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 (12 and under) 1K run will
also be held.
More information 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:
Our Running Trivia Quiz and Pegasus Quiz are available from:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/rw_triv.html
Patrick MacKenzie of Gatineau, QC has won the December Pegasus Quiz and wins a
copy of the award winning software for runners,
RunLog by Pegasus Software.
Jeff Platt and Bill Cook, two former winners, had also submitted the correct
answer but asked me to pass the software to a new
winner.

*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\
0028567

*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
programs that are a balance of aerobic, anaerobic and
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track of what works and what doesn't and stay motivated
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Sign up at: www.RunnersWebCoach.com OR
http://training.active.com/ActiveTrainer/listing.do?listing=51

* 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
recognition of it's outstanding achievements.
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Check out the Peak Running article index at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/PRP_index.html .

* 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. It's a stretch for schools to find enough space for P.E.
As students' health becomes a bigger issue, space constraints in L.A. Unified
make fitness tougher to achieve.
2. A Quick Guide to Supplements for Athletes
3. Insights into marathoners' hearts: don't believe the hypertrophy
4. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine
5. Solo vs. Group Training
6. The Ignorance of a Long Distance Runner
A Tale of Woe and Wonder from Running's Age of Innocence.
7. Lactic acid and running: myths, legends and reality - the ABCs
8. What You Need to Know About Hydration
9. Fueling for Endurance Sports
10. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Rest of the Week
11. Sit or Stand: Tradeoffs in Efficiency?
12. Less than zero?
That buzz might be the sound of calories burning, studies suggest. But green tea
extract's real-world effects are unproved.
13. Ankle Sprain: Injury management How to heal a serious ankle sprain
14. Winterize your Exercise
15. Low-Risk Peaking
How to Be Properly Prepared for Your Next Race.
16. Creatine: Will it prevent muscle loss with aging?
17. New clue to red wine's heart-protecting effect
18. Excessive Exercise
19. Psychology: The Jim Fixx syndrome —Humair Hashmi
20. This Week in Running
21. When X Trains With Y
22. Rapid Recovery After a Workout or Competition
23. PEZ Gets High: Altipower Personal Hypoxicator
24. Improving Running Performance
25. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"What do you believe the weekly mileage should be to safely complete a
marathon?"

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:
"Should more marathons have time standards for entry to protect untrained
runners from themselves?"
Answers Percent
1. Yes 45%
2. No 55%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: ChrisMcCormack.com
"Australian Chris McCormack or Macca as he is affectionately known, is one of
the most affable athletes in the sport of triathlon.
Chris entered the professional triathlon circuit in 1996, as an inexperienced
rookie, but rapidly rose to success only eight months
after his debut, taking the World No. 1 position and destroying arguably the
greatest field ever assembled in triathlon history, to
win both the 1997 Triathlon World Championships and the 1997 ITU World Cup
Series . This gutsy, determined display recorded Macca as
the first male triathlete to ever win both titles (the double) in the same year.
A run specialist, with menacing bike power, McCormack is currently the hottest
name in triathlon. In his short career, Chris has
won almost every major short course title on the global triathlon calendar
including the ITU World Cup Series , Escape From Alcatraz
Triathlon as well as four of the sports most prestigious triathlon events,
GoodWill Games, Mrs T's Chicago International Triathlon,
WildFlower Half Ironman and more recently the Ironman Australia Triathlon .
Chris defended his course record winning WildFlower
victory in 2002 year and his race in the Ironman Australia put Chris in an elite
club of 3 athletes who have won Ironman on debut.
Chris has won a slew of victories on the tough US Circuit including the San
Diego International Triathlon, New York City
International Triathlon and LA International Triathlon . He also became the
first triathlete in a decade to capture the US Triple
Crown. In 2001, Chris was again crowned Global Triathlete Of The Year and
Competitor Of The Year and became the only triathlete to
ever hold the USA Professional Championship Title and the USA Sprint Course
Title in one season. Chris is currently a 4x Escape From
Alcatraz Champion with victories in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2002 as well as the San
Jose International Champion. Macca also holds three
Wildflower Half Ironman Triathlon titles from three attempts winning the race on
debut in 2001 again in 2002 and then in 2004.
Wildflower is the worlds biggest Half Ironman and one of the most prestigious
triathlon events in the world.
Maccas shift in focus now to Ironman racing has seen him win Ironman Australia
on debut and then defend that title in 2003. Maccas
first race at the distance in Europe eventuated in one of the sports greatest
races in Roth Germany, where Macca was beaten in a
sprint finish by Ironmans greatest ever competitor Lothar Leder (winner of more
than 13 Ironman events). Macca has been very vocal
in his desire to win the Ironman World Title in Hawaii. Maccas impeccable short
course career has many in the triathlon fraternity
predicting that Maccas impact on Ironman over the next few years will be
devastating.
With a huge heart, the biggest smile in triathlon and an ever-blossoming fan
club, McCormack has stamped himself as one of the
fiercest forces in triathlon. With one of the best resumes in the sports
history, Macca owns almost every triathlon title available
and holds more international titles than any triathlete in history. (at last
count McCormack has won over 130 triathlon races
globally - at all distances) When he is not training, the University Graduate
enjoys surfing and relaxing with family and friends."
Visit the site at:
http://www.chrismccormack.com/


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


BOOK OF THE WEEK: Run to Win: Training Secrets of the Kenyan Runners.
Within only a few decades, Kenya has established itself as the running nation
No. 1. Today, Kenyan athletes dominate the world
rankings in all distances between the 800m and the marathon. How did they do
this? "Run to win" describes the development of running
in Kenya from the time of the British influence until nowadays. It lets coaches,
who have strongly influenced the rise of the
East-African nation to a world power in sports, speak in their own words, and it
shows how running has also become a big business.
The reader will learn about the training secrets of the stars and will also
receive valuable tips for his own career or sports life,
be it as an amateur jogger or an ambitious runner. This book is a must-have for
all running coaches and runners, and also for all
those who want to learn more about the backgrounds and secrets of the Kenyan
success story. The features include: a must-have for
all running coaches and runners; learn the training secrets of the stars; and
lots of valuable tips for the amateur jogger to the
ambitious runner.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841261882/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. It's a stretch for schools to find enough space for P.E.:
As students' health becomes a bigger issue, space constraints in L.A. Unified
make fitness tougher to achieve.
Say "squishy-squashy" and students immediately know what to do in the model
physical education program at Van Nuys Middle School.
It means "move in close enough to touch somebody, but don't," one administrator
explained. The command is an attention-getting
time-saver — before or after a physical activity — when teachers need to be
heard.
But metaphorically, the invented word could apply to P.E. in the Los Angeles
Unified School District as a whole. Squishy-squashy
could stand for oversized P.E. classes that become too squished — and a
curriculum that, as a result, gets altogether too squashed.
Reducing class size is being trumpeted as one of two key goals — along with
raising salaries — of the teachers union leadership as
it negotiates a new contract. And although class sizes are uncomfortably large
at most grade levels and in many subjects, nowhere
are they more packed than in P.E.
Last year, the five largest P.E. classes were at Emerson Middle School (123
students); Fremont High (90 students); Poly High (85
students); Griffith Middle (80 students), and Gompers Middle (76 students). At
least four middle schools had average classes of more
than 60 and at least five high schools averaged more than 56, according to
district data.
Although new state funding and other state and local efforts could improve the
picture, the story is similar this year. In essence,
P.E. teachers frequently handle double classes. And they typically have to herd
their charges without the aid of four walls.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-me-physed27nov27,1,6305564.sto\
ry?coll=la-health-fitness-news


2. A Quick Guide to Supplements for Athletes:
The athletic supplement business is a multi-million dollar industry with
products promising big boosts in performance from pills,
powders, or liquids. As a sports dietitian, I’m bombarded by questions nearly
every day regarding the benefits of these manufactured
nutrients. In general, I’d like to see athletes get all their nutrients from
food. After all, that’s where these vitamins and
minerals occur naturally, and more and more research is pointing out the value
and efficacy of swallowing multiple nutrients in say,
a salad, as opposed to the isolated doses found in a supplement.
But, there are some nutrients that a hard-working athlete, one who’s working out
multiple times a day several times a week, does
need help with. That’s because all that exercise usually means they need an
increase in vitamins and minerals—one they don’t have
time to pull together from a wide-ranging diet. They’re either burning through
more of these nutrients during their workout or
losing them through sweat or waste. What all this boils down to is this:
Athletes need to process a prodigious amount of food
quickly and efficiently if they want to perform their best day after day. And to
do that, they need micronutrients (vitamins and
minerals).
There are several ways to keep your vitamin and mineral deposits full. One is a
daily multivitamin that covers all your bases. From
there I’ve put together the list, a short one, which itemizes three nutrients
that athletes should strongly consider taking in a
supplement.
More...from Carmichael Training Systems at:
http://www.trainright.com/info.asp?action=display&uid=4258


3. Insights into marathoners' hearts: don't believe the hypertrophy:
Chicago, IL - Dr Stephan Möhlenkamp tells the story of running tests on a fit,
asymptomatic, 57-year-old marathon runner as part of
a communitywide screening study. The runner had completed a marathon several
days previously and felt fine, if a bit stiff, but
tests showed he actually had acute ST-elevation MI, moderate three-vessel
disease, and required urgent revascularization.
The findings prompted Möhlenkamp and colleagues to initiate a study specifically
of "master" (>50 years) marathon runners, to screen
for asymptomatic disease. As he explained to heartwire, "We were puzzled and
started to ask, is this guy one in a million that we
see, or is this part of a bigger story? What is the extent of atherosclerosis
and cardiovascular disease in master marathon
runners?"
For their study, Möhlenkamp and colleagues have enrolled more than 100 male
marathon runners over the age of 50 and performed
traditional risk-factor analyses on all of them, as well as ECG,
echocardiography, MRI, and coronary artery calcium (CAC) scans. All
of the men had run at least five marathons in the past three years.
Subclinical atherosclerosis despite excellent Framingham risk scores
Earlier this month, Möhlenkamp and colleagues presented CAC scan findings from
the Masters Marathon Study at the American Heart
Association (AHA) 2006 Scientific Sessions. They reported that while the runners
had completed, on average, 20 marathons over the
past nine years and had significantly better risk-factor profiles compared with
age-matched controls (lower BMI, blood pressure, and
LDL; higher HDL), their CAC burden was no different. For the cohort as a whole,
Framingham risk scores were approximately 50% lower
than in age-matched controls; however, among age-matched controls who were also
matched by Framingham risk score, CAC scores greater
than 100 were much more common, pointing to a higher incidence of subclinical
atherosclerosis despite rosy risk-factor profiles.
"Despite this favorable risk profile, the extent of subclinical atherosclerosis
was significantly higher as compared with age- and
risk-factor-matched controls from the general population," the investigators
concluded. "The unexpectedly high coronary
atherosclerotic burden may in part account for some of the exercise-related
cardiovascular events in advanced-age marathon runners."
MRI studies hint at adverse adaptive changes
This week, at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2006 Meeting in
Chicago, study investigators presented MRI findings
from the same cohort, now expanded to 110 male marathoners, on average 57 years
old. As Möhlenkamp explained to heartwire, some
degree of left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy is expected in extremely fit
subjects, a phenomenon dubbed athlete's heart. But what he
and his colleagues—including Dr Torleif A Sandner (University Hospital, Munich,
Germany), who presented the results—wanted to find
out, particularly given findings from the CAC scans in their marathon runners,
was whether some of the changes occurring in older
marathoners might not merely be physiologic adaptation to endurance exercise.
What they found is that while LV volumes and LV ejection fractions were
comparable to studies of nonathletic men of the same age, LV
mass as measured by MRI was significantly higher. Moreover, increased LV mass
appeared to correlate with CAC scores.
"When we measured LV mass, we found that those marathon runners with a mass
above 150 g had a significantly higher coronary artery
calcium score than those below," Möhlenkamp told heartwire. "Usually you would
think in a marathon runner that they may have some
degree of LV hypertrophy, so an increase in myocardial mass. But what has never
been shown, as far as I know, is that this may in
fact be associated with the amount of coronary artery calcium, so the big
question is, is this 'athlete's heart' or is it early
disease?"
He continued, "We believe this is the first evidence that not all of the
increase in LV mass is an adaptation to long-term training.
In some runners it may be evidence for early cardiovascular disease."
Möhlenkamp pointed out that while some of the marathoners may have been lifelong
athletes, others might have gotten into sports much
later in life, in some cases after decades of riskier lifestyles.
"You might look at these patients and think, sure, there's increased mass
because they're runners, but in fact, in some of them,
this may be an early sign of some response to earlier risk-factor exposure," he
said.
It's impossible to measure previously increased risk-factor profiles in someone
who may have lowered their risk-factor profile
through lifestyle changes, he stressed. "I can measure blood pressure, lipid
profile, ask about symptoms and lifestyle, but all this
doesn't tell me much because he's been running for 10 years," Möhlenkamp
explained. "If I look at his echo or MRI and I see
increased muscle mass, I'd think sure, he's been running for 10 years, and I put
everything down to running for 10 years when in
fact we have some initial evidence now that at least in some master marathon
runners, if you focus just on the MRI scan, some of
these subjects with increased myocardial mass have in fact early cardiac
disease."
Outcome data needed
Möhlenkamp was careful to stress that he wasn't so much advocating MRI as a
standard test to screen older athletes, but rather that
MRI, in this study, had illuminated an aspect of cardiovascular risk that might
not have previously been appreciated.
"I'm very careful about making a strong statement. At this point, the fact is
just that there is a mismatch between the risk-factor
profiles and the amount of CAC, as we presented at the AHA. And now, as we're
showing at the RSNA, a muscle mass above 150 g means
you have a higher likelihood, that's statistically significant, of having a
higher calcium burden than if you have a muscle mass
below 150 g. At this point this just adds to the puzzle: what we will need is
outcome data—we'll have to wait five years to really
know whether it is the risk factors that predict outcome, or the atherosclerosis
burden, or the muscle mass. Any of these variables
in the marathon runners could predict outcome."
From Heartwire at:
http://www.theheart.org/article/757511.do


4. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine:
* Use Different Types of Exercise for Fitness and Muscle Strength
You can't train for heart muscle fitness and skeletal muscle strength with the
same exercises. To strengthen your heart muscle, you
must exercise vigorously enough to speed up
your heart rate and keep it elevated for a while. To strengthen your skeletal
muscles, you need to exercise against increasing
resistance in short, hard bouts.
To make your heart muscle stronger, you need to exercise vigorously enough to
make your heart pump more blood. The formula for
heart-lung fitness is to exercise intensely
enough to raise your heart rate at least 20 beats a minute above your resting
rate at least three times a week. If you can't
exercise continuously for thirty minutes, work until you feel tired, rest, then
repeat the cycle, and gradually build up your
endurance. The longer and harder you exercise, the more blood you circulate and
the stronger your heart will become.
To strengthen your skeletal muscles, you need to exercise against increasing
resistance by lifting weights, pushing against
strength-training machines, or moving against gravity
(such as jogging or cycling up hills). The greater the resistance without
causing injury, the greater the gain in strength.
However, when you exercise against resistance, your muscles fatigue very
rapidly. If you exercise against resistance for more than
50 continuous seconds, you increase your risk of tearing your muscles.
A good program to strengthen both your heart and your skeletal muscles would
include cycling, swimming or jogging on Mondays,
Wednesdays and Fridays and using strength
machines on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
* Fit Older Women Live Longer
The strongest, best-coordinated, fastest older women with the most endurance
live the longest. French women over the age of 75 were
tested to see how fast they could walk
(speed), how many chair stands they could do (endurance), how well they could
balance themselves (coordination), and the pressure of
their handgrip (strength). Women at the low end of scores for the total of the
four tests and for each test were at increased risk
for dying in the next four years (European Journal of Epidemiology, Volume 21,
2006).
Strength, speed, endurance and coordination are measures of fitness, determined
by how active you are and how much exercise you get.
What you do now is more important than
what you did in your younger years. More than fifty years ago, a study showed
that college football players die younger than their
non-athletic classmates. Data acquired many years later showed that some
hormones, such as insulin-like growth factor-1, help
muscles and bones to grow and make a person a better athlete. However, these
same hormones cause fat cells to fill with fat which
increases a person's chances of suffering diabetes and heart attacks. Obesity
is a major risk factor for premature death. If
athletes continue to exercise and do not become overweight in their later years,
they probably are not at increased risk for
premature death.
Any type of exercise can help to control your weight and protect your health.
However, out-of-shape people are the ones at highest
risk for sudden death during exercise. If you are out of shape, ask your doctor
to give you a nuclear stress test to determine your
susceptibility to heart damage during exercise. If you pass the test, you should
start a supervised exercise program today.
From Dr. Gabe Mirkin at:
http://www.drmirkin.com


5. Solo vs. Group Training:
Transitions, January 2006
Have you noticed that there are essentially two types of athletes in our sport?
a) The solo-training athlete. Putting in all their training on their own.
Content to workout by themselves, as their schedule
allows, and as their goals dictate.
b) The group-training athlete. Bouncing from one group workout to another. A
member of the masters swim team, the local cycling
group, the local running shop’s run club, and attending all the extra-curricular
yoga, Pilates, and stretch classes their gym has to
offer.
Both of these types of athletes prove to be successful at multisport. What makes
the group-training athlete successful, however, is
also what leads to a high rate of injury and under-performance. And what makes
solo-training athletes so successful can be the very
thing that turns athletes off the sport in the first place.
First, consider the benefits of group training:
-social nature of training with others
-enhanced motivation
-opportunities exist for competition between athletes in the group
-it’s just plain fun!
And now consider the downsides to group training:
-an athlete is rarely training at her proper intensity level…often trying to
keep up to faster training mates, or holding back for
slower mates
-there is a lack of individual attention in a group training environment
-differing opinions and advice (ie, from the masters swim team coach, the
cycling club’s leader, training partners, etc)
-group training is rarely periodized to meet a target goal
-athletes can get caught up doing too many group sessions, at too hard an
intensity, at the incorrect time of year…and end up either
injured or burned out or both. It happens all the time.
More...from the Endurance Lab at:
http://www.endurancelab.ca/article.asp?ID=33


6. The Ignorance of a Long Distance Runner :
A Tale of Woe and Wonder from Running's Age of Innocence.
By Bill Donnelly
I ran my first road race in 1973, which was when the running
boom was really starting to take off. The race was the New York City Marathon,
at that time run completely in Central Park (one
2-mile loop followed by four 6-mile loops), with only 400 entrants. My 3:01 time
qualified me for Boston the next April, where I was
joined by a record crowd of 1,700 runners.
Most of the runners I knew were both always competitive and always struggling
financially. We ran in $17 Tiger Boston shoes and wore
cheap running gear. In the winter we wore long johns and cotton sweats.
We trained in our own ways and tried to learn from our mistakes. My training
consisted of 16 miles per day with a long run on Sunday
of 20 to 23 miles. My racing style was to line up in front, go out like a bat
out of hell, and hang on as best I could. There was no
speed work except for races.
My Tale of Woe Begins
For me, learning from my mistakes, began in the fall of 1974. My tale of woe
begins on September 29 in the city of New York, where I
decided to take on the marathon once again. There were 500 runners this time.
The weather was extremely hot, and the humidity was
listed as 93%. I was young and invincible, and, since I had never before run a
hot weather marathon, the conditions did not concern
me. Mistake number one.
As I once again took a starting position in the very front of the pack for the
11 a.m. start, a beautiful woman in a short tennis
dress lined up next to me. She was none other than Kathy Switzer, who had gained
fame in 1967 for being the first woman to run in
the Boston Marathon with an official number, even though women were prohibited
from the race. People magazine had a reporter and
photographer in New York capturing her every move for a feature article they
were doing on her.
More...from Running Times Magazine at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=4426


7. Lactic acid and running: myths, legends and reality - the ABCs:
Most runners still believe that lactic acid is released during hard or
unaccustomed exercise and that this is what limits running
performance, as well as being the cause of stiffness. Neither is correct. But
not even is the terminology of “lactic acid”.
Lactic acid does not exist as an acid in the body: it exists in another form
called “lactate”, and it is this that is actually
measured in the blood when “lactic acid” concentration is determined, as is done
from time to time. This distinction is important
not only for the sake of correctness, but more importantly, because lactate and
lactic acid would have different physiological
effects.
The greatest myth is that lactic acid is the cause of the stiffness felt after
an event such as a marathon. Stiffness is due mostly
to damage to the muscle, and not an accumulation of lactic acid or lactic acid
crystals in the muscle.
Another misconception is that lactate is responsible for acidifying the blood,
thereby causing fatigue. To the contrary, lactate is
actually an important fuel that is used by the muscles during prolonged
exercise. Lactate released from the muscle is converted in
the liver to glucose, which is then used as an energy source. So rather than
cause fatigue, it actually helps to delay a possible
lowering of blood glucose concentration, a condition called hypoglycemia, and
which will cause a runner to feel weak and fatigued if
it occurs.
More...from Time To Run at:
http://www.time-to-run.com/theabc/lactic.htm


8. What You Need to Know About Hydration:
By: Steve Born
At E-CAPS & Hammer Nutrition, we’re known for offering the most complete and
technically advanced line of nutritionals an endurance
athlete can buy. But we don’t sell, and probably never will sell, the most
important item in your regimen. As you might have
guessed, we’re talking about water. It’s the most important substance on earth,
60% of your body weight, and the number one concern
on any athlete’s intake list. For both performance and health, the importance of
your water intake exceeds that of your vitamin,
calorie, and electrolyte intake.
Even though we’re not in the water business we want to make sure you have the
right amount on board when you set off on your
distance effort, when you finish, and between efforts during recovery. Thus,
we’ve included this section on hydration in this
handbook. As you read, you’ll learn how sweat loss affects athletic performance,
that too much water is worse than too little, and
that you can’t replace all the water you sweat out. Yes, we will get to that key
issue: Just how much should I drink? Of all the
many functions water has in human physiology, we’ll focus on just a couple that
pertain especially to the endurance athlete, cooling
the body and transporting nutrients. Let’s look at the cooling system first.
HOW YOUR COOLING SYSTEM WORKS
When we exercise, we burn molecular fuel, mostly glycogen, but also some
protein, fat, and blood glucose from ingested nutrients.
The breakdown of these energy providers releases heat that builds up and raises
our core temperature. The body must rid it itself of
this heat and maintain a core temperature within a few degrees of the well-known
98.60 F (370C). An active person needs a reliable
cooling mechanism. Actually, you have several. You lose some heat through your
skin. Blood diverts to the capillaries near the
skin’s surface, removing heat from the body core. You breathe harder to get more
oxygen, expelling heat when you exhale. But by far
the most important part of the cooling system, accounting on average for about
75% of all cooling, is your ability to produce and
excrete sweat.
Sweat, however, glistening on your forearm or soaking your singlet won’t cool
you; it must evaporate. Sweat works on a basic
physical premise: water evaporation is an endothermic process, requiring energy
(heat) to change from liquid to gas. Thus, water
molecules in the gas phase have more energy than water molecules in the liquid
phase. As water molecules evaporate from your skin,
they remove heat energy; the remaining water molecules have less energy, and
thus, you feel cooler. Isn’t that cool?
More...from Peak Fitness at:
http://www.peakfitnessnow.com/know_hydration.htm


9. Fueling for Endurance Sports:
By Douglas Bush
With all that is written about nutrition is has become increasingly difficult to
decipher what is good to eat and the foods it might
be best to stay away from. There basic strategies that we can use to help
prepare for training, maintain intensity during the
workouts, and to help recover for next sessions. During over 60 minutes it is
especially important to use these ideas.
Before a workout
Hydration is very important for general health and athletic performance. Being
just a little be dehydrated can have huge effects on
performance. A basic rule of thumb is to drink enough water so that your urine
is a very pale yellow. Urine that is dark yellow is
an indication of dehydration.
• Eating before a workout is a good idea, especially before a long run or bike.
Most of the calories should be from carbohydrates
with just a little bit of protein and very little fat. If you do your long run
or ride in the morning eat a breakfast of about 500 -
600 calories at least 1.5 hours before your run. Items that are easily
digestible with a high concentration of carbs should be the
focus. Don’t eat too much fruit or protein as they take longer to digest.
More...from Endurance Factor at:
http://www.endurancefactor.com/articles.htm


10. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Rest of the Week:
When you love to run, you hate to stop. The hardest days to face are the easiest
ones, when running is absent. You want to run, not
rest.
I know. As a former streaker (of the running, not the clothes-shedding, type) I
never took a voluntary day off. This everydayness
continued from my youth (when recovery from run to run comes quickly) into my
40s (when efforts can be as big as they ever were, but
getting over them takes longer).
During the last and longest streak, stretching almost five years, my runs
flattened out too much. Long ones grew shorter, fast ones
slower, hard ones easier, easy ones harder -- until they all felt about the
same.
I avoided any runs -- hilly runs, off-road runs, group runs, races -- that would
put the streak at risk. These are the very runs
that had first attracted me to the sport. They were the peak experiences in
running, and they're back now that I'm following them
with valleys of rest.
I came to realize that "rest" is not a four-letter word. It isn't surrender to
sloth but a way to make the remaining runs better.
Credit George Sheehan for teaching me this lesson at last. The longtime RW
columnist preached and practiced every-other-day running.
He sacrificed neither training quantity nor race quality in the process.
When George made this switch in his 50s, his mileage stayed the same. He simply
ran twice as much, half as often. His most dramatic
result: a 3:01 marathon PR at age 61.
I'd long accepted the training principle of mixing easy days with the hard. Now
I took the next step to accepting the ultimate in
easy: rest.
But like many recent converts to a new practice, I first went from one extreme
to the other: from never missing a day to skipping
every second one.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2085


11. Sit or Stand: Tradeoffs in Efficiency?
by Dr. Stephen Cheung, Ph.D.
Varying our positions on the bike is required in order to adapt to different
terrain or riding situations, or simply to give our
body a break from being stuck in the same position and stressing the same
muscles. While we know that standing is great for giving
us more power, what are the effects on metabolic demand and efficiency?
Boy You’ve Got to Carry That Weight…
When we think of weight-bearing exercises, the first and most obvious one is
running. That’s because, in addition to propelling
yourself forward, a lot of energy is required simply to keep yourself upright
and stabilize yourself. Added to that is the impact
force from landing on your feet each stride. It’s the combination of the two
that makes for a much higher heart rate, metabolic
rate, and overall stress when running compared to cycling, and which helps
explain why Lance felt the NY Marathon was tougher than
any ride he did during his cycling career.
Cycling is mostly a non-weight bearing activity, and the bicycle is a highly
efficient machine especially because it removes the
impact forces and also because the cycling position cradles our body and
minimizes the need to support our own weight for the large
part. However, there are times where we have to support a good deal of our body
weight, and that’s when we’re standing. Whether it’s
on the flats, the hills, or in a sprint, we are no longer supporting weight on
the saddle, and have to rely on our muscles more to
keep ourselves upright.
Sit or Stand: Tradeoffs in Efficiency?
Of course, this is why standing typically costs more energy, but it’s also the
leveraging of more of your body weight over the
pedals, along with the recruitment of additional muscles, that produces the
higher power outputs possible when standing as opposed
to sitting. This is one of the main reasons why we’re generally taught to keep
the standing to a minimum and when you need extra
power, such as initiating an acceleration (e.g., sprint, breakaway) or when you
need the extra power while climbing. Wind resistance
is also higher while standing due to the larger surface area you’re exposing.
More...from Pez Cycling at:
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4512


12. Less than zero?
That buzz might be the sound of calories burning, studies suggest. But green tea
extract's real-world effects are unproved.
The shoppers looked skeptical.
"This is the first drink that can actually help you lose weight," sales
representative Anthony Monforte said confidently, handing
out tiny samples of a new soft drink, Celsius, at a Vitamin Shoppe in Aliso
Viejo.
Leslie Bedford and Marsha McDonogh, office workers who had stopped by on their
lunch break, took cautious sips. "Hmmm. It does taste
like RC Cola," McDonogh said, agreeing with Monforte's description. Sold on the
taste — and especially the promise — she plunked
down $6.99 for a four-pack.
"If it really works, that's great," Bedford said. "Everyone in our office wants
to lose weight one way or another."
Beverage makers are counting on it. Stung by falling sales and criticism that
sugar-sweetened soft drinks raise the risk of obesity,
they're reaching into scientists' laboratories to come up with healthier
products — vitamin waters, sports drinks, fortified juices
and now so-called negative-calorie drinks. The drinks, most notably Celsius and
Coca-Cola's and Nestle's Enviga, promise to boost
metabolism and burn calories.
The key ingredients are green tea and caffeine. Celsius' manufacturer says its
particular combination will increase metabolism
enough to burn up to 77 calories per 12-ounce bottle; Coke states that three
12-ounce cans of Enviga will burn 60 to 100 calories.
Snapple has also introduced green tea beverages, with labels that claim they
boost metabolism.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-waters27nov27,1,3134450.story?coll=\
la-headlines-health


13. Ankle Sprain: Injury management How to heal a serious ankle sprain:
Ulrik Larsen offers guidance on how to spot and treat the kind of lateral ankle
damage that can ruin an athletic career.
What is the most common sporting injury? Chances are that anyone who has done
any kind of weight-bearing sport has had it happen: a
sprained ankle. But there is a vast difference between mild sprains and moderate
to severe lateral ankle sprains which actually
damage the ankle.
Incorrect management can easily turn a recovery time from 3-4 months into a
12-18 month epic. I’ve seen it happen and made the
mistakes myself as a younger clinician!
To establish an accurate diagnosis and treatment schedule you need to know where
a sprain fits into the spectrum. The key question
is this: what are the signs and symptoms that distinguish a sprained ankle that
is damaged? Only by identifying these features can
we undertake the crucial early management, and predict which sprains will
require longer time frames for recovery.
I am not talking here about mild ankle sprains that will always get better
regardless of what is done to them – most athletes will
‘walk them off’ because there is no real damage to the ankle. Nor will I discuss
medial ankle sprains, or acute forefoot/mid-foot
injuries. And finally, I will not be looking at the obviously severe injuries
that need orthopaedic referral: fractures of tibia
and/or fibula, talar dome and ankle dislocations. Usually these will be picked
up in the emergency department of the local hospital.
If the injury happens on the field, the severity of pain would be enough to
convince anyone to summon an ambulance and have
immediate X-rays!
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.sportsinjurybulletin.com/archive/ankle-sprain.htm


14. Winterize your Exercise:
By Vic Roth
Soon the cold weather will be upon us and you should think about “winterizing”
your running or walking.
That lovely Cincinnati winter weather that gives us the “black ice” sidewalks
can really curb your outdoor exercise. The research
staff at The Running Spot tried wrapping hardware chain around shoes which gave
excellent grip and additional weight training, but
we thought there might be a better product to offer our customers. We have
found the YakTrax to be an effective grip for your
shoes. The YakTrax are very light and take up very little space. They simply
stretch over your shoes and give superior grip on
snow or ice. They are sized to accept a wide range of shoe sizes. They were
recently recognized by The Museum of Modern Art as a
“masterfully designed product for everyday use.” Yaktrax use a scientifically
engineered coil design to give you 360 degrees of
traction. There is nothing to learn, just walk/run normally.
More...from the Running Spot at:
http://www.runningspot.com/art_winterize.php


15. Low-Risk Peaking:
How to Be Properly Prepared for Your Next Race.
By Pete Pfitzinger, M.S.
Every runner wants to know how to peak for a big race, yet the concept of
peaking for distance runners is commonly misunderstood.
Peaking implies a sharp improvement in performance followed by a slide "down the
other side." Improvements in distance running are
developed more slowly, however, and optimal performance generally represents
more of a gradual rise than a peak.
Exercise physiologist Tim Noakes, MD, aptly describes peaking training as "high
risk/high reward." Traditional peaking training
consists of high-intensity intervals, which, in addition to the anaerobic
conditioning benefits, are more likely to lead to symptoms
of over-training and have a higher risk of injury than lower intensity workouts.
This type of training is applicable to races of
800m and 1500m, in which there is a substantial anaerobic component.
Is high-intensity peaking training necessary for distance runners? The longer
the race distance, the less significant the rewards.
Approximately 95 percent of the energy you use in a 5K race is produced
aerobically, and this increases to more than 99 percent for
a half marathon or marathon. As a distance runner, therefore, your objective is
a steady increase in aerobic ability so you can
maintain a faster pace. High-intensity intervals are not a key element of your
race preparation, and the subsequent performance
trough is an unnecessary hindrance to progress. Let’s look at six other
strategies you can use to achieve personal best
performances.
Start your preparation early: Rushed race preparation almost inevitably leads to
mediocre results. Aerobic development from long
runs, tempo runs, and accumulated mileage takes time, so if you are looking for
a significant improvement in performance you need to
allow enough time for your body to adapt and improve. There is very little risk
of "peaking too early" when doing predominately
aerobic training, but there is a risk of boredom. A build-up of 12 to 24 weeks
works best for most runners
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=5010&c=359


16. Creatine: Will it prevent muscle loss with aging?
FROM BLOG: Fitness & Health with Dr. Gabe Mirkin - Fitness, health and nutrition
news and views from Gabe Mirkin, M.D. Training and
lifestyle tips for athletes, serious exercisers, weight lifters and anyone who
wants to stay (or get) healthy.
The following blog post is from an independent writer and is not connected with
Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed
herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.com.
Each muscle has millions of muscle fibers, and each muscle fiber is enervated by
a single nerve. With aging, you lose nerves and
with loss of each motor nerve, you lose the corresponding muscle fiber. So the
treatment of muscle weakness with aging is to
increase the size and strength of each remaining active muscle fibers. You do
this only by exercising against increasing resistance.
Creatine will do nothing to stop the progressive loss of nerves that decreases
the number of active muscle fibers. However, it can
help you to exercise harder and longer, so it may help you to do the intense
workouts that will build larger and stronger muscles.
At this time we do not know whether there are any deleterious side effects in
older people from taking creatine, so I cannot
recommend it.
Creatine can help to strengthen muscles, but athletes who take these supplements
need to know how much they can take safely before
they harm themselves. When you exercise and your muscles get as much oxygen as
they need, they burn carbohydrates, fats and protein
for energy. When you exercise so intensely that you cannot get all the oxygen
you need, your muscles use creatine and ATP. So when
you exercise so intensely that you can't get enough oxygen, you can delay
fatigue by taking creatine and it allows you to do more
work, which makes you stronger.
More...from Reuters at:
http://today.reuters.com/News/ArticleBlog.aspx?type=healthNews&w1=B7ovpm21IaDoL4\
0ZFnNfGe&w2=B8kvecPa11hc9lKHEnu7ZUN&src=blogBurst_he
althNews&bbPostId=Cz8OMx5RWrO33BEunTuxRdcZxB8OrwJ4PqYp7BDANiSnpvwVx
[Multi-line URL]


17. New clue to red wine's heart-protecting effect:
Scientists in the UK have identified "oligomeric procyanidins" as the likely
ingredient in red wine's polyphenols that contributes
to heart health and longevity. And some red wines contain more procyanidins than
others.
In the journal Nature, Dr. Roger Corder, from Queen Mary's School of Medicine
and Dentistry in London, and his associates note that
not everyone agrees that red wine actually possess heart-healthy properties,
which they say may be due to the complexity and
variability in the constituents in different wines.
To look into this issue, the investigators cultured human blood vessel cells and
exposed them to 165 different wines to identify the
polyphenols with most potent effects on blood vessels.
They found that procyanidins suppress production of a protein called
endothelin-1 that constricts blood vessels. High-performance
liquid chromatography identified oligomeric procyanidins as the specific
phenolic constituent responsible for this effect.
More...from Reuters at:
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-11\
-29T202613Z_01_COL973457_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-RED-WINE-D
C.XML&WTmodLoc=HP-C10-Health-2
[Multi-line URL]


18. Excessive Exercise:
Amy*, ’08, played three seasons of sports in high school and always considered
herself as physically fit. As a freshman, she decided
not to play because she wanted more free time.
She feared that after a few weeks she was losing her athletic body and began a
social gym routine with her hall mates.
Two years later, Amy no longer works out casually with her friends. Instead, she
skips meals and drives to a gym across town because
there are no rules restricting how long she can stay on the machines. She counts
calories and tries to burn more than she’s
consumed, even if it means heading to her new gym late at night – conveniently,
it is open 24 hours a day.
Amy’s friend, Sarah*, ’08, said her obsession with exercise has caused a major
rift in their friendship. Recently, Amy missed a
friend’s birthday party because of a “family emergency.” The celebration came to
an abrupt halt when she walked in two hours late,
wearing her gym clothes and dripping sweat.
“It was like I didn’t even know her anymore,” Sarah said. “That’s when we
realized this was really a serious problem.”
An addiction
Exercise addiction, commonly referred to as exercise bulimia, was thrown into
the national spotlight at the end of the 1990s when
“Sopranos” star Jamie-Lynn Sigler publicly admitted she struggled with it for
many years.
More...from the Brown and White at:
http://www.bw.lehigh.edu/story.asp?ID=20176


19. Psychology: The Jim Fixx syndrome —Humair Hashmi:
Thus ended the life and the last run of one of the greatest contemporary
American heroes of endurance exercise, Jim Fixx. Later,
medical investigations revealed that he died due to underlying arteriosclerosis,
the cholesterol clogging his blood vessels
Psycho-tropical drugs are medicines that affect the psychology of a person.
Opiates are one such category of drugs. They slow down
the brain’s response to external stimuli. Opiates also reduce pain. Some of
these are easily available in the market and include
opium, heroin and morphine.
There are several derivates of these drugs available under different brand
names. Endorphins are a group of chemicals that are
classified as neuro-modulators, a substance that modulates the activities of the
postsynaptic neuron. Endorphins act like opiates,
opium and morphine, and reduce pain, and are perceived to add pleasure. They are
therefore sometimes regarded as the ‘keys to
paradise’.
Endorphins — more correctly endogenous morphines, shortened to endorphins — are
also produced naturally by the body. When a person
has been engaged in a prolonged physical exercise, such as swimming, cycling or
running, endorphins are released in the
body-chemistry. Jogger’s euphoria is a psychological state of feeling active and
cheerful. This state of mind comes about as a
result of the release of endorphins in the body. The psychological experience of
this is having a cheerful state of mind, an
elevated mood, and a high level of self-esteem. The behavioural reaction of this
euphoria is manifest in a relative increase in
goal-directed activity and an excessive involvement in pleasurable activities
and the cognitive experience of euphoria is the
flights of ideas. Jogger’s euphoria is therefore a very pleasurable state of
being.
More...from the Daily Times at:
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C11%5C30%5Cstory_30-11-2006_\
pg3_3


20. This Week in Running:
10 Years Ago- Juan Pablo Juarez (ARG) won the Buenos Aires (ARG) Marathon in
2:17:33
and took the Argentine marathon title. He was followed closely
by Zithulele
Sinqe (RSA) in 2:17:37 and Luis Carlos Ramos (BRA) in 2:18:17.
Nercy
deFreitas (BRA) was the winner of the women's race in 2:45:43
with Maria
Ines Rodriguez winning the Argentine title in 2nd with a 2:46:52.
Zeneide
daSilva (BRA) was 3rd in 2:49:18.

20 Years Ago- Zenon Poniatowski (POL) won the Cesano Boscone (ITA) Marathon in
2:13:56,
followed by ten Italians, all under 2:20. Second was Giuseppe
Denti in
2:14:30, 3rd was Marco Milani in 2:15:47, and 4th was Mariano
Penone in
2:16:32. The top four women were all Italians and all under
2:43. First
was Lucia Bertelli in 2:39:50, then Valentina Bottarelli in
2:41:56, 3rd
was Silvana Acquarone in 2:42:23 and 4th was Silvana Cucchietti
in 2:42:36.

30 Years Ago- Ric Rojas won the USA crosscountry title at Philadelphia,
defeating Terry
Cotton, Jeff Bradley, Kirk Pfeffer, and Barry Brown. The USA
women's
championship was held the same day in Miami FL over 3 miles with
Jan Merrill
taking the title. Julie Brown was 2nd and four-time world XC
gold medalist
Doris Brown was 5th.

40 Years Ago- Michael Ryan (NZL) won the Fukuoka (JPN) Marathon in 2:14:04.6, a
scant 0.6
seconds over Hidekuni Hiroshima (JPN) in 2:14:05.2. Hirokazu
Okabe (JPN) and
Masatsugu Futsuhara (JPN) followed in 2:15:09.2 and 2:15:36.2
respectively.

50 Years Ago- Browning Ross (USA) won his tenth title at the Berwick "Marathon"
(PA/USA) 9M,
running 46:39.
From The Analytical Distance Runner, the newsletter for the Association of Road
Racing Statisticians with a focus on races, 3000m
and longer, including road, track, and cross-country events.
The ARRS has a website at http://www.arrs.net.


21. When X Trains With Y:
Why do so many women train with men? Women don't race against men. Women don't
even bother to compare their times with men. The
answer I hear is that most women will tell you that it's to help them ride
stronger—if they always ride with someone who's faster,
then it makes sense that they'll eventually get faster too, right? Wrong!
I learned this lesson the hard way in the winter of 2001 when my collegiate
cycling team was preparing for a strong performance at
the Collegiate National road racing championships in late spring. Our team that
year consisted of ten men and three women. At the
time, I mistakenly believed that the harder I trained, the better I'd get. And
what better way to train hard than riding with...men.

I was motivated to do everything right that year and win a medal at Nationals. I
had my training intensity ranges carefully mapped
out after intensive physiological testing, and I had a detailed training plan in
place. But after only one month of training with
men everything had fallen apart. I was tired, cranky, and skipping rides due to
physical and mental burnout. My carefully balanced
training regimen had turned into one day of rest followed by six days of
race-pace intervals with the guys where my average
heartrate hovered at around 180 beats per minute for three to five hours at a
time. Sure, I was earning praise for being able to
keep up with the guys, but I was struggling mightily to do it.
Physiologically, riding with men every day was taking too much out of me and
psychologically, it was self-defeating. Instead of
comparing my fitness to other women, I was comparing myself to men, a game that
all women are set up to lose. This is because there
are some unavoidable physical disadvantages to being a woman competing against a
man. In general, when he is training in the right
intensity for his workout, as a woman, you will probably be training too hard
for yours.
More...from TriFuel at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/triathlon-training/when-x-trains-with-y-001708.\
php


22. Rapid Recovery After a Workout or Competition:
By Cindy Cassell PhD, RD, LD
Sports Nutritionists and Exercise Physiologists
Training sessions and competitions can make you feel totally exhausted. If you
don’t recover properly, you will not be ready to
perform well during the next training period or competition. A failure to
recover adequately can eventually lead to dehydration,
over training and poor performance. Below are two examples of clients that may
benefit from proper recovery methods.
A female high school track athlete has just finished a 2-mile warm up and is
ready to compete in the 800-meter preliminary heats for
the regional high school meet. If she places 1st through 4th she will have to
run again in 2 hours for the final. Should she simply
concentrate on resting for between the events, or should she be most concerned
about refilling her carbohydrate stores and body
fluids before she starts to warm up again?
Another scenario that plays out in this city during the winter sports season is
the age group swim meets. How would parents and
coaches advise this athlete? During morning competition, an age group swimmer
competes in three preliminary races and qualifies for
the evening finals in each. What type of rest versus recovery carbohydrates
should this athlete take in the next 6 hours to perform
their best??
All sports medicine professionals have been faced with questions about how to
best recover from one bout of exercise and prepare for
the next. There are many myths and half-truths about the best approaches for
recovery and there is far more published science on
optimal preparation for exercise than on how best to recover from exercise.
More...from the Running Spot at:
http://www.runningspot.com/articles_0318.php


23. PEZ Gets High: Altipower Personal Hypoxicator:
Altitude training is no longer just another a vertically induced hallucination,
thanks to the guys at AltiPower. Their portable
breathing device simulates high altitude oxygen levels, so you can condition
your body to better process oxygen - without even
getting off your couch.
Ever since a friend of mine (riding for a big US pro team at the time) told me
about this new generation of hypoxic training
devices, I had been eager to try one out. It’s claimed that intermittent
altitude training improves speed, strength, endurance &
recovery.
The theory is simple… by breathing extremely low levels of oxygen (O2) (i.e., a
simulated 20,000 feet) for short intervals, or
instead of spending the entire night sleeping at a moderately high simulated
altitude of 7,000 feet, an athlete could get all the
benefits of altitude training without any of the negative effects such as poor
sleep and increased recovery time (due to the body
not getting enough oxygen during its nighttime rebuilding phase).
What It Is
The Altipower Personal Hypoxicator is a small, portable device, costing about US
$1000.00 (or $1,299 for the Professional model).
They both include a breathing unit, an oxygen analyzer and 2 disposable
cartridges, but the Pro model also includes a pulse oximeter
which is useful for fine tuning your altitude training. It works by extracting
the Carbon Dioxide from the user's exhaled air. This
removes the bad parts of exhaled air leaving air with a reduced oxygen content.
The process forces your body to adjust to
functioning at a lower oxygen level.
More...from Pez Cycling at:
http://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=4514


24. Improving Running Performance:
By Joe Sulak
Just as the Texas weather changes daily, we too should vary our training
incorporating workouts that address all of the elements
required to produce the desired results. If we replicate similar workouts day in
and day out, we become very efficient at those
types of workouts, yet miss out on important aspects of training. Becoming the
best runner you can be requires training each of your
running attributes: endurance, speed, and anaerobic ability. There is a time and
place for each, and knowing when and how much is
just as important if you are to maximize your training.
These attributes are fundamental ingredients required to be in any training
program which helps you avoid injury and
performance-limiting plateaus. Variety with specificity is the only way to train
while being sure you’re not leaving out important
aspects of your program.
Endurance and Economy
Endurance can be defined as the ability to do prolonged work at sub-maximal
intensities. The long weekend and weekly easy-runs are
aimed at increasing endurance and improving running efficiency. These workouts
should be the foundation of any training plan.
Leaving these workouts out of your program will have you reaching plateaus at
unnecessary rates and fighting off injury and
inflammation. Endurance training helps to strengthen slow-twitch muscle fibers
as well as train your body to utilize fat for fuel,
sparing glycogen and glucose. The more we practice, the better we become. We
transform into economical runners who exert less yet
reap more. Good runners are not only fit – they are very efficient.
More...from Peak Fitness at:
http://www.peakfitnessnow.com/run_perf.htm


25. Digest Briefs:
* Q: This one will really test your knowledge! I do a lot of sports in cold
weather, and all the sports bras I've tried get wet and
don’t dry. I've even spent the big bucks on Patagonia Capilene. Can you suggest
a bra that provides minor support and dries readily?
And, out of curiosity, if my Capilene underwear keeps dry, why doesn't my
Capilene bra?
A: Well, that last one is an interesting question. The only physiological
reason I can think of that would make your chest sweat
more than the rest of you is that you have on a bra AND another top, or maybe
two, of some sort. So your chest is warmer than the
rest of you, and is therefore sweatier. Plus, maybe your running top is a bit
looser than the bra, so it has a chance to dry off
more readily. At least, that’s my theory, and I’m sticking to it.
You don’t mention which specific Patagonia bra you’ve tried. If it wasn’t the
Women’s Active Classic ($34; www.patagonia.com), you
might give it a try. It has light underwire and gets generally high marks for
support. Another popular choice is the Shock Absorber
MultiWay Sports Bra ($46; www.shockabsorber.co.uk). Yeah, the price is a bit
steep, but Shock Absorber lets you calculate how much
support you need based on cup size and activity, then purchase one of four
support levels, from a little to a lot. Lastly, Hind’s
Vent Mesh Sports Bra ($34; www.hind.com) has received high marks in the wicking
category, thanks to the company’s proprietary
dryLETE fabric. And the mesh panels across the sides and back allow for maximum
ventilation.
I obviously had to do a little homework to answer this one, and I came across a
leading women’s magazine whose editors had recently
tried several sports bras. Their top picks were the Friction Free Seamless bra
by Champion ($36; www.championusa.com) and the Ultra
Sport Bra by Hot Chillys ($40; www.hotchillys.com).
Lastly, this will sound silly, but you can always spray your chest with a little
antiperspirant. I mean, why not? It works on
armpits, and it works on feet; surely it can work on other places, too.
From Outside Online at:
http://outside.away.com/


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 28 - December 15, 2006:
15th Asian Games Doha 2006 - Qatar

December 2, 2006:
Canadian XC Championships - Vancouver, BC

Grand Pacifico Marathon - Mazatlan. Mexico

Marathon of the Palm Beaches - West Palm Beach, FL

OUC Orlando Half Marathon - Orlando, FL

Victory Junction Run Half Marathon - Randleman, NC

Winter Sun 10K - Moab, UT

December 3, 2006:
California International Marathon - Sacramento, CA

Fukuoka International Marathon - Japan

Ironman Western Australia - Busselton. AUS

Laguna Phuket Triathlon - Thailand

Marathon of the Palm Beaches - West Palm Beach, FL

Victory Junction Run Half Marathon - Randleman, NC


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


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

Free Ground Shipping on Orders of $175 or More at Patagonia.com
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Buy Paula Radcliffe's book, My Story - So Far, from Amazon UK at:
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SportsShoes in the UK
http://www.sportsshoes.com/index.php?id=149

Visit on AssociatesShop.com Online Bookstore for running and triathlon books:
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LX Sport - Leading Edge Sports Products for Women.
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This application was recently featured on National TV - please see the following
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TrainingPeaks.com by Wes Hobson.
Find the training program that fits you at:
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/rw

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

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

Adidas
http://www.dpbolvw.net/click-2141789-10440258

If you have an accident while running or cycling, do you want your family to be
contacted? Do you want to receive immediate and
proper medical treatment?
If so, make this cool item part of your gear -- for safety and peace of mind.
Road ID has created 4 awesome ways for athletes to
wear ID: the SHOE, the WRIST, the ANKLE, and the NECK. Get your RoadID at:
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The Stretching Handbook:
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cmd.php?af=245575
The Stretching Video in a DVD version. With the DVD version you're able to use
the convenient menu facility to:
* Go directly to a specific stretch;
* View only stretches for a specific muscle group;
* Pause each stretch to get a good look at how it is performed;
* View only the introduction and rules for safe stretching; or
* Play the entire video from start to finish.
Buy the DVD at:
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.htm


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