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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Canadian Olympians.

1. Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women:
The RunnersWeb5K.com Race for Women has been renamed in memory of Canadian
Olympian Emilie Mondor who died in a car crash September
9th on her way to her high-school reunion. Emilie had just completed a 2 hour
plus run along the Ottawa River during which she
talked with her coach about the upcoming Philadelphia Half-Marathon (September
17th) and the New York City Marathon in November.
For a story on Emilie read Emilie Mondor: Life Cut Too Short at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20060913_LB_Mondor.html
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. A children's 912 and under) 1K run will
also be held.
More information will be posted at: http://www.emiliesrun.com and at
http://www.somersault.ca
*NEW* We have added a Google Group for Emilie's Run. Join and the group and
contribute at:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/emiliesrun?hl=en


3. Road Runner Sports, the world's largest running store at:
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000010069822.
Check out their Perfect Fit Finder for running shoes.

4. Toronto Waterfront Marathon. September 30, 2007.
http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/

5. The Toronto Marathon, October 14, 2007
http://www.torontomarathon.com

6. Carmichael Training Systems
http://www.trainright.com/promos.asp?code=DSBYBFCSP


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THIS WEEK:
*Speedo*
Free Shipping on all Orders $50 or more. Offer valid through December 17, 2006
(11:59 PM EST) at SpeedoUSA.com only. Enter code
SPEEDO28 at checkout.
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/tplclick?lid=41000000012199218&pubid=2100000000\
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*Special Offer from Human Kinetics*
As an associate member Human Kinetics is offering an exclusive Online Christmas
Special ~ 25% off all purchases + Free Shipping on
orders of $50+. To place your order, click on the following
http://www.humankinetics.com/?associate=880 where you will find the
Human Kinetics site. Enter marketing code K191 when placing your order to
receive the 25% off. If the Free Shipping applies the
shipping amount will be deducted from your order when processed. Offer good in
Canada only.

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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

ACTIVE.COM
RunnersWeb.com has teamed up with Active Trainer coaches to offer training
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Sign up at: www.RunnersWebCoach.com OR
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* 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
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CTS at: http://www.runnersweb.com/running/cts_columns.html.
Carmichael Training Systems at:
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* 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
Visit the PPO site at:
Peak Performance Online:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/cmd.php?af=517509

* 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
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Check out the Peak Running article index at:
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* WatsonLifeSport
Lance Watson is "Just The Winningest Coach in Triathlon". He has been coaching
triathlon and distance running since 1987. Over the
years, Lance has coached some of the most successful athletes in the sport of
triathlon and duathlon.
Check out the Lance Watson Online Article Index at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/LW_index.html

Running Research News:
RRN's free, weekly, training update provides subscribers with the most-current,
practical, scientifically based information about
training, sports nutrition, injury prevention, and injury rehabilitation. The
purpose of this weekly e-zine is to improve
subscribers' training quality and to help them train in an injury-free manner.
Running Research News also publishes a complete, 12-page, electronic newsletter
10 times a year (one-year subscriptions are $35); to
learn more about Running Research News, please see the Online Article Index and
"About Running Research News" sections below or go
to RRNews.com.
Check out the article index at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/RRN_index.html


THIS WEEK'S PERSONAL POSTINGS/RELEASES:
We have NO personal postings this week.


THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Female Triad: Bone recovery after female athlete triad
2. One Runner's View: The Need for Rest - The Cumulative Effects of
Over-Reaching
3. Sportsmedicine: Strength Training for Injury Prevention
4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Bump in the Road
5. What's Your Limiting Factor?
Training Your Strengths and Weaknesses.
6. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
7. Sports Injury Pain : Pain and brain – a revolutionary approach to chronic
injury
8. Engineered sports foods: A primer
9. Put Yourself to the Test
10. The Sweetest Time of Year
11. Stretching 101
12. Defying Common Wisdom, the Heart Tires Eventually
13. Vitamin B deficiency may lead to poor athletic performance
14. To Stretch, Or Not to Stretch?
15. Cycling: CyclingPeaks WKO+: “Power”ful Number Crunching
16. Ask the Tri Doc: Overtraining blues
17. It's hot to be cold
18. Winter Running
19. Build recovery into marathon training
Largest fitness gains are made while you are not running, not when you are.
20. Proprioceptive cues
21. Study turns human genetics on its head
Research finds abnormal is really normal, puts in question some medical tests.
22. 'Natural' not always most healthy
Allergic reactions possible.
23. Injury risk factors
Injury risk factors are usually classified as being extrinsic (or outside the
body) or intrinsic.
24. Glucosamine
25. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Should more marathons have time standards for entry to protect untrained
runners from themselves?"

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:
"What is your gender and age?"
Answers Percent
1. Female < 20 0%
2. Female 20 - 29 0%
3. Female 30 - 39 2%
4. Female 40 - 49 5%
5. Female 50+ 5%
6. Male < 20 4%
7. Male 20 - 29 4%
8. Male 30 -39 12%
9. Male 40 - 49 19%
10. Male 50+ 49%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: Emilie's Run.
Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women will be run June 23,
2007 starting and finishing at the Aviation Museum
in Ottawa. The run replaces the former RunnersWeb5K.com Race for Women which
made its debut last June. Emilie's Run is named in
honor of Canadian Olympian, Emile Mondor who was the first Canadian woman to run
sub 15:00 for 5K. Emilie was killed in a car
accident on September 9, 2006 a few hours after completing a 29K training run
along the Ottawa River near the course for the race.
The race offers over $5,000 in cash prizes for the top open and masters and
merchandise prizes for age-group winners. An
accompanying 1K run for children will also be held.
Visit the site at:
http://www.emiliesrun.com.


