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
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7. The Toronto Marathon, October 15, 2006
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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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TRAFFIC CONTINUES TO GROW
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Daily
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% Increase 54% 59% 53% 54%
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THIS WEEK:
The Ottawa Race Weekend, Canada's largest running event, announced its first
national charity partnership in 32 years with the
Canadian Athletes Now Fund.
The Canadian Athletes Now Fund is a not for profit organization that raises
direct financial support for Canadian athletes so they
can compete on the world stage. Since 1997, the Fund has raised over 4 million
dollars and supported over 500 able bodied and
paralympic athletes.
This is a fabulous opportunity to support our Canadian athletes when they need
the support the most. It takes tremendous dedication
and training to be the best in the world and it also takes financial support.
The Canadian Athletes Now Fund provides direct financial support to our Canadian
athletes. Athletes allocate the funds they receive
for equipment needs, coaching, training opportunities and proper nutrition.
The Canadian Athletes Now Fund is looking for 2008 passionate and proud
Canadians to run, walk or skate for our Canadian athletes
during the Ottawa Race Weekend. When you join the Canadian Athletes Now Fund
team you will find out which athlete your efforts will
be supporting plus donations of $25 or more will receive a tax receipt.
FREE Technical Running Shirt for all Canadian Athletes Now Fund Team members!
START TODAY! JOIN OUR TEAM: CLICK ON LINK BELOW:
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/startup.aspx?eventid=5828
To Donate or for more information visit: www.canadianathletesnow.ca
or Call us at:1-866-YES-2008 .

WIN a Trip for 2 to Scotiabank TORONTO WATERFRONT MARATHON
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earth and marathon heaven all in one trip to
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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:
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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.
This bi-monthly newsletter has been around for over

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Check out the Peak Running article index at:
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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:
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
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Check out the article index at:
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THIS WEEK'S PERSONAL POSTINGS/RELEASES:
We have ONE personal posting this week:
ONE:
Meniscus Tear:
Does anyone have any suggestions on this type of injury? I got it tripping over
a rock on a
trail. I compete in running and agility competitions with my dog and have no
idea how long
the recovery will take on this or what to do. So far, I've just been referred to
an orthopedic
doctor.
Thanks for any help, Joanna
mailto:georgitoo@...



THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Multisport by Lance Watson: Using the Track to Create Speed
2. Sportsmedicine: Stretching in the Gym
3. Athletics: There is no Right Answer - Only Guiding Principles
What I learned from 11 of the best cross country coaches
4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Glenn Cunningham, Miler
5. Primer for the Self-Coached Ironman Athlete
6. Flexibility training - Running stretches
7. Meal Timing, Composition, and Amount
8. From Runner's World
9. Respiratory Training: Hold Your Breath!
10. Runners who don't train well can have marathon of miseries
11. Triathletes' running cadence mirrors cycling cadence - The Crosstraining
Report
12. With age, exercise caution
13. Preventing Foot and Ankle Overuse Injuries
14. Race director's book shares marathon moments
15. Desperately Seeking Superfoods
Boomers hope eating right will protect them for life
16. If You "Feel The Burn," You Need To Bulk Up Your Mitochondria
17. Get Back On Track and Accomplish Your Season Goals
Train right with tips and tricks and of the trade from Chris Carmichael and
Carmichael Training Systems.
18. Road ID made a difference in my life!
19. Plantar what?
20. WIN High Performance Sport Detergent
Eliminates embedded sweat and odors from workout clothes.
21. When fatigue slows you down: Iron-deficiency anemia
22. The Five Racing Abilities
23. Will adding protein to your carbohydrate beverage improve your endurance and
reduce muscle damage?
24. Ibuprofen for training and racing
25. Digest Briefs

RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Lance Armstrong has announced that he is running the NYC Marathon. What time
will he run?"

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 marathon, Boston or London (England), has more stature in the running
community?" Results at publication time:
Answers Votes Percent
1. Boston 30 58%
2. London 17 33%
3. They are equal 3 6%
4. No opinion 2 4%
Total Votes: 52


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: Sarah Haskins, Professional American Triathlete and
member of the ITU USA Triathlon Team.
" have always had a love for athletics as well as competition. I began swimming
competitively at age five and swimming year-round by
the age of nine years old.
I swam for ten years on the Parkway Swim Club and achieved Junior National time
standards. In high school, I competed in a variety
of sports including swimming, cross country and track.
I was the Missouri high school state champion in both cross country and
swimming. I competed all four years on the varsity teams
upon graduation from Parkway South High School in 1999.
In the fall of 1999, I began school at the University of Tulsa and earned an
athletic scholarship for cross country and track.
I had a successful running career at Tulsa, with several All-Conference finishes
in cross country and track. I graduated in May of
2003 with a degree in Elementary Education and a minor in Mathematics.
In June of 2003, my family believed I would succeed in this sport and encouraged
me to participate in my first race. I competed in
my first triathlon in St. Louis, MO."
Check out Sarah's site at:
http://www.sarahhaskins.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: The Last Pick.
By Joan Benoit Samuelson (Foreword), David J. McGillivray, Linda Glass Fechter
Book Description
"If you can dream it, it can happen." In this heartening book, Boston Marathon
race director and motivational speaker David
McGillivray shares the challenges he has overcome to inspire readers to similar
triumphs in their own lives.
Always the last pick for team sports because of his small stature, David
McGillivray drove himself to excel at individual sports.
When he was 16, he set himself up for the one "failure" that would motivate the
rest of his life. He attempted to run in his first
Boston Marathon - without training for the event. Not crossing the finish line
could have been a crushing blow. Instead he went on
to complete 115 marathons and eventually to become the Boston Marathon's race
director.
At age 23, McGillivray completed his celebrated 3,452-mile run across the United
States to raise money for cancer research. The
story of his journey and what he learned about himself will give all readers a
new understanding of how to prepare for and achieve
success. McGillivray's many accomplishments will convince readers that
virtually any goal is possible. This book will motivate
them to overcome the mental obstacles that often keep dreams from becoming
reality.
About the Author
DAVID J. McGILLIVRAY is race director of the Boston Marathon. He has delivered
more than 1,200 motivational speeches and, as
president and founder of Dave McGillivray Sports Enterprises Inc. (DMSE), he
has raised over $1 million for various charities. He
lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
LINDA GLASS FECHTER is a freelance writer who has worked for over 16 years with
various charities and athletic organizations.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594864225/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books


