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:
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000009525499

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

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


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THIS WEEK:

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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

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

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

* Peak Performance Online
Peak Performance is a subscription-only newsletter for athletes, featuring the
latest research from the sports science world. We
cover the whole range of sports, from running and rowing to cycling and
swimming, and each issue is packed full of exclusive
information for anyone who's serious about sport. It's published 16 times a
year, including four special reports, by Electric Word
plc. Peak Performance is not available in the shops - only our subscribers are
able to access the valuable information we publish.
Check out our article archive from Peak Performance Online at:
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* Peak Running Performance
Peak Running Is The Nation's Most Advanced Running Newsletter. Rated as the #1
Running Publication by Road Runner Sports (Worlds
Largest Running Store) , Peak Running caters to the serious / dedicated runner.
Delivering world class running advice are some of
running's most recognizable athletes including Dr. Joe Vigil (US Olympic Coach),
Scott Tinley (2 Time Ironman Champ) Steve Scott (3 Time Olympian) and many more.
This bi-monthly newsletter has been around for over
13 years, and in the past two it has been awarded the "Golden Shoe Award" in
recognition of it's outstanding achievements.
http://www.clixGalore.com/Sale.aspx?BID=37234&AfID=103794&AdID=5075&LP=www.peakr\
unningperformance.com
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* WatsonLifeSport
Lance Watson is "Just The Winningest Coach in Triathlon". He has been coaching
triathlon and distance running since 1987. Over the
years, Lance has coached some of the most successful athletes in the sport of
triathlon and duathlon.
Check out the Lance Watson Online Article Index at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/LW_index.html

Running Research News:
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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. Science of Sport: Fats for Endurance
2. Multisport: Rubbed the Wrong Way
Runner’s Blisters and the CTS Method for their Care and Treatment.
3. Sports Psychology: See it. Believe it. Achieve it
4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Run Softly, Run Tall
5. What To Drink When
All fluids are not created equal. This Drinking Guide offers expert advice on
the best drinks for runners.
6. Race recovery time
7. Ready to race
8. Americans not eating enough fruits, veggies
9. The Best Kept Training Secrets
10. Lactate....
It is not lactic acid's fault.
11. Amino Acid Supplements Can Help Recovery from Exercise
12. Marathon/Ultradistance Training
13. From Runner's World
14. Speed training heats up
Tips for getting race-ready this fall.
15. Can't sleep? You may be suffering from sleep apnoea
16. Ease on Down the Road
Improve your running economy and watch your times--and your effort--decrease.
17. Shave and Tell
For cyclists, well for male cyclists, the big question is whether or not to
shave your legs. It turns out that other men aren't the
only ones paying attention.
18. From Running Times
19. Beyond the Headlines:
Sorting Out Nutrition Science.
20. The Tall Game
21. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine
22. Interval Training 2: How to strike and sustain VO2max gold, and other
benefits of high-quality workouts
23. VO2 Max Newsletter
24. 12 tips for Ironman tapering
25. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Will Paula Radcliffe regain her previous form after giving birth?"

You can access the poll from our FrontPage ( http://www.runnersweb.com) as well
as checking the results of previous polls.
Post your views in our Forum at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/runnersweb_forum.html
[Free Registration Required]

LAST WEEK'S POLL RESULTS:
"Which sport has the greater drug problem, athletics or cycling?"
Answers Percent
1. Athletics 6%
2. Cycling 9%
3. They're equally bad 84%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: chasingKIMBIA.com
An Exclusive Inside Look at Elite Marathon Runners
From the creator of chasingTRADITION and a frequent writer for Peak Running
Performance comes chasingKIMBIA, a website chronicling
the journey of elite marathon runners.
Starting September 12th Matt Taylor and his team will document the lifestyle and
training of an elite group of marathoners managed
by KIMbia Athletics and sponsored by New Balance. The athletes, including Ben
Maiyo, John Yuda, Charles Kibiwott, Thomas Nyariki,
and others, have recently moved from their training camp in Iten, Kenya to the
outskirts of Boulder, Colorado. They've left their
families and friends behind to start two months of intense and focused marathon
training directed by Coach Dieter Hogen. As a group
and individually they have very high expectations. And why shouldn't they? The
team has had unprecedented success at recent major
marathons with numerous top-three finishes over the past three years. Five of
them will race the Chicago Marathon and at least two
will race the New York City Marathon. Will one of them return home a champion?
The website - www.chasingKIMBIA.com - will record the journey on a daily basis
with blog entries, interviews, pictures, videos, and
more. It will provide a backstage pass to the lives of elite distance runners as
they train for a major marathon. On the site today
you'll find a preview video of what's to come. The real action begins on
September 12th.


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


BOOK OF THE WEEK: Better Training for Distance Runners-2nd Edition.
About The Product
Better Training for Distance Runners provides a prescription for success for
today’s competitive distance runners and their coaches.
The book combines recent research, sound training principles, and proven program
strategies to improve performance in events ranging
from the 800-meters to the marathon.
Runners and coaches will find it easy to apply the book’s cutting-edge
information about running physiology and biomechanics.
They’ll receive straightforward advice for conditioning and competing in the
whole range of distance events. The book also covers
many popular topics in running, including how to:
• accurately assess running fitness,
• gauge training intensity,
• adjust training loads to achieve peak readiness for competition,
• determine the most effective racing strategy for each event, and
• stay healthy throughout a running career.
Authors Dr. David Martin and Peter Coe are the perfect team for translating lab
findings to the road and running track. As one of
the world’s foremost researchers on running, Martin regularly tests elite
runners to identify their best strategies for staying
healthy and improving fitness. Peter Coe, father and coach of 800- and
1000-meter world record holder Sebastian Coe, has long been
regarded as a master of devising training plans that allow athletes to reach
peak fitness when it counts most. Together, Martin and
Coe present the most comprehensive and useful resource on the art and science of
distance running—the formula that has produced many
national championship, Olympic medal, and world record performances.
Better Training for Distance Runners builds upon the success of the first
edition by providing loads of new information, such as the
effects of altitude training and glycerin loading, the health problems
experienced by women runners who may be too thin, and the
best strategies for running road races and the steeplechase. It’s an essential
guide and a great read for serious distance runners
and coaches who desire to excel in future seasons and events.
About the Author
No two authors are better qualified than David Martin and Peter Coe to address
both the physiology and coaching of distance running.
Martin has served as marathon chair of USA Track & Field’s (USATF) Men’s
Development Committee since 1979 and as chair of the
national governing body’s Sport Science Subcommittee since 1984. These positions
have allowed him to coach, advise, and
scientifically evaluate many of America’s best men and women distance runners.
They have also provided him the opportunity to work
with and learn from other top coaches and sports scientists around the world.
A fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine, Martin is the author of
four books, including The High Jump Book, The Marathon
Footrace, and Training Distance Runners. He also is a contributor to New Studies
in Athletics, the technical journal of the
International Amateur Athletic Federation.
Dr. Martin is a regents professor of health sciences at Georgia State
University, which has three times honored him as a
distinguished professor. He is also a results statistician for the Association
of International Marathons and the Association for
Track & Field Statisticians.
Peter Coe has successfully coached domestic and foreign runners at all levels,
but he is probably best known for guiding his son
Sebastian to one of the greatest middle distance running careers of all time.
Under Peter’s tutelage, Sebastian won two Olympic gold
medals in the 1500-meter run and two Olympic silver medals in the 800-meter run;
a bronze, a silver, and a gold at the European
championships; and 12 world records.
A retired engineer, Coe is a recognized international lecturer and a writer. He
is author of Training Distance Runners and Winning
Running. Coe was presented the Senior Coaching Award by the British Athletics
Association and was named Coach of the Year by the
British Milers’ Club—an organization for which he served as chairman for several
years.
Buy the book from Human Kinetics at:
http://www.humankinetics.com/products/showproduct.cfm?associate=880&isbn=0880115\
300



THIS WEEK'S FEATURES:

1. Science of Sport: Fats for Endurance:
What are fats?
Fats are organic compounds composed of a glycerol backbone with fatty acids
attached to it. There are three primary types of fatty
acids: saturated, monounsaturated (MUFA), and polyunsaturated (PUFA). Saturated
fatty acids are those that only have single bonds
between the carbon atoms and all remaining bonds are filled with hydrogen atoms.
These are common in animal fats. Trans fatty acids
fall under this category, although they are not naturally occurring. Instead,
trans fatty acids are engineered by hydrogenating
unsaturated fatty acids to create a solid, more stable fat product. The second
type of naturally occurring fatty acid, MUFAs, has
one double bonded carbon atom. MUFAs are found in olive oil, canola oil, peanut
oil, as well as other products. Lastly, PUFAs have
more than one double bond. The PUFAs can be further broken down into two major
groups of essential fatty acids, the omega-6 series
and the omega-3 (Kruger and Horrobin, 1997). Omega-6 fatty acids are found in
corn oil, soybean oil, and most other vegetable oils,
as well as pastries. Examples of where omega-3 fatty acids are found are:
walnuts, canola oil, flaxseed oil, salmon, sardines, and
other fish.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060904_ERB_Fats.html


2. Multisport: Rubbed the Wrong Way:
Runner’s Blisters and the CTS Method for their Care and Treatment.
By Steve Harp, CTS Expert Coach
If you’re a runner, try as you might, you’re going to face an angry and painful
blister on your foot somewhere down the road. It
could be from a new pair of shoes, or simply from logging lots of miles in
preparation for a marathon or Ironman triathlon. The
common blister is caused by friction burns from shoes or clothing rubbing
against the skin. As the outer layer of skin separates
from the inner layers, the space between them fills with fluid and then swells
into the raised bump known as the blister. Blisters
can make anyone’s training or racing a pain, but the aggravation doesn’t have to
last. Here are some tips to treat and aid in the
quick healing of that inflamed skin.
Leave Most Blisters Alone
It is best to leave most small blisters that are smaller than a dime alone. They
should be kept clean and covered with an antibiotic
ointment and a bandage and allowed to drain by themselves. The overlying skin is
a natural protective layer and should be left in
place until it is very dry and the underlying skin has become tough and no
longer hurts to touch. Until then slathering petroleum
jelly around the blister and the part of a shoe that caused the irritation will
reduce the friction by some measure—enough to make
it possible for you to continue. After the blister has dried, peel off the outer
layer of dead skin.
Protect it
You can protect a blister with moleskin, a raised bandage which surrounds the
blister and reduces the amount of friction on it. Cut
a “donut hole” in a piece of moleskin with a bigger circumference than the
blister and place the moleskin around the sore spot. Then
cover everything with a bandage foot so the "donut hole" is over the blister.
Then cover the moleskin with a bandage. Look for
moleskin next to where bandages are sold in the drugstore.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_CTS_20060904_Blisters_Treatment.html


3. Sports Psychology: See it. Believe it. Achieve it:
By Paige Dunn
Easier said than done right? Not necessarily. Numerous studies have shown that
when athletes use the power of their mind to actually
see themselves perform their sport, they can go on to achieve the image set
forth in their minds. Using imagery, and the power of
the mind to create successful athletic performances, can in fact help athletes
achieve athletic excellence. Sound good? Why not
jump-start your 2006 fitness and sport goals with a dose of mental training and
imagery practice?
Surely you’ve thought about what you need to do to physically to achieve your
goals this year but have you given though to what
might help you out mentally? Imagery is a great place to start and incorporating
imagery practice into your fitness and sport
routine can enhance your performance and may even help you achieve that which
you deem impossible. Considerable research supports
the value of imagery practice and it has been shown to increase motivation,
improve confidence, improve focus and can even help you
learn new technique or skill.
So maybe you are rolling your eyes by now and thinking that this imagery stuff
has to be a bunch of hocus-pocus. But don’t take our
word for it – you might be surprised that most elite and professional athletes
use some form of imagery practice and actually
attribute their success to their imagery practice.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060907_XCEL_See_It.html


4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Run Softly, Run Tall:
Stand beside a road sometime and watch a race instead of running it. You will
see in the passing parade what you might not have
noticed from the middle of it, focusing only on yourself and the runners within
sight.
If you wouldn't have been one of the lead runners, you'll now see how wide the
gap is between their pace and where yours would have
put you. You'll notice also how different the frontrunners look than most of
those in your group.
The faster folks typically run smoother, quieter, taller and prouder. The slower
ones pound the ground harder, and slump forward
more and stare at their feet.
The differences in pace dictate some of the differences in appearance, but this
doesn't have to be so. Slow runners may never be
able to keep up with the fast, but can look more like them.
I don't need to watch a race to see these contrasts in action. I view them daily
at my favorite runner-watching spot, where I'm part
of the parade but still can observe it in a leisurely way.
The Amazon Trail is a one-mile sawdust course in my hometown of Eugene, Oregon.
Runners come here by the dozens at all hours of the
day and night. This trail brings together some of the world's fastest runners
with many of the slowest, who run one lap in the time
it takes the speedsters to go two.
As they lap me, I see the faster ones gliding over the surface, brushing it
quickly and quietly with each footfall. They run
proudly, with back straight and eyes forward. Faster running almost demands that
they carry themselves this way.
Slower pace doesn't make such demands, and bad habits can take root in these
runs. Many of the Amazon Trail runners, with their
hunched backs and downcast eyes and scraping footplants, run as if slightly
embarrassed to be seen here.
Pace places me firmly in the second group, but I still try to model myself after
the first. Faster runners hold up a picture of what
the best running form can and should be at any pace.
Slower runners naturally take shorter and lower strides, but we still can model
ourselves after those who look the best. This isn't
just advice about looking pretty, since running isn't not a beauty contest and
no style-points are awarded.
If form were purely an aesthetic concern, I wouldn't bother write about it here.
It's worth mentioning because running lightly over
the ground, in good head-to-toe alignment, is easier on the body than landing
heavily and out of balance, a thousand times every
mile. It's also a little faster for the same level of effort.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2072


5. What To Drink When:
All fluids are not created equal. This Drinking Guide offers expert advice on
the best drinks for runners.
As you approach the first water stop along the racecourse, you see sports drink
in some of the cups and water in others. Which
should you reach for? That depends. Running time and distance, level of
intensity, individual fitness, environmental conditions and
even personal preference all factor in to what you should drink--and when you
should drink it.
Having to decide between the array of drinks that line your grocery store's
beverage aisle is even more daunting. Sure, just about
all of those beverages--even the ones that are caffeinated or high in
sugar--count toward your fluid needs. But some options are
simply better than others, especially when you're striving for peak performance
and optimal hydration. "Runners need to make
informed beverage choices that fit their individual needs," says Dallas Parsons,
R.D., a sports nutritionist in Toronto.
Taste is certainly key, since research has proven that we're likely to stay
better hydrated if we enjoy what we're drinking. But
runners also need to read labels closely to find out the intended use of each
product, says Chris Carmichael, coach to Lance
Armstrong, founder and CEO of Carmichael Training Systems, Inc., and author of
Food for Fitness: Eat Right to Train Right. "A runner
out on a 30-minute jog won't be hurt by using one of the new endurance sports
drinks," says Carmichael, "but he'd really be just
fine with plain water, since endurance drinks become more important as workouts
get longer."
Our Summer Drinking Guide can help you navigate these waters (and drinks and
juices). Here we define the most popular beverage
categories and offer expert recommendations on how these drinks are best used.
Whatever you choose, drink it cold and in frequent
small amounts. This proven strategy ensures your fluids will be absorbed much
more quickly--leaving you properly fueled and well
hydrated.
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-302--10086-0,00.html?cm_mmc=RS\
S-_-rwrsshome-_-NA-_-NA


6. Race recovery time:
At least once a week during summer months I get a note asking, "How long should
it take me to recover from my race?" It's a great
question.
The first question I ask is, "What sport did you race?" With triathlon racing,
people typically recover faster from a three-hour
road race than they do from a three-hour running event.
Triathlon recovery from a three-hour event falls between cycling and running.
While some people prefer to use miles logged in the
race as the measuring stick for recovery, I use race time.
Race time is just one factor to consider when determining recovery time. The
time it takes to fully recover from a race depends on
many factors, some of which are outlined later in this article.
When I refer to "full recovery," I insinuate that you are recovered from the
race completely -- so that you can do a race-quality
training session or another race with no residual fatigue or affects remaining
from your last event.
More...from Active.com at:
http://active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13516


7. Ready to race:
Most athletes and coaches know the value of a good warm-up, but all too often a
proper warm-up gets ditched on race day. Indeed,
practically every one of us has plead guilty, at least once, to rushing down to
the swim start in time for a quick 50-meter dip,
then asking the body to fire on all cylinders at full race pace.
A warm-up prepares the body for racing by increasing blood flow to the muscles,
which delivers oxygen and glycogen for energy and
performance. Warm muscles are better able to meet the demands of the event right
from the start, and, if your muscles are loose and
lengthened, it is less likely you will tear or pull something. Finally, warming
up allows you to sharpen your skills and activate
your neuromuscular system so you feel coordinated and engaged. Most athletes
have drills or routines that help make them feel fast,
and including these before a race will better prepare you for a great
performance.
An optimal race warm-up routine is individual and event specific. If you are an
athlete who swims a personal best for a timed 400
free at the end of a long set, then you likely need a longer swim warm up to
feel activated. People who feel best right at the
beginning of swim workout likely need a shorter warm-up.
More...from Triathlete Magazine at:
http://www.triathletemag.com/story.cfm?story_id=12357&publicationID=92&pageID=17\
05


8. Americans not eating enough fruits, veggies:
The U.S. government recently bumped up its recommendations for fruit and
vegetable consumption, and a new study suggests it's very
likely Americans aren't keeping up.
The United States Department of Agriculture had long recommended that everyone
get at least five servings of fruits and veggies
daily, but adjusted that requirement to 2 to 6-1/2 cups of fruits and vegetables
daily in its new MyPyramid food guide, Dr. Patricia
Guenther of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and colleagues
note.
The guidelines specify recommended intake by age and sex, and spell out the
variety of vegetables people should eat.
To investigate how many people were meeting the new standards -- and the old
ones -- Guenther and her team looked at single-day food
intake data for 8,070 people participating in the 1999-2000 National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey.
More...from Reuters at:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-09-0\
4T165038Z_01_SIB460618_RTRUKOC_0_US-AMERICANS-EATING
.xml&archived=False
[Multi-line URL]


9. The Best Kept Training Secrets:
Now that I have your attention, in the next three to four minutes we can discuss
some of the best kept training secrets for
endurance athletes. Have you ever wondered how some athletes emerge from fall
and winter training seemingly in the best shape of
their lives? How do they do it? Is it some special home gym, new ultra intense
training regimen, or home altitude sleep chambers?
Read on.
Ever heard of the "Fall Five?" It's those five pounds that most of us gain
during the winter months due to decreased physical
activity, but increased caloric activity. It's really closer to the "Fall
Fifteen", by the time you go through Halloween candy,
Thanksgiving turkey (yes, please pass the potatoes) and of course the Christmas
and New Years parties. Usually by March we start
thinking about training again and the first question we usually get as coaches
is, "Can you help me loose a few pounds that I gained
this winter." So now the first several months of training is to get right back
to where you were before.
Let's take a look at some key tips to avoid the "Fall Five to Fifteen" that will
help make this fall and winter the best training
period ever.
Change the focus of your training - The fall is a great time to reduce the
intensity in your training and work on aerobic
conditioning. Low easy heart rate exercise also builds your metabolic
efficiency, which means burning more fat for fuel.
Take a short break - If you are burned out from training or racing during the
summer taking a short break is fine. Usually about 2
weeks is more than enough for your body to repair those nagging injuries and
leave you feeling rested.
More...from TriFuel.com at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/triathlon-training/the-best-kept-training-secre\
ts-001349.php


10. Lactate....
It is not lactic acid's fault.
By Guy Thibault, François Pérnott
Authors
Guy Thibault PhD is an exercise physiologist, a full time research advisor to
the Secretariat au Loisir et au Sport (Sport and
Leisure Secretariat) of the Government of Quebec, and a scientific advisor to
the national training centres for several individual
sports in Canada. He is the former coach of Jacqueline Gareau (CAN), winner of
the Boston Marathon in 1980.
François Pérnott PhD is an exercise physiologist, a professor at the Kinesiology
Department of the University of Montreal, and the
author of several research papers and books on various scientific aspects of
running, mainly carbohydrate metabolism.
Abstract
Lactic acid and lactate are widely believed to be the cause of fatigue, cramps
and soreness in athletes. The authors take issue with
this orthodoxy, citing a number of recent studies to support their view. They
point out that it is possible to observe muscle
fatigue while the lactic acid concentration in the muscle remains low and
observe an absence of fatigue when the lactic acid
concentration in the muscle is high. They argue that in many situations
performance does not depend on the ability of the runner to
produce less lactic acid, as many people think, but in the ability to produce
more. They also question the existence of the
anaerobic threshold the point in exercise intensity beyond which the source
energy moves from an aerobic metabolism to a combination
of aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms arguing that current scientific knowledge
does not support its existence. If an anaerobic
threshold really does exist, they say, it does not have all the uses people
currently ascribe to it.
'There's nothing so useless as a bad theory': Leonid Brezhnev
Introduction
You feel the pain as soon as you push yourself hard. Your muscles and your
stomach hurt, not to mention your ego. And it stands to
reason that if you feel pain, something has to take the blame for it. In the
world of endurance sport, including running, it is
claimed that lactic acid is the cause of all pain. You have cramps or stiffness?
Lactic acid is the culprit. And while we're there,
why not blame lactic acid for overuse injuries, overtraining, baldness, the
decline in moral standards and continental drift?
The widely accepted belief that lactic acid is the source of all ills is still
supported by some of those sports scientists who are
not up to date or who have not had the courage to confess the truth to athletes,
simply because they fear going against popular
opinion.
Let's start with a fact: in high intensity exercise muscles produce lactic acid,
which appears in the blood in the form of a salt
that we call 'lactate'. If, however, we study the details of how energy is
produced in the muscle during efforts of varying
intensities, we find that lactate is not responsible for the ills that some
think it is.
More...from Masters Track and Field at:
http://www.coachr.org/lactate.htm


11. Amino Acid Supplements Can Help Recovery from Exercise:
The study, undertaken by a group of researchers in Japan and published in the
Journal of Nutrition shows that people who took a
mixture of isoleucine, leucine and valine before a work-out had less
delayed-onset muscle soreness and less fatigue than those who
did not.
A new scientific study has shown that adding small amounts of branched-chain
amino acids to the diet can help people avoid muscle
soreness and fatigue following exercise, adding to the growing body of evidence
that amino acids can contribute to the performance
and well-being of sportsmen and women.
The study, undertaken by a group of researchers in Japan and published in the
Journal of Nutrition shows that people who took a
mixture of isoleucine, leucine and valine (the three branched-chain amino acids)
before a work-out had less delayed-onset muscle
soreness and less fatigue than those who did not.
Combinations of branched-chain amino acids can play a role in helping the body
to handle the stresses and strains of participation
in sports. Branched-chain amino acids work synergistically, reducing muscle
protein breakdown during exercise, as well as
stimulating muscle protein growth. By using combinations of branched-chain amino
acids, recovery times following strenuous exercise
can be cut. Research showed that amino acids can reduce muscle soreness for four
days following exercise.
Other research suggests that amino acid supplements may help to reduce fatigue
during sports. By replacing branched-chain amino
acids used by the body during exercise, supplements can help maintain a normal
balance of branched-chain amino acids in the blood.
These amino acids help to prevent feelings of fatigue caused by increased levels
of tryptophan. By competing with tryptophan in the
bloodstream at the blood-brain barrier, branched-chain amino acids decrease the
levels of tryptophan transported into the brain.
More...from Food Ingredients First at:
http://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/newsmaker_article.asp?fSite=AR283&nw=hd&size\
=ld&sno=1&main_page=1&id=576


12. Marathon/Ultradistance Training:
Marathoners/ultra distance runners seldom exceed their LT during a race. Typical
training runs:
Endurance runs of from 1 1/2 to 3 hours at 10 to 20 BPM below the LT.
Moderate tempo runs of from 30 to 60 minutes at just below the LT.
RECOVERY RUNS
Recovery run days need to be in the training plan. A training session where
considerable time is spent close to or above the LT is
hard on the body, so it is important that the following day should be either an
off day or an easy recovery run day.
Easy recovery runs of from 30 to 45 minutes at 25 to 35 BPM below the LT.
CARDIOVASCULAR DRIFT
Often, after having run from 45 to 60 minutes, there will be a noticeable
increase (5 +/- BPM) in pulse rate with no increase in
perceived or actual effort. This is a normal, natural phenomenon called
"cardiovascular drift."
TRACKING THE LT WHILE RUNNING
Many experienced runners have found the LT effort level through trial and error.
They know the feeling and the pace. However, a
number of factors such as weather conditions, terrain and fatigue will have an
impact on this "feeling", making this a less than
reliable method for tracking the LT in training and racing.
LT AND BREATHING
The rate of breathing is determined by the need for oxygen. When running at an
effort level where the breathing rate is three
strides per breath, the pulse rate is usually well below the LT. As the effort
level increases the strides per breath decreases. For
a "moderate tempo" run, the breathing rate will usually be at two strides for
both the inhale and exhale. This should put the body
just below the LT.
At a one stride per inhale, two strides per exhale, the body should be at or
just above the LT. At the one stride per inhale and one
per exhale, the body is going well above the LT and approaching maximum effort.
LT AND THE "TALK TEST"
When running at a "recovery" pace that is well below the LT, it is easy to carry
on a conversation with a companion runner. As the
effort approaches the LT, conversations are not possible, only one or two words
can be gotten out. When at or above the LT, the
runner will not even want to think about talking.
PULSE MONITORS
For the recreational runner, the chest strap transmitter type pulse monitors
produce the most reliable information during a training
session or a race. These will allow a racer to control effort level and greatly
reduce the possibility of "dying" on the course or
finishing with too much left.
The ability to continuously monitor pulse and effort is critical when running
hilly courses. When racing, the effort level must be
maintained to prevent unnecessary slowdowns or exceeding the LT. A "moderate"
uphill will require about 35% more effort when
maintaining the same race pace. Conversely, the downhill will require about 25%
less effort at the same speed. A pulse monitor will
allow the runner to adjust effort according to the terrain.
There are pulse monitors available from different manufacturers and the pricing
is fairly competitive. They are worth the
investment.
"PULSE RATE" RACING
Monitoring the pulse rate while racing can be a big help to the runner. However,
the athlete must keep in mind that there are
factors other than racing effort that can raise the pulse rate. Among these are
caffeine, onset of an illness such as a cold,
ambient temperature and nervous anticipation of the pending race.
CARDIOVASCULAR PHYSIOLOGY
Cardiovascular physiology is the key role player in transporting oxygen and
nutrients to the muscle system and in the removal of
waste products (lactate, carbon dioxide, etc.) from the body.
Pulse rate coupled with stroke volume (amount of blood pumped per heartbeat) are
the critical numbers in blood transport. Through
proper training the senior/masters athlete can increase both of these numbers.
The heart is a big muscle so the increased strength of this muscle will cause an
increase in the stroke volume. Stroke volume
increases as the pulse rate increases until nearing the LT. At a point just
below the LT, the stroke volume will become constant. In
"cardiovascular drift", there is a slight decrease in stroke volume that causes
the increase in pulse rate. Female athletes normally
have a lower stroke volume than their male counterparts.
Maximum pulse rate is somewhat variable and declines with age. A sedentary
individual will usually have a maximum pulse rate in the
range of 220 minus the age of the individual. In a well-conditioned athlete this
changes to the rage of 210 minus half of the age of
the individual.
As with the other muscle groups used while running, the heart will respond to
increased workloads. The SAID principle does apply
here as well. These increases should be gradual, controlled and monitored. After
four to six weeks of a specific training regimen,
the body will have received most of the benefits from that training, so either
the volume or the intensity of the workout should be
increased.
STROKE VOLUME AND DEHYDRATION
As the blood thickens, it requires more force to pump it, thus decreasing the
stroke volume. This is what happens as the body
becomes dehydrated. To keep the cardiovascular system performing at an optimum
level, it must be kept well hydrated. In any race,
copious amounts of water should be consumed before and after the race. When the
length gets to more than 30 minutes in length, water
should be taken during the competition.
From... Masters Track and Field at:
http://www.coachr.org/dist.htm


13. From Runner's World:
* Coach's Corner
Train by time, not distance. If you don't have to calculate distances, you can
take the workout anywhere and focus exclusively on
the effort. Also, you always know exactly how long your workout will take.
* Injury Prevention
Many knee injuries are caused by weak quadriceps. To strengthen the quads, do
leg extensions or half-squats. Two sessions a week
should do it.
* Slice up a banana on your cereal to add more carbs as well as potassium, a
vital mineral that's lost through sweat when you do a
strenuous activity such as running. Replacing potassium helps ensure proper
muscle function. Potassium helps keep you hydrated and
aids in recovery
* Editor's Advice
Don't rush! "If you cram a run into your schedule, you'll probably skip the
warmup and worry about finishing the run before the next
obligation. Schedule runs when you have a comfortable cushion of time."
-Carol Goodrow, kidsrunning.com editor
* Training Talk
"The more you run, the more you are a runner. It sounds simple and it is.
There's nothing more to becoming a runner than running. It
isn't how fast or how far you run. It isn't even how long you've been running.
It's only that you run that makes you a runner."
-From No Need For Speed, by John Bingham


14. Speed training heats up:
Tips for getting race-ready this fall.
It's that time of year when a runner's thoughts turn to racing once again. And
that can mean only one thing: speedwork, or more
specifically, intervals on the track.
Most people fall into routine workouts and don't vary it much from year to year,
month to month. Take me for example. I pretty much
always do mile repeats once a week. I like the fact that you get them over with
in one big chunk, rather than lots of little ones.
But I noticed that my 5K times were not where they should be. Problem is that
although the mile repeats are good fitness boosters,
they do little for leg speed, or "turnover," as coaches call it. Without good
turnover, you can't maintain a fast pace.
Two weeks ago, I broke out of my mile doldrums and decided to try 400-meter
repeats on the track, a real shocker to my system.
Surprisingly, the workout went exceedingly well — I ran them at around 1:27 each
— a faster pace than I have gone in years.
But how do you determine how fast to run your repeats, how long the distance
should be, and how long to rest (interval) between each
one?
The starting point should always be your current fitness level. When deciding
how fast to run your repeats, it's convenient to use
your current 5K race pace as a guideline. For most trained runners, running at
5K race pace approximates their maximum oxygen uptake
(VO2 max) effort, so running 400 or 800 repeats close to your 5K pace is a great
way to improve.
There are a few things to consider, though.
More...from the Austin American-Statesman at:
http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/other/09/05/5hoban.html


15. Can't sleep? You may be suffering from sleep apnoea:
You feel like you have just run a marathon.
The only difference is that you have just woken up after the recommended eight
hours of sleep.
Still boggled as to what the problem is? You may be suffering from sleep apnoea
- a sleep disorder that should not be taken lightly
given that it can lead to more serious conditions such as high blood pressure,
heart attacks and fatal strokes.
Sherie Cox, polysomnographic technologist at the Sleep Disorders Centre at
Tangerine Place, said that with obstructive sleep apnoea,
the muscles and the tissues in the throat relax, blocking the airway.
"It is very prevalent in Jamaica," said Cox. " A lot of people may have a sleep
disorder and do not know."
When this airway becomes blocked, you stop breathing for 10 seconds or more. The
brain then chips in by briefly waking you up, so
that you can reopen it.
If this happens 20 times every hour during sleep, you may find it difficult to
keep your eyes open the following day. After all,
sleep is essential to ensuring that the body rests and is renergised for daily
activities, and lack of sleep not only makes one feel
droopy, but can also trigger depression and lead to a decreased immune response.
More...from the Jamaica Observer at:
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/onhold/20060906T210000-0500_112582_OBS_\
CAN_T_SLEEP__YOU_MAY_BE_SUFFERING_FROM_SLEEP_APNOEA.
asp
[Multiline URL]


16. Ease on Down the Road:
Improve your running economy and watch your times--and your effort--decrease.
If you were a car, what kind of car would you be? This is not a philosophical
question, but an economical one. Runners with good
running economy are like the new hybrid cars--they can keep up with just about
any vehicle on the road, but they use only a fraction
of the fuel. Your running economy is the amount of oxygen you consume when
running at a steady but less than all-out pace. So, the
less oxygen you use, the better your running economy. Scientists believe that
running economy is one of the best predictors of
running performance. And it makes sense. If you and a competitor are humming
along at the same pace during a race, but you're using
less oxygen (meaning less energy) than he is, you can maintain that speed with
less effort. And when you want to go faster later,
you'll be able to because you'll have greater oxygen reserves you can call upon.
Studies conducted by exercise physiologists have
produced actionable strategies we can employ to increase our running economy.
Plyometric training (explosive jumping exercises), for
example, has been shown to have a positive impact on running economy. In one
study, running economy improved eight percent, and 5-K
performance improved up to 30 seconds after just nine weeks of plyometrics.
Researchers speculate that plyometric training benefits
running economy because it enhances the muscles' ability to generate power,
making it easier to run harder. Studies have also
confirmed that long-distance runners are more economical than middle-distance
runners, and high-mileage runners have better running
economy than lower-mileage runners. In fact, as a group, high-mileage runners
(over 96 K per week) outperformed lower-mileage
runners in all race distances of 10-K or longer. Clearly, the more we run, the
more efficient we become. When it comes to speedwork,
studies have found that tempo runs and long repetition training (repeats of
three to six minutes in length) are more effective than
short repetition training for improving running economy. These longer forms of
speedwork are believed to boost running economy by
reducing heart rate, breathing rate, and core temperature, which makes running
easier to sustain.
More...from Runner's World South Africa at:
http://www.runnersworld.co.za/training/archive/apr_02_05.php


17. Shave and Tell:
For cyclists, well for male cyclists, the big question is whether or not to
shave your legs. It turns out that other men aren't the
only ones paying attention.
Shaving my legs was taught to me at a young age. If I recall correctly, my
father encouraged it and my mother discouraged it. She
claimed that as soon as you start shaving, the hair grows back thicker and
darker.
For 20 years or so I have been shaving my legs. It’s been so long, I can’t
remember. It’s now a regular part of my showering ritual.
When I first started shaving, I spent a lot of time making sure my shaving was
perfect and without nicks. It used to add at least 20
minutes to my showering time. Now, I don’t even think about it, I just do it.
It might help that I am one of the lucky ones—one of those women with lighter
hair who doesn’t have to shave every day, not even
every other day. Actually, I could probably go a week and still wear a short
skirt with confidence. I know I am fortunate and lots
of other women hate me for it.
On a recent mountain bike ride, one of my regular male riding pals showed up to
the trailhead freshly sheared (and I’m not talking
his head). I could still see the track marks from the razor. Alright, I won’t
lie: I didn’t even notice. However, the other guy in
the group immediately commented on our fellow rider’s velvety smooth legs. The
rookie shaver shyly described how and why he now had
smooth and silky claves. For the record, the he is a semi-professional adventure
racer with more podium finishes under his belt than
razor styles in the shaving aisle at the store.
He said something about it being liberating. “Liberating?” I thought, “Oh just
you wait for the maintenance program!” He’s a guy,
and guys naturally have more hair than women. Didn’t someone tell him once you
start shaving the hair grows back faster, thicker and
darker? Now let’s clarify if that last comment is really true? Or did mom tell
me that in an effort to keep me from shaving my legs
at a young age?
More...from New England Runner at:
http://www.newenglandsportsmag.com/article/?Guid=b545db10-1e68-41ee-9010-2d7cd1b\
b51a7


18. From Running Times:
* Training Tip of the Month - Incorporating Cross-Training into Your Program:
Like many runners, I've always thought of cross-training as something you did
when you couldn't run because of injury or,
occasionally, really bad weather. In a November 2001 article we published called
Training on the Edge Without Going Over, however,
author Bob Baird argued that cross-training can and should be used by many
runners as a supplement to their running in order to
increase volume of training without breaking down, citing numerous studies and
examples. Five years later (OK, I'm a slow learner),
I'm slowly figuring out how to do this. Yesterday, for example, I ran a hard
track workout with the local cross-country team. Today,
I normally would go for an easy four miler on trails, but instead, I biked to
town and back, a total of 21 miles and three times
longer workout than the four miler. Granted it isn't running: were I an elite, I
would have run for an hour and a half rather than
biking. But I'm learning that I can't do that. I bought the bike last winter
when an SI injury made me wonder if I would ever run
again. Now, I'm up to a similar volume but with no problems, and I'm running
better than ever too: which was Baird's point. One more
benefit: to justify that extra time, I used the bike ride to get snacks for my
son's kindergarten class, taking only about 45
minutes more than if I had driven it and saving a gallon of gas and all those
emissions. Its a small thing, but nice to be able to
breathe cleaner air with my increased aerobic capacity. --Jonathan Beverly,
Editor

* Medical Corner - Running After Hip Replacement Surgery
Q: I am 43 years old and had a ceramic total hip replacement 7 years ago due to
psoriatic arthritis. Is it possible to jog with a
THR? The surgeon said absolutely not, but I'm curious if he wasn't being overly
conservative.
A: The standard answer is that someone who has had a hip replacement should not
run; to say anything else would be considered
heresy. The concern is that the prosthesis (ceramic or metal ball and socket)
will break down more rapidly. These devices do not
last forever (10-15 years) and repeat procedures (revisions) are sometimes less
effective. The good news is that the newer
prostheses seem to be lasting longer. There are two other points, which concern
me about running – you are very young and has the
psoriatic arthritis affected other weight bearing joints?
With all of that said, there are people out there who are running following hip
replacement surgery; this includes some marathoners.
How well they will fare in the long run is uncertain as of yet, but currently
they are doing all right. To all readers – If you have
had a total hip replacement and have been running (albeit against your surgeon’s
recommendations), please send me your e-mail
address (send to webmaster@...) and note in the text that you have
had a hip replacement) so that I can get more
information. It would be nice to find out that there is a group of people who
have had hip replacement surgery and have returned to
running without adverse effects.
--Dr. Cathy Fieseler


19. Beyond the Headlines:
Sorting Out Nutrition Science.
By Suzanne Girard Eberle
As sports dietitian—a registered dietitian who specializes in sports
nutrition—not a day goes by that I’m not dealing with science:
biology, biochemistry, physiology, exercise science, medicine, nutrition ... the
list goes on and on.
As a runner looking to improve your performance, you too need to deal with the
science. No, you don’t need to make a career out of
it, but learning how to interpret and make sense of scientific information that
impacts your daily eating and training habits is
imperative. Otherwise, you are doomed to worrying needlessly about every
"breaking" nutrition and health-related story, as well as
to falling victim to erroneous advice about supplements and fad diets.
Understanding the Scientific Process
To the non-scientist, diet and health-related scientific news is often
frustrating. Almost daily, we read or hear about what appears
to be contradictory information about performance-enhancing supplements or the
best diet to follow. Do carbohydrates give you energy
or do they really make you fat? Should runners be following the classic
high-carbohydrate, low-fat, moderate-protein diet (and what
is high carbohydrate by the way—55% of your total calories, 60%, 70%?) or would
eating more protein and fewer carbs help us drop
those last stubborn pounds and pick up some new PRs? Will a pill a day give us
more energy?
The scientific process—how studies are designed, conducted and reported—is a
road of discovery, a road that is not necessarily
straight. Spend an evening with a group of runners describing the ideal training
schedule for a marathon or what constitutes the
"best" running shoe and you have the idea. The scientific process hinges on
gaining knowledge about a subject through observing
measurable evidence. To uncover facts, researchers often need to explore in
different directions, causing the road to twist, turn
and sometimes even backtrack. As is often the case with food and health-related
information, these facts may still be only part of a
larger, partially understood phenomena, thus requiring even more research be
conducted before answers can be found. The refrain "two
steps forward, one step back" is common in the scientific world.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=3944&page=1


20. The Tall Game:
"I can make people taller," Antoni Akagi says.
That's not all, claims the fitness manager at Equinox Fitness in New York City.
He can also help people maintain their height as
they get older.
No, he's not talking about leg extensions or growth hormones. What Akagi means
is that he can help you look taller. With the right
exercises, you can straighten your posture and reverse the effects of office
work.
"It's a problem I usually see with executives and people who sit at desks a
lot," Akagi says. "Over time, working at a computer,
bent over, with a hand on the mouse--that causes the chest to start getting
tighter and tighter. The chest then pulls the shoulders
forward to cause a hunch."
Poor posture is not only unattractive, it can also lead to wear and tear on the
upper back, the chest and the neck, causing slightly
hunched shoulders and a slouchy stance. While correcting this positioning won't
make a person grow two inches, it sure can give the
illusion of growth. And a person who stands upright has a stronger demeanor,
which adds to the appearance of being taller.
"It's an apparent straightening," says Dr. Laith Jazrawi, an orthopedic surgeon
at Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn and an
assistant professor of orthopedics at New York University School of Medicine.
"When you build the core muscles, they contribute to
strengthening and straightening, so you start to walk with a more upright
posture."
More...from Forbes at:
http://www.forbes.com/2006/09/07/height-exercise-posture_cx_sy_0908htow.html?par\
tner=alerts


21. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine:
* Floyd Landis and Marion Jones
After Tour de France winner Floyd Landis was alleged to have taken testosterone,
several physicians were widely quoted in the media
stating that taking testosterone for one day cannot improve performance. They
are wrong. After multiple Olympic gold medal winning
sprinter Marion Jones tested positive for erythropoietin (EPO), many physicians
stated that EPO doesn't help sprinters. They are
also wrong. (She was cleared.)
Such lack of knowledge reminds me of the early 1970s, when the East Germans and
Russians won just about every sports event that
required strength. Many American physicians
were widely quoted as saying that synthetic testosterone does not make athletes
stronger. The athletes thought that these
physicians were misguided because soon after starting to take synthetic male
hormones, they could observe spectacular improvements
in their own performances. Athletes train by taking a hard workout that damages
muscles, feeling sore on the next day, than going
easier until the soreness diminishes, and then going hard again. As soon as an
athlete starts to take anabolic steroids, he notices
that he recovers much faster than before, so he can do more intense training
which makes him a better athlete.
Every athlete who has ever taken synthetic testosterone knows that it helps him
recover faster. So Floyd Landis was exhausted after
bonking on the previous day. Late in the race, he ran out of fluid and fuel and
tired terribly. On the next day, he was better than
any one else and won his race by more than eight minutes.
The limiting factor in endurance races is how long it takes to move oxygen from
the bloodstream into muscles. Anything that moves
oxygen into muscles faster will make you a
better athlete in events that take longer than two minutes. Since 98 percent of
the oxygen in your muscles is carried by your red
blood cells and very little is diffused in the blood fluid, anything that
increases the number of red blood cells allows the blood
to carry more oxygen and makes you a better athletes. Marion Jones races in
events that take much less than 30 seconds, a time
where oxygen deficiency is not a factor. However, increasing her red blood cell
count allows her to run faster over longer
distances in practice, which makes her stronger and faster in short-distance
races.

* Anabolic Steroids.
When I look at today's baseball players, I just can't believe how big they are.
They are larger and stronger than the best players
of the 1930s to 1970s. Babe Ruth, arguably the greatest hitter who ever lived,
was a fat elephant with relatively small muscles and
a huge belly compared to the average player today. The best baseball players in
the world 30 years ago probably would not even make
the major league teams because they were to small and too weak.
You may say that the reason they are bigger is because they lift weights,
because athletes didn't lift weights thirty years ago. You
are right, but I lift weights and I don't look like the smallest baseball
players today. Very few people who lift weights develop
muscles that stretch their skins to the limit. An article in Sports Illustrated
quotes baseball player Ken Caminiti, saying that "at
least half the players are using steroids". That has to be true. When you lift a
heavy weight, your muscles tear, so you feel sore
the next day. Then you take the next two to ten days easy to allow the soreness
to go away and your muscles to heal, because you
know that when the soreness goes away, your muscles will be stronger than they
were before you lifted and damaged them. Soon you
find out that you can lift very heavy weights only once every week or two, and
that lifting heavy more often than that will make
your muscles sore all the time so you can‘t even lift a bat or throw a baseball.
You are stuck with gaining the benefits of lifting
heavy weights only about once every ten days.
Then some one tells you to try steroids. You have been told not to take them
because steroid pills go to your liver where they lower
blood levels of the good HDL cholesterol to increase your risk for heart attack.
Your friends tell you that if you take anabolic
steroids or male hormones by injection, the steroids don't even reach your
liver, so they don't cause heart attacks. So you start
taking steroid injections and a strange thing happens. You used to take ten to
14 days to recover from lifting very heavy weights
and suddenly you can recover in 48 hours, so you can lift very heavy weights
every second or third day. After a couple of months,
you notice that you have gained 15 pounds of muscle and you are hitting the ball
further than you ever did before. Your manager is
delighted with you because he pays you to hit the long ball because the fans
love home runs and they idolize home run hitters.
You decide that if getting the injections once a week made you this strong,
getting the same dose twice a week should make you even
stronger. So you double the dose and you do become stronger and you hit more
home runs. The fans love you. You feel no guilt because
most ball players are getting steroid shots also. Then you go to three shots a
week and you swing hard at a ball, you hear a pop and
your shoulder hurts like hell. You go to the team physician who tells you that
you have torn your rotator cuff and that you should
have surgery. You are afraid of surgery, so you don't get it and you continue to
take two or thee shots or male hormones a week.
Your shoulder heals in six weeks and your doctor is shocked that you have healed
so quickly. You don't tell him why you have healed,
and you continue to take the shots. Then you slide into third base, and break
the cartilage in your knee. You go to your doctor who
does some blood tests and tells you that your liver tests are all abnormal. You
tell him that you are on steroids, he tells you that
steroids break cartilage and can damage your liver. You stop taking steroids,
but your knee never heals and you are out of baseball.
Four years later, your knee hurts so much that you can't sleep at night and you
have to have a knee replacement. Now the only
exercise you can do is ride a bicycle.
Anabolic steroids help you recover faster so you can lift heavy weights more
often. This makes you stronger and a better athlete,
but it also can increase your risk for heart attack, liver damage, shrinks you
testicles, make you infertile, make you act crazy,
and eventually cause an injury that never heals. Is it worth it? All the
athletes that I have asked say yes. I have a very close
friend who is an Olympic champion and was once one of the greatest and most
famous athletes in the world. He has two knee and one
hip replacements. I asked him if it was worth it. He looked at me as if I was an
idiot and said "of course". I know he is right
because I don't have an Olympic gold medal.


22. Interval Training 2: How to strike and sustain VO2max gold, and other
benefits of high-quality workouts:
Keep recoveries short to boost VO2max
If you are an endurance athlete perplexed about what to do, simply remember that
if you are trying to improve VO2max, vVO2max and/or
lactate threshold, you should attempt to keep recovery intervals as short as you
reasonably can. Lengthening recoveries will tend to
drive down average oxygen-consumption rates and mean levels of lactate
production, effects which are counterproductive in terms of
VO2max and lactate-threshold.
Let's say, for example, that a distance runner named Ben is doing a classic
interval workout,10 x 400m, and has chosen to carry out
the session at a goal 5k race tempo which is four seconds per 400m faster than
his current 5k pace. Since his 5k pace is 75 seconds
per 400m, his interval pace will be 71 seconds per 400m. That's very reasonable,
but should he use equal recoveries (71 seconds),
short recoveries (30-60 seconds), or long recoveries (5-6 minutes)? Of course,
the long recoveries are attractive because they would
drive down fatigue and help keep Ben on course with his planned pace during the
work intervals, thus bolstering his economy at goal
velocity.
The best advice, though, is that Ben should start with roughly equal - not long
- recoveries and then try to shorten them a bit. By
doing so, he'll produce considerably higher rates of oxygen use over the course
of the workout than with the long recovery scenario,
and blood-lactate profiles will also be better. Interestingly enough, he'll also
be in good shape from an economy standpoint, as
long as his pace doesn't drop off too much during those seventh, eighth, and
ninth intervals. (We won't worry about the tenth one,
since it is always - miraculously - the fastest interval of the whole workout.)
True, if Ben hits several intervals slower than 78
seconds-or-so during the second half of the workout, it's time for him to either
increase his motivation and mental focus or add a
little bit of fat to his recoveries. As long as he can complete the intervals in
close to the planned time, however, he should hang
in there with equal recoveries - and then shorten them as fitness improves and
the workout becomes more manageable.
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0600b.htm


23. VO2 Max Newsletter:
* Research on Olympic Trials Marathoners:
As legendary coach Arthur Lydiard claimed, lots of aerobic running forms the
basis of any distance runner's training program.
Whether you're training for the mile or the marathon, it all starts with
mileage. But how much aerobic work is enough? That's a
difficult question. It depends on a number of factors, including your
genetically-determined propensity to continually adapt to high
mileage and tempo runs, the amount of time you have to run, and the specific
racing distance for which you are training. Obviously,
the longer the race, the
more mileage you need to meet your potential. My research on the training
characteristics of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials
qualifiers revealed that, for the entire year preceding the Olympic Trials, the
male marathoners averaged 90 miles per week with a
peak mileage of 120, while the female marathoners averaged 72 miles per week
with a peak mileage of 95. The men also ran more times
per week and did more long runs (20+ miles) than did women.
One of the criticisms of U.S. distance runners is that they don't run enough or
as much as their predecessors of the 1970s and '80s.
While anecdotal accounts of training found in running books suggest that today's
American runners run considerably less mileage,
those accounts likely represent embellishments of peak training and therefore
must be taken with a grain of salt. From the little
scientific documentation available, it seems that the marathoners who qualified
for the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials run as much as
their predecessors did, as one study published in Annals of the New York
Academy of Sciences in 1977 found that elite male U.S.
marathoners of the 1970s ran 100 miles per week, and another study published in
International Journal of Sports Medicine in 1987
found that elite female U.S. long-distance runners of the 1980s ran 75 miles per
week.
Most runners believe that to get faster, they have to run more. But what if
you're already a national-class marathoner (as I
defined in my study as 2:15-2:22 for men and 2:40-2:48 for women)? If you run
more, will you become elite (under 2:15 for men and
under 2:40 for women)? It seems that the answer is yes, but only if you're
female. My study revealed that elite women (but not
elite men) trained for more years and ran more times and more miles per week
compared to national-class runners. Of all the
training variables I examined, the number of weekly runs explained the greatest
amount of difference (41 percent) in women's
marathon performance. In other words, 41 percent of the difference in women's
performance was explained solely by how many times per week they ran. The
better female marathoners (but not the better male
marathoners) simply run more.

* VO2max of Middle- and Long-Distance Runners:
Often in this newsletter, I've addressed the importance of VO2max for running
performance. But how important is it for various
racing distances? A study published in Canadian Journal of Applied Sport
Sciences found that the average VO2max of 32 elite
long-distance runners (76.9 ml/kg/min) was significantly higher than that for 42
elite middle-distance runners (68.9 ml/kg/min).
The long-distance runners also had better economy, as the percent VO2max at each
of four running speeds was lower for the
long-distance runners, averaging 8 percent less for the four speeds combined.
Despite the higher VO2max and better economy of the
long-distance runners, VO2max was more highly correlated with running
performance for the middle-distance runners. In other words,
although the aerobic profile may look better in long-distance runners, a high
VO2max is more important for
middle-distance runners since it is more related to their performance.

* Is There a Fat Burning Zone?
You can't be a personal trainer or fitness professional without hearing about
the "fat-burning zone." Even the general public,
through "fitness experts" on television and in popular fitness magazines, is
told about the fat-burning zone. But does such a zone
really exist? Will you not burn fat and lose weight if you exercise outside of
this "magical" zone? People are being misled to
believe that one must exercise in a narrow range of heart rates to burn fat and
lose weight. Exercise is mostly a carbohydrate
activity. While you use both fat and carbohydrates for energy during exercise,
these two fuels provide that energy on a sliding
scale--as you increase your intensity, the contribution from fat decreases while
the contribution from carbohydrates increases.
Although the percentage of calories from fat is small when exercising at a high
intensity, the total number of calories burned per
minute
is much higher than at a lower intensity. Research has shown that exercising at
or slightly below your lactate threshold (the
maximal aerobically-sustainable intensity) elicits the highest rate of fat
oxidation. But even that doesn't matter since it's the
total amount of calories burned (in comparison to that consumed), not whether
the calories come from fat or carbohydrates, that
determines weight loss. That's why interval training is so effective. Just ask
any sprinter who does little aerobic exercise, but
who has a very low body fat
percentage.
Copyright Jason Karp All Rights Reserved - http://www.runcoachjason.com


24. 12 tips for Ironman tapering:
By Lisa Bentley
Over the past 6 years that I have been coached and mentored by Lance Watson, I
would say that we have fine-tuned and perfected the
taper portion of my training cycle. Magically, during every taper, the fatigue
that builds up during the Ironman build phase
vanishes. The “I’m never training for another Ironman – I want a life” mantra
gets replaced with “can I do 4 Ironman races this
year?” Once the taper begins, the drastic reduction in physical training
refreshes my body and mind. All of a sudden, Ironman pace
feels easy instead of labored and my little speedy race prep workouts feel
sharp. My mind wants to race. My spirit is renewed and
I feel ready to tackle the Ironman day! Here are 10 Ironman taper tips that can
make your next Ironman your best journey.
1. Before the official taper begins, say one month before your key Ironman race,
decide on one key run workout and one key bike
workout for each week and then, rest for them. Apply the same mental focus and
physical effort that you want to execute on race
day. During the normal Ironman build, the volume often gets very high and many
of our workout become “completion exercises” – you
just want to get them done. Well, these key run and bike workouts should be
“execution exercises” where your goal is to mimic you
race day attitude and effort. So essentially, your quality should improve and
your quantity will decrease slightly. Hence, the
taper is beginning unofficially.
2. If you choose to apply a two-week “official” taper, include three or four
very light days from the 14th day to the 10th day.
Dramatic early rest will shock your body into recovery and you will absorb those
last few quality weeks and capitalize on those
workouts.
3. During these 14 days, do not “test” yourself or your fitness. If you can
commit to this, then you will make two huge strides in
your taper. First of all, you will not “think” about testing yourself and that
will give your mind a rest from unconfident thoughts
and you will be able to focus confidently on your race visualization. Secondly,
your body will thank you for the rest and all of
the little training micro-traumas can heal so that you can earn some new
muscular traumas on race day!
More...from LifeSport at:
http://www.lancewatson.com/Bentley_12tips.htm


25. Digest Briefs:
* Half marathon training tip
By John Ryan Mercury News
Five weeks to the San Jose Rock `n' Roll Half Marathon. This week's training
tip: We always read about the need to pump the
treadmill to a 1-2 percent grade to simulate outdoor conditions. We always do it
(when we can stand to run on a treadmill, that is).
But why?
``It's harder to run on road. That's the most optimal surface,'' said Jay
Ridgeway of PacWest Athletics (www.pacwestathletics.com),
the race's training partner. ``A treadmill is a machine that spins a belt for
you. All it's forcing you to do is put one foot in
front of the other, so it is actually taking away some of the energy you have to
expend.
``If you're running outside, you're working your body cardiovascularly and
physically as much as you can.''
It isn't impossible to get ready for a distance race solely at the gym or in the
rec room. ``A lot of elite athletes that are
mothers do it,'' Ridgeway says, ``but it's not ideal.''
* Aminos Aid Athletic Performance
CHIBA, Japan--Branched-chain amino acids appear to enhance training efficiency
in athletes, according to Japanese researchers J
Nutr, 136:538S-43S, 2006).
A combination of branched-chain amino acids, arginine and glutamine was studied
for its impact on muscle function, fatigue and
recovery in exercising athletes. In a dose-response study, administration of 6.6
g/d for 30 days increased indices of blood
oxygen-carrying capacity and decreased indices of muscle damage. When the amino
acid mixture (7.2 g/d) was given to elite rugby
players for 90 days during training, the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood
was improved. The researchers concluded the amino
acid supplement improved athletic training by improving muscle integrity and
blood oxygen-carrying capacity.
* Should I use a recovery drink after every workout?
They key to great recovery starts during your exercise bout. Do what you can to
stay well fueled during exercise and you'll have
less of a reliance on a recovery drink. For workouts less than two hours, stay
well fueled and finish with an easy to digest
carb/protein snack (a yogurt for example). For longer more exhausting workouts,
where you know you have to fully recover for the
next day, a well-engineered recovery drink is ideal and will perform better than
food.
by Robert Kunz MS, Sr VP Research
© Copyright 2006 First Endurance

* Relationship of vitamin E metabolism and oxidation in exercising human
subjects.
Traber MG.
During endurance exercise, oxygen consumption by the skeletal muscle can
increase 100-200 times. We previously found that during an
ultramarathon race (50 km, forest trail through hilly terrain) compared with a
day of rest, vitamin E disappeared faster (as
measured using (2)H-labelled alpha-tocopherol) and lipid peroxidation increased.
Therefore, we hypothesized that prior
supplementation with antioxidants (vitamins E and C) would decrease oxidative
stress during distance running and, therefore,
decrease lipid peroxidation and inflammation, decrease DNA damage, decrease
muscle damage and/or improve recovery. To test these
hypotheses, we carried out a randomized, double-blind study in runners (n 11
females, 11 males) who were participants in an annual
ultramarathon race. We found that supplementation with both vitamins E and C
only prevented increases in lipid peroxidation, but had
no apparent effect on DNA damage, inflammation or muscle damage. These results
suggest that the mechanism of oxidative damage is
operating independently of the inflammatory and muscle damage responses.
From the National Center for Biotechnology Information


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

September 9, 2006:
Alta Peruvian Lodge Downhill Dash 8K - Alta, UT
http://www.altaperuvian.com

BG Hamburg World Cup - Hamburg, Germany
http://www.hamburgcityman.de
ITU
http://www.triathlon.org

Television - CBC 1 P.M.
IAAF Golden League - Berlin

September 9-10, 2006:
IAAF World Athletics Final - Stuttgart, Germany
http://www.iaaf.org/WAF06/index.html

Triathlon at Pacific Grove - Pacific Grove, CA
http://www.tricalifornia.com/pgtri/2006

September 10, 2006:
Ford Ironman Wisconsin - Madison, WI
http://www.ironmanwisconsin.com

Gloucester Half Marathon and 5K - Ottawa, ON
http://www.ncra-ottawa.com/hm/inside.php?id=265

Komen Boston Race for the Cure - Boston, MA
http://www.komenmass.org/race/index.php


RACE PREVIEW:

October 7, 2006:
TransCanada National 10K Championships and Fun Run - Ottawa, ON
http://www.transcanada10km.ca

2007:

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.

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