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
those of the Runner's Web. Visit the Runner's Web at http://www.runnersweb.com
The site is updated multiple times daily. Check out
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questions should be posted to one of our forums available
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SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS:
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athletes and clinics related to multisport and
Canadian Olympians.

1. Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women:
** Nicole Stevenson of Toronto, the winner of last year's RunnersWeb5K.com Race
for Women will return this year to defend her title.
Sara Dillabaugh, who placed third last year, has also signed up for this year's
race.**
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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If anyone is looking for a web mail provider, you might wish to consider
Google's GMail. Currently you can get GMail by invitation
only from a current user. My stock of "invites" has been replenished. If you are
interested in getting FREE GMail account, contact
me at: mailto:kparker@... .

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Advertise your event on the Runner's Web.
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Marathons, Races and Triathlons pages.

THIS WEEK:
Our newest affiliate partner is Nike. Visit their site at:
Nike
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000015009821

Women runners: Join Emilie's Run Google Group, an information source for women
runners and Emilie's Run - the Emilie Mondor Memorial
5K Race for Women.
Visit: http://groups.google.com/group/emiliesrun?hl=en

Running Times Magazine will have live, on-site coverage of the BAA Boston
Marathon starting at 9:00am Eastern Daylight Time on
Monday, April 16th. Log on to http://runningtimes.com/boston

The winner in the April Pegasus Quiz was Ed Whitlock of Milton, ON who
identified the photo as Vanderlei de Lima.

I was interviewed for an article in the Toronto Sun by Alison Korn on running
marathons. You can read the article here:
http://ottsun.canoe.ca/Sports/OtherSports/2007/04/02/3896124-sun.html

If you feel you have something to say (related to triathlon or running) that is
worthy of a Guest Column on the Runner's Web, email
us at: mailto:webmaster@... or leave your comments in one of our
Forums at: http://www.runnersweb.com/running/forum.html
or from our FrontPage.

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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

ACTIVE.COM
RunnersWeb.com has teamed up with Active Trainer coaches to offer training
programs that are a balance of aerobic, anaerobic and
cross-training workouts. These training programs are built to get people of all
levels across the finish line. From the first timer
to the seasoned veteran you will find the right training plan for you. Good luck
with your training and we will see you at the
finish line.
Training Log and Analysis:
Log your daily workouts and monitor your progress along the way.
Getting Started:
Set a realistic goal for training. Review the list of training programs
developed by Active Trainer Coaches. Select the program that
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conservative schedule to assure success and
decrease the risk of injury. Plug in the start date or the date of your target
race and go! The schedule will automatically be
entered into your log. It is as simple as that...
Training:
Select the daily email to receive your training by the day or log on to your
account and review the entire schedule. Use the
interactive log to enter in valuable training information. The more information
you enter in your personal log, the better. You will
be able to use this information in the future to evaluate performance, keep
track of what works and what doesn't and stay motivated
to see just how far you've come.
Sign up at: www.RunnersWebCoach.com OR
http://training.active.com/ActiveTrainer/listing.do?listing=51

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

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

* Peak Performance Online
Peak Performance is a subscription-only newsletter for athletes, featuring the
latest research from the sports science world. We
cover the whole range of sports, from running and rowing to cycling and
swimming, and each issue is packed full of exclusive
information for anyone who's serious about sport. It's published 16 times a
year, including four special reports, by Electric Word
plc. Peak Performance is not available in the shops - only our subscribers are
able to access the valuable information we publish.
Check out our article archive from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/PPO_index.html
Visit the PPO site at:
Peak Performance Online:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/cmd.php?af=517509

* Peak Running Performance
Peak Running Is The Nation's Most Advanced Running Newsletter. Rated as the #1
Running Publication by Road Runner Sports (Worlds
Largest Running Store) , Peak Running caters to the serious / dedicated runner.
Delivering world class running advice are some of
running's most recognizable athletes including Dr. Joe Vigil (US Olympic Coach),
Scott Tinley (2 Time Ironman Champ) Steve Scott (3 Time Olympian) and many more.
This bi-monthly newsletter has been around for over
13 years, and in the past two it has been awarded the "Golden Shoe Award" in
recognition of it's outstanding achievements.
http://www.clixGalore.com/Sale.aspx?BID=37234&AfID=103794&AdID=5075&LP=www.peakr\
unningperformance.com
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 will only post notes here regarding running and triathlon topics of interest
to the community.
We have ONE personal posting this week.
ONE:
Runner's Workshop - Motion Matters Physiotherapy Clinic (50$ for Workshop)
Do you like to run? Getting ready for the National Capital Race Weekend? Join
us for a workshop on running Saturday April 14th
7:15 am until NOON (5 classes). This workshop will focus on many different
subjects such as:
1) 7:15am RUN WITH A PHYSIO!
2) 8:00am STRENGTHENING FOR INJURY PREVENTION
3) 9:00am STRETCH FOR INJURY PREVENTION
4) 10:00am CHOOSE THE RIGHT SHOE FOR YOU
5) 11:00am LUNCH WITH A NUTRITIONIST
This well-rounded workshop with professional physiotherapists and kinesiologists
will provide you with great information to excel in
the sport you love, running!
Contact: Motion Matters Front Desk (Press 0)
Phone: 613-247-4343
Email: mailto:info@...
More... at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20070404_Runners_Workshop.html



THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Sports Psychology: Information to help athletes deal with anxiety in training
and competition
2. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine
3. VO2 Max Newsletter by Jason Karp
4. Runner's Fatigue
5. Go Out Fast In Your Next 5K
6. Distance Events: The risks of going long: when the super-fit endurance
athlete turns into the heart attack victim
7. Pompoms, Pyramids and Peril
8. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - - We're All Right
9. No more quick fixes for shin splints
10. All Athletes: Should You Race with a Power Meter?
11. Nutrition: Carbo-loading considered
12. Distance Events: The risks of going long: when the super-fit endurance
athlete turns into the heart attack victim
13. Running on empty
When eating disorders ravage female athletes.
14. The Physiology of Marathon Running
Just What Does Running a Marathon Do to Your Body?
15. Barefoot-like designs challenge footwear conventions
Shoes from Nike and Swiss Masai increase activity of small muscles, which could
trim runners' times or decrease OA pain.
16. Men vs. Women Ð Different Fitness Programs for Different Genders
17. This Week in Running
18. From Running Times
19. VO2 Max- How Big is Your Engine
20. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"What do you think of Boston's qualifying standards?"

