one hour
afterward, regular exercise is important in preventing those
events.
"The paradox is when people exercise regularly, they are protected against
sudden death. But there is this real risk of sudden
cardiac death during exercise," says Dr. Christine Albert, a cardiologist at
Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and the author
of a new study on exercise and sudden death.
In a study published last week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.,
Albert and her colleagues found a slightly increased
risk of sudden cardiac death in women during exercise as opposed to during other
activities. But the risk of sudden death during
exercise was still very low, only 1 death per 36.5 million hours of exertion.
The data were collected from the Nurses' Health Study,
a long-term study of more than 121,000 women.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-he-marathon27mar27,1,601643.st\
ory?coll=la-health-fitness-news


12. Threshold Training - Finding your T-pace:
By Jack Daniels, Ph.D.
Using Tempo Runs
A few words of caution regarding how often to repeat identical workouts and
monitor progress in a particular type of threshold
workout: It’s human nature that runners often want to see progress in their
workouts and sometimes try to perform a particular
workout at faster and faster speeds over the course of a fairly short period of
time. Trying to compete against yourself in this way
is inadvisable. It doesn’t conform to the principle of letting your body react
and adjust to a particular type of stress before
increasing the amount of stress. It’s better to perform the same workout quite a
few times at the same speed, or until a race
performance indicates that you’ve achieved a higher fitness level.
One of the best ways to monitor how your training is progressing is to see how
much more easily you can perform a particular workout
as time goes by. If what used to be a tough workout becomes not so tough after
several weeks of training, then that’s a great sign
that your training is paying off in a positive way. At this point, you’re
usually ready for an increase in intensity or amount of
training. In contrast, always trying to see if you can go faster in a workout
that you have done before (the "always hurt as much as
possible" technique) can be very misleading in trying to determine how much
progress you’re making. With this approach, you always
hurt the same (or more), and you never get to experience doing a standard
workout with diminishing discomfort. Doubts begin to set
in as you ask yourself, "Am I really getting better or just learning to tolerate
more pain?" If you often hurt badly in practice, a
race won’t be anything special; you should be able to take on more discomfort in
a race than you do in daily training.
A more sophisticated way to monitor the degree of stress of a workout is to
check heart rates or blood-lactate values at various
points during the effort or during recovery. Relying on these more scientific
means of keeping track of your progress, however, can
prevent you from learning how to do a good job of it on your own. Whether or not
you use mechanical or electronic devices to monitor
body responses, you should still learn to read your body’s feelings and
reactions to the types of workouts that you do.
Please remember not to run faster than the prescribed T-pace when doing tempo
workouts. When you’re having a good training day, it’s
not that tough to beat a previous time over a four-mile tempo course. It’s very
important, however, to let your ability, based on
competitive efforts, determine your training intensities. When a workout begins
to feel easier, use that feeling to support the idea
that you’re getting fitter. Then, prove that you are getting better in a race,
not in a workout.
If you’re in a prolonged phase of training, with no races scheduled, it’s
reasonable to increase training intensity without the
supportive evidence of better competitive performances. In this case, a good
rule of thumb is to increase VDOT one unit every four
to six weeks. This is the same as improving your 5,000m race time by about 10 to
15 seconds, a substantial improvement in my
opinion. If you’re in a maintenance program, which is designed to require the
least possible training stress that allows you to stay
at a particular level of fitness, there’s no need to increase training intensity
(VDOT) or distances. In this case, the best goal is
to see how easy standard workouts can feel over time.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=7479&page=3&c=82


13. Drink Up and Be Savvy:
It's not just food that is adding unwanted pounds.
About half the excess calories consumed by Americans come from beverages. Liquid
calories account for 20 percent of the caloric
intake of those aged 2 and older, according to research conducted at the
University of North Carolina. At least half come from
sweetened beverages, such as juice and soft drinks, whose consumption has
climbed threefold, from an average of 50 calories per day
in 1977 to nearly 150 calories per day in 2001. That's enough to pile on about
15 pounds per year.
In addressing the obesity epidemic, "we have not been doing this right by
focusing so much attention just on food," notes Barry M.
Popkin, director of the Interdisciplinary Obesity Program at the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lead author of a
new beverage "guidance system" developed by a team of experts from six
universities. "We need to highlight beverages and their
effect on weight."
Extra calories in beverages aren't the only problem. Numerous studies of hunger
and satiety show that the brain doesn't register the
calories that are imbibed as accurately as those that are chewed. Why that is so
is not yet understood. But the end result is that
liquid calories are less satisfying and can lead to consumption of more
calories.
To help consumers make better choices, the new system ranks popular beverages on
a scale of one (best) to six (worst), based on
their nutritional punch. It was developed by Popkin and researchers at the
University of Connecticut, the Harvard School of Public
Health, Johns Hopkins University, Oregon State University, the Pennington
Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., and funded
in part by the makers of Lipton Tea:
More...from the Washington Post at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/27/AR2006032701170.\
html


14. From Runner's World:
* Coach's Corner
Read your own journal or training log. Oscar Wilde once said that he always
carried his journal with him so he'd be guaranteed great
reading material. Reviewing your own journal or training log can likewise
motivate you for a run. Whenever you have a really great
workout, make sure you note whatever preparations, thoughts, or observations
helped carry you through your run. You may be able to
use them again and again for more great workouts. -Jeff Galloway
* Injury Prevention
Want a strong chest, powerful shoulders, chiseled triceps, ripped abs, and firm
buttocks? Try the new and improved pushup. Assume
the "up" pushup position, with your hands placed shoulder-width apart. Keep your
back straight, and contract your abdominal and
lower-back muscles for body support and stability. Your legs should be straight,
with feet hip-width apart. While staying in the
"up" position, do straight-leg lifts, alternating legs each time. Do 12
repetitions per leg, or 24 total. There's No Gym Required to
do these four key strength-building exercises
* Performance Nutrition
Chew on a stick: Not only will it mask the onions on your breath, chewing gum
also will burn about 11 calories an hour, according to
an item in the New England Journal of Medicine. Also, chewing gum has a positive
effect on thinking and memory. Chewing gum for just
three minutes can boost your heart rate slightly, which in turn boosts blood
flow to the brain. More blood means more oxygen and
blood sugar fuels for brainpower.
* Editor's Advice
"Running with headphones outdoors is a safety hazard in more ways than one. You
won't be able to hear cars, cyclists or someone
approaching who intends to do you harm. Attackers will always pick a victim who
looks vulnerable. When you have headphones on, that
means you."
Sarah Bender, RW online editor
* Training Talk
"Don't be discouraged. Everybody makes training errors. Learn from yours and
approach the marathon with more respect the next time
you run it. As Bill Rodgers once said, 'If you run enough marathons, you'll
learn that the race can humble you.' If you've been
humbled, you can go on to greater glories."
-From Smart Running by Hal Higdon


15. Get ready for caffeine in your pancake syrup and soap:
There's a lot of buzz lately about caffeine, from studies about how it affects
health to new super-octane beverages that pledge to
give you a morning boost, improve your athletic performance and help you lose
weight. Caffeine has even made the leap to soap (it's
absorbed through the skin, according to its manufacturer), gum and pancake
syrup.
As products proliferate and the caffeine gauge edges higher, a question begs to
be answered: How much caffeine can we take?
Caffeine is a central-nervous-system stimulant that occurs naturally in at
least 63 plants. When ingested, it blocks adenosine, a
chemical that slows brain activity. That results in alertness and heightened
concentration. The effect peaks in 30 to 60 minutes,
then tapers off.
Published data shows the per-capita consumption level of caffeine for the
average adult is approximately 200 milligrams daily. The
average child consumes much less caffeine -- only one-quarter of the caffeine
consumed by adults.
Most health-care professionals consider about 250 to 300 milligrams to be a
moderate daily dose. Go beyond that, and you may feel
shaky, jittery or anxious and have trouble concentrating or sleeping, says
Cynthia Sass, a registered dietitian in Tampa. You also
could temporarily suffer from elevated blood pressure or an irregular heartbeat.
There's probably no reason for alarm if you consume moderate amounts of
caffeine, though. "Luckily, research shows that the danger
and risks [of caffeine] seem to be very minimal, even when consumed in large
amounts," says Dr. George Everett, who practices
internal medicine at Orlando Regional Healthcare. "Generally speaking, it's
pretty innocuous." Those with heart disease and high
blood pressure, though, should watch their intake.
More...from the Orlando Sentinel at:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/lifestyle/orl-caffeine06mar28,0,4138297.\
story?track=rss


