A FREE WEEKLY E-ZINE OF MULTISPORT RELATED ARTICLES.
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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:
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

7. Triple Your Endurance
The Ultimate Triathlete Training, Time-Shaving, Injury Healing, Mind Focusing,
Endurance Boosting System Perfect for the Beginner
Triathlete up to Advanced.
http://www.marketerschoice.com/app/aftrack.asp?afid=425939


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THIS WEEK:
Jacques Bourgeois of Quebec City won our August Pegasus Quiz as he identified
the photo as Alberto Juantoreno, Cuba. He wins a copy
of Pegasus Training Log software.

New affiliate:
Geezer Jock Magazine, The Masters Sports & Fitness Magazine
http://www.geezerjock.com/index.cfm?affID=runnersweb

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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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
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recognition of it's outstanding achievements.
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unningperformance.com
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 ONE personal posting this week.
ONE:
Dear Friends,
We apologize if this is the wrong area to post but we are trying to get our
message out to as many people as possible. Please take
a moment to read about us and spread the word. We understand that donations are
hard to come by and would like you to know that by
spreading the word, about our group, we can help continue to serve the
community.
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina many of our members, who were affected,
have begun to return home. We are hoping to provide
young athletes, in the area, with a great year of programs. We hope that our
structured programs will help children heal and recover
during this difficult time.
Team Xcelerate gives local athletes the chance to compete in amateur track &
field events both locally and nationally. Last summer
Team Xcelerate competed in 9 local meets and the 2005 AAU Jr. Olympics.
Athletes participated in 85+ hours of organized practices
between May and August. Team Xcelerate sent 21 athletes to the Jr. Olympic
qualifier and had 18 athletes qualify, in over 30
events, for the 2005 Jr. Olympic Games. Those 18 athletes represented 82% of
our team at the Regional Qualifying Meet. Our 2006
season is concluding and we have 8 athletes qualified for Jr. Olympics, held in
Virginia, this year. Those 8 athletes represent 67%
of our team at the Regional Qualifying Meet.
Local coaches provide children with a positive environment to train and grow
physically & emotionally, build confidence and
self-esteem while promoting good sportsmanship and good citizenship. Team
Xcelerate is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and
development of amateur sports, physical fitness programs and helping athletes in
their academic endeavors.
This year Team Xcelerate is raising funds to support local youth and keep
athletes anticipating their next practice and competition.
Your contribution of $25 or more can help bring this opportunity to New Orleans'
area athletes. Join supporters such as Subway,
Kentwood, Dr. Erica Manger and more. Become a part of one of New Orleans'
premier youth athletic programs and mail your check or
money order to Team Xcelerate, at the address below, and become an important
part of this year's program. You can also make an
instant
donation, online, at www.active.com/donate/teamxcelerate. Team Xcelerate is a
501 (c) 3 non-profit organization. Your donation will
help offset costs of uniforms, equipment, competition registrations, travel and
provide financial aid to local athletes in need.
Team Xcelerate's Tax ID# is: 76-0788300.
Thank you for your support,
Coach Brad Taliancich (mailto:teamxyg@...)
Director, Team Xcelerate



THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Sports Psychology: Triathletes are now in transition!
By Michelle Cleere, Sports Psychology Consultant
2. Multisport: Walk Before You Run - Get Efficient and Go Faster
By Coach Brendon, EnduranceCoach.com.
3. Cycling: How to Solve Saddle Sores
4. So Big and Healthy Nowadays That Grandpa Wouldn’t Even Know You
5. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Learning to Win
6. Feasting After The Finish
7. Cycling Medicine: Acute Overuse of the Legs
8. Runners who sleep longer, perform better for longer - by Bobby McGee
9. The Facts about Menstruation and Running
10. Your Last Tri? Race, Clot, Die
Endurance athletes, take the time to read this.
11. Eaters’ Digest
Discover your inner enzymes.
12. From Runner's World
13. Triathlon: Planning Your Ironman Training Cycle
14. The science of why exercise is good for you: Explaining the biology of
exercise
15. Weightlifting Can Tear the Heart
In rare cases, heavy strain triggers deadly aortic dissection, experts say.
16. Marathon Q & A
Jason Karp is a running coach and a doctoral candidate in exercise physiology
at Indiana University who specializes in distance
running. Elisabeth Andrews, IU Media Relations, talked with him about marathon
training and how to improve her marathon time.
17. From Jason Karp's VO2Max Newsletter
18. Cool down before you go
Reducing heat strain is good. Doing it without hampering performance is even
better.
19. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine
20. Rethinking the Wall
Research Provides a New Definition of Fatigue.
21. A DRINK A DAY
Alcohol can be good for the heart -- not just occasionally, but often. Still,
doctors hesitate to recommend ...
22.
23. Fit Facts: Running with baby
24. Diet and Exercise: The Real Fountains of Youth
25. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Should television be able to dictate the timing of finals in the Beijing
Olympics?

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:
"Do you believe Floyd Landis is guilty of doping?"
Answers Percent
1. Innocent 42%
2. Guilty 42%
3. Don't care 17%

FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: TriathlonGuide.com.
A triathlon training guide for triathlete enthusiasts!
For triathlon training, you need to be consistent and show perseverance. It
seems simple. Swim. Bike. Run. Simple concept, but it
takes months of hard work, mental focus and perseverance to complete this
multi-sport. This training guide for triathlons will
provide insightful stories, articles, and links to great tools to help you try
your first tri or improve on your previous
performance at the Ironman.
Visit the site at:
http://www.triathlon-guide.com/


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


BOOK OF THE WEEK: Younger Next year for Women
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Crowley and Lodge rework their bestselling Younger Next Year (which targeted
men) to address health and aging concerns for women.
Former attorney Crowley's chatty voice alternates with internist-gerontologist
Lodge's straightforward medical perspective. The
authors promise that major lifestyle changes, including a six-days-a-week
exercise regime, and a positive view of aging will make
the "next third" of life—the stage after menopause—the most fulfilling. Because
women live longer, are highly motivated for change
and fear aging less than men do, the authors contend, they will reap great
benefits from the program. Crowley and Lodge put their
own spin on commonsense health essentials, with Lodge adding information on the
latest antiaging breakthroughs. A variety of
activities (biking, skiing, sailing, yoga) will likely make the intensive
exercise plan more enjoyable. Although there is little new
material, women may find the 71-year-old Crowley's cheerleading appealing—the
old buddy tone of the previous edition is exchanged
for that of a male "girlfriend"—and a great motivator not only for making
lifestyle changes but for equating health with how one
feels, not how one looks. (Jan.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All
rights reserved.
Book Description
Now, a women’s edition. A New York Times bestseller with 115,000 copies in print
in hardcover, Younger Next Year is the breakthrough
program for men to turn back their biological clocks and live healthier, more
active lives into their 80s and beyond. Experts
believed, the press raved:
“An extraordinary book. It is easy to read and the science is right.” —K. Craig
Kent, M.D., chief of vascular surgery, New
York–Presbyterian Hospital
“Brain-rattling, irresistible, hilarious . . . it could change your
life.”—Washington Post
But the fact is that women have even more to gain from Younger Next Year. Just
as the average woman lives longer (three decades past
menopause) than the average man, the average woman has more anxiety about aging.
Younger Next Year for Women is a book of hope.
Though keeping the same lively, alternating voices—Chris Crowley’s
rough-and-ready passion for the cause, Harry Lodge’s cool,
convincing science—the book is recast to bring its revolutionary findings about
staving off 70% of the normal decay associated with
aging specifically to women. It covers menopause and postmenopause at length,
cardiac disease, osteoporosis, sexuality, even
finances. It adapts its simple, lifesaving motivational rules—Exercise Six Days
a Week, Don’t Eat Crap, Connect to Other People—to
contemporary women’s lifestyles. And brings to its message a refreshing
bluntness that says yes, you have come a long way, and
you’ve got a longer way to go. Now enjoy it for all it’s worth.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761140735/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books



