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
sports of running and triathlon and general fitness and
health issues. The opinions expressed in the articles referenced by the Digest
are the opinions of the writers and not necessarily
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4 Road Runner Sports, the world's largest running store at:
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5. National Capital Race Weekend - Ottawa, ON May 26 - 28, 2006
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6. Toronto Waterfront Marathon. September 24, 2006.
http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/

7. The Toronto Marathon, October 15, 2006
http://www.torontomarathon.com

8. 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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Race Directors:
Advertise your event on the Runner's Web.
TRAFFIC CONTINUES TO GROW
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Pageviews Daily Hits Total Hits

Daily
2005 2,749,670 7,753.35 14,652,389
40,143.53 45,586,536 124,894.62
2004 1,786,510 4,881.17 9,564,629
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% Increase 54% 59% 53% 54%
33% 34%

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THIS WEEK:
Check out our special Boston Marathon Links section under our "Upcoming Races"
area on our FrontPage.

WIN a Trip for 2 to Scotiabank TORONTO WATERFRONT MARATHON
Flat, fast and festive!
Exciting, cosmopolitan, international, but right next door! "Experience middle
earth and marathon heaven all in one trip to
Toronto!" Join RW Hero Ed Whitlock, John "The Penguin" Bingham, and 10,000+
runners from 30 countries and 40+ states.
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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:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/cts_columns.html.

* 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
plc. Peak Performance is not available in the shops - only our subscribers are
able to access the valuable information we publish.
Check out our article archive from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/PPO_index.html

* 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.
This bi-monthly newsletter has been around for over
13 years, and in the past two it has been awarded the "Golden Shoe Award" in
recognition of it's outstanding achievements.
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unningperformance.com
Check out the Peak Running article index at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/PRP_index.html .

* 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:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/LW_index.html

Running Research News:
RRN's free, weekly, training update provides subscribers with the most-current,
practical, scientifically based information about
training, sports nutrition, injury prevention, and injury rehabilitation. The
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
to RRNews.com.
Check out the article index at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/RRN_index.html


THIS WEEK'S PERSONAL POSTINGS/RELEASES:
We have TWO personal postings this week:
ONE:
Hello,
My name is Jim Heil. We built an online community website a couple of years
ago called www.therunway.ca. It is a very well done site. Life got pretty
busy after building the site though and I kind of forgot about it. There
really aren't too many profiles on it yet.... just a few friends who had
tested out the site, but I thought I would email it out to people to see if
they could make some suggestion on how the site might be used. it has
membership profiles and mailboxes, event listing, and a lot of other cool
features.
I was hoping maybe people could use it to advertise their local running
groups, find other runners in their community to run with and such.
I hope you will check it out and let me know what you think,
Jim Heil.

TWO:
Hey everyone,
I was the lucky recipient of one of the 90 slots given out for the Badwater
Ultramarathon this year on July 24th. The race runs 135 miles from Death
Valley to Mount Whitney Portal. It should be quite the adventure!
Each year I use my most challenging event to raise money for the Challenged
Athletes' Foundation; a not-for-profit that provides funding to assist
physically challenged athletes' with adaptive sports equipment and training.
To date, I have raised over $350,000 for the CAF.
With the event covering 135 miles (or 712,800 feet), over the course of the
event, I will take roughly 237,000 steps. To raise money this year, I am
asking folks to sponsor a single step for the princely sum of $1.00. I
figure if I can get 237,000 people to send me a dollar, the CAF will be
quite happy. If you would like to send more ($2.00, $5.00) that's
wonderful, but I'm only asking for $1.00.
Everyone who donates will get their name posted on my event website
(www.ponyexpressrun.com). If you can help out by donating a single dollar
(or change equivalent), please visit my website (www.ponyexpressrun.com) and
click on the "support a step" link. You can either mail a buck to me or
send it via paypal (details are on my site).
Thanks everyone! I appreciate the support!
Bobby



THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Dysmenorrhea and Injury Link
2. The man who invented running
3. Sports Nutrition: Eating Well When You're Away From Home
4. Thin, Light... and Fragile
What all runners should know about bone health.
5. The Comeback - a Practical Guide to Reigniting Your Running
6. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Long Time Coming
7. Accelerations for Distance Runners
8. Be wary of popping pill to treat swimmer's ear
9. A workout that's fast, furious and not for the faint of heart
CrossFit promises -- and delivers -- an intense blend of aerobic and strength
training.
10. Roberta Gibb: In Her Own Words
11. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
12. Orthotics - The criteria of the Fit
13. From Runner's World
14. Personal trainer to the rescue
Solve workout woes with some individualized attention.
15. Tuned in, tuned out
TVs are becoming as common as treadmills in gyms. That's good news for some
exercisers. But concentration could suffer.
16. Pre-Training Fueling
17. Spring planning for success
18. Power Surge
Want real results? A new regimen sheds pounds, builds strength, and shortens
your workout time.
19. Andy Potts offers tips on transitions
20. Enhancing Performance with Conscious Self - Talk
21. Oxygenated water doesn't boost aerobic performance

22. Essential Ingredients - Adaptation to Training
23. A proper bike fit means a faster cyclist
24. What is Better, Active or Static Stretching?
25. Digest Briefs

RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Which marathon, Boston or London (England), has more stature in the running
community?"

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:
"Which race entry methods do you use?
Postal
Online
In person"
Results at publication time:
Answers Votes Percent
1. Postal 27 26%
2. Online 46 45%
3. In person 30 29%
Total Votes: 103



FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: Canadian Athletes Now Fund.
The Canadian Athletes Now Fund (www.canadianathletesnow.com), formerly known as
the See You In Torino Fund, is a national
not-for-profit organization devoted to raising financial support and awareness
for Canada's athletes. The Fund was set up to help
Canadian athletes get ready for international summer and winter competitions.
Donations are put directly into the hands of athletes,
to support their training, equipment needs, travel, coaching and proper
nutrition, in addition to offset living expenses. Since
1997, the Fund has raised in excess of $3.5 million and directly assisted more
than 500 athletes, including Paralympians, with their
dreams of competing for Canada.
"The goal of the Canadian Athletes Now Fund is to underwrite the expenses of as
many Canadian athletes as possible, as support is
needed years before medals can be realized," says Ottawa native and founder Jane
Roos.
Check out the site at:
http://www.canadianathletesnow.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: Training and Racing with a Power Meter.
By Hunter Allen, Andrew Coggan
Power meters are rapidly becoming an invaluable part of training and racing
among professional cyclists and triathletes, amateurs
looking for a competitive edge, and gear fiends. For coaches and athletes, these
devices offer enormous potential for targeting and
timing training to realize a rider's goals. Yet few athletes or coaches
understand how to interpret the data for optimal results,
and few cycling resources do more than mention the possibility of wattage
training. Training and Racing with a Power Meter decrypts
the layers of information and explains how to begin a program that effectively
integrates power. Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan have
conducted extensive research and consulted with manufacturers to deliver the
most sophisticated and scientific approach to training
on the market, allowing riders to tap every last watt of power. The book
includes cogent case studies, sample power workouts, and a
chapter on the future of training and racing with these soon-to-be indispensable
devices.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931382794/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books


