A FREE WEEKLY E-ZINE OF MULTISPORT RELATED ARTICLES.
The Runner's and Triathlete's Web Digest is a weekly e-zine dealing with the
sports of running and triathlon and general fitness and
health issues. The opinions expressed in the articles referenced by the Digest
are the opinions of the writers and not necessarily
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1. Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women:
The 2008 race will be held on Saturday, June 21.
In this year's race Paula Githuka of Hamilton held off a closing Nicole
Stevenson of Toronto to win Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor
Memorial 5K in
Ottawa this morning. Githuka held a nine second lead at 3K which Stevenson
whittled down to two by the finish line. Githuka won in
16:37 to Stevenson's 16:39. Last year - in the RunnersWeb5K Race for Women -
Stevenson won in 16:28 over Emily Tallen of Kingston
who placed third this year in 16:55. 45 women ran under 20:00. For more on the
race visit the website at: http://www.emiliesrun.com.
Join Emilie's Run Community 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. 26.2 with Donna:
The National Marathon to Fight Breast Cancer
"The only U.S. marathon dedicated solely to raising funds to end breast cancer."
February 17, 2008 8 a.m.
Location: Near Mayo Clinic
Jacksonville, Florida
Beneficiaries: Donna Hicken Foundation and Mayo Clinic
Proceeds from the race will go directly to The Donna Hicken Foundation, a
charitable organization dedicated to helping women with
breast cancer. While a portion of the proceeds will be used by the Donna Hicken
Foundation for the critical care of breast cancer
survivors in need, the foundation has pledged to donate the majority of funds
raised to Mayo Clinic for research and its
Multidisciplinary Breast Clinic, which specializes in the detection and
treatment of breast cancer.
Visit the website at: http://www.breastcancermarathon.com

7. KineSys - Performance Sunscreen.
Did you know that it is estimated that approximately 1 out of 5 people in North
America will develop some form of SKIN CANCER during
their life time???
These statistics keep on rising due to the fact that it only takes ONE serious
sun burn to increase the risk of getting skin cancer
by 50%. This means that 1.0 million North Americans will develop skin cancer
this year from being exposed to the sun's harmful rays.
These are scary statistics but there is something you can do to keep from being
one of them.
Wear Sunscreen! We at KINeSYS want to remind you of the importance of protecting
your skin from harmful UV rays, which are
responsible for more than 90% of all skin cancers. By protecting your skin with
sunscreen on a regular basis, you can reduce the
chances of being harmed by these rays while still being able to enjoy all of
your favourite outdoor activities.
Visit KineSys at: http://www.kinesys.com/suncare/

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Active Athlete is doing a user survey at:
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Complete the survey and enter a draw for 100 cash (in the form of a Visa gift
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Pre-order the new Nike Zoom running shoes and receive them on the day they
release Aug 9th!
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/tplclick?lid=41000000016789164&pubid=2100000000\
0028567

Your comments please!
We are considering dropping three features from the website due to an apparent
lack of interest:
1) the weekly poll
2) the Book/DVD of the Month
3) the Five Star Site of the Month
4) Monthly Trivia Quiz
5) Monthly Pegasus Quiz
We would appreciate any feedback, pro or con, on these features.

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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

ACTIVE.COM
RunnersWeb.com has teamed up with Active Trainer coaches to offer training
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Select the daily email to receive your training by the day or log on to your
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track of what works and what doesn't and stay motivated
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Sign up at: www.RunnersWebCoach.com OR
http://training.active.com/ActiveTrainer/listing.do?listing=51

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

* Carmichael Training Systems
Carmichael Training Systems was founded in 1999 by Chris Carmichael.
From the beginning, the mission of the company has been to improve the lives of
individuals we work with through the application of
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focus is recreational, advanced, or you are a
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CTS at: http://www.runnersweb.com/running/cts_columns.html.
Carmichael Training Systems at:
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* Peak Performance Online
Peak Performance is a subscription-only newsletter for athletes, featuring the
latest research from the sports science world. We
cover the whole range of sports, from running and rowing to cycling and
swimming, and each issue is packed full of exclusive
information for anyone who's serious about sport. It's published 16 times a
year, including four special reports, by Electric Word
plc. Peak Performance is not available in the shops - only our subscribers are
able to access the valuable information we publish.
Check out our article archive from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/PPO_index.html
Visit the PPO site at:
Peak Performance Online:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/cmd.php?af=517509

