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
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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

8. PattSttrap.com.
Free Shipping World Wide on all Products. PattStrap.com Products relieves the
stress and pain associated with ailments facing many
people, including; Iliotibial Band Syndrome (ITBS), Patella Tendonitis, Shin
Splints, Knee Sprains, Runner's Knee, Achilles
Tendonitis, Osgood Schlatter's Disease, Chondromalacia, Plantar Fasciitis,
Chronic Heel Pain, Excessive Pronation, Heel Spur
Syndrome, and many other foot, leg and knee ailments.
PattStrap.com has just launched a full redesign of their website at:
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9. Training Peaks
Training Peaks, LLC is dedicated to the endurance athlete and coach. With our
industry leading software products, we're committed to
help you monitor, analyze and plan your training. We encourage you to draw on
our passion for excellence to help you reach your
athletic dreams. Trusted by thousands. Dedicated to you.
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THIS WEEK:
Nick Grosdanis of Toronto, Ontario has won the February Pegasus Quiz by
correctly identified the photo as Gabriela Andersen-Scheiss.
He wins a copy of the award winning software for runners: RunLog by Pegasus
Software. Check our FrontPage on the 1st of each
month for this quiz.

Last week's Digest was delivered late due to problems with Yahoo.

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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

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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
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From the beginning, the mission of the company has been to improve the lives of
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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
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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
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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 .

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. Science of Sport: Hydration In The Marathon: Too Little Or Too Much – Zeroing
In On Safe Replacement
2. VO2 Max Newsletter
3. The Games of the XXIII Olympaid: Los Angeles, 1984
4. 30 Years of Marathon Training
We Know MORE, But It's Still 26.2 Miles.
5. Study finds dieting, exercise equally good at taking off pounds
6. Run a Marathon in One Year: A Long-term Training Schedule for Beginners
7. For Running Speed, Hit The Hills All Season
8. "Steady" Thoughts By Rich Strauss
9. Boomers are getting banged up
Baby boomers are finding more pain, with little gain, while exercising, leading
many to look for better ways of staying fit.
10. Is Exercise Really Good For Heart Failure Patients?
11. Unhappy Meals
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
12. Get Strong Legs
A few quick exercises are all you need to get a strong lower body.
13. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
14. Owner's Manual: Thirty Years of Carbo-loading
Improved Endurance & Delayed Fatigue
15. Tech Report, with Lennard Zinn: The science behind the sport - Part II
16. Strength and Endurance - Friends or Foes?
17. This Week in Running
18. Base Mistakes
19. Suspension Training: How Risky Is It?
20. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Do you support the lottery system for entry into races such as Ironman Hawaii,
the New York and London Marathons?"

You can access the poll from our FrontPage ( http://www.runnersweb.com) as well
as checking the results of previous polls.

LAST WEEK'S POLL RESULTS:
Have you considered moderating your exercise routine as a result of the recent
news headline - "Athletes' heart condition linked to
exercise-induced damage"?
[Read the story at:
http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/22012007/3/athletes-heart-condition-linked-exercise-i\
nduced-damage-study.html]
Answers Percent
1. Yes 30%
2. No 70%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: Derval O'Rourke - Official Site
Derval began competing in hurdles with local club Leevale AC in her native Cork.
She was extremely successful at underage level,
holding both the Irish Indoor and Outdoor records. On the back of her underage
success, she was offered an Athletics Scholarship at
University College Dublin in 2000 and graduated from there in 2003 with a Degree
in Arts, the same year that she ran in the IAAF
World Indoor Championships in Birmingham. Derval completed her academic career
with a Business Postgraduate from the Michael Smurfit
Graduate School of Business in 2004.
2004 also say Derval compete at the Olympics in Athens, but an injury she
sustained in the build up to the games severely hampered
her chances. In 2005 she ran in the European Indoor Athletics Championships in
Madrid and the World Student Games in Izmir, where
she won the bronze medal in the 100 metre hurdles.
Dervals breakthrough came when she took gold in the 60 metre hurdles at the
World Indoor Championships in Moscow in March of 2006,
breaking her own Irish record in the process. By doing so she became the only
Irish female athlete to win a world indoor title. The
win confirmed Dervals astonishing rise through the world athletics ranks.
During the summer of 2006 Derval continued to break her own Irish 100 metre
hurdles record at meets throughout Europe. Derval
finished off a fantastic 2006 season with a silver medal winning performance in
the 100 metres hurdles at the European Championships
in Gothenburg in August, recording a time of 12.72 in the process, yet another
Irish record.
Derval is now looking forward to the 2007 season, when she hopes to become the
first Irish female athlete to make the final of a
sprint event at a major championship, when she competes in the World
Championships in Osaka in August.
Check out her site at:
http://www.dervalorourke.com


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

BOOK OF THE WEEK: Olympic Marathon: A Centennial History of the Games' Most
Storied Race
By Charlie Lovett
Review
Lovett examines the Olympic marathon race from its inception in 1896 through
each Olympic game. His book is filled with historical
facts and significant details about each marathon from start to finish. The
character of the runners is often described, which makes
the events more vivid to the reader.... This book is the first comprehensive
work on what the author calls 'the most unpredictable
contest,' the Olympic marathon. Highly recommended for all those interested in
the Olympic Games and especially for runners.”–Choice

