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.
The 2007 race date will be Saturday, June 23, 2007.
The prize money will be increased from $3,000 to $5,000 for open and masters
runners. The team competition will be expanded to
include Open, Club and University Teams.
More information will be posted at:
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:
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5. Toronto Waterfront Marathon. September 24, 2006.
http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/

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

7. Triple Your Endurance
The Ultimate Triathlete Training, Time-Shaving, Injury Healing, Mind Focusing,
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THIS WEEK:
NEW! Your chance to win free shoes for life!
Contest rules:
For US residents with US address only. No purchase necessary.
One winner will be selected in a random drawing on August 31st, 2006 from all
entries received by August 27, 2006. (Pearl Izumi
reserves the right to extend the entry deadline to a later date. The deadline
extension date will be posted in this section of the
contest rules no later than August 15, 2006.)
One Pearl Izumi® prize package will be awarded consisting of: 4 pairs of running
shoe, per year, for the life of the winner. Prizes
will be redeemed through the Pearl Izumi's web-site www.pearlizumi.com. The
winner will be given a custom Pearl Izumi on-line
account with USD credit towards 4 pairs annually of Pearl Izumi® running shoes
that they can select solely through the web-site.
Prize is non-transferable.
Sign up at: http://www.pearlizumiactive.com

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worthy of a Guest Column on the Runner's Web, email
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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

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

* Carmichael Training Systems
Carmichael Training Systems was founded in 1999 by Chris Carmichael.
From the beginning, the mission of the company has been to improve the lives of
individuals we work with through the application of
proper and effective fitness and competitive training techniques. Whether your
focus is recreational, advanced, or you are a
professional racer, the coaching methodology employed by CTS will make you a
better athlete. Check the latest monthly column from
CTS at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/cts_columns.html.

* Peak Performance Online
Peak Performance is a subscription-only newsletter for athletes, featuring the
latest research from the sports science world. We
cover the whole range of sports, from running and rowing to cycling and
swimming, and each issue is packed full of exclusive
information for anyone who's serious about sport. It's published 16 times a
year, including four special reports, by Electric Word
plc. Peak Performance is not available in the shops - only our subscribers are
able to access the valuable information we publish.
Check out our article archive from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/PPO_index.html

* Peak Running Performance
Peak Running Is The Nation's Most Advanced Running Newsletter. Rated as the #1
Running Publication by Road Runner Sports (Worlds
Largest Running Store) , Peak Running caters to the serious / dedicated runner.
Delivering world class running advice are some of
running's most recognizable athletes including Dr. Joe Vigil (US Olympic Coach),
Scott Tinley (2 Time Ironman Champ) Steve Scott (3 Time Olympian) and many more.
This bi-monthly newsletter has been around for over
13 years, and in the past two it has been awarded the "Golden Shoe Award" in
recognition of it's outstanding achievements.
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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
to RRNews.com.
Check out the article index at:
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THIS WEEK'S PERSONAL POSTINGS/RELEASES:
We have NO personal postings this week.


THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Multisport from NYC Triathlon Consulting Services: Triathlon Nutrition for
Peak Performance
2. Science of Sport: Antioxidants for Athletes
Reviewed by Bob Seebohar MS, RD, CSCS - Director of Sports Nutrition for the
University of Florida.
3. Athletics: Tapering for Half and Full Marathons
4. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine
5. Former swim coach plots route from knackery to winner's circle
6. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary
7. Go ahead, people, take it all off
That's pounds and inhibitions, of course. In increasingly popular striptease
workouts, they're the main targets.
8. Triathlon: 6 Steps to a Strong Year in Triathlon
9. From Runner's World
10. Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn: Inflammation and heart attacks
11. Study Reveals How Fish Oils Help the Heart
They contribute to better regulation of electrical activity.
12. The best running workout you've never done
13. A Review of Recent Vitamin C Research
14. To Pop Or Not?
15. Not all carbs are created equal
16. Ten Principles for Stretching Success
17. Acing Your Race
By Cheryl Bayuk for the July 2006 PTS Newsletter.
18. What Are You Drinking
A little beer or wine won't hurt your running (phew) - as long as you're smart
about it..
19. Training Investment Principles
20. Sustained Speed
21. Marriage on the Run
If opposites attract, what do two of a kind do?
22. Collapse in the Endurance Athlete
23. What is normal gas?
24. High-Sugar, Low-Caffeine 'Energy' Drinks Don't Work
Study shows they actually make you sleepier.
25. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Do you believe Floyd Landis is guilty of doping?"

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:
"How many miles per week did you average prior to your last marathon?"
Answers Percent
1. I have never run a marathon 15%
2. 100+ 0%
3. 80 - 100 20%
4. 70 - 79 0%
5. 60 - 69 8%
6. 50 - 59 17%
7. 40 - 49 14%
8. < 40 25%

FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: Canada Running Series - A Selection of Canada's
Best Runs.
The Canada Running Series / Circuit du Canada is a selection of Canada's best
runs. From highly trained elites to fitness runners,
there is something for everyone in the Canada Running Series / Circuit du
Canada!
The site contains a calendar of races, results, news and photos.
National Elite Athletes compete on a points system-based competition for the top
10 Male & Female runners in CRS events. The top 10
runners in the CRS featured distance receive points.
For more information...
Visit the site at:
http://www.canadarunningseries.com


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


BOOK OF THE WEEK: Women Who Run
By Shanti Sosienski
"It's hard to believe now, but just forty years ago, women weren't allowed to
run long-distance races..."
Women run for all kinds of reasons. We run for health, to ease tension, for
strength, to challenge ourselves, to be social with
friends, as professional athletes or the dream of being one, to turn our minds
on, and to turn them off. Whether running a marathon,
taking a quick jog around the neighborhood, or trying to reach the top of Pikes
Peak, women of all ages and abilities have
discovered running. In Women Who Run a wide range of women, including Olympians,
marathoners, ultra runners, young track phenoms,
and recreational runners, talk about why they run, what drives them, and what
continues to spark their interest in the sport.
Women Who Run features Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon;
Louise Cooper, breast cancer survivor and finisher of
the grueling 135-mile Badwater Marathon; Kristin Armstrong, who found solace and
camaraderie in running with other women
post-divorce; Olympic runner and two-time LA Marathon winner and Kenyan Lornah
Kiplagat, Wall Street Journal reporter and Muslim
women's activist, Asra Nomani; Pam Reed who ran 300-miles in one run—and many
more.
This book will inspire and motivate you to get off the couch and find your inner
runner.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/RunnersWeb_External_Links.html?http://www.amaz\
on.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1580051839/runnersweb/102-01
82896-9006569?v=glance&s=books
[Multiline URL]



THIS WEEK'S FEATURES:

1. Multisport from NYC Triathlon Consulting Services: Triathlon Nutrition for
Peak Performance
By Jaclyn (Jackie) Maurer, PhD, RD
As a sports nutritionist I am often asked, "What should I eat to compete at my
best?" The answer to this is complicated and depends
upon several factors, including:
1. Type of training activity (i.e. endurance vs. power)
2. Duration of activity
3. Stage of training and/or intensity of training (i.e. off or in-season, rest
or competition)
4. Personal food preferences
While there is no one answer or diet plan that will work for every triathlete,
there are some guidelines that all triathletes can
follow when planning a peak performance diet.
Components of a Peak Performance Diet:
The components of a PPD center around three main things: Quantity, Mix, and
Timing.
1. QUANTITY - Quantity refers to the amount of food and drink a triathlete
should consume, or more simply, their total calorie
needs.
Skimping on calories? This may cause your body to break down muscle protein,
which can hinder performance.
A triathletes total calorie (or energy) needs vary due to changes in training
load and intensity, but meeting daily calorie needs is
essential to not only providing the energy needed to train and compete, but also
to spare the breakdown of muscle protein.
Triathletes should work with a sports nutritionist to determine what their
individual calorie needs are for a) training, b)
competitions, c) rest days, and d) variations of all three.
One way for triathletes to gauge if they are meeting their daily calories needs
is by keeping a weekly performance and weight log.
If weight is remaining stable and performance doesn't decline, this is a good
indication that daily calories needs are being met.
2. MIX - Mix refers to the combination of protein, carbohydrate, fat and fluid
that should make up the daily caloric intake of a
triathlete.
When choosing foods and drinks, a triathlete should focus not only on getting
the right quantity of carbohydrate, protein, fat and
fluid but also the best quality. Making quality food choices includes choosing
more nutrient dense (nutritionally dense) food
options. For example, a potato is a carbohydrate that can be prepared in many
ways. Triathletes following a peak performance diet
plan should choose the baked potato over fries, since the baked potato is more
nutrient dense (i.e. has more nutrients for the
amount of calories it contains). Both low-fat milk and lemonade are fluids, but
milk is a more nutrient dense fluid choice, because
in addition to water, it provides the body with high quality protein, vitamins,
minerals, and carbohydrate.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060724_NYTCS_Triathlon_Nutritio\
n.html


2. Science of Sport: Antioxidants for Athletes:
Reviewed by Bob Seebohar MS, RD, CSCS - Director of Sports Nutrition for the
University of Florida.
Intro: Every athlete probably knows of antioxidants for their health benefits,
but can antioxidants make an athlete faster? How do
antioxidants fit into an athlete's regimen for performance and recovery? What
exactly is an antioxidant? Tending to look first at
products for performance and then at recovery systems, athletes often overlook
antioxidants. Crucial not only for the health of the
cardiovascular system, they can also aid in performance and recovery. For many
years scientists as well as consumers have known of
the antioxidant powers of vitamins E & C and selenium. Today, this category has
expanded to include oligomeric proanthocyanidins
(OPCs), Alpha Lipoic Acid, grape skin, grape seed, beta-carotene, lutein,
tocopherols, tocotrienols and various other compounds. It
can certainly be confusing since so many supplements, both traditional and newly
introduced, can be classified as antioxidants.
What is oxidative stress and how does it affect me? Oxidative stress is the sum
of all chemical reactions giving rise to free
radicals or “reactive oxygen species” (ROS) in the body. Free radicals (or ROS)
are molecules containing oxygen that have unpaired
electrons in the outer orbital. These unpaired electrons are what make the
molecule reactive which eventually can lead to cell
damage in the body. Many diseases and disorders are the result of damage to
cellular components by free radicals. These free
radicals can cause damage to cellular proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and DNA.
The resulting stress contributes to tissue damage and
eventually leads to cell death (referred to as lipid peroxidation). In addition
to damage from free radicals, oxygen that simply
exists within aerobic systems -- like the human body -- creates toxic
metabolites, which in turn cause damage to cells. ROS are
generated when the body is exposed to a variety of different conditions and
environments (see table 1 for examples). But it's not
all bad news. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase, among
others, are naturally occurring antioxidant enzymes which
combat the effects of ROS in the body.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060724_ERB_Antioxidants.htm


3. Athletics: Tapering for Half and Full Marathons:
By Coach Brendon, EnduranceCoach.com
Getting fit and fast is only part of the equation to having a great day. Not
only do you need to ensure that you peak at the right
time, which is on the day of your event, but you also need to arrive fully
recovered, that is fresh and without any feelings of
fatigue. Peaking and Tapering is about ensuring full recovery while maintaining
performance adaptations and it's a fine balance.
Why do you need to Taper?
You need to reduce your training volume (taper) to ensure full recovery. Running
training causes muscle damage, fatigue and also
depletes carbohydrate stores in muscle. You need to ensure that these factors
are reduced as much as possible while at the same time
you need to make sure that the adaptations your body has made from your training
are not lost.
Ensuring Full Recovery
You need to ensure full recovery for a number of different body systems. Lets
take a closer look at the key factors you need to work
on for full recovery in the taper:
Muscle Damage
By reducing training, and in particular long or intense speed training sessions,
you will arrive at you event with fresh legs. Quite
often marathoners and ˝ marathoners find that it is their legs that give out in
the latter part of a race. Starting with muscle
soreness or muscle fatigue will increase the risk.
Fatigue
By fatigue I mean general fatigue from lots of hard training over a prolonged
period (10 weeks plus). A proper taper will give you
some mental drive, a very necessary component to ensure that you can focus for
your event and push hard in the closing stages. Your
central nervous system needs several days of light training as a minimum and the
longer your buildup the longer the taper needs to
be to remove this. One way to do this without getting lethargic is to do wind
sprints in the final few days. These are short efforts
at or faster than your projected race intensity (PRI) see the programme below.
Carbohydrate Stores
Your body can only store a limited amount of carbohydrate in muscle (600g or so)
and so your final week should focus on maximizing
this. You therefore need to ensure that you do keep eating well, but you can
overdo it. If you have been training hard you will be
eating more food than usual, so when you reduce your training in the taper, most
athletes would be advised to keep their energy
stores up by keeping the same eating patterns. This also follows the age old
rule of not changing anything close to your event. By
also timing your meals immediately (<30min) after your training, you will also
ensure that you store less of your food as body fat
and more as muscle glycogen, which is good general training advise anyway
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_200607204_ECoach_Tapering.html


4. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine:

* Intervals Teach Your Muscles to Use Lactic Acid
You exercise so intensely that your muscles burn and you gasp for breath. Then
you slow down for a minute or two, catch your
breath, and then go very fast again. This training
technique has been used in all endurance sports since the 1920's. Now George
Brooks of the University of California at Berkeley has
shown why interval training makes you a better athlete (American Journal of
Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, June 2006).
Inside each muscle cell are mitochondria, the little furnaces that burn fuel
for energy. A major fuel for your muscles during
exercise is the sugar, glucose. In a series of chemical
reactions, glucose is broken down step by step, with each step releasing energy.
When enough oxygen is available, the glucose
releases all of its energy until only carbon dioxide and water remain; these are
blown off through your lungs. However, if not
enough oxygen is available, the chemical reactions stop at lactic acid which
accumulates in the muscles and spills over into the
bloodstream. Lactic acid makes muscles acidic and causes a burning feeling.
This recent research shows that lactic acid is the most
efficient source of energy for muscles. Anything that helps muscles to break
down lactic acid faster will make you a better athlete
because it will increase your endurance and allow you to move faster when you
are tired.
Since lactic acid is burned for energy in the mitochondria, anything that
enlarges the mitochondria builds a bigger furnace and
helps to increase endurance. Lactic acid is carried from the cells into the
mitochondria by special proteins called lactate
transporter molecules, so anything that increases these molecules will build
endurance. An enzyme called lactic acid dehydrogenase
is needed to start the reaction, so anything that increases this enzyme will
also help. Interval training does all three: it
enlarges the furnace (mitochondria), increases lactic acid transporter
molecules, and increases the amount of lactic acid
dehydrogenase.
* Energy Bars? Power Bars? Don't Believe It.
Do you think an Energy Bar will make you energetic, or that a Power Bar will
build muscle? That's what their marketers want you to
believe.
All foods give you calories (energy), but if you don't move and burn the
calories you eat, you will store them as fat. How many
Energy Bars do you think they'd sell if they called them Calorie Bars?
If you're running a marathon, cycling 100 miles or hiking all day, energy bars
are a convenient way to get the calories you need.
But if you're sitting at a desk feeling sleepy, the last thing you need is an
"Energy Bar"! That blast of refined carbohydrates and
sugar will raise your blood sugar, you pump out insulin, store the calories as
fat and feel tired and hungry again in ˝ an hour.
Protein does not build muscle. YOU have to work against resistance to build
muscle. When you build muscle, you use protein from the
food you eat, but any extra protein you eat is stored as fat. A reasonably
varied diet provides plenty of protein. If you are doing
heavy weight training, you can eat a little more tuna, milk, beans or any other
food source of protein. Protein bars, shakes and
supplements are not better than food.
Energy bars are made of sugar, refined carbohydrates and fats, fortified with
small amounts of vitamins and minerals– the
nutritional equivalent of a cookie and about 1/6 of a multivitamin pill. Protein
bars add milk or soy powder. They are not more
nutritious than a bowl of cereal, and they cost a lot more.
Energy & Power Bars - $8.00-$20.00/pound $1-4/serving
Breakfast Bars - $6.00/pound $.75-$1/serving
Oatmeal Cookies $3.00/pound $.30/serving
Cheerios - $2.50/pound $.20/serving
Vitamin pill $.16/day
Whole grains - $0.89/pound $.05/serving
No bars provide "complete nutrition," and should not be used as substitutes for
meals. They will not make you more muscular, thinner
or more energetic. Eat a varied diet wit h plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole
grains, beans and other seeds, and treat these bars
as cookies or candy bars – for occasional treats or convenient snacks during
endurance sports.
Before you fall for the ridiculous claims about bars with added ingredients such
as gingko biloba, that are supposed to make you
think better, boost immunity or offer any other health benefit, read report
#8527 on Functional Foods.
Here's what the promoter of "Think" bars says about his product: ".. If somebody
feels great after a Think! Bar, who cares if that's
just a placebo effect?" (1) Is that how you want to spend your money?
1) Quoted in Nutrition Action Newsletter, December 2000