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:
How many miles per week did you average prior to your last marathon?
Answers Percent
1. 0 - 39 39%
2. 40 - 49 17%
3. 50 - 59 17%
4. 60 - 69 11%
5. 70 + 17%
6. Have not run a marathon 0%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE WEEK: The Final Sprint.
The Final Sprint (TFS) is a weblog about running, fitness and nutrition that
started in May of 2006. It was founded by Adam Jacobs,
Adam Berger and Doug Berger.
TFS's content includes commentary on: marathons, training, sports nutrition,
NCAA cross country, track and field, weightlifting,
healthy eating, hydration, sports psychology, sports injury prevention,
vitamins, nutritional supplements, running shoes, gear and
apparel. TFS has several regular columns, including: Ask Flash, Success Stories,
SoundOFF and SPOTLIGHT. Their other featured
content includes: podcasts, pump-up iMix's, interviews, product reviews and live
race coverage
Visit the site at:
http://www.thefinalsprint.com


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


BOOK/VIDEO OF THE MONTH: Marathon Woman: Running the Race to Revolutionize
Women's Sports
By Kathrine Switzer
Book Description
Katherine Switzer ran the Boston Marathon in 1967 where she was attacked by one
of the event’s directors who wanted to eject her
from the all-male race. She fought off the director and finished the race.
From the childhood events that inspired her to winning the New York City
Marathon in 1974, this liberally illustrated book details
the struggles and achievements of a pioneering women in sports.
Runner's World:
Kathrine Switzer Has Completed Her Autobiography, "Marathon Woman". The book
will be published by Carroll & Graf. "We will launch at
the Boston Marathon starting on April 12," Switzer has informed her friends. She
became the first woman to officially finish the
Boston Marathon in 1967 after she entered the race as "K. V. Switzer." She later
developed a global women's running circuit for Avon
and campaigned to get a women's marathon in the Olympics. Switzer has been a TV
commentator; she authored "26.2 Marathon Stories"
with her husband, masters running stalwart Roger Robinson.
Order the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0786719672/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. Sports Psychology: Information to help athletes deal with anxiety in training
and competition:
By Michelle Cleere, Sports Psychology Consultant
Note:
Michelle has a sports psychology Q and A on the Runner's Web. Submit your
questions to Michelle at: mailto:SportsMindedMC@...
and we will post her answers on the Runner's Web.
By Michelle Cleere, Sport & Exercise Psychology Consultant
Anxiety is something all athletes deal with at some level. What’s important to
know about anxiety is, where it comes from, its
effects and what to do about it.
Defining anxiety
Anxiety is a negative emotional state characterized by apprehension, worry and
nervousness. Anxiety appears cognitively through
worry and apprehension and it appears somatically through physiological changes
in your body; increased heart rate, increased
respiration, etc.
Anxiety-state versus trait
State anxiety is a temporary, changing emotional state of subjective,
consciously perceived feelings of tension and apprehension.
State anxiety is relative to the event and the elements contained within an
event. Trait anxiety is a behavioral disposition where a
person perceives the circumstances to be threatening that are objectively not
threatening and then responds with disproportionate
state anxiety.
There is a direct correlation between state and trait anxiety. Research has
shown that those who score high on trait anxiety also
experience more state anxiety; although there are exceptions. A highly trait
anxious athlete might be experienced in a particular
situation and for that reason not perceive it as a threat or experience the
corresponding state anxious symptoms. Similarly, high
trait anxious athletes can learn coping skills to reduce the state anxiety they
feel as will be talked about later in this article.
More...from the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news/rw_news_20070403_SM_Anxiety.html


2. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine:
* Exercise Makes Your Brain Larger
Regular exercise makes your brain larger, according to a study from the
University of Illinois (Journal of Gerontology, November
2006). With aging, your brain becomes smaller. This study showed that 60 to
79-year-old men who exercised regularly actually had
their brains grow larger. Study participants who did only a stretching and
toning program had their brains shrink.
If you feel you are losing your ability to reason or think clearly, or if you
suffer mood disorders such as depression, ask your
doctor to do blood tests for homocysteine, folic acid,
pyridoxine and vitamin B12. If these tests are normal, you should get tests for
thyroid function, cholesterol and other causes of
arterial damage.
You can suffer from B12 deficiency even if your blood levels are normal. When
you body lacks B12, your red blood cells do not mature
properly and are much larger than normal, and
homocysteine accumulates in your bloodstream, damaging your arteries and brain
cells. Having low levels of B12 can damage every
nerve in your body including your brain, to make you forgetful and impair your
ability to reason and solve problems. If you are low
on B12, taking folic acid supplements or eating food heavily fortified with
folic acid may cost you IQ points. A study from Tufts
University showed that people who have low blood levels of B12 can suffer nerve
damage, and those who also had high blood levels of
folic acid had far more nerve damage than those with normal levels (American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2007).
Your doctor should also check for diabetes, which can damage blood vessels that
supply the brain, heart and other organs. Diabetics
may suffer loss of memory long before they are diagnosed as having diabetes.
While we await further studies, protect your memory
with a lifestyle that will help you avoid diabetes, heart attacks and strokes.
Control your weight, eat a wide variety of plants,
limit refined carbohydrates and get plenty of exercise.
* Arthroscopic Knee Surgery Is Usually Useless
I have said repeatedly that surgery to trim cartilage in the knee is worthless.
I have seen many patients who have had cartilage
removed by surgeons for an average charge of $5000 and then they must have a
knee replacement several years later. The surgeon must
know about the harm he is doing because he has to see his patients for followup,
when many of them require knee replacement surgery.
Now a report in the New England Journal of Medicine shows that knee surgery to
remove cartilage is worse than doing nothing. The
headline from Baylor Medical School, where the landmark study was performed, is
that "Study Finds Common Knee Surgery No Better Than
Placebo." Patients with osteoarthritis of the knee who underwent placebo
arthroscopic surgery were just as likely to report pain
relief as those who received the real procedure. The researchers say their
results challenge the usefulness of one of the most
common surgical procedures performed for osteoarthritis of the knee. Lead
investigator Dr. Elda P. Way states, "The fact that the
effectiveness of arthroscopic lavage or debridement in patients with
osteoarthritis of the knee is no greater than that of placebo
surgery makes us question whether the one billion plus dollars spent on these
procedures might not be put to better use,"
In the study, 180 patients with knee pain were randomized into three groups. One
group received debridement, in which worn, torn, or
loose cartilage is cut away and removed with the aid of a pencil-thin viewing
tube called an arthroscope. The second group underwent
arthroscopic lavage, in which loose cartilage is flushed out. The third group
underwent simulated arthroscopic surgery; small
incisions were made, but no instruments were inserted and no cartilage removed.
The people who did not have surgery on their
cartilage did better than the people who had some of their cartilage removed.
In the United States, more than 650,000 arthroscopic debridement or lavage
procedures are performed each year, at a cost of about
$5,000 each. The knee is just two sticks held together by four bands called
ligaments. Bones are soft, so the ends of bones are
covered with a hard gristle called cartilage. Cartilage serves as a padding to
protect the ends of bones. Once cartilage is broken,
it can never heal. And once you break a small amount of cartilage in your knee,
your knee cartilage can never fit together properly,
and every time you put force on the knee, you break off more cartilage.
When surgeons remove cartilage, they leave less cartilage than the person had
before the surgery. Eventually the knee joint runs out
of cartilage and when bone rubs on bone, it hurts all the time and a person must
have a knee replacement just to be able to sleep at
night. Surgery to remove cartilage just hastens knee replacement. On the other
hand, doctors can replace torn ligaments, which
stabilizes the knee joint. They can remove a loose piece that is blocking the
movement of the joint. People with loose cartilage
have sudden locking of the knee when they walk or the cannot fully straighten or
bend their knees.
As a result of this study and my own impression from treating hundreds of
damaged knees, I recommend that you do not get knee
surgery unless you have a torn ligament that needs to be repaired or you have
sudden locking of the knee during walking or you
cannot fully straighten or bend you knee. Otherwise surgery is likely to hasten
your need for another surgery, knee replacement.

From Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine at:
http://www.drmirkin.com/


3. VO2 Max Newsletter by Jason Karp:
* Breaking Plateaus
Now that we're in to the fourth month of the year, many of you may be struggling
with plateaus. As a runner, I admit it's easy to
get stuck in a rut. You get used to doing the same workouts, the same number of
weekly miles. Sometimes, it's hard to do more
mileage, more speedwork. But if you want to improve your performance, you have
to increase your training. If your training stays
the same, don't expect your races to get faster. The human body is very good at
adapting to stress when that stress is applied is
small doses, but it also does something annoying--it habituates. To get faster,
stronger, and break through plateaus, gradually and
systematically increase the amount of training stress. Do this in other areas
of your life, too. Make a commitment to yourself to
be more productive, to do more, to be more. And break through plateaus.
* Order in the Gym
If today is your day to focus on biceps, you better train them first. The
performance of both large- and small-muscle group
exercises is affected by the order you do them. A study published in Journal of
Strength and Conditioning Research, in which
trained women performed a series of exercises and then performed them in the
opposite order 48 hours later, found that the women
completed fewer repetitions (when lifting 3 sets at 80% one-rep max) for the
bench press, seated machine shoulder press, seated
machine triceps
extension, leg press, leg extension, and leg curl when the exercise is performed
later in the sequence. The rating of perceived
exertion, however, is not affected by the order of the exercises.
* To view past newsletters go to: http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter
Copyright Jason Karp All Rights Reserved - http://www.runcoachjason.com


4. Runner's Fatigue:
-Jim Brown for Core Performance
As you watch the Boston Marathon on Monday and contemplate your own running
regime, it will become clear to you that fatigue is a
companion of the distance runner. You can enter an uneasy bond with it, you can
deny it or you can figure out ways to perform well,
in spite of fatigue’s effects on the body.
In their book Running Within, authors Jerry Lynch, Ph.D., and Warren Scott,
M.D., suggest ways to cope with fatigue during training
and competition. Their primary message is: “don’t force.” Fighting fatigue just
causes tension and frustration that compound the
problem.
Think Small
Lynch and Scott offer several alternatives for coping with fatigue. The first is
to focus on small, manageable segments of a race.
“Tell yourself,” they advise, “I’ll just do this next loop or next mile or the
next stretch.” Mentally break up your race into
pieces and think about fitting all the pieces into a project that you are trying
to complete. Re-evaluate your condition at the
beginning or end of each segment.
Read Signals
The second strategy is to listen to your body and take cues from it. Instead of
disassociating themselves from the task by thinking
about anything but running, elite competitors use feedback provided by markers
of fatigue to adjust their stride, alter their pace,
and correct other technical mistakes. Their body computers put out data used to
make changes. Concentrating on the task at hand
prevents them from being distracted by pain.
Practice Reacting
The third mental tactic is a familiar theme espoused by sports psychologists.
Use mental images—visualize—to stimulate the body to
perform at a high level in spite of the negative forces caused by fatigue. Lynch
and Scott suggest that you can practice reactions
to fatigue
as part of the training program. How do you do this? “Visualize running
smoothly, effortlessly and full of energy. Imagine the
tightness
in the shoulders dissipating as you relax and drop your arms for thirty
seconds.” In other words, rehearse dealing with fatigue
during training sessions so you will be ready to put a plan in action during
competition. This one may take a while to embrace and
perfect.
More...from adidias.com at:
http://www.adidas.com/campaigns/usrunning/content/assets/training/pdfs/g_runer_f\
atigue.pdf