THIS WEEK'S FEATURES:


1. Sports Psychology: Triathletes are now in transition!
By Michelle Cleere, Sports Psychology Consultant
Note:
Michelle is starting a sports psychology Q and A on the Runner's Web. Submit
your questions to Michelle at: SportsMindedMC@...
and we will post her answers on the Runner's Web.
A friend trained a full year to do an Ironman triathlon. At the conclusion of
her event she had a conversation with me about her
depression, weight gain, irritability, and lack of energy. My friend spent a lot
of time with her team and now doesn’t. She spent
hours every day training and now doesn’t. She put in an enormous amount of
energy, training and learning about the sport; all things
that weren’t ordinary to her life and now doesn’t. Unconsciously she gave up
everything in her life during that time and when the
event was over she had no resources to deal with the aftermath. She had a job, a
daughter, a house, and friends but she had put
those things on the back burner for an entire year so she could train for her
Ironman and trying to figure out how to get her life
back was a real struggle.
Does this sound like you? Do you put everything into your sport and when the
event or season is over question what happened to the
rest of your life? It is a common problem particularly among endurance athletes.
Most vulnerable seem to be first time endurance
athletes, beginning ultra-endurance athletes and women. First timers, beginning
ultra-endurance and women athletes are most prone
because they all come prepared to do whatever it takes to get through their
first or their longest and for women it’s just part of
their make up.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/news/rw_news_20060731_SM_Transition.html



2. Multisport: Walk Before You Run - Get Efficient and Go Faster:
By Coach Brendon, EnduranceCoach.com.
Recently I was up in China, I was invited to coach the Chinese National Coaches
via an IOC Olympic Solidarity Grant.
One of the things that was obvious was a real lack of understanding of
progressions that will help athletes get faster - you've got
to walk before you run. They certainly were not afraid to train hard and the do
some huge training sessions, as much as the top
triathletes in other parts of the world. But they were, on the whole, very
inefficient. They don't focus enough on technique and
efficiency - they are leaving this one largely to chance that it will improve
itself. Thus they are yet to really make a mark on the
international triathlon scene.
I was then able to attend the New Zealand Schools Triathlon in April, what was
clearly obvious there was a real lack of technique,
especially running. Apart from a few boys in the Seniors and a couple of the
fastest girls, there was a lot of inefficient running
technique being displayed - of course it's easier to see when athletes run after
swimming and cycling because they are tired. What I
saw was a whole group of fit, talented athletes with poor technique. To me it
was as plain as day what they need to do, which is GET
EFFICIENT.
Let's look at the key progression of efficiency. Now if I was a beginner at any
sport I'd be thinking that the best thing to do is
master technique and GET EFFICIENT. Why? Because Fitness times Poor Efficiency
is still SLOW and it's also tiring and takes a lot of
effort. Working on technique on the other hand is easy (it's a freebie for
improvement in my mind) and when it's combined with
follow up harder or longer training, it nets great rewards.
Now there is no reason that a beginner can't work on technique while slowly
increasing the amount of training that they do - by
doing that they are increasing the VALUE of the time spent in relation to their
goal. Actually there is no reason to stop ANY level
of athlete doing this. Yet it's often the more experienced athletes that do
this. I guess it's easier to see the value once you've
done it the hard way!
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060731_ECoach_Efficiency.html


3. Cycling: How to Solve Saddle Sores:
By Fred Matheny for www.RoadBikeRider.com
A saddle sore can ruin a ride. Even a tiny zit can begin to feel like you’re
perched on a golf ball. Nearly as painful are crotch
abrasions caused by shorts that bunch or have an irritating seam.
Even the pros, hardened by thousands of miles in the saddle, fall victim to what
cycling author Arnie Baker, M.D., calls
“crotchitis.” Fabled tough guys like Eddy Merckx and Sean Kelly had to abandon
races when the pain became too great.
Most medical experts say that saddle sores are actually boils caused by skin
bacteria that invade surface abrasions. Remedies have
come a long way from the era when riders would put slabs of raw steak in their
shorts to cushion the abraded area.
Of course, avoiding saddle sores is better than curing them (or ruining a good
sirloin). Here’s how:
* Improve your bike fit. If your seat is too high, your hips rock on each pedal
stroke and strum your soft tissue across the nose
of the saddle. The result is irritated skin and a greater chance of infection.
Especially if you suffer from chronic saddle sores,
have your position checked by an experienced coach or knowledgeable bike shop
person.
* Stand frequently. Doing so takes pressure off your crotch and restores
circulation. Get in the habit of standing for 15-20 seconds
every few minutes. Use natural opportunities such as short hills, rough pavement
or accelerating from stop signs. Stand and stretch
when you’re at the back of a paceline or group.
* Move on the saddle. Sit mostly toward the rear where your sit bones get
maximum support and take pressure off your crotch. But
also move farther back on seated climbs, and more to the middle when bending low
to make good time. Each shift relieves pressure
points.
* Choose a smooth chamois. Look for shorts with a one-piece liner or one that’s
sewn with flat seams. It may take experimenting with
shorts brands or chamois types to find the model that works best. Women often do
better with shorts designed specifically for their
anatomy and that have a liner with no center seam. See the RoadBikeRider.com
article, "How to Choose Cycling Shorts."
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060731_RBR_Saddle_Sores.html


4. So Big and Healthy Nowadays That Grandpa Wouldn’t Even Know You:
Valentin Keller enlisted in an all-German unit of the Union Army in Hamilton,
Ohio, in 1862. He was 26, a small, slender man, 5 feet
4 inches tall, who had just become a naturalized citizen. He listed his
occupation as tailor.
His pension record tells of his suffering. “His rheumatism is so that he is
unable to walk without the aid of crutches and then only
with great pain,” it says. His lungs and his joints never got better, and Keller
never worked again.
He died at age 41 of “dropsy,” which probably meant that he had congestive heart
failure, a condition not associated with his time
in the Army. His 39-year-old wife, Otilia, died a month before him of what her
death certificate said was “exhaustion.”
People of Valentin Keller’s era, like those before and after them, expected to
develop chronic diseases by their 40’s or 50’s.
Keller’s descendants had lung problems, they had heart problems, they had liver
problems. They died in their 50’s or 60’s.
Now, though, life has changed. The family’s baby boomers are reaching middle age
and beyond and are doing fine.
“I feel good,” says Keller’s great-great-great-grandson Craig Keller. At 45, Mr.
Keller says he has no health problems, nor does his
45-year-old wife, Sandy.
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/30/health/30age.html?ref=health


5. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Learning to Win:
I've written on almost every subject related to running, but my true technical
contributions are few. Long slow distance (LSD) was
one, walk breaks another, and marathon training-for-the-masses a third. Without
claiming originality for any of these practices,
I've promoted all three for a long time.
I'm happy to have "coached" slow runners, run-walkers and marathoners. But I'm
much prouder of another contribution.
This isn't a training approach. It's an attitude toward winning.
Before learning my first lesson in running to win, I had to unlearn an old one.
The most popular sign of the 1950s in school locker
rooms read, "Winners never quit, and quitters never win."
Later I would redefine the meaning of that line. But at the time I believed it
wholeheartedly in its original meaning. So did my
coach, Dean Roe.
Mr. Roe coached winners. His first football team at our high school won the
state title. One of his early basketball teams played in
the state tournament.
I wanted Mr. Roe to make me a winner on that level. It didn't happen in football
or basketball, for reasons obvious to anyone who
sees me now. (My height topped out at 5-5.)
Our school offered just three sports. Track was the last of them.
You don't need to be big to win at track, I thought, and you don't need to be
fast to win in the mile run. All you have to do is try
hard. I could do that.
In my first mile race I tried to stay with the leaders, who spit me out of their
company on the first lap. Exhaustion deposited me
beside the track after little more than one minute's running.
Slumped on the grass, I thought: this was my last chance to be an athlete, and I
blew it. I'm a loser.
To Dean Roe, quitting was worse than losing. He wouldn't let me quit. He told me
to pick myself up and, next time, to finish what
I'd started.
"I don't care if you finish last," he said. "That beats dropping out."
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2067


6. Feasting After The Finish:
It's a familiar sight beyond the finish line: Runners lined up to grab a free
bagel, banana, or bag of chips, taking advantage of
the celebratory atmosphere, and the convenient snack opportunity.
But just as familiar is the runner who gets distracted by stretching or meeting
up with friends and family; who holds out for the
restaurant reservation; or who is simply not able to fathom consuming food after
such a hard effort—and neglects to eat.
Whether you choose to graze the freebies table or not, make sure you don't leave
your stomach empty for too long. While it's always
important to eat something after exercise, it's especially important to do so
following a race. Because whether it was running at a
faster pace or for a longer distance, you're likely to have challenged your body
a little more than usual. And the more you tax your
muscles, the more crucial it is to facilitate tissue repair by replacing the
glycogen that your body used to fuel the workout.
And your muscles are most hungry for glycogen restoration within 15-30 minutes
after exercise. While you may not feel hunger cues
until well after this time, if you miss this window following a particularly
hard endurance race or exhaustive speed workout, you
can set yourself up for prolonged muscle soreness or stiffness, and this
can affect your training (or your general comfort!) for days.
Just as you prepared for the race itself, have a good strategy for your
post-race snack. Anticipate a depressed appetite or a delay
in your meal, and commit to consuming something small and efficient as soon as
you finish; be sure to tuck something palatable into
your bag so you won't be at the mercy of the local vendor choices or race
directors' tastes. A few suggestions:
More...from Nike at:
http://www.nike.com/nikerunning/usa/home.jhtml?loc1=tools_training&loc2=runners_\
library&loc3=132&promoID=USRU_EM_072606_julynewsmen#
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7. Cycling Medicine: Acute Overuse of the Legs:
In the rush to cram cycling into our busy lifestyles, recovery is typically the
first thing that gets thrown out the window. After
all, it’s easy to prescribe training programs but more difficult to prescribe,
or adhere to, recovery programs. Dr. Rick Rosa
returns with a cautionary tale about what happens when we push our bodies too
far by trying to do it all…
By Rick Rosa, D.C.,D.A.A.P.M.
Bike-Run Transition
This year for my birthday, my good friend Dave and I rode 100 miles with over
8,000 feet of climbing. It was a hard ride but I had
fun. Once the ride was over I went home to recover while Dave figured he would
play a little coed soccer with his wife. I’m not sure
if it was the lactic acid bath during the ride or the pressure to do things with
his wife that clouded his otherwise rock solid
judgment, but he set himself up for disaster.
While playing soccer he was running up and down the field making quick
accelerations and decelerations as well as lateral movements.
At one point he felt a sharp pain in his hamstring, namely the semitendinosus
muscle. Soon after that, he began to experience pain
in the upper part of his rectus femoris muscle (the middle thigh). He eventually
came into my office after the injury did not
improve and he noted it was affecting his riding.
Dave is a seasoned 16 year Cat-3 cyclist and, like many cyclists, he is always
trying to find time to train. He is well versed on
most things associated with cycling including injuries, and he did take it easy
for a while, limiting the amount of intervals and
power level he was producing. The pain was not improving so he finally brought
it up in conversation with me, so I scheduled an
appointment to see my good friend and help him with this problem.
More...from Pez Cycling at:
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4215


8. Runners who sleep longer, perform better for longer - by Bobby McGee:
We've all experienced it before - a series of late nights before a key race,
leading to a sluggish, disappointing run. Lack of
sleep, it seems, negatively affects our running.
The link between sleep-deprivation and poor performance has been clinically
proven. Studies with volunteers who lost just two hours
of sleep for three nights had delayed reaction times and impaired concentration.
The studies determined that good sleep is the key to a rested, strong heart.
When runners fall asleep, levels of hormones called
catecholamines decrease. These hormones normally stimulate the sympathetic
nervous system during the waking hours. As a result,
blood pressure decreases, heart rate begins to slow and blood vessels dilate,
making it easier for blood to flow. In simple terms:
The heart gets a rest.
When you become sleep-deprived, catecholamine levels can actually increase. This
raises blood pressure and makes the heart work
harder than it normally would. That means that runners who train hard early in
the morning after insufficient sleep are looking for
trouble.
Health warning
Sleeplessness can negatively impact your immune defenses. Immune cells may be
the primary reason why we feel sleepy. When we ignore
this desire to sleep, anti-germ cells called natural killers begin to lose their
effectiveness. The result is often an infection
that robs us of our fitness and wastes months of precious training.
The occasional night or two without sleep probably won't impact us too badly,
but chronic sleep-deprivation might. You will notice
an elevated morning heart rate, a decreased ability to recover from workouts and
a definite drop in performance.
Get some sleep
More...from Runner's World South Africa at:
http://www.runnersworld.co.za/wheres/index.php?miles=563


9. The Facts about Menstruation and Running:
A number of old wives’ tales have percolated down the years on this subject: "My
mother says I mustn’t have a bath, go swimming or
running while I have my period..." This is nonsense!
A female athlete's performance may depend on the phase of the menstrual cycle
she is in. The menstrual cycle ranges from 21 to 35
days and is rarely the often-quoted 28 days, and comprises of three phases:
menstrual phase (menses), pre-ovulatory phase and the
post-ovulatory phase.
The menstrual phase is the periodic discharge of 25 to 65ml of blood, tissue
fluid etc and lasts for approximately 2 to 9 days. The
exact timing of the menarche is affected by genetic, racial, socio-economic and
climatic factors.
Stress can either shorten or lengthen the menstrual cycle.
All sport is a stress, and usually lengthens it. Females, who go to altitude to
compete or train, have an added stress due to the
lack of oxygen, which usually shortens the cycle. It is important for a
sportswoman and her adviser to know what is going on in her
body and at what stage the cycle is at.
Hormones and PMS – a matter of timing?
Oestrogen and progesterone are steroids. It is the pre-menstrual fall in these
that, in some women, cause the phenomena of
pre-menstrual syndrome (PMS). However, while both decline to the 14th day,
progesterone climbs to a peak on the 20th day and it is
that this hormone is the major cause of PMS.
The sportswoman and her coach have for many years searched for the ideal time in
the menstrual cycle when performance will be at its
peak. They have equally searched for natural ways of neutralising any
psychological and physical handicaps caused by PMS and the
actual period.
Some research in 1993 (Menstrual Cycle Phase and Running Economy, Medicine and
Science in Sports and Exercise, Vol. 25(5), pS74,
1993) goes some way towards solving part of the equation. Eight fit, normally
menstruating females were asked to run at intensities
of 55% and 80% VO2 max during different stages of their menstrual cycles.
This intensity approximates to 70% and 88% of the maximal heart rate,
respectively. The mid-luteal phase of the cycle (about a week
after ovulation, i.e. a week before actual menstruation), turned out to be a
time when exercise became more difficult and
psychological health took a nosedive (depression, fatigue and confusion
increased while feelings of vigor declined).
However, the lactate threshold – the exercise intensity above which large
amounts of lactate begin to accumulate in the blood – was
not influenced by the menstrual cycle phase. In further research, eight female
distance runners were asked to run at close to top
speeds for short periods of time and also ran as far as possible at an intensity
of 85% VO2 max, about 90% of maximal heart rate.
None of the variables measured – VO2 max, blood lactate, lactate threshold,
maximal heart rate and fat oxidation – were different at
any stage of the menstrual cycle.
More...from the World of Endurance at:
http://worldofendurance.com/article.asp?a_id=366619


10. Your Last Tri? Race, Clot, Die:
Endurance athletes, take the time to read this.
By Matt Simpson
Surprising as it is, about 85% of air travel blood clot victims are usually
endurance-type athletes. Well, pat yourself on the back
for doing one of the smartest things for your training, your racing, and your
life and read on.
The Skinny on Blood Clots:
As an endurance athlete you are perilously flirting with hefty blood clot
formations even if you are as sculpted as the Statue of
David, have a V02 max paramount to Steve Prefontaine's, and the most upsetting
news received after your annual physical is that
they've run out of cherry lollipops.
A blood clot (or thrombosis) is basically blood that has been converted from a
liquid to a more gelatinous-solid state. Normal
conditions of clotting follow Haemostasis: The process by which the body stops
blood loss whenever a vessel is severed or ruptured.
If the injury is large, platelet 'plug' formations aggregate at the site of the
injury, which initiate blood coagulation. With the
help of complex enzymatic reactions, fibrin strand formations create a meshwork
to trap red blood cells and other platelets, forming
what we see as the mature clot.
More applicable to the endurance athlete is the Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT),
which is normally, but not always, located in the legs.
Where a DVT distinguishes itself from a normal thrombosis is that the DVT occurs
inside the blood vessel rather than outside like
normal clots. If the DVT is large enough it can partially or completely block
blood flow. Now, you are flirting with the Grim
Reaper. If the clot breaks free it may then take an unfettered happy field trip
through the blood stream, ending with an abrupt
rest-room break at the lungs where it there could obstructs blood flow. If you
have yet to attain your angel wings, congratulations,
you just found the zenith of your pain threshold via surviving a Pulmonary
Embolism (PE).
I suppose you are sitting here now pondering, "Wow, this guy is a walking buzz
kill!"
No need to get your Ironman underwear all in a wad just yet, the next bit of
information applies directly to you.
More...from TriFuel at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/health/your-last-tri-race-clot-die-001509.php


11. Eaters’ Digest:
Discover your inner enzymes.
Here’s a credibility test for your local health food/vitamin store: Ask which
products might help you overcome a bit of heartburn or
mild indigestion.
The answer should include an inexpensive bottle of papain, which is extracted
from papaya. Chewing three or four tablets after a
meal is likely to soothe more than a few touchy tummies. You might well kick an
antacids habit — and avoid prescription drugs
all-too-often dispensed for digestive upset, when just a minor change in diet
might be a better route.
Health practitioners have hotly debated digestive enzymes for years. Enzyme
supplement skeptics contend our bodies produce mostly
all of the enzymes necessary to digest and process our meals. They point out
that enzymes are plentiful in all plant and animal
foods. But raw foods proponents and other holistic practitioners counter that
cooking food destroys the natural enzyme content. Heat
your veggies over 118 degrees Fahrenheit, and the enzymes go poof.
Pasteurization, microwaving and even the seemingly healthful
canning all result in the same enzyme-obliterating end.
As a sports nutritionist, Julie Burns couldn’t have more mainstream clients than
the Chicago White Sox, winners of last fall’s World
Series. So when Burns speaks up on behalf of enzyme supplements, she’s hardly a
voice from the alternative health fringes.
More...from Common Ground at:
http://commongroundmag.com/2006/08/wh_eaters0608.html


12. From Runner's World:
* Coach's Corner
A long run gives you the chance to practice skills you will need in a marathon,
such as drinking fluids and eating energy foods.
Long runs build confidence in your ability simply to run for a long time.
Equally important, you learn patience. The long run forces
you to slow down and pace yourself wisely.
* Injury Prevention
Ease side stitch pain
When a stitch strikes, concentrate on breathing from your belly with every
exhale, then pull your abdomen and chest in on every
inhale. After four full breaths, visualize the cramp and try to direct your
breath to it, as if you were massaging it away.
Side stitches can be a major pain--especially when they pop up during a hard
workout or race
* Performance Nutrition
Super Strawberries?
Strawberries are low in fat and high in vitamins, especially beta-carotene,
vitamin C, and folate. They also provide lots of fluid,
making them a good snack after a workout, especially on hot days.
* Editor's Advice
"Look for social distraction!
Run with a friend or two, and your stress level will plunge in the first mile of
conversation." -Kristin Baver, RW editorial intern
* Training Talk
"Nearly every elite runner incorporates hill running into his or her training in
one way or another. The chief benefit of hill
running is that it offers greater gravitational resistance and is therefore a
greater strength builder than flat running." -From the
Cutting-Edge by Matt Fitzgerald


13. Triathlon: Planning Your Ironman Training Cycle:
by Patrick McCrann
Ask any IM veteran and they will tell you that the hardest part of the Ironman
isn’t what happens on race day. The hardest part is
actually making it to the starting line. Being ready on race day has a lot more
to do with what you’ve done over the last six months
than the type of wheels you have or the terrain you’ll encounter on the course.
It’s my experience that the training leading up to
the race is a pretty solid indicator of performance. Nail the training and
chances are, you’ll be in a good place on race day.
The Cycles
Two distinct cycles lie ahead in your IM training: preparation and build.
Regardless of your experience level, preparation training
is predominantly aerobic work and includes drills, Zone 1-2 runs and cycling as
well as a focus on technique. Build training is a
bit more individual, as the level and duration of the work depends on your
experience, current fitness level and your race day
goals.
The length of these cycles depends on your overall fitness and race experience.
The less fit you are, the more real training you
can get done, the better off you will be. This training will be primarily
aerobic / endurance focused. On the other hand, the fitter
you are, the less build you need to do, but this training will be at a somewhat
higher intensity (endurance / tempo). In other
words, the fitter you are, the longer you can wait on the real training – but
you have to work harder. For those of you who have
multiple IM races under your belt, you know that you have a bit more leeway with
your training as the overall fitness gains are
cumulative and tend to stick around despite downturns in your exercise cycle.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060731_McCrann_IM_Cycle.html


14. The science of why exercise is good for you: Explaining the biology of
exercise:
By Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D.
In "Younger Next Year for Women," Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D., detail
how exercise slows the aging process for all humans

Aerobic fitness is all about making more energy in the muscles. That means
building more mitochondria in your cells and bringing
them more fuel and oxygen. Mitochondria are tiny engines in your cells that can
burn either fat or glucose. It's like having a car
that can run on either diesel (fat) or gasoline (glucose), depending on your
needs: diesel for long-haul road trips, high-octane
gasoline for speed. Your muscles prefer to burn fat most of the time, because
it's a more efficient fuel, but for hard exercise you
burn glucose.
At rest, and with light exercise, you burn 95 percent fat and 5 percent glucose.
Most fat is stored around your belly and hips. Your
body has to bring it to your muscles through your circulation. Fat has to be
carried in special proteins called triglycerides.
Capillaries can handle only a few triglyceride molecules at a time. So each
capillary can deliver only a trickle of fat to your
mitochondria. With consistent aerobic training, your body builds vast new
networks of capillaries to bring more fat to your muscles.
Eventually, however, you are delivering as much fat as you possibly can, and if
you want to go faster, or harder, you need to start
bringing glucose to the mitochondria to use as a second fuel.
With harder exercise you keep burning fat in the background, but all the extra
energy comes from burning glucose. Most of the
glucose is stored in your muscles ahead of time, but your circulation gets a
double workout, first bringing in more glucose and the
oxygen necessary to burn it, then carrying away the exhaust, especially the
carbon dioxide.
Steady aerobic exercise, over months and years, produces dramatic improvements
in your circulatory system, which is one of the ways
exercise saves your life. Exercise stresses your muscles, and they release
enough cytokine-6, known as C-6, a chemical for
inflammation or decay, to trigger cytokine-10, known as C-10, the master
chemical for repair and growth. The C-10 released by the
adaptive micro-trauma of exercise drives the creation of new mitochondria, the
storage of more glucose in the muscle cells and the
growth of new capillaries to feed them. Your muscles get hard as you get in
shape because they're stuffed full of all the new
mitochondria, capillaries and extra glucose.
You have two natural aerobic paces, easy and hard, and they depend on two very
different muscle metabolisms, which are determined by
the fuel you use. Low-intensity, light aerobic exercise burns fat, while high
intensity, hard aerobic exercise burns glucose. It's a
critical difference, because these two paces trigger the two distinct
metabolisms of foraging and hunting, which are our essential
physical rhythms. Those two activities consumed most of our waking hours in
nature, and each one called for distinctly different
body and brain functions. Never mind that you're walking through the park rather
than foraging, or at spin class rather than
hunting: light and hard aerobics are still the master control signals for C-6
and C-10.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060801_GJ_Younger.html
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761140735/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books


15. Weightlifting Can Tear the Heart:
In rare cases, heavy strain triggers deadly aortic dissection, experts say.
A new study finds that, in some people, heavy weightlifting can lead to aortic
dissection, the rare but deadly cardiac event that
killed actor John Ritter.
Aortic dissection refers to a splitting of the wall of the aorta, the largest
blood vessel in the body. The splitting allows blood
under pressure to enter between the layers of the wall of the aorta. This
condition is fatal unless the patient is immediately
diagnosed and has surgery.
In this study, cardiothoracic surgeons at Yale-New Haven Hospital examined 31
cases of aortic dissection linked to weightlifting.
They concluded that, in people with pre-existing mild to moderate aortic
enlargement, heavy weightlifting can increase blood
pressure and raise aortic wall stress to the point that it causes aortic
dissection.
The findings were published in the July online issue of the journal Cardiology.
More...from Health Scout at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/533927/main.html


16. Marathon Q & A:
Jason Karp is a running coach and a doctoral candidate in exercise physiology
at Indiana University who specializes in distance
running. Elisabeth Andrews, IU Media Relations, talked with him about marathon
training and how to improve her marathon time.
EA: Most people think they could never run a marathon. But after I ran one for
the first time, I was convinced that anyone can cover
26.2 miles with proper training. Is the marathon for everybody?
JK: There are a lot of programs out there that say anyone can run a marathon --
but it's not necessarily the case. Certainly there
are a lot of recreational runners who can do it if they are ready to put in the
work. But you have to ask whether your body can take
the pounding that comes with running all that mileage. I'd tell someone to go
ahead with a marathon training program if he or she
has been running consistently for some time and can run eight to 10 miles
without stopping. You need to get to that point first to
see how stressful it will be on your body and whether your joints can handle the
impact.
EA: That sounds like I'm putting my joints in danger. Is my mother right? Am I
going to get osteoporosis from all my training?
JK: No, the evidence shows that there's no difference between runners and
non-runners in developing osteoporosis or osteoarthritis.
Running can be hard on your body in the short term, but it hasn't been shown to
lead to long-term problems. But my mom worries about
me, too.
EA: What makes for a good training program?
JK: You want to replicate the conditions of the race as much as possible.
Marathon training is mostly about mileage. The idea is to
run the most amount of mileage with the least amount of stress to your body. You
should increase your mileage gradually and plan on
running five to six days a week with a long run on the weekend. More competitive
runners will add on tempo runs at race pace and
eventually some interval training. But in the beginning, you want to focus on
mileage. I strongly recommend you have a program
written specifically for you to address your strengths and weaknesses as a
runner. But if you go with a "cookie-cutter" program, I
recommend Jack Daniels' book, "Daniels' Running Formula."
EA: Along with a good training program, are there other essentials for preparing
for a marathon?
JK: Recovery is absolutely essential, and it's often overlooked. You may need to
sleep more -- elite marathon runners sleep nine or
10 hours a night and take naps. Eating is another big part of recovery. You have
to replace your carbohydrates after a long run. The
optimum time to do this is 30 to 60 minutes after your run. Start eating or
drinking carbohydrates right away and keep eating snacks
for the next four to six hours. I start with a giant glass of chocolate milk
that I take with me into the shower!
More...from Indiana University at:
http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/2630.html