THIS WEEK'S NEWS:

1. Multisport by Lance Watson: Using the Track to Create Speed:
The beauty of the track is the absolute accuracy with which it reports pace.
Running on the track allows you to monitor your pace
and exact distances, and is a great to measure speed and running progress. As
well the track is fantastic for working on rhythm and
run cadence. Doing repeats over a standardized distance where you do not have to
worry about footing is the best way to increase
foot speed and raise your lactate tolerance levels. I will outline a couple of
sessions that are great to accomplish just this.
Remember, these sessions are short, but they are hard and fast.
Before starting, there are some important points to remember when performing
track workouts:
1. You should perform a 10-20 minute warm-up that builds slightly in intensity
before the hard work.
2. Follow the warm-up with some drills and strides to get your muscles firing
and ready for the effort to come.
3. If you need rest, take it, but keep in mind that the rest is structured for a
reason, and thus should not be deviated from too
much. Once you start adjusting the rest you are changing the energy system that
you are working.
4. You will be tired at the end of some of these workouts, so it is okay if you
feel fatigued as the workout comes to an end.
5. If you are unable to maintain the speed required for the workout, then
shorten the workout rather than blow up. Commit to the
entire set and reassess once you are started. Remember not to count yourself out
before the workout begins.
6. Make sure you cool down after the workout. You will be using your anaerobic
energy system in these workouts, thus building lactic
acid in your muscles, so a good cool down is very important to allow for the
body to process the lactic acid through your kidney.
7. Whenever possible, try to switch the direction of your running about half way
through the workout. This will help to balance the
muscles as you run in circles, and is good for injury prevention.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060418_LW_Track.html


2. Sportsmedicine: Stretching in the Gym:
By Brad Schoenfeld
During a weight-training session, what do you do in between your sets? If you're
like most people, you relax, talk to your friends,
or maybe even check out a member of the opposite sex. While these activities
might help to bide the time, they do little to improve
your physique.
Your time in the gym is precious. If you really want to maximize your genetic
potential, your energies must be dedicated to making
optimal use of every training moment. Ultimately, wasted time amounts to lost
opportunity.
One of the best ways to make productive use of your rest intervals is to utilize
a technique called selective muscular stretching.
Although many people regard stretching only as a means to increase flexibility,
it can provide a multitude of muscular benefits when
incorporated into your routine. In fact, stretching a "pumped" muscle can
actually enhance the quality of your workouts and even
help to promote muscular growth. Let's take a look at the benefits afforded by
this practical technique:
Reduced Lactic Acid Build-up
Nothing sabotages a workout more than the build-up of lactic acid in your
muscles. Lactic acid is a waste byproduct of ATP-the
primary source of energy used to fuel your muscles during anaerobic exercise. It
is responsible for the burning sensation that
accompanies intense training and eventually impedes your ability to achieve a
muscular contraction. Once it builds up, you simply
cannot continue to train. Selective muscular stretching helps to neutralize the
effects of lactic acid by restoring blood flow to
your working muscles. It affords an outlet to flush metabolic waste from your
body, providing rapid regeneration of your muscular
capacity.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060418_TSH_Stretching_Gym.html


3. Athletics: There is no Right Answer - Only Guiding Principles:
What I learned from 11 of the best cross country coaches.
Part 1 of 3
It was a typical hot and humid July afternoon in Washington, DC. Despite the
heat advisories I went for a run through Rock Creek
Park. Big mistake. Ten minutes into the run my heart was racing and I was
sweating profusely. My skin was burning from the heat and
humidity! But I trudged along running at a much slower pace than normal - a pace
that allowed my mind to wander. When I run hard, I
don't think well. Deciphering what pace equals a 2:18 marathon or how many
points I accumulated in my fantasy football league is
next to impossible when running at high-speed. A slow pace permits my brain to
work better, especially the creative side. This is
when my crazy ideas are normally hatched - a running magazine, a running
television network, a professional running league - and
today was no different. Today was the day I thought about chasing tradition.
Almost five months following that fateful July run, I am back in Washington, DC.
My last 11 weeks have been immersed in the culture
of the nation's top distance running programs, and I now possess an invaluable
wealth of running knowledge. I ran, ate, slept and
hung out with today's elite distance runners, picked the brains of the most
renowned coaches, and soaked up the tradition that
brought these teams to the top - and keeps them there. For one week at each
school, I documented the 2005 collegiate cross country
season - I chased their tradition. My journey included the following schools:
University of Portland, Adams State (DII), Colorado,
Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin - LaCrosse (DIII), Iona, Dartmouth, William &
Mary, Georgetown, and Virginia Intermont (NAIA).
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060420_PRP_Answer.html


4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Glenn Cunningham, Miler:
Glenn Cunningham was a hero of my dad's generation. I grew up hearing how his
legs were badly burned in a childhood fire that killed
his brother.
Glenn began to run as therapy, and eventually developed into one of the world's
best milers. He held world records and was an
Olympic silver medalist in 1936.
Twenty-five years later the Kansan earned his living by touring the Midwest,
giving motivational talks. (I learned from Dr. Kiell's
book that his average fee was just $30.)
By happy coincidence my small high school in rural Iowa booked him as the
speaker on the day I graduated. He rode a bus to the
nearest station, then hitchhiked the final 15 miles.
I remember none of his formal speech that day, but all of what he said in an
earlier talk. The school principal called me to his
office, where he'd arranged for Cunningham to talk with me privately. He was
using that office as his locker room and was changing
into a white shirt, tie and jacket as I arrived.
Cunningham was much younger then, at 51, than I am now. He had the weathered,
wiry look of the miler he had been and of the rancher
he was. (His ranch took in homeless or troubled kids and put them to work.)
He looked like he still could have bared his scarred legs and shown me how a
mile is supposed to be run. And I'd just won a couple
of state titles and was headed off to college as a runner.
He was the first famous person I'd ever met. Adlai Stevenson didn't count. I was
struck mute a few years earlier when introduced to
this former Presidential candidate as he visited our farm.
This time I found my tongue. As we talked, Cunningham asked, "What kind of
training do you do?"
I'd fallen under the spell of Arthur Lydiard by then, and told of emphasizing
the Lydiard-like longer and slower runs. Cunningham
disagreed with this approach.
"If you want to race fast," he argued in words I would hear repeated often in
years to come, "then you must train fast." He
recommended reversing my emphasis, especially in hot weather when long runs are
"too draining." He said, "I never ran more than five
or six miles in my life."
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2052