5. Go Out Fast In Your Next 5K:
To run your best 5-K, new research suggests a more aggressive approach
By Ed Eyestone
The surest way to blow a 5-K is to start too fast. But just how fast is too
fast?
Researchers from the University of New Hampshire examined the effect of
different pacing strategies on 5-K performance. Their
subjects were 11 female runners from the school's cross-country team, who
trained an average of 35 miles per week and had 5-K PRs
ranging from 18 to 21 minutes. After running two 5-K time trials to establish a
baseline pace, the subjects then completed three
more 5-Ks using decidedly different pacing strategies: The subjects ran the
first mile of each race either equal to, three percent
faster, or six percent faster than their established baseline pace per mile.
After the first mile, the subjects could change their
pace to finish as quickly as possible.
The results surprised everyone familiar with the go-out-easy approach. Eight of
the 11 women ran their best 5-K times (averaging
20:39) when they ran the first mile six percent faster than their baseline pace.
The other three subjects posted their best times
(20:52) going out three percent faster than baseline pace. The even-paced
runners produced the slowest times, averaging 21:11. The
faster-starting women did slow down more during the race, but the even-paced
runners simply couldn't make up the time lost in a
slower start.
So how is it that these runners achieved their best times by logging their first
mile a seemingly suicidal 26 seconds faster than
their predicted 5-K pace? According to the study, at the end of the first mile,
the even-paced runners were at only 78 percent of
their VO2 max, an effort level more akin to a tempo run than a 5-K race--below
their potential. The three-percent and six-percent
faster starts put the subjects at 82 and 83 percent of VO2 max after the first
mile, which is closer to the intensity you'd expect
from an experienced runner racing the first mile of a 5-K.
So should we all go out as fast as possible in every race? Not exactly.
Moderately trained runners may benefit from a faster start
because they're probably not starting fast enough in the first place. The
researchers suggest that their study findings are probably
most applicable to competitive open and master's division runners, not elites
who already know how best to push themselves right
from the gun or beginners who totally lack a sense of pacing. And even
competitive runners shouldn't try the go-out-fast strategy in
longer races, when other variables become more important than first-mile
pace--like, say, finishing another 25.2 miles.
Want to know what your best 5-k pace is? Try This Calculator:
http://www.runnersworld.com/pacecalc/
From www.RunnersWorld.com.


6. Distance Events: The risks of going long: when the super-fit endurance
athlete turns into the heart attack victim:
About 1 in 50,000: if you run marathons or participate in other forms of
exercise which last for three hours or more, that's your
approximate risk of suffering an acute heart attack or sudden cardiac death
during - or within 24 hours of - your effort. For every
50,000 athletes, one will be stricken during such prolonged activity(1). Running
a marathon or cycling intensely for three hours is
riskier than taking a commercial airline flight, even in these troubled times!
You might think we shouldn't make such a claim in a newsletter which appeals to
serious competitors, including a large number of
marathon runners. But at Peak Performance our job is to provide you with all the
facts about your sport, not just the pretty ones.
The truth is that marathon runners, ironman triathletes and long-distance
cyclists, swimmers, rowers and cross-country skiers are
all in the same boat. In fact, any athlete who participates in a strenuous test
of endurance lasting about three hours or more has
an increased chance of dying during - and for 24 hours following - the exertion,
even when the athlete's chance of a death-door
knock is compared with the risk incurred by a cigarette-smoking, sedentary
layabout who spends the same 24 hours drinking beer and
watching TV. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, but the heightened
risks of a visit from the Grim Reaper are unsettling to
most athletes, especially those who exercise in the hope of improving
cardiovascular and overall health.
To find out why strenuous exercise temporarily increases the risk of death,
researchers at the University of Innsbruck in Austria
recently studied 38 male participants in the 1999 Tyrolean Otztaler Radmarathon,
a cycling race which covers 230k, with an altitude
change of 5,500m. The Radmarathon is often said to be comparable in difficulty
to the hardest mountain stages of the Tour de France
(2).
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0679.htm


7. Pompoms, Pyramids and Peril:
Cheerleaders suffer more catastrophic injuries than athletes in all other sports
combined.
For decades, they stood by safe and smiling, a fixture on America’s sporting
sidelines. But today’s young cheerleaders, who perform
tricks once reserved for trapeze artists, may be in more peril than any female
athletes in the country.
Emergency room visits for cheerleading injuries nationwide have more than
doubled since the early 1990s, and the rate of
life-threatening injuries has startled researchers. Of 104 catastrophic injuries
sustained by female high school and college
athletes from 1982 to 2005 — head and spinal trauma that occasionally led to
death — more than half resulted from cheerleading,
according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research. All
sports combined did not surpass cheerleading.
New acrobatic maneuvers have turned cheerleaders into daredevils. And while the
sport has retained its sense of glamour, at dozens
of competitions around the country, knee braces and ice bags affixed to ankles
and wrists have become accouterments as common as
mascara.
With more than 4 million participants cheering at everything from local youth
football games to the limelight of the N.C.A.A.
basketball tournament, female cheerleaders now commonly do tricks atop pyramids
or are tossed 20 feet in the air to perform twists
and flips. If all goes well, the airborne cheerleader, known as the flier, is
caught by other cheerleaders. But not always.
Jessica Smith, an 18-year-old cheerleader at Sacramento City College, broke her
neck in two places five months ago when a botched
stunt dropped her headfirst from a height of about 15 feet.
“They make you sign a medical release when you join a cheerleading team,” Smith
said in a telephone interview last week. “They ought
to tell the girls that they are signing a death waiver.”
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/30/sports/31cnd-cheerleader.html?_r=1&oref=slogin


8. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - We're All Right:
Opinions are like noses. Everybody has one -- and needs one. A nose is necessary
for sniffing out what's right for us, as is an
opinion.
So when Roy Benson wrote (see RC 668) that his "coachly frustrations surface
when I see you and other experts giving general advice
based only on your own experience," I took no offense. I've never pretended that
my nose led me places where everyone else should
go.
The only way I would amend Roy's statement is to remove "only," because that
qualifier trivializes opinions. I value them, both mine
and those of dissenters.
I also took no umbrage when Jeff Johnson suggested last week that the long, slow
distance running (LSD) was responsible for the dip
in U.S. racing performances in general, and high school mile times in
particular. I've heard often since writing an LSD book in 1969
that I was responsible for a "dumbing down" of the sport -- to use Jeff's term.
Others have said, "The only thing long, slow distance produces is long, slow
runners." My answer: better a slow run than NO run.
I'd like to accept blame for LSD's alleged sins, because then I could also take
credit for bringing more slower runners into the
sport. The fact is, though, that my work was a ripple in a tidal wave of change
already starting to sweep the sport back then. I was
riding that tide, not pushing it.
Sales of that book totaled less than one-tenth of a percent of those for Jim
Fixx's blockbuster that came out a few years later. By
then LSD was already out of print and would never come back. The people who
still remember it, critically or otherwise, probably
never read any of it.
I never said in the book that LSD was the best way or the only way to train. The
book's second paragraph stated that it "contains a
simple report of experiences [of myself and five other runners] from which you
can draw your own conclusions, agree or disagree."
If only all of my personal experiences and opinions could be labeled so clearly.
Every piece of my advice should start with a
disclaimer, published or remembered: "What follows may apply to many of you, a
few of you or only to the writer -- but never to
everyone."
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2104