17. From Jason Karp's VO2Max Newsletter:
* Integrating Science with Application--Should You Stretch?
All runners I've ever known stretch before, and sometimes after, they run. I
even do it myself. Ever wonder if all that stretching
does anything? Are we wasting our time? While most runners believe that
stretching prevents injuries, research tells a different
story. If the activity includes explosive or ballistic movements, like
volleyball, basketball, and plyometric training, studies have
shown that stretching can reduce injuries by increasing the compliance of
tendons and improve their ability to absorb energy.
However, for low-intensity activities that don't include ballistic movements,
like running, cycling, and swimming, studies have
shown that stretching has no beneficial effect on injury prevention since there
is no need for very compliant tendons. While
stretching may not prevent you from becoming injured, it can improve your
flexibility if done as part of a flexibility training
program.
* Do Muscles Have Tone?
Have you ever heard someone say, "I want to tone my muscles."? Maybe you've
even said it yourself. While you can make your muscles
stronger and look better, you can't tone them. "Tone" refers to a partial state
of muscle contraction. The muscle fibers in your
biceps or any other skeletal muscle either contract or they don't. There is no
such thing as a partial contraction. Like a light,
fibers are either on or off. You vary the amount of muscle force by varying the
number of muscle fibers you contract and the
frequency with which those fibers are recruited, not by varying their degree of
contraction. Smooth muscles, which line blood
vessels and the gastrointestinal and urinary tracts, on the other hand, can
contract partially. They have a dimmer on their light
switch, called tone. This comes in handy when trying to do such things as
regulate blood pressure, which is elegantly accomplished
by subtle alterations in the dilation and constriction of blood vessels.
* VO2max and Oxygen Partial Pressure
Continuing to understand the controlling factors of VO2max...
The adequacy of pulmonary oxygen transfer is determined by the difference in the
partial pressure of oxygen between the alveoli and
arteries. Alveolar partial pressure depends on the inspired fraction of oxygen,
barometric pressure, the ratio between expired
carbon dioxide and inspired oxygen, and the partial pressure of carbon dioxide
in the alveoli. If the alveolar partial pressure of
oxygen falls, so does the arterial partial pressure of oxygen and, consequently,
blood oxygen saturation. With a decreased
saturation of oxygen in your blood, VO2max decreases. One of the variables in
the above list--barometric pressure--is the reason
why VO2max is lower at altitude. Since the barometric pressure decreases with
increasing altitude, alveolar and arterial partial
pressures of oxygen, blood oxygen saturation, and VO2max all decrease. But at
least the air is thinner up there, right?
From Jason Karp's VO2Max Newsletter - http://www.runcoachjason.com
Copyright Jason Karp - All rights reserved


18. Cool down before you go:
Reducing heat strain is good. Doing it without hampering performance is even
better.
Olympic athletes wear them to boost their endurance. U.S. soldiers wear them to
stave off heatstroke. With recent temperatures
making Dante's Inferno look like a spa vacation, cooling exercise garments may
be an idea whose time has finally come.
Researchers have known that wearing cooling garments — such as gel-filled vests
— to lower overall body temperature before endurance
events enables athletes to delay overheating, thus operating at peak performance
longer.
There seems to be a temperature — some call it a safety brake — at which people
poop out," says Dr. William Roberts, past president
of the American College of Sports Medicine.
But conventional wisdom and research have supported the notion that limbs
benefit from being warmed up before exercise, not cooled
down. The effect of cooling limbs — such as legs before a cycling event — hadn't
been extensively investigated.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-he-cooldown31jul31,1,400446.st\
ory?coll=la-health-fitness-news


19. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine:
* Muscles Recover Faster in the Morning
A study from France shows that it takes longer to recover from hard exercise in
the evening than in the morning (International
Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 27, 2006).
Cyclists performed ten six-second bouts of all out effort, with 30-second rest
periods while the researchers measured peak power
output, total mechanical work, peak pedaling rate, and peak efficient torque.
The same group of cyclists performed these workouts
in the morning on one day, and in the evening on another day. They found that
the short-term recovery patterns were slower in the
evening than in the morning.
While the researchers offered no explanation, decreased muscle performance late
in the day may have a lot to do with brain function.
Each muscle is made up of millions of individual muscle fibers. Each muscle
fiber is instructed to contract by a single nerve fiber
that receives messages from the brain. Your brain is far more alert after
sleeping and napping than after being active for many
hours. For example, students score higher in exams taken shortly after waking
up than later in the day, and telephone operators
answer more calls in the morning than in the afternoon. Late-day mental
performance improves after napping, and the same may be true
of muscle function.
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: Does eating before exercise cause cramps?
If you are going to exercise vigorously for more than an hour, you need to eat
before you exercise or your muscles and liver will
run out of sugar and you will tire earlier. Your brain
gets more than 98 percent of its energy from sugar in your bloodstream. But
there is only enough sugar in your bloodstream to last
three minutes. So you liver has to constantly release sugar from its cells into
your bloodstream. There is only enough sugar in your
liver to last about an hour when you exercise vigorously. Eating before
exercising can help you to exercise longer. If you do not
eat before you exercise for more than an hour, and during exercise that lasts
more than two hours, your liver will probably run out
of sugar. Your blood sugar level can drop, and you will feel terrible fatigue
and tiredness.
Whenever your stomach fills with food, its muscles contract and require large
amounts of blood. When you exercise vigorously, your
heart pumps large amounts of blood to your
skeletal muscles. If your heart is not strong enough to pump blood to both your
stomach and your skeletal muscles, blood is shunted
from your stomach muscles, the muscles lack oxygen, lactic acid builds up in
muscles and they start to hurt. However, most people
can exercise after eating without suffering stomach cramps because their hearts
are strong enough to pump blood to both their
exercising muscles and their stomach muscles.
Another theoretical concern is that eating sugar before you exercise will cause
your blood sugar level to rise and your pancreas to
release insulin, which will cause your blood sugar to drop too low so you will
feel tired. However, the major cause of tiredness
that you feel in your muscles during exercise is lack of stored sugar in
muscles. Taking any extra calories before and during
exercise helps to preserve the sugar that is stored in muscles and help you to
exercise longer. If you are going to exercise for
more than an hour, eat or drink anything you like before and during your
exercise. Most people will not get stomach cramps while
exercising, no matter what or when they eat.
* Reactive and Rheumatoid Arthritis:
There are two major types of arthritis: osteoarthritis, also called degenerative
arthritis, and reactive arthritis that includes
rheumatoid arthritis. Osteoarthritis means that cartilage wears away and doctors
don't have the foggiest idea why and therefore they
have no effective treatment. Doctors usually prescribe non-steroidal pills that
help to block pain but do not even slow down
destruction of cartilage. Most serious scientists agree that an infection
initiates rheumatoid and other reactive arthritides and
many think that the germ is still there when symptoms start. Short-term
antibiotics are ineffective, but if antibiotics are started
before the joint is destroyed, they can prevent joint damage.
You are more likely to suffer reactive arthritis when you have:
I) positive blood tests for arthritis; all tests used to diagnose arthritis are
measures of an overactive immunity;
II) swelling of the knuckles and middle joints of your fingers, causing them to
look like cigars;
III) a history of a long-standing infection such as a chronic cough, burning on
urination or pain when the bladder is full, chronic
diarrhea and belching and burning in the stomach; and
IV) pain that starts at an age younger than 50.
More...from Dr Gabe Mirkin at:
http://www.drmirkin.com/joints/J106.htm


