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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1. RunnersWeb5K.com Race for Women
The first RunnersWeb5K.com Race for Women was held on June 24th at Ottawa's
Aviation Museum. Canada's #2 ranked marathoner, Nicole
Stevenson, won the race in 16:28.
Thirty-five women ran under 20 minutes. For a race report and photos go to:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060624_RunnersWeb5K.html.
Stay tuned for an announcement regarding next year's race.
More....
http://www.runnersweb5k.com

2. Runner's Web Online Store:
Through a partnership with HDO Sports, the Runner's and Triathlete's Web has
opened an online store. Check it out for your shopping
requirements. The new Garmin 305 is now available with FREE shipping.
http://store.runnersweb.com

3. RunnersWebCoach
Through a partnership with HDO Training, the Runner's And Triathlete's Web now
offers Interactive Training.
http://www.runnerswebcoach.com

4. Road Runner Sports, the world's largest running store at:
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000009525499

5. Toronto Waterfront Marathon. September 24, 2006.
http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/

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


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THIS WEEK:
Last Saturday Women's Only road racing returned to Ottawa with the
RunnersWeb5K.com Race for Women. 35 women ran under 20:00 and the
race was a major success.
Next year's event is tentatively scheduled for June 23, 2007 at the Aviation
Museum.
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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

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

* Carmichael Training Systems
Carmichael Training Systems was founded in 1999 by Chris Carmichael.
From the beginning, the mission of the company has been to improve the lives of
individuals we work with through the application of
proper and effective fitness and competitive training techniques. Whether your
focus is recreational, advanced, or you are a
professional racer, the coaching methodology employed by CTS will make you a
better athlete. Check the latest monthly column from
CTS at:
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* Peak Performance Online
Peak Performance is a subscription-only newsletter for athletes, featuring the
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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
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Scott Tinley (2 Time Ironman Champ) Steve Scott (3 Time Olympian) and many more.
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unningperformance.com
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* WatsonLifeSport
Lance Watson is "Just The Winningest Coach in Triathlon". He has been coaching
triathlon and distance running since 1987. Over the
years, Lance has coached some of the most successful athletes in the sport of
triathlon and duathlon.
Check out the Lance Watson Online Article Index at:
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Running Research News:
RRN's free, weekly, training update provides subscribers with the most-current,
practical, scientifically based information about
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purpose of this weekly e-zine is to improve
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Running Research News also publishes a complete, 12-page, electronic newsletter
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THIS WEEK'S PERSONAL POSTINGS/RELEASES:
We have NO personal postings this week.

THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Multisport from NYC Triathlon Consulting Services: Train to Eat - Fueling on
the Bike
2. Triathlon: 4 Ironman Training Rules
3. Triathlon: How to Sabotage Your Ironman
4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Runner's World at 40
5. Health Journal: Is barefoot better?
6. Vigor among Veterans
7. Personal Trainers Available by the Download
8. From Runner's World
9. High Rollers
Meet the Champions Club, an elite group of bike-crazy execs who are richer than
Croesus, can hammer with Lance, and are donating
millions to ensure a gold-plated future for U.S. cycling.
10. Ten things that can hold you back
11. From Hoops to Oops...
... Basketball tops list of injury-producing sports
12. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
13. A Run on the Beach Can Bring Misery
Soft sand is no friend to joints, experts warn.
14. The Running Life: The Leading Life
My Heroes Have Always Been Runners.
15. The Infection Connection
Running Can Boost or Dampen Your Immune System.
16. The truth about fat loss
17. No More Wimpy Feet
Your feet have lots of small muscles. When's the last time you gave 'em a
workout?
18. Compatibility of Adaptive Responses With Hybrid Simultaneous Resistance and
Aerobic Training
19. The perfect runner's warm-up
A detailed preparation guide from the experts.
20. Hydration and Anaerobic Performance
21. Infamous Run
We are referring to the third segment of a triathlon.
22. How do muscles grow?
23. To Succeed at Any Diet, You Must Know Your Metabolic Type
24. Should you bonk on purpose?
25. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Are you following the Tour de France?"

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:
"Who will set a new world record in the men's 100M?"
Answers Percent
1. Asafa Powell 60%
2. Justin Gatlin 23%
3. Other 17%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: PipTaylor.com
[Updated site since 2004 when it was a previous 5 Star selection]
Fact File
Welcome to piptaylor.com! Pip Taylor is an Australian Professional Triathlete
who travels to races around the world in her quest to
become the best in her chosen sport. This site hopes to give you more of an
insight into Pip and allow you to follow her progress
over the season.
Pip came to the sport of Triathlon from a national junior level in swimming and
athletics. Triathlon seemed the natural choice for
an athlete with such cross discipline talent and since making the transition,
Pip has now progressed from being Australian Junior
Elite Triathlete of the year, to Australian U23 Triathlete of the Year to
qualifying for the Australian Elite Senior Team for the
Triathlon World Championships while still being Under 23 eligible. In 2003 she
stepped up to the Senior level (while again still
being Under 23 eligible) to win the Manchester World Cup Triathlon, place 2nd at
the New York World Cup Triathlon and be the anchor
leg in the Australian Team for the Triathlon Team World Championships, winning a
World Title.
Pip's plans from here are simple - to enjoy the sport and to always maximize the
ability she has. What results come along the way
will always be earned with hard work and discipline.
Enjoy your visit and please remember to let us know if there is something you
would like to see on the site.
Visit the site at:
http://www.piptaylor.com/about/facts_index.html


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


BOOK OF THE WEEK: Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals: And Doing the Duathlon Too!
By Steven Jonas
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
Deciding to enter your first triathlon is a heady moment--you're ready for the
challenge of a swim-bike-run race and pumped to get
your body training. Chances are, though, that you're experienced in only one,
maybe two of the sports. How do you incorporate the
others? What kind of equipment do you need? How often should you be practicing
each sport? And what if you're a complete novice, a
wanna-be athlete who has not done any of the sports, and you want to enter a
triathlon to motivate yourself to get into shape and
improve your outlook? Steven Jones, M.D., a professor of preventive medicine and
a successful triathlete, has all the answers and
reassurances you'll need in his down-to-earth book, updated in 1999,
Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals.
As he says in his preface, his book is for the person "who wants to engage in a
new and different athletic experience without
turning the rest of his or her life upside down in the process and wants to have
fun doing so." Focusing on the
"marathon-equivalent" triathlon, which is a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer
bike, and a 10-kilometer run (although he does have a
brief chapter called "Doing the Duathlon and Going Long"), Jonas helps you
decide if a triathlon is right for you, gives his own
personal history of how he went from a nonathlete to a racer, and advises on how
to pick your first race.
From there, he discusses techniques, the basic principles of training, and how
to establish your "aerobic base," the basic level of
fitness (especially important for nonexercisers) you need before approaching his
"Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals Training
Program," a five-hour-a-week, 13-week program to train you for your race. Also
covered in the manual is equipment and nutrition.
Jonas's style of writing is accessible to the layperson--he doesn't burden you
with technical terms or complicated zones or training
levels. He even goes through an entire race with you, from the night before to
putting air in your bike tires through the actual
events right up to the aftermath of the race. The terrific appendix includes
diagrams of stretches. While this isn't the book for a
seasoned runner looking to improve his overall time, this is the ideal book to
provide guidance and encouragement for newbies to the
sport. Reading just a few chapters will have you itching to start racing.
--Jenny Brown --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Library Journal
This is a book of personal opinions and experiences from a self-proclaimed "back
of the middle of the pack" athlete. While Jonas
does present basic triathlon information on swimming, bicycling, and running and
very good bibliographies on these topics, most of
the book is a personal account of his training and racing. Readers would be
better served by Sally Edwards's Triathlon: a triple
fitness sport (Contemporary Bks., 1983) or Paul Perry's Complete Book of the
Triathlon ( LJ 10/1/83). Both books are much better at
describing the event and preparing the competitor. (Illustrations not seen.)
Thomas K. Fry, UCLA Libs.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393328775/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books