16. Meb Keflezighi and Alan Culpepper:
Like thousands of others, these two elite American runners are gearing up for
Marathon Monday in Boston, MA. Find out how they
approach the race and prepare to reach their marathon goal.
Nike athletes Meb Keflezighi and Alan Culpepper are two of America’s most elite
distance runners. Like some 20,000 other runners,
they have been gearing up for Marathon Monday in Boston, MA next month. How has
their preparation differed from yours? Hear from the
Olympians on their approach to setting and achieving marathon goals, the
importance of following a training strategy, the challenge
of staying motivated and focused, and much more.
nikerunning.com: Take us through your training preparation, starting with what
many consider the most important part: setting the
right goals.
Meb: Well, basically I work backwards in terms of what I want to accomplish. In
January, I know I’m going to run Boston. That’s in
April. So when do you need to do the hard training? That’s February and March.
April you want to kind of relax. Some people like
myself like to do a race to just kind of get in shape also. You don’t just want
to wait until April 17th to do the test. So it’s
kind of a tune-up.
Many people have the perception that you need a full twelve weeks of training.
Which is certainly true if you’re starting from
scratch. But if you’ve been training, you’re not starting at zero. You already
have that previous training. So whether it’s eight
weeks out or ten weeks out, you’re okay.
Alan: Well, even in high school I had hopes of running beyond college. A lot of
it had to do with my high school club coach. He
instilled in me a lot of long-term thinking. He was always saying things like,
‘you’re 18 years old, but your best running isn’t
going to be for another decade’. Back when I was younger, it was more like, I’d
love to make an Olympic team. And then once a lofty
goal like that had been achieved it was, I’d love to win an Olympic medal or a
major marathon.
I am believer in setting lofty goals, but I also think setting them beyond your
capabilities can be counterproductive…so I’ve
adjusted my goals as I’ve improved, and they’ve gotten loftier. I think you have
to continually adjust your goals, so you don’t tap
out and think you’ve done all you set out to do and lose motivation.
More...from NIKE at:
http://www.nike.com/nikerunning/usa/home.jhtml?loc1=tools_training&loc2=runners_\
library&loc3=125&promoID=USRU_EM_03202006_marNewsMen
#runners_library
[Multi-line URL]


17. Dietary Supplements: Who Takes What and Why?
We hear so much in the media about ergogenic aids and dietary supplements that
lots of misconceptions can arise. Through the
grapevine, we all think everybody is taking lots of supplements, but is that
reality? A Canadian study is one of the first to
explore dietary supplement use across a wide range of athletes.
Vast Market and Grey Areas
One of the fastest growing segments of the athletic market in the past decades
has been the dietary supplements market. From simple
multi-vitamins to complex amino acids to sports drinks, the market has simply
exploded in variety. This has been fueled by both
marketing forces such as the growth of nutritional retailers, and also be the
increase in recreational athletes wanting to get the
most from their training.
Unfortunately, the darker side of dietary supplements is the potential to morph
into illegal performance-enhancing products. As we
all know, there have been many high-profile cases of athletes testing positive
for a banned substance where it has been demonstrated
to be caused by supplement contamination. This has led to it being the
“automatic” defence of any athlete testing positive.
Where this truly becomes problematic is that athletes of all levels become leery
of dietary supplement use because of its link with
positive tests or doping scandals. We have written a number of stories on
dietary supplements in Toolbox, and my position has always
been that athletes should be informed about the risks and benefits of
supplements, and to use them as appropriate but with clear
information.
Erdman et al
So the important question becomes “what do athletes consider a dietary
supplement?” and also “who takes what?” A recent study by
former national level Canadian cyclist Kelly Anne Erdman in the Feb 2006 issue
of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
tackles these exact questions.
More...from Pez Cycling at:
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=3885