20. Rethinking the Wall:
Research Provides a New Definition of Fatigue.
You're running a marathon. All is well until mile 23, when suddenly you hit the
dreaded, metaphorical wall. You start to feel as
though you’re carrying a lead-stuffed backpack and running in sand. Your pace
slows inexorably. The devil on your shoulder tempts
you insistently to stop. After 10 more minutes of exquisite suffering, you heed
him.
Why did this happen? Based on what you’ve been taught, your first guess will
probably be that you didn’t take in enough carbohydrate
during the race, or that you didn’t do enough long, slow "fat-burning" runs in
training. But, new research suggests it’s just as
likely that you failed to take in enough protein during the race, or that you
didn’t do enough plyometrics in training.
In other words, the wall might not be what you think it is.
Damage, Not Depletion?
For most runners, "hitting the wall" means running out of energy, specifically,
carbohydrate fuel—either muscle glycogen or blood
glucose—during the latter portion of a long race or workout. However, recent
findings in the field of exercise physiology are
painting a more complex and nuanced picture. In particular, it now appears that
muscle damage may be an equally important cause of
hitting the wall.
The scientists currently pursuing this line of research believe that a
protective mechanism causes the brain to curtail muscle
stimulation and produce feelings of discomfort and exhaustion when muscle damage
approaches dangerous levels during prolonged
exercise. That exercise causes muscle damage has been known for more than a
century. What’s new is the idea that such damage is
perhaps as potent a cause of hitting the wall as running out of
carbohydrate-derived energy.
One of the leading proponents of this new understanding of endurance fatigue is
Tim Noakes, M.D., an ultramarathon runner and author
of Lore of Running. "I believe that the intense discomfort you feel near the end
of ultramarathon races is not due to muscle
glycogen depletion but is more likely due to muscle damage and your brain trying
to tell you to please stop, as you are going to
destroy your muscles if you continue," Noakes says frankly.
New evidence in support of this hypothesis comes from a study performed at the
University of Cape Town, South Africa, where Noakes
works. Researchers there discovered that the brain-signaling molecule
interleukin-6 plays a role in telling the brain when muscle
damage is approaching dangerous levels during exercise. As interleukin-6 levels
rise, running performance plummets. Runners injected
with interleukin-6 before a 10K time trial ran a full minute slower than they
did when given a placebo.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=4721

21. A DRINK A DAY:
Alcohol can be good for the heart -- not just occasionally, but often. Still,
doctors hesitate to recommend ...
WHEN it comes to drinking alcohol for medicinal purposes, most Americans get it
wrong. Take a sampling of wine samplers at a recent
tasting in Santa Barbara.
"I usually drink wine, but not every day," says Mike White, 45. "Then one day a
week, I go big — maybe half to three-quarters of a
bottle." — Wrong.
"I drink on the weekends only," says Sophie Calvin, 40. — That's not it either.
"I have a glass of wine when I take a bubble bath," says Mary Whitney, 40.
"Every night." — Getting close, but it might be better if
she also brought an entrée into the tub.
"I have a glass of wine with dinner each night. I like the taste," says Mark
Biddeson, 52. "Or I'll have a beer instead sometimes,
depending on what I'm eating." — Bingo! He's got it!
People drink to drown sorrows, celebrate victories, enhance a meal or loosen up
with friends — not necessarily to protect their
hearts. Small wonder.
The folks who wag warning fingers over the dangers of trans fats, and hail the
benefits of leafy greens, are silent on alcohol.
These public health messengers — who remind us to quit smoking, eat fresh fruits
and vegetables and exercise every day — are not
about to tell people to start drinking.
Their reluctance comes even amid growing evidence that moderate drinking is
beneficial. A study last week in the Archives of
Internal Medicine showed that light to moderate alcohol consumption in people
age 70 to 79 is associated with significantly lower
rates of cardiac events and longer survival. A week earlier, researchers
reported in the July 18 issue of the Journal of the
American College of Cardiology that moderate alcohol consumption may help ward
off development of heart failure.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-alcohol31jul31,1,6062867.story?coll\
=la-headlines-health




23. Fit Facts: Running with baby:
By Frank Claps , Her Sports + Fitness Magazine
Baby on board
Good news for active moms and dads: Striding with a stroller gives you an
intense workout without compromising your running form. In
a Texas A&M study, five men and five women ran for 30 minutes at 75 percent of
their race pace both with a stroller, and without.
The results found that while running with a stroller provided a more intense
workout than running stroller-free, there was no
difference in stride length and overall running gait. To find stroller-pushing
running buddies in your area, visit
www.seemommyrun.com or www.strollerstrides.com.
Stay active with age
Here's more motivation to keep moving through the years. The National Runners'
Health Study, which surveyed 4,800 female and 7,800
male runners ranging in age from 18 to 75 over a period of nine years, found
that to offset middle-age weight gain women should
increase their weekly mileage by about 2.4 miles a year, and men by 1.7 miles,
starting in their mid-thirties. Researchers
speculated that women require a greater weekly increase because they tend to
store fat in the butt-hip area, which is harder to burn
than fat around the abs, where guys store it.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13458


24. Diet and Exercise: The Real Fountains of Youth:
Yet society has to do more to encourage healthy lifestyles for older people,
experts say.
You can take every pill and rue your parents for passing on their genes, but if
you want to live long and well there are two things
you must do -- eat right and exercise.
And while there are no guarantees in life, adopting these healthy pursuits can
enhance your chances of vitality as you reach your
60s, 70s, 80s -- and beyond, experts say.
But a new report by the nonprofit Center for the Advancement of Health says
that's not always easy for older people in a society
that has built its streets for drivers, not walkers, and put convenience --
think fast foods -- for the young over possibilities for
the old.
With 35 million Americans aged 65 and older -- a number expected to double
during the next 25 years -- seniors and government must
both make healthy choices, said Nancy Whitelaw, director of the National Council
on the Aging's Center for Healthy Aging, which
funded the report.
When it comes to nutrition and activity, "people know the message," she said.
"The challenge is to make it operational in our daily
lives."
People who get regular exercise, eat healthfully and avoid tobacco have a lower
risk of chronic diseases that lead to premature
death, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and certain cancers.
They also have reduced rates of disability, better
mental health and cognitive function, and lower health costs.
More...from Health Scout at:
http://www.healthscout.com/news/1/534055/main.html