5. Primer for the Self-Coached Ironman Athlete:
By Rich Strauss
As I ready my team for next season, and begin to teach new Team Crucible
athletes, I've been asked to explain my ideas on Ironman
training. I'll share these ideas here, but first I need to set the stage.
Common Pitfalls for the Self-Coached IM Athlete
Athletes usually come to me after a period of self-coaching. I'm able to see the
mistakes they have made. And as a self-coached
athlete myself, I've made them all as well. Here are the critical pitfalls:
I. An underestimation of the mental skills and knowledge required for success
on race day.
My first point has nothing to do with training. I've delivered pre-race talks
at four IMNA races, to a total of 250-300 Ironman
athletes. I've also coached Team in Training athletes. Surprisingly, I've
found both groups often have a remarkably similar
knowledge base and ask very similar questions.
We are adept at thinking of new and creative ways to beat our heads harder and
faster into a wall every day. But most athletes
spend only a fraction of that effort learning how to execute a successful race,
how to make decisions and solve problems.
They can tell you how much time their $800 race wheels will save them, but don't
have a clue on how to pace the bike. They haven't
even rehearsed a race plan.
On race day, your fitness is only a vehicle you drive 140 miles across the
finish line. The race doesn't care how fit you are, only
how well you execute. Read Ironman How-To, Ironman Nutrition, and Mental Focus.
II. Attempting to focus for too long on one race
With athletes now required to register 364 days before their race, the primary
question is "what the hell do I do for a year?" This
carries a tremendous risk of mental and emotional burnout, particularly for the
first-timer. It's December. If you are putting
your feet on the floor at 5:30am every morning and saying "Time to go train for
IMFL/IMWI/IMLP or any other IMNA race" you are in
serious risk of winding up in a tower with a high-powered rifle. For most
athletes it is simply too long to be focused on a single
event.
Northern athletes are at the greatest risk of burnout, with snow and ice often
relegating them to training indoors for months at a
time. The key is to structure most of the season to address limiters, not to
train for a race. For my Ironman athletes, our
focuses right now are:
. Run: moderate volume as a result of frequent, Easy to Steady runs. Running
form addressed through drills and Strides. Consistency
and frequency are paramount. I'm not very concerned with volume right now. We
have scheduled 5k's, 10k's in the winter and spring
half marathons to provide us with fitness target dates.
. Bike: addressing the basic limiters of speed skills and force. No concern for
cycling volume. I'm very reluctant to have athletes
on the trainer longer than is necessary to address basic limiters. Again, my
critical mission is addressing limiters and keeping
these athletes as mentally fresh as possible.
. Swim: technique and recovery. My stronger swimmers are swimming for recovery
purposes or not at all. My guidance is "if it's your
strength and a logistical pain in the ass right now, don't worry about it.
Plenty of time later in the season."
More...from Crucible Fitness at:
http://www.cruciblefitness.com/etips/IMPrimer.htm


6. Flexibility training - Running stretches:
There's perfection to the movement of elite runners. Watching them run, I'm
often struck by the beauty and grace in their stride,
with the perfect alignment of their hip, knee and foot. Their upper bodies seem
relaxed, lifted and strong. I wish I could run with
such strength and grace.
Regardless of form, however, even the best runners will experience impact and
compression. Compression can be both useful and
harmful. The right amount of compression is needed to strengthen the joint. Too
much or not enough will weaken and break down the
joint.
To counter the negative force of impact, an athlete can make subtle changes in
alignment, weight distribution and biomechanics. In
addition, the nervous system and brain have their own shock protection, such as
the disk, the vertebrae and the skull.
These stretches will counter the compressive forces from running and encourage
useful joint mechanics. These moves will create
mobility at the ankle, decompress the hip and relax the side and back of the
leg. Using these three stretches together will allow
you to effectively manage the primary muscles and joints used in running, and
promote foot, ankle, knee and hip alignment.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12846


7. Meal Timing, Composition, and Amount:
Proper meal timing, meal size, and meal composition is critical to provide even
blood glucose levels throughout the day to train and
work.
Proper fueling throughout the day (distributing calories evenly throughout the
day) is also essential for weight control. Many
triathletes get hungry later in the day because they aren't eating enough
calories (and protein) earlier in the day. By the end of
the day, they're starving and eat more calories than if they had spread the
calories over five or six smaller meals.
I call this "back-loading" calories. It works against weight control; athletes
get so hungry, it's easy to overeat later in the day.
Distributing calories evenly throughout the day helps to prevent overeating.
To maintain your blood sugar and overall energy level, I recommend eating a meal
or snack containing protein and carbohydrate about
every three hours. Carbohydrate raises your blood sugar, protein keeps it from
falling. So, the meal/snack timing would be (for
example): 6 AM, 10 AM, 12 PM, 3 PM, 6 PM.
Recording your food intake will help you fine-tune when you eat, what you eat,
and how much you eat.
The key is to take in more earlier in the day so that you're not starving and
inclined to overeat at dinner.
More...from TriFuel at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/nutrition/meal-timing-composition-and-amount-00\
1333.php


8. From Runner's World:
* Coach's Corner
Many runners have found that linking with a charity organization helps motivate
them. Many charities will set up training schedules
and pay for your race entry. The real motivational boost comes from knowing that
not only are you making your life better by
running, but you're also helping the life of someone truly in need.
* Injury Prevention
Make sure you wear the correct running shoes for your foot type-specifically
overpronators should wear motion-control shoes. Severe
overpronators may need orthotics. Consider having two pairs of shoes.
Alternating shoes helps to strengthen your legs because of the
slight biomechanical differences shoes place on your body-even shoes of the same
brand.
Understanding your personal pronation type is crucial to choosing the proper
running shoes.
* Performance Nutrition
Asparagus: Those sweet, sturdy, elegant stalks that usher in spring pack a
wallop of nutrition and flavor. One cup yields an
impressive amount of dietary fiber (3.6 g) about twice as much as cooked
cauliflower or strawberries. There's more folate than three
oranges (263 mcg), as much of the antioxidant vitamin C as 5 apricots (20 mg),
iron, and a significant show of vitamin B6. All that
at just 43 fat-free calories!
* Workout of the Week
On a cross-country course run 3 x 6 minutes with a 2-minute rest in-between. The
first 6 minutes work it, the second 6 minutes pick
it up, and the last 6 minutes, run at race pace. Finish with 6 to 8 hill sprints
and don't forget to cool down.
To build speed and strength, sometimes you need to get off the track. Go Kick
some Grass now!
* Editor's Advice
Positive Reinforcement:
"Remember how good you felt on one of your best runs. Harness those memories and
feelings to get yourself out the door next time.
Remind yourself that a run will always make you feel better mentally and
emotionally." --Bart Yasso, RW Race & Event Promotion
Director
* Training Talk
"Runners must work on balance to develop stabilizing muscles and to improve body
awareness. This will help avoid common overuse
injuries, such as Achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis." -From How to Train
by Hal Higdon



9. Respiratory Training: Hold Your Breath!
by Dr. Stephen Cheung, Ph.D.
So many ergogenic aids and training tools can be endlessly complex and also
costs boatloads of money. Well, here's an
old-fashioned one that can cost nothing and that you can do until you're blue in
the face. Can respiratory training improve
performance or is it just a bunch of hot air?
Aerobically Speaking
At the end of the day, almost all cycling disciplines ultimately revolve around
endurance, and that in turn relies on maximizing
aerobic capacity and oxygen uptake. This explains the obsession with maximal
oxygen uptake (VO2max) and also lactate threshold
measures. When you hear talk of power-to-weight ratio or sustained power, that
also relies on aerobic capacity to generate the
watts.
Improving aerobic capacity relies on many systems in your body (just ask my
students preparing for the final exam in their exercise
physiology course!). They range from improving the metabolic efficiency of your
muscles, neural recruitment patterns, and also the
oxygen delivery to those muscles via the respiratory system (lungs) and
cardiovascular system (heart).
Needless to say, ergogenic aids have cropped up to target many of these systems.
This ranges from dietary supplements, muscle
stimulators, altitude tents, all the way down the continuum towards infamous and
illegal pharmaceuticals.
Every Breath You Take
Another recurring target for ergogenic aids is the respiratory system. Can we
train our breathing to improve oxygen flow to our
muscles or to become more efficient in our energy use? On the face of it, it
certainly makes theoretical sense. Who wouldn't want
more oxygen in the system? And considering that respiratory muscles can be
responsible for nearly 10% of the total oxygen
requirement during maximal exercise, a strong case can certainly be made for
respiratory training.
With that in mind, a number of ergogenic aids have been marketed promising to
improve the strength of your respiratory muscles.
Scientific validation of these systems or respiratory training in general are
relatively rare and somewhat inconclusive, with wide
variation between training and testing protocol one potential culprit.
More...from Pez Cycling at:
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=3919


10. Runners who don't train well can have marathon of miseries:
Today, as an estimated 20,000 runners begin their mad dash from Hopkinton to
Boston, Dr. Malissa Wood, a cardiologist, four-time
marathoner, and codirector of the Massachusetts General Hospital Women's
Cardiovascular Health Center, will be setting up shop in
the corner of the medical tent at the finish line.
As soon as they're finished, about 25 amateur runners will stroll or hobble over
to Wood's corner to let her take a sample of their
blood. They will also get a noninvasive test to see how well their hearts are
working after the stress of running for about four
hours. And, as they have done every year since 2003, Wood and her Mass. General
colleagues will compare these postrace test results
to the prerace exams done two weeks earlier.
The Mass. General findings on Boston marathoners -- three published papers to
date and two pending -- are sobering and lend support
to the idea that while moderate exercise is perhaps the most important thing a
person can do for health, taking it to extremes, like
a marathon, may be dangerous.
Among marathon runners, the biggest cardiac risk seems to arise in people who
train the least. People who worked up to a marathon by
running at least 45 miles a week for at least three to four months ''were
golden. They didn't get into any trouble at all," said
Wood. ''If they trained less than 35 miles a week, they were in big trouble."
Translated for the rest of us, this means that for people who are not in peak
shape ''sudden, strenuous activity can trigger a heart
attack," said Dr. Arthur Siegel, a 20-time marathoner and director of internal
medicine at Harvard's McLean Hospital in Belmont.
More...from the Boston Globe at:
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/fitness/articles/2006/04/17/runners_who_do\
nt_train_well_can_have_marathon_of_miseries/



11. Triathletes' running cadence mirrors cycling cadence - The Crosstraining
Report:
Running & FitNews, Jan-Feb, 2003
A new study asked thirteen college triathletes to cycle at race pace using three
different cadences: a baseline, and then both 20%
faster and 20% slower. The athletes were found to be 7% faster at running 3,200m
after 30 minutes of cycling with the fastest
turnover than with the slowest one. This was due to their stride frequency
increasing a remarkable 10%, shaving nearly a minute off
their times.
In the context of multi-sport events, the research suggests that finishing the
cycling portion with a fast cadence gives a
triathlete an edge by essentially increasing his or her running speed. In each
of the three conditions, a runner's stride frequency
was similar to that of the previous cycling cadence. This may be due to a
phenomenon called perseveration. Muscles have been
observed to continue involuntarily performing a rhythmic activity when they have
been stimulated to do so for an extended period of
time.
It is also noteworthy that the runners heart rates were equivalent among the
running trials, even when they had cycled with a 20%
faster cadence than the control condition. This indicates an equivalent level of
physical exertion even though their speed
increased. Their stride length did not change from the control condition.
Runners have been known to bicycle to local road races as a way of warming up.
Because this study simulated the rapid bike-to-track
transition of a multi-sport event, biking to your next road race may not be the
best idea. Studies have shown that running
efficiency decreases following a session of cycling (as you would expect). In
the cadence study, in all three conditions, the
triathletes ran the first two laps with short strides as compared to later laps.
But if you do decide to warm up by biking to your
next race, keep in mind that the slower cycling cadence involuntarily resulted
in a similarly slow running stride frequency. And you
would certainly be wise to reserve any race-day crosstraining strategies for
shorter races and fun runs, unless of course you find
yourself signed up for a triathlon.
(Medicine & Science in Sports and Exercise, 2002, Vol 34, No. 9, pp. 1518-1522;
Eur. J. Neurosci., 1998, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp.
1608-1612; Int. J. Sports Med., 1996, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 572-579)
COPYRIGHT 2003 American Running & Fitness Association



12. With age, exercise caution:
McGowan had major reconstructive knee surgery in 1980 and has since had four
arthroscopic procedures performed on his knees. "Every
time I go see my doctor, we agree I should referee just one more year," said
McGowan, a health-plan administrator. "This has been my
last year for about four or five years now."
Even seemingly routine or regular exercise can lead to problems for baby
boomers.
"A patient might come in who was having a backyard catch with his son and heard
something pop in his arm," said Dr. Frank Kelly, a
board member of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, who practices in
Macon, Georgia. "Or someone who has been jogging for
15 years suddenly gets vague knee or heel pain and keeps running.
"But the pain doesn't go away. It's wear and tear of the joint over time."
It is not hard to understand why baby boomers are so driven to exercise, given
the ubiquitous medical advice stating that a regimen
of physical activity can help prevent everything from Alzheimer's disease to
diabetes.
As McGowan said, "I might be pushing it, but if I'm going to have a health
issue, I'd rather it be orthopedic in nature than
cardiac."
More...from the International Herald Tribune at:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/19/healthscience/snBOOMERS.php


13. Preventing Foot and Ankle Overuse Injuries:
By Steve Elton
As triathletes, we put our bodies through a lot of stress on a daily basis.
Running, in particular puts the most stress on the foot,
ankle and lower leg. The most common running injuries we see in the therapy
clinic are plantar fasciitis and shin splints. The good
news is that these overuse injuries can be treated, and to a large extent
avoided with preventive measures.
The plantar fascia is connective tissue that runs under the base of the foot
from the heel to the toes. It helps to maintain the
arch of the foot along with the bones and tendons in the ankle and foot.
Although it can be seen in athletes with a high arched
foot, it is most commonly seen in athletes with a flat foot.
During the gait cycle a foot normally flattens out to accept shock when the foot
strikes the ground. This is called pronation. Then,
in order to push off the foot has to supinate, or roll out, to from a rigid
lever for propulsion. If the foot has excess pronation
during foot strike, or if it does not supinate during push off, too much stress
is placed on the fascia and it gets inflamed. Also
if an athlete has decreased flexibility in the calf muscles, the foot and ankle
compensates for this lack of flexibility by turning
out. We call this a positive toe sign. The body then compensates by allowing the
foot to roll in too much and again puts too much
stress on the fascia.
In each case, one not only has to treat the inflammation but also the cause.
Typical treatments for inflammation are rest, ice;
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and in some cases a cortisone injection.
Physical therapists also use ultrasound, deep tissue
massage and electrical stimulation to the fascia to decrease the pain. But, all
these forms of treatment focus on the symptoms and
not the cause. In the case of the athlete who has problems with pronation, an
orthotic is placed in the running shoe to help support
the arch. If flexibility is a problem, and it usually is in both cases, a calf
stretch is performed with a book underneath the ball
of the foot and the heel kept on the ground. Unlike most stretches that are
typically held for 30 seconds to one minute, plantar
fasciitis seems to respond best when holding a the stretch for a time of 3-5
minutes that is preformed 2-3 times per day. Commercial
splints are also available that keep the foot cocked up at a 90 degree angle
when sleeping. This keeps the fascia and calf muscles
in an elongated position during sleep when most of the healing is occurring in
the tissues. In my opinion, these splints are a must
for anyone suffering from fasciitis.
More...from the Sport Factory at:
http://thesportfactory.iuplog.com/default.asp?item=166829


14. Race director's book shares marathon moments:
By Cathy Flynn, Boston Herald
At age 14, after being picked on by peers and picked last for sports teams
because of his height, Dave McGillivray scrawled this
fervent prayer on a piece of cardboard and taped it to his bed: "Please God,
make me grow."
The extra inches never came, but McGillivray gained a steely resolve to
transcend his 5-foot, 4-inch stature and be the best.
A so-so student, he began studying with the smart kids, and was valedictorian of
the 1972 class at Medford High School. Despite
being cut because of his height, he became a scrappy competitor in several
sports.
Eventually he would run the Boston Marathon, hundreds of other competitions, and
an 80-day coast-to-coast solo event in 1978 to
raise money for the Jimmy Fund.
Today he is race director for the Marathon and 20 other national running events,
has his own sports management company, and does
motivational speaking. And this month he published a book, called Last Pick: The
Boston Marathon Race Director's Road to Success,
that tells how he learned to transcend his height and make the most of what he
has.
While the book concentrates mainly on his running, McGillivray said the message
is universal.
"When people ask me what my book is about, my patented reply is that it's about
the person reading the book," he said in a phone
interview. "Anybody reading it can identify with 90 percent of what's in there.
There's something comforting about knowing you are
not the only person on the planet going through challenges.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12985&sidebar=13
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1594864225/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books


15. Desperately Seeking Superfoods:
Boomers hope eating right will protect them for life.
Could grandma have been right about carrots making you see in the dark?
Human beings have always sought the fountain of youth. At the very least, we
want that elusive silver bullet that will keep us
feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed well into old age.
Could it be garlic? How about broccoli?
The hunt is on for superfoods: Foods with extra nutritional oomph, qualities
that will supposedly combat all those vile trans fats
and vicious free radicals that cause premature aging. (Free radicals are harmful
molecules that are blamed for cancer, heart
disease, even Alzheimer's.)
The superfood movement that began as research into functional foods went
mainstream when celebrity authors Dr. Steven Pratt and Dr.
Nicholas Perricone began popping up with books and appearances on Oprah and Good
Morning America.
According to Edmonton health food retailer Shelley Robertson of The Big Fresh,
"We're now looking toward whole food as supplements,
rather than vitamin supplements. Foods like acai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee)
berries; in fact, most dehydrated berries (blueberries,
cranberries) are extremely high in antioxidants, and are aggressive free-radical
scavengers."
Dale Wishewan, president and CEO of Booster Juice, is a huge fan of acai, and
sells three different versions, all of which are going
like hotcakes.
"It's a terrific energy booster," says Wishewan, who sells it in his shops in
Canada, the U.S. and the Middle East. "A natural
sports drink. It has the potassium and sodium we need for recovery after
strenuous activity. It's also extremely high in
antioxidants. Acai, and matcha green tea, are both extremely popular with our
customers."
More...from Canada.com at:
http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/news/story.html?id=09c6bcc3-83b7-4603-a032\
-ec8a2c628553&k=2032