THIS WEEK'S FEATURES:

1. Multisport from NYC Triathlon Consulting Services: Train to Eat - Fueling on
the Bike
A former US National Team lightweight rower once proclaimed that he converted to
cycling largely because the sport favored
feed-zones rather than weigh-ins. He was onto something. Fueling on the bike is
not only a perk of the discipline, it is also a key
factor in strong training and racing, especially during events or training
sessions over 90 minutes. For triathletes, the bike leg
is a golden opportunity to refuel from the swim and prepare for the run. Still,
before you can trust that your snacks will affect
your muscles, and therefore your performance, you must ensure that your fuel
makes it into your mouth. Who has not dropped a Clif
BarR on the roadside? Who has not, then, rescued the bar, brushed off the gravel
and scarfed the snack as if it were the last morsel
of food on earth? Such are the kinks better worked out in training than in
competition.
Training rides and early season races are occasions to master the mechanics of
fueling on the bike. Are you comfortable reaching
into a cycling jersey to grab your snack? This entails becoming secure eating
with one hand while continuing to control your bike
with the other. To facilitate the process, keep the snack in the pocket nearest
to your retrieving hand, and avoid burying the fuel
under spare tubes and tools. Also, consider opening any wrappers before your
ride. Or you could place a bagel, crackers, fig cookies
or pretzels into sandwich baggies; if using ZiplocsR, keep the bags unlocked for
easy access.
You may not race in a cycling jersey so you should consider alternative options
for carrying fuel. Contraptions such as a Bento Box
or Aero Pocket sit between your aerobars and act as a discrete basket designed
to hold multiple bars or gels. For longer events,
including a half or full Ironman, it is important to carry more fuel and this
additional storage space becomes useful. For shorter
distances, however, it is possible to haul all you need directly on your bike.
For example, try using electrical tape to attach
pieces of snacks (Clif BarR bites work well) to your top tube. PowerbarsR wrap
themselves; simply bend the bar length wise around
the tube. Another option is to tape a gel pack to your top tube or aerobars by
the tab, which you will want to tear just slightly;
the gel pack, when released from the tape, is already conveniently opened. You
may opt to bring one extra in case the pack does land
on the road; during a race you won't want to take the time to retrieve the
hapless gel. Perhaps a more secure place to store your
gel would be in a gel flask holder attached to your bike; the flask is
refillable with your gel of choice (for example, Hammer Gel
from Hammer NutritionT, is available in multiple-serving jugs).
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060626_NYTCS_Fueling_Bike.html


2. Triathlon: 4 Ironman Training Rules:
From: Jason Gootman, MS, CSCS & Will Kirousis, BS, CSCS
Tri-Hard Endurance Sports Coaching
USA Triathlon and USA Cycling Certified Coaches
Certified Strength & Conditioning Coaches
www.tri-hard.com
[This article was published in the June 2006 issue of New England Sports
Magazine]
You've watched the award-winning telecasts of the race for the past several
winters. Your friends have gone off and raced at Lake
Placid, Wisconsin, or Florida and come home changed people. You've felt
compelled, you couldn't resist-you signed up for an Ironman
this year! Congratulations, you have an exciting road ahead of you. It's a road
that you will need to pave with a lot of hard work!
But success will not come from hard work alone-smart training is critical in
such a challenging endeavor. To make the most of your
efforts, follow these four Ironman training rules.
Rule #1: Rest as diligently as you workout.
When you workout, you break your body down. On the level of cells and tissues,
and on a cumulative level, your body is damaged when
you workout. In order for you to improve, you must allow your body to
sufficiently repair itself. Working out hard, without adequate
rest, will bring short-term improvements, but guaranteed long-term problems
(i.e., overtraining syndrome, injuries, burnout, poor
performance). Ample rest on the other hand, will allow you to steadily improve.
So what constitutes rest? Rest is time spent doing activities that are low-key,
physically and mentally. Rest is your chance to be
"off" in a world that wants you to constantly be "on". You are resting when you
are watching a movie, reading a book for pleasure,
listening to music, socializing with family and friends, or doing similar
activities. During this time, your body can sufficiently
dedicate itself to repairing itself. When you are working out, working,
commuting, or doing chores you are doing, not resting. Rest
does not come easy to many triathletes. Many are busy bodies who must always be
doing something and who feel that rest is a waste of
time. Learning to rest and making it a priority will help you tremendously.
You're thinking we're crazy. Working out is a "good" breakdown of your body,
right? True, working out is one of the healthiest
things you can do, but in the absence of sufficient rest, it becomes unhealthy.
Think of resting as giving your body the chance to
heal itself so when it comes time for your next workout, you are fully ready to
give it your all. Think of rest not as "doing
nothing", but as an important part of the training process. Rest as diligently
as you workout.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060626_THS_Training_Rules.html


3. Triathlon: How to Sabotage Your Ironman:
By Coach Wendy, EnduranceCoach.com
Mastering the Ironman. may be a big ask, but there are definite ways to make
your Ironman training enjoyable and ways to make your
Ironman day an awesome one. Conversely, there is also a host of ways to ensure
you smash yourself to bits during your training,
maybe not even make the start line and then there is a wonderful variety of ways
to dissolve your race and create a pain vacuum that
could last for hours!!
Given the hours required to make the start line, surely it makes sense to put
yourself in the best position to get the best return
for your time and money. The following is written to inform, not to criticize -
but to enable you, the reader, to understand that as
a coach we see these mistakes happening on a daily basis. So take the warning
rather than the potentially negative inference of this
article.
Okay, so let's begin by going through a series of steps to ensure the most
effective way to sabotage your Ironman. These steps are
in no particular order and can be taken all at once or combined - just one of
them is probably enough to do the damage but remember,
the bigger the combination, the bigger the bomb!
If you are one of those people who is so obsessed with your training and doesn't
have time to read this article you may prefer a
quick summary of how to sabotage your Ironman. Try this: Have no plan, don't
invest in a coach, get advice from everyone and then
follow it all. Eat like a pig, everything and anything. Trash yourself at every
session. Buy a big bike. Get a bike fit from some
one who thinks they know but in reality doesn't. Buy a wetsuit 10 months out,
put on weight and start your speed work now. Blow the
race to bits, chase everyone and go for it. Don't say you haven't be warned. For
more detailed information read on..
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060628_ECoach_Ironman.html