* Mitral Valve Prolapse
One in ten Americans suffers from mitral valve prolapse and the vast majority
have no symptoms and will never know that they have
it. Valves are located in your heart to keep blood from backing up.
With aging, some of these valves can stretch and to close completely, so they
allow a small amount of blood to leak backwards. This
is usually harmless, but can be associated with an irregular heart beat or chest
pain caused by a stretching of the muscles that
hold the valves in place. Patients with mitral valve prolapse usually do not
seek out medical help unless a doctor hears a murmur or
click in the heart (85 percent), the patient suffers from chest pain (31percent)
or palpitations (40 percent), suddenly passes out
(40 percent), feels excessively tired (22 percent) or is short of breath (10.5
percent). Mitral valve prolapse is hereditary for one
patient in five.
When germs get into the bloodstream, they can stick to the rough edges of
prolapsed mitral valves and cause an infection, so doctors
recommend that people who have this condition take antibiotics whenever germs
can enter their bloodstreams, such as during dental or
other surgical procedures or when they have a cold. The vast majority of people
with mitral valve prolapse do not need any
treatment, but those who are bothered by irregular heart beats or chest pain are
often given beta blockers, such as propranolol to
control symptoms.
1) W Rokicki, J Krzystolikladzinska, B Goc. Mitral valve prolapse syndrome in
children. Acta Cardiologica 50: 2 (1995):147-153.
2) Zuppirolo et al. American J. of Cardiology 1995(May);75:1028.
[Runner's Web Publisher's Note: I was diagnosed with MVP 15+ years ago and the
condition has remained stable since. I have had no
restrictions placed on my lifestyle]

* Heat Stroke:
Nobody should ever die of heat stroke, a sudden uncontrolled rise in body
temperature that causes you to pass out, because your body
sends you warning signals as your temperature rises.
In 1965, I almost died from heat stroke in an unimportant local race in
Arlington, Virginia. I am still embarrassed by the stupidity
that I showed when I ignored all the warning signs as my temperature continued
to climb. First your muscles are affected, then your
circulation and then your brain. As your temperature starts to rise, your
muscles feel like a hot poker is pressing against them.
It is normal for intense exercise to make your muscles burn, but hard exercise
does not cause painful burning that feels like fire.
Furthermore, the burning of hard exercise is relieved by slowing down. The
muscle burning of impending heat stroke does not go away
when you slow down.
As your temperature rises further, the air that you breathe feels like it's
coming from a furnace and no matter how rapidly and
deeply you try to breathe, you can't take in enough air. When you exercise
intensely, you can become very short of breath, but the
air you breathe will not burn your lungs. Burning in your lungs, not relieved by
slowing down, signals impending heat stroke.
When you feel that the air is so hot that it burns your lungs, stop exercising.
This sign means that your heart cannot pump enough
blood from your exercising muscles to your skin so heat is accumulating rapidly
and your temperature is rising rapidly. Your
temperature is now over 104 and continuing to exercise will raise your body
temperature even further and it will start to cook your
brain.
Your head will start to hurt, you'll hear a ringing in your ears, you may feel
dizzy, you may have difficulty seeing and then you
will end up unconscious. Your temperature is now over 106 and your brain is
being cooked just like the colorless portion of an egg
turns white when it hits the griddle.
Almost all cases of heat stroke occur when you suddenly increase the intensity
of your exercise, like the finishing sprint. of a
long distance running or cycling race, or an intense run down the field in
soccer.
When a person passes out from heatstroke, get medical help immediately. Any
delay in cooling can kill him. Carry the victim rapidly
into the shade and place him on his back with his head down and feet up so blood
can circulate to his brain. Cool him by pouring on
him any liquids you can find or spray him with a hose. It doesn't make any
difference what you pour on him: milk, Coca Cola, beer,
or anything else. Evaporation of any liquid cools. As you cool him, he will then
wake up and talk to you and act like nothing has
happened. While he's sitting or lying there, his temperature can rise again and
he can go into convulsions or pass out again, so he
must be watched for at least an hour.
When you hear of a highly conditioned athlete dying of heat stroke, think of
cocaine and amphetamines. An article in the Archives of
Internal Medicine shows that a single nasal spray of cocaine blocks blood flow
to the skin and sweating, to prevent a person from
cooling his own body.
During exercise, more than 70 percent of the energy used to drive your muscles
is lost as heat, so you heart has to pump extra blood
from your hot muscles to your skin where you sweat, sweat evaporates, and cools
your skin to dissipate the heat. The harder you
exercise, the more heat your muscles produce. Everyone who exercises,
particularly in hot weather, has to sweat to keep your body
temperature from rising too high. Cocaine and amphetamines can kill exercisers
by blocking sweating and blood flow to the skin.
Mechanism of cocaine-induced hyperthermia in humans. Annals of Internal
Medicine, 2002, Vol 136, Iss 11, pp 785-791. CG Crandall, W
Vongpatanasin, RG Victor. Crandall CG, Presbyterian Med Ctr, Inst Exercise &
Environm Med, 7232 Greenville Ave, Dallas,TX 75231 USA

* Q: Dear Dr. Mirkin: Does exercise strengthen bones?
A: When you strengthen your muscles, you also strengthen your bones. If you're
not exercising, regardless of your age, you are
setting your bones up for osteoporosis. A study from Deakin University in
Melbourne, Australia shows that lifetime sports and
leisure activity participation is associated with greater bone size, quality and
strength in older men. The older men who exercised
regularly when they were younger have stronger, bigger and tougher bones that
are harder to break. (Osteoporosis International, June
2006).
Weight-bearing exercise in early life helps strengthen bones for later life, and
exercising to strengthen muscles also strengthens
the bones on which these same muscles attach.
Another study showed that professional tennis players' bones in the arm that
holds the racquet are much larger and stronger than the
bones in the other arm. The arm bones are bigger, denser and stronger in
athletes who whose activities involve upper body strength,
such as rugby, rock climbing, kayaking, and weight lifting, while leg bone
mineral density was highest in athletes whose activities
included both running and strength training.

* Coaches Believe Stretching Prevents Injuries
There is little scientific evidence that stretching helps to prevent athletic
injuries. However, a survey of high school coaches in
Michigan shows that almost all stretch their athletes for an average of 13
minutes prior to practice or competition. Almost 95
percent of the coaches believe that stretching helps to prevent injuries, and
nearly 73 percent feel that there are no drawbacks to
stretching (Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, May 2006). They felt that their
personal experience and scientific evidence support
their stretching practices.
Before you decide that scientific research is more correct than coaches'
opinions, realize that many athletic principles were used
by coaches long before the scientific community showed evidence to support them.
Runners have used interval training for more than
90 years and the first scientific evidence to explain its benefits was published
just this year.
Muscles tear because the force on them is greater than their inherent strength,
so injuries should be prevented by strengthening
muscles, not by stretching them. There is data to
show that stretching elongates muscles and tendons to allow a greater torque
about a joint, which allows athletes to throw further,
lift heavier, run faster, and jump higher. There is no good scientific data to
show that stretching prevents injuries, but it may.
Coaches and scientists do agree that you should not stretch cold muscles, so if
you choose to stretch before your workout, warm up
your muscles first.

* Dear Dr. Mirkin: Does your heart get tired during exercise?
A healthy heart is so strong that it is almost never a cause of tiredness during
exercise. Tiredness during exercise comes from your
muscles. They run out of fuel or out of oxygen. Skeletal muscles use both fat
and sugar for energy. When your muscles run out of
their stored sugar supply, called glycogen, they cannot contract and function
adequately. You feel tired, your muscles hurt and you
have difficulty coordinating them. On the other hand, your heart muscle gets
energy directly from fat and sugar in your blood and
even from a breakdown product of metabolism called lactic acid. It is virtually
impossible for the heart muscle to run out of fuel
unless you are starving to death.
A healthy heart doesn't run out of oxygen either. Oxygen comes to the heart
directly through arteries on its outside surface. If
these arteries are not plugged up with plaques, they are large enough to supply
all the oxygen that the heart can possibly need.
However, fatty plaques in arteries can block the flow of blood. When the heart
does not get enough blood, it will hurt and can start
to beat irregularly. Exercise won't make a healthy heart hurt. If you develop
chest pain during exercise, something is wrong and you
need to check with a doctor immediately.


5. Former swim coach plots route from knackery to winner's circle:
ON A remote property deep in Sydney's south-west, the sports science that helped
Australia's swimmers to take on the world is being
applied to racehorses.
Former Olympic swimming coach Brian Sutton is rescuing horses from the knackery
and taking them to the winner's circle. He's also
using his techniques to help rehabilitate horses that belong to other trainers.
Among his success stories is My Baby Samira, a horse who was written off
following two crippling bouts of ligament damage in her
front leg. Under Sutton she returned to the track and, in March, won at $71. The
methods the 44-year-old is employing are the same
ones he used to get the best out of his private swimming squad, which included
Olympic medallists Elka Graham, Scott Miller, Kirsten
Thompson and Chris Fydler.
"Trying to apply that science to another animal, not just another athlete, is a
great challenge," he said. "I get up every day and
just want to go for it . . . I feel like Forrest Gump; life is like a box of
chocolates because I don't know what I'm going to get."
In a sport loath to break from tradition, Sutton is definitely unconventional.
He downloads the data from a heart monitor to gauge
the horse's heart beat at full gallop and then at rest. He takes regular blood
tests, and computer-generated graphs allow him to
compare training sessions. Each horse has an individual meal plan and the
mineral and chemical content of their food is analysed by
his computer.
More...from the Age at:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/horse-racing/former-swim-coach-plots-route-from-kn\
ackery-to-winners-circle/2006/07/22/1153166631383.ht
ml


6. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Above Bored
Bob Carman was one of the first adult runners I ever met. He ran primarily on
the roads and as a way of life, not just as a means to
a racing end.
Carman was then a college professor who, in his 30s, seemed ancient to me. At 20
I wondered about his secret for running at such an
advanced age but didn't dare ask him at the time.
Years later, while compiling a booklet called Road Racers and their Training, I
finally asked. "How do you avoid getting bored with
your running?" was how the questionnaire read.
Other runners gave specific and sometimes detailed answers. Carman simply wrote,
"I've never found running boring."
His line comes back to me whenever I hear the boring refrain that running is a
bore. It appeared most recently in my hometown
newspaper.
A recreation writer took a swipe at one form of running to promote another. His
story dealt with the serious fun-havers of the Hash
House Harriers, who called themselves "drinkers with a running problem."
The writer asked, "Do you feel your running life getting a little boring? Are
you finding yourself stuck in the same rut, running
the same route with little or no variation, time after time?
"If you're like many people, your running routines probably fall into the 'same
time, same station' pattern like that comforting yet
bland feeling you get from watching the same old reruns on TV."
Outside observers of running, former runners and even some minimalist runners
will nod in agreement. They'll tell you, "I never
run/used to run/only run a little because it's sooo borrring."
The non-runner mistakes our look of concentration for boredom. The lapsed runner
works too hard to get fit again and mistakes
discomfort for boredom. The casual runner stops after a mile or two, mistaking
this warmup phase (which can be mildly uncomfortable
and therefore "boring") for real running (the good part that starts where this
person stops).
People who talk the most about running being boring are those who run the least,
or not at all. Those who run the most miles, or
years, use the B-word the least, if ever.
I've never run big mileage but have kept touring my neighborhood for a long
time. I'm the "same time, same station" runner that the
local newspaper writer described. I run the same handful of routes repeatedly,
at the same hour of the day.
I find the sameness of this routine to be, to borrow this writer's word,
"comforting." Yet the runs themselves don't have the feel
of "old reruns on TV."
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2066


7. Go ahead, people, take it all off:
That's pounds and inhibitions, of course. In increasingly popular striptease
workouts, they're the main targets.
I'M bumping. I'm grinding. I'm taking it off. But there's no two-drink minimum
and nobody's waving dollar bills at me. I'm in a gym,
not a strip club.
It had taken some courage to show up at 24 Hour Fitness in West Hills and pull
off clothing — as a dancer, I'm more of an old sofa
than a Chippendale. But cardio striptease is supposed to be the newest way to
get fit, so there I was at the new "24 Tease" class on
a recent weekday evening. (I'd worn a couple of extra layers, even in the
steaming Valley heat, just to have something to peel off.)
One other male — and 16 women — had gathered in a large room with a polished
wooden floor surrounded by mirrors, the usual home of
step and aerobic classes, to learn striptease moves and get a workout. I tried
to hide in the back of the room, next to the spinning
machines.
Although normally about 90% of the participants in group exercise classes are
women, adding the strip element cuts male
participation to 5%, instructor Tina Kendall said. "Men's perception of group
exercise is that it is dancing, not a workout," she
said.
It's true that for many men a liberal infusion of beer or the hope that dancing
is foreplay is needed before they'll get up and
shimmy. And the Hair Toss is especially difficult for guys like me who don't
have tresses like Fabio's.
But striptease workouts are gaining mainstream acceptance.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-he-striptease24jul24,1,7443884\
.story?coll=la-health-fitness-news


8. Triathlon: 6 Steps to a Strong Year in Triathlon:
From: Jason Gootman, MS, CSCS & Will Kirousis, BS, CSCS
Tri-Hard Endurance Sports Coaching
As we embark on a new year, many of you are feeling empowered to make this your
best year yet in triathlon. Many of you are really
looking to have a great year. This of course means something different to each
of you, but nonetheless many of you are led to the
question “What can I do to make this a great year?” Hopefully, you are already
looking past the traps of quick, easy improvement
promised by a piece of equipment or a single kind of workout and are ready to
look at some ways to genuinely improve yourself in
ways that will allow you to move faster than you currently can. If you are, here
are six steps you can take to create personal
success for yourself in triathlons this year—six steps to help you become a
faster triathlete!
1. Identify your reasons for racing triathlons.
You need to ask yourself one very important question: Why am I doing this? Take
some time and reflect on this question. If it helps
you, let your thoughts out onto paper or discuss your thoughts with a friend,
family member, or fellow triathlete also reflecting on
his/her reasons for doing triathlons. There are no right or wrong reasons. It is
just important to know your reasons. Ask yourself
the following questions:
a. What do I most enjoy about triathlon training and racing?
b. What are the best feelings I get to experience in my triathlon training and
racing?
c. When I first “fell in love” with triathlon, what was it that felt so great?
Your answers to these questions will help you get
closer to your personal core reasons for participating in triathlons. Your
reflection may tug at your heart a bit and remind you
what matters most to you about participating in triathlons. All together, this
process can help you to find out or to remind
yourself why you like triathlons so much and why you are looking to have a great
year.
You may be wondering what the heck this has to do with racing faster. The answer
is you need to know what is most important to you
in triathlon in order to structure your training and racing in a way that will
allow you to experience and achieve what matters to
you. If you don’t really know what matters to you, you can’t really have any
goals that have meaning to you. You will be left to
pick goals out of thin air or to use someone else’s goals. But by knowing what
matters most to you about your participation in
triathlons, you can deliberately go out and make it happen, consciously taking
the steps you need to.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060724_THS_6Steps.html