THIS WEEK'S NEWS:

1. Dysmenorrhea and Injury Link:
A survey of 127 Swedish female endurance runners found that athletes with
menstrual dysfunction missed more training time recovering
from injury than those with normal menstrual cycles.
Fifty-seven percent of the surveyed women had been injured at least once in the
past year, experiencing tendonitis, sprained
ligaments, strained or inflamed muscles, fractures and other musculoskeletal
injuries.
Women who were injured suffered the same frequency and types of injuries
regardless of their menstrual pattern.
But those who menstruated less than once every six weeks were sidelined by their
injuries for much longer than those with more
frequent cycles - an average of 34 days for dysmenorrheic women, versus 25 days
for women with normal cycles on oral contraceptives,
and a mere nine days for women with normal cycles who were not on oral
contraceptives.
Whether dysmenorrheic women suffered more severe injuries or were slower to heal
is unclear, but researchers theorize that hormonal
imbalances may be to blame for their longer recovery time, particularly high
cortisol, low estrogen, and low IGF-1 levels.
Nutritional deficiency, which is known to inhibit the ability to heal wounds,
may also be a culprit. Dysmenorrheic women had low
BMIs - 19 on average - and a higher incidence of binge eating than the other
women, both of which might indicate nutritional
deficiencies.
Overtraining might be a factor in injury severity, as dysmenorrheic women
trained about 25 percent more hours per week than the
normally menstruating women.
Source: Gynecologic and Obstetric Investigation, 2000; 49, 1, 41-46


2. The man who invented running:
SUMMARY: Sure, people ran before Bill Bowerman came along. But he's the one who
saw running as a way to fitness for anyone, not just
athletes -- and then wrote the book, fanned the rend, invented the shoe and
co-founded the company that led the way
There's a statue of Bill Bowerman near the starting line on the track at Hayward
Field. His head is cocked at an angle, he's holding
a stopwatch and his expression is one of alert bemusement, as if what's
happening in front of him interests him but doesn't engage
his entire brain. There's more going on here than a track coach conducting a
practice, and his posture shows it.
"The classic Bowerman pose," said his biographer, Kenny Moore.
The statue was erected within a year of Bowerman's death in 1999. It stands in
front of a building named for him and is a symbol of
his influence not only on Eugene and the University of Oregon but the wider
world. Bowerman saw first what others didn't --that
anyone could lose weight and improve their health by jogging --wrote a book
about it that sold 1 million copies, invented a shoe
that could help them do it, and co-founded Nike, a company that sold those shoes
and the active lifestyle behind them. Bowerman's
impact on American culture is as significant and long-lasting as any Oregonian
has ever made.
"If culture is what people do every day, then absolutely, he's done as much as
anybody," said Moore, author of "Bowerman and the Men
of Oregon: The Story of Oregon's Legendary Coach and Nike's Co-Founder" (Rodale,
$28.95, 480 pages). "He was a war hero, a member of
the Greatest Generation, an Olympic coach, the man who made Eugene the track
capital of the U.S. . . . you can run down the list."
Moore's biography of Bowerman goes on sale next month and is sure to spark an
already strong interest in Bowerman. At Nike, No. 11
on a list of 11 rules was "remember the man." Nike Chairman Phil Knight, who
told Moore he might have started the company to please
Bowerman, said he is often asked to describe Bowerman by those who never knew
him. "Thank goodness for Kenny's book," he said. "Now
I can just give them the book."
Knight's answer, before Moore's book goes on sale: "He's a very complicated
person," Knight said. "The classic example of an
elephant described by four men."
Bowerman lived his entire life in Oregon but traveled the world as a coach and
brought the concept of jogging back from New Zealand
in 1962, then combined it with one of his core coaching philosophies, that no
two runners are the same. Everyone is different and
everyone --children, women, heart patients, the elderly --can benefit from
moderate exercise.
More...from the USOC at:
http://www.usolympicteam.com/11611_45782.htm


3. Sports Nutrition: Eating Well When You're Away From Home:
By Kelly O'Boyle, RD
The food you eat the day of your event, as well as the days prior, is very
important. However, if your event is out of town, it can
be difficult to find healthy and familiar foods. After spending time trying
several options and determining the foods that work best
for you the morning of a long ride or run, you're now left to fend for yourself
outside of your kitchen and away from familiar
restaurants. With some planning and an open mind, however, the challenge of
finding healthy food on the road can be easily overcome.

The most important thing to remember is to stick with foods you've tried in
training and had success with. Event day, and even the
days before, is not the time to try new foods. Even if the food is not new to
you, if you haven't eaten it in conjunction with
training, you don't know exactly how it will affect you. However, sticking to
the same foods while on the road is easier said than
done, especially if you are in a setting where you're unfamiliar with the stores
and restaurants.
Use the following tips to help you eat well while traveling:
. Don't forget to eat! When you are driving or flying, don't get caught up in
the hustle and bustle and forget to eat. Make sure you
always have something to snack on and don't skip meals just so you make good
time to your destination. Some good handy and healthy
snacks include trail mix, bars, fruit, and cut up veggies such as red peppers.
. The day before a race, frequent small meals are best. However, when you are
away from home and eating mostly at restaurants, this
can be difficult. Split your meals right away and save some for later.or even
better, share it with a friend.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_CTS_20060407_Eating_Away.html


4. Thin, Light... and Fragile:
What all runners should know about bone health.
By Claudia Piepenberg
You've read them in magazines, and seen them on TV and even the
Internet-advertisements marketing medications for osteoporosis, a
disease that is estimated to affect nearly 20 million Americans. But chances are
you haven't paid much attention to these
endorsements because you're a runner, and you've read that weight-bearing
exercise, like running, protects you from thinning bones.
Unfortunately, that advice is only one small part of the much more complicated
issue of who develops osteoporosis, why, and how it's
treated. Consider what happened to Bill Rodgers one day in August 2003.
"I was out on a training run on a hot and muggy day. I wasn't running very fast,
and I was nearing the end of the run. I came off
the asphalt onto the grass, and that's when I felt my right leg crack," Rodgers
explains. His tibia had broken, in a spot where
Rodgers admits that, "I'd been feeling a little soreness for a while, so I think
I was running on a stress fracture." Rodgers was
diagnosed with bone mass "low normal" for his age.
He spent the next six weeks in a hard cast, the treatment recommended by his
orthopedic physician, but at the end of the month and a
half, the fracture hadn't healed, so he got a second opinion. His new doctor
insisted that he start doing weight-bearing exercise
again, and prescribed Fosomax, the brand name of a class of pharmaceuticals
known as bisphosphonates that are used to treat
postmenopausal osteoporosis, and osteoporosis in men. (Other options are
medications prescribed for women that mimic estrogen but do
not have some of the risks associated with hormone replacement therapy, or HRT.)
Rodgers's physicians tell him that the medication
will protect him from developing further fractures by strengthening his bones.
Highly Active, Small Bones
Fractures in someone like Bill Rodgers, arguably one of the best distance
runners ever? Yes, because the reality of osteoporosis is
that running thousands of miles over a three-decade career, being a fit
world-class athlete, and being male, don't necessarily
protect you from the disease. In fact, some researchers and physicians believe
that men or women who have a "highly athletic
lifestyle" may be more at risk for developing osteoporosis.
Whether you are or not depends on many factors, some of which-genetics, for
instance-you can't control but others you can. It's
important to bear in mind, however, that even the experts aren't always in
agreement; since there have been relatively few studies
done on osteoporosis in older runners, both female and male, the research is
just beginning to yield conclusions that will allow
physicians to determine whether or not their treatments are the most effective
for patients in those specific groups.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=7376


5. The Comeback - a Practical Guide to Reigniting Your Running:
By Pete Rea, ZAP Fitness/Running Journal/March 2006
Muhammad Ali had three, as did Michael Jordan. Madonna, and Hulk Hogan had a
couple each; even Ted Kennedy had one. They are
comebacks, otherwise known as rebirths, second chances, and resurrections.
Comebacks require fortitude and passion, and in the world
of long distance running comebacks require (among other things) fresh thinking
and extreme patience, perhaps more patience than any
other venue. Most of us have been there: muscles are sorer than ever, workouts
have become a chore and it has been months, years,
even decades since we have seen a personal best. If this describes you, perhaps
you are ripe for a comeback.
Comeback Step #1 -- Rest/Time Off
Few dedicated endurance athletes ever allow themselves time to rest, truly rest.
I am not talking about a day off here and there but
time completely away from intense training. It is indeed a paradox: this "never
miss dotting an I or crossing a T" thinking that
allows so many runners to be successful is also what can knock us off the
pedestal. When all else fails one of the best ways to
begin a comeback is with, ironically, some time off. Time away from running (or
at least intense running) has the benefits of
healing the body both physiologically and psychologically, and more often than
not will stoke the fire of desire. My former coach
and ZAP Fitness co-founder, the late Andy Palmer, made a career out of coaching
broken down athletes who had seen more valleys than
peaks, and the first place he began with each new client was with rest.
Comeback Step #2 -- Forget What You have Done in the Past
One of the most important factors in reigniting your running career is focusing
on who and where you are now, not who you were
three, 10, or even 20 years ago. Too often athletes get caught up in their
personal bests or performances from years past and fail
to focus their energies on the here and now. Particularly after a long break I
encourage the reborn runner to apply the "new PR
plan" that was suggested to me by Depaul University Coach Gordon Thompson.
Essentially the idea behind the "new PR plan" is that
once you begin to train after an extended break your slate of PRs is clean. Even
if you are a 16:00 5K runner from years prior, if
your first race back is a 21:30 5K -- that is your PR. Dwelling on how far
you've fallen from performances past will only increase
frustration and reduce motivation.
More...from the Running Journal at:
http://www.running.net/features/reamarch06.html


6. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Long Time Coming:
We runners think in numbers, talk in numbers, define ourselves and each other by
numbers. The numbers I put up at the Yakima River
Canyon Marathon weren't notable, yet they didn't go unnoticed.
There's nowhere to hide as a marathoner anymore. You could look up my time,
anyone's time, on the web. So I'll save you the trouble.
It was 5:01 at Yakima.
A friend asked at the finish line, "Does it embarrass you not to break five
hours?" It wasn't a harsh question. He knew I'd once run
more than two hours faster, he knew that I'm a little more visible than other
five-hour marathoners, and he was concerned about my
feelings at that moment.
No, I told him, this time carries no shame. If slowing down bothered me, I would
have stopped running marathons after the first few.
Or I would have chosen one now where no one knew me, then run in disguise under
an assumed name.
A time goal wasn't what brought me to this marathon. The final time was the
least of what I took away from it (though I confess
relief at avoiding a PW -- personal-worst time -- by a single minute).
Running a race is not all about, or always about, a finish time. Other numbers
meant far more to me at Yakima, and are why I chose
this marathon on this date. Those numbers are six, 48 and 62.
We runners like giving special meaning to otherwise random numbers. My three
marked times measured not in hours but in years:
-- Six years since my last marathon, Napa Valley 2000. Hints had dropped onto
these pages for months that I might try another ("Once
a Marathoner," 2/12/06; "My Last Marathon," 2/19/06; "Marathon Fever," 2/26/06;
"Final Five," 3/26/06). I didn't want that latest
one, which was unplanned and untrained-for, to be my last. But getting to the
next starting line took a long time, after never
running longer than 10K for 5-1/2 of those years.
-- Forty-eight years since my first race, on another April Fool's Day. This was
my first chance to celebrate the anniversary with a
marathon. It had to go better than that first race -- of just one mile -- when
I'd started too fast and not finished. In my next
April Fool's race I'd been knocked down, bloodied and forever scarred in the
opening rush. I didn't view those as bad omens, but
instead took comfort from sticking around long enough to wear race number 48 at
Yakima.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2051


7. Accelerations for Distance Runners:
Asking distance runners to do anything besides running is like pulling teeth. If
it doesn't involve breathing hard, they generally
don't want any part of it. "What's the use" is the general sentiment. Weights,
plyos, drills, stretching, etc are usually met with
"coach this is stupid, why are we doing this when we should be running".
Unfortunately, even though they provide a valuable service,
this is general outlook on strides as well.
Stride Workouts Will Make You Run More Efficiently
An issue for all distance runners and their coaches to deal with is the
transition from easy summer/off season mileage to faster
paced reps. Although some programs rarely let their athletes stray too far from
faster paced running, a larger percentage allow
their athletes to log easy miles over the summer months until organized workouts
begin. The same generally goes for the months
between cross country and track.
For collegiate and post-collegiate athletes that tend to do faster reps in the
form of fartleks or lactate threshold runs in the
summer, there is the issue of maintaining the speed that was developed the
previous track season. 400m, 800m, 1500m pace running is
not innate and staying away from it too long makes the transition back into fast
running very difficult indeed. Strides and
accelerations are an easy and effective way for all levels of athletes to stay
in touch with their "gears" while easing the
transition back into sustained faster paced running.
Maybe an example is in order here. This past cross country season I had the
privilege of coaching a number of masters runners (40
years of age and up) that were preparing for the club national championships in
Long Beach. All are very competitive athletes but
like athletes everywhere, family, work, sleep and leisure all fight for the
available 24 hours in the day. Before last season they
did an incredible volume of mileage, 10k paced reps once or twice a week and a
weekend long run of a sizeable distance.
Unfortunately, they didn't do much else. Over the years they rationalized that
an extra mile or two of mileage was better and easier
to do than any other form of running. They avoided training at mile race pace or
faster for so long, they lost the ability to do it.
Not a "gear" to be found in the group.
I started them on strides twice a week so they could relearn how to run fast
again. These amounted to six or eight 100m efforts on
grass after an easy recovery run. At first they all came back with the same
comments "these are making me sore", "boy I feel
clumsy", "are everyone else's calves, hamstrings, butt killing them?". All
typical comments from athletes who do an exercise they
aren't accustomed to doing. From the comments I received it became obvious why
they couldn't run a competitive mile or two mile to
save their lives, nor could they kick. Sure they were strong, but they were in
serious trouble if someone was with them at 400m to
go in a race. Single pace was all they knew. To compound the problem, every time
they tried to add a speed element to their training
in the past they got hurt. They added too much, too soon without a transition.
More...from California Track and Running News at:
http://www.caltrack.com/features/AccelerationsRubio.html


8. Be wary of popping pill to treat swimmer's ear:
With summer approaching, a panel of medical experts has put together a list of
recommendations for treating a common problem among
people who spend time in the water: swimmer's ear.
The infection, which can be very painful, is caused when water becomes trapped
in the ear during swimming, helping bacteria breed.
About one in 10 people suffer from the problem at some point in their lives, say
the doctors, whose recommendations appear in
Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery.
The condition is often improperly treated by doctors, said one of the report's
authors, Dr. Richard Rosenfeld of State University of
New York Downstate Medical Center and Long Island College Hospital. "The problem
is, there tends to be a reflex grasp for oral
medication when someone comes in with ear pain," he said.
In fact, oral antibiotics are often ineffective and should not be used unless
the infection extends beyond the ear canal, the
recommendations say.
The guidelines, based on a review of the medical literature, were called the
first comprehensive, evidence- based recommendations
for doctors treating swimmer's ear, once known as acute otitis externa.
Among the highlights, the guidelines say, the condition should be treated with
topical antiseptic and antibiotic drops, which tend
to be more effective than oral antibiotics and are not as likely to produce
antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
It is not just a matter of using the drops, however. For the medicine to be
effective, patients must be told how to make sure it
gets to the right place. This may involve removing debris from the ear or using
a special wick to drip the medicine in if the canal
is swollen, the recommendations said.
More...from the IHT at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/05/healthscience/snvital.php


9. A workout that's fast, furious and not for the faint of heart:
CrossFit promises -- and delivers -- an intense blend of aerobic and strength
training.
I'm hyperventilating. Twelve minutes into what I thought was a simple, 20-minute
workout of pull-ups, kettle bell swings and
short-distance runs, I'm bent over with my hands on my knees, mouth wide open,
head spinning, shoulders numb and torso heaving with
giant belly breaths. I'm spent, I feel nauseated.
"Hurry up!" urges my trainer. "You're on the verge of being beaten by a
38-year-old housewife who is four months pregnant!" As a
lifelong gym rat, endurance cyclist and runner, I thought I was fit - until my
first day of CrossFit, a free, fast-growing, largely
underground workout plan that some say is rewriting the rules of fitness.
The conventional wisdom is that you can't accomplish aerobic and strength
training at the same time, and that you certainly can't
develop world-class fitness on 20 or 30 minutes a day. CrossFit says you can -
if you push hard enough.
CrossFit is extreme, intense cross-training that can be done with basic gym
equipment - in a group or alone - both for general
fitness and as a base for specific sports. It's been used for several years in
law enforcement, firefighting and military circles;
adherents have included members of the Miami FBI SWAT team, the Colorado State
Patrol, the Jacksonville, Fla., Sheriff's Department,
the Des Moines, Iowa, Police Department, the Honolulu Fire Department, the
Orange County Fire Authority Academy
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-he-crossfit10apr10,1,3742776.s\
tory?coll=la-health-fitness-news


10. Roberta Gibb: In Her Own Words:
Roberta Gibb
I ran the Boston Marathon out of love. I believe that love is the basis of all
meaningful human endeavors. Running expresses my love
of Nature, my delight in being alive. Yet it was incomplete until it was shared
with others.
When I started running, I knew no other runners, male or female. I had not heard
of the Boston Marathon and had never seen a track
meet.
I ran as a way of reaffirming some semi-conscious ancient bond between the Earth
and myself as a human animal. I came to running
from a feeling that something was missing in my secure suburban existence and in
the life plan the 1950s had in store for me.
At a deeper level, I sought to come to terms with my own mortality, with the
relationship between mind or soul and body or the
physical. I was groping blindly for a synthesis in my life and found comfort in
running long distance through field, forest and
city. I was looking for the bare reality of things, people, and the world. That
comprehension excited and awed me.
My running companions were my dog and her canine friends. I found peace in the
solitude and exquisite perfection of Nature. As a
student at Tufts University School of Special Studies and the Boston Museum of
Fine Arts School, I met a man who ran cross-country.
"Five miles!" I exclaimed in disbelief when he told me how long the meet was.
But within six months I was trotting right along as he
ran five, six, ten miles. I seemed to have a knack for it and a lot of stamina.
"Twenty-six miles!" I gasped when the father of a friend told me about the
Boston Marathon in 1964.
"Sure. Why don't you go out and watch it since you like running so much," he
suggested.
At that time I was commuting eight miles from Winchester to Boston running
everyday. So I went, and I saw people running. They
looked like wonderful people, like some kind of exotic animal running so
strongly, quietly, patiently.
I knew they felt the same bond as I felt with some ancient human potential all
but lost in modern society. I recognized a
kindredness with these runners and some internal decision was made to run with
them in a mutual expression of our belief in what it
means to be human.
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,5033,s6-0-0-0-9630,00.html


11. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine:
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: Will training for a triathlon make me a better cyclist?
World-class triathletes are slower runners, swimmers and cyclists than athletes
who compete in only one sport. A study from the
University of Toulon-Var in France shows that swimming before cycling slows you
down (Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology, August
2005). Well-trained male triathletes pedaled for 30 minutes on a stationary
bicycle at 75 percent of their maximal aerobic power,
with a cadence of 95 revolutions per minute. Later they did the same exercise
after swimming 1500 meters.
After swimming, they had a 13 percent reduction in efficiency, and significantly
higher blood lactate levels. Fatigue from swimming
caused them to lose their efficient form so that they had to work much harder to
maintain the same pace. Fatigue has the same effect
on all athletes. A fresh field goal kicker in football will perform better than
one who has played the entire game. Triathletes will
always swim, run and cycle slower than comparable athletes training for only one
sport.
However, triathletes have fewer injuries.
(http://www.drmirkin.com/archive/7062.html)
* Comparing Cycling With Running
Which burns more calories, running or cycling? The standard comparison is that
one mile of running equals four miles of cycling, but
that's lousy science. Although running requires the same amount of energy per
mile at any speed (110 calories per mile), riding is
affected by wind resistance so the faster you ride, the more energy you use. So
you have to compare running and cycling at different
cycling speeds.
Dr. Edward Coyle of The University of Texas in Austin determined average values
of oxygen consumption by cyclists to develop a table
to estimate the approximate caloric equivalence between running and cycling. He
found that if you ride 20 miles at 15 mph, you burn
620 calories (20 miles X 31 calories per mile = 620 calories). Take the 620
calories and divide them by 110 calories per mile for
running and you get 5.63 miles to burn the same number of calories. So riding a
bicycle 20 miles at 15 miles per hour is equal to
running 5.6 miles at any speed.
Dr. Coyle made the calculations easy by providing conversion factors for
different riding speeds: 10MPH=4.2, 15MPH=3.5, 20MPH=2.9,
25MPH=2.3, and 30MPH=1.9. Divide the number of miles ridden by the conversion
factor for your riding speed to tell you the
equivalent miles of running at any speed. Thus, for 20 miles ridden at 10MPH,
divide 20 miles by 4.2 which tells you that your ride
is equivalent to 4.8 miles of running. This formula is for an average-size adult
(approximately 155 pounds). A larger cyclist would
divide by a slightly higher number; a smaller cyclist, by a slightly lower one.
Wind and hills are not accounted for in the table;
nor is drafting (riding behind another cyclist), which can reduce your energy
expenditure by up to one-third.
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: Several of my cross-country teammates have stress fractures.
Is there any way to prevent them?
Stress fractures, small cracks on the surface of the bones, usually start out as
a minor discomfort in the foot or leg that occurs
near the end of a long run. Usually the pain goes away as soon as the athlete
stops running. On the next day, the pain returns
earlier in the run. If she notices that it hurts to touch just one spot on a
bone and then stops running for a week, she can return
to running quickly, but usually she ignores the pain and develops a full- blown
stress fracture that hurts all the time. She now has
to avoid the hard pounding of running, but can ride a bike or swim for exercise
until the fracture heals in 6 to 12 weeks. The most
common sites for stress fractures are the bones in the front of the feet or the
long bone of the lower leg, but running can cause
stress fractures anywhere, even in the pelvic bones.
Forty-five percent of competitive female runners develop stress fractures. The
women most likely to suffer these injuries are those
who restrict food and those who have irregular periods. Restricting food can
stop a woman from menstruating regularly, which can
stop her body from producing the female hormone, estrogen. Lack of estrogen
weakens bones. Exercise does not cause irregular
periods, but not taking in enough calories can. Women who stop menstruating when
they exercise heavily will usually start to
menstruate regularly when they eat more food. I often prescribe bone
strengthening medications such as Fosamax or Evista to women
with stress fractures that do not heal in six months.
* Intense Exercise Treats and Prevents Diabetes
An exciting study from Yale shows that intense exercise is far more effective in
preventing and controlling diabetes than exercising
at a leisurely pace (Journal of Applied Physiology,
January 2006). Inactive, healthy, non-obese women over 72 years of age were
started in training programs of hard (80 percent of
aerobic capacity), moderate (65 percent) and easy (50 percent). All three
groups did the same amount of work, burning 300 calories
per session. The intense group had a great improvement in their ability to use
sugar and suppress fat formation, while the low
intensity group had little benefit.
This means that intense exercise can help both to prevent and to treat diabetes.
The most tissue damage occurs immediately after
eating, when blood sugar levels rise the
highest. After you eat, sugar goes from the intestines into the bloodstream.
The only places that sugar can be stored are in your
muscles and liver. When your muscles are not exercised, they are full of sugar
and sugar has no place to go after it enters your
bloodstream. On the other hand, when your muscles are exercised, they empty
their stored sugar. Then when you eat, sugar can go
from the intestines into the bloodstream and then immediately into the muscles,
preventing a high rise in blood sugar.
The exciting news from this study is that the more intensely you exercise, the
greater the protection from developing diabetes and
the better the control of your diabetes if you already have it. A word of
caution: 75 percent of diabetics die from heart disease
and some people can suffer heart attacks during intense exercise, so check with
your doctor first.
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: How old should a child be to start serious athletic
training? I think my daughter is an exceptionally fast
runner.
Young children can start training for athletic competition at a very young age
as far as their bodies are concerned, but they should
not start before they want to accept the regimented
lifestyle required for athletic competition. In 1967, I started competitive
long distance running for young children and was the
first national chairman of the age group committee of the Amateur Athletic Union
and The Road Runners Club of America.
Children came from all over the United States and Canada to compete in age group
cross country and track running. Many were coached
by experienced runners and trained with the same types of workouts used by
older, more experienced runners. These children rarely
suffered from injuries and when they were injured, they recovered faster than
older runners do.
Young children are not at increased risk for injuries when they run races or
lift weights. Doctors expressed concern that the growth
centers in their bones would be more likely to break, but this rarely happens.
However, many of the better runners quit. In one
study from Southern California, 90 percent of female runners under age nine
stopped running before they reached high school. It's
all right for young children to start training in a sport, provided that they
want to do it, that they take plenty of days off from
training, and that their coaches and parents allow them to be children.
From: http://www.drmirkin.com


12. Orthotics - The criteria of the Fit:
Any orthotic that is going to work has to address the underlying repetitive
motion of "overpronation" (overpronation is the maximum
range of motion the arch makes with each step, which results in, "wear and tear"
over time).
The biomechanical damage once it occurs is due to a lifetime of all those
footsteps. Comparatively, each footstep is like a mile in a car. So every
decade of life is like 100,000 miles. In order to repair some, most or all of
that cumulative damage is dependent on two things:
1. The proper prescription fit of the orthotic, must meet 4 criteria:
A. The orthotic must be supportive, the person must feel the support such that
it is full or snug fitting
B. It "must" be comfortable to wear all day without it causing more discomfort
or problems [this comfort does not relate to
symptoms].
C. It cannot overcorrect your alignment position on the ground, you "must" be
stable.
D. It "must" fit the way your muscles and feet are working and not necessarily
the architectural fit of just the foot.
More...from Cool Running at:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/orthotics-the-criteria-of.shtml


13. From Runner's World:
* Coach's Corner
Go Mental: You can use mental images from past races to maintain your motivation
year-round. For example, think of a scene from a
favorite race that you have run. Perhaps you've run the Disney Marathon and have
run with the cast of characters, or maybe you've
run the Aloha Run in Hawaii. Think of beautiful or fun scenes from exciting
races to keep your motivation high. - Runner's World
magazine
* Injury Prevention
The day after every challenging run, go easy, cross-train, or take the day off.
Giving your body time to recuperate from the intense
effort of a long run, hilly run, or speed training is essential to preventing
injury. After running hard, your muscles will need to
do some minor repair work and refuel before they'll be ready to produce another
strong effort.
Recovery is an important--but often neglected--part of training plans. So Rest
Easy!
* Performance Nutrition
Eggscellent: A study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition has
found that eating eggs instead of carbs for breakfast
can help you lose weight by making you feel fuller longer. Researchers divided
30 overweight and obese women, ages 25 to 60, into
two groups: One ate a breakfast of two scrambled eggs and two slices of toast
with low-calorie jam; the other ate one bagel with 2
tablespoons of cream cheese and 3 ounces of fat-free yogurt for 2 weeks. Both
meals had the same number of calories, yet the egg
eaters felt fuller and ate 164 fewer calories at lunch and 400 fewer calories
over the next 36 hours than the others.
Everyone is talking about protein. It's trendy, it's nourishing, and it's
essential for recovery.
* Boston Marathon Podcast:
Take the editors of Runner's World magazine with you while you prepare for your
Beantown adventure. Listen to expert advice on
footwear and apparel, the new staggered start, mental focus, start-to-finish
race strategy, heat, nutrition, hydration, and the
secrets of the course itself.
http://www.runnersworld.com/events/boston06/morepodcasts.html?trafficsource=NL_R\
W_TrainingExtra_2006_04_07