4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Runner's World at 40:
Runner's World and I parted company two years ago. We have different views of
how and why this happened, but the fact remains that
the split was sudden and apparently permanent.
Ask for my thoughts on today's RW, and I can't tell you. I haven't had the heart
to open the magazine since my last column ran there
in early 2004.
So much distance has come between us that I'd forgotten this year marks RW's
40th birthday. Reminders came recently in a way that
both shocked and pleased me.
The editor who'd called a halt to my column, David Willey, reached out a
friendly hand. He told about plans for special anniversary
coverage in the magazine and asked if I'd agree to an interview. I would.
I can't deny my role in the magazine's history, having written there for 33 of
those 40 years. I'm honored that the current boss
recognizes this.
For my part today, I want to honor someone whose role was much bigger -- and who
never gets enough credit. There wouldn't be a
Runner's World to celebrate this anniversary if not for Bob Anderson. Here's
what I wrote about him as RW turned 25.
BOB'S BABY
Bob Anderson may be long gone from Runner's World. But he still occupies the
same offices that once produced the magazine he
founded. Friends of mine from Mountain View, California, occasionally report
Anderson sightings.
During Anderson's RW years, he was tough to work for and with. His critics among
former employees, advertisers and subscribers were
legion.
Criticism had little apparent effect on Anderson. The only subject guaranteed to
turn the self-styled tough guy's heart to mush was
his baby. He always called it "my magazine," the way a father refers to a child.
Anderson conceived and delivered the magazine. He nursed it through infancy as a
staff of one, then sternly and proudly guided it
through the rapid adolescent growth spurt of the 1990s.
As RW grew up, Anderson begin hearing offers from larger companies to buy the
magazine for thousands of times more than his original
investment. He refused.
"I wouldn't take any amount of money for it," he said. "This would be like
selling my own child."
Yet in its 20th year, he had no choice but to sell. A divorce forced him to give
up his baby to Rodale Press.
Anderson quickly vanished from the sport. But saying that he was forgotten was
both unkind and untrue.
He isn't so thick-skinned that the loss of his first "child" doesn't still hurt
him. And he isn't so hard-hearted as not to care
about receiving little or no credit for his early work.
Runner's World turns 25 years old this year. The magazine will celebrate with a
birthday issue in May, and plans to focus more on
advances in the sport during those years than on bragging about RW's history.
As a charter subscriber, the first columnist and first fulltime employee, I'll
do some boasting here. I'll do it on Bob Anderson's
behalf, since he has no way to say this about himself.
(He wasn't present at a 25th anniversary celebration in New York City in 1991,
and his name was never mentioned from the stage.)
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2062


5. Health Journal: Is barefoot better?
By Tara Parker-Pope, The Wall Street Journal
Runners and athletes are always searching for the perfect shoe to improve
performance and reduce injury. But some say shoes are the
problem, and the best solution may be training without them.
Some experts now believe that most athletic shoes, with their inflexible soles,
structured sides and super-cushioned inserts keep
feet so restricted that they may actually be making your feet lazy, weak and
more prone to injury. As a result, barefoot training is
gaining more attention among coaches, personal trainers and runners.
While exercising without shoes may sound painful, the idea is that your feet
need a workout, too. Proponents believe running
barefoot changes a runner's form and body mechanics to prevent some common
athletic injuries.
Although a few coaches and marathon runners have preached the value of barefoot
training, the method has received more attention
lately because shoe giant Nike is promoting its Nike Free shoe, which it claims
mimics the sensation of running barefoot. Popular
training methods aimed at improving running form, including the Pose Method
(www.posetech.com) and ChiRunning (www.chirunning.com),
also are prompting runners to consider minimalist foot gear or none at all as a
way to allow their natural body mechanics to take
over.
It isn't just runners who are going barefoot. One new fitness trend, a
dance-inspired workout called Balletone (www.balletone.com),
places heavy emphasis on foot strengthening and flexibility, something that is
essential to dancers. Boulder, Colo., fitness
educator Shannon Griffiths-Fable says her chiropractor encouraged her to try
barefoot training, and she has also seen a difference
in clients who take part in Balletone classes. "I've noticed just how fatigued
people's feet get," she says. "They haven't used
their feet and they don't know how to support themselves while exercising."
But barefoot training remains controversial. Many podiatrists cringe at the
notion of unshod feet pounding the pavement, where the
risks include cuts, bruises and unsanitary conditions. "If we want to mimic
barefoot running, shoes should come with broken glass
and twigs," says Stephen M. Pribut, a Washington, D.C., podiatrist and president
of the American Academy of Podiatric Sports
Medicine. "The emphasis should be on getting the right shoe for your foot."
More...from the Post-Gazette at:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06157/696125-114.stm


6. Vigor among Veterans:
It's been 24 years since the first athletic competition among disabled veterans
in wheelchairs. What started the ball rolling for
what would finally become the National Veterans Wheelchair Games was the fact
that the Department of Veterans Affairs had long
been involved in wheelchair sports. When the Second World War ended these
veterans, disabled and recovering in VA hospitals,
started playing basketball in their wheelchairs right there at the various
medical centers. Then they expanded beyond wheelchair
basketball to wheelchair swimming, archery, field and track and bowling.
Associations evolved as a result for the enthusiasm
generated by these wheelchair sports.
Wheelchair sports and competitive events during the wheelchair games now include
archery, weightlifting, air guns, basketball,
bowling, nine ball, power relays, trap shoots, motor rallies, rugby,
slaloms, power chair 220, hand cycles, softballs,
swimming, table tennis and track. Each year the competition in wheelchairs
by disabled and paralyzed veterans expanded in
numbers. The U.S. Veterans Administration premiered its Recreation Therapy
Services in 1980, the focus of which was on spreading
the word about the rehabilitative affect of these games in wheelchairs. VA
therapists now recognize and use these wheelchair
sports as therapeutic tools for disabled veteran recovery.
Wheelchair bound veterans must qualify to compete in the National Veterans
Wheelchair games and for this they must have
a medical exam. This exam
determines where they belong in the competition, making sure they are competing
with veterans of similar level of disability and
that no one has an unfair advantage. Quadriplegic veterans fall into one
of three categories, while paraplegics fall into
one of four. Amputees are categorized by the degree of their amputation, and
stroke or MS victims are also categorized by
impairment level. 1981, the International Year of Disabled Persons, was also
the year of the first National Veterans Wheelchair
Games. Richmond Virginia hosted the first games, held at the Veterans medical
center. There were 74 participants competing in their
wheelchairs in weightlifting, billiards, table tennis and swimming.
They came from 14 different states to compete. They found camaraderie and common
bonds with each other. Now hundreds of these
disabled veterans take part in each year's games. The size and complexity of
the games had become so vast by 1985 that medical
centers were having a hard time finding the finances and other resources to host
them. The Paralyzed Veterans of America stepped in
as co-sponsor and then went to businesses to ask them if they would co-sponsor
as well. Now these corporate sponsorships help
keep the games going and growing, with more sports and increasingly
greater numbers of disabled veteran participants. Disabled
veterans in the UK became part of the games as of 1987. Now they take part each
year. A new organization known as the
British Ex- Services Wheelchair Sports Association, has hosted
international wheelchair games in the UK three different years
since 1994.
The National Veterans Wheelchair Games, now with more than 500 competitors from
nearly every state and Puerto Rico, has the honor
of being the largest sports competition in the world for wheelchair bound
athletes. In 2004 St. Louis Missouri played host to
the event, while the following year Minneapolis had the honor. This year it's
Anchorage Alaska's VA medical center that is getting
ready to host the 2006 games July 3rd through 8th. Volunteers are being
sought, as more than 2000 folks are needed to hand out
water, keep scoring and time, help transport and fix food, set up the various
game sites and take photos. Volunteer applicants can
fill out an online form to express interest. The PVA and VA both make these
wheelchair games a priority commitment because they
realize the rehabilitative properties of the sporting event.
From Val Towley, the webkeeper of Wheelchairs Net Ltd which is an
amazing place to find wheelchairs links, resources and
articles. For more great information on this article,
please visit: http://www.wheelchairsnet.com/