16. If You "Feel The Burn," You Need To Bulk Up Your Mitochondria:
In the lore of marathoners and extreme athletes, lactic acid is poison, a waste
product that builds up in the muscles and leads to
muscle fatigue, reduced performance and pain.
Some 30 years of research at the University of California, Berkeley, however,
tells a different story: Lactic acid can be your
friend.
Coaches and athletes don't realize it, says exercise physiologist George Brooks,
UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology, but
endurance training teaches the body to efficiently use lactic acid as a source
of fuel on par with the carbohydrates stored in
muscle tissue and the sugar in blood. Efficient use of lactic acid, or lactate,
not only prevents lactate build-up, but ekes out
more energy from the body's fuel.
In a paper in press for the American Journal of Physiology - Endocrinology and
Metabolism, published online in January, Brooks and
colleagues Takeshi Hashimoto and Rajaa Hussien in UC Berkeley's Exercise
Physiology Laboratory add one of the last puzzle pieces to
the lactate story and also link for the first time two metabolic cycles -
oxygen-based aerobic metabolism and oxygen-free anaerobic
metabolism - previously thought distinct.
"This is a fundamental change in how people think about metabolism," Brooks
said. "This shows us how lactate is the link between
oxidative and glycolytic, or anaerobic, metabolism."
He and his UC Berkeley colleagues found that muscle cells use carbohydrates
anaerobically for energy, producing lactate as a
byproduct, but then burn the lactate with oxygen to create far more energy. The
first process, called the glycolytic pathway,
dominates during normal exertion, and the lactate seeps out of the muscle cells
into the blood to be used elsewhere. During intense
exercise, however, the second ramps up to oxidatively remove the rapidly
accumulating lactate and create more energy.
Training helps people get rid of the lactic acid before it can build to the
point where it causes muscle fatigue, and at the
cellular level, Brooks said, training means growing the mitochondria in muscle
cells. The mitochondria - often called the powerhouse
of the cell - is where lactate is burned for energy.
"The world's best athletes stay competitive by interval training," Brooks said,
referring to repeated short, but intense, bouts of
exercise. "The intense exercise generates big lactate loads, and the body adapts
by building up mitochondria to clear lactic acid
quickly. If you use it up, it doesn't accumulate."
To move, muscles need energy in the form of ATP, adenosine triphosphate. Most
people think glucose, a sugar, supplies this energy,
but during intense exercise, it's too little and too slow as an energy source,
forcing muscles to rely on glycogen, a carbohydrate
stored inside muscle cells. For both fuels, the basic chemical reactions
producing ATP and generating lactate comprise the
glycolytic pathway, often called anaerobic metabolism because no oxygen is
needed. This pathway was thought to be separate from the
oxygen-based oxidative pathway, sometimes called aerobic metabolism, used to
burn lactate and other fuels in the body's tissues.
Experiments with dead frogs in the 1920s seemed to show that lactate build-up
eventually causes muscles to stop working. But Brooks
in the 1980s and '90s showed that in living, breathing animals, the lactate
moves out of muscle cells into the blood and travels to
various organs, including the liver, where it is burned with oxygen to make ATP.
The heart even prefers lactate as a fuel, Brooks
found.
More...from UC Berkley at:
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2006/04/19_lactate.shtml


17. Get Back On Track and Accomplish Your Season Goals:
Train right with tips and tricks and of the trade from Chris Carmichael and
Carmichael Training Systems.
With spring kicking off, now is a great time to get back into your training
routine. But don't let your ambitions get the best of
you-when returning to a fitness program, it's important not to jump back into
heavy training too quickly. Instead, target a
well-designed program that will have you healthy and ready to knock off your
spring fitness goals. Here's a regimen for getting you
on the right track:
Build a Strong Foundation
A strong aerobic base needs to be established early in the season to act as a
foundation on which build the rest of your training.
Many athletes ignore the importance of this period and want to immediately train
at their highest intensity. They will soon find
that they are unable to sustain their intensity for very long, and, in the
process, they'll increase the likelihood of injury.
Incorporating lower-intensity workouts that focus on building your aerobic
energy system will help build a solid base and reduce the
likelihood of injury in the first two weeks of training.
This is also a great time to work on transferring any gains from resistance
training to your specific sport. This is accomplished by
incorporating strength drill workouts into your program. For cyclists, this can
mean over-geared intervals, like powering up to
speed from a near standstill, or climbing a long, gradual hill with a very slow
cadence and high resistance. For runners it can mean
uphill intervals. By teaching your muscles to use the increased strength in a
more functional manner, your training benefits much
more.
Working on required skills that might be rusty from the previous year is also a
good idea at this point in the season. Incorporating
workouts that focus on form and technique will help you to optimize your
efficiency and keep you performing smoothly throughout the
season.
Optimal Training Progression
Oftentimes, athletes increase their training stimulus too quickly and end up
paying for it later in the season. Overtraining,
fatigue, and injury can be the result of poorly timed training progression.
Gradually progressing through your fitness training will
not only help you adapt to increasing exercise intensities, it will also
decrease the likelihood of injury, and help maximize your
fitness. The following are one-week cycling and running recommendations you can
use for the first one to two weeks of your return to
training.
More...from Outside Online at:
http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/carmichael-training-systems-2.html


18. Road ID made a difference in my life!
"I was at approx. 7.5 miles of the 10 mile race...when the cramp (side stitch)
that I had started to nauseate me ...all of a sudden,
I could not breath as my throat was closing off. My running partner could hear
the sound of my wheezing - then, no breathing at all.
The next thing I remember are people hosing me down and rubbing ice all over me
- their faces all in my face...questions that I
couldn't answer....then my body started shaking all over ...they all thought I
was dehydrated (but, I was drinking water and
carrying a water bottle).
The EMTs quickly found my Road ID and took my info. Then, I was put into an
ambulance and taken, lights and sirens, to the hospital
- it seemed to take forever. I was shaking and cramping all the way and my head
hurt so badly. I will never know for sure what
happened to me that day, but I am very thankful that I had my Road ID tag on.
Those that were around to see the tag used in such a
way have since asked me about it and plan on ordering for themselves and friends
of theirs. I wanted to be sure that you knew your
kindness is appreciated and that you made a difference in my life this
weekend...I was running in a race out of state and nobody
knew my emergency and medical info but ME. I couldn't really speak for
myself...but my Road ID did. May God bless you."
Cara Maria B.
Audubon, PA
From RoadID at:
http://www.roadid.com/?referrer=50