18. Running Gear Essentials:
Running shoes - At the bare minimum, a runner should invest in a good pair of
performance running shoes. Running shoes are the tool,
the sword, the equipment that a runner relies on to keep them comfortable and
injury free. If you've ever purchased the wrong pair
of running shoes, you know what I mean. Don't scrimp when it comes to buying a
running shoe. Road Runner Sports has specialized in
finding the "right" shoe for runners for almost 20 years. The Shoe Dog will
assist you in finding the "right" shoe for your specific
needs. If you want to learn more, check out Tips on buying running shoes - get
the best shoe for you!
Running socks - You've just invested in a great pair of running shoes. Take the
next step and find a sock built for running. Heat,
which causes uncomfortable hotspots and moisture, which causes blistering, are
your feet's two biggest enemies. That's why today's
performance running socks use the latest and greatest fabrics designed to combat
heat and moisture. For instance, the performance
fabric CoolMax® is built to wick away heat and moisture, leaving your feet cool
and dry. There are other socks built to add
additional cushioning into your daily run. In any event, the old cotton tube
sock we all grew up with just won't cut it. Check out
our supply of performance running socks and feel the difference!
Running apparel - As with socks, running apparel has also come a long way. The
days of the cotton gray sweat suit, (you know, the
one Rocky wore!) are long gone. Cotton is a great casual wear fabric. But when
it comes to running, cotton is Enemy No.1. Cotton
absorbs heat and moisture and keeps it clinging to your body like a wet rag.
Doesn't sound very comfortable, does it? At Road Runner
Sports, we carry only the most technical running apparel built to keep a runner
comfortable. If it's hot, the fabric will work to
cool you. If you're cold, the fabric will insulate you. If it's raining, the
fabric will shield you. Running is hard enough as it is
and performance running apparel will keep your mind on your run and not on
clothes. Plus, these clothes look great! Visit our
Women's Apparel or Men's Apparel Department to see for yourself!
Running accessories - I don't know where to start. Are running accessories
essential? It's up to you. I have friends that never take
a run without their walkman. Others are slaves to their lap counting watches.
Still others are using performance nutrition products
before and after every run. We're all different. The one thing we do have in
common is our skin. Runners expose their skin to the
harmful rays of the sun. This is why sunscreen is the single most essential
running accessory. Whether it be spring, summer, winter
or fall, sunscreen can help protect us from the damage harmful rays can do to
our skin. Other than that, it's a personal thing!
Check out the Women's Accessories and Men's Accessories Departments and make
your personal choices.
From Road Runner Sports at:
http://www.roadrunnersports.com/cgi-bin/rrs/rrs/sduGear.jsp?lid=4100000001006982\
2


19. Not all Carbs are Created Equal:
Ilana Katz MS, RD, LD
Carbohydrates, are the building blocks of all plant life. They include fruits,
vegetables, grains and starches. Note that “carbs”
are expressed in plural, because there are different types, and different carbs
are treated differently by our bodies with varying
nutritional values. Some carbohydrates are digestible while others are not; some
are considered complex, while others are simple;
and some carbohydrates contain soluble fiber while others contain insoluble
fiber. However, nearly all of the carbohydrates we
consume are converted into glucose (blood sugar) with the notable exceptions of
fiber and glycerin. The basic carbohydrate for human
nutrition is the simple sugar glucose, but our bodies also make a complex
carbohydrate called glycogen, which is the storage form of
glucose in the muscles and liver.
Some carbs are high in sugar and digest quickly flooding your blood with energy.
Others digest slowly and provide a controlled,
steady, and even release of energy. Because these differences exist, it is
important to think about what specific type of carbs
might be best under different circumstances such as training and racing.
Athletes require carbohydrates during both high and low
intensity work outs, but carbohydrate is more quickly depleted during intense
activity. Depletion of carbs results in fatigue and
rapid performance decreases. When glucose runs out, the athlete stops, and this
is referred to as “hitting the wall”. Athletes
must replace carbs at every opportunity in order to avoid this state.
More...from Transition Times at:
http://www.transitiontimes.com/viewstory.cfm?ID=8227


20. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine - Aspirin Can Cause
Hyponatremia:
Several recent studies show that aspirin, Indocin, Celebrex and other arthritis
pain medicines may cause some cases of hyponatremia.
These medications, often taken to relieve
muscle and joint pain, can cause the body to retain fluid during exercise
(Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, May 2005).
For more than 40 years, sports medicine experts have told athletes in endurance
events to take fluids frequently during events
lasting more than one hour. However, on rare occasions, novice athletes have
died of hyponatremia in these endurance events.
Hyponatremia is caused by drinking too much fluid and is not caused by excessive
loss of salt in sweat. The extra fluid expands
blood volume and dilutes blood salt levels, which forces fluid to enter and
swell the brain, causing nausea and vomiting, weakness,
headache, and extreme tiredness. Since these same symptoms can be caused by
dehydration alone, the only way to diagnose
hyponatremia is with blood tests.
How much fluid should you drink? Experts do not agree because thirst is a late
sign of dehydration. The American College of Sports
Medicine recommends three to six cups of fluid
per hour. For a person who is not exercising near his maximum, this could be too
much. The person who is exhausted and exercising
significantly below his capacity probably should take in only two to three cups
per hour. Above all, do not take aspirin or any
arthritis pain medicines before you compete in events taking more than an hour.
For more on hyponatremia see
http://www.drmirkin.com/fitness/hyponatremia.html


21. Carbo-loading – does it work?
How to nutritionally prepare for a race.
Does the following situation sound familiar? You’re running a long distance
event such as the Flora London Marathon and you’re
leaving no stone unturned in your quest to get round as fast as possible. You’re
training assiduously, your race kit is tried and
tested, your shoes are well broken in and your schedule includes a structured
taper – so you’ve covered everything then? Or have
you?
Correct nutrition in the final week of your marathon taper can mean the
difference between a personal best or a personal worst and
should be a key component of your preparation. If you’ve heard about
carbohydrate loading but are unsure how to go about it,
realbuzz.com is here to answers your questions and separates the fact from the
fiction by drawing information from personal
experiences of the different methods of preparing nutritionally for a marathon.
So, if you want the low-down on carbo-loading, read
on:
Carbo-loading principles
Carbo-loading for the marathon was pioneered in the UK in the 1970s by running
legend Ron Hill, who experimented with ‘the diet’ as
it was known then. Ron Hill won a gold medal for the marathon in the 1970
Commonwealth Games, winning in two hours and nine minutes;
a phenomenal performance which would stand up against any championship marathon
time four decades on. Crediting part of his success
to his nutritional preparation, ‘the diet’ centres around two distinct phases,
namely depletion and loading.
More...from realbuzz.com at:
http://www.realbuzz.com/sport/sports_az/running/nutrition_for_runners/index.php?\
pmid=373&gmid=235&mode=1&aid=1025


22. Lymphocytes, Immunoglobulins, And Running:
You run the best track workout of your life. Four repeat miles, and you feel
like Moses Kiptanui. You hang around in your
sweat-drenched clothes, talking splits with the other runners, and savoring the
atmosphere. The next morning you wake up with the
Russian Army marching down your throat. You have the flu.
Did the track workout suppress your immune system and allow you to get sick?
The answer is not clear-cut. The immune system is a complex blend of
lymphocytes, leukocytes, immunoglobulins, eosinophils, natural
killer cells, and other beasts, each with its own unique role in protecting our
bodies from disease. Recent research from McMaster
University in Ontario, however, provides some interesting insights into running
and your immune system.
In a study published in the August, 1995 issue of Medicine and Science in Sports
and Exercise, Dr. J. Duncan MacDougall and
colleagues investigated the effects of training on the immune systems of
distance runners. Unlike previous studies, MacDougall's
group looked at the effects on the immune system of increasing training volume
and/or intensity, and at both acute (immediate), and
chronic (longer-term) effects. I contacted Dr. MacDougall to find out more about
his results and their implications for runners.
In this study, two groups of six runners each, trained for 40 days, consisting
of four 10-day training phases. The volume and
intensity of training differed between phases. Group 1 ran at low volume/low
intensity during the 1st phase, followed by high
volume/low intensity during the 2nd phase, then low volume/low intensity again
during the 3rd phase, and high volume/high intensity
during the final phase. Group 2 followed the same protocol, but switched phases
2 and 4.
"Low intensity" meant running at 60-70% of VO2 max, while "high intensity"
involved running 1,000 meter reps at 95-100% of VO2 max
every other day. "Low volume" represented each runner's typical training
distance, while during the "high volume" phases, the
runners completed twice their normal mileage.
More...from Pete Pfitzinger at:
http://www.pfitzinger.com/labreports/immune.shtml