7. Personal Trainers Available by the Download:
WHY hire a personal fitness trainer to bark at you for $50 an hour when you can
download one online for a fraction of the price -
and spare yourself the embarrassment of having someone watch as you never quite
get in shape?
That is the question an increasing number of would-be fitness buffs are asking,
as more trainers package their services in audio or
video files that can be downloaded into an iPod or P.D.A. for a quick trip to
the gym.
The idea dovetails with the suddenly voracious appetite for downloadable media
among online consumers and the long success the
fitness industry has enjoyed in selling home video products like workout tapes.
And while this trend is too nascent to be judged a
success (there are no Tae Bo sessions for the iPod yet), it does hold great
potential for the personal training business, which has
historically been marginalized by high prices.
"Downloaded workouts are absolutely here to stay," said John Spencer Ellis,
president of the National Exercise and Sports Trainers
Association, an industry group serving fitness professionals. "For trainers,
it's becoming a new way to acquire customers or
generate money 24/7, or both."
Mr. Ellis said that since the start of the year, he had seen a sharp rise in the
number of trainers who had posted audio clips
online of recorded workouts with clients or studio productions replicating those
workouts. On clips sold on the trainers' own Web
sites, or on sites like Podfitness.com, iTrain.com, and iAmplify.com, trainers
coax listeners through a multitude of workouts.
When not reminding runners to breathe deeply and relax their arms, for instance,
trainers also guide listeners through
weight-training routines or Pilates exercises. For cardiovascular exercises like
running or aerobics, trainers say, video is of
little use. But for weight-training, yoga and other routines, visual cues can be
much more helpful.
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/technology/19ecom.html?ex=1151553600&en=8fea7d\
1c58b8d66e&ei=5070


8. From Runner's World:
* Coach's Corner
"It's better to run too slow at the start than too fast and get into oxygen
debt, which is what 99.9 percent of runners do. You have
to learn pace."
-Bill Bowerman, renowned University of Oregon coach
* Injury Prevention
Don't run in old shoes:
Your first line of defense against overuse injuries is where the rubber meets
the road. Change shoes every 300 to 500 miles to make
sure you're pounding the pavement, not vice versa
* Performance Nutrition
A can of tuna, one of the best protein buys around, will give you 22 grams of
immunity-boosting protein per 3-ounce serving. Runners
should get 75 to 100 grams of protein a day - especially during periods of hard
training or racing.
* Editor's Advice
"While your kids are playing soccer or softball, run loops around the outside of
the athletic field. Try sprints on the long side of
the field with slow jogs on the short side for some speed once or twice a week."
-Traci Conrad, RW marketing designer
* Training Talk
"Running is the road to self-acceptance. Our feet can teach our minds that we
are only what we are. Our feet can teach our minds to
congratulate us and to celebrate our strength in pursuing our dream. If we
listen closely enough, at every pace and every distance,
we can hear that voice telling us that we are runners and that we are winners."
-From No Need For Speed by John Bingham


9. High Rollers:
Meet the Champions Club, an elite group of bike-crazy execs who are richer than
Croesus, can hammer with Lance, and are donating
millions to ensure a gold-plated future for U.S. cycling.
As the peloton drops into a Southern California canyon, picking up speed through
corkscrew bends, I sense another rider hovering
just over my right shoulder, waiting to pass. Could it be George Hincapie, Lance
Armstrong's longtime lieutenant, whom I'd spotted a
moment ago on the climb? Or am I holding up the great Paolo Savoldelli, the
fearless descender known as "Il Falco," who won the 2005
Giro d'Italia?
I ease over and the mystery rider shoots past. To my surprise, it's an unknown
named Michael Patterson, a man more than two decades
older than me. Tall and hawkish, with a sharp, patrician profile, Patterson
looks like he ought to be enjoying a round of golf back
at the Ojai Valley Inn and Spa, the posh retreat where we're all staying. But
here he is, wind jacket flapping, white socks peeking
out of ancient Carnacs, leaning his handmade steel bike into the curves at 30
miles per hour.
It's the last weekend in January, and the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team is
hosting its annual invitation-only Sponsor Ride in
Ojai, a gemlike mountain town two hours north of Los Angeles. When we left the
inn this morning, our 100-strong pack displayed the
full range of cycling abilities, from wobbly Discovery Channel execs all the way
up to Armstrong himself. Most years, the 50-mile
ride is "social" for the first hour, after which Lance and the Discovery boys
crank the throttle, mercilessly shedding the suits.
But the twisty climbs-and last night's wine-soaked Sponsor Dinner, which merged
sloppily into a late-night bacchanal at Jimmy's, the
hotel bar-have already taken their toll. Yesterday the Discovery team finished a
two-week training camp in the wine country near
Santa Barbara, and they were ready to cut loose. The retired Armstrong and his
former teammates Bode Millered late into the night.
Earlier this morning, after just an hour of riding, we spotted the Tour de
France king drifting back through the pack, shaking his
woozy head.
More...from Outside Magazine at:
http://outside.away.com/outside/features/200606/champions-club-1.html


10. Ten things that can hold you back:
As a coach, I work with a wide range of athletic abilities -- athletes who are
learning their sport, as well as those who are vying
for Olympic slots. I use the same training principles on both inexperienced and
seasoned athletes. Although the training load and
specific workouts are different, the training ideology is the same for everyone.
The first thing I do when I begin working with someone is identify things that
might get in the way of his or her success -- because
these are things that affect success at all levels.
Here are 10 things that can hold you back or get in the way of your success as
an athlete.
1. Negative thoughts. If you fill your head with negative thoughts about your
ability as an athlete, it's impossible to succeed.
Whether your goals include a podium spot or not, you're still an athlete. You
can only be successful if you believe you are.
2. Support system failure. If your friends and family don't support your
athletic goals, it's difficult to succeed. Let them know
why being active is important to you and your long-term health. Try to include
them in some way, so they're involved in your
athletic endeavors -- be creative.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13137


11. From Hoops to Oops...
... Basketball tops list of injury-producing sports
Basketball is a favorite pursuit for many Americans, but it also tops a new list
of sports that produce the most injuries.
More than 512,000 basketball injuries were treated in U.S. hospital emergency
rooms in 2005, according to researchers at Loyola
University Health System (LUHS), in Maywood, Ill.
The researchers analyzed data compiled by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety
Commission to arrive at the following injury list for
2005: basketball: 512,213 injuries; bicycles: 485,669; football: 418,260;
soccer: 174,686; baseball: 155,898; skateboards: 112,544;
trampolines: 108,029; softball: 106,884; swimming/diving: 82,354; horseback
riding: 73,576; weightlifting: 65,716; volleyball:
52,091; golf: 47,360; roller skating: 35,003; wrestling: 33,734; gymnastics:
27,821; in-line skating: 26,935; tennis: 19,487; track
and field: 17,306.
"Athletes, youngsters and weekend warriors alike can wind up in hospital
emergency rooms for injuries related to these sports," said
Dr. Pietro Tonino, director of sports medicine at LUHS.
"The NBA and the World Cup [soccer] games may inspire people to try a new sport.
But before they do, people need proper training and
conditioning to reduce their injury risk," he added.
More...from Health Scout at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/533304/main.html#cont


12. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine:
* Living High, Training Low
Athletes in endurance events practice a training technique called "living high,
training low". Many years ago, scientists noticed
that people who live in the mountains, where the air contains lower levels of
oxygen, have higher than normal blood oxygen levels.
A limiting factor in events that require endurance is the time it takes to move
oxygen from the lungs into the muscles. Since more
than 98 percent of the oxygen in the blood is bound to red blood cells, people
with high numbers of red blood cells should have
higher levels of oxygen and therefore have more oxygen available for their
muscles, giving them greater endurance. It appears that
living and training at high altitude would improve performance even more, so
theoretically, all long distance runners, cross country
skiers, bicycle racers and other athletes in endurance sports would benefit from
living and training at high altitudes.
However, you can' train as intensely in the mountains where oxygen is sparse.
Lack of oxygen during hard exercise slows you down.
One group of researchers decided to see if
living at high altitudes would increase red blood cell concentration, and
training at low altitude would allow the athletes to take
harder workouts. Eleven trained middle-distance
runners were tested before an 18-day training session in which they slept in
special low-oxygen pressure chambers and trained at sea
level with oxygen-rich air (Journal of Applied Physiology, January 2006). The
tests were repeated 15 days after the training. The
athletes who lived high and trained low had higher maximal oxygen uptakes,
higher maximal aerobic power and lower resting heart
rates than the control group. The blood of these athletes could carry more
oxygen, and the oxygen concentration in their bloodstream
would return to normal earlier after intense competitions so their performance
would improve.
Barometric pressure chambers are available for about $8000, so serious
endurance athletes can "sleep high" and train wherever they
live.

* How can I tell if my heart rate is too fast?
Having a resting heart rate greater than 80 beats a minute quadruples your
chances of developing a heart attack. A strong heart
pumps large amounts of blood with each beat and doesn't have to beat as often,
so a rapid heart rate often means that you have a
weak heart.
The most accurate time to take your pulse is when you first open your eyes in
the morning, because your heart speeds up when you
move, eat, think, or take stimulants in coffee, alcohol, tea, soft drinks,
cigarettes or certain medications. When you first wake up
in the morning, place your fingers on the side of your neck where you feel the
beat and count for sixty seconds (or use a heart rate
monitor). If your resting pulse rate is greater than eighty beats a minute and
you are not sick or taking stimulants, check with
your doctor; you may have something wrong with your heart.
From Dr, Gabe Mirkin at:
http://www.drmirkin.com


13. A Run on the Beach Can Bring Misery:
Soft sand is no friend to joints, experts warn.
Summer beach bums who plan on jogging on sand instead of their usual pavement
need to be extra careful to avoid injuries, experts
say.
The common perception is that sand -- so soft and giving compared to hard
pavement -- is easier and safer on the joints. But
orthopedic experts are warning that just the opposite is true.
"Running on the beach comes with risks," according to Dr. Michael Ciccotti,
chief of the Sports Medicine Center at the Rothman
Institute at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and head team physician for
the Philadelphia Phillies.
"As you run on irregular, inconsistent surface like sand, the forces that go
through the feet, ankles and hips vary dramatically and
can predispose an athlete to injury in any one of these body parts," Ciccotti
said in a prepared statement.
Sudden changes from firm, wet, hard-packed sand to loose dry sand can make
running on the beach particularly dangerous. Beaches also
usually slope downward toward the shoreline.
"Running on this sloped surface can especially predispose an individual to
injury," Ciccotti said.
Sprains and tendonitis are commonly diagnosed injuries after running on the
sand, Ciccotti noted. Common, too, are other strains and
inflammation of joints and tendons in the knee, lower leg and ankle -- even
fractures.
More...from HealthScout at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/533336/main.html


14. The Running Life: The Leading Life:
My Heroes Have Always Been Runners.
Since its infancy the running community has manifested a culture of uncommon
generosity and good will. In the 1970s as the first
running boom gained momentum, runners were mostly fast and overwhelmingly male.
It was a small group where secrets were difficult to
keep and a spirit of camaraderie prevailed. In spite of fierce competition and
intense focus on personal achievement, these runners,
by all accounts, considered themselves part of an exclusive club, one where
members looked after their own.
As the sport expanded into the second boom of the 1990s, women and recreational
enthusiasts of both genders swelled its ranks. I was
one of many who took up running during this unprecedented period of growth. It
was early in my development as a runner that I
experienced the unique spirit of cooperation, compassion and caring that
pervades the sport. I found that new runners were almost
universally welcomed into the fold with warmth and enthusiasm. Advice sought,
even from virtual strangers, was readily and
cheerfully given.
During those first months as a newly minted runner, a friend invited me to
volunteer and train with the Achilles Track Club, whose
mission is to help people with disabilities participate in mainstream athletics.
The friendships I forged remain solid to this day
and my association with the club opened my eyes to the myriad ways that runners
reach beyond themselves to help others.
One of the things I've always loved about running is meeting people I surely
would not have met otherwise. When I became a runner, I
was taken out of my smallish world filled with work and children and brought
into a milieu brimming with characters, people unlike
me and unlike each other in so many different ways. I met academics who ran with
sanitation workers who ran with beauticians who ran
with farmers who ran with househusbands. Many of these people found ways large
and small to incorporate acts of heroism into their
running lives.
Gilbert Tuhabonye is one of those runners. A reluctant hero at best, Gilbert was
born on a small farm in the east African country of
Burundi. Like many children in his Tutsi tribe, Gilbert grew up running; he ran
to school, he ran to do chores and he ran for fun,
often chasing his family's cows. When Gilbert was in sixth grade, his Catholic
family sent him to a Protestant boarding school over
150 miles from his home. While there, Gilbert became a national champion runner
with dreams of one day competing in the Olympics.
The centuries-old war between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes changed his plans
forever. In 1993, Hutu classmates, along with their
parents and other tribesmen, forced Gilbert and over 100 of his Tutsi classmates
and teachers into a room. After beating many of the
Tutsis to death with machetes, they set the room on fire. Hours later, Gilbert,
the lone survivor of the massacre, escaped the
building, bleeding, and burned almost beyond recognition.
More...from the Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=8092