* Peak Running Performance
Peak Running Is The Nation's Most Advanced Running Newsletter. Rated as the #1
Running Publication by Road Runner Sports (Worlds
Largest Running Store) , Peak Running caters to the serious / dedicated runner.
Delivering world class running advice are some of
running's most recognizable athletes including Dr. Joe Vigil (US Olympic Coach),
Scott Tinley (2 Time Ironman Champ) Steve Scott (3 Time Olympian) and many more.
This bi-monthly newsletter has been around for over
13 years, and in the past two it has been awarded the "Golden Shoe Award" in
recognition of it's outstanding achievements.
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 NO personal postings this week.

THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. VO2Max Newsletter from Jason Karp
2. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine
3. Cyclists: Testing Benefits and Options
4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Thanks, Coach
5. Foods that Pack an Energy Punch
6. Train to the VO2 max
VO2 max describes your body's ability to transport and utilize oxygen as an
energy source during exercise. It is also known as
aerobic capacity.
7. Heat-Running Secrets
Hard-won wisdom on training, dressing, and drinking from veterans of the hot
zones.
8. Re-Aligning: Body, Mind & Soul
9. Caffeine And Exercise May Prevent Skin Cancer
10. Is It Time For a Flex Plan?
Techno-Athletes Change The Definition of Natural.
11. Experts issue new physical exercise guidelines
12. The Feedzone with Monique Ryan: Good fats, bad fats and achieving balance
13. Training nutrition: avoid the bonk
14. Mom, I’m at the Gym Doing Homework (Really!)
15. Understanding BMI
Learn what BMI is and how it impacts your life and your running.
16. Is Strength Training Really Beneficial For Endurance Athletes
17. The End of "Periodization" in the Training of High Performance Sport
18. East African running dominance: what is behind it?
19. Running Training: Principles and Needs
20. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Have you paid or would you pay to watch a webcast of a sporting event?"


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:
"Which of the following events have you completed?"
Answers Percent
1. Marathon 16%
2. Half-Marathon 19%
3. 5/10K running road race 21%
4. Ironman triathlon 3%
5. Olympic distance triathlon 8%
6. Sprint triathlon 15%
7. Duathlon 12%
8. Cycling road race 5%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE MONTH: Osaka 2007 World Championships in Athletics.
Monte-Carlo - The IAAF is delighted to announce the launch of its new dynamic
website for the 11th IAAF World Championships in
Athletics, Osaka, Japan (25 Aug to 2 Sep).
There is plenty on offer to attract, inform, entertain, and illuminate the
enjoyment for all the fans of our sport, in particular
there is enhanced video and audio content, and even the chance to indulge your
athletics fantasies!
The new Osaka competition website is part of a long term re-development of the
IAAF’s presence on the internet, and based upon the
‘Osaka 2007’ look, a cosmetic remodelling of the main IAAF Home Page has also
been unveiled today.
Osaka World Championships
With little more than three weeks to go to the start of the planet’s biggest
sporting event of 2007, the Osaka website’s complete
look, structure and content has been radically re-designed.
Already full of news and information, when the championships begin the
Broadcasting section in particular will burst into action
with:
VIDEO: 3-minutes highlights of each SESSION and of each individual FINAL
RADIO: ‘LIVE’ commentary, comment and interviews throughout the championships
PODCASTS: Audio interviews with the major stars
IAAF Fantasy Athletics
Its game time too! We are proud to launch IAAF Fantasy Athletics, enabling fans
to select a team of champion athletes from those
competing in Osaka. Participants will score points depending on their team’s
performances and be able to compare their rankings
with others from all over the world. There are great prizes to be won and
registration is free and open now.
Plus all the regular information
And of course we haven’t forgotten the core content of all previous World
Championships sites – Results and Statistics, News,
Features, Event Reports and Flash Interviews, “LIVE” Competition Blog, Photo
Gallery…
Check out the site at: http://osaka2007.iaaf.org