“The real strength of Lovett's book is in its recounting of each Olympic
marathon....As a reference book for those interested in who
participated, who won which marathon, when, where, and in what fashion, this
book should be very useful.”–OLYMPIKA: The
International Journal of Olympic Studies
Book Description
For the first time, the complete history of the most famous race in the Olympic
Games has been presented in Olympic Marathon--A
Centennial History of the Games' Most Storied Race. Beginning with the legends
of ancient Greece, this book traces the process of
reviving the Olympic movement, including the establishment of the marathon--the
only event specifically created for the 1896
Olympics. Following heroes such as Dorando Pietri, Emil Zatopek, Abebe Bikila,
and Frank Shorter, the book includes a complete
analysis of every Olympic marathon as well as tales from the lives of the
runners. The stories of John Hayes, who won the race with
the help of strychnine; 1936 winner Sohn Kee Chung, a South Korean forced to
compete for Japan; and Mamo Wolde, who won the marathon
with an infected toe only to end up as a political prisoner in Ethiopia, make
this book much more than a sports history. The story
of the long struggle to establish a women's marathon begins with a lonely female
who ran the marathon course in 1896 and ends with
the dramatic victory of American Joan Benoit in the first women's Olympic
marathon in 1984. Completely up to date, the book
concludes with chapters on the races in Atlanta in 1996, including the closest
finish in Olympic marathon history. An appendix,
photographs, and an index complete this history. An invaluable resource for all
interested in the Olympics and marathon running.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0275957713/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. Science of Sport: Hydration In The Marathon: Too Little Or Too Much – Zeroing
In On Safe Replacement:
Introduction
Prior to 1969, marathon runners were advised against drinking during exercise
since it was believed that this practice impaired
exercise performance[1]. There is no published evidence that this advice harmed
those who adopted it. Indeed when cyclist Tom
Simpson died as a result of amphetamine-induced heatstroke whilst ascending
Mount Ventoux during the 13th stage of the 1967 Tour de
France[2], the cycling authorities did not alter their advice that cyclists
should: “Avoid drinking when racing, especially in hot
weather. Drink as little as possible, and with the liquid not too cold. It is
only a question of will power. When you drink too much
you will perspire, and you will lose your strength…..Four small bottles for a
long stage [of the Tour], it is frowned upon to drink
more”[2] (p 180). Rather this tragedy introduced the first attempts at doping
control in sport. Thus as recently as 1967, a failure
to drink much during exercise was not considered dangerous.
Elsewhere[3] I have argued that there is no evidence proving that athletes who
drink sparingly during exercise develop specific
medical complications. Others argue that our ability to sweat profusely whilst
exercising in the heat (and thus to become
“dehydrated”) is one of the most important determinants of human evolution.
Thermal biologist Berndt Heinrich[4] theorises that
humans evolved specifically to undertake prolonged exercise in the heat: ““The
fact that we, as savanna-adapted, animals have such
hypertrophied sweating responses implies that, if we are naturally so profligate
with water, it can only be because of some very big
advantage. The most likely advantage was that it permitted us to perform
prolonged exercise in the heat. We don’t need a sweating
response to outrun predators, because that requires relatively short, fast
sprinting, where accumulating a heat load is, like a
lactic acid load, acceptable. What we do need sweating for, is to sustain
running in the heat of the day – the time when most
predators retire into the shade” (p. 174).
That humans evolved to run long distances would seem now to be an accepted
theory[5]. Since early humans likely ran in conditions in
which water was either scarce or could not be carried since it would interfere
with their purpose, it also seems highly probable
that an evolving ability to run long distances in the heat included the capacity
to do so whilst drinking sparingly. Indeed Heinrich
concludes that modern hunter-gatherers, like the !Kung San Bushmen of Southern
Africa “carry no food or water with them (on 30km
hunts in the heat) because that hinders their ability to travel” (p. 180).
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20070128_Noakes_Hydration.html


2. VO2 Max Newsletter:
* Resting Metabolic Rate
(excerpted from Karp, J.R. The Resting Metabolic Rate
Debate. Fitness Management. Jan. 2007.)
Among fitness professionals, the often (over)-used argument is that strength
training will add muscle, which will increase people's
metabolic rates and, over time, will help them lose weight because muscles are
"fat-burning machines." However, research has shown
that each pound of fat-free weight burns about 8 to 15 calories per day, a
negligible amount when you consider the 3,500-calorie
deficit it takes to lose just one pound, and much lower than what is often
publicized in the fitness community. Therefore, if a
200-pound
person gains two pounds of muscle, he or she will burn an extra 16 to 30
calories per day, taking 117 to 219 days to burn one
pound's worth of calories. But since it takes a 3,500-calorie deficit compared
to the number of calories consumed to lose one pound,
not just a 3,500-calorie expenditure, it will actually take much longer to lose
one pound from adding two pounds of muscle mass.
If you've ever measured people's resting metabolic rates in a laboratory, as I
have, you'll discover that it doesn't differ much
between people, including between those who are fat and lean, averaging about
200 to 250 milliliters of oxygen per minute, or about
3.5 milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body mass per minute. This equates to
about 9 to 11 calories per pound of body mass per
day. As people lose weight (when caloric expenditure is greater than caloric
intake, also referred to as negative energy balance),
research has shown that resting metabolic rate decreases despite the maintenance
of muscle mass from weight training. Since no
research has shown that resting metabolic rate is maintained much less increased
when people are in negative energy balance, how can
fitness professionals suggest that weight training increases resting metabolic
rate resulting in weight loss?
While a few studies have shown that resting metabolic rate (or total daily
caloric expenditure) increases in response to either an
aerobic or weight training program, many more studies have shown that it does
not. It has also been shown that resting metabolic
rate is not significantly different between people of different aerobic fitness
levels and is independent of training status.
Studies reporting an increase in resting metabolic rate have often been
conducted on older adults who are more likely to show
increases in
resting metabolic rate due to the attenuating effect of weight training on
age-associated losses in muscle mass. Additionally,
resting metabolic rate can be increased partially as a result of increasing
caloric intake that often accompanies the increase in
caloric expenditure with exercise (in other words, you typically eat more when
you exercise more).
So what's the bottom line? Exercise is not likely to change your resting
metabolic rate much, unless you're older and have lost a
significant amount of muscle mass over the years. If adding some muscle mass by
weight training does increase resting metabolic
rate, it does so only slightly, not by enough to significantly impact weight
loss. You lose weight
by expending more calories than you consume, not by trying to change your
metabolism at rest.
* Detraining and Fitness
Have you ever gone on vacation and worried about losing your fitness? When you
stop training, you can expect to lose some fitness
because you've removed the stimulus for adaptation. However, small reductions
in training for a short time (about one week) won't
hurt your overall fitness and may even help, since it gives your muscles a
chance to recuperate from all the hard work. That's why
most competitive athletes taper their training before important competitions.
When you stop training, the loss of aerobic endurance
is greater than the loss of strength and power, so if you're pressed for time
while you're away from the gym, it's better to go for
a run than to lift weights. Your muscles' ability to use oxygen decreases after
two weeks of inactivity, initially due to a
decrease in blood volume (which decreases cardiac output) and subsequently due
to decreases in mitochondrial aerobic enzyme
activity. However, the activity of the enzymes involved in the
oxygen-independent (anaerobic) pathways doesn't decrease as much or
as quickly, so you can maintain your strength for a longer time.
* To view past newsletters go to: http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter
Copyright Jason Karp All Rights Reserved - http://www.runcoachjason.com



3. The Games of the XXIII Olympaid: Los Angeles, 1984:
Excerpted from Olympic Marathon, by Charlie Lovett
Following as it did the long battle for inclusion in Olympic competition, the
race that took place on August 5, 1984 was something
like a victory lap for all women marathoners.
Among the favored starters were Norwegian Grete Waitz, who had never lost a
marathon she had finished; Portugal's Rosa Mota, who had
won the marathon in the European Championships in 1982; and American Joan
Benoit, who had set the world record of 2:22:43 in the
woman's record many times and had run the first sub-2:30 marathons, had never
met Benoit in a marathon race.
Benoit was born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in 1957. Her earliest athletic passion
was skiing, taught to her by her father who had
been an army skier during World War II. As a high school sophomore she broke her
leg on the slopes. As part of her recovery from
that accident she began to run and she found that she liked running just as much
as skiing.
In college she played field hockey while continuing to run. When she showed up
at practice one day sore from a thirteen-mile run the
day before, the coach made her sit out the rest of the season and Benoit quit
the team and started running full time. In 1979 she
entered the Boston Marathon, her second marathon ever, as a Bowdoin College
senior and won the women's division, setting an American
record in the process.
After graduation, Benoit worked as the women's track and cross-country coach at
Boston University while she continued to train 100
miles a week. With the promise of the first ever women's Olympic Marathon in
1984, Benoit hoped to be in her best shape ever so she
could make a run for the gold.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20070127_Olympics_1984.html


4. 30 Years of Marathon Training;
We Know MORE, But It's Still 26.2 Miles.
By Jonathan Beverly
"There’s no race that’s simpler to prepare for than the marathon," wrote Mark
Conover in our pages in 1996. Five years later, Pete
Pfitzinger echoed him, writing, "While running a marathon isn’t easy, training
for it should be relatively simple."
If this is the case — and who am I to question two Olympians — I postulated that
I should be able to sort through all the marathon
training articles published in RT over the past 30 years and find the essential,
core principles by which to make all those
four-page, four-month, four-point-font charts "simple." I also wanted to see
what may have changed in those 30 years since RT began
publishing marathon training programs.
One way of making it simpler is to isolate which marathoners we’re talking
about. Beginning marathoners have different priorities
and different programs than experienced marathoners. In the very first marathon
training program RT published, penned by Tom Allison
in February 1980 (coincidentally, the same year I first ran the marathon), we
laid out our target audience:
This article is addressed to individuals between these two extremes [first-timer
and elite]. If you have been running seriously for
at least one year, have progressed up to 50 or more miles per week, and have
completed at least one full marathon, then you may be
ready to begin a training program that will enable you to run the fastest
marathon possible for your age, sex, and genetic
endowment.
With very few exceptions, all of our marathon training articles since then, some
two dozen of them, have been aimed at the same
runners. While this simplifies the parameters, it complicates the training,
since for first timers, all that is required is adequate
miles and some long runs, as Jeff Galloway spelled out in a crash-course for the
100th Boston, or as John Treacy said in the intro
to his 1994 article:
Running a marathon is easy. All you have to do is put in the miles — perhaps 35
a week or so — more or less regularly, and you’ll be
able to complete the course. To be sure, you shouldn’t be in any particular
hurry, and you may need to walk from time to time, but
you will get to the finish line. . . . Racing a marathon, however, is an
entirely different matter.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=9906


5. Study finds dieting, exercise equally good at taking off pounds:
Eating less and exercising more are equally good at helping take off the pounds,
US researchers said yesterday in a study that
challenges many of the popular tenets of the multibillion-dollar diet and
fitness industry.
Tests on overweight people show that a calorie is just a calorie, whether lost
by dieting or by running, they said.
They found there is no way to selectively lose belly fat, for instance, or trim
thighs. And their carefully controlled study
bolstered evidence that adding muscle mass does not boost metabolism and help
dieters take off even more weight.
"It's all about the calories," said Dr. Eric Ravussin of Pennington Biomedical
Research Center, part of Louisiana State University
in Baton Rouge.
"So long as the energy deficit is the same, body weight, fat weight, and
abdominal fat will all decrease in the same way."
Ravussin said the study, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology &
Metabolism, is one of the few done under controlled
conditions that can actually demonstrate what happens to a human body while
dieting and exercising.
More...from the Boston Globe at:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/01/27/study_finds_dieting_exerci\
se_equally_good_at_taking_off_pounds/
[Long URL]


6. Run a Marathon in One Year: A Long-term Training Schedule for Beginners:
Up to now, perhaps your only interest in marathons has been as a spectator. Or
maybe you thought about running a marathon, but
figured such an achievement was outside your grasp. Well, if that’s the case,
I’m here to tell you that you, too, are capable of
running a marathon! Equipped with motivation and a proper regimen, you can run
26.2 miles.
You might question your ability to commit to such a significant undertaking with
no prior long-distance running experience. But if
you follow the training program for beginners that world-renowned coach Dieter
Hogen has set up, you’ll discover that prior running
isn’t needed to be successful. (Of course, if you’ve been involved in other
sports, you’ll probably adapt to the program quicker,
but again, this background isn’t a necessity.) There’s only one qualification
needed to realize your dream of running a marathon
when utilizing Coach Hogen’s program - motivation. By applying this desire in
conjunction with Coach Hogen’s schedule, you’ll be
able to run a marathon within twelve short months.
To be successful, it’s important to find purpose in your running, whether it’s
to lose weight, improve your self-esteem or
experience the international marathon phenomenon. Combined with the training
schedule, this purpose gives you what you need to stand
on the starting line next year at one of the world’s greatest marathon races,
such as Berlin, London, Chicago or New York. It’s now
up to you, to lace up your shoes and take that magic step out the door.
A few things beforehand: Running is healthy, brings you lots of fun and
increases your overall productivity. Besides, running gives
you a good figure. However, before you start running, you should talk about it
with your doctor and have a complete medical
check-up. It’s also important to get expert advice on running shoes, ideally
from a local running store.
More...from Uta Pippig at:
http://www.uta-pippig.com/site/85-0-news.html?nid=502


7. For Running Speed, Hit The Hills All Season:
A healthy dose of hill running should be included in your workouts each week.
Hill work is some of the most productive training you
can perform. There is no doubt that runners who regularly hit the hills get
faster. However, you should vary your hill routines,
throughout the season just as you should vary your training. Because hill work
is more stressful, progression is important.
Outdoors vs. Treadmill
I am often asked if running outdoors is more productive than running on the
treadmill. The answer is that they both have their place
in a good running plan. The advantage of the treadmill is that you can set your
work-out parameters. If you are trying to keep your
heart rate down during base training, you simply select a pace that keeps your
heart rate in zone. With hill work you can vary the
pace and incline to create just the right amount of stress for your workout. It
may be hard to find a long hill with a steady
incline so the treadmill can create just that. You do not want to start off your
hill work with too steep of an incline. With the
treadmill you can increase the incline slightly each week and the resistance is
constant. That being said, many athletes find it
difficult to stay focused indoors on a treadmill. It is important to include
runs on varied terrain and downhill. The treadmill does
not provide this. As you get closer to your goal race, I recommend trying to
duplicate the race course and spend less time on the
treadmill.
Hill Progression
The most important aspect of base training is staying aerobic and keeping your
heart rate down. Hills will obviously drive your
heart rate up but that does not mean you should eliminate them in base training.
In fact, this is the best time to build a strength
basis for the season. As the season progresses, intensity should as well. The
following workouts are in order of progression
throughout the season. It is important to follow this progression or
overtraining and / or injury could result.
More...from BeatYourPB at:
http://www.beatyourpb.com/running/training/article/?i=5224


8. "Steady" Thoughts:
By Rich Strauss
A TC athlete was having some problems identifying his "Steady" intensity. To
provide you with a frame of reference for this
discussion, my LTHR on the bike is about 173-175. My Zone 1 ends at about 143
bpm.
Rich: After riding with power for so long, I don't trust speed. No way to really
know or quantify your impressions unless you are
able to compare the watts. Having said that, you are doing the right training
and moving toward cadences of 93+ is the way to go.
Give it some time.
As for average heart rate during these rides, don't look at the average for the
entire ride, but rather holding Steady or a bit
higher for long periods of time within the ride. For example, my AeT is about
142-145 and I put my Steady at about 147-150. When I
make the switch from Easy to Steady, I just bump over 140 and then ride how I
feel. If I don't look at the HR and just ride, I seem
to settle in to about 145-146. If I then "think" about riding a little faster it
will push into the high 140's. 150-155 takes a bit
more focus and concentration. You might call this Upper Steady. I don't see
anything over 155 unless I'm really "trying" to ride
hard. I call 155-160+ as Moderate-Hard. The only time I push this for any length
of time is with Jon. We¯ll ride side by side and
just wind it up on a flat stretch. The interval ends when we reach "mutual
consent," about 15 minutes, otherwise it would go on
forever. We are too evenly matched.
Apply this guidance to your own zones. Identify where your Steady and Upper
Steady are and then spend a lot of time there.
Disciplined rides with a small group of friends are best for this kind of work,
as it takes your mind off the effort and reduces the
PE of the session. One thing I've noticed this week is that the more time you
spend in this Steady and Upper Steady intensity, the
easier (mentally) it becomes. You know how when you first started running, when
you left the door you would "jog" first and then
start to "run" after about 15'? As you ride at Steady more, you go from JRA
(just riding along) to Steady very easily. Today as I
was riding down a long straight road I just automatically fell into my Steady
zone of about 145 bpm and 235-240 watts. I didn't
really have to think about it, it just happened.
More...from Crucible Fitness at:
http://www.cruciblefitness.com/etips/steady.htm


9. Boomers are getting banged up;
Baby boomers are finding more pain, with little gain, while exercising, leading
many to look for better ways of staying fit:
When Arnold Schwarzenegger, 59, fell on the ski slopes last month, the snap of
his breaking femur joined a sort of sad symphony.
Same with the thud of President Bush, 60, falling face-first off his mountain
bike.
And the growing choir of torn tendons, strained muscles and grinding joints from
the generation that hoped to die before it got old.
The boomers are breaking.
The oldest of the almost 80 million baby boomers -- Americans born between 1946
and 1964 -- are turning 61. The problem is, many are
still exercising with a regimen and mind-set of folks half that age.
Sports-related injuries among boomers jumped 33 percent between 1991 and 1998,
according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Those injuries are the No. 2 reason for doctor office visits, behind only the
common cold.
`BOOMERITIS'
More than a million boomers a year are getting injured in the gym, on the court
or in the weight room. There's even a word for the
growing members of banged-up middle-agers: ``boomeritis.''
Their generation toppled barriers, changed the culture and, of course, ignited
the fitness boom. It's no surprise that so many
believe they can keep working out like a 30-year-old,
too. And that's part of the problem.
''In their mind, they would like to be just as fit as they were when they were
younger,'' said Julie Glodich, fitness supervisor at
Case Western Reserve University's 121 Fitness Center in Cleveland. 'Or be `the
hot grandma.' ''
While their attitude continues to soar, their bodies remain on the ground,
limping.
Dr. Paul Gubanich, 32, a primary-care sports-medicine physician with the
Cleveland Clinic, likes the can-do mind-set but wants to
rechannel it. The boomers, he said, need to think a bit differently about their
bodies.
More...from the Miami Herald at:
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/16562905.htm


10. Is Exercise Really Good For Heart Failure Patients?
Cardiologists at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center are helping to
lead a large international study involving 83 other
sites that will test 3,000 patients in an effort to determine whether exercise
really is good for heart failure patients.
Though doctors have promoted the value of exercise for a variety of disorders
for years, "exercise training has not been
definitively established as safe in the group of patients who primarily have
heart failure," said Dalane W. Kitzman M.D., a
cardiologist who is principal investigator at Wake Forest Baptist, and
colleagues, writing in the American Heart Journal.
"Controlled clinical trials have shown that exercise training improves
physiological measurements" such as the distance that
patients can walk in six minutes, they said after analyzing 14 trials. "None of
these trials enrolled a sufficient number of
patients to properly evaluate the impact of exercise training on death and
hospitalization."
The new trial, called Heart Failure and A Controlled Trial Investigating
Outcomes of Exercise Training (HF-ACTION) "is the largest
randomized clinical trial of exercise training ever performed," Kitzman said.
"The trial represents a critical step in establishing
exercise as a therapy for patients with left ventricular dysfunction" (reduced
heart contractions).
More...from Science Daily at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/01/070119144433.htm


11. Unhappy Meals:
Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated
and confusing question of what we humans should eat
in order to be maximally healthy. I hate to give away the game right here at the
beginning of a long essay, and I confess that I’m
tempted to complicate matters in the interest of keeping things going for a few
thousand more words. I’ll try to resist but will go
ahead and add a couple more details to flesh out the advice. Like: A little meat
won’t kill you, though it’s better approached as a
side dish than as a main. And you’re much better off eating whole fresh foods
than processed food products. That’s what I mean by
the recommendation to eat “food.” Once, food was all you could eat, but today
there are lots of other edible foodlike substances in
the supermarket. These novel products of food science often come in packages
festooned with health claims, which brings me to a
related rule of thumb: if you’re concerned about your health, you should
probably avoid food products that make health claims. Why?
Because a health claim on a food product is a good indication that it’s not
really food, and food is what you want to eat.
Uh-oh. Things are suddenly sounding a little more complicated, aren’t they?
Sorry. But that’s how it goes as soon as you try to get
to the bottom of the whole vexing question of food and health. Before long, a
dense cloud bank of confusion moves in. Sooner or
later, everything solid you thought you knew about the links between diet and
health gets blown away in the gust of the latest
study.
Last winter came the news that a low-fat diet, long believed to protect against
breast cancer, may do no such thing — this from the
monumental, federally financed Women’s Health Initiative, which has also found
no link between a low-fat diet and rates of coronary
disease. The year before we learned that dietary fiber might not, as we had been
confidently told, help prevent colon cancer. Just
last fall two prestigious studies on omega-3 fats published at the same time
presented us with strikingly different conclusions.
While the Institute of Medicine stated that “it is uncertain how much these
omega-3s contribute to improving health” (and they might
do the opposite if you get them from mercury-contaminated fish), a Harvard study
declared that simply by eating a couple of servings
of fish each week (or by downing enough fish oil), you could cut your risk of
dying from a heart attack by more than a third — a
stunningly hopeful piece of news. It’s no wonder that omega-3 fatty acids are
poised to become the oat bran of 2007, as food
scientists micro-encapsulate fish oil and algae oil and blast them into such
formerly all-terrestrial foods as bread and tortillas,
milk and yogurt and cheese, all of which will soon, you can be sure, sprout
fishy new health claims. (Remember the rule?)
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?ref=fitnessandn\
utrition


12. Get Strong Legs:
A few quick exercises are all you need to get a strong lower body.
At mile 20 of the 1993 world championships marathon, mark plaatjes was trailing
the leader by more than a minute. Then he kicked
into overdrive and overtook Lucketz Swartbooi to win the race. Plaatjes, now 45,
credits his surge not only to high mileage and
track work, but also to the time he spent building powerful legs. Today, the
Boulder, Colorado, coach and physical therapist makes
sure his charges strength train two or three times a week. "When you get tired,
your strength will pull you through," he says.
Multiple studies show that regular strength training can improve running
economy-how efficiently the body uses oxygen-by as much as
eight percent, translating into greater speed and more muscle endurance. And it
makes sense for runners to focus on their most
important body part. "Strong legs also mean more power on the hills," says Bob
Larsen, who coaches elite marathoner Meb Keflezighi.
Since many runners have a hard enough time squeezing workouts into their busy
lives, we asked Plaatjes and Larsen for exercises that
deliver maximum benefits in minimal time. Their picks for the most essential
moves develop strength where runners need it most-in
the core and legs-and correct the natural muscular imbalances caused by running,
which can lead to injury and loss of speed. And the
exercises can be done at home in about 15 minutes (see "Faster in Five," next
page). "It's amazing how little it takes-just a few
minutes each week," says Larsen.
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-263-266-11272-0,00.html?cm_mmc\
=Extra%20NL-_-2007_01_30-_-Training-_-Get%20Strong%2
0Legs
[Long URL]


13. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine:
* Efficiency in Running Form
Most experienced runners can tell when other runners are in shape just by
watching them run. They look for efficiency, a measure of
how much energy is lost by wasteful movements during running. You run with your
legs and all of your other movements are used just
to balance your body. The main reason you don’t fall when you are walking or
running is that your brain constructs a "center of
gravity", a point around which all movements on one side are balanced by equal
movements on the other side. For example, when your
right leg goes forward, your left arm goes forward and your right arm goes
backward. You do this without thinking and your movements
are automatically calculated in your brain.
A study from The Hospital of Laval in France shows that even the best runners
lose their efficiency when they become fatigued
(Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, June 2006). Experienced
runners have consistent stride length and form. This study
shows that with fatigue, their stride length decreases and, more importantly,
they start to lose form by adding a significant amount
of side-to-side movement that wastes energy and does not drive them forward.
Running slowly does not teach your brain how to balance your body when you run
fast. Good form comes from practicing running very
fast in training. People who run slowly all the time usually have poor running
form. They waste movements that do not help them move
forward. For example, their feet often move to the side after they raise their
feet from the ground. Their arms do not move loosely
and comfortably to balance their bodies. They may run with toes pointed outward,
which is a sign of weak shin muscles. If you want
to improve your running form, run faster a few times every week.
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: You’ve said that inflammation can lead to a heart attack;
won't I cause inflammation when I exercise so hard
that my muscles hurt?
A: Anything that damages tissue can cause inflammation, such as smoking, high
cholesterol or hypertension. When a germ gets into
your body, your immunity produces proteins called antibodies, white blood cells
and cytokines that kill germs. However, as soon as
the germ is gone, your immunity is supposed to shut down. If it doesn’t shut
down, these same factors attack and destroy your body
tissues; this is called inflammation. Inflammation increases risk for heart
attacks, strokes, certain cancers, and diabetes and even
worsens diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma.
Many scientists have expressed concern that hard exercise damages muscles, so it
may turn on inflammation and harm you. However, a
study from Verona, Italy shows that hard exercise does not cause inflammation
(Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, October
25, 2005). It measured C reactive protein, a blood test that indicates
inflammation, and showed that there was no difference in
levels in sedentary people, those who cycle for fitness, competitive
professional bicycle racers and international-class cross
country skiers. So muscle damage from hard exercise does not increase
inflammation.
* Older Exercisers Recover as Fast as Children
As lifelong exercisers age, they find they can’t hit a tennis ball or golf ball
as hard, run as fast, lift as heavy, or perform as
well, whatever their sport. A study from Yokohama City University in Japan shows
that this gradual decline is caused by loss of
muscle strength. However, the most significant finding of the study was that
older men can recover from hard workouts as quickly as
younger men (Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, June 2006). Another
encouraging study in the same journal, from the
University of Southern California in Los Angeles, shows that men over 60 who
exercise regularly are far stronger than their
non-exercising counterparts.
A study from Brock University in Canada also shows that older people can recover
from hard exercise as fast as young children can
(Exercise and Sports Science Reviews, July 2006). The authors feel that previous
studies on the subject are flawed. Since children
cannot exercise at the same intensity as older people can, they do not put as
much stress on their muscles as older people do and
therefore do not suffer as much muscle damage. It is the decreased intensity
causing less muscle damage that allows children to
appear to recover faster from all-out exercise. Children can put only about 60
to 80 percent of the power per weight exerted by
adults. They do not work as hard during intense exercise, evidenced by far less
lactic acid in their blood streams. Children can do
more repeat sets of lifting heavy weights because they do not lift as close to
their maximum as adults do. They can do more
"attempted all out" wind sprints than adults do because they don’t work as close
to their maximum. So the decline in athletic
performance with aging is not caused by failure to recover from hard exercise.
If you are an older athlete who competes in sports, you will be able to recover
from your hard training days as fast as younger
athletes, but you will gradually lose strength, speed and coordination.
Every muscle in your body is made of millions of individual fibers. Each fiber
is enervated by a single nerve that causes it to
contract. With aging, you lose nerve fibers. So with each loss of a nerve fiber,
you lose use of the corresponding muscle fiber and,
with fewer functioning muscle fibers, you lose strength. Coordination drops also
because of the loss of nerve fibers. Since speed
depends on strength, you also lose speed.
However, if you exercise regularly, you enlarge each of the remaining individual
muscle fibers. Even if you have fewer functioning
fibers, the larger individual fibers can generate more force to make you
stronger.
The good news from these studies is that the same training principles apply at
any age. Even if you cannot compete effectively
against younger people, you are likely to find yourself winning age-group
competitions as your peers drop out. If you are not a
regular exerciser, it’s never too late to start.
From Dr. Gabe Mirkin at:
http://www.drmirkin.com/


14. Owner's Manual: Thirty Years of Carbo-loading:
Improved Endurance & Delayed Fatigue.
Thirty years ago, long distance runners added a new tool to their arsenal: an
innovative diet technique termed "carbohydrate
loading." Scientists in Stockholm had demonstrated that high-carb foods eaten
before and during exercise improved endurance and
delayed fatigue. The concept was further developed when the role of glycogen was
defined in endurance sports.
To prepare, the athletes would exercise strenuously for several days while on a
very low-carb diet (less than 10 percent of total
calories), a process called "glycogen stripping." This was followed by two or
three days of a high-carb diet (90 percent) and
minimal exercise. Although it saturated glycogen stores in the liver and muscle,
runners were apprehensive on race day because of
the restrictions on training, and they often experienced heaviness in their
legs, indigestion, hypoglycemia and ketosis. There was
also mounting evidence of adverse effects on the kidney and heart functions of
older runners.
By the 80s, the practice had taken on a gentler quality known as "tapering." The
glycogen depletion phase was eliminated; athletes
reduced their training during the week before the event while maintaining a
moderate-carb diet.
Soon after, it became apparent that the primary stimulus for glycogen repletion
is exercise. Routine training plus three days of
high carbs could fill reserves. Or not. Some athletes resorted to
"loaf-loading," in which they would carbo-load but not exercise at
all during the days preceding the event.
Today, carbohydrate loading has morphed into the common culture of all runners,
if not for the competitive edge, then for the
camaraderie, as the pre-event "carbo-loading dinner" has become part of the
festivities of many marathons.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=9910


15. Tech Report, with Lennard Zinn: The science behind the sport - Part II:
By Lennard Zinn
VeloNews technical writer
Last week (http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/11504.0.html) I
reported on the first day of the Cycling Science Symposium
and Expo at the Hotel Boulderado in Boulder, Colorado.
The conference featured a second day of lectures, followed by a third expo day
at which purveyors of equipment and services for
improving cycling performance offered their products for public view. Tied up by
other commitments, I was unable to attend the expo,
but I did find the second lecture day to be fascinating.
Computer-modeling your muscles
Dan Heil, Ph.D., FACSM, an associate professor of exercise physiology at Montana
State University in Bozeman gave a very interesting
talk about using computer modeling the determine optimal cycling position.
Starting at the level of the sarcomere, building up to
the myofibril to the muscle fiber and finally to a complete skeletal muscle, and
looking at the force versus length curve for each
of these sub-units, Heil explained how torque on a joint applied by a skeletal
muscle could be predicted and modeled.
By understanding these relationships at their most rudimentary levels, he
described how training at different joint angles (i.e.,
changing to a new position on the bike) could change the number of sarcomeres,
which could change the muscle force vs. length curve
and hence the muscle torque vs. joint angle, ultimately changing the ability to
generate power.
Heil described a considerable volume of research focused on the subject of body
position on the bike and efficiency. In his own
work, for example, Heil studied the relationship between hip angle and oxygen
uptake for a rider on a bike.
Heil created computer models of rider hip angle vs. seat-tube angle and how the
optimal position in terms of seat angle, for
instance, could be predicted from research into rider oxygen uptake at various
hip angles. The model can further predict how much
the rider's wind drag varies with seat angle and combine the two to optimize the
chosen saddle position.
More...from Velo News at:
http://www.velonews.com/tech/report/articles/11555.0.html


16. Strength and Endurance - Friends or Foes?
Long discussed, contested, and practiced is the idea of using strength training
to enhance or improve endurance performance. As a
physiologist, coach, former elite triathlete, and strength and conditioning
specialist, I do have some experience in this area. In
fact, I am asked the question of whether endurance athletes should perform
strength training several times each week. I was
involved in research regarding this very topic during my graduate studies - and
no, I can't tell you with 100% scientific back-up
that it is either beneficial or harmful to endurance performance. I can tell
you that for every scientific paper that touts a
benefit of strength training on endurance performance, there is at least one
paper that proves the opposite - that strength training
interferes with improvements in endurance, as well as the converse.
Unfortunately, most of the literature on the topic has missed
the boat in several areas - at least as it applies to serious endurance
athletes.
First, most of the subjects in the studies that have evaluated concurrent
strength and endurance (let's simpify this to S-E
training) have used initially sedentary subjects. To make the leap of faith
that an untrained person will respond in a similar
fashion to a highly trained (or even well-trained) endurance athlete is one that
I'm not ready to make...are you? Second, most
training studies have used very short durations of concurrent training such that
there may not be the actual responses one would
expect with either type of training. It has been shown that during the initial
8 weeks of strength training alone, the primary
improvements in measured strength are due to improved neuromuscular firing and
coordination - not in any real change in the muscle
fibers' ability to produce force. So, most studies 8-weeks long or less out
shouldn't even call themselves studies about strength
training.
We also know that endurance training changes can occur in 8-12 weeks, though
it typically takes 4-6 months of consecutive
training to reach peak endurance performance. To date, there has not been a
study published that has utilized greater than 16-weeks
of concurrent training - most ranged from 8-12 weeks. For me, I'd like to see
what happens over 16-24 weeks to really have a firm
grasp on what actually can and does happen. Another major problem with the
existing research is that the strength protocols are
standard 3 days per week with 3 sets of 10 repetitions performed doing movements
that aren't specific to the sport(s) being trained.
Does anyone really believe that doing bench press is going to improve running
performance? I guess if the running performance
measured is the running of the bulls...then being able to push your fellow
competitors out of the way and avoid getting gored could
be a considered a benefit. In most other running contexts, I can't think of any
potential benefit of being able to push more weight
with the upper body.
More...from Inside Triathlon at:
http://www.insidetri.com/portal/news/news.asp?item=106828


17. This Week in Running:
10 Years Ago- Joseph Kimani (KEN) won the Gasparilla Distance Classic (FL/USA)
15K in 43:11,
some 38 seconds ahead of runner-up Stephenson Nyamu (KEN) at
43:49. Another
48 seconds back came Joseph LeMay (USA) at 44:37. World-record
holder at this
distance, Elana Meyer (RSA) took the women's race by nearly a
minute, clocking
48:48. Next were Joyce Chepchumba (KEN) in 49:42 and Ramilya
Burangulova (RUS)
in 49:58.
20 Years Ago- Mauricio Gonzalez (MEX) won the Miami Orange Bowl (FL/USA) 10K by
one second over
compatriot Marcos Barreto, the two clocked in 28:30 and 28:31
respectively. Ed
Eyestone (USA) was not far back at 28:34. Grete Waitz (NOR) won
the women's race
handily in 32:10, followed by Dorthe Rasmussen (DEN) in 32:44 and
Nanette Davis
(USA) in 33:17.
30 Years Ago- Fernando Fernandez (ESP) won the Cross de San Sebastian (ESP) 10K
by four seconds
over James Brown (SCO). Jonathan Wild (ENG) was another 5
seconds back with
Venanczio Ortis (ITA) next, another six seconds back. Maria
Carmen Valero (ESP)
won her 4th title here by 14 seconds over Joelle deBrouwer (FRA).
Annie vanStiphout
(NED) was 3rd, another second back.
40 Years Ago- Kerry O'Brien (AUS) won an indoor two mile in Boston MA/USA with
a 8:38.4, just
edging Tom Laris (USA) who ran 8:38.8. David Ellis (CAN) was 3rd
in 8:41.2.
50 Years Ago- Jack Barry won the Shanahan Catholic Club (PA/USA) Marathon in
2:31:19. This race is
still being held as the Philadelphia Marathon with a number of
name changes in between.
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.


18. Base Mistakes:
By Matt Russ
A well-designed base training phase is crucial for annual progress, but it is
often taken for granted as the “easy” time of year.
Base is, in fact, the time to address aerobic level fitness, strength, and
technique. To make the most of your base phase, you may
need to dispose of a few myths and rationalizations.
I need a month off. Coming off a peak or an Iron Man race, a good rest is in
order, but total rest is not. Fitness atrophies very
quickly, and 4 weeks off may require up to 8 to 12 weeks to regain the lost
fitness. A transition phase is a much better plan. This
is a time for your body to recover physically and mentally while maintaining a
level of fitness. Some studies have shown training
volume can be reduced by as much as 80%, yet a level of fitness will be
maintained with a well-designed transition phase.
Base=Miles. Training for a distance event such as a marathon or triathlon over
several hours requires a lot of aerobic level miles.
Base training for these events should mean a reduction from peak miles and more
focus on strength, power, and form. Save the long
workouts for the general preparation and race specific phases of training for
these events.
Everyone is in base. Base training is a type of training, not a season. Although
most athletes perform their base training in the
fall and winter, it is not written in stone. In fact, you can return to a
shorter base period later in the season depending on the
structure of your annual training plan. Let your race prioritization dictate the
placement and duration of your base season. Some
athletes do not race well in hot weather and may choose a fall or winter peak.
Group training is great for base. Coaches have a long standing battle with the
group rides. Put a few competitive athletes together
for an easy base ride and it will quickly turn into a criterium. In order for a
training stress to be effective, it must be
accurate. That is not to say you can not train with others, but I recommend
training with a partner or small group that is
like-minded and of similar fitness capacity. Define the workout before you begin
and realize that you may be at different paces from
time to time.
More...from TriFuel at:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/triathlon-training/base-mistakes


19. Suspension Training: How Risky Is It?
NAVY Seals are legendary for their tiptop physical condition, but have you ever
wondered how they stay fighting fit out in the
field?
Aaron Baldwin, 43, who retired in December as a master chief in the Seals, used
to make barbells out of nothing more than plastic
milk jugs, fresh concrete and a sturdy tree branch.
“We’d make one weight and use it until we had to move and start over,” Mr.
Baldwin said.
Things changed in 2002, when a Navy Seal turned entrepreneur sent Mr. Baldwin a
test model of the TRX system, a suspension gadget
made of a pair of straps with handles joined by a metal clasp ring. To set it
up, he only had to wrap the straps around a
freestanding pole or over a thick branch. Strength training became as simple as
placing his feet in stirrups to suspend them off the
ground, then performing dozens of exercises like knee tucks or pushups.
After 45 minutes of so-called suspension training, Mr. Baldwin exhausted his
body from shoulders to calves using just the 170 pounds
of his weight. Better yet, the two-pound straps rolled up to the size of a
military bag lunch.
In the last year suspension training has entered the mainstream after two kinds
of straps landed on the market: TRX and Inkaflexx.
They have attracted the attention of personal trainers and group fitness
directors as strengthening tools that also improve balance
and flexibility. Suspension workouts consist of either hanging the legs or
leaning back while gripping the straps and then
performing a variety of moves.
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/fashion/01Fitness.html?_r=1&ref=fitnessandnutr\
ition&oref=slogin


20. Digest Briefs:
* Physical Activity Improves Mood
Physical activity improves mood and self-esteem and diminishes stress, anxiety
and depression. Running can elevate your mood for up
to four hours afterward
* Training Tip - Consistency
No other determinant of endurance success is as important as consistency. You
can ponder all you want about the complexities of
your training plan, your dietary and supplement plan, your prehab and rehab
plan, your psychology plan, etc. But if you are not
being consistent with your training, diet, rehab, and psychology, then you are
not performing to your potential.
The theory of consistency is easy. Get your training done. Every day. (Within
reason.) The reality of consistency is harder. It's
hard to train on days when you are tired. When work piles up. When the kids
don't sleep.
Consistency in training doesn't mean that you have to train hard every day. It
just means doing something in training that will get
you to where you want to be, every day.
Resolve to be consistent in your training this year. You will improve if you
do.


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.

February 2, 2007:
Millrose Games - New York, NY

February 3, 2007:
East Beach Norfolk Half Marathon - Norfolk, VA

Winterlude Triathlon - Ottawa, ON
*Changed to an 8K run due to lack of snow and ice*

Television - 2006 XTERRA World Championship
CBS 1 PM EST

February 4, 2007:
Beppu-Oita Marathon - Beppu, Japan

February 5-8, 2007:
Running USA 2007 - La Jolla, CA
The National Conference for the Running Industry


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

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

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

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Have a good week of training and/or racing.

Ken Parker
Runner's Web
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