9. No more quick fixes for shin splints:
Running can be a person's greatest joy... or biggest pain. The tremendous impact
running places on the joints, muscles and bones
requires your body to be in proper alignment.
If you run regularly, you may find that you sometimes develop a dull ache on the
inside lower portion of your shin. It may get worse
the more you run, walk or stand. Chances are you have a case of shin splints.
If you are one of the multitudes of recreational runners who has suffered from
this very common overuse injury -- you know firsthand
how painful the condition is and how frustrating recovery can be.
Many runners consider shin splints to be one of the most painful and persistent
conditions they can develop. Although the pain
associated with it is due to chronic contraction of the muscle at the front of
the leg (tibialis anterior), the cause of shin
splints is usually related to improper biomechanics of the foot and knee.
Such a situation can cause a twisting of the shin bone, forcing the tibialis
anterior muscle to work much harder than necessary.
This twisting is called tibial torsion, and if left untreated can cause
significant damage to the meniscus, the cartilage pad of the
knee.
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13810&sidebar=13


10. All Athletes: Should You Race with a Power Meter?
In the February e-Tips, Joe Friel wrote about the benefits of buying a power
meter for cyclists and triathletes. I wanted to expand
on one of the benefits Joe only briefly emphasized—racing with a power meter.
I find all too often that athletes leave the power meter at home on weekends
when they are racing. It seems most power meters are
only used within training, which is a real shame since one of the best ways to
make the most of your power meter purchase is to race
with it. If you aren't racing with a power meter here is what you are missing.
Let me first start by describing the experience I had in February at the Tour of
California professional bike race. I had the
pleasure of following the event and helping out three teams who are sold on the
value of racing with power. The professional teams
Predictor-Lotto (Belgium), T-Mobile (Germany) and the USA National Cycling Team
all provided power meters to their athletes to race
with during this event. The team coaches and doctors realized the enormous
amount of data they could collect within this eight-day
stretch of racing. This would provide an ideal opportunity to collect data that
would quantify the exact demands of the race, and
also paint a complete picture of the athlete's current fitness.
Racing is the ultimate real-world test. Knowing the demands of the sport is the
first step toward designing an effective training
program. After all, isn't the point of training to adapt to the demands of the
event? How many watts does it take to finish the race
or to make the front group over the climb? If you are a road racer this is a
crucial number to know that heart rate can't tell you.
Heart rate in fact becomes even more valuable (another one of Joe's points from
last month's article) once you know the workload it
took to signal the heart to pump at a certain level.
More...from UltraFit at:
http://www.ultrafit.com/newsletter/march07.html#AA



11. Nutrition: Carbo-loading considered:
Serious athletes who train strenuously for many hours a day and participate in
premier sporting events use carbohydrates to
fine-tune their performance. Fine-tuning is achieved by means of a process
called carbo-loading.
Glycogen is a compound used by the body to store carbohydrate or readily
available fuel in the liver and muscles. These carbohydrate
stores are not extensive and are easily depleted if the athlete does not
replenish them thoroughly before an event.
Carbo-loading is undertaken to prevent the following:
* too rapid depletion of glycogen stores in the liver and muscles;
* development of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels) during exercise.
The above-mentioned factors can cause fatigue and poor performance. It is,
therefore, in the best interest of any serious athlete to
ensure that his or her glycogen stores are optimally filled before an event.
Carbo-loading before an event
a) Non-endurance events
Events that last for 60 to 90 minutes can be classed as non-endurance events.
According to Burke and Deakin (2000), an athlete can
normalise his glycogen stores by resting for a period of 24 hours and ingesting
between 7 and 10 g of carbohydrate per kg of body
weight per day.
An athlete weighing 70 kg would need to eat 490 to 700 g of carbohydrate for at
least 1 to 1,5 days before a non-endurance event to
refuel his glycogen stores adequately. This is a large amount of carbohydrate to
ingest and many athletes fail to meet this
recommendation.
More...from Health 24 at:
http://www.health24.com/fitness/Specific_Sports/16-2175-2180-2195,27898.asp


12. Distance Events: The risks of going long: when the super-fit endurance
athlete turns into the heart attack victim:
About 1 in 50,000: if you run marathons or participate in other forms of
exercise which last for three hours or more, that's your
approximate risk of suffering an acute heart attack or sudden cardiac death
during - or within 24 hours of - your effort. For every
50,000 athletes, one will be stricken during such prolonged activity(1). Running
a marathon or cycling intensely for three hours is
riskier than taking a commercial airline flight, even in these troubled times!
You might think we shouldn't make such a claim in a newsletter which appeals to
serious competitors, including a large number of
marathon runners. But at Peak Performance our job is to provide you with all the
facts about your sport, not just the pretty ones.
The truth is that marathon runners, ironman triathletes and long-distance
cyclists, swimmers, rowers and cross-country skiers are
all in the same boat. In fact, any athlete who participates in a strenuous test
of endurance lasting about three hours or more has
an increased chance of dying during - and for 24 hours following - the exertion,
even when the athlete's chance of a death-door
knock is compared with the risk incurred by a cigarette-smoking, sedentary
layabout who spends the same 24 hours drinking beer and
watching TV. The reasons for this are not entirely clear, but the heightened
risks of a visit from the Grim Reaper are unsettling to
most athletes, especially those who exercise in the hope of improving
cardiovascular and overall health.
To find out why strenuous exercise temporarily increases the risk of death,
researchers at the University of Innsbruck in Austria
recently studied 38 male participants in the 1999 Tyrolean Otztaler Radmarathon,
a cycling race which covers 230k, with an altitude
change of 5,500m. The Radmarathon is often said to be comparable in difficulty
to the hardest mountain stages of the Tour de France
(2).
More....from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0679.htm


13. Running on empty:
When eating disorders ravage female athletes.
Willing herself to finish a suicide sprint at practice, Jane, a senior, clutches
her throbbing temple. Her concerned teammates'
blurry faces bob before her eyes. Her legs stagger, then buckle as she loses
consciousness. When she comes to a few seconds later,
Jane's mother is standing over her with a popsicle in hand. Jane consumes the
popsicle and feels her blood sugar spike back up,
replenishing some of her energy and relieving not a case of dehydration, but
malnutrition; Jane had eaten nothing but a pear that
day.
Jane suffers from anorexia nervosa, a potentially life-threatening eating
disorder that, as defined by the National Eating Disorders
Association (NEDA), is characterized by self-starvation and excessive weight
loss. A study of NCAA Division I female athletes
conducted in 1999 by Craig Johnson, Director of the Eating Disorders Program at
Laureate Psychiatric Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma,
showed that 13 percent of female collegiate athletes display signs of anorexia
or bulimia. The same survey revealed that another 36
percent of female collegiate athletes are at a high risk for an eating disorder
because of their attitudes and habits toward food.
Conversely, only 0.5 to 1 percent of American women suffer from anorexia, and
only 1 to 2 percent suffer from bulimia, according to
NEDA. NEDA defines bulimia as a cycle of binging and compensatory behaviors such
as self-induced vomiting designed to undo the
effects of binge eating.
More...from Silver Chips Online at:
http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/inside.php?sid=7380


14. The Physiology of Marathon Running:
Just What Does Running a Marathon Do to Your Body?
by Jake Emmett, Ph.D.
Running a marathon has been viewed, and still is by many, as too extreme to be
healthy. Certainly, the physical stress of running a
marathon played some role in not holding a women's Olympic marathon race until
1984. On the flip side, casual runners think that if
a pampered celebrity can run a marathon, it can't be all that strenuous. While
marathon running is far from damaging, it should be
respected for the physiological stress inflicted over its 26.2 miles.
For example, running a five-minute-per-mile marathon requires a 15-fold increase
in energy production for over two hours. Even
runners who finish in over four hours maintain a 10-fold increase in their
metabolism. Such extended energy demands require the
cardiorespiratory, endocrine, and neuromuscular systems to operate at an
elevated level for an inordinate length of time. It is no
wonder then that the story of Pheidippides and his marathon run to Athens easily
grew into a tragic tale about how running a
marathon killed the first person to do so. Fortunately, scientists have
researched the physiological stresses of running a marathon.
The findings from such studies can help potential marathon runners better
appreciate what they will be up against and remind
seasoned marathon runners just how amazing the human body is.
SUDDEN DEATH
The physiology on marathon running starts with Pheidippides, who reputedly ran
from the plains of Marathon to the city of Athens to
report the victory of the Athenian army over the Persians. Upon his arrival,
Pheidippides exclaimed, "Rejoice, we conquer" and
dropped dead-or did he? The accuracy of this account has been questioned by
modern scholars (Martin and Gynn 2000); however, the
unfortunate outcome of Pheidippides is manifested in a few marathon runners
every year. Just how stressful to the human body is
running a marathon? This and other questions regarding marathon running were
addressed at The Marathon: Physiological, Medical,
Epidemiological, and Psychological Studies conference in 1976. The boldest
theory regarding marathon running was made by Dr. Tom
Bassler (1977), who suggested that the stress of running a marathon built
immunity to the development of fatty deposits within
coronary arteries. In other words, running a marathon prevents coronary artery
disease (CAD). Bassler compared marathon runners to
the heart-disease-free Masai warriors and Tarahumara Indians in that they all
maintain active lifestyles, eat healthy diets, and
have enlarged and wide-bore coronary arteries.
After reviewing the cause of death in marathon runners from the previous 10
years, Bassler claimed that "there have been no reports
of fatal, histologically proven, [CAD] deaths among 42K men." While he noted
that some runners have died while running marathons, he
concluded that these deaths were due to other factors such as nonatherosclerotic
heart diseases (such as myocarditis or coronary
spasms), congenital abnormalities, hyperthermia, or undertraining. To his
credit, Bassler also acknowledged that a low-fat diet and
abstention from smoking play important roles in developing immunity to heart
disease. Bassler concluded that whether running a
marathon offered absolute protection from CAD would be proven within the
following 10 years.
At the same conference, Bassler's claim was refuted with four documented cases
of marathon runners who had died from CAD (Noakes et
al. 1977).
More...from Marathon and Beyond at:
http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/emmett.htm


15. Barefoot-like designs challenge footwear conventions:
Shoes from Nike and Swiss Masai increase activity of small muscles, which could
trim runners' times or decrease OA pain.
By: Jordana Bieze Foster
The idea of going barefoot means different things to different people. To some,
the absence of footwear means one less barrier
between man and nature, feeling the warmth of sand between one's toes or the
coolness of dewy grass tickling one's soles. To others,
it means one less layer of protection from the heat of a sun-scorched sidewalk,
the bits of broken glass lurking in the sand or the
animal droppings that help keep the grass so green. Some think of going barefoot
as losing not just protection, but also the
stability and cushioning that footwear provide. And some think of it as an
opportunity to use muscles in the foot that would
otherwise lie fallow.
As one might expect, there aren't a lot of footwear manufacturers in the last
category. But two shoe designs, the Nike Free and the
Masai Barefoot Technology shoe from Swiss Masai, are now being marketed to
individuals who want the benefits of going barefoot-both
the feeling of freedom and the biomechanical challenge-along with some degree of
protection. Research confirms that both shoes alter
gait patterns and increase muscle activity. It remains to be seen, however,
whether those changes result in injury prevention or
improved performance. Practitioners and research also remain unclear as to just
which athletes or patients might benefit from the
use of the footwear, and for which individuals the unorthodox designs might pose
a risk.
Barefoot background
Barefoot running, made famous by such athletes as trackster Zola Budd and
marathoners Abebe Bikila and Charlie "Doc" Robbins, not
only has something of a cult following among hard-core runners but also has long
been used as a training tool by coaches. And
barefoot walking isn't just for the beach any more, judging from the number of
Web sites extolling the delights of shedding shoes
for everything from driving to hiking.
Given this level of popularity, surprisingly few recent studies have
specifically examined the biomechanics of barefoot walking or
running-with much of what is known in this area dating back more than a decade.
A February 1985 study published in Medicine and
Science in Sports & Exercise found that barefoot running was more economical
than shod running in terms of aerobic cost, and was
associated with less angular displacement of the knee. In the April 1987 issue
of MSSE, Canadian researchers documented that
barefoot running was characterized by deflection of the medial longitudinal arch
not seen in shod runners. An April 1991 study by
Swiss researchers, published in the same journal, reported that running shoes
decreased torsion angles and increased pronation
angles compared to running barefoot, but those results were disproven in a
November 2000 study that used more accurate marker
placements. The follow-up study, published in the Journal of Biomechanics, found
no significant differences in calcaneal or tibial
movement between barefoot and shod running.
More...from BioMechanics at:
http://www.biomech.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=197004647


16. Men vs. Women Ð Different Fitness Programs for Different Genders:
Michele Kettles, M.D., M.S.P.H.
When opportunities for women to participate in organized sports became more
plentiful after Title IX legislation, sports-related
merchandise for women started to appear. At first, traditional men's equipment
and clothing was simply colored pink and sold as
women's gear. But as it became clear women were more prone to injuries,
especially knee, ankle and foot injuries, some sports
companies realized women aren't just small men - they are different in several
ways.
Examining the Differences
Research at these companies and in the academic realm revealed significant
differences in anatomy, physiology, and psychosociology
that affect female performance. Thus, an entire industry was spawned that caters
to women's health and fitness needs. A quick search
of the Internet will reveal women-specific bikes, tennis racquets, running
shoes, kayaks, and more. Is all this really necessary?
In short, yes! There are important physiological differences between men and
women. For example, women typically have 10 percent
more body fat than men, 30 to 50 percent less upper-body strength, smaller
hearts and smaller muscle fibers. Therefore, it is
important for women to have their own fitness equipment and be advised about
proper exercise programs tailored just for them.
Programs Should Vary With Age
Fitness has an important role in helping prevent or manage almost every chronic
disease women face, including cardiovascular
disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, obesity, arthritis, osteoporosis, and
depression. The amount and type of exercise women engage in
vary with each stage of life. Recognizing the physical, mental, emotional, and
social challenges women face during transition
periods helps encourage self-awareness and provides critical insights for health
advisors.
The specific components of a balanced fitness program - cardiovascular fitness,
muscular strength and endurance, and flexibility -
vary in importance as we age. Adolescent girls and young women have different
needs than their mothers and grandmothers do. The
exercise programs of younger females should focus on them as a whole and make
exercise fun. Increasing flexibility and muscular
strength during menopause and beyond will help improve functionality, balance
and reduce the risk for fractures.
Michele Kettles, M.D., M.S.P.H., is a physician and specialist in internal and
preventive medicine at Cooper Clinic. Dr. Kettles
co-authored Women's Health and Fitness Guide (Human Kinetics, 2006) and she has
a special medical interest in osteoporosis. To
schedule an appointment at Cooper Clinic, call 972-560-2667.
For more health articles visit www.CooperComplete.com


17. This Week in Running:
10 Years Ago- Paul Tergat (KEN) won the Giro Medio Blenio (SUI) 10K by 14
seconds over Bernard
Barmasai (KEN), 28:19 to 28:33. Paul Kosgei (KEN) was 3rd in
28:40. Lydia Cheromei
(KEN) won the women's 5K in 15:43, more than 30 seconds ahead of
Sally Barsosio (KEN)
who ran 16:15 and Florence Barsosio (KEN) in 16:26.
20 Years Ago- John Gregorek (USA) won the Kodak AAA Road Champs (ENG) 10K in
28:14. Arturo Barrios
(MEX) followed in 28:16 while Jack Buckner won the ENG title in
3rd with 28:18.
Christine Benning took the women's (5K) race and title with a
15:47. Jane Shields
(ENG) and Angela Tooby (WAL) rounded out the top three with 15:51
and 16:03 respectively.
30 Years Ago- Mohamed Kedir (ETH) won the Stramilano (ITA) Half Marathon with a
1:03:26. Edmundo
Warnke (CHI) was 2nd in 1:03:36 and Yohannes Mohamed (ETH) was
3rd in 1:03:42.
Silvana Cruciata (ITA) won the women's race in 1:22:05.
40 Years Ago- Nothing of note in the ARRS database.
50 Years Ago- Nothing of note in the ARRS database.
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. From Running Times:
* Training Tip of the Month - Returning to Action
Your training and racing are going great. You've just set a new PR by a few
seconds, and there are still several weeks left in the
season until it's time for your peak performances. Oops.....what was that? A
slap upside the head by the mean old Crash Fairy? Nope,
it wasn't. You're not down with a stress fracture. It was just a visit by the
Health Goddess warning you to take a few days off
before this mild case of shin splints gets serious and cracks your tibia.
Something like this ever happened to you? Have you ever had to miss 4 or 5 days
due to a minor strain or an illness like the stomach
flu? If so, you know you've worried about what happened to that super level of
fitness you were enjoying. Has it flown off on a
tailwind leaving you breathless? Well, hardly. And here's what you need to do to
prove to yourself that you feel fine and are ready
before returning fully to your battle plan.
On your first day back, just be sure that you're not going to relapse. Jog 3 or
4 miles. Then spend lots of time stretching, running
a few strides and doing strength work so that the day feels like a "real"
workout. All this will help you get back what I call your
"bio-mechanical momentum." This is just the feeling of what it's like to run
again; it's not a test of your fitness. That comes the
next day when you do an interval workout something like this:
12 x 400 in 3 sets of 4 repeats as follows.
Set 1. at your last race pace per 400 plus 30 sec with a 100 meter jog interval
Set 2. at race pace plus 15 sec with 200m jog
Set 3. at race pace with a 300m jog
For example, if the pace of your last race pace was 75 seconds per 400, you
would do the first set of 400's in 1:45. Then Set 2
would be 90 sec with the last set obviously in 75 sec.
I hope this example sounds ridiculously easy, because that is exactly the point.
The first part of the workout is deliberately easy
in order to keep you from turning your first workout back after a layoff into a
disastrous example of positive split running. Why is
this so important? Because if you let your anxieties jack you up too high and
then combine that nervous energy with the probably
unexpected freshness in your legs due to the enforced rest, you will wind up
with the worst case in history of lead legs over the
last part of the workout. Then what will happen to your confidence?
So never, ever try to test your return to combat before tricking yourself into
feeling absolutely super at the end of your first
workout. Do NOT try to pick up where you left off. Do that on the second workout
and you'll probably run faster than before the
short layoff.
And finally, if the above comeback workout seems absolutely beneath your vaunted
prowess, just save everything until those last 4
repeats. Then try running each one a few to several seconds faster. Talk about
using a negative to make something positive. Your
confidence will be so high that you'll never remember the doubts that crept in
while you were off doing nothing except feeling sorry
for yourself.
Miles of smiles,
Coach Roy Benson
* Medical Corner - Ibuprofen and Injury Prevention
Q: It is well known that taking ibuprofen can reduce the pain for injuries, but
is there any proof that taking this on a regular
basis can help to prevent injuries?
A: Ibuprofen belongs to a class of drugs known as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs (NSAIDs). These medications are helpful in
relieving pain and may speed recovery from certain injuries, such as muscle
contusions (bruises). Ibuprofen does not prevent
injuries.
Side effects of ibuprofen include stomach ulcers, kidney damage, and, less
commonly, liver damage. NSAIDs cause a decrease in blood
flow to the kidneys; this in conjunction with dehydration raises a major concern
about kidney damage in athletes.
--Dr. Cathy Fieseler
From the Running Times Newsletter at:
http://www.runningtimes.com


19. VO2 Max- How Big is Your Engine:
Sports technology, like any other, eventually trickles down to the masses.
Amateur athletes now have access to some of the same
testing and evaluation processes that the pros do. However, this testing can be
complicated and confusing to the athlete. It must be
administered by a coach or a professional who not only understands the science,
but can explain how to apply it to an athlete’s
training.
VO2 max testing is one example of this technology. There are now units
available that can test an athlete’s VO2 for a fraction of
the cost of clinical testing available a few years ago. Be careful though; not
all means of testing are accurate and the testing
protocol and administration are very important. Some machines attempt to
extrapolate VO2 by various methods and these can be very
inaccurate. An inaccurate test is of little value to an athlete. Be sure to ask
what the variance is when compared to other clinical
methods or metabolic “cart” testing that measures both CO2 and O2.
So what is this VO2 max everyone is talking about? Simply put, it tells you how
big of an “engine” you have in your “car”. It can be
expressed in two ways; absolute or by comparison. Your absolute VO2 is the
volume of oxygen your body can take in and process. This
is expressed in liters. A better value for comparison of athletes is in
milliliters, per kilogram, per minute (ml/kg/min). This is
the volume of oxygen the body uses per kilogram of body weight during one minute
of exercise at a maximal level. There are various
factors that affect your max VO2, none the least of which is training, but it is
largely a genetic number. Like a lot of performance
characteristics, you can thank (or blame) your parents for your aerobic
capacity. It is roughly 20-30% trainable. A deconditioned
individual or beginner will see the sharpest increase in VO2 max in their first
season, while a seasoned veteran may have to work
much harder to see any improvement. Max VO2 does degrade with age and usually
starts to drop off after the age of 40, perhaps a bit
later for women. Conditioned athletes usually range from 40 to 60 ml/kg/min. An
athlete over 70 would be considered very
exceptional. Lance Armstrong is said to have been tested in the high 80’s.
More...from the Sport Factory at:
http://thesportfactory.com/site/trainingnews/VO2_Max-_How_Big_is_Your_Engine.sht\
ml


20. Digest Briefs:
* Basic training: Glute tightener
Set up: Start on your hands and knees.
Step 1: Maintain a 90-degree angle with your knee while lifting your leg until
the thigh is parallel with the upper body.
Step 2: Hold for 5 seconds and lower the knee back down to the mat.
Repeat 10 times and switch legs. Keep your neck aligned with your back and
exhale with each lift.
This exercise works your hips and thighs to give them a more toned and shapely
look.
* Gear Test
How Dry I’m Not (Sip, Sip)
FOR marathoners on hour-plus training runs, carrying water is a dilemma. A belt
of small flasks gives a runner variety — water in an
eight-ouncer, Powerade in another — but it lacks pockets. A single 20- or
32-ounce bottle holster bounces.
Another option worth trying is a waist pack with a built-in reservoir and a
drinking tube. A runner sucks or bites down on the
tube’s valve for a swig. The latest innovation is a retractable tube that
doesn’t get in a runner’s way or bang against legs. Most
hands-free waist-mounted hydration packs also offer storage for keys or energy
gels.
“Runners can be intimidated by bladder packs at first, but then they realize how
much easier they are to use than bottles — it’s
like sucking on a straw,” said Dave Harkin, who with his wife, Paula, owns the
Portland Running Company in Oregon.
To give the latest bladder packs a try, Steve Smucker, a Masters ultrarunner who
won the 50 to 59 division of the 100-mile Western
States Endurance Run in 2004, wore them while training for a 50-kilometer trail
race.
From the New York Times



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.

April 7, 2007:

Crescent City Classic - New Orleans, LA

Eisenhower Marathon - Abilene, KS

Harry's Spring Run-Off 8K - Toronto, ON

Mad City 100K, Madison, WI
USA Ultra Championship

Santa Anita Derby Day 5K - Arcadia, CA

Two Oceans Marathon - Cape Town, South Africa

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.

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SportsShoes in the UK
http://www.sportsshoes.com/index.php?id=149

Visit on AssociatesShop.com Online Bookstore for running and triathlon books:
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LX Sport - Leading Edge Sports Products for Women.
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This application was recently featured on National TV - please see the following
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TrainingPeaks.com by Wes Hobson.
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Triathlon Meetup
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Triathlon Meetups! Happening THIS month, find out when .

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If you have an accident while running or cycling, do you want your family to be
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If so, make this cool item part of your gear -- for safety and peace of mind.
Road ID has created 4 awesome ways for athletes to
wear ID: the SHOE, the WRIST, the ANKLE, and the NECK. Get your RoadID at:
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The Stretching Handbook:
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The Stretching Video in a DVD version. With the DVD version you're able to use
the convenient menu facility to:
* Go directly to a specific stretch;
* View only stretches for a specific muscle group;
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* Play the entire video from start to finish.
Buy the DVD at:
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