14. Personal trainer to the rescue:
Solve workout woes with some individualized attention.
You want to be fit and healthy, but when it comes to all those pushups, crunches
and miles to log to get there, it's easy to want to
slack off.
Let's face it: Exercise isn't always fun or interesting, and the activities can
be difficult. You know that one more set of crunches
will inch you toward the washboard abs you lust for, but that's a distant
outcome.
In the here and now, it's all you can do to get through those last curls,
especially when it took nearly every bit of energy to fend
off all the excuses you had not to work out in the first place.
This is where a personal trainer comes in.
How a trainer helps
For those who find it hard to stay motivated, a trainer can be a big help, says
David Wayman, manager of physical activity for life
initiatives at the University of Michigan Health System. Things such as fitting
into a pair of jeans or slimming down for bikini
weather may propel you into the gym for a few weeks, but they don't provide
enough motivation to sustain activity long-term.
For many of us, this motivation doesn't come easily. It may be something we need
to be guided through, given the rampant level of
obesity and lots of cues that don't support healthy behaviors, says Wayman. In
other words, what is going to motivate you to bypass
that fast-food restaurant and hit the gym instead? It pays to think about your
reasons for being fit.
Making lifestyle modifications versus simply setting short-term goals is
important, says Dr. Michael Montico, a sports medicine
physician at Providence Athletic Medicine. A trainer can help you define short
and long-term goals, and make sure they're
attainable.
More...from the Detroit News at:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060411/LIFESTYLE02/604110416\
/1032/ENT


15. Tuned in, tuned out:
TVs are becoming as common as treadmills in gyms. That's good news for some
exercisers. But concentration could suffer.
ONE piece of exercise equipment is becoming so popular that some people can't
bear to face a workout without it: the television.
Just as many people are glued to their TVs at home, so they are at the gym,
intently focused on CNN or "American Idol."
Almost every gym offers some form of TV entertainment, and the more magnificent
the club, the better the options. Über-complexes
feature individual screens integrated into cardio machines, allowing exercisers
to watch whatever they like. Others have banks of
wall or ceiling-mounted screens, some offering headsets so users can listen to
particular shows.
More clubs are buying or contemplating buying equipment with integrated
television screens, and many even have televisions in
strength training areas, where concentration - especially around free weights -
is critical.
Wireless headsets are now available, allowing gym members to wander while
listening to one of 14 digital audio programs.
Soon there may be video iPods able to interface with a club's system, predicts
Kevin Fee, a vice president with Broadcast Vision
Entertainment, an Agoura Hills company providing entertainment to health clubs.
Eventually, members may be able to select from a
bank of movies and programs and toggle between those and wellness data such as
heart rate and blood pressure.
Fun, sure, but this may not be the best way to wade through a workout.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-he-distraction10apr10,1,27957.\
story?coll=la-health-fitness-news


16. Pre-Training Fueling:
Any long-course triathlete that has spent time trying to understand nutrition
may easily feel as if they are trapped within a
complex web. But this web does not have to be a fatal trap if viewed
holistically. The correct answer lies in understanding the
interrelationship of how each part relates to the whole. In doing so, you will
increase the chances of not becoming another race
fatality. The wrong answer lies in focusing too much or disregarding any
particular area which creates an imbalance that the other
parts and overall whole are sure to suffer from. Understand that each area is
linked to all the others and your holistic approach
will provide the confidence needed to get the most out of your training. In
order to implement this holistic approach one has to
take the time to understand the individual components and pre-training fueling
is one of them.
Adequate fueling prior to training is a crucial requirement to meet the energy
demands for the rigors of training. In doing so, what
to eat, how much to consume, and when are all equally important, to consider.
Overseeing all of this is and exercise nutrition in
general is, 'what goes in the body reflects what comes out of the body'! Being
able to make the right food and fuel choices gives an
athletes body the best opportunity to respond to the training and racing demands
that are asked of it. Ironman distance triathletes
are akin to high-performance sports cars; both require top level fuel and care
for them to run at their peak. Once your diet is
based in a diversity of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, healthy fats and lean
meats and your fueling choice is void of simple
sugars with a good source of carbohydrates; you can fine tune the rest.
Viewing nutrition holistically will provide one with the perspective to
understand that pre-training fueling actually begins with
post-training replenishment. For those who are in the cycle of two a day or
back-to-back workouts this should be a mantra. For the
body to adequately use the fuel provided before a workout it needs to be in an
optimally recovered state first. There is no dispute
to the fact that eating prior to workouts improves training but, what to eat may
be something that is individual specific. Most
studies suggest the intake be based primarily in complex carbohydrates because
they are easy to digest and provide the body with
sustained energy. Studies have also long since determined that complex carbs are
the body's first choice for endurance energy.
Simple carbohydrates or sugars are not recommended as they may cause
hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and can impede performance. Each
individual body differs in its response and sensitivity to foods so use this
information as a guideline and then make the personal
adjustments as necessary.
More...from the Silver,am Full Distance Triathlon at:
http://www.silvermannv.com/news/04_06/feature_2.html


17. Spring planning for success:
For most riders, the competition season has already begun, yet many have yet to
make a clear, decisive plan for 2006. While the best
time to plan and set goals is the off season, an early spring planning session
can yield significant results ahead.
For those riders who have started a plan or even finished it, the first spring
races and fast group rides can provide a good
benchmark to reassess our goals for the season.
The following are some basic periodizing and goal setting strategies that will
help you achieve the objectives you've set.
Have goals, will succeed
The key to success is setting goals. Setting goals can be a learning process,
but the main objective is to set a range of specific
goals. Some of these may be relatively easy to achieve, others more difficult
and maybe a few are dream goals; write them down!
Let's consider the goals of a 34-year-old new racer:
* Short-term: Lose 5 lbs, improve lactate threshold power 5%, get bike position
set-up checked.
* Intermediate: Lose 10 lbs, Top 15 Podunkville crit, Top 10 Jumpin Jack RR.
* Season: Win Wicked Hilly RR, Top 15 overall & Stage of Big Bad SR, 6 hr Climb
to the Clouds Century, finish PanMass Challenge.
* Long-term: Win Wicked Hilly RR, Qualify for RAAM.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12927