9. From Runner's World (www.RunnersWorld.com):
* Coach's Corner
Experimentation:
"Be open to new ideas. Don't stubbornly cling to old ones because they're
convenient." -Coach Hank Lange
* Injury Prevention
"Guilt has injured more runners than potholes or tree roots. Look at your
workouts and races objectively and if things aren't going
that well it's okay to take a break. We often think the opposite because of
guilt. We think we're not working at it hard enough--and
throw ourselves into hard workout after hard workout after hard workout."
- Keith Brantly, a 1996 Olympic marathoner and the 1998 Pittsburgh Marathon
champion
* Performance Nutrition
No breakfast?
Don't even think about it. Overweight people skip breakfast more than any other
meal. Have raisin bran or oatmeal; both are high in
fiber. Studies show that when you eat a high-fiber breakfast, you'll eat 100 to
150 fewer calories over breakfast and lunch
* Editor's Advice
"Since there is safety in numbers, contact your local Road Runners Club
(rrca.org) to help you hook up with other runners in your
area. Or find a partner of the four-legged variety. Dogs make great running and
walking companions, and they'll discourage would-be
attackers." -Christine Fennessy, RW editorial intern
* Training Talk
If you are running in hopes of achieving a personal record (PR), choose a race
that will optimize your chances. Flat courses are
generally better than hilly ones. Many people can run faster at low altitudes
than at higher ones. -From The Complete Book of
Women's Running by Dagny Scott





10. Technical Q&A with Lennard Zinn: Inflammation and heart attacks:
I promised in my July 3 column to follow up about bruising, inflammation, Tyler
Hamilton's lower back and heart attacks. I set it
aside for the Tour, but I've been reminded enough that it's time to spell it
out.
I was in Europe at the time, having come over with my wife to visit a dear
friend in Germany who had just barely survived a massive
heart attack a few weeks before. He is an extremely strong man, former Olympian
and many-time German national champion in judo who
was almost never sick. He was one of the last people you might expect to suffer
a heart attack, as is Hugh Walton, another good
friend and champion cyclist from Boulder, who survived a heart attack a few
years ago at age 44.
It was the wee hours of the morning of a planned ride up the Stelvio pass, and I
was preparing to bail and drive up it instead. My
right leg, the thigh of which I had smashed in a whitewater kayaking accident
two weeks prior, hurt mightily; in fact, it felt like
there was hot liquid filled with broken glass filling my entire leg whenever I
moved it.
So what the heck does this, heart attacks and riding over fallen riders have to
do with each other?
Well, Hugh told me after his heart attack, which had occurred on a hot day
during a road race at the U.S. Air Force Academy in
Colorado Springs, that current thinking on heart attacks points to inflammation
as a big culprit. And I was dealing with
inflammation in an unprecedented way with my right leg, in which pooled-up blood
was trapped in the fascia of a deep, badly bruised
muscle. Inflammation also is something that both the bruised riders Brian rides
over - and Brian himself, if he does not make it
over them - must deal with. It certainly was something Tyler dealt with when he
flipped over and landed on his back during that
high-speed crash in the 2004 Tour.
Inflammation also must be considered in Hugh's case, because the usual
heart-attack cause - cholesterol-choked arteries - does not
work with him. Indeed, he had been told after a physical only a few months prior
that he had the heart, circulatory system and
respiratory system of a man half his age. Subsequent investigation of his
arteries with a fiber-optic camera showed them to be clean
as a whistle.
Before his heart attack, Walton, who had been riding hard in pro races with the
intention of repeating as world masters road
champion, had been hit in the chest by a full beer can chucked from a car while
he was riding and had crashed hard on his chest
during a finishing sprint in a criterium. These incidents, combined with heat,
hard work, exhaustion and dehydration during his race
at the Air Force Academy, seem to have been risk factors helping lead up to a
blockage that cut off the blood supply to a third of
Hugh's heart, killing the oxygen-starved muscles of that part of his heart.
Between cycling, cross-country ski racing and kayaking, I seem to forever be
nursing injuries and battling inflammation these days.
Being the body's response to injury, inflammation does not seem to be avoidable
at my age, as long as I am keeping up an active
lifestyle. I depend on ice almost every day, sometimes even resorting to a
course of steroids to deal with inflammation from a
particularly stubborn injury. But I don't like this thought that all of this
inflammation might not be good for my heart, either.
I don't think that this is leading to a neat package to wrap up with a
witticism. It's just a reality to be lived with. And it's on
my mind when I think about cyclists crashing into each other at high speed on
pavement.
From Velo News at:
http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/10580.0.html


11. Study Reveals How Fish Oils Help the Heart:
They contribute to better regulation of electrical activity.
For older adults, fish oils help the heart by regulating its electrical
activity, a new study indicates.
And just a couple of meals a week of the right kind of fish -- rich in omega-3
fatty acids, baked or boiled, but not fried -- will
do the job, according to the report in the Aug. 1 Journal of the American
College of Cardiology.
The finding "supports studies suggesting that fish intake reduces the risk of
sudden death," said study lead author Dr. Dariush
Mozaffarian, a cardiologist and instructor of medicine at Brigham and Women's
Hospital, in Boston.
It has long been known that eating fish such as tuna, mackerel, lake trout and
salmon, which are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, is
good for the heart. Mozaffarian and his colleagues set out to discover why.
They analyzed data from more than 5,000 men and women aged 65 and older in the
federally funded Cardiovascular Heart Study. The
participants were asked whether they ate fish, what kind, and how often. The
researchers compared the answers to those dietary
questions with electrocardiogram tests of the study participants.
What they found was that eating fish was associated with a lower heart rate, a
slower interval between when the heart received a
signal to pump blood and when blood was pumped, and a lower likelihood that the
heart would take a long time to reset its electrical
system after a beat.
More...from Health Scout at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/533965/main.html


12. The best running workout you've never done:
The best runners have two key characteristics: a high VO2max (i.e. a high
capacity to consume oxygen during running) and great
energy economy (i.e. the ability to minimize energy use during running).
One of the best predictors of running performance is a variable that puts VO2max
and economy together: namely, velocity at VO2max --
or vVO2max -- which is the slowest sustained running pace at which a runner
reaches maximum oxygen consumption (or 100% VO2max) in a
standard "graded exercise test" performed on a treadmill. For example, suppose
that during testing it is discovered that your VO2max
is 55 liters per minute per kg of bodyweight. If this rate of oxygen consumption
is first achieved at a running velocity of 10 mph
and shows no increase at higher running speeds, then your vVO2max is 10 mph.
An improvement in either your VO2max or your running economy will increase your
vVO2max (as well as the duration you can sustain
this pace), and this, in turn, will improve your running performance in races
more than any other factor. So what's the best way to
increase your vVO2max? Actually, the best way is simply to run a lot. But
supposing you're already doing this, there is one specific
type of workout that boosts vVO2max better than any other, and chances are
you're not doing it and you've never even heard of it.
The name of the workout is Billat's 30-30, after its creator, Veronique Billat,
an exercise physiologist at the University of Ille
in France. Several years ago Billat set a goal of trying to create workout
formats that would allow runners to spend the greatest
total amount of time at VO2max and would therefore presumably produce the most
powerful boosting effect on VO2max and economy.
Billat deduced that runners seeking to maximize workout time spent at VO2max
should run at vVO2max and no faster because they would
fatigue more quickly at faster speeds. (Remember, vVO2max represents the slowest
running pace at which VO2max is reached.) Her next
move was a stroke of genius. Billat knew that a runner's rate of oxygen
consumption remains at or near 100% VO2max for as long as
15-20 seconds after he or she stops running at vVO2max, or slows down from this
pace. Billat realized that a well-designed workout
could exploit this lag phenomenon to allow runners to further increase time
spent at VO2max.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13368


13. A Review of Recent Vitamin C Research:
It seems that every year more and more research is published about vitamins,
especially vitamin C. How can you keep up with it all?
It’s not easy. However, my colleagues Tim N. Ziegenfuss, Ph.D., and Jamie
Landis, M,D., Ph.D., have written a review which will
appear in the journal Current Sports Medicine Reports (Vol. 5, No. 4, 2006), and
examines recent key research conducted on vitamin
C.
It’s important to understand vitamin C’s role in human health. The chief role of
vitamin C, also known as ascorbate and ascorbic
acid, is as a water-soluble antioxidant. Vitamin C is also required for the
maintenance of normal connective tissue, for wound
healing and for the remodeling of bone. Vitamin C is also needed as a cofactor
in the synthesis of epinephrine (adrenalin) and bile
acids, as well as thyroxin (thyroid hormone) synthesis, amino acid metabolism,
strengthening resistance to infection, and aiding in
the absorption of iron.1 This array of mechanisms contributes to vitamin C’s
impact on many major health problems Americans face.
Diabetes
When excess glucose (blood sugar) binds with proteins in the blood, diabetics
experience the characteristic and sometimes
life-threatening complications of diabetes. Also, oxidative stress plays a role
in the disease progression of diabetes. The good
news is that antioxidants like vitamin C can reduce the binding of glucose to
proteins and help counter oxidative stress.
One diabetic condition linked to vitamin C is diabetic retinopathy, a
progressive eye disease that can cause decreased vision and
blindness. In a large study of over 1,300 subjects with Type 2 diabetes,
long-term users of vitamin C, vitamin E or multis had a
two-fold lower risk of prevalent retinopathy, compared with nonusers.2 Diabetics
are also at an increased risk of cardiovascular
disease (CVD). Although some researchers concluded a high vitamin C intake from
supplements is associated with an increased risk of
cardiovascular disease mortality in postmenopausal women with diabetes,3 other
researchers presented data indicating that vitamin C
supplementation (as well as vitamin E and alpha-lipoic acid) decreases oxidative
stress and aids the management of diabetic CVD, and
actually promotes vascular benefits of insulin in Type 2 diabetics.4,5,6
More...from HSR at:
http://www.hsrmagazine.com/articles/681training.html


14. To Pop Or Not?
Blisters are considered to be one of the most common sporting injuries. No one
seems immune to them and they can often strike when
least expected - at times putting an end to what could be a good race. However,
we all have our own little remedies and
prevention/good luck rituals which each of us say is the best one (although,
they never seem to work for anybody else). Now I'm
going to give my 2 cents worth.
A blister is a direct result of a combination of friction and an excessively
moist environment, which may cause a separation between
the epidermis and the dermis (layers of the skin). As a response to this, fluid
will enter the site and increase the pressure in the
area, thus resulting in the blister. If blood vessels are damaged from the
friction this will develop into a blood blister and that
is when it can get messy and potentially dangerous.
It is common for endurance runners to develop blisters over the course of a race
such as a marathon, but to rarely have them during
training - I can imagine you all nodding your heads now. The reason for this is
that in a race situation you often perspire more and
are pouring gallons of water over your body during the event. This fluid
eventually flows down into your shoes and forms nice
puddles around your toes - combining this with the associated friction from a
higher pace may be sufficient to form blisters.
Blisters do develop in other parts of the body but don't ask me to look at them
for you. I only look at feet.
More...from TriFuel at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/health/to-pop-or-not-001493.php


15. Not all carbs are created equal:
By Ilana Katz M.S., R.D., L.D.
Carbohydrates are the building blocks of all plant life. They include fruits,
vegetables, grains and starches. Note that "carbs" are
expressed in plural, because there are different types, and different carbs are
treated differently by our bodies with varying
nutritional values.
Some carbs are digestible while others aren't; some are considered complex,
while others are simple; and some contain soluble fiber
while others contain insoluble fiber.
However, nearly all carbs we consume are converted into glucose (blood sugar)
with the notable exceptions of fiber and glycerin. The
basic carbohydrate for human nutrition is the simple sugar glucose, but our
bodies also make a complex carbohydrate called glycogen,
the storage form of glucose in the muscles and liver
Some carbs are high in sugar and digest quickly for immediate energy, while
others digest slowly and provide a more controlled
release of energy. Given these differences, it's important to consider which
carbs are the best for different circumstances such as
training and racing.
Athletes require carbs during both high- and low-intensity workouts, but carbs
are depleted more quickly during intense activity.
Depletion of carbs results in fatigue and rapidly declining performance. When
glucose runs out, the athlete stops, or "hits the
wall," so it's important to replace carbs at every opportunity to avoid this
state.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13333


16. Ten Principles for Stretching Success:
From Stretch to Win by Ann Frederick, Christopher Frederick
The goal of this book is to provide for athletes and for those who train them a
method of stretching that is as effective and
efficient as possible and that serves to enhance each athlete’s performance,
improve recovery after intense activity, and reduce the
risk of injury. After a combined 40-plus years of experience, research, study,
and professional practice as master instructors and
coaches, we have identified 10 elements that form the foundation of the Stretch
to Win system:
1. Synchronize your breathing with your movement.
2. Tune your nervous system to current conditions.
3. Follow a logical anatomical order.
4. Make gains in your range of motion without pain.
5. Stretch the fascia, not just the muscle.
6. Use multiple planes of movement.
9. Target the entire joint.
8. Use traction for maximal lengthening.
9. Facilitate body reflexes for optimal results.
10. Adjust your stretching to your present goals.
These 10 principles form the core of our system, yet like systems of the human
body, they operate together in a nonlinear way.
Therefore, the principles are not numbered in order of their importance, nor are
they to be followed in strict order. Instead, they
are organized to follow a multilayered, anatomical approach to function—from the
deepest and simplest layer of movement that we
started with in this world, breathing, to the outer reaches of highly complex,
multiple planes of movement used in sports—to help
you achieve your performance goals. The literal layers of anatomical structure
are located in regions of the body—joint capsules and
fascia—that have traditionally not been fully addressed in other stretching and
flexibility training programs. We have seen our
clients change their flexibility and sport performance radically by following
these principles, and you can experience the same
success.
From Human Kinetics at:
http://www.humankinetics.com/products/showexcerpt.cfm?excerpt_id=4035


17. Acing Your Race
- by Cheryl Bayuk for the July 2006 PTS Newsletter
Race day is all about putting months of training, equipment tests and checks,
nutrition, and rest together. But without a race day
plan, you jeopardize achieving optimal performance. Whether you are doing a
sprint or iron distance race, you need to have a solid
plan for the day, and even a back up plan. What are your race day heart rate
zones? What will you eat/drink and when? Is it a two
swim cap race or one; will you wear arm warmers or not? How far apart are the
aid stations and should you carry bottles or not?
What happens if you have a flat? These are just a few of the questions you need
to have answered and situations you should rehearse
in order to Ace Your Race.
Below is a partial checklist of things to do as race day approaches:
Prior to race day, be sure to spend the week/s before hand checking gear and
tapering for peak performance. Refer to the June 2006
Performance Training System newsletter regarding tapering and equipment checks.
Make and use an equipment check list.
Check the weather forecast and pack for all potential weather.
Triple check all packed gear to ensure you have everything.
If not done previously and if possible the day/s before, drive the race course.
Affix bike and race belt/shirt with race numbers.
Test shoes and bike day before race and race morning.
Set up transition systematically, as you’ve practiced numerous times and
refined.
Okay, you are body marked, warmed up, and in your wave choral or mass start swim
area. The horn goes off and now the fun begins, or
for some, the start of a very long day! Let’s look at some common scenarios and
suggestions for your optimal race day performance:
PLACEMENT
Issue: In the swim, you are a human punching bag.
Solution: No matter the race distance, be honest with your ability and place
yourself appropriately. If you are a slower swimmer,
don’t start up front and try to ride the inside line to the first buoy. Instead,
start a few rows back and a little wide to allow
yourself time to get into your stroke.
PACE
Issue: You are out of breath, speed slows, and/or you can’t negative split.
Solution: This applies to the swim, bike and run. For the swim, even if you have
placed yourself appropriately at the swim start,
you went out way too fast. Ease into your swim, finding a steady breathing,
sighting, and stroke pattern. For all three disciplines,
it doesn’t matter if it is a short or long distance race - adjust your pace
accordingly. Knowing and following your heart rate zones
will help guide your pacing.
PROVISIONS
Problem 3: You are depleted and have nothing left in the gas tank.
Solution 3: If you are just feet from the finish line in a sprint, get across
it, get replenishments immediately, and make a plan
for your next race. In longer distance events, you have to have a nutrition plan
nailed down and follow it as closely as possible on
race day. Inquire what they will be serving on the race course and try it during
training. Practice and refine your nutritional
needs during training. Know what to eat and drink and when. Know where the aid
stations are and be sure to grab replenishment for
the long gaps ahead. On race day, it may require some notes on a piece of
athletic tape on your handle bar and pre-setting your
countdown timer to beep at predetermined intervals. And if your stomach is not
cooperating, it is still important to introduce
fuel, sticking with what is least upsetting.
PSYCHOLOGICAL
Problem 4: Your mind plays games with you.
In any distance race, your mind will challenge you as much as your body,
sometimes more. You may begin to question your ability as
you see other racers pass you or as your body begins responding to the stress of
racing and the finish seems so far away. Or you
flatted and question whether to change it and miss out on placing in your age
group or choose the DNF (did not finish) to avoid a
lower place finish. Having rehearsed these scenarios will help you react
immediately in a positive way. Negative thoughts yield
negative results. When you begin to struggle, have a mantra ready and repeat it
(does “I think I can, I think I can, I know I can”
ring a bell?). Don’t think about the distance to the finish line but find a
close landmark and get there, then another, and another.
The power of positive thinking, confidence, and fortitude will get you to the
finish line.
Planning and executing your strategy, including the potential obstacles, will
help you ace your race.
From Performance Training Systems at:
http://www.performancetrainingsystems.com/newstips/articles.html


18. What Are You Drinking:
A little beer or wine won't hurt your running (phew) - as long as you're smart
about it..
There are few sights more peculiar than a parade of 8,000 costumed marathoners
sipping wine as they run 42.2 kays. But that's
exactly what happens each September at the Medoc Marathon in Bordeaux, where the
course winds through 59 of France's most prized
vineyards and elegant châteaus. Its aid stations eschew sports drinks and
instead offer up such local refreshments as Lafite
Rothschild and pâté. Winners take home their weight in grand crus. While there
aren't any SA marathons serving fine wines on the
course, runners aren't immune to the pleasures of the ancient grape. In fact,
according to the American College of Sports Medicine
(ACSM), serious recreational runners drink more alcohol than their sedentary
counterparts. Even Olympian Deena Kastor enjoys a glass
of red the night before big races - including her bronze-medal run in Athens
last summer.
This despite the fact that the ACSM also says that drinking alcohol before
engaging in sports decreases strength, power, speed,
muscular endurance, and cardiovascular endurance. But there's also mounting
evidence that moderate alcohol consumption offers some
real health benefits. Alcohol in moderation has been shown to increase the
levels of "good" cholesterol in the bloodstream,
preventing "bad" cholesterol from clogging arteries and causing heart attacks.
It also relaxes the muscles in the arteries, which
lowers blood pressure. Scientists have even shown that some alcoholic beverages
help prevent osteoporosis and reduce the risk of
Alzheimer's disease. Red wine drinkers in particular benefit. A Harvard Medical
School study found that the cholesterol-fighting
antioxidant resveratrol, present only in red wine, produces the same
life-lengthening effects as calorie reduction. Other research
has determined that red wine is full of flavonoids, which are antioxidants that
lower the risk of heart disease. And scientists at
the University of California-Davis have recently discovered plant compounds
called saponins in wine that block the body's absorption
of cholesterol. Nearly half the average daily intake of saponins is present in a
single glass of red wine (white wine contains
less), and the higher a wine's alcohol content, the more saponins it provides.
And if you prefer hops to grapes, there's good news
for you, too. British scientists have found that beer drinkers have 30 percent
more vitamin B6 in their blood plasma, which prevents
the buildup of a chemical that causes heart disease. But long-distance runners,
of course, have to think about hydration and
endurance. Are the benefits worth the risks? Maybe.
More...from Runner's World South Africa at:
http://www.runnersworld.co.za/nutrition/archive/oct_01_2005.php


19. Training Investment Principles:
By Rich Strauss
It's January and the start of a new training season: time for season goals,
training objectives, annual training plans and
spreadsheets. As for me, I've recently brought on three coaching associates and
now face the task of communicating to them my way of
coaching. I've hit upon the ideas of money and investing to explain a few
critical concepts we can all use to make 2003 more
effective.
As investors, we invest our money where it will yield the highest rate of return
with the lowest risk. The same is true for
endurance athletes. Our currency is training time and intensity. We only have so
much time to train and our bodies can handle only
so much intensity. Efficient endurance training is about the application of
these scarce resources to activities yielding the
greatest return of increased athletic performance. At the same time, we seek to
minimize our risk of injury and overtraining.
The following ideas are the foundation of my coaching method. You can in turn
use these concepts as a self-coached athlete:
Attach a final goal to your race season, or a desired end state to your personal
fitness. Then for each training period, create
goals and objectives that support the successful accomplishment of your seasonal
goals. Consolidating our strengths and focusing our
on limiters ensures we apply our currency to activities yielding the highest
rate of return. When making training decisions within
this subset of high return activities, ask yourself "What is the lowest volume,
lowest intensity, and lowest risk activity that will
yield the greatest return on my investment?"
More...from Crucible Fitness at:
http://www.cruciblefitness.com/etips/investment.htm


20. Sustained Speed:
Virtual Coach Dave Spence
One of the great things of working with different coaches is learning new
training techniques. Those of you who read my articles for
first-timers probably noticed that I am a fan of building endurance before
speed.
My views on this subject are based largely on watching numerous friends suffer
running injuries, as well as my own experience in
trying to improve my times. I am grateful to a fellow coach Frank for sharing
his experience with Sustained Speed [SS].
What I am going to present is a simplified version of a technique developed by
Veronique Billat, a French scientist. Dr. Billat has
done a lot of very interesting research into this subject.
The beauty of SS is that it takes the guesswork out of speedwork. At the track,
my athletes have the toughest time finding the right
pace. Almost all of the time, they start out too hard and end up dying at the
end of the session. SS tells you the pace to run,
doesn't hurt (much) and, according to Dr. Billat's research, is just as
effective as extremely painful super-threshold running that
many athletes do.
To kick off we need to define a few terms:
vVO2 Max Pace:
This is the speed that you are able to achieve when running at VO2 Max Pace. VO2
Max is your maximum rate of oxygen consumption. For
ease of reference, I am going to express vVO2 Max in seconds per 400m (one lap
of a standard track). This makes it easier to explain
the actual workouts.
More...from World of Endurance at:
http://worldofendurance.com/runnersguide/focus_column.asp


21. Marriage on the Run:
If opposites attract, what do two of a kind do?
Like most couples filled with unabashed love, before we got married we promised
each other the world. Five years later, through our
commitment to running and each other, we’re making our way toward fulfilling
that promise.
Our marriage started out on the run . . . literally. We got married April 15,
1996. To most people that’s Tax Day. To most runners,
that was the 100th Boston Marathon.
It all started one year earlier. We were running in Indianapolis in the world’s
largest half-marathon. The race takes runners from
downtown Indy to the Brickyard, home of the Indianapolis 500. Runners do a loop
around the track, and then they head back to
downtown. The halfway point of the race is the line of bricks inlaid in the race
track, which is the start/finish line of the Indy
500. The bricks are remnants of the original “Brickyard” racetrack.
It was at that point, on the yard of bricks, that my boyfriend Ed stopped,
stooped down to one knee, pulled a ring out of the little
pocket in his running shorts, and popped the question. After checking my split
time, I stopped my watch, looked into his eyes, and
answered, “Yes!”
We were no longer going to be just running partners but lifelong partners. As
runners, it was easy for us to see the parallels
between a marriage and a marathon. When you think about it, they’re alike in
many ways. They both take strength, time, and
commitment. They are both filled with peaks and valleys, struggles and joy.
With the 100th Boston coming up, we knew it would be something very special and
memorable, and we wanted to be part of it as we
celebrated the beginning of our new life together.
More...from Marathon and Beyond at:
http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/dillon.htm


22. Collapse in the Endurance Athlete:
INTRODUCTION
Collapse is perhaps the most dramatic of all medical problems affecting
athletes. Though collapse can be seen in any athletic event
requiring maximal exertion, it is most common in endurance events, such as
marathons and triathlons. The incidence seems to increase
as the race distance, temperature, and humidity increase (O'Conner et al.,
2003).
In endurance events, about 85% of the cases of collapse occur after the athlete
crosses the finish line (Holtzhause & Noakes, 1997).
Most of these cases are benign and the athlete suffers no lasting deleterious
effects, but in some circumstances collapse can be
severe and life threatening. For this reason, medical personnel attending
endurance events or caring for these athletes should be
aware of the proper evaluation and management of the collapsed athlete, which
can sometimes be the difference between life and
death.
RESEARCH REVIEW
Defining Exercise-Associated Collapse
Exercise-associated collapse can be defined as the inability to walk unassisted,
with or without exhaustion, nausea, vomiting, or
cramps (Holtzhause & Noakes, 1997; O'Conner et al., 2003). An athlete who
collapses may have a body temperature that is normal,
high, or low. For the purposes of this article, exercise-associated collapse
excludes orthopedic conditions such as knee or ankle
injuries that could potentially prevent an athlete from walking unassisted but
can be easily distinguished from the more traditional
causes of collapse.
The conditions that usually cause exercise-associated collapse are relatively
few in number and can generally be grouped into benign
and serious conditions. The most common benign causes of collapse include
exhaustion, postural hypotension, dehydration, and muscle
cramps. Serious causes include hyponatremia, heatstroke, hypoglycemia,
hypothermia, cardiac arrest, and various other medical
conditions.
More...from the GSSI at:
http://www.gssiweb.org/reflib/refs/699/sse95.cfm?pid=96&CFID=4117926&CFTOKEN=541\
20255


23. What is normal gas?
American Running Association
It's long been suspected that runners -- even moderate-intensity, recreational
middle-distance runners -- are more prone to
intestinal gas than average, non-running adults. GI symptoms affect up to 50
percent of all marathoners; it's widely understood that
under the biochemical and biomechanical stresses associated with certain types
of exercise, the integrity of the GI mucosal block
can become damaged, leading to an uptake of toxic substrates.
But although this can and often does cause bloating and gas formation, how much
is normal, and what can be done to treat it?
For starters, it's important to understand that the average adult releases one
to three pints of intestinal gas daily. Releasing gas
10 to 20 times a day is considered average. Most of this occurs without our
knowledge. Some people are simply more sensitive to the
presence of gas or less tolerant of its effects.
For runners, bloating, cramps, side ache and flatulence are among the most
common symptoms. But a study of over 600 athletes
conducted by the Department of Medical Physiology and Sports Medicine at Utrecht
University in the Netherlands found that, while
distance running -- as opposed to cycling or other forms of exercise -- is
indeed associated with problems of the lower GI tract,
these are significantly related to the frequency of gas occurrence during
non-exercise periods, as well as the runner's age and
diet. (Cyclists are more prone to upper GI problems such as nausea, belching and
heartburn.) It's not always running that causes the
problem, though it may exacerbate it.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13372


24. High-Sugar, Low-Caffeine 'Energy' Drinks Don't Work:
Study shows they actually make you sleepier.
People who think sugary drinks are a pick-me-up may be in for a letdown: New
research finds sweetened beverages actually boost
sleepiness.
"People wishing to alleviate sleepiness through the consumption of a high-sugar,
low-caffeine content energy drink -- erroneously
believing the 'sugar rush' to be effective -- should avoid drinks that have
little or no caffeine," said study co-author Clare
Anderson, from the Sleep Research Centre at Loughborough University in the
United Kingdom. "It is caffeine that is particularly
effective for alleviating sleepiness, not sugar," she added.
Anderson and her colleague Jim Horne found that, one hour after drinking a
high-sugar, low-caffeine drink, people had slower
reaction times and experienced more lapses in concentration than if they had
consumed a caffeine- and sugar-free beverage.
They reported the findings in the July online edition of Human
Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental.
As Anderson explained, "Many soft drinks contain large amounts of sugar, and
previous findings had indicated that such large amounts
may improve cognitive performance. However, these effects were almost
immediate."
The real question, for Anderson, was whether that quick boost had any
longer-term effect beyond the first 15 minutes after the
so-called sugar rush disappeared.
More...from Health Scout at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/533932/main.html


25. Digest Briefs:
* Amino acid supplement has benefits in heart failure
Dietary supplementation with the amino acid L-arginine may improve the physical
fitness of heart failure patients by enhancing their
endurance to exercise, according to a study.
Heart failure is a condition characterized by an enlarged heart that pumps blood
inefficiently, resulting in breathlessness and
fluid accumulation in the limbs and lungs.
L-arginine is a precursor of nitric oxide, a compound that plays a key role in
the heart and circulatory system, both at rest and
during exercise. Nitric oxide helps the inner lining of blood vessels to dilate.
Dysfunction of the "L-arginine-nitric oxide" pathway in heart failure leads to
reduced blood flow at rest and during exercise,
partly explaining the exercise capacity limitations of chronic heart failure
patients.
Dr. Stephane Doutreleau and colleagues from Institut de Physiologie, Strasbourg,
France, examined the potential benefits of 6 weeks
of L-arginine supplementation on endurance exercise in 10 patients with chronic
stable heart failure.
The patients performed an identical endurance exercise test before and after 6
weeks of L-arginine supplementation (n = 6) or no
supplementation (control group; n = 4).
Patients who took L-arginine experienced a significant decrease in their average
heart rate throughout exercise and the recovery
period, the team reports in the International Journal of Sports Medicine. There
were no significant changes in blood pressure and
respiratory parameters.
These findings indicate that chronic L-arginine supplementation might be useful
as add-on therapy to improve patients' physical
fitness, the team concludes.
The current study supports a prior study in which a group of heart failure
patients were shown to benefit from a combination of
exercise and L-arginine supplements. In that study, the combination appeared to
help correct the abnormal functioning of blood
vessels seen in chronic heart failure.
SOURCE: International Journal of Sports Medicine July 2006.
* The Claim: Some Foods Have Negative Calories
THE FACTS For years, diets and weight-loss books have boasted that you can eat
a piece of food and burn calories at the same time.
The idea is that some foods have so few calories that the act of chewing them
requires expending more energy than is absorbed,
resulting in a calorie deficit and ultimately, weight loss.
Chewing most foods typically only burns about five calories an hour, but the act
of digesting may require slightly more. That is
particularly the case with celery because it is mostly cellulose, a type of
fiber that humans do not have the enzymes necessary to
properly break down and use.
Cathy Nonas, director of obesity and diabetes programs at North General Hospital
in Harlem, said that while no hard studies exist,
it is possible that snacking on celery might cause a very slight calorie
deficit. But the difference would be so minuscule that at
the end of the day it would have no real impact unless the celery was replacing
other fattening or high calorie foods. The other
problem is that celery is not only low in calories, but also low in vitamins and
minerals.
“If you substitute celery for cookies and pretzels, and those are the things
that were putting you over the top in terms of weight
then yes, you will lose weight,” she said. “But you’re not going to lose weight
by chewing celery a couple times a day if you’re not
exercising and changing what else you eat.”
THE BOTTOM LINE It may be possible to expend a few more calories than you absorb
eating something like celery, but in the end the
deficit is negligible.

* Map Out Your Next Run
There's a new Web site that may help you reach your fitness goals.
Whether you are just a beginner or a seasoned marathoner, FavoriteRun.com will
help you find new walking and running paths in your
town.
You'll need to register with the site for a free account. Once you are
registered, just type in your ZIP code to find local running
routes.
Click on the "Search for a Run" link to view maps that are complete with
restroom and water stop locations. A quick search of routes
in Brookline found more than 400 maps of routes posted by site members.
You can also use the site to search for a running partner in your town. You'll
be able to view their favorite routes.
From the Boston Channel at:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/asseenon5/9586726/detail.html



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

July 28, 2006:
Norwich Union London Grand Prix - London, GB
http://www.iaaf.org/GP06/results/eventCode=3535/index.html

July 29, 2006:
Quad City Times Bix 7 - Davenport, IA
http://www.bix7.com/2006/

White River 50 Mile - Crystal Mountain, WA
USA Trail Championship
http://www.seattlerunningcompany.com/WR50

Television CBC 2:00 PM EDT
World Cup Triathlon from Cornerbrook, BC

Television NBC 4:30-6:00 p.m. EDT
Lifetime Fitness Triathlon

July 29 - 30, 2006:
ITU Duathlon World Championship - Corner Brook, Newfoundland
http://www.triourworld.com/index.php/schedule

July 30, 2006:
Salford BG World Cup Triathlon - Salford, UK
http://www.trisalford.info

San Francisco Marathon - San Francisco, CA
http://www.sfmarathon.net

Vineman Ironman 70.3 Triathlon - Sonoma County, CA
http://www.vineman.com

2007 Race Preview June 23, 2007:
RunnersWeb5K.com Race for Women - Ottawa, ON
http://www.runnersweb5K.com


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

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

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Have a good week of training and/or racing.

Ken Parker
Runner's Web
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