23. Pre-conditioning – or how to do the preparatory work needed to stay in
tip-top training condition all year round:
Imagine you had a crystal ball and could predict when you were going to get
injured, and how. What if your gazing could also tell
you how to prevent that injury and how to make your muscles as receptive as
possible for sport specific adaptation? Wouldn’t it be
great if this were possible? Well, recently several sports scientists have done
the scientific ‘gazing’ on your behalf. Read on and
you will be able to see into the future – and to harness strategies, techniques
and drills that will enable you to avoid injury and
optimise training and performance.
‘Pre-conditioning’ is a relatively new ‘buzz’ word in the world of sports
training. It is about ‘training to train’ rather than
training to compete; and it resembles the preparatory processes followed in
numerous manufacturing industries, whereby tolerances
and tests are painstakingly devised for materials and structures, so that when
they are finally incorporated into the product the
risks of failure are virtually nonexistent.
The start of the training year would seem an ideal time to pre-condition.
Indeed, many coaches would say that’s what they are
already doing by emphasising general training methods to build a foundation of
strength for more specific work. In many ways these
coaches are engaged in preconditioning, but in others they are not.
As a model, let’s look at how Formula 1 racing teams prepare. They work
meticulously on their cars and drivers during the off-season
as well as the Grand Prix season. They don’t, for example, simply fit the
biggest engine they can find into their cars but rather
work out just how much stress the chassis can take and what the cornering forces
and breaking implications will be. A huge amount of
data is generated to make this process as successful as possible.
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/pre-conditioning.html


24. Understanding Pace Exertion:
The hard-easy system is an effort-based training system. You can’t improve your
running ability without exerting an effort.
Moreover, you won’t improve unless you exert the right effort. Thus, an
understanding of effort is the key to using the training
process to your benefit.
Absolutely every time you do a run, you exert an effort. That effort takes two
forms: pace exertion and workout effort. These are
two entirely different ideas, yet many runners fail to distinguish between them.
Some runners claim, for instance, that a long
workout at an easy pace makes the workout easy, too. But this is not necessarily
true, because an easy pace is not the same as an
easy workout.
Rather than possibly being confused by such ambiguity, it would be better for us
to use different words to distinguish between pace
exertion and workout effort. In the following articles, therefore, an easy pace
will be couched in terms of light exertion, which is
distinctly different from an easy workout. To better understand exertion, take a
look at Figure 1-1. What you see is a print-out of
a heart rate curve that was recorded into the memory of my heart rate monitor.
The upward-slanting curve measures the rate at which
my heart was beating from minute to minute during the 40-minute workout.
More...from BC Endurance Trainings at:
http://www.bcendurancetrainings.com/articles/understandingpace.html


25. Digest Briefs:
* Running Off The Bike
You have probably experiencing the sensation of trying to run on two dead legs
coming off the bike. Running off the bike is highly
stressful and you are most likely to cramp or get an injury in this critical
juncture, especially in sprint races. Your muscles have
been firing hard, at a high rate, and in a certain pattern and must now quickly
make a transition to a different one. Blood flow
that has pooled in the quads must be redirected to the hamstrings and calf
muscles. There are a few techniques you can use to reduce
the amount of stress on your legs as you bring them up to pace in the final leg
of your race.
* Before you even get to your race you should train to run off the bike at race
speeds. You do not need to do this every work out
but several times per week in the final phases of your training. You may even
perform transition intervals in which you switch
sports multiple times at speed and practice transitions.
* As you approach T2 begin stretching on the bike. Get out of the saddle and
stretch your quads by moving your hips towards the
handle bars. Drop your heels and stretch your calf muscles. Cross your knee over
the top tube and rotate your torso stretching your
gluteals and IT band. Repeat this process more frequently as you approach
transition.
* Coming out of T2 assume a rapid stride rate and shorter stride. A faster
stride will shift more stress to you cardiovascular
system and off of your muscular system. This is especially important if there is
a hill right out of transition.
* Allow your pace to build progressively over several minutes as your body
acclimates to the run. A may take you up to a half mile
or more to build to your normal race pace. Try to let your pace build
progressively and stay relaxed.
Once a cramp or pull occurs it will probably get progressively worse. By using
these techniques you will adopt a smooth and injury
free transition from the bike to the run.
From the Sport Factory at:
http://www.thesportfactory.com/