19. Plantar what?
It starts out as a little soreness in your heel after a run, but it goes away by
the next day -- no big deal.
A week later, you start to notice the pain in your heel after every run. The
pain goes away though, just another minor ache that all
runners have to deal with.
Then it starts to hurt every morning when you take your first few steps out of
bed and you have to do the "furniture shuffle"--
walking with one hand on the couch or bed to support your body weight until the
pain subsides. Now it's a little concerning; what
could it be?
The answer is plantar fasciitis, a very common problem among both runners and
non-runners alike. It's an inflammation of the plantar
fascia (connective tissue of the foot) where it attaches on the bottom of the
heel.
The fascia itself is very strong, however the attachment on the bone is
vulnerable to repetitive stress and gets irritated over
time. If it's not treated, it can become chronic and can lead to bone spurs at
the attachment point of the fascia.
Clinically, we notice that a majority of patients with plantar fasciitis tend to
be overpronators with lower arches, but this isn't
always the case. In a recent study published in the Journal of Bone and Joint
Surgery, physical therapists at Virginia Commonwealth
University found an increased incidence of plantar fasciitis in people who spent
the majority of their workday on their feet, those
who were obese, and those with poor calf flexibility.
It should be noted that this study wasn't specific to runners, but there's much
that runners can learn from it. For instance, did
you gain a few pounds over the off-season? Do you spend all day on your feet in
addition to your time spent running? Are your calves
tight? These are all risk factors that increase the chance of developing plantar
fasciitis.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12945


20. WIN High Performance Sport Detergent:
Eliminates embedded sweat and odors from workout clothes.
Workout clothes and dog bedding
In my household there's only two of us, my husband and me, so conveniently we
don't have to do the laundry more than once a week.
However, since both of us work out every day, we usually have workout clothes
that sit in the hamper for several days. Eventually,
some of these items get a bit musty, and no amount of washing seems to remove
the smell.
When I was given some WIN laundry detergent to review, I figured some of these
clothes would be a great way to test the
odor-targeting power of WIN. I also heard that a friend of a friend loved WIN
because it removed dog odors. I don't currently have a
dog, but have had one in the past and am familiar with "dog smell" on blankets
and other items. So, dog owner Jim Woodman agreed to
wash his dog's bedding with WIN.
Into the wash
I'm not loyal to a particular brand of detergent, but typically buy name brands.
And I don't wash our workout clothes separately
from our everyday clothes -- they all go together in the same load. However,
none of the detergents I've used have removed the musty
smell from our workout clothes.
More...from Active.com at:
http://active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12994


21. When fatigue slows you down: Iron-deficiency anemia:
By Kimberly J. Mueller, M.S., R.D.
After completing a long-course triathlon, Amy took some time off from training
before embarking on a marathon-training program.
However, workouts that had formerly been easy were becoming progressively harder
to complete. Even taking additional days off didn't
seem to help.
Although Amy was apprehensive about visiting her doctor, she knew she needed to
find out what was wrong. Amy was diagnosed with
iron-deficiency anemia, one of the most common malnutrition-induced chronic
diseases among female athletes.
Iron, a trace mineral, is a major component of the body's red blood cells or
hemoglobin, and carries oxygen to various muscles and
tissues for use during aerobic activity. Recent research indicates that
endurance training creates an added demand for iron that
many athletes are unable to meet. In fact, 75 percent of women aged 18 to 44
don't eat enough iron-rich foods, so depletion of iron
stores is inevitable.
An iron deficiency will impair sports performance because oxygen isn't
transported effectively to working muscles, which causes a
build up of lactic acid. Symptoms of iron-deficiency anemia include muscle
burning, shortness of breath during exercise, nausea,
frequent infections, respiratory illnesses and a pale, washed-out appearance.
Over 50 percent of female endurance athletes have
depleted iron stores, which suggests dietary intervention may be necessary to
prevent anemia.1,2,3,4
Iron-deficiency anemia
Because iron-deficiency anemia is more common in athletes, it's important to
monitor iron status. Individual iron status can be
monitored by checking various biochemical measures (Table 1), as well as looking
at the diet. Iron-deficiency anemia occurs in three
stages, with stage 3 having the most detrimental effect on athletic performance.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12983


22. The Five Racing Abilities:
Once you are clear about the race you want to train for, then you can design a
regimen of workouts that will build the various
abilities you'll need to perform your best. To do so, you'll need a working
understanding of the five racing abilities: stamina,
power, tempo, speed, and endurance.
These terms may be different from the ones you are used to using, so please keep
an open mind as you try to understand the concepts
each term designates. One way to understand these concepts is to compare them.
Stamina and endurance, for instance, seem to mean
about the same thing, but they have entirely different meanings, with drastic
implications for the way you would structure your
workouts to build them.
Stamina is the ability to run long and slow, while endurance is the ability to
sustain uncomfortable race exertion. A stamina
workout is based on light-exertion, comfortable running, while an endurance
workout is based on race-specific exertion. The second
half of a race is when endurance comes into play, because that's when you become
fatigued and may have to endure the discomfort
associated with sustaining racing tempo until the finish.
More...from BC Endurance Trainings at:
http://www.bcendurancetrainings.com/articles/fiveracingabilities.html


23. Will adding protein to your carbohydrate beverage improve your endurance and
reduce muscle damage?
Recently researchers from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia
examined the effects of consuming a carbohydrate and
protein beverage on endurance cycle performance and post-exercise muscle damage.
Fifteen male cyclists were tested on two occasions
that were designed to compare the effects of a carbohydrate-only beverage with a
carbohydrate and protein beverage.
During both testing sessions, supplement beverages were consumed every 15
minutes during the exercise bout. The performance test
consisted of one ride to fatigue performed at 75% of VO2max, with a second ride
being performed at 85% of VO2max, 12 - 15 hours
after the completion of the first ride.
The results of the study revealed that the subject rode 29% longer during the
first ride when they consumed the carbohydrate and
protein beverage when compared to the carbohydrate-only beverage. During the
second ride the subjects who consumed the carbohydrate
and protein beverage rode 40% longer when compared to the carbohydrate-only
supplement. Additionally, the use of a carbohydrate and
protein beverage resulted in 83% less muscle damage when compared to the
carbohydrate-only beverage.
Based upon these data it might be warranted to recommend that endurance cyclists
consume supplements that are composed of a mix of
carbohydrates and proteins while performing their exercise bouts. This
supplementation regime could result in significantly enhanced
exercise performance while decreasing the muscle damage that would be associated
with the exercise bout.
Saunders MJ, Kane MD, Todd MK. (2004). Effects of a carbohydrate- protein
beverage on cycling endurance and muscle damage. Medicine
& Science in Sports & Exercise, 36(7):1233 - 1238
From Dynamic Sports Training at:
http://www.dynamicsports.net


24. Ibuprofen for training and racing:
Ibuprofen is an over-the-counter non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID)
typically sold under the brand names Advil or Motrin.
Many athletes, typically those in longer ultra-endurance events, often take
ibuprofen during the course of a race or long training
session. But is this necessarily a good idea?
Ibuprofen interferes with the production of a hormone called prostaglandin,
which functions partly to keep the vessels of the
kidneys open to maintain adequate blood flow.
Add dehydration -- often encountered in a long race or training session,
particularly in the heat -- to the mix, and the problem is
compounded. Renal (kidney) failure becomes a real possibility. Who wants to have
a dialysis machine for their next best friend?
Ibuprofen use may also blunt your recovery after racing or training. Research
suggests that ibuprofen reduces protein synthesis, one
of the ways the body repairs muscles.
Other research points to increased gastrointestinal permeability during
endurance exercise concurrent with ibuprofen use. This may
be one of the reasons that research among runners using ibuprofen at the Western
States 100 ultramarathon suggests an increase in
some inflammatory markers post-race.
In this study, there was little or no difference in reported muscle soreness
between ibuprofen users and non-users.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=12992


25. Digest Briefs:
* Checking In with Coach Paul Regensburg: Training in Kona
By Cameron Elford
April 7, 2006 -- Triathlon coach and regular contributor to TriathleteMag.com
Paul Regensburg joins us for the latest in our series
of audio interviews with the sport's top athletes and coaches.
Regensburg recently returned from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, (the home of the Ford
Ironman World Championship) where he was conducting a
triathlon training camp. Regensburg gives us the inside scoop of where to swim,
bike and run in Kona if you plan a training vacation
to the Big Island.
Listen to the interview here:
http:/exec/triathlete/Audio/Paul_Regensburg_Kona_Tips_Triathlete_Mag.wav

* Q: I used to run consistently but have, well, slacked. Can you give me a good
one-month schedule that would help me build up a
base?
A: It's an unfortunate fact of life that we're all occasionally forced to take
time off from our typical exercise routines. Even
more unfortunate is how difficult it can often be to restart your training and
get back to your previous level.
Restarting a running program can lead to greater muscle soreness than with other
aerobic activities simply because of the impact
forces you experience with each foot strike. As a result, you need to be extra
cautious and conservative in order to minimize muscle
soreness and reduce the risk of injury. Start on your way back by running every
other day and separating your running days with a
day of total rest or cross training. You will likely notice that runs you used
to consider easy are now much more difficult, and I'd
encourage you to listen to your body and alternate between walking and running
if necessary. If you push yourself to match your old
pace or time over a known course, you'll end up running at a pace that's higher
than you can sustain with your current conditioning.
For the sake of your long-term progress, it's better to listen to your body and
go a little slower and steadier for a few weeks as
you start back into a routine.
After a week or two of running every other day, you can start grouping your
running days together; run two days, take a rest day,
run two days, etc. In the first week, your runs should be short, only about 15
minutes. The second week, bring them up to about 20
minutes, and then the third week go for 20 to 30 minutes. By this point you
should be past the point where muscle soreness will be
an issue and you can increase your weekly volume and intensity at the safe level
of 5-10 percent per week.
Good luck getting back on track!
From Chris Carmichael

* Gender Gap In Running Performances Is Increasing
Seiler, S., de Konig, J. J., & Foster, C. (2005). Is the gender gap in running
performance still narrowing. Medicine and Science in
Sports and Exercise, 37(5), Supplement abstract 2108.
This paper was a reaction to an article in Nature (431, September 2004) that
suggested running times over 100 m were narrowing
between genders. A more rigorous analysis of 100 and 200 m times from 14 Olympic
and 9 World Championship performances was
conducted.
Men's times in 100 and 200 m demonstrated a linear decline. Women's times were
curvilinear with the closest-to-men's times occurring
in the 1980's (100 m difference 8.3%; 200 m difference 9.6%). The gap widened in
the 1990's (100 m 9.1%; 200 m 10.7%) and 2000-2004
(100 m 10.4%; 200 m 11.5%). The use of drugs affecting women's performances was
considered as a possible cause of the reversal in
trend.
Implication. The gender gap in sprint times is not narrowing, but actually
WIDENING.


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

Saturday, April 22:
Fiesta de Albuquerque Marathon - Albuquerque,
http://www.runalbuquerquemarathon.com/

Zoo Run Run - Fort Worth, TX
http://www.signmeup.com/site/reg/register.aspx?fid=532VLK7

Sunday, April 23:
21Kmtl, Half-Marathon - Montreal PQ
http://www.canadarunningseries.com/monthalf/index.htm

George Washington Parkway Classic 10 Miler - Alexandria, VA
http://www.gwparkwayclassicrace.com/

Ice Breaker Road Race - Great Falls, MT
http://www.ci.great-falls.mt.us/people_offices/park_rec/icebreaker/index.htm

Ironman China - Sanya, China
http://www.ironmanchina.com

London Marathon - UK
http://www.london-marathon.co.uk
BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/sport/marathon
EuroSport
http://www.eurosport.com/athletics/london-marathon/2006

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

Waterloo Marathon - Kitchener-Waterloo, ON
http://www.waterloomarathon.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:
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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
Runner's Web eGroups subscriber's profile, go to the web

site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RunnersWeb/join , sign in and update your
changes.
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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http://www.runnerswebcoach.com


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**END...OF DIGEST...**