15. The Infection Connection:
Running Can Boost or Dampen Your Immune System.
Most runners I know have a better-than-average understanding of the human
musculoskeletal system, tossing terms such as IT band
syndrome, piriformus syndrome, and iliopsoas tendinitis into casual conversation
with other runners as though they were confetti at
a New Year's Eve party. Knowledge of the immune system-especially as it relates
to exercise-tends to be less encyclopedic, for the
layperson at any rate. NK cells, macrophages, salivary IgA . . . ho-hum, when's
your next race?
That is a shame, considering the importance of the immune system. Most of us
take for granted that the immune system protects us
from disease-causing organisms, but as runners we tend to sit up and take notice
only when a whopper cold settles into our heads the
day before a marathon or we find ourselves plagued by recurrent sinus infections
following races. Running can boost the immune
system-but too much can also dampen it.
The immune system's first lines of defense against invading organisms are
barriers: physical barriers, such as the skin and mucous
membranes, and chemical barriers, including stomach acids and proteins in tears,
saliva, and skin oils. If some intrepid organism
manages to penetrate these barriers, specialized cells called phagocytes
(including macrophages) engulf, kill, and chew up foreign
invaders as well as cancer cells. The aptly named natural killer (NK) cells also
destroy infected and cancerous cells. This first
line of defense is called the innate immune system.
Then there's the acquired immune system, the T and B cells (lymphocytes) that
respond to specific proteins, or antigens, on invading
organisms. Prodded into action by macrophages and other components of the innate
immune system, the T and B cells produce chemicals
(cytokines and antibodies) that regulate the immune response and help kill the
offending organism. It's the lymphocytes that
remember past infections (and immunizations), allowing the immune system to
respond faster and more efficiently the next time the
same antigen comes along.
Of course, the immune system doesn't operate in a vacuum; it's fundamentally
interconnected with both the nervous and endocrine
systems. It knows whether you've been stressed out about losing your job or that
you make it a practice of eating only Pop-Tarts for
breakfast every morning. There aren't any secrets among the three systems:
everything is connected.
The Positive Effects of Moderate Exercise
It's a commonly held belief that people who exercise regularly get sick less
often than couch potatoes: in one survey, over
three-quarters of 750 masters athletes (ranging in age from 40 to 81 years) said
that they are less vulnerable to viral infections
than their sedentary peers. Research backs them up. In a recent yearlong study
of over 500 men and women, for example, those who
were "moderately active" had a 20 percent reduction in risk for upper
respiratory tract infections as compared with physically
inactive adults. Women who walked briskly for 35 to 45 minutes, five days a
week, for 12 to 15 weeks, were found to have colds half
as often as inactive women. And, although immune function naturally declines
with age, some studies have shown that highly fit
elderly people have better preserved immune systems. Several positive changes
occur in the immune system during exercise, and while
the immediate effects are transitory, the boost they lend immune cells reduces
the risk of infection over the long term.
More...from Marathon and Beyond at:
http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/latta.html


16. The truth about fat loss:
Why is it that fat loss, and reducing body fat, related information and products
are so much in demand, yet obesity and being
overweight are on the up and up - and are actually at the highest rate ever?
With the health and fitness industry booming it seems absurd that this is
occurring. What the heck is happening, folks?
Quick Note: Fat Loss is not the same as Weight Loss: Please don't get the two
confused. Weight loss is "overall" loss of body weight
where Fat Loss is based on reducing body fat.
The fact is that losing body fat is not easy. Other than the temptations of
fast-food, laziness and stressful lives people tend not
to succeed at fat loss because they are either not committed, not well informed
on fat loss or they are committed for the wrong
reasons.
Making Sure You are Trying to Lose Body Fat to Please YOU, Not Everyone Else.
Think about why it is you want to lose body fat. Make
sure you really want to put in 100% effort.
You want to feel great about making this decision not obliged to do it. Losing
body fat can help increase your self-esteem as well
as boosting your health so giving it your best shot with a positive frame of
mind is always the "way to go".
More...from Health.iAfrica at:
http://health.iafrica.com/fitness/weekly_exercise/573554.htm


17. No More Wimpy Feet:
Your feet have lots of small muscles. When's the last time you gave 'em a
workout? Nike designer Leo Chang explains how the
innovative Nike Free 5.0 V2 gives athletes a new competitive advantage.
Let's face it, foot muscles don't generate too much excitement. They're never
featured on the cover of fitness magazines. They're
probably not going to win you any dates. But that doesn't mean you should ignore
them.
Unfortunately, that's what most runners have done until recently - a strange
oversight if you think about it. After all, what could
possibly be more important to runners than their feet?
The fact is there wasn't a good tool for strengthening your feet. Want stronger
upper body muscles? That's easy. Do chin-ups.
Push-ups. Bench press. There are tons of options. But how do you strengthen foot
muscles?
The answer: You exercise them. Make them work. And this is the driving principle
of Nike Free 5.0 V2 with Natural Motion Engineering
technology. By mimicking barefoot running and allowing your feet to flex and
grip, the Nike Free puts your foot muscles in charge of
the balance and stability of your body while you run. The result is stronger
muscles from your toes to your hips - and a real
competitive advantage for runners of all levels.
More...from Nike at:
http://www.nike.com/nikerunning/usa/home.jhtml?loc1=tools_training&loc2=runners_\
library&loc3=130&promoID=USRU_EM_062106_junenewsmen#
runners_library
[Multi-line URL]


18. Compatibility of Adaptive Responses With Hybrid Simultaneous Resistance and
Aerobic Training :
Strength and endurance training serve as the cornerstone of both athletic
training and basic fitness regimens. A seemingly endless
variety of modes, methods, and techniques are routinely utilized to achieve
greater performance and fitness. At the forefront of
these training methods is concurrent training. Concurrent training generally
refers to the performance of both aerobic and anaerobic
exercise within a fitness or athletic training program. To that end, strength
and endurance training are applied in varying
sequences within the same workout, daily, or weekly schedule. Athletes as well
as popular and commercial fitness applications
capitalize on these basic themes and supply the consumer with unlimited exercise
options. Included within this variety are
techniques which combine both resistance and aerobic training at the same moment
in time, not separately. Such techniques are now
very popular and are most commonly utilized in group-exercise settings in which
individuals utilize barbells or dumbbells with the
upper body and some kind of aerobic movement with the lower body at the same
moment in time. For clarity, this type of training will
be referred to as simultaneous training.
Currently, available research does not document simultaneous training as defined
above. However, numerous studies have investigated
the interactions of strength and aerobic training on muscular strength and
aerobic power resulting from traditional same day or
different day simultaneous training. These investigations often report mixed
results (Abernethy & Quigley, 1993; Dudley & Djamil,
(1985), Gravelle & Blessing, 2000; Hennessy & Watson, 1994; Hickson, 1980;
Hunter, Demment, and Miller, 1987, McCarthy, Pozniak, and
Agre, 2002; McCarthy, Agre, Graf, Pozniak, and Vailas, 1995). In all reviewed
investigations, experimental training groups that
performed concurrent training had no impairment in the magnitude of aerobic
power increase as compared to those training groups that
performed aerobic training only. The numerous physiological and structural
adaptations resulting from aerobic training appear to be
unaffected when combined concurrently with strength training. Some studies in
which concurrent training was performed showed
significantly less increase in muscular strength as compared to those
experimental groups that performed strength training only
(Dudley & Djamil, 1985; Hennessy & Watson, 1994; Hickson, 1980). Then again
there are a number of studies which show little, if any,
impairment in the magnitude of strength gain (Abernethy & Quigley, 1993; Hunter
et al. 1987, McCarthy et al., 2002; McCarthy et al,
1995, Volpe, Walberg-Rankin, Webb-Rodman, and Sebolt, 1993). Most investigations
reporting strength decrement report that strength
gain decrement is isolated to the same muscle group that was utilized during the
aerobic training portion of the study. Currently
there is a lack of consensus among investigators as to the exact cause(s) of
strength gain impairment as a result of concurrent
training
More...from the Sport Journal at:
http://www.thesportjournal.org/2005Journal/Vol8-No3/melrose.asp


19. The perfect runner's warm-up:
A detailed preparation guide from the experts.
Confession time! How long did you spend warming up before your last run? Twenty
seconds? Two minutes? We runners are often guilty of
skimping on a warm-up, but trying to dive straight into a vigorous run is like
attempting to start your car in fourth gear -
inefficient, difficult and potentially damaging.
The warm-up has a number of functions; most importantly, it raises body
temperature, increases heart rate and mobilises the joints.
Furthermore, warm-up activities divert blood flow away from the internal organs
to the working muscles, bringing oxygen and
nutrients, and carrying away the waste products from metabolism
The increase in body temperature also promotes the flow of synovial fluid, the
liquid that surrounds and cushions joint surfaces to
reduce friction. Also, synovial fluid makes muscles more pliable and less prone
to straining or tearing. A study from the University
of Strathclyde in Glasgow, published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine,
found that warming up actually made running feel
easier and more comfortable than setting off without one - probably due to a
reduced accumulation of lactic acid.
While the main beneficiary of a warm-up is your physical body, the mind also
benefits. You can use the warm-up as a time to think
over what you are going to do in the session, to harness your focus and run
through your goals.
More...from realBuzz.com at:
http://www.realbuzz.com/sport/sports_az/running/training_zone/index.php?pmid=305\
&gmid=235&mode=1&aid=707&page=2


20. Hydration and Anaerobic Performance:
Hard to believe, but it used to be prevailing wisdom amongst endurance athletes
like marathoners that drinking water during training
or racing was a sign of weakness akin to unsportsmanlike conduct. We now know
that impaired hydration can affect our endurance, but
what's the consensus on anaerobic performance?
Water Water Everywhere.
With my background doing research on the effects of hydration status during
exercise in the heat, it is only natural that we return
to this topic every summer with the onset of warm weather. We have seen in
general the problems brought about by sudden or prolonged
heat waves every year in both the athletic and general population. In the
former, we've seen many examples of athletes succumbing to
heat exhaustion, from Gabrielle Andersson-Schiess at the first Olympic women's
marathon in 1984 to Paula Radcliffe at the Athens
marathon in 2004. Much more seriously, we've witness major increases in deaths
coinciding with massive heat waves in Europe (2003)
and Chicago (1995).
To counteract the health and performance problems with hyperthermia, the primary
approach has been to maintain proper hydration
status. Though there remains some dissenters, the majority consensus amongst
scientists is that maintaining adequate hydration both
prior to and throughout exercise is the best method of preventing performance
decrements in the heat. This has been outlined in
detail in position statements by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM),
the pre-eminent international exercise physiology
society.
The main mechanism of protection appears to be by keeping blood volume high,
thereby decreasing the strain imposed by the heart
pumping blood to fuel both the active muscles and the skin to dissipate heat.
You're faced with a double whammy - you're losing
fluid from your blood to sweat, and at the same time your skin blood vessels are
opening more and requiring greater blood flow to
get rid of the heat produced by exercise. You may have seen this problem happen
in the phenomenon of "cardiovascular drift, where
your heart rate rises over time even though you're riding at the same power
output.
More...from Pez Cycling at:
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4106


21. Infamous Run:
We are referring to the third segment of a triathlon. We all know from our
numerous BRICK workouts what this feels like. The
"awkward" feeling is generally due to biomechanical deficiencies and not
conditioning. The following article should help you reduce
this "awkward" feeling leading you to a more successful run coming off of the
bike.
How long are your crank arms? That's an odd question. However, this has a lot
to do with your run coming off of the bike. When we
ride the bike, our biomechanical disposition is determined by crank arm length
in regard to leg length. The longer your crank arm
is the more your leg must extend from the knee and hip joints. This is critical
to understand because when we run, we are taught
that to increase speed, we must increase stride length and foot strike turnover.
So what do we do when we train? Obviously we
attempt to increase stride length and leg turnover with regard to foot strike.
For the purpose of this discussion let us make the
comparison of foot turnover to cadence or Revolutions Per Minute (RPMs) on the
bike. Now getting back to the visualization of your
riding your bike for "X" miles at 85-95 RPMs. When we come off the bike why
change this? The answer is we do not change this.
However, we must take the crank arm length into account. Why? Simply, because
when we run our stride length is always going to be
longer than our crank arm length.
Stand with your bike beside you and put your feet on the ground the same
distance, as your pedal axels are apart at the 3 and 9
o'clock position. This is the stride length you want to use in the beginning of
your run. Now as you approach the last part of
your ride shift to a light gear and maintain your cadence. Of course the fear
here is that your speed will decrease. This is true
but the benefit is in the run. As you decrease the demand on the legs with a
lighter gear and same cadence you can also decrease
the amount of lactic acid in your legs accumulated from the ride. Now dismount
your bike and perform the transition of your life.
As you begin to run keep your foot turn over relative to the cadence that you
maintained for the majority of your ride. Your goal
is probably between 85-95 RPMs. Maintain a similar cadence on the run with an
average 90. The trick here is to keep your stride
length short enough to resemble the distance of your feet with relation to the
crank arms on the bike. As you progress into the run
you can lengthen your stride until you are running your normal gait pattern with
relation to stride length. Your turn over rate of
your feet or "cadence" will not change. The only thing that changes is the
stride length. I hope this helps all of you with that
"awkward" feeling a little.
Denny DePriest
Triathlete / Coach T3Coaching @ http://www.t3coaching.com/

22. How do muscles grow?
Young sub Kwon, M.S. and Len Kravitz, Ph.D.
Introduction
Personal trainers and fitness professionals often spend countless hours reading
articles and research on new training programs and
exercise ideas for developing muscular fitness. However, largely because of its
physiological complexity, few fitness professionals
are as well informed in how muscles actually adapt and grow to the progressively
increasing overload demands of exercise. In fact,
skeletal muscle is the most adaptable tissue in the human body and muscle
hypertrophy (increase in size) is a vastly researched
topic, yet still considered a fertile area of research. This column will provide
a brief update on some of the intriguing cellular
changes that occur leading to muscle growth, referred to as the satellite cell
theory of hypertrophy.
Trauma to the Muscle: Activating The Satellite Cells
When muscles undergo intense exercise, as from a resistance training bout, there
is trauma to the muscle fibers that is referred to
as muscle injury or damage in scientific investigations. This disruption to
muscle cell organelles activates satellite cells, which
are located on the outside of the muscle fibers between the basal lamina
(basement membrane) and the plasma membrane (sarcolemma) of
muscles fibers to proliferate to the injury site (Charge and Rudnicki 2004). In
essence, a biological effort to repair or replace
damaged muscle fibers begins with the satellite cells fusing together and to the
muscles fibers, often leading to increases in
muscle fiber cross-sectional area or hypertrophy. The satellite cells have only
one nucleus and can replicate by dividing. As the
satellite cells multiply, some remain as organelles on the muscle fiber where as
the majority differentiate (the process cells
undergo as they mature into normal cells) and fuse to muscle fibers to form new
muscle protein stands (or myofibrils) and/or repair
damaged fibers. Thus, the muscle cells' myofibrils will increase in thickness
and number. After fusion with the muscle fiber, some
satellite cells serve as a source of new nuclei to supplement the growing muscle
fiber. With these additional nuclei, the muscle
fiber can synthesize more proteins and create more contractile myofilaments,
known as actin and myosin, in skeletal muscle cells. It
is interesting to note that high numbers of satellite cells are found associated
within slow-twitch muscle fibers as compared to
fast-twitch muscle fibers within the same muscle, as they are regularly going
through cell maintenance repair from daily activities.
More...from
http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article%20folder/musclesgrowLK.html


23. To Succeed at Any Diet, You Must Know Your Metabolic Type:
As a reader of this web site, it is likely that you've reached the point where
you think or even know that nutrition is important if
you ever want to get well and stay well. It's just common sense, right?
But you may also have come to feel that the field of nutrition is quite
baffling. And that even though there is more information
available today than ever before, that it's also become harder to find what's
really right for you or to decide just what you should
do.
In a very real sense, the information explosion over the last 10 years has quite
possibly brought more confusion than clarity to
your quest for health. As a result, you may have found yourself asking questions
like:
* Why is it that my best friend's nutritional supplements work absolute
miracles, but make me feel lousy?
* How can one best selling book say one thing about nutrition and the other
bestseller say just the opposite?
* Why will a certain diet give my friend energy and help to lose weight but make
me tired and gain weight?
* Why can't I get rid of my Candida overgrowth problem, even though I've
followed an "anti-Candida" diet?
* How can someone eat the best organic foods, take the finest nutritional
supplements that money can buy, get plenty of rest,
exercise regularly... and still not feel well?
Or maybe your concern is with more serious issues like...
* Why are two thirds of Americans overweight?
* How can so many people be obese when people are more diet-, health- and
exercise-conscious than ever before?
* Why is degenerative disease skyrocketing?
* Why are younger and younger people falling prey to diseases of the aged?
* Why are cancer, heart disease and diabetes increasing each year?
More...from Dynamic Sports Training at:
http://www.dynamicsports.net/cycling/article_diet_success.htm


24. Should you bonk on purpose?
Bonking is, of course, slang for running out of energy during exercise. It
usually happens when the working muscles run low on
glycogen, which is the body's limiting fuel source for sustained activity.
Bonking is something you'd never want to do on purpose. Or would you?
Believe it or not, one highly respected exercise scientist has suggested that it
may be beneficial to bonk regularly in training.
Her name is Bente Klarlund Pedersen, Ph.D., and she's a researcher at the
University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Klarlund recently explained her rationale for "intentional bonking" in a lecture
entitled "Signaling the Muscles to Adapt: Train
Low, Compete High?" which was delivered at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the
American College of Sports Medicine.
Benefits to under-fueling workouts
In this provocative lecture, Pedersen made the case that athletes -- and
especially endurance athletes -- stand to gain greater
fitness by performing some of their workouts in a glycogen-depleted state than
by trying to perform all of their workouts in a
glycogen-replete state.
In practical terms, she said, they should do some workouts within hours of
having completed their last workout, such that there's
not enough time to replenish muscle glycogen stores between workouts, and they
should also leave their sports drinks and gels at
home for some workouts (that is, intentionally under-fuel their muscles during
training).
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13188


25. Digest Briefs:
* Outside Magazine Q and A with Chris Carmichael:
Q: Someone once told me that if you mix some apple juice with water you can
hydrate faster-is this actually true?
A: Well, sort of.. Research shows that drinking fluids with the right mixture of
carbohydrate (sugar) and sodium can increase the
speed at which fluid is absorbed from your intestines into your body. It's part
of the reason sports drinks are formulated the way
they are. The trouble with a do-it-yourself sports drink like apple juice and
water is that it's very difficult to get the ratio of
sugar to water to sodium right, and if the ratio's off, your homemade sports
drink could end up slowing fluid absorption instead of
accelerating it.
What's so special about sports drinks? Across the board, a six-to-eight percent
solution of sugar in water is widely accepted as the
optimal mixture. To get there, different brands use a variety of sugars, and new
research indicates that the best of them use a
mixture of glucose and fructose that has been shown to increase the amount of
carbohydrate that can reach your muscles while you're
exercising. Sports drinks also contain sodium because you need to replenish
electrolytes lost through sweat, and because sodium
helps to drive a person's urge to drink.
The drive to drink is an important consideration for a sports drink because the
whole point is to get enough fluids, carbohydrates,
and sodium into your body to support your activity level and keep you hydrated.
People stop consuming drinks that are too sweet,
syrupy, or strong too early. By keeping the flavor light, cutting the sweetness,
and including the right amount of sodium, companies
like PowerBar have created formulas that outperform do-it-yourself sports drinks
in providing energy, replenishing electrolytes, and
speeding fluid into your thirsty body.
Ask Chris Carmichael a question at:
http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/fitness_form.html



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

July 1, 2006:
HBC Run for Canada - Canada
http://www.hbcrunforcanada.ca

Hyde Park Blast 4-Mile, Cincinnati, OH
http://www.hpblast.com

Leadville Trail Marathon & Heavy Half Marathon - Leadville, CO
http://www.leadvilletrail100.com

Motionware Canada Day Road Races - Kanata, ON
http://www.ncra-ottawa.com/hm

Paavo Nurmi Marathon - Turku, Finland
http://www.paavonurmisports.com/en/PNmara/pnmara.htm


July 1 - 2, 2006:
ITU Brampton Pan American Cup - Brampton, ON
Canadian National Championships
http://www.c3online.ca/2006Events/Brampton

July 1 - 23, 2006:
Tour De France

EuroSport.com
http://www.eurosport.com/cycling/tour-de-france/2006
Outdoor Life Network
http://www.olntv.com/cyclysm
More Links...
http://www.runneresweb.com/running/rw_tdf2006.html

July 2, 2006:
Barry's Bay Triathlon - Barry's Bay, ON
http://www.queenswood.com/triathlon

Gold Coast Marathon - Gold Coast, Australia
http://www.goldcoastmarathon.com.au

Perth Marathon - Perth, Australia
http://www.wamc.org.au

July 2 - 3, 2006:
Ontario Junior & Senior Championships - Ottawa, ON
http://www.ottawalions.com/ottl_eng.shtml

July 3, 2006:
Athens Super Grand Prix - Athens, Greece
http://www.tsiklitiria.org

Club Northwest Firecracker 5000 - Seattle, WA
http://www.promotionevents.com

Firecracker 5K for St. Jude - Memphis, TN
http://www.firecracker5k.racesonline.com

July 4, 2006:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race 10K - GA
http://www.atlantatrackclub.org

Freedom Mile - Mammoth Lakes, CA
http://www.highsierrastriders.org

Northland Hospice Run for Your Life 10K - Flagstaff, AZ
http://www.runforyourlifeflagstaff.com/site



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

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

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Forward the Runner's Web Digest to a friend and suggest that they subscribe at:
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Have a good week of training and/or racing.

Ken Parker
Runner's Web
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A running and triathlon resource portal
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*********************************************
RUNNER'S WEB AFFILIATE PROGRAMS:
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TrainingPeaks.com by Wes Hobson.
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Triathlon Meetup
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The Stretching Handbook:
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The Stretching Video in a DVD version. With the DVD version you're able to use
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