25. Digest Briefs:
* The 7-minute booster that will turn lard into lean.
A new study has revealed a way to burn more fat and kilojoules while running
easier and feeling better. The trick?
You have to run faster for a 5- to 7-minute segment of your run. Even if you
don't care about the increased weight-loss, varying
your pace in this way will make the workout feel easier.
The study
Twelve women runners were monitored during two different workouts, both of which
lasted about 30 minutes.
Workout 1: The subjects ran on a treadmill at a slow, steady pace for 30
minutes.
Workout 2: The subjects ran at the exact same slow pace for 10 minutes. Then
they gradually ran harder for 5 to 7 minutes until they
were running all-out. They finished the workout with another 10 minutes at the
initial slow pace.
Results: After the 5 to 7 minutes of hard running in Workout 2, the subjects
reported that their subsequent slow running felt easier
and better than the last 10 minutes of Workout 1.
Best part: They were also consuming more oxygen and burning more fat and
kilojoules during this period.
Comment: "I'd expect the same results with men," says exercise physiologist
Roger Hammer, Ph.D., of Central Michigan University.
"The hormone response and fuel utilisation are similar between the sexes."
Bottom line: This study shows that you can increase the fat- and
kilojoule-burning results of a typical halfhour run by warming up
well, running hard for 5 to 7 minutes, and then returning to your initial
warm-up pace.
Bonus: "The hard effort makes the rest of the run seem easier," notes Hammer.
From Runner's World South Africa at: http://www.runnersworld.co.za/wheres/
* Q and A with Chris Carmichael
Q: After a long workout what should one's next meal consist of to get the most
from the workout?
A: Nutrition following a training session is one of the most important recovery
factors that you can control. You've just spent the
last one, two, or five hours depleting your energy stores and pounding your
muscles. Not only is it important to replenish these
stores so you can recover quickly and exercise again soon, but consuming enough
energy is also critical for gaining fitness as well
as maintaining and building lean muscle. The exercise provides the stimulus
needed for adaptation, but the body will only grow
stronger if you supply it with enough energy.
Your body is most efficient at replenishing its energy stores during the first
15 to 60 minutes immediately following exercise, so
it's important to consume enough food and the right foods to make the most of
this time.
The best foods to do this are rich in carbohydrates, contain a small amount of
protein, and are easy to digest (high on the glycemic
index). A good rule of thumb is to take in 0.75 grams of carbohydrate per pound
of bodyweight within the first 15 to 30 minutes.
This could be a snack, a carbohydrate-rich recovery drink, or a bar/gel.
Immediately after exercise, your body doesn't really care
if it gets simple or complex carbohydrate, as long as it gets the carbohydrate.
Studies show that simple sugar and complex
carbohydrate are equally effective for replenishing muscle carbohydrate stores.
Soon after, a complete meal that is rich in carbohydrate and moderate in protein
and fat is best for recovery. For instance, a meal
with brown rice, chicken breast, and roasted or steamed vegetables would do the
trick. Having a turkey sandwich on whole grain bread
or in a whole wheat tortilla, with plenty of vegetables stacked in it, would
also work and you may be able to have it waiting in
your vehicle if your workout starts and ends at a trailhead.
From... Outside Online at:
http://outside.away.com/outside/bodywork/carmichael-20060727.html


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

August 4 - 6, 2006:
Athletics Canada National SR Championships - Ottawa, ON
http://www.ottawalions.com/ottl_eng.shtml

National Capital Triathlon & Duathlon - Ottawa, ON
http://www.somersault.ca/eventnationalcapital.htm

TD Banknorth Beach to Beacon 10K - Cape Elizabeth, ME
http://www.beach2beacon.org/beachtobeacon/index.html

Television - CBC 14:00 - 15:30
World Cup Triathlon On CBC: Salford, England

August 5 - 6, 2006:
London Triathlon - UK
http://www.thelondontriathlon.com

August 6, 2006:
Chicago Distance Classic Half-Marathon - Chicago, IL
http://www.chicagodistanceclassic.com

K-Town Tri - Kingston, ON
http://www.ktowntri.com

Nissan Xterra Midwest Championship - Milwaukee, WI
http://www.xterraplanet.com/races/race.cfm?race_id=359

RYKA Iron Girl Denver 5-Mile/5K, Denver, CO
http://www.irongirl.com/denver/index-denver.html

York River Trail Marathon - Whitehorse, Yukon Territory
http://www.yukonmarathon.com

August 6 - 13, 2006:
European Athletics Championships - Göteborg, SWE
http://www.european-athletics.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=58&I\
temid=50

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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Forward the Runner's Web Digest to a friend and suggest that they subscribe at:
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YOUR FEEDBACK AND COMMENTS:
Comments, contributions and feedback are always welcome via this list at:
mailto:runnersweb@yahoogroups.com and in our Runner's Web Forum, available off
our FrontPage. If you post to the mailing list and
get your email returned, please contact the Runner's Web at
mailto:webmaster@... to notify us of the problem. To update your
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Have a good week of training and/or racing.

Ken Parker
Runner's Web
mailto: webmaster@...
http://www.runnersweb.com/running.html
A running and triathlon resource portal
Runner's Web Online Store
http://store.runnersweb.com
RunnersWebCoach
http://www.runnerswebcoach.com



*********************************************
RUNNER'S WEB AFFILIATE PROGRAMS:
*********************************************
All revenue from advertisers and affiliate programs goes into the support of
running and triathlon through sponsorship of events,
teams, clinics and fund raising programs for Canada's Olympic athletes.

Geezer Jock Magazine, The Masters Sports & Fitness Magazine
http://www.geezerjock.com/index.cfm?affID=runnersweb

Athletes, Coaches, Trainers and Physio's
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National Bike Registry
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Axill
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Buy Paula Radcliffe's book, My Story - So Far, from Amazon UK at:
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Endurance Films
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Instant Stretching Routines
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ShoeWallet.com has set out on a mission to enable people to easily carry ID and
medical information at all times. Basically, anyone
who is out on the roads or trails needs a convenient place to carry this vital
information.
http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?joggerscompanion+pXgxpm+index.html+

SportsShoes in the UK
http://www.sportsshoes.com/index.php?id=149

Visit on AssociatesShop.com Online Bookstore for running and triathlon books:
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LX Sport - Leading Edge Sports Products for Women.
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http://www.lxsport.com/products.php?PARTNER=runnersweb. Use the promotion code
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This application was recently featured on National TV - please see the following
link:
http://easylink.playstream.com/networknewssource/hdo/onlinetrainer.wvx

TrainingPeaks.com by Wes Hobson.
Find the training program that fits you at:
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/rw

Triathlon Meetup
http://triathlon.meetup.com/r/d5n6/d5n6/0/http://triathlon.meetup.com/?a=d5n6/
Triathlon Meetups! Happening THIS month, find out when .

TriSwim Coach - The Complete Guide to Triathlon Swimming
http://hop.clickbank.net/?rhianyth/triswim1

adidas' running apparel at 15% off! All running shorts, pants, and
shirts at reduced prices .
http://service.bfast.com/bfast/click?bfmid=20812557&siteid=39999062&bfpage=15745\
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If you have an accident while running or cycling, do you want your family to be
contacted? Do you want to receive immediate and
proper medical treatment?
If so, make this cool item part of your gear -- for safety and peace of mind.
Road ID has created 4 awesome ways for athletes to
wear ID: the SHOE, the WRIST, the ANKLE, and the NECK. Get your RoadID at:
http://www.roadid.com/?referrer=50

The Stretching Handbook:
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cmd.php?af=245575
The Stretching Video in a DVD version. With the DVD version you're able to use
the convenient menu facility to:
* Go directly to a specific stretch;
* View only stretches for a specific muscle group;
* Pause each stretch to get a good look at how it is performed;
* View only the introduction and rules for safe stretching; or
* Play the entire video from start to finish.
Buy the DVD at:
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cgi-bin/at.pl?a=286905&e=products/video-dvd\
.htm

Buy all your sporting goods at Fogdog Sports, your anytime, anywhere sports
store.
Click here: http://www.fogdog.com/cgi-bin/affiliate?siteid=40054907

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