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


BOOK/VIDEO OF THE MONTH: From Lance to Landis: Inside the American Doping
Controversy at the Tour de France
By David Walsh
Book Description
For eight years, the Tour de France, arguably the world’s most demanding
athletic competition, was ruled by two men: Lance Armstrong
and Floyd Landis. On the surface, they were feature players in one of the great
sporting stories of the age–American riders
overcoming tremendous odds to dominate a sport that held little previous
interest for their countrymen. But is this a true story, or
is there a darker version of the truth, one that sadly reflects the realities of
sports in the twenty-first century? Landis’s title
is now in jeopardy because drug tests revealing that his testosterone levels
were eleven times those of a normal athlete strongly
suggest that he used banned substances, and for years similar allegations have
swirled around Armstrong.
Now internationally acclaimed award-winning journalist David Walsh gives an
explosive account of the shadow side of professional
sports. In this electrifying, controversial, and scrupulously documented exposé,
Walsh explores the many facets of the cyclist
doping scandals in the United States and abroad. He examines how
performance-enhancing drugs can infiltrate a premier sports
event–and why athletes succumb to the pressure to use them. In researching this
book, Walsh conducted hundreds of hours of
interviews with key figures in international cycling, doctors, and other
insiders, including Emma O’Reilly, Armstrong’s longtime
massage therapist; former U.S. Postal Service cycling team doctor Prentice
Steffen; cycling legend Greg LeMond; and former teammates
of both Landis and Armstrong.
Central to the story is Lance Armstrong’s relentless, all-consuming drive to be
the best. Also essential to this narrative is Floyd
Landis, the unassuming, sympathetic hero who was the first winner of the Tour de
France after Lance–and the first ever to face the
threat of having his title revoked. More than anything else, this book will
ignite anew the debate about whether there is room in
the current sports culture for athletes who compete honestly, whether sports can
be saved from a scandal as widespread as this, and
what changes will have to be made.
With a compelling narrative and revelations that will stun, enlighten, and haunt
readers, David Walsh addresses numerous questions
that arise in that crucial space where sports meet the larger American culture.
About the Author
David Walsh is chief sports writer with The Sunday Times (London). A four-time
Irish Sportswriter of the Year and a three-time U.K.
Sportswriter of the Year, he is married with seven children and lives in
Cambridge, England. He is co-author of L.A. Confidential:
The Secrets of Lance Armstrong.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/034549962X/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. VO2Max Newsletter from Jason Karp:
* Summer Mileage
Whether you're preparing for a fall marathon or the high school or college cross
country season, you're likely running lots of miles
in the summer to build an aerobic base. Running lots of miles improves
endurance by increasing muscle capillary and mitochondrial
densities, increasing red blood cell and hemoglobin concentrations and total
blood volume, increasing your muscles' ability to
extract oxygen from the blood, and enhancing your muscles' ability to store
carbohydrates.
Generally, the more miles you run, the better, but only up to a point. Doing
too much training too early may have detrimental
effects when it's time to peak. A study published in Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research in 2000 found that the preseason
training phase (May to August) of college cross country teams had the greatest
impact on performance during the peaking phase
(November). Teams that qualified for the national championships took more rest
days during the preseason phase and actually ran
shorter weekly long runs than teams that did not qualify (11.5 vs. 13.7 miles).
During the competition phase (August to October),
there was no statistical difference in weekly mileage between qualifying and
non-qualifying teams (72 vs. 63 miles per week,
respectively). Among the qualifiers, the teams that ran more miles (above 70
miles per week) and ran twice per day during the
summer months actually ran slower at the national championships in November than
teams that ran less. It's possible that running
too much in the summer makes you peak too early or makes you too fatigued to
race at your peak in late fall. My suggestion is to
run a solid but moderate amount of mileage in the summer, continue to increase
your mileage through the fall until you hit your peak
mileage, then back off when it's time to taper.
* Carbohydrates and the Menstrual Cycle
It is well-known that endurance exercise performance is greatly influenced by
the amount of glycogen stored in skeletal muscles and
that fatigue during prolonged exercise coincides with glycogen depletion. So
what does that have to do with the menstrual cycle?
Well, if you're a woman planning on running a marathon, you may want to plan it
to coincide with the luteal phase of your menstrual
cycle. A study published in International Journal of Sport Nutrition and
Exercise Metabolism compared muscle glycogen
content in women during different phases of the menstrual cycle after eating
either a high carbohydrate diet for three days (8.4
grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight per day) or a normal diet for
three days (5.2 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram
of body weight per day). Women had the greatest muscle glycogen content during
the mid-luteal phase of the menstrual cycle after
both the high carbohydrate and normal diets. Muscle glycogen was lowest during
the mid-follicular phase, however the amount of
muscle glycogen in this phase was greater after the high carbohydrate diet.
* Altitude Training
Living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I'm reminded of altitude every time I go out
my front door for a run. The heavy breathing, the
slower interval and race times, the tired legs, all make for a humbling
experience. Although many coaches and athletes attribute
much of the success of the Kenyan and Ethiopian distance runners to their
altitude training (I cringe every time I hear a T.V.
commentator allude to such), and many elite runners come to Albuquerque to train
for its altitude, there is little scientific or
historical evidence that training at altitude is superior to training at
sea-level for improvements in VO2max or sea-level
performance. Historically, the best U.S. distance runners (with the exception
of a few) have been born and lived and trained at
sea-level. If altitude were the answer, there would be a disproportionate
percentage of elite U.S. distance runners coming from
altitude compared to the percentage of people in the U.S. who live there. In my
study on the training characteristics of the 2004
U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers published in International Journal of
Sports Physiology and Performance, I found that
altitude training was not a strategy used by the marathoners, as only 24% of men
and 16% of women trained at altitude, and did so
only because they resided there. Furthermore, there was no difference in
marathon performance between athletes who trained at
altitude and those who didn't.
While living at altitude stimulates the production of red blood cells
(erythropoiesis), giving you a greater oxygen-carrying
capability (which is a good thing), you can't run at the same
speeds for your workouts as you can at sea-level (which is a bad thing). So,
altitude training is a balancing act: making more red
blood cells on one hand versus training at slower speeds on the other hand. The
trick is to not let the latter outweigh the former.
The slower speeds associated with altitude training has led to an interesting
area of research that has examined the physiological
and performance effects of living at altitude but training at sea-level (the
"live high/train low" training model) to acquire the
benefit of both worlds. Some studies have examined this issue by actually
having athletes travel back and forth between altitude
and sea-level, while some studies have simulated altitude conditions by having
athletes at sea-level breathe different
concentrations of oxygen for varying amounts of time during the day. There is
some evidence that this live high, train low strategy
may improve sea-level performance by inducing the erythropoiesis associated with
altitude exposure while maintaining sea-level
training intensities.
If you live at altitude or plan to go there for vacation and you don't want to
lose your sea-level fitness, try running what I call
"Sea-Level Speed" workouts in addition to your altitude
workouts. Run at the same pace as you would run at sea-level but cut the length
of the interval so you can run at your sea-level
speed. For example, if you normally run 1,000-meter repeats at sea-level in
3:45 (6:00 pace), run 600-meter repeats at altitude in
2:15 (6:00 pace). In next month's newsletter, I'll describe how to calculate
your altitude training paces from your sea-level
workouts to give you physiologically-equivalent workouts at different altitudes.
* To view past newsletters go to: http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter
Copyright Jason Karp All Rights Reserved - http://www.runcoachjason.com


2. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine:
* Preserve Muscle Sugar for Speed and Endurance
How fast you can move and how long you can exercise intensely depends on the
amount of sugar (glycogen) stored in your muscles. The
same rule applies in all sports: when muscles run out of their stored sugar
supply, they require more oxygen and you have to slow
down.
Fluid is less important than muscle sugar because dehydration will not cause you
to slow down until your blood volume is reduced. As
you lose fluid from sweating, interstitial fluid
stored around cells is released into the blood to maintain blood volume. When
you compete is sports at a very high intensity, your
muscles run out for stored sugar long before your blood volume is reduced, and
you slow down from lack of muscle sugar before you
slow down from reduced blood volume (Sports Medicine, April-May 2007).
Fuel for muscles comes from sugar and fat stored in muscles, sugar and fat in
the bloodstream and, to a lesser degree, protein.
When you start to exercise intensely, more than 50
percent of your energy comes from sugar stored in muscles. Two hours later,
most of the sugar stored in muscles is used up and less
than 10 percent of energy comes from that source. If you do not supply extra
sugar during exercise so that your muscles will use
less of their stored sugar, muscles run out of glycogen and your performance
will suffer.
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: After a long charity bicycle ride, I found that I had gained
four pounds and my whole body was puffy. Should I
be concerned?
A: It is not normal to be puffy after a long ride or any other form of exercise.
Your doctor should check for kidney problems,
hormone abnormalities or diabetes. If these tests are normal, you drank way too
much during your ride and are lucky that you only
suffered from excess fluid retention. You could have developed hyponatremia, a
serious condition that can kill you.
Normal healthy kidneys have a limit to how rapidly they can rid your body of
excess fluid. If you take in more fluid than your
kidneys can clear, fluid accumulates in your blood and dilutes the salt level.
Since fluid moves from an area of low salt to high
salt, and your brain has far more salt than your blood does; the fluid will move
into your brain to causes swelling, seizures and
even death.
Hyponatremia virtually never occurs in trained athletes competing at a fast
pace. It takes so much concentration to run or cycle
very fast that it is almost impossible to take in too much fluid. On the other
hand, when you slow down, you have the time to
overindulge in fluids and hyponatremia can happen to you. A world-classes
marathon runner typically takes in about a cup of fluid
per hour during a race. On the basis of our present knowledge, it may not be
safe for average athletes and casual exercisers to
take in more than three to four cups of fluid per hour.
From Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine at: http://www.drmirkin.com


3. Cyclists: Testing Benefits and Options...
Periodic testing can be of great value to an athlete when the findings are
applied to make training more effective. However, most
athletes ignore testing and simply conduct the same training routines year after
year with very predictable results. When used
properly, testing can enhance your training focus and provide an added spark
your fitness may be longing for.
There are quite a few reasons to conduct periodic testing.
* Confirm that fitness is headed in the proper direction and provide data about
areas that may be lacking.
* Establish a benchmark to gauge future fitness changes.
* Create training objectives based on test results that target specific
limiters.
* Confirm if training practices are having the desired results.
* Provide details on current fitness levels that can be used for pacing
strategies within upcoming races.
* Gain confidence and a sense of accomplishment if future test results confirm
progress has been made.
* Comparing test data over time yields a clearer picture of fitness trends. Year
to year test results, using the same test protocol,
are incredibly valuable and can provide very interesting findings when compared
to the actual training methods used. Multiple tests
also allow for inaccurate readings due to variables out of one’s control.
Keep in mind that tests are not always accurate and reflective of actual current
fitness levels. We are human and everyone has bad
days. The majority of successful test results are directly related to the
athlete’s internal motivation. Hence state of mind is yet
another variable that must also be considered when analyzing test results.
Sometimes the athlete inherently knows that his or her
fitness has improved, but a test result won’t show it. On these days the athlete
will need to simply ignore the test results and
continue with the training program. Testing is not an exact science and does not
always reflect your true fitness level.
Testing can take many forms and there are endless protocols from which to
choose. The key is to determine what you want to test. You
should test abilities that are relevant to your most important race. This may
include muscular endurance, threshold determination,
anaerobic endurance or power.
Tips for creating a good test:
* Repeatability: Elimination of variables is the key to a good test. Consider
reducing variables such as tire pressure, wind,
temperature, equipment choices, etc.
* Conduct tests at the end of rest weeks.
* Record all test results, protocols and environmental factors (temperature,
humidity, wind).
* Repeat structured tests every four to six weeks. Test sessions within workouts
may be conducted more often.
* The most valid test results are conducted on trainers that allow for
calibration, otherwise the tension on the rear wheel may not
be the same from test to test.
1. Threshold Estimation/30-minute Time Trial
The most accurate way to calculate HR zones is by completing a Lactate Threshold
(LT) stress test in a laboratory setting. However,
self testing can be a relatively good indicator of one’s fitness.
Warm up at least 20 minutes. Gradually raise the intensity and keep your cadence
high for the first 15 minutes. Then do 3-5 hard
efforts for 30 seconds to one minute. Rest for five minutes and begin the test.
Complete a 30-minute time trial as follows. Start your heart rate monitor
immediately. The monitor should have an average heart rate
function. The effort of this time trial should be like a race—give it all you
have! Ten minutes into the time trial (20 minutes to
go) hit the “lap” button on your heart rate monitor so when finished, you have
your average heart rate for the last 20 minutes. This
number is an approximation of your lactate threshold heart rate (LTHR). The more
times you complete this test and observe your heart
rate relative to breathing in workouts, the more refined your LTHR will become.
This test can also be a good indicator of your muscular endurance. You can also
use this test with a wattage meter. If you know your
average watts for the 30 minutes, you also know your critical power 30 (CP30).
If possible, record your average cadence to observe
your “natural” cadence for hard efforts.
2. Ramp Test (Wattage/CP)
This test is best done with a power meter in order to assure accuracy and
repeatability.
Warm up for approximately 20 minutes, raising heart rate to Z3. Test stages are
determined by your CP30 value as tested in the
previous test. There will be four stages to this test and each stage lasts three
minutes. Record your heart rate at the end of each
three-minute stage. The stages are:
* minutes = 15% lower than your CP30 value
* minutes = 10% lower than your CP30
* minutes = 5% lower than your CP30
* minutes = CP30 wattage
12th to 13th minute = zero watts. Rest one minute, then record HR.
This gives you five heart rate readings to add together to get a test score. As
you become more fit, the recovery reading within
stage five gets lower as your ability to recover increases. As you retest your
CP30 value, also change the watts accordingly within
this test.
3. Aerobic Time Trial
Warm up 20 minutes, raising heart rate to Z3. Then ride five miles on a flat
course at 9-11 beats per minute below your LTHR (see
above test for LTHR determination). Record your time. This time is a good
determiner of aerobic fitness and is very valuable when
you start to compare results over the course of a season.
4. Critical Power Tests
CP.2 (12 seconds):
Warm up well for at least 20 minutes. Gradually raise the intensity and keep
your cadence high for the first 15 minutes. Rest five
minutes. Do several all-out 12-second sprints. After the test, use power
analysis software to find your highest 12-second sprint.
This is known as your CP.2 and is a good indicator of your power.
CP1 (one minute):
Same as above but with several one-minute time trials all-out. This is a good
indicator of your anaerobic endurance ability.
CP6 (six minutes):
Warm up well for at least 20 minutes. Gradually raise the intensity and keep
your cadence high for the first 15 minutes. Rest five
minutes. Proceed with one all-out six-minute time trial. Be sure not to start
too hard or else you will fade quickly toward the end.
The more tests completed, the better you’ll become at pacing. This test is a
good indicator of your anaerobic endurance and VO2max
velocity or pace.
5. Race Data
Real world race data can be some of the best test data an athlete can conduct.
Collecting and analyzing race data can give a true
picture of how the athlete performs under race-day pressure and with outside
influences such as race tactics and weather conditions.
Motivation levels are also usually at peak levels on race day, leading to higher
power, heart rate and pace values as compared to
training days. Remember the point of training for many athletes is to adapt to
the demands of their races. Collecting race data is
the only way to accurately reproduce the demands of racing within training.
6. Training Data
Analysis of intervals conducted within training is very valuable and can be
considered in itself a mini test. The added value of
collecting interval data is that it can be collected almost on a daily basis.
New critical power numbers, heart rate values, pace
and personal records may be set during training sessions, but if the data is not
collected the records essentially never occurred.
In the end the point is to collect as much data as possible since the value of
testing is in spotting trends over time. Adding a
layer of collected training data on top of test results will provide a very
clear picture of how training methods produced specific
fitness improvements.
Dirk Friel has raced as a professional cyclist on the roads of Europe, Asia and
the Americas since 1992. He is an Ultrafit
Associates coach specializing in road training with power. Dirk is also
co-founder of Peaksware, LLC. He may be reached by e-mail at
mailto:Dirk@....
Subscribe to Ultrafits' e-Tips at: http://www.ultrafit.com


4. Joe Henderson's Running Commentary - Thanks, Coach:
My college coach, Bob Karnes, died this summer. I'm glad I had the chance to
apologize to him in print for the grief I gave him at
Drake University, and to thank him for not writing me early off as a recruiting
mistake and a lost cause. "Coach" (which I called
him to the end, never "Mr. Karnes" or "Bob") let me stumble around to find a way
that differed from his.
I could write a month's worth of tribute columns to Coach Karnes. But here I'll
limit his praises to a few brief tales that tell the
type of man and mentor he was.
NOVEMBER 1960. Before my name had popped up on any other college coach's
recruiting radar, Bob Karnes from Drake University spotted
me. He was the first -- and only -- coach to visit my hometown in a remote
corner of Iowa.
This scored big points in MY recruiting game, as I looked for a college that
both wanted me and I, it. After that there was little
doubt where I'd go -- and not just because his would be my only full-ride
scholarship offer.
MAY 1962. A scholarship isn't a FREE ride. Athletes work hard and long for it.
The school expects a payback for its investment, and
a runner can feel pressