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
Online race registration is now available through Events Online at:
http://www.eventsonline.ca/events/somersault_rweb/
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

7. The ING Ottawa Marathon.
Ottawa's Race Weekend returns next May 25 to 27 with a new course for the
marathon and new (earlier) start time for the
Half-Marathon.
For more information and online entry visit:
http://www.ncm.ca


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THIS WEEK:
The Runner's Web is pleased to be the presenting sponsor for the Mark Allen
triathlon clinic January 1-21, 2007. For more
information, visit www.triathlonOttawa.com

*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
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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
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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:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/PRP_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 ONE personal posting this week.
ONE:
Vegan Triathlete Blog:
I just decided to become a triathlete. It's going to be a
little while before my first triathlon (and hopefully a very
long time until my last one), and I plan on blogging about
it the whole time. Check out the blog that I just launched
today: http://vegantriathlete.info



THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Things that are important for 5ks and 10ks
Some may surprise you!
2. Sheila’s Nutrition Digest 13 - Tips and Recipes for Traveling Athletes
3. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
4. Running Times Newsletter
5. Supermums are on drugs, naturally
6. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Why Running Still Matters
7. Stress and Cortisol...the facts you need to know and how to improve your
fitness and health
8. Caffeine dehydration : Caffeine and alcohol – just how dehydrating are they?
9. Body and Soul - Out of the comfort zone
At 51, Rona Cant, an unhappy divorcée, decided to become an adventurer. Since
then, she’s sailed round the world and dog-sledded to
the Arctic.
10. Hour of daily exercise cuts bowel cancer risk
11. The Run for My Cure
In which our intrepid misadventurer sets out to win a marathon and quit smoking.
(Hint: He only succeeds at one.)
12. Lords of the gym
Every fitness center has a top dog others admire -- old, young, male or female.
13. Pedaling Technique Summary and Drills
14. Exercising for weight loss a boon to bones
15. Thinking Young: Exercise and Your Mind
16. The Energy-Drink Buzz Is Unmistakable. The Health Impact Is Unknown
17. Race Your Age
How to target the best distance for your years.
18. Absorb these tips to fend off fractures
19. This Week in Running
20. 30 Food for Fitness: The Best Vegetables
21. Raising the Bar
With so many energy bars around, it's tough to know which are best. Till now.
22. Add Intensity & Realize Your Potential
23. Electrolytes and Hydration
24. To Stretch or Not To Stretch
Two Senior Writers Weigh in on the Debate plus the Wharton's Stretching Method.
25. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Do you plan to train on Christmas Day?"

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

LAST WEEK'S POLL RESULTS:
"Do you agree with the practice of some major marathons setting aside a large
number of registration slots for charity groups?"
Answers Percent
1. Yes 6%
2. No 89%
3. No opinion, don't care 6%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: World Track.
The Track and Field News Resource.
"Due to numerous requests from viewers around the world, our team has decided to
re-generate our global track and field coverage,
popularly know as "World Track and Field" in addition to our regular dispatches
in order to maintain the site.
World-Track Sports Media (World-Track) is your source for late breaking news,
features, results, updates, reviews and interviews and
is one of the leading Caribbean sports group in the States. We provide full-text
e-mail sports service to anyone interested in
staying up-to-date with the latest happenings anywhere around the world.
World-Track offers two different kinds of services. If you are a subscriber,
whose only objective is to use our service for personal
uses then you may subscribe for a yearly fee of just $30 USD or $55 USD for two
years.
In addition to our regular news dispatches, we also offer several features,
interviews and reviews for newspaper publishers,
Magazines, Newsletter Services around the world.
This way you will not have to wait on other media sources to reproduce these
stories for you stay updated.
If you are the type who likes to get it has it happens, then we are the type to
send it to you.
Visit the web site at:
http://world-track.org


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


BOOK OF THE WEEK: The Woman's Guide to Running:
Motivation*Training*Nutrition*Safety
* Available February 2007 *
By Liz Yelling
Book Description
There’s good reason for women to take up running: scientific evidence indicates
that it may lower the risk of breast cancer,
osteoporosis, and heart disease. Written by a former Olympic marathoner, this
full-color runner’s companion addresses the special
considerations of women runners, from finding a safe route to choosing exercise
gear. It gives nutritional advice; gentle but
effective warm-ups and cool-downs; ways to avoid injuries; the straight scoop on
running to lose weight, and more. Women will
appreciate the gender-specific training tips, including suggested training
schedules for 5K and 10K races—even marathons. Other
topics include interval and hill training, running during pregnancy, and the
best equipment options.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0600614050/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. Things that are important for 5ks and 10ks:
Some may surprise you!
Exercise scientists have identified a number of factors which are important for
success in 5- and 10-K races. One of these
elements, of course, is running speed at lactate threshold. If your velocity at
threshold is high, it means that not much lactate
appears in your blood at good-quality running speeds. This is a very good
thing, because it means that lactate is "staying home" in
your muscle cells, supplying the energy you need to operate at a quicksilver
pace. Lactate is a tremendous fuel for endurance
running, but it can't be used for energy when it is floating around in the
blood.
If your running speed at lactate threshold (RSLT) improves, your 5- and 10-K
race times will almost always get better. Furthermore,
if we lined up a large group of distance runners in order, from the highest RSLT
to the lowest, and then lined them up in a
different kind of order - from fastest to slowest 10-K times, the two lines
would be nearly identical! Running speed at lactate
threshold is a very powerful predictor of performance in 5Ks and 10Ks.
Running economy (RE) is also highly correlated with 5- and 10-K performances.
RE is simply your "oxygen cost" of running at a
particular velocity, expressed in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body
weight per minute. The lower this cost, the better it
is for your performances, partly because it means that you are farther away from
your maximal rate of oxygen usage. This gives you
some "wiggle room" to increase your running paces without outstripping the
ability of your cardiovascular system to supply your
muscles with oxygen.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20061212_RRN_5K10K.html


2. Sheila’s Nutrition Digest 13 - Tips and Recipes for Traveling Athletes:
Sheila's Nutrition Digest
In this new series, XC Ottawa (and OAC Racing Team) member Sheila Kealey will
help athletes choose the best foods for performance
and overall health. Sheila 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.
Many athletes have a hard time eating a nutritious diet when they’re away from
home. Training camps and multi-day racing formats
figure prominently in athletic routines. Since these events place additional
stresses on your body, it’s a time when optimizing your
nutrition should be a priority: unfortunately, for many, it’s a time when
nutrition is compromised. It makes a lot of sense to plan
nutritional strategies for these events, since it will help athletic
performance, promote recovery, and keep your immune system in
fighting shape. Now who wouldn’t want that?
Remember the Basics!
During training and longer races, it’s critical to keep well hydrated and
nourished with a sports drink, more substantial food or
bars as needed, and pay specific attention to recovery nutrition. Although you
can often satisfy these needs with real foods,
convenience is a priority when traveling, and it’s a good time to have
commercial sports drinks, bars and gels, and recovery
products on hand.
Supper Time . . .
Athletes should try to eat frequently throughout the day, but traditionally a
great proportion of the day’s caloric needs are
satisfied at the supper table. Make sure this meal contains the nutrients your
body needs to recover, stay healthy, and help fuel
your workouts. The time to prepare and cook healthful meals can be a challenge,
especially when away from home, so I’ve put together
some tips and a list of simple recipes to inspire you.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20061214_SK_Travelling.html


3. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine:
* Exercise Lowers Salt Sensitivity
Excessive intake of salt causes high blood pressure in some, but not all,
people. High blood pressure increases risk for heart
attacks, strokes, and kidney damage. Why do some people develop high blood
pressure when they take in a lot of salt, while others do
not? A recent study from the University of Minnesota shows that middle-aged
people who start an exercise program lose their tendency
to develop high blood pressure when they take in extra salt (Journal of Human
Hypertension, May 2006).
All people who exercise frequently and hard need to take in extra salt. During
World War II, Dr. James Gamble of Harvard Medical
School showed that the only mineral that exercisers need in large quantities is
salt. If heavy exercisers don’t take in enough salt,
they will eventually run low on salt and suffer fatigue, muscle aches and
cramps, and be at increased risk for injuring themselves.
The Minnesota study measured blood pressure in people when they followed a
high-salt diet and again when they went on a low-salt
diet. The salt-sensitive people who developed high blood pressure on a high-salt
diet were started on an exercise program. After six
months, many of these people did not develop high blood pressure when they again
ate a high-salt diet. This shows that regular
exercise can control high blood pressure caused by a high-salt diet. Previous
studies show that it is very bad advice to tell most
exercisers to restrict their intake of salt. This new study shows that many
people who develop high blood pressure from a high salt
diet when they are sedentary, will not develop high blood pressure on the same
diet when they exercise.
* Increase Endurance with Carbohydrates
A study from The University of Bern in Switzerland shows that a high
carbohydrate, high-fat diet for three days before competition
can help athletes store more fat in their muscles and use much more muscle fat
for energy during exercise (European Journal of
Applied Physiology, November, 2006). Endurance-trained athletes exercised for
three hours to
empty sugar and fat reserves from their muscles. Then they ate a
high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet for 2.5 days or the same diet with
lots of added fat for the last 1.5 days. Athletes who ate the
high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet stored 55 percent more fat in their
muscles and used more than three times as much of that fat during exercise.
The data on fat storage may have no practical value for endurance athletes
because the authors were not able to show that the extra
fat stored in muscles increased endurance. This is probably because there is
almost an unlimited amount of energy available from a
person's own body fat. Changing the percentage of fat use from body fat to
muscle fat would not increase energy sources and
therefore would not increase endurance.
Carbohydrates are another story. Normally there is only a small amount of
carbohydrates stored in the muscles, liver and
bloodstream. Storing extra carbohydrates in muscles is
beneficial because when a person runs out of stored muscle sugar, his muscles
hurt and are more difficult to control. In the
1940s, Per Olaf Ostrand showed that a high carbohydrate diet for several days
before athletic competitions helps a person store more
sugar in muscles, which does increase endurance. Since then athletes have eaten
high-carbohydrate diets before competition and
often have pre-race pasta parties. Subsequent studies showed that
highly-conditioned endurance-trained athletes can maximally fill
their muscles with sugar just by eating their usual meals and cutting back on
their heavy workloads for a few days before
competition.
From Dr. Gabe Mirkin at:
http://www.drmirkin.com/public/ezine121006.html


4. Running Times Newsletter:
* Training Tip of the Month - Heart Smart Monitoring
As a long-time proponent of HR monitors and author of three books about Effort
Based Training (using monitors to track how hard
and/or easy you are running), I'd like to share some coachly wisdom with you.
Also, as an applied exercise physiologist in good
standing with the American College of Sports Medicine, let me assure you that I
always like to follow scientific principles.
However, the use of heart rates to guide training has not always been based on
good scientific research.
For example, how many of you have ever actually seen your maximum HR hit the
number predicted by the formula 220 bpm minus your age
= Max HR? From my own running experience, I have found it to be fairly close.
But as a coach who had to use his free finger and his
hand-held stop watch to palpate thousands and thousands of carotid arteries
before telemetric HRM's were invented, I can absolutely
guarantee you that there are hundreds and hundreds of people on the loose out
there who can hit 240 and even 250 bpm's when at full
exhaustion. Conversely, I've found the same numbers of runners who couldn't come
within 20-30 bpm's of reaching their predicted
MHR's. So what gives here?
Well, it seems that the 220-age myth grew around the anecdotal report of a
doctor who happened to note that relationship with an
unscientific sample of his patients in his practice.
It further seems that MHR's are spread across the population with the same type
spread that covers intelligence, height, hair color,
good looks and speed. In short, MHR's are found all along the Standard
Distribution Curve. This statistical tool simply reveals that
the folks who cluster around the middle of the curve close to the mean fit the
age-adjusted formula.
However, it still seems that the word has not gotten around that runners who are
on either side of the mean will be 12 beats per
minute over or under the prediction for their age. Knowing that the Distribution
Curve can carry things out to about three
deviations, there are then a few people who could be around 35 or even 40 bpm's
higher or lower than the prediction by age.
So, where did the 220 bpm come from in the first place? After checking with
pediatric cardiologists, it seems that they've found
that number to be the typical MHR of babies at birth when their hearts are, on
average, about the size of walnuts. Of course, as we
get bigger, so do our hearts, until they are about the size of your fist at
maturity. And is your fist the same size as everyone
else's??? Hmmmm.
If any of this seems to explain why your target HR's seem to make you crawl when
you wanted to jog or make you sprint full speed
when you just wanted to run comfortably, go ahead and feel free to add or
subtract 15 to 20, or even 30 bpms, to the 220 number.
Then, if you are over 20 years old, subtract your age to account for your
inevitable decline in physical prowess with age. The
numbers you see on your HRM hopefully make more sense now.
As I like to point out when explaining Effort Based Training, it can be summed
with the following formula: EBT = Beats Per Minute +
Minutes Per Mile + Rate of Perceived Exertion. Because there simply must be some
"Common Sense" used when judging if your effort at
any given pace makes sense, I often just substitute "CS" for RPE. In other
words, you should experience a very strong correlation
between your current level of fitness, the HR's you see on your monitor and the
times you see on your watch.
I recommend that the first place you start to make adjustments when things don't
make sense is with your Max HR. Either use the
actual numbers you see during really long, hard workouts or at the end of races,
or feel free to artistically do some adjusting with
your predicted MHR. Remember, you don't have to be a slave to your HRM!
-- Coach Roy Benson
* Medical Corner - Patellar Tendonitis
Q: About 5 months ago, my knee started to ache and feel stiff during and after
running in the general area of my knee cap and
patellar tendon. I took some time off and since have not been able to run.
Currently when I press along the bottom edge of my knee
cap I feel some minor pain. Also, my knee often will become stiff when standing
or sitting for extended periods of time and when I
straighten the leg after it has been bent for awhile, my knee often cracks. I
have had ultrasound, I ice perpetually, I am currently
receiving ionto.
A: It sounds as if you have some inflammation of your patella (knee cap) and
patellar tendonitis. The quadriceps is a group of four
muscles on the front of the thigh; only one of these muscles originates above
the hip. The other three originate near the top of the
femur (thigh bone). The quadriceps tendon runs from the bottom of the muscle to
the patella. The patella is actually within the
tendon; the patellar tendon runs from the bottom of the patella to the tibia.
Contraction of the quadriceps extends (straightens)
the knee.
Inflammation of these structures causes pain with running, jumping, squatting
and descending (and to a lesser degree climbing)
stairs. Prolonged sitting, especially in tight quarters, causes discomfort.
Recovery includes treatments that decrease pain – ice, anti-inflammatory
medications, iontophoresis, etc. Controlling pain allows
the runner to perform the exercises which are the key to recovery. Stretching
and strengthening exercises are designed to correct
deficits that may have caused the problem in addition to the deficits created by
the pain. A physical therapist can instruct you on
these exercises and assess you for biomechanical abnormalities (such as
overpronation). It will take time to recover from these
problems; if the tendonitis persists despite these measures, it may require
surgical debridement (clean up).
--Dr. Cathy Fieseler
* Q and A:
Q: Could a masters runner ever win the Olympic Marathon, or is it
physiologically impossible?
A: You raise an interesting question. Typically the Olympic marathon is a
strategic race in hot weather. Winning is more important
than a fast time. The experience of a masters runner could prove valuable in
such a race. Carlos Lopes was 37 when he won the 1984
Olympic marathon (in an Olympic record time).
Could a masters runner set the world record? It is not likely due to the
decrease in VO2 max that occurs with aging (starts to
decrease after 25 years of age), along with other physiologic changes. I guess
that the exception would be a “late bloomer” who
started running in his/her late 30’s and had an exceptionally high VO2 max and
lactate threshold. The problem remains that as we
age, it takes longer to recover from hard workouts. This would certainly
influence the training of our “late bloomer”.
--Dr. Cathy Fieseler


5. Supermums are on drugs, naturally:
AFTER giving birth, mothers have a six-week rush of extra red blood cells, a
hormonal cocktail that aids endurance and strength, and
a gobsmacking jolt of awareness of their toughness in surviving childbirth.
Physiologically elite athletes can benefit from this window of heightened
fitness, presuming of course that the late-night feeds and
disjointed routine are as under control as the leaking of all things from all
places and the sore back from softened ligaments
caused by the pregnancy hormone, relaxin.
In the East German doping regime of the 1970s and 1980s, and in the Russian
gymnastic program in the 1970s, there were reports that
coaches encouraged athletes to get pregnant up until the 16-week mark and then
abort, so that the athletes could train harder and
perform better from the supply of another pregnancy hormone - human chorionic
gonadotropin.
More...from the Sydney Morning Herald at:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/sport/supermums-are-on-drugs-naturally/2006/12/08/116\
5081155039.html


6. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Why Running Still Matters:
(rerun from December 2001 RW, but written shortly after the events of that
September 11th)
The day when everything changed began the same as all days did for me. I woke up
early, but kept the radio and television quiet for
the first hour. I didn't know that the world as we'd known it was crumbling in
that same hour.
The morning's silence, and its peace, ended just before I went out to run. I
listened, stunned, to the bulletins on the car radio.
Each report sounded worse than the one before.
In the following days I heard from many runners. They were about equally split
between those who ran anyway but felt guilty about it
and those who couldn't bring themselves to run because it seemed suddenly
unimportant, even disrespectful.
My day's run was slow to start. But I never thought about not starting it and
never felt this act trivialized the tragedy.
Running still mattered, and now more than ever. To head out anyway on a day like
this wasn't heartless or selfish; just the
opposite.
I wasn't going out to play, but to worry and to mourn. This run opened my heart
to thoughts about the pain of others.
No one could run away from a problem this immense. At most a hard, mind-numbing
effort could act as a brief escape from horrible,
non-stop news that threatened to overwhelm us.
Running serves better by letting us run WITH a problem instead of getting away
from it. A run can turn down the volume and slows the
pace of events -- away from the radio, TV, computer, car, job -- and can let us
stare the problem in the face.
Such runs can be wrenching, as tears and fears rise up with nothing to deflect
them. This is a necessary part of healing, since
letting ourselves feel our worst helps us start to feel better.
We could do the same by going for a walk or bike ride, or just sitting in a
quiet room. But running is where we're likely to go in
the bad times because this is a friend we know so well.
Some tragedies are national, which we all must endure together. More often these
are the personal blows that strike each of us, and
we must work through them on our own.
My first huge loss was my father, who died suddenly and much too soon (at a much
younger age than mine now). That loss hit me so
hard that I couldn't write a word about it, or anything else, for a long time.
Yet in those darkest of days I never missed a run. He was a former runner
himself and a great lifelong fan of the sport, but I
didn't use the comforting line, "He would have wanted me to keep running."
That would have been a minor truth. The bigger reason I kept running was because
I needed it, and then more than ever.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2087


7. Stress and Cortisol...the facts you need to know and how to improve your
fitness and health:
By: Tom Hodge - President Recovox
The difficulty of preventing stress lies in the fact that stress truly is a
"chameleon" health problem. Thousands of factors can
cause stress, and stress can appear in your body in almost as many ways. With
every individual, stress is brought on by a unique
factor. For some, it's the partying college kids next door, or worrying about
finances, while for others, stress may be caused by
the loss of a loved one, and for others still, too much of a good thing - like
exercise.
Stress can be mental, creating frustration, inability to focus, reduced
concentration and energy, and weak memory skills. Stress can
be emotional, overcoming you with anger, resentment, worry, anxiety or panic.
And stress can be physical, whether from improperly
nourished muscles and organs or real physical injury. Often, stress is a
combination of two or more of these types.
What's more, stress can have a compounding effect: a mentally stressful
situation can develop into physical health troubles, and
these health troubles can in turn create more mental stress in your life. What
does this mean? Stress is potentially the most
pervasive, damaging condition we face. Nearly every major cause of death,
including heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes and
arthritis, is linked to some type of stress.
Exercise is a form of stress. Unfortunately, the part of the brain that is
responsible for stimulating the release of cortisol
doesn't know the difference between "good" stress and "bad" stress, so it
secretes more of this destructive hormone whenever we do a
workout that's longer or more intense than we're used to. The irony is that when
we secrete high levels of cortisol we actually
impede the growth and repair processes that are necessary for improvement in
strength and speed - the very things we are trying to
accomplish in training. Cortisol tears muscle tissue down and severely
suppresses the immune system, making us most susceptible to
injury and nagging illnesses. Chronic high levels of cortisol may also possibly
result in increased risk for stress fractures, since
calcium uptake by the bones is so reduced. The good news is that if we can
reduce the high levels of cortisol we secrete through
exercise, we can also reduce much of the damage and setbacks so that we can
recover faster and stronger.
More...from TriFuel at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/health/stress-and-cortisolthe-facts-you-need-to\
-know-and-how-to-improve-your-fitness-and-health-001
726.php


8. Caffeine dehydration : Caffeine and alcohol – just how dehydrating are they?
Do you do drugs? Think long and hard before you answer, because the answer is,
very probably, yes! Like it or not, alcohol and
caffeine are drugs that most of us consume regularly as part of our diet. Like
all drugs, they have side effects, one of which is
common to both – a ‘diuretic’ (waterloss) effect. But how strong is this effect,
and is a diet containing these drugs detrimental to
the goal of optimum hydration?
Trimethyl xanthine (more commonly known as caffeine) belongs to a family of
naturally occurring compounds found in a number of
plants. The most common sources of caffeine in western diets include coffee,
tea, cocoa and its derivatives (such as chocolate), and
kola nuts. Caffeine is also added to a number of carbonated beverages,
particularly cola drinks.
Part of the reason for the popularity of caffeine-containing beverages is that
caffeine is a central nervous stimulant. Caffeine
blocks the binding to nerve cells of a substance called adenosine, which
normally acts to slow down nerve cell activity. The
resulting increased nerve activity stimulates the release of the hormone
epinephrine (adrenaline) which, in turn, leads to such
effects as increased heart rate and blood pressure, increased blood flow to
muscles and the release of glucose by the liver.
Caffeine also increases brain levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine, which is
involved in cognitive (thinking) processes,
alertness and memory.
Caffeine is popular with athletes for a very different reason – it appears to
enhance performance (especially endurance
performance). The exact mechanism remains unclear, but its ergogenic properties
may be linked to a reduced rate of muscle glycogen
consumption during the initial stages of exercise, a lower perceived rate of
exertion (making strenuous efforts feel easier), or its
adrenaline-like effects, which stimulate more calcium to enter muscle cells
during contractions, thus boosting the potential power
of muscular activity. (For more detail on the ergogenic effects of caffeine, see
PP206, December 2004).
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/caffeine-dehydration.htm


9. Body and Soul - Out of the comfort zone:
At 51, Rona Cant, an unhappy divorcée, decided to become an adventurer. Since
then, she’s sailed round the world and dog-sledded to
the Arctic.
Until her early forties, Rona Cant was a stay-at-home mother of two who remained
well within her comfort zone. For years she put her
family’s lives before her own, choosing instead to help her husband and children
to achieve their goals rather than dreaming about
what she would like to accomplish.
Yet, by her early fifties, Cant had transformed herself from housewife to
adventurer. She faced death several times while taking
part in the world’s toughest yacht race and joined a dog-sledding expedition to
the Norwegian Arctic that other explorers had said
was impossible.
The dramatic change began with Cant’s divorce at the age of 42, when her
children were 14 and 10. Cant, now 57, left her husband
because she wanted the freedom to fulfill her own potential. She had already run
a successful soft-furnishings business from home
but always felt the desire to push her boundaries further.
Even so, when independence finally arrived it was daunting. “Walking away with
two children, not knowing whether I would be able to
cope financially, was scary,” she remembers. “My husband used to take care of
everything to do with the house and our finances, and
suddenly I had to take on all of that — buy a new house, deal with solicitors
and so on. I made mistakes but that’s how you evolve.”

Cant moved from West London to Oxford and, despite having no A levels, embarked
on a combined English literature and geography
degree at Oxford Brookes University. She took a sailing course, almost by
chance, because a friend said it was a good way to meet
people. Cant is scared of water and had never been on a yacht before, but she
was hooked. “I loved the freedom of sailing so much
that I didn’t want to go home. I asked the skipper if we could sail due south
and when he told me that would mean we wouldn’t hit
dry land, I said ‘fantastic’. He said, if you feel like that, you should think
about a round-the-world yacht race that’s open to
amateurs. So I applied for the BT Global Challenge.”
More...from the Times Online at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8127-2434858,00.html


10. Hour of daily exercise cuts bowel cancer risk:
Whether is it jogging around the park, pumping iron or swimming, an hour of
vigorous exercise a day can lower the risk of bowel
cancer, a study said on Monday.
Even cleaning the house, or two hours of less strenuous activity can make a
difference, according to the study of more than 413,000
people in 10 European countries.
"This study is significant because of its very large sample size and the
different levels of activity that were observed across the
European countries," said Dr Christine Friedenreich, lead author of the
research, from the International Agency for Research on
Cancer (IARC) in Lyon, France.
"This allowed a more in-depth analysis of how physical activity influences colon
cancer risk," she added.
The research was published by scientists working for the European Prospective
Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), which
was designed to investigate the relationships between diet, nutrition, lifestyle
and environmental factors and cancer.
A team of international scientists analyzed the impact of physical activity on
the risk of colon cancer and found people with the
highest levels of exercise were 22 percent less likely to develop it. The
reduced risk was higher, up to 35 percent, for tumors on
the right side of the colon
More...from Reuters at:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-12-1\
1T135411Z_01_L08329812_RTRUKOC_0_US-CANCER-BOWEL-EXE
RCISE.xml&WTmodLoc=HealthNewsHome_C1_%5bFeed%5d-2
[Multiline URL]


11. The Run for My Cure:
In which our intrepid misadventurer sets out to win a marathon and quit smoking.
(Hint: He only succeeds at one.)
Call it the race to quit. It began last year; I was traveling in Sweden when my
mom, a former smoker, called and mentioned
offhandedly that she had just undergone surgery for atherosclerosis. She went on
to remind me that her father, a smoker, had died of
hardened arteries, and then she told me something I didn't know: He was 33 when
he collapsed.
Being 30 years old, this spooked me. I live in Boulder, Colorado, probably the
single healthiest city in the country. I road-bike, I
telemark-ski, I've climbed Rainier. And I smoke. About a pack a day for the past
decade. I'm not proud of it, but there it is. I
never envisioned myself as a 30-year-old smoker. Fresh out of college and
traveling around the world, I smoked like everyone else
did, sharing stories and cigarettes in the hostels. When I moved to New York
City to look for work, puffing away on my stoop became
one of the few forms of recreation I could afford, and then once I found a job,
the habit persisted, through price hikes, health
kicks, and disgusted girlfriends. I tried to quit dozens of times with all the
obvious strategies—gum, the patch, cold turkey. On
one birthday I even swallowed my pride and asked friends for the one gift I
couldn't seem to give myself: motivation. Their sincere,
passionate e-mails stuck like Pam. As soon as I felt strong, I'd slip.
More...from Outside Online at:
http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200612/eric-hansen-quit-smoking-1.html


12. Lords of the gym:
Every fitness center has a top dog others admire -- old, young, male or female.
A fact of gym culture is that every club has a hierarchy of members. At the base
are the average, unmemorable club-goers. On the
next rung are dedicated members, plugging away almost daily, chatting with a
small circle of friends and staying in fine condition.
At the tippy-top are the rare few who have achieved the status of top dog. They
show up practically every day and engage in
consistent, well-conceived workouts. Their form is exemplary. People hold them
in high regard and seek them out for advice, which is
offered with grace: These top dogs know they have a responsibility to those who
revere them.
They often have a nickname: The Mayor. The Queen. The Body. And yes, they
usually have awesome bodies.
That doesn't mean a top dog is invariably the 25-year-old buff dude with killer
biceps and a ready smile. At one gym in L.A., it's a
77-year-old man who works out two hours every day; at another, a middle-aged
woman who sometimes hits the gym twice daily and takes
intense classes in which she often outlasts people half her age.
Top dogs may not be instantly recognizable — but hang around at a gym for long
enough and, like sweat on a bodybuilder, they'll
materialize.
Make way for 'the Mayor'
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/fitness/la-he-topdog11dec11,0,2023899.sto\
ry?coll=la-health-fitness-news


13. Pedaling Technique Summary and Drills:
1. The bike goes faster because you apply more watts to rear wheel, period. The
rear wheel doesn't care in what manner that power is
generated at or applied to the pedals. What matters is what that power is when
it reaches the wheel.
2. Your feet are attached to the pedals, attached to straight cranks, attached
to circular chain rings and a round axle or bottom
bracket. You have no choice other than to pedal in a circle. All you are really
in control of is what muscles you fire when as your
legs spin through this circular trajectory.
3. Your legs have been engineered to apply the most power most efficiently by
pushing against the ground (running, jumping,
walking), not by pulling up (activating the hip flexor). Contrary to product
claims, there has been no evidence to suggest that the
"way" to pedal a bike is by applying power in pretty little circles.
4. If you are thinking about this or that area of the pedal stroke and
firing/relaxing different muscles at different times, but the
power at the rear wheel is the same or less, you haven't accomplished anything.
If you are doing all of this AND applying more
watts, then we can talk, but my next question is how long can you sustain this?
Another point in here is that nothing is free. If
you're applying more watts to the bike, that work has to come from somewhere. It
is not gained by efficiency, energy savings, etc.
You must do more work in order to output more work. Period.
So how should I pedal a bike?
What I'll now discuss is how you should apply your leg power to the pedals as
they trace the circle of a pedal stroke. Divide the
pedal revolution into hours of the clock, as seen from the right side of the
bike, and into four sectors of three hours each:
More...from Crucible Fitness at:
http://www.cruciblefitness.com/etips/PedalingTech.htm


14. Exercising for weight loss a boon to bones:
Losing weight through exercise prevents the loss of bone density that occurs
from just cutting calories to shed pounds, a new study
has found.
"This suggests you'd want to do diet and exercise together to have less harmful
effects on the bone," said lead author Dr. Dennis
Villareal, an associate professor of medicine at the Washington University
School of Medicine in St. Louis.
The preliminary findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, part
of the Journal of the American Medical Association,
followed 48 adults -- 30 women and 18 men -- for one year. Villareal and
colleagues measured any changes in their hip and spine bone
mineral density.
The participants, who averaged 57 years of age, could not be obese or smoke;
they also had to have maintained a stable weight for
three months prior to the study, and the women had to be post-menopausal. The
women could be on hormone replacement therapy if
they'd taken it for at least six months before enrolling in the study.
The subjects were randomly divided into three groups: 10 in a control group, 19
in a group who exercised an hour a day while eating
the same number of calories, and 19 in a group who ate up to 20 percent fewer
calories. The control group got information on healthy
lifestyles if they requested it.
More...from Science Daily at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-20061211-18\
121100-bc-us-boneloss.xml


15. Thinking Young: Exercise and Your Mind:
Can exercise keep your brain going strong?
Numerous studies have been done over the years trying to determine if physical
activity has any effect on the aging brain, but
results have varied widely. One week yoga is the trick to keeping your mind
agile. The next week, it’s tai chi or running. In an
attempt to end the confusion, researchers from the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign have compiled years of research on the
topic and discovered that it is serious, heart-pumping exercise that may stave
off mental decline.
“Our review of the last 40 years of research does offer evidence that physical
exercise can have a positive influence on cognitive
and brain functions in older human subjects,” writes Dr. Arthur F. Kramer and
colleagues.
In the review, Kramer and colleagues looked at various types of studies. Some
involved determining whether exercise at particular
stages of life can improve cognitive ability. Others looked at more intense
fitness training later in life, to see if there was an
effect on brain function.
More...from the Washington Times at:
http://washingtontimes.healthology.com/main/alzheimers-disease/alzheimers-diseas\
e-news/article3979.htm


16. The Energy-Drink Buzz Is Unmistakable. The Health Impact Is Unknown:
Meet Jamey Kirby. If you’re young enough, and hip enough, he’d like to sell you
some Cocaine.
Arriving soon at a convenience store near you, Cocaine is a recent and
controversial entry in the burgeoning market for so-called
energy drinks. Loaded with caffeine and sugar, and often laced with herbs,
vitamins or amino acids, they have become the fuel of
choice for some thrill-seeking youngsters and, more recently, for weary adults
navigating an always-on world.
But with their increasingly novel additives, energy drinks are taking consumers
into uncharted nutritional territory, especially
because they are often used as mixers with alcohol. Even if they are not
dangerous, experts say, energy drinks may be fostering an
unhealthy dependence on caffeine even as they pad the waistlines of young
adults.
None of that much concerns Mr. Kirby, the California entrepreneur behind
Cocaine. His business is buzz — in every sense of the word.
Each 8.4-ounce can of Cocaine contains 280 milligrams of caffeine, more than
twice the amount in a cup of coffee, and a
throat-numbing blend of fiery spices. It’s perfect, Mr. Kirby said, for jaded
16- to 28-year-olds clamoring for extreme refreshment.
And the provocative name? Just marketing. “It was always the plan to let
negative publicity move us forward,” Mr. Kirby said. “There
is an enormous amount of competition out there.”
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/12/health/12cons.html?_r=1&ref=fitnessandnutritio\
n&oref=slogin


17. Race Your Age:
How to target the best distance for your years.
In some sports, by the time you're old enough to drive, your best performances
are in the rearview mirror (women's gymnastics comes
to mind). Not so with running. Last year's top 10 performers in the 10-K were
about 22 years old, while the fastest marathoners
were, on average, 29. True, these athletes are a long way from retirement. But
physiologically speaking, a little maturity can help
running performance in endurance events.
As children grow, exercise capacity and maximal oxygen consumption increase
slowly. At puberty, hormonal changes result in greater
muscle mass and bone density, as well as dramatic increases in VO2 max and
running economy. Our capacity for endurance training
continues to increase as we approach full physical maturity in our early 20s.
It's then that we theoretically begin our golden
decade of running performances, since sometime after 30 our peak physiological
function can start to decline.
But anecdotal evidence suggests that we can maintain our running peak well into
our 30s and beyond if we choose our race distances
and training strategies carefully. That's because certain age groups are
physically better suited for some running events than
others.
Early to Mid-20s: 5-K and 10-K races are great for 20-something runners. The
body is physically mature enough, and certainly strong
enough, to race fast 5-Ks regardless of whether or not you ran in school. For
runners who have been competing since high school, a
step up to the 10-K distance is the next best challenge, as the body is now
ready to handle more mileage.
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-244--9260-0,00.html?cm_mmc=Ext\
ra%20NL-_-2006_12_12-_-Training-_-Race%20Your%20Age
[Long URL]


18. Absorb these tips to fend off fractures:
As the stress fractures continue to make their way into my office, I find myself
discussing shock absorption strategies more and
more this time of year. Believe it or not, this article is not going to discuss
shoe construction. The majority of the shock
absorption available to us is provided by our own bodies.
When your foot hits the ground, the force of impact must be absorbed. According
to a runner named Einstein, for every action there
must be an equal and opposite reaction. (It should be noted that I’m not really
sure that he was a runner.) So, your foot hits the
ground, the closed cell rubber of the shoe compresses and then it is up to you
to deal with the consequences. Your body’s ability to
absorb shock will determine whether or not any one of the bones in your body
will break. So, for our discussion of shock absorption
improvement strategies, let’s start at the bottom.
Foot type determines to a large extent how much shock your foot will absorb.
The foot that pronates (see previous articles for
discussions on pronation) will absorb shock more efficiently than a foot that
does not. The supinated foot is a more rigid lever and
as a rigid lever does not move in response to the shock.
More...from Brooks Running at:
http://www.brooksrunning.com/runners_resource//expertadvice1.phtml


19. This Week in Running:
10 Years Ago- Eric Kimaiyo (KEN) won the Honolulu (HI/USA) Marathon, the first
of his two wins
at Honolulu. His 2:13:23 was just 14 seconds ahead of James
Muindi (KEN) who
would collect his first of five Honolulu wins three years later.
Yi-Yong Kim (KOR)
was 3rd in 2:14:07. Ramilya Burangulova (RUS) was the women's
winner in 2:34:28,
followed by Svetlana Zakharova (RUS) in 2:35:36 and Mari Tanigawa
(JPN) in 2:36:20.
Eight-time Honolulu winner Carla Buerskens (NED) was 5th in
2:38:19.
20 Years Ago- Thom Hunt (USA) won the Holiday Bowl Heart of San Diego (CA/USA)
Marathon with his
2:12:26 clocking. Agapius Masong (TAN) was next in 2:13:26,
followed by Sam Sitonik
(KEN) in 2:15:10. Janine Aiello (USA) was a clear winner in the
women's race,
her 2:34:34 well ahead of the 2:37:42 posted by Melinda Ireland
(USA). Elizabeth
Baker (USA) was back in 3rd at 2:39:22. This series lasted one
more year to make a
total of ten runnings.
30 Years Ago- Duncan Macdonald (USA) won the 4th edition of the Honolulu
(HI/USA) Marathon with
a 2:20:37 clocking. Ron Wayne (USA) was 2nd in 2:21:26 and Jack
Fultz (USA) was
3rd in 2:24:05. Kim Merritt (USA) was the women's winner in
2:44:44, almost six
minutes ahead of Elizabeth Richards (AUS) who came in at 2:50:26.
Gayle Barron (USA)
was 3rd in 2:52:16.
40 Years Ago- The Asian Games (Bangkok THA) 5000m was won in 14:22.0 by Keisuke
Sawaki (JPN) with
the silver medal taken by compatriot Kazuo Tsuchiya in 14:23.1.
Lucien Rosa (SRI)
completed the medals at 14:56.0.
50 Years Ago- Keizo Yamada (JPN) won the Asahi Shimbun (Magoya JPN) Marathon in
2:25:15. This race is now
held in Fukuoka JPN (and known as the Fukuoka International
Marathon).
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.


20. 30 Food for Fitness: The Best Vegetables:
By Erika Highstead, CTS Sports Nutritionist and Kyle du Ford
Eating your vegetables isn’t just a good mantra for the kids, it’s the best way
for adults to get the vitamins they need for optimum
performance. In our final installment of “30 Foods for Fitness,” we present
vegetables. In addition, all 30 of the foods for fitness
are in one tidy list at the end of the article. Keep it handy the next time you
head to the grocery store. Pulling items from each
part of the list (Protein, Fat, Fiber, etc.) will insure you eat a high-quality
diet throughout the week.
Quick Tip: Avoid boiling or overcooking vegetables as they lose the majority of
all their precious vitamins and minerals. For best
results, eat them raw as snacks or in a salad or steam them.
Broccoli
Broccoli is a great source of fiber and — surprisingly — contains over 205% of
your recommended daily Vitamin C and 194% Vitamin K.
Research has shown that an antioxidants like vitamin C in broccoli may reduce
oxidative damage at the cellular level. It is easy to
cook away all of the broccoli’s goodness, so it is recommended to quickly steam
the vegetable.
Serving Size: 1 cup
24 calories, 0g fat, 4g carbohydrate, 2g protein
More...from Carmichael Training Systems at:
http://www.trainright.com/info.asp?action=display&uid=4301


21. Raising the Bar:
With so many energy bars around, it's tough to know which are best. Till now.
Fewer choices make for easier decisions, I always say. If you believe this too,
then we're both out of luck when it comes to
choosing the right energy bar.
Talk about choices! The energy/snack bar market now totals $1.5 billion a year,
with options ranging from basic workout snacks to
meal replacements, weight-loss aids to muscle builders, even bars designed
specifically for women. And while energy bars were once
relegated to the dark corners of running shops and health-food stores, you can
now find them in just about any grocery store, often
right next to the candy bars.
But which bar is right for you? That depends on your needs. So to prep you for
your very own bar exam, here's a rundown of the major
energy bar categories, plus my recommendations on the best bar for you.
High-Carbohydrate Bars
In the mid-1980s, PowerBar made a big splash in the energy-bar market, as it was
specifically designed with runners'
high-carbohydrate needs in mind. Since then, many other bars have followed suit.
High-carbohydrate bars generally supply about 200 to 260 calories, with over 70
percent of those calories coming from carbohydrates.
They are also moderate in protein (usually 10 grams or less) and low in fat
(check the label to make sure), because both can slow
digestion during exercise. Main ingredients include sugars, such as corn syrup
and brown rice syrup, and grains such as oats and
rice. Some bars also contain dried fruit, which is another source of easily
digestible carbohydrates for your working muscles.
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-301--1786-0,00.html.html?cm_mm\
c=Extra%20NL-_-2006_12_14-_-Nutrition-_-Raising%20th
e%20Bar
[Long URL]


22. Add Intensity & Realize Your Potential:
By: Michael Harlow
I hear it all the time: athletes don't understand why they aren't getting any
faster when they are going the same moderately hard
pace 4 days every week. Without a coach designing a structured program for you,
this is the never ending crevice where most athletes
find themselves. If you train at the same speed everyday, you will always ride
at this speed - you are not training yourself to get
faster, you are training yourself to ride at this speed. To grow, you must
change up your speed through purposeful workouts. This
article will lay down a set of rules to guide you through this process.
Plan - So, you want to get faster. How are you going to do this? You must have a
plan! Take the time to analyze how many training
miles your body and schedule can handle in a typical week, your strengths and
weaknesses (opportunities for improvement), as well as
what your main race or ride will demand of you. Be honest with yourself - where
do you stand currently and where do you want to be?
What do you have to do to get to this goal? Answer that and you have a plan!
Periodize - Now that you know what needs to be done to get to your goal, you
need to lay out a plan of attack. Always start with
technique, as it is the foundation of any program. Failure to establish this
technique at the beginning of training will cap what
you can achieve. Once this technique is established, you will want to work to
build a solid base of mileage. Without this, an
athlete will never be prepared to add intensity because he or she will not have
the aerobic base to do so. Speed work can be
introduced at a moderate level (below lactate threshold predominately) while
building this mileage base but one must be careful not
to add both speed and mileage at the same time, as this will increase the risk
of injury. After the base is established, drop it
slightly, and it is time to work on speed!
More...from TriFuel at:
http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/triathlon-training/add-intensity-realize-your-p\
otential-001730.php


23. Electrolytes and Hydration:
By Dr. Jason Barker, ND
Key Points:
• Electrolytes are vital to physiologic function and athletic performance
• High or low levels of electrolytes are detrimental to performance and health
• A majority of foods and beverages contain an overabundance of sodium and low
potassium in relation to the standard American diet
The term ‘electrolyte’ is a medical word for the electrically charged minerals
in the body. Electrolytes are vital to health, and
act as chemical messengers in the body carrying electrical impulses from the
nerves to control all tissue function and movement. An
imbalance of any of the electrolytes can lead to serious disruptions in
physiologic function. Many bodily processes are highly
dependent on them, primarily heart and nerve function, muscle coordination and
control, and maintenance of the body’s fluid levels.
Electrolytes are found throughout body tissues. Blood, plasma (the acellular
portion of blood) and the fluid that bathes the cells
are high in sodium (Na+) and chloride (Cl-), which is similar to common table
salt, otherwise known as sodium chloride (Na+Cl-). In
other areas of the body (cells that make up organs), the electrolytes potassium
(K+), chloride (Cl-), calcium (Ca+), and magnesium
(Mg2+) are prevalent.
Electrolyte levels are tightly controlled by several hormones and by the
kidneys, which are primarily responsible for retaining and
removing electrolytes when necessary and keeping them in a constant state of
balance. An electrolyte imbalance can lead to serious
health issues, including eventual death if not corrected. The most common
imbalances occur with sodium and potassium. An excessive
blood level of sodium is known as hypernatremia, while an insufficient level is
known as hyponatremia. Excessive blood levels of
potassium are known as hyperkalemia, and insufficient levels are known as
hypokalemia.
More...from Competitor Magazine at:
http://www.competitor.com/article/?Guid=04362952-bd9c-46ae-b6e0-462f7e0ca502


24. To Stretch or Not To Stretch:
Two Senior Writers Weigh in on the Debate plus the Wharton's Stretching Method.
Not To Stretch
Roger Robinson
I’m a skeptic about stretching. Like every runner, I want to be fast, strong,
agile, and pain free; I want to eliminate injuries,
reduce muscle soreness, and feel at least part-Kenyan. For many years I did get
near these goals. But not by stretching.
Yes, I did my share of pushing against trees and lampposts, heaving my foot up
on fence rails and car hoods, using every unseen
elevator ride for that addictive surreptitious twangle of the muscle fibers. I
knew how stretching would balance the uneven
development of a runner’s calf muscles, quads and hamstrings. At train stations
and bus stops I stood holding one foot to the
buttock like a wobbly heron, or stood with toes on the curb to practice heel
drops, or bowed over a forward-lunging leg like a
member of some strange religious sect, facing Eugene, or slumped with dangling
arms to touch my toes, convincing onlookers that I
was about to pass out and require CPR.
Did it help my running? Not a scrap.
I know it’s close to heresy, but I believe stretching is a waste of time and
energy unless you want to put your leg up behind your
ear like a cat. I have four ways of justifying my aversion.
I am a runner, not a limbo dancer. In a race I need my leg muscles to work fast,
powerfully and often. Stretching teaches them to
work slowly, flexibly and once. I need them to move me forward, and every tiny
fraction of an inch per stride is significant to my
result. Stretching encourages them to move sideways, which could even slow down
my final time. I need them to be efficient within
the requirements of a highly specific and purposeful range of motion. Stretching
encourages them to go outside that range. Running,
even a marathon, is intense and mobile. Stretching is leisurely and static.
Running is work (and work is heat). Stretching isn’t.
In my peak running days, with a full career outside the sport, I was leading a
crowded life that never gave me enough time for the
running I ideally wanted to do. To those who asked me about stretching, I used
to say simply that if I could find 15 minutes a day
to stretch, I’d rather spend that time running. Even now, in my declining years,
I know people who spend as much time stretching as
they do on their feet in the park. I’d rather be running.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=4919&c=104


25. Digest Briefs:
* Will oxygenated water make me a better athlete?
POSTED: Wednesday, December 13, 2006
FROM BLOG: The Final Sprint - The Final Sprint is a comprehensive running blog
with all of the news, reviews and advice that you'll
need to help you reach your goals.
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.
Have you seen ads for oxygenated water, claiming to cure tiredness, improve
memory, help you to exercise longer and make you a
better athlete? A study from Austria shows that oxygenated water offers none of
these benefits for humans (International Journal of
Sports Medicine, Volume 27, 2006).
When you exercise as hard as you can, you gasp for breath because you cannot
meet your needs for oxygen, no matter how hard or fast
you breathe. Lack of oxygen prevents you from breaking down lactic acid so it
accumulates in your muscles and blood, and you develop
severe shortness of breath.
Researchers analyzed the effects of drinking oxygenated water daily for two
weeks on lung function and clearance of lactic acid from
the bloodstream during exhausting exercise. During both exercise and rest, there
was no difference between people who drank
oxygenated water and those who drank ordinary water as a placebo.
Oxygenated water would be helpful to fish because they have gills whose main
function is to extract oxygen from water. Since you
don’t have gills, extra oxygen in water is useless to you. Lungs are the only
organ humans have to provide oxygen to the
bloodstream, extracting it from the air you breathe. Water is not broken down
into hydrogen and oxygen in your digestive tract; it
is absorbed, used and excreted as water. Since you have no mechanism for moving
extra oxygen from water into your bloodstream,
oxygenated water cannot possibly help you with exercise or anything else. I
recommend that you save your money.
This post is written by Dr. Gabe Mirkin, M.D. and was originally published on
his blog “Fitness and Health E-Zine”.
Dr. Mirkin is board certified in Sports Medicine and has practiced for over 40
years. He has completed more than 40 marathons and
was a talk show host of a nationally-syndicated radio program for about 25
years. For more articles by Dr. Mirkin, please check out:
www.DrMirkin.com
Please also be advised that Dr. Mirkin’s opinions and the references cited are
for information only, and are not intended to
diagnose or prescribe. For your specific diagnosis and treatment, consult your
doctor or health care provider.



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.

December 17, 2006:
12Ks of Christmas Holiday Run - Kirkland, WA

Jacksonville Bank Marathon - Jacksonville, FL
2007 EVENT PREVIEW:

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.
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25

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