* Did You Know?
A cramp is an involuntary and forcibly contracted muscle that does not relax. A
cramping muscle may feel hard to the touch or appear
visibly distorted or twitch beneath the skin. Inadequate stretching and muscle
fatigue leads to abnormalities in mechanisms that
control muscle contractions. Other factors that may also be involved include:
exercising or working out in intense heat and
dehydration and depletion of salt and minerals (electrolytes). To treat these
cramps, gently stretch and massage the cramping
muscle.
From Lance Watson at:
http://www.lifesport.ca/

* Weightlifting improves cancer survivors' outlook
STUDY BASED ON PUMPING IRON TWICE WEEKLY
By Mike Stobbe Associated Press - ATLANTA - Weightlifting appears to improve
breast cancer survivors' outlook on life, suggests one
of the first studies to scientifically measure the effects of such exercise.
About 80 percent of women who took up twice-a-week weight training saw improved
scores on a quality-of-life survey, researchers
said, in a study to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Cancer.
In contrast, 51 percent of participants in a control group did.
The physical and psychological benefits of exercise are well-documented. But
this study is the first to apply scientific methodology
to looking at how weight training helps women who have had breast cancer.
``This may seem like common sense to most folks, but there's really been no
literature or science where researchers tried to
quantify and verify the effect,'' said Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, deputy chief medical
officer for the American Cancer Society.
Researchers recruited 86 women from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area in 2001 and
2002. Each of the women had completed successful
treatment of breast cancer within the previous three years.
Half the women were assigned to an exercise group. For three months they met
twice a week with personal fitness trainers to develop
a weightlifting regimen. Then, they were encouraged to follow it for three more
months.
The second group had no such regimen.
Women in the exercise group had a modest improvement over members of the
non-exercising group, Lichtenfeld said.
However, the women in the exercise group said they felt they had more strength,
speed and self-confidence as a result of the
workouts.
From the LA Times

* Masters Notes
Jazz trumpeter Nolan Shaheed set a new M55-59 world record in the mile running
4:42.89; he also ran a near world record in the 800m
running 2:09.95, just off the record of 2:08.15. The women's age 70 mile record
fell as Mary Harada ran 7:12.59. Alisa Harvey
couldn't quite best her own W40 800m record, running 2:08.68. (From Runner's
World)




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

Saturday, April 1
Cooper River Bridge Run, Charleston, SC
www.bridgerun.com

LaSalle Bank Capital City Half-Marathon - Columbus, OH
http://www.capitalcityhalfmarathon.com

Martian Marathon - Dearborn Heights, MI
http://www.martianmarathon.com

Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K, Richmond, VA
www.sportsbackers.org

April 1 - 2, 2006:

World Cross Country Championships - Fukuoka, JAP
http://www.iaaf.org/WXC06/index.html

Sunday, April 2

Big D Texas Marathon, Dallas, TX
www.texasmarathon.com

Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run - Washington, DC
http://www.CherryBlossom.org

Glass City Marathon - Toledo, OH
http://www.toledoroadrunners.org/gcm/gcmainnew06.htm

Ironman Australia - Port Macquarie, AUS
http://www.ironmanoz.com/indexframe.cfm

LaSalle Bank Shamrock Shuffle 8K -, Chicago, IL
http://www.shamrockshuffle.com/

Vattenfall Berlin Half-Marathon - GER
http://www.scc-events.com/events/berliner_halbmarathon/2006

Whidbey Island Marathon, Oak Harbor, WA
www.whidbeyislandmarathon.com


For more complete race listings check out our Upcoming Races, and Calendars.
Check the Runner's Web on Sunday and Monday for race reports on these events at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/

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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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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TrainingPeaks.com by Wes Hobson.
Find the training program that fits you at:
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Triathlon Meetup
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The Stretching Handbook:
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cmd.php?af=245575
The Stretching Video in a DVD version. With the DVD version you're able to use
the convenient menu facility to:
* Go directly to a specific stretch;
* View only stretches for a specific muscle group;
* Pause each stretch to get a good look at how it is performed;
* View only the introduction and rules for safe stretching; or
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**END...OF DIGEST...**