18. Power Surge:
Want real results? A new regimen sheds pounds, builds strength, and shortens
your workout time.
THREE YEARS AGO, Jeff Mitchell, a 42-year-old business consultant from Jackson,
Tennessee, doubled his maximum bench press from 135
to 280 pounds, cut two seconds off his 100-yard-dash time, lost 40 pounds, and
shed six inches from his waistline-all in just over a
year. His muscles bulged, his skin looked smoother, and he hadn't felt so good
since playing college basketball.
"You on steroids or something?" Mitchell recalls a friend asking him.
In fact, there was nothing illicit behind Mitchell's transformation, which some
believe may hinge on an exercise-induced upswing in
the body's production of human growth hormone (HGH). The catalyst? A short but
super-high-intensity workout called Sprint 8 (see
"Explode into Shape"). The program had Mitchell running sprints down his street
four times a week, leaving him heaving for air and
nearly passing out, while his neighbors looked on with bewildered amusement.
The Sprint 8 program was quietly introduced in 2000 in Ready, Set, Go! Synergy
Fitness, by Phil Campbell, a strikingly muscular
53-year-old masters runner and college speed coach from Jackson. Back in the
mid-nineties, Campbell was a hospital administrator
with a doughy gut that wouldn't tighten up no matter how many miles he ran. Then
one year, to prepare for his family's annual
Thanksgiving flag-football game, he started adding sprints to his daily
45-minute runs. By game day, two months later, he'd shed ten
pounds and "felt like 17 again." Campbell kept sprinting through the winter, and
as the weight fell off and his muscles firmed up,
he reduced his running time while adding more sprints-finally dialing in a
20-minute routine that included eight 30-second
intervals.
More...from Outside Online at:
http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/200604/high-intensity-training-1.html



19. Andy Potts offers tips on transitions:
By Gina Zaccagnini // April 12, 2006
Andy Potts, 2004 Olympian and 2005 Edmonton World Cup Champion, shares his
advice on making successful transitions during a
triathlon. He came from a swimming background where he was a member of the U.S.
National team from 1995-1997. After two years in
corporate America, Potts decided to go back to a career in athletics, but this
time as a triathlete. He raced in his first triathlon
in 2002 and competed in his first Olympic games after just 22 months in the
sport. He just completed his first half ironman distance
triathlon where he came in second and he is on his way to Beijing for another
World Cup.
Making smooth, fast, efficient transitions during a triathlon
#1: Clean is fast. As long as you aren't making a lot of mistakes, getting
flustered and doing a bunch of stuff that is haywire.
Clean is fast. As long as you don't get ahead of yourself, you are going to
have a clean transition.
#2: Set up equipment
Setting up your equipment has to be like a flow chart. You want it to be smooth.
When you come in on the swim, you come in and
you're dumping the goggles off, the cap off and just kind of putting them out of
the way. You have your helmet ready with sunglasses
already on it, so all you have to do is put it on your head and buckle it. Then
just take your bike off the rack and go. It is a
pretty simple transition, but it is a lot simpler when you don't have a lot of
riffraff around you. To make it so you don't have a
lot of people around you, you have to actually hammer the swim - easier said
than done.
#3: Compose yourself
When you're running to your bike, compose yourself. You just went from
horizontal to vertical so your heart rate is going to kind of
go through the roof. Breathe big deep breaths and have a mental picture of how
you are running up to your bike, put on your helmet
and go.
#4: Use your bike for support
When you are coming in on your second transition, you don't want to come
slamming in to the point where you're making mistakes. You
want to make sure you're getting off the bike at the right time and start to get
your running legs under you as you are running with
your bike. Use your bike as support because you haven't been standing up in a
while. Lean on your bike just a little bit as you are
guiding it and running with it to help get your running legs moving. When you
get to your transition area, you rack your bike and
you should already have your shoes with your tongue pulled out so all you have
to do is slip your foot.
#5: Use baby powder in your shoes
Two keys to making that transfer happen is putting baby powder the shoes. I put
baby powder in both my running shoes and my cycling
shoes - it helps dry up your feet after swimming and after getting them all
sweaty. It helps keep things dry and they don't rub a
lot. Another thing I like to do is put a layer of Vaseline around the heel so my
foot slides in nicely, then I just take off.
#6: Don't wear socks
You don't really have a lot of time to put on socks. If you are ever worried
about blistering and you aren't worried about winning
the race, put on socks. It's well worth it the next two weeks to take the extra
20 seconds to put on socks. People tell you, 'you
just need to put on socks, how long does that take? You could practice that in
your bedroom.' Well, practicing putting on socks in
your bedroom when your heart rate is 50 beats a minute is completely different
than practicing putting on your socks when your heart
rate is 200 beats a minute and you just swam and biked for an hour and a half.
From the USOC.


20. Enhancing Performance with Conscious Self - Talk:
By Michael J. Russ
In part one of this series we discussed the importance of clearly defining the
goals, intentions, aspirations and dreams you have
for performing as a triathlete. Having clarity about what you want to accomplish
helps solidify your purpose and eventually design
specific self-talk that supports your training and performance.
Your next step towards developing efficient "self-talk" is to actively discover
the nature of the thoughts and words you are using
to describe you and the goals. In other words, it's time to start paying
attention to what you are thinking and saying about
yourself, so you can discover whether your self-talk is in sync with what you
want for yourself.
As an example, let's say you are currently participating in mini-triathlons,
with a desire to move up to full triathlons. The
position of your mental dialogue during this transition will greatly influence
your motivation, training and performance. If you set
this kind of goal and discover yourself using self-talk" like "I don't know if I
can do it, but I am going to give it a try" or "I'm
going to have problems with the swim, so I don't have high expectations" or
"This isn't going to be easy", you have to nip it in the
bud.
Left unchecked, unsupportive or negative self-talk can easily morph into
something that keeps you from achieving your best results.
This is why it's so vitally important that you to be proactive in discovering
the nature of your self-talk.
More...from Transition Times at:
http://www.transitiontimes.com/viewstory.cfm?ID=8259


21. Oxygenated water doesn't boost aerobic performance:
There is no scientific evidence to support that drinking "super oxygenated"
water enhances athletic performance, researchers from
Austria report.
So-called super oxygenated water -- water in which the oxygen content is
increased significantly -- are marketed by various
companies as a way to improve athletic performance by feeding extra oxygen to
the muscles through the blood stream.
To test these claims, a team of researchers from the Medical University of
Vienna compared the performance effects of the maximum
oxygenated water they could find (180 mg of oxygen per liter) with that of
non-treated water from the same source.
Twenty young men were submitted to intense bicycling exercises after having
drank either 1.5 liters a day of oxygenated water or the
same amount of untreated water, during two weeks.
Parameters such as maximum physical performance and maximum oxygen consumption
were measured at the peek of their effort.
Consumption of super oxygenated water had no significant influence on these
parameters and the subjects' working capacity did not
improve, Dr. Valentin Leibetseder and colleagues report in the International
Journal of Sports Medicine.
On the other hand, the authors write, "we did not investigate to what extend the
consumption of highly oxygenated water might cause
beneficial effects through psychological and mental effects."
SOURCE: International Journal of Sports Medicine, March 2006.

22. Essential Ingredients - Adaptation to Training:
By Pete Pfitzinger, M.S.
As featured in the March 2006 issue of Running Times Magazine
This month marks the start of the "Essential Ingredients" series, which will
cover essential topics relating to training and racing
to help you make better decisions and optimize your running. In this issue we
cover the concept of adaptation to training.
Understanding how the body adapts to training is fundamental to developing
training programs to improve your racing performances.
Training provides a stimulus for your body to adapt so it can handle a greater
workload. Training hard this week, however, does not
improve your performance for this weekends race. The short-term fatigue and
tissue breakdown from hard training reduces your ability
to perform for a few days while your body recovers. With the correct type,
duration and intensity of training, followed by
sufficient recovery, your body continues to adapt to a higher level, called
supercompensation. Thus: training leads to fatigue,
which leads to recovery, which leads to supercompensation.
Developing the perfect training program requires finding the optimal balance of
training stimuli (e.g., long runs, tempo runs,
speed) and recovery. Complete recovery from a hard training session typically
takes from five to 10 days. This doesn't mean that you
need to wait that long to do your next hard workout, but you can expect to have
some residual fatigue. Depending on the severity of
the workout and your personal capacity to recover, it is typical to do two to
three hard sessions per week. For recovery from
racing, a reasonable guideline is to allow three recovery days plus one
additional day for each two kilometers of the race (e.g.,
about eight days for a 10K).
The time required for adaptation to an improved level is harder to determine
because supercompensation is actually a cumulative
effect across many workouts. Although the scientific evidence is inconclusive,
it appears that a minimum of 10 days is required to
obtain the full benefits of a workout. The secret to improving your racing
performances is to manipulate your training and recovery
so supercompensation is maximized.
To race your best, you need to recover fully and allow supercompensation to
occur. Prior to a major goal race, it is wise to taper
long enough to reap the full benefits of your training.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=7214


23. A proper bike fit means a faster cyclist:
A competition-grade bicycle isn't cheap. Once fully outfitted, you'll probably
have spent thousands of dollars. In order to get the
most value out of your investment, your bike should fit you like a glove.
The three main considerations are comfort, power production and aerodynamics.
You must choose a balance of these three elements in
order to achieve your optimal fit. Determining the right balance for you should
be based on a variety of individual characteristics
such as the type of cycling you do, competitive level and experience, muscle
imbalances or previous injuries, and your personal
biomechanics and riding.
Comfort first
Comfort comes first, even for a competitive cyclist. If you're uncomfortable you
can't produce power, period.
I've observed novice cyclists in very aggressive aerodynamic positions with a
low power output resulting from being in an
uncomfortable position. By putting them in a less-aggressive position, they were
actually faster because they could pedal harder.
Comfort, of course, is relative. A time trialist must make sacrifices in
comfort, but they'll spend a relatively short period of
time on the bike.
If you're new to cycling there's an acclimation period in which your body
adjusts to spending more and more time in the saddle. Some
discomfort is normal, but cycling shouldn't be painful. If you're experiencing
joint, back or neck pain, it's time to look at your
fit or perhaps your pedaling mechanics.
Saddle soreness or numbness should be addressed immediately. These issues can
often be relieved with a different saddle type or a
simple adjustment.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12930


24. What is Better, Active or Static Stretching?
The benefits of stretching have long been debated by athletes, coaches and
exercise physiologists. Most athletes believe stretching
will prevent injuries, but this is contradicted by careful studies, making it
one of our biggest myths.
Could stretching even increase injury rate? An Australian study of 1,538
subjects divided into two groups (stretching and
non-stretching) found that over the course of 11 weeks (60,000 hours of combined
training), stretching during warm up had no
statistically significant effect on the risk of injury. David Lally, PH.D,
carried out a study of marathon runners, attempting to
link stretching to muscle problems. His study of 1,543 marathoners found that
47% of all male runners who stretched regularly were
injured during a one-year period, with just 33% of male athletes who didn't
stretch being injured. The stretching runners did not
run more miles then the non-stretching ones, so higher mileage was not a
possible factor.
Lally's study also yielded one additional bit of information. The marathoners
who stretched before their training sessions (i.e. as
a part of their warm up) had a higher rate of injury. Athletes who stretched
AFTER their training session actually enjoyed a lower
injury rate. When you think about the role stretching should play, this finding
makes good sense. It is popular to static stretch
before a workout or competition, but there is little semblance between the act
of stretching out a muscle statically and the dynamic
contractions that muscles undergo during training or a race. Another myth is
that static stretching represents a key portion of any
good warm up. Running is a dynamic activity that requires active, forceful
movements of the legs and arms. Modern static stretching
routines do not stimulate the muscles to act as they actually will during
running. Most stretching routines are inadequate for
preparing the muscles for running. While running, muscles perform dynamically in
shortening (concentric contraction) and lengthening
(eccentric contraction). These two forces surpass the forces experienced in
static stretching and you cannot hope to adequately
prepare your muscles to deal with these forces if you do only static stretching.
More...from Missouri Runner and Triathlete at:
http://www.morunandtri.com/features/coffeewcoachstretchingmarch06.html


25. Digest Briefs:
* The Edge:
You've spent months preparing for your first marathon. make sure you remember
these important race day tips so you can finish
strong." -Lisa Dorfman, M.S., R.D., L.M.H.C. sports nutritionist, elite runner
and Ironman triathlete
Eat wisely-If you're not used to running on a full stomach, it's not a good idea
to feast right before a marathon. Remember, it
takes 3-4 hours for food to digest, so eat early.
Fuel up before the race-Drink at least 16 ounces of a sports drink with
carbohydrates about 2 hours before the marathon, then
another 8-16 ounces just before the race. Be sure to stop to drink at least 2-4
ounces at every fluid station.
Slow down through the fluid stations-Walk or slow down at the fluid stations. If
you try to run through a station, you'll end up
spilling more than you drink. Slow down, grab a cup of fluid, squeeze it to make
a funnel, and drink it up.
Drink at every fluid station- Drink even if you don't feel thirsty. Thirst is
not a reliable indicator of fluid needs because by the
time you feel thirsty, you're already dehydrated.
Know the warning signs of heat illness-If you experience undue lightheadedness,
lethargy, confusion, nausea, vomiting or muscle
cramps, stop running and seek medical help immediately. As nausea or vomiting
subsides, consume fluids (sports drinks) to help
rehydrate.
Committed to providing information in exercise science and sports nutrition.
www.gssiweb.com



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

Charlottesville Marathon - Charlottesville, VI
http://www.charlottesvillemarathon.com

Papa John's 10 Miler - Louisville, KY
http://www.papajohns.com/louisville
USA Men's Championship

Two Oceans Marathon - Cape Town, South Africa
http://www.twooceansmarathon.org.za

April 16, 2006:
Australian & Oceania Olympic Distance Championship - Geelong, AUS
http://www.supersprint.com.au

ITU Ishigaki Triathlon World Cup - JAP
http://ishigakijima-triathlon.jp/en/index.htm

Nagano Olympic Commemorative Marathon - Nagano City, JAP
http://www.naganomarathon.gr.jp/english/index.htm

April 17, 2006:
Boston Marathon - Boston, MA
http://www.bostonmarathon.or
More Links...
http://www.runnersweb/.com/running/boston_marathon.html


Fortis Leidsche-Rijn Marathon - Leidsche-Rijn, NED
http://www.marathonutrecht.nl/2006/?t=EN

Marathon des Sables - Ouarazazate, Morocco
http://www.darbaroud.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

Send this to a Friend:
Forward the Runner's Web Digest to a friend and suggest that they subscribe at:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RunnersWeb/join

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
Runner's Web eGroups subscriber's profile, go to the web
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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
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**END...OF DIGEST...**