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


BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Triathlete's Guide to Off-Season Training
by Karen Buxton
The Off-Season is an important time for recovery and planning, working on your
weaknesses and indulging in other sports. This guide
helps you map a winter training program to refresh your body and mind, and build
strength and endurance.
~ Clearly defined goals and a step-by-step plan to meet them
~ Core strengthening exercises using Swiss and medicine balls
~ Increased flexibility through yoga
~ Drills to improve swim, bike and run performance
~ Indoor and outdoor alternatives to improve cardiovascular conditioning.
Off-season training is an opportunity to find new ways to integrate a variety of
conditioning techniques into your workout regimen,
renewing your ambition and strength for the year ahead.
"Ask multisport coaches what the most important part of the training year is and
most will say winter. Why is this? Winter is when
the athlete establishes the base of fitness that will ultimately determine race
fitness later in the season."
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1931382514/runnersweb/102-0182896-9006569\
?v=glance&s=books


For more publications on running and triathlon visit:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/human_kinetics.html and
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/amazon.html


THIS WEEK'S FEATURES:

1. Female Triad: Bone recovery after female athlete triad:
Women whose bone development is interrupted in adolescence by the so-called
‘female athlete triad’ of disordered eating, delayed
menstruation and osteoporosis can still catch up on bone growth well into their
twenties.
That’s the encouraging implication of a single case history presented by
researchers from Stanford University in California. They
report on the case of an elite distance runner referred to the University’s
sports medicine clinic at age 22 with primary amenorrhea
(ie her periods had never started), low body weight (48.6kg) and low bone
mineral density (BMD) in the spine and hip (74 and 80% of
normal values respectively).
Like many elite runners she had started running competitively at age 12, before
menarche (onset of menstruation). A year later she
began to restrict her caloric and fat intake, leading to a failure to gain
weight at the expected rate. She maintained an abnormally
low weight for her height until age 25 through a combination of restrictive
eating and high-mileage training.
When first seen at the clinic, the researchers commented on her bone density
measurements, which ‘were roughly the values that would
be expected for an average 13 year old, corresponding to the age of onset of
disordered eating’.
Their initial strategy was to start her on calcium supplementation and oestrogen
replacement in the form of the oral contraceptive
pill, which induced normal menstruation. Despite this, one year later she had
increased her weight by less than 1kg and there was
little change in her bone density. A year after that the situation was
essentially unchanged.
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/female-triad.htm


2. One Runner's View: The Need for Rest - The Cumulative Effects of
Over-Reaching:
by Mark Aaron Locken
Regular exercise can be a means of experiencing weight loss, lower resting heart
rate (RHR), higher energy level, stress relief, and
prevention of illness. However, the athlete who does not obtain the necessary
amount of rest runs the risk of not only missing out
on these benefits but actually experiencing the opposite effects.
People often begin an exercise program or continue in one because regular
exercise can help a person manage weight. Overtraining,
however, can have the opposite effect. A person increasing their amount of
exercise is likely to have an increase in appetite. The
body is burning energy and it wants that energy replaced. Widely respected
nutritionist and author, Nancy Clark, MS, RD, says it is
very common for (even) endurance athletes to gain weight during intense training
periods. This may seem counter-intuitive but it
happens.
A fitness routine can lower one’s resting heart rate and other vital signs.
Moderate training improves cardiac vagal activity and
thus has a cardio protective effect. However, there is little evidence to
substantiate the efficacy of rigorous training as a means
to further protect the heart. Some experts even caution that prolonged periods
of intense exercise may unfavourably alter
neuroendocrine, neuromuscular, and cardiovascular function. In plain speak: too
much exercise can result in heart and muscle fatigue
that causes an elevation of RHR.
Researchers followed eight professional cyclists through the 15 stages of the
Tour of Spain bicycle race in 2001. Several health
indexes were tracked, including RHR. The researchers found that during stages
1-9, there was no significant change in RHR of the
eight competitors. During stages 10-15, there were modest increases to RHR, even
in these elite performers. Obviously, a one-time
study of eight persons cannot be considered conclusive but should at least be
considered corroborative.
Corroborative of what? There is some evidence that shows strength athletes are
not immune to experiencing elevated RHR during
extended periods of over-reaching. As the physical stress accumulates, the
parasympathetic symptoms (responses the body uses to
gradually return itself to a normal state) usually experienced by endurance
athletes and the sympathetic symptoms (body responses to
a shock or trauma) experienced by strength athletes often intertwine such that
it is difficult to tell the two apart. This effect
could mean that stress is stress, regardless of the delivery mechanism.
Some persons use exercise to manage mental stress. One cannot forget that
exercise is itself a stressor. Add to the physical
dimension the mental dimension of desiring to run faster or sink a jump shot and
the stress level goes even higher. Both physical
and mental stressors may create a need for training days of reduced intensity in
order to restore energy. A 2002 study of 29
collegiate swimmers during a 24-week season noted that levels of anger were
directly related to training volume in a dose-response
fashion. As the training stimulus increased, so did the level of mood
disturbance.
There exists an inverse relationship between training load and energy level. You
train farther, faster, heavier, whatever, and there
will be an increased expenditure of energy. The result is fatigue. The
cumulative effect of repeated high intensity bouts of
exercise can build up quickly, resulting in what is commonly termed
“over-reaching”. This is an important part of training but so is
recovery. Going right to the edge of where over-reaching becomes
“over-training,” is a desirable but dangerous position as the
effects of over-training can be disastrous.
Over-training has many negative consequences, including catabolism, a
physiological state in which the body seeks to meet its
metabolic needs by using muscle for energy. Often, continuous training causes
over-use injuries such as plantar fasciitis or
bursitis. The list of common over-use injuries is a lengthy one.
Exercise is a potent way to boost the immune system. Among the positive benefits
is that it raises the level of natural killer cells
that suppress certain types of cancer. Dr. David Nieman, an immunologist at
Appalachian State University, adds that exercise is
particularly important for the elderly. He writes that 50% of sedentary elderly
persons reported regularly suffering from colds,
coughs, and other viral infections as opposed to 21% of elderly walkers and 8%
of highly fit seniors. Nieman also reports
information showing that heavy exertion increases an athlete’s risk of upper
respiratory tract infections (URTI) because of negative
changes in immune function, including elevated levels of epinephrine and
cortisol.
This decrease in ability to overcome infection seems to be a function related to
exercise duration. Several research groups seem to
agree that the relationship of exercise to immune function is non-linear.
Initially, exercise seems to cause immune levels to rise.
However, as duration and/or intensity increases, there is a negative impact on
the body’s ability to fight disease, particularly
URTI’s. Decreased rest may exacerbate the effect.
So what does all of this mean? It means that light to moderate exercise is a
good thing – a VERY good thing. A person can look
better, feel better, sleep better, and won’t get sick as often. If you want to
be a competitive athlete, you will have to challenge
yourself with brief periods of over-reaching followed by periods of light
training and one or two days a week of complete rest.
Lengthy periods of over-reaching result in over-training and precipitate the
numerous maladies described earlier. Exercise. Train
hard. – And rest!
Mark Aaron Locken holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the
University of Oklahoma and participates in the Master of
Arts in Coaching program at Ball State University. He is an American Swimming
Coaches’ Association Level 2 Certified Coach and
volunteers as an assistant for the swimming teams at East Lyme High School in
Connecticut.


3. Sportsmedicine: Strength Training for Injury Prevention:
Strength training has been a part of sports conditioning for many years. It is
touted for its effects on speed, strength, agility
and muscle mass. Often overlooked though are its benefits for injury prevention.
What is Strength Training?
Strength training is moving the joints through a range of motion against
resistance requiring the muscles to expend energy and
contract forcefully to move the bones. Strength training can be done using
various types of resistance with or without equipment.
Strength training is used to strengthen the muscles, tendons, bones and
ligaments and to increase muscle mass.
Strength training should be implemented in the conditioning program of all
sports, not just strength sports. The increase in speed,
strength, agility and muscular endurance will benefit athletes of every sport.
Types of Strength Training
Strength training comes in a variety of formats. The formats are defined by the
type of resistance and equipment used.
Machine weights - Machine strength training includes resistance exercises done
using any of the various machines designed to produce
resistance. These include machines with weight stacks, hydraulics, resistance
rods or bands, and even the use of Thera-band or
resistance tubing.
The resistance, weight, may be changed to increase the intensity of the
exercise. The range of motion and position of movement is
controlled by the machine. The resistance may be constant throughout the
movement or may change due to the set-up of the pulley and
cam systems. Machines often add a degree of safety but neglect the stabilizer,
or helper, muscles in a movement.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20061121_TSH_Strength_Training.ht\
ml


4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Bump in the Road:
Life happens while we're making plans to do something else. One minute she
looked up a clear road stretching far into a future
filled with exciting possibilities. The next instant an unseen obstacle crashed
her hopes and dreams.
Sandy Itzkowitz is a special-education teacher in Eugene, Oregon. She's also a
dancer and a walker-turned-runner-turned-marathoner
and ultrarunner.
Last winter, before running her first marathon at Napa Valley, she trained with
the team that I coach. She came within two minutes
of qualifying for Boston, without knowing the time she needed to run for her age
(52).
I saw little of Sandy after that. She was training for a 50K, which she finished
in September.
Three weeks later she called me on the eve of the Portland Marathon. "I hear
there are still a few spots available for tomorrow's
marathon," she said. "Do you think I should run it?"
My answer was evasive. "You've certainly done the long runs. You decide if
you're recovered enough from the 50K."
She said she was. The team DVD from the marathon opens with her photo, lighting
up the gloomy early morning with her smile before
the start.
Sandy ran 3:59 that day, punching her ticket to Boston and now knowing what a
big deal that is. This was one of her proudest days.
Her worst came 13 days later, when her life and plans changed in an instant. She
went for a bike ride. The day was bright, the road
seemed clear, and no cars threatened her.
No one knows exactly what happened. Apparently she hit a pothole, flew over the
handlebars and landed on her head (helmeted, or we
might be talking about her in the past tense).
She woke up on the road, looking into a woman's face. "You look like an angel,"
she said. It happened to be another runner from our
team, another recent Boston qualifier named Sarah McCarthy, who was walking in
the area.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2084


5. What's Your Limiting Factor?
Training Your Strengths and Weaknesses.
By Pete Pfitzinger, M.S.
A vital role of an effective coach is to analyze a runner’s strengths and
weaknesses and adjust workouts to focus on the factors
that most limit race performance. Running Times reader Paul Hughes wrote in with
the following intriguing question, "For all of us
self-coached runners, how do we determine our limiting factor so we can work on
it?" This is a great question and raises the issue
of whether runners should train to accentuate their strengths or to eliminate
their weaknesses. Let’s take a look at three steps to
evaluate your strengths and weaknesses, and how to adjust your training
accordingly.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=5313


6. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine:
* Some Performance-Enhancing Drugs Can’t Be Detected
World records in sports are broken by better athletes, better training methods,
better nutrition or new drugs. Drugs appear to be
the cause of many recent records in sports requiring strength and speed. Many
bicycle racers know that some drugs that make them
better riders can’t be detected by testing techniques that are available today.
A recent study shows that laboratories have no
definitive test to discover athletes who take erythropoietin (EPO), a drug to
boost their red blood cell counts (Haematologica,
August, 2006). Athletes have found that taking very low doses of EPO daily will
raise red blood cell counts, and will not give test
results high enough to show that they are taking extra EPO.
The primary limiting factor to how fast a person can ride a bicycle over long
distances is the time it takes to move oxygen from the
lungs into the muscles. So anything that increases oxygen transport from the
lungs into the bloodstream, or carries more oxygen in
the bloodstream, or moves oxygen faster from the blood into muscles will make a
person a faster bicycle racer. Since more than 95
percent of the oxygen in the bloodstream is carried by hemoglobin in red blood
cells, anything that increases the concentration of
red blood cells will help a racer ride faster.
When healthy people do not get enough oxygen, their kidneys produce a hormone
called EPO that causes the bone marrow to make more
red blood cells. When athletes are given additional EPO, their red blood cell
counts rise and their performance improves.
Doctors can do blood tests for EPO, but the hormone lasts only a few days in the
bloodstream, so athletes who stop taking EPO
several days before testing may not be caught. Some athletes tried to foil the
test by adding pepsin, a chemical found in spot
removers, to their urine samples. However this destroyed all of the EPO
including their own natural EPO, so they failed the test
because a person is supposed to have some EPO. The new study shows that athletes
have now found a way to circumvent the test by
taking very low doses of EPO every day.
From Dr. Gabe Mirkin at:
http://www.drmirkin.com


7. Sports Injury Pain : Pain and brain – a revolutionary approach to chronic
injury:
Injury and pain are a competitive athlete’s worst nightmare, scuppering even the
best-laid training plans. And when injuries become
chronic, they can destroy confidence and even end athletic careers. But a
revolution is taking place in our understanding of pain,
which has profound implications for the treatment and rehabilitation of many
chronic injuries. As Stephen Robson and Louis Gifford
explain in the first of a two-part series, it’s time to throw away many of our
existing preconceptions about pain and injury.
At a glance:
~ New research shows the brain and central nervous system are wholly involved in
the processing of pain signals in the body;
~ The pain you experience is hugely influenced by your individual psychological,
biological and sociological make-up;
~ The amount of pain you experience when injured may be quite unrelated to the
extent of your injury;
~ Chronic pain is often caused by inappropriate nervous system activity – not by
tissue damage;
~ These findings are leading to a revolution in the way physiotherapists will
treat many chronic injuries in the future.
The trouble with pain is that it is normal to hurt. In fact to be more specific,
pain is an evolutionary masterpiece that protects
us from injury by alerting us to actual or perceived threat or damage to our
tissues. However, until recently all of the various
orthodox and alternative branches of medicine have understood very little about
pain and consequently how to treat it (see box on
‘The history of pain’ below).
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sports-injury-pain.htm


8. Engineered sports foods: A primer:
By Nancy Clark, MS, RD, CSSD
Remember water, bananas and granola bars -- the original sports fuels? Maybe
not. They've been buried by a multitude of engineered
sports foods and fluids created by the multi-billion dollar sports fuel
industry. Since the 1970's, when Gatorade was introduced,
this business has mushroomed and continues to expand.
PowerBar's debut in the 1980's and GU's debut in the 1990's bolstered the
commercial sports food scene. Since then, a multitude of
companies have jumped on the bandwagon to create niche fuels that appeal to a
variety of athletes. There's a product for every
dietary need -- gluten-free, vegan, kosher, lactose-free, fructose-free ...the
list goes on.
If you have ever felt confused by the plethora of commercial sports fuels from
which to choose, you are not alone. Runners, cyclists
and other athletes inevitably ask me "What's the best energy bar? gel? sports
drink?" I only wish I had the right answer! The best
choice for one person may be lackluster for another. You simply need to
experiment to determine which products satisfy your needs.
More...from Active.com at:
http://active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13663


9. Put Yourself to the Test:
Fitness testing is just for the elite, I hear you say. It is certainly the
popular view that only if you’re good enough to make a
living from the sport it is worth paying to find out your true VO2 max and
lactate threshold. However, anyone who is serious about
improving their times should benefit from a visit to a sport scientist to put
their body to the test. For just the price of a pair
of shoes, max test will help you train smarter and run faster...
Put more technically, blood lactate profile testing, as it is often referred to,
will tell you accurately your lactate and anaerobic
threshold levels and your VO2 max. Many know that doing a certain amount of your
training at just or below your anaerobic threshold
can do wonders. Most also know about training at certain heart rate levels.
Whereas most will base these on speeds on the pace from
their last race, fitness testing takes the guesswork out or working out what
your speeds for these various zones are.
What happens during a typical max test?
It is recommended you don’t do any hard training the day before because, as the
term “max test” implies, you’ll be pushing yourself
to the limit. A blood test – via painless pinprick in the ear – is taken before
the start. Then you’ll run on a treadmill for about
four to six three-minute intervals at very sedate levels at fist. During each
30-second period of recovery, a blood sample is taken.
The speed is increased with each interval until you reach a level that is
something like your 5km race pace. Then the recovery is
dispatched with and you run until you feel you can’t go any further, with the
incline on the treadmill increased every minute.
How often?
HOW often depends on how serious you take your running and whether or not you’re
a full-time athlete. Just one visit will tell you
so much, though elite fitness recommends testing four times a year to monitor
your improvement.
More...from Beat Your PB at:
http://www.beatyourpb.com/archives/cycling/physiology/article/?i=1264


10. The Sweetest Time of Year:
by Liz Applegate Ph.D.
What every runner should know about sugar, and why it might be better than you
think.
It seems like everywhere you turn throughout the holiday season you're
surrounded by the white stuff. And I don't mean snow. I'm
talking about sugar. In all of its tasty forms, sugar is center stage at just
about every holiday function. But if your first
instinct is to sprint in the opposite direction every time someone offers you a
big ol' hunk of fruitcake, hear this: Sweet treats
aren't as bad as you may think. This is especially true for runners, who can
easily fit sweets into their diets without feeling
guilty or sacrificing good nutrition. Here's the latest onsugar and your health,
plus how much of the sweet stuff is right for you.
Sugar By Any Other Name
When nutritionists talk about sugar, we're talking about more than just the
white cubes you throw into your morning coffee. Included
are all the various sweeteners that go into processed foods, drinks, baked
goods, condiments, and cereals. To get a read on the
sugar content of any food, look at the Nutrition Facts label for grams of sugar,
which includes added sweeteners as well as
naturally occurring sugars such as lactose in milk and fructose in fruit. Also,
scan the ingredients list, and look for the
following words used to describe the type of sugar in a food.
Sucrose: This is plain old table sugar. Granulated white sugar is used in tons
of products ranging from drinks to sweetened yogurts.
Brown sugar, powdered sugar, and "sugar in the raw," are all forms of sucrose.
Fructose: The natural sugar in fruit and fruit juice, fructose tastes the
sweetest of all sugars. You may also see fruit-juice
concentrate on labels, which is just another name for fructose.
More...from Runner's World South Africa at:
http://www.runnersworld.co.za/nutrition/archive/dec1_2005.php


11. Stretching 101:
Relax and Open - Stretching
In many ways, stretching is a kind of final frontier—experts still don’t fully
understand or agree on how much flexibility
positively affects athletic performance. But most experts DO agree that
stretching, especially after exercise, is never a bad idea.
Stretching helps to relax and elongate running muscles, to increase range of
motion in the muscles, and to balance the body more
generally.
There are dozens of ways to stretch the muscles we use to run. Consider the
following merely a few of many possibilities. Do remind
your students NEVER to stretch to the point of pain, never to stretch
ballistically (with bouncing motions), never to stretch a
pulled muscle, and ALWAYS to keep joints soft and able to “breathe.”
Quadriceps
The quadriceps are the muscles in the front of the thigh. The quads are
important for lifting the knees when we run.
Unless your knees complain, you can also stretch your quadriceps by sitting in a
kneeling position on your heels. Knees should be
about two fist width’s distance apart. As a bonus, you’ll stretch the tops of
your feet too. For some more flexible bodies, it might
even be okay to lean back a little, placing the hands beyond the heels of the
feet on either side.
Hamstrings
The hamstrings are the muscles that run from just below the knee up into the
buttocks. These muscles lift the lower leg and bend the
knee after the quads have lifted your knees. Sprinters pull their hamstring
muscles more than distance runners, but, as many elite
runners of all distances have noted, tight hamstrings can limit your ability to
run fast.
More...from Rogue Running at:
http://www.roguerunning.com/articleinfo.asp?id=830


12. Defying Common Wisdom, the Heart Tires Eventually:
The heart is not quite the energizer bunny it is cracked up to be. Though more
resistant to fatigue than most muscles, it tires
significantly after intense exercise.
Although common wisdom has held that the heart is immune to fatigue, a Stanford
team found that the heart does tire -- although it
takes more than three days of intense exercise to show it.
Not only does the heart grow weary, reported cardiologist Euan Ashley, D.Phil.,
and colleagues in the August issue of the Journal of
the American College of Cardiology, but the hearts of athletes with a so-called
"fitness gene" -- a polymorphism of the gene for
angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) -- actually tired more than others.
Dr. Ashley and colleagues studied 86 athletes taking part in the Adrenalin Rush
Adventure Race in the Scottish highlands, in which
participants covered 300 miles of terrain -- trekking, mountain biking,
kayaking, ascending and descending fixed ropes, and
swimming.
The winning team made it to the finish line in just over 84 hours, while the
last team took more than a day more to cover the
ground, the researchers reported. The athletes were tested before the race and
immediately after they crossed the finish: "We waited
in the cold and wet and literally picked them up at the end of the race," Dr.
Ashley said.
Only 54 athletes finished the race, which is regarded as one of the most
grueling athletic events in the world, the researchers
reported.
More...from MedPageToday at:
http://www.medpagetoday.com/PrimaryCare/ExerciseFitness/tb/3807


13. Vitamin B deficiency may lead to poor athletic performance:
A recent research has correlated the effect of nutrient rich diet and athletic
performance. According to the study highly energetic
athletes may fail to excel in rigorous and demanding exercise simply because of
a lack in Vitamin B complex in their diet. Studies
prove that its Vitamin B complex in the diet that enhances the growth and repair
of muscles.
The study was conducted at Oregon State University and the research was
published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition
and Exercise Metabolism.
Thiamin, riboflavin, VitaminB6, VitaminB12andFolicacid are known as Vitamin B
Complex. These micronutrients are essential for the
body to process proteins to produce energy. According to Melinda Manore,
researcher in the Colleges of Agricultural and Health and
Human Sciences even a minor deficiency in these micronutrients is detrimental to
the body. The body's innate capacity to fight back
disease and also to repair damaged cells takes a back seat. She scrutinized
several upcoming athletes as well as less competitive
persons in her research.
The Vitamin B requirement of various individuals varies according to the
intensity of activity and loss of nutrients in sweat and
through urine after strenuous exercise. Many athletes involved in high level
sports are unaware of the impact of vitamin B complex
in their diet opines researchers. Athletes do not realize that a poor diet
lacking in important micro nutrients may have severe
detrimental effects on their health and athletic potential.
More...from MedIndia at:
http://www.medindia.net/news/view_news_main.asp?x=16057


14. To Stretch, Or Not to Stretch?
We all know to do our stretches, right? We might struggle to find time to do
them, we don't really want to do them, but we know we
should do them…right? Well, maybe not. At least that's what the recent research
is pointing to for the sports included in triathlon.
Before we get started, let's go over some basics on the muscle/tendon
relationship. Our tendons are more involved in contractions
than previously understood. The muscle actually doesn't move much at all, but
builds up tension and has the tendon do the majority
of the work. Think of the tendon as a spring; the muscle contracts or relaxes to
control the tension of this ‘spring', which then
facilitates joint movement.
There are ideal flexibility levels for certain types of movements. Depending on
the activity you are participating in, you will want
more or less flexibility or ‘stretch' in the working muscle/tendon unit (MTU).
If you want to transfer power (swim, bike, run), less
flexibility is better because a more elastic tendon will actually absorb energy.
That means you have to generate more power to get
the same result as someone with a less elastic MTU. This may be why static
stretching prior to activity has been shown to compromise
muscle strength 5 – 30%. In fact, as little as two minutes of static stretching
can impair power performance (1).
In addition to detrimental performance effects, there is evidence that
stretching does not protect against injury, and prior to
exercise may actually increase the rate of muscle injury. There are several
theories as to why this is the case, ranging from
decreased stability from increased range of motion created by stretching, to
increased pain tolerance leading to tissue damage we
could otherwise avoid (4).
More...from Competitor Magazine at:
http://www.competitor.com/article/?Guid=fe01f157-8e07-4fd6-9bf4-05a8f0c3a89f


15. Cycling: CyclingPeaks WKO+: “Power”ful Number Crunching:
Heart rate monitors have become almost universal for cyclists, but most of us
just look at the numbers once in a while and are still
not really sure of what it means or how to use it. The same thing can be the
case for power monitors unless there is a way to
extract the data. Leading the way in power management software is the
CyclingPeaks WKO+ package, which easily and rapidly gives you
the “power” to maximize your training.
Power Revolution
Two important revolutions in cycling, in my opinion, have driven the increase in
fitness in both the pro and amateur ranks over the
past decade. The first development has been the realization of the importance of
individualized training. Gone are the days of
“standard” training plans given to whole groups of riders; in its place has come
the concept of periodization throughout a season,
peaking for particular events, and also targeting individual factors. These
individual variables include things like your natural
strengths and limiters on the bike, training history, recovery capacity, and
nutrition.
That is one reason that we have always advocated recording training data over
the course of a single season and through the years.
In order to know where you’re going, you must know where you are currently and
where you have come from. Basic things such as how
much volume of training you can realistically handle next season can only be
determined by assessing how much you have trained over
the past season(s). Similarly, every individual responds to a particular
workload in a unique fashion. For example, can you handle
back-to-back hard workouts? How much intensity can you handle over the course of
a week or training cycle before you start wearing
down into overtraining? It is only through maintaining accurate objective and
subjective data that you can mine for this
information.
Secondly, without a doubt the biggest technological advancement in scientific
training over the past decade has been the development
of power monitors, to the point where they are becoming commonplace in the pro
peloton and even for many amateurs and enthusiasts.
Rather than relying on an indirect measure of workload such as heart rate, we
can now easily track the exact work output achieved
and also the exact work output required for a particular task on the bike.
However, beyond the cool factor, it remains a very
expensive toy and gee-whiz gadget unless you’re able to really extract and
analyze the data to further your own training and fitness
goals.
More...from Pez Cycling at:
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4455


16. Ask the Tri Doc: Overtraining blues:
Q: I have recently found myself in a state of overtraining and, among other
symptoms, my resting heart rate in the morning was
elevated to about 50 bpm from the usual 40-45 bpm. However, during the same
period, my resting heart rate during the day (sitting at
work, for example) remained at its usual value, sometimes dropping to below 40
bpm. I found these contradictory and was wondering if
you could offer me an explanation.
A: The short answer: Over-training may be manifested by a change in resting
heart rate, although this is as yet unproven.
Nonetheless, it is probably best to assume that this is the problem and act
accordingly.
The long answer: Over-training may occur in athletes who rapidly increase and
sustain training volume or in those who maintain
volume without adequate rest over a prolonged period of time.
More...from TriathleteMag at:
http://www.triathletemag.com/Page899.aspx


17. It's hot to be cold:
Cold spells can boost your immunity and help muscle pain and depression. But is
plunging into an ice bath or a freezing chamber
going too far? A skeptical Ellie Levenson examines the evidence.
I'm not good at being cold: a fondness for moaning and a tendency to be pathetic
rather put me off the winter months. When I was in
Berlin one December and temperatures plunged below -12°C, the only way I could
cope was by eating fried food on the hour and
drinking hot wine on the half hour. I own more fleeces than I've had hot dinners
and I've had quite a lot of those. My hot water
bottle is currently one of my most treasured possessions.
But snuggling up, it seems, is no longer the way to get through winter. Not only
has recent research from the Scripps Research
Institute in California shown that reducing the core body temperature of mice
makes them live for longer, but cryotherapy, where
people are exposed for short bursts of time to extremely cold temperatures, is
the latest treatment fad. Right now being cold is
very hot indeed.
Cryotherapy - which is popular in Poland, where it is available in many
conventional hospitals - involves standing in chambers
filled with cold, dry air at temperatures as low as -135°C. The London
Kriotherapy Centre (which uses the Polish spelling) claims
this treatment can help a range of ailments from muscular injuries to
depression. Cryotherapy is also used by sports teams to
decrease the amount of time needed for muscles to recover between training
sessions.
More...from the Guardian at:
http://travel.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1953340,00.html


18. Winter Running:
You'll freeze your lungs (my personal favorite), you'll fall on the ice and
break a leg, you'll slip and pull a muscle, you'll get
frostbitten. There are a lot of wonderful rumors about all the bad things that
can happen when you run in the winter. Guess what,
they won't happen if you take some simple precautions.
First, let's put to rest one of the most popular but most inaccurate rumors
about running in the winter, the idea that you can
freeze your lungs. This is a completely false rumor. The fact is that you can't
freeze your lungs in any climate found in any
populated parts of this planet. By the time the air you breathe in reaches your
throat, just passing through your mouth warms it up
to near your body temperature. By the time it passes through your windpipe and
into your lungs, it is up to your body temperature.
This doesn't mean that there aren't some side effects to breathing in this cold
air but it is important to stress that there is no
evidence that the side effects are long term dangers. The main side effect is
that the cold air is very dry. As your body warms it,
your body also has to humidify it. This can lead to a dry, raw throat and at
times a dry cough after running. Some people claim that
running in cold weather makes their lungs cold. The best explanation I can come
up with is that the air they are breathing in is
still dry when it gets to their lungs and their lung tissue may be drying out as
it humidifies the air. This is not a long term
problem, though, as your body tissues will recover with no long term damage once
they are not being subjected to the dry air.
Another popular myth about breathing in the cold air is that this will give you
exercise induced asthma (EIA). While there is a lack
of evidence that this won't happen, there is also a lack of evidence that this
will happen. The most likely explanation is that
breathing in the cold air increases the symptoms of mild cases of EIA enough to
make themselves known, when running in warmer
temperatures might not be enough for the symptoms to be noticeable or a bother.
To prevent both the problems of breathing in dry air
and causing a raw throat and possible onset of EIA symptoms, you could wear
something over your face that covers your mouth. This
will help you warm and humidify the cold air before it even gets to your throat.
More...from HillRunning.com at:
http://www.hillrunner.com/articles/article.php/winter_running


19. Build recovery into marathon training:
Largest fitness gains are made while you are not running, not when you are.
If you are running more miles and working out harder but showing little
improvement, you may be missing a key ingredient in your
training recipe: recovery.
Case in point: I ran eight minutes faster in last week's Motive Bison Stampede
Half-Marathon than I did in 2005. My training mileage
remained the same — 50 a week. So did my weekly speed sessions and my long runs.
So what did I do differently? I learned to build in some recovery, making sure
to run several days of only two to four miles every
10 days or so.
Most runners shudder at the word "recovery," thinking that they have to train
less, or that "no pain, no gain" is the only winning
formula. But the reality is that the largest fitness gains are made while you
are not running, not when you are.
For some runners, a recovery plan can be something as simple as running every
other day. For others, a more cyclical plan works.
"We usually work on a 21-day cycle," said Steve Sisson, assistant coach of the
women's track and field and cross country programs at
the University of Texas. "We'll run 14 days of harder work, followed by a
seven-day recovery period. That might mean one
quality-maintenance workout, and the rest is recovery. I find that this allows
for mental recovery as well."
More...from the Statesman at:
http://www.statesman.com/sports/content/sports/stories/other/11/21/21hoban.html


20. Proprioceptive cues:
By Matt Fitzgerald
Proprioceptive cues are images and other sensory cues that enable you to modify
your running stride for the better as you think
about them while running. I have used proprioceptive cues in my training for the
past four years and have found that they really
work.
Using proprioceptive cues effectively requires concentration and discipline. Our
natural tendency is to let our thoughts wander
aimlessly while running. If you're serious about improving your stride, you must
fight this tendency by forcing yourself to
concentrate on and execute a particular proprioceptive cue for hundreds of
consecutive strides.
The stride improvements that proprioceptive cues facilitate do not happen
overnight, because the motor patterns that underlie your
current stride habits are deeply ingrained, to the point of being almost
completely automatic.
More... From Active.com at:
http://active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13668


21. Study turns human genetics on its head:
Research finds abnormal is really normal, puts in question some medical tests.
It was nice while it lasted. But the idea that all the world's people are 99.9
per cent genetically identical -- that a mere sliver
of DNA separates a Dolly Parton from a Dalai Lama -- is untrue.
An international research team has overturned the harmonious message that flowed
from the Human Genome Project in 2000 and
discovered more DNA differences exist among people than the experts expected.
Using new technology to study the genomes of 270 volunteers from four corners of
the world, researchers have found that while people
do indeed inherit one chromosome from each parent, they do not necessarily
inherit one gene from mom and another from dad.
One parent can pass down to a child three or more copies of a single gene. In
some cases, people can inherit as many as eight or 10
copies.
In rare instances a person might be missing a gene.
Yet despite these anomalies, they still appear to be healthy -- countering the
notion of what doctors have deemed "normal" in
genetics.
The work highlights how DNA helps to make each human unique, hinting that a
towering basketball player, for example, might boast
extra copies of a growth gene or that a daughter really might be more like her
dad.
But the landmark report, published today by the journal Nature, also has
disturbing implications.
More...from the Globe and Mail at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20061123.wxgenome23/BNStory/s\
pecialScienceandHealth/home


22. 'Natural' not always most healthy:
Allergic reactions possible.
Green toiletries and cosmetics claim to be more healthful for the user and
better for the environment.
But are they?
Minimal packaging clearly scores major points for the environment, but the
health question is a little more complicated.
Products containing "natural," plant-based and preservative-free ingredients may
sound beneficial, but dermatologists say they're
not always better for your health.
"Cobra venom is natural, but very poisonous," said Canadian Dermatology
Association representative Alfred Balbul.
And, despite well-meaning as well as marketing-driven claims to the contrary,
there is still no proof to the fear that chemicals in
conventional cosmetics will cause cancer.
Consumer attempts to benefit their health can even backfire. For instance,
products advertised as preservative-free, depending on
their formulation, may actually be less healthful than chemical-ridden
counterparts.
Face cream brimming with bacteria is probably more harmful than face cream
containing synthetic preservatives, said Dr. Balbul, a
Montreal dermatologist and McGill University assistant professor of medicine.
"If you want to do green things, recycle the bottle that you purchased the stuff
in. Packaging is much more harmful to the
environment than the cream ever was," he said.
"As a dermatologist, I'm looking at the effect of a product, not the source.
There are a lot of scare tactics out there."
More...from the National Post at:
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=073de0a5-47d\
2-4293-a40d-97ce58ee2aa0


23. Injury risk factors:
Injury risk factors are usually classified as being extrinsic (or outside the
body) or intrinsic.
Specialists in sports medicine usually argue that overuse injuries are, in the
main, preventable. This is because in most cases, it
is possible to identify something - that is, a risk factor - that has often led
directly or indirectly to the injury. Having
identified the risk factor/s, it (or they) can often be modified to reduce the
total risk.
Extrinsic injury risk factors
Typical extrinsic injury risk factors include the following:
~ Excessive load on the body (such as the nature and speed of movement, the
number of repetitions, impact, footwear or training
surface)
~ Training errors (such as rapid increase in training distance, high intensity
training, hill training, fatigue, poor programme
structure and design, poor exercise or sport technique)
~ Poor or inappropriate equipment (such as footwear, headgear or protective
clothing)
~ Ineffective rules (including rules or safety guidelines that are not enforced)
Typically, when any overuse injury is being evaluated, the specialist will ask
questions to determine whether any of the above
factors has contributed to the injury. In other words, did anything change
before the injury was first noted?
The Intrinsic injury Risk Factor
The intrinsic injury risk factors are those that the individual brings with them
to the sport, exercise or activity. These include
factors such as the shape and structure of the major joints. For example, feet
which pronate ('roll inwards') or have a poor arch
often contribute to lower leg, shin and knee conditions in runners, as do 'knock
knees' (genu valgus) or 'bow legs' (genu varus).
Other injury risk factors include:
~ Leg length discrepancy
~ Muscle weakness or imbalance
~ Decreased flexibility
~ Joint laxity (that is, not being able to control and stabilise joints
throughout their full range of motion)
~ Gender (there are potential gender differences that make women more
susceptible to certain knee injuries)
~ Age (tendons degenerate with age, so an acute rupture is more likely in the
older athlete. Similarly, certain injuries only occur
in children)
~ Being overweight (since this increases the load on muscles, tendons, ligaments
and joint structures during weight bearing
activities)
More...from the BBC at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/health/healthy_living/fitness/injuries_risk.shtml


24. Glucosamine:
Claims, Benefits: Halts, reverses or cures arthritis.
Bottom Line: Taken with chondroitin sulfate, this is a popular "cure" for
osteoarthritis. It's hard to recommend these supplements,
unless the second phase of the new study confirms some benefit. Meanwhile, if
you want to try them, it may help and seems safe.
The arthritis noncure?
Millions of Americans with osteoarthritis take glucosamine, often with
chondroitin sulfate, making these two of the top-selling
dietary supplements. These substances are involved in the production and
maintenance of the cartilage that cushions joints, and many
experts hope that supplemental doses may slow or prevent deterioration of
cartilage and thus reduce pain and stiffness.
But do they really work? Research has yielded conflicting findings over the
years, so scientists have been waiting eagerly for the
conclusion of a large, well-designed government-sponsored study that has been in
the works for several years.
The results finally appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in February,
and they undoubtedly disappointed most arthritis
sufferers. They must have also disappointed the manufacturers of the
supplements, and probably the maker of Celebrex as well.
More...from Active.com at:
http://active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13656


25. Digest Briefs:
* How to manage a clean swim start?
Q: "Is there a specific technique for the start of the swim wave? I am getting
caught up in the wave and it is taking me 300 to 400
meters to battle through the crowd to get to clean water. Overall, I am a pretty
strong swimmer and I usually finish in the top 5%."
A: Coach Patrick: There are several different ways to execute a "clean" swim
start. The most important thing to do is to choose the
right strategy for you, whether you are an excellent swimmer or a total novice.
It's also important to take the total distance of
your event into consideration. If you're about to do an Ironman, for example,
having a smooth swim is much more important than
having a clean one.
For stronger swimmers, I think the best option is to line up right in the front.
When the gun goes off, you'll swim all out for 50
to 100 strokes, and then settle into your race pace. There are a lot of
triathletes out there who have no idea how to see themselves
properly. As a result, poorly seeded fast swimmers can miss making the first
group because they are stuck behind someone else.
Weaker, or less experienced swimmers, need to be a little more strategic. If
your swim times are average, then you might want to
hedge your bets and stay close to the front. Depending on a comfort level, I
might suggest that you start a few feet wide of the
buoy line. This will give you a few clean strokes before you need to head in and
merge with the main group. If you are seriously
concerned about your ability to finish the swim portion of the triathlon, I
think your best bet is to simply wait a minute or two
for the majority of athletes to have started swimming. This way you can pick and
choose the best place to start.
Patrick McCrann is head coach and founder of Performance Training Systems, is an
Ultrafit Associate, and is a USA Triathlon
certified coach. He can be contacted at
mailto:pjm@....
Performance Training Systems is a Boston-based triathlon coaching group serving
multisport athletes of all ability levels. Over the
last five years, PTS has helped more then 200 athletes reach their athletic
potential. In addition to coaching, PTS offers camps,
clinics, performance testing, and consulting services. Learn more at
www.performancetrainingsystems.com.

* Winter Training: Are calorie and fluid needs different in the cold
temperature?
- by Kristin McCowan, MS for the January 2006 PTS Newsletter
A pro-athlete recently complained to me that she seemed hungrier while training
at a submaximal effort outdoors. She asked, “Do you
burn more calories in the colder temperatures?”
Temperatures 0-degrees CELSIUS or lower can increase your caloric need if it is
cold enough to elicit the shivering response.
Caloric needs are increased due to the increase work of thermogenesis, the
body’s temperature regulation. Shivering can increase
metabolic heat production 2-5 times above resting. (1) While it is possible to
exercise in the cold without the shiver response due
to adequate clothing, warm up, fitness level and cold acclimatization, the type
of fuel you burn is affected by the temperature.
Training at submaximal levels and at temps below 0-degrees Celsius (32-degrees
Fahrenheit) relies more on carbohydrate burning than
on fat for fuel, at optimal ambient temperatures carbohydrates and fat are
burned nearly equally. (2)
Fluid needs are increased due to increased ventilation and low humidity leads to
greater respiratory water loss. There is also a
reduced thirst response due to the decrease perception of work secondary to low
sweat rate. A sport drink will improve fluid
retention, fluid balance, and decreased urine output as compared to plain water.
It will also provide carbohydrate calories.(1)
The winter months are a time for many of us to maintain or improve our fitness
base or aerobic endurance. While training at an
aerobic level or submaximal effort (VO2max ~65%) at temperatures below 0-degrees
Celsius requires additional considerations as far
as proper clothing (wear a hat), equipment, and safety it also has nutritional
concerns: make healthy carbohydrate choices and be
sure to take adequate fluids.
Kristin McCowan, MS
Kristin.mccowan@...
1. Meyer, NL and Parker-Simmons, In Preparation for Torino 2006: Dietary Needs
of Winter Sport Athletes, SCAN’S Pulse, Winter 2006,
Vol. 25, No. 1
2. Layden, J, Patterson, M and Nimmo, M, Effects of reduced ambient temperature
onfat utilization during submaximal exercise, Med &
Sci in Sports and Exercise, 34 no 5 May 2002

* Diet, Fitness, and Exercise: Marathoners and Melanoma
By Katherine Hobson
Distance runners may be putting themselves at higher risk of skin cancer–and not
just because they spend so much time in the sun.
Austrian researchers compared 210 marathon runners with 210 nonrunners and found
that the marathoners had more of the moles and
lesions that are risk factors for melanoma and also were more often referred for
follow-up on suspected nonmelanoma skin cancer. Sun
exposure, the top risk factor for both melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer, is
the obvious culprit, says Christina Ambros-Rudolph,
a dermatologist at the Medical University of Graz and lead author of the study,
which appears in the current Archives of
Dermatology. But researchers also suspect that heavy exercise suppresses the
immune system and makes the runners more vulnerable to
cancer.
No one was actually diagnosed with melanoma, so it's impossible to assign a
number to the increase in risk. But previous studies
have shown that Ironman triathletes and professional cyclists, who also spend
many hours training and competing in the sun, are
exposed to high doses of UV radiation, and that sweating heightens the effect by
making skin more sensitive to UV rays. While a link
to exercise is more speculative, says Ambros-Rudolph, it's thought that tissue
damage occurring during intense, long-term exertion
may prompt the release of certain proteins that render the immune system less
able to fight off skin cancer. (Patients given
immunosuppressive drugs after transplants have an increased risk of the
disease.) Ambros-Rudolph says her team will look at the link
between training intensity and possible immunosuppression.
While the news sounds scary, it shouldn't keep anyone from exercising. First,
immunosuppression is suspected only in very intense
exercise, not the 30 to 60 minutes daily recommended for good health. Second,
the study didn't measure whether the increased risk of
skin cancer is offset by the cardiovascular or other health benefits of running.
And finally, the study noted that many of the
runners simply aren't taking recommended precautions. The bottom line for anyone
who exercises outside: Cover up, slather on
waterproof sunblock, and avoid working out when the sun is strongest.


THIS WEEK'S FEATURED EVENTS:
*Please verify event dates with the event websites*
Check the Runner's Web FrontPage for links to the race sites.

November 25, 2006:
Ottawa Lions Distance Dance - Ottawa, ON
At the Louis Riel Dome Indoor 400m Track

November 26, 2006:
Firenze Marathon - Florence, Italy

Seattle Marathon - WA

Space Coast Marathon - Melbourne, FLA

University of Washington Medical Center Seattle Marathon - WA

EVENT PREVIEW:
2007:

January 19-21, 2007:
Mark Allen Triathlon Clinic
http://home.cogeco.ca/~geordiem/triathlonottawa/2007/home.htm

June 23, 2007:
Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women - Ottawa, ON
http://www.emiliesrun.com


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

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

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Have a good week of training and/or racing.

Ken Parker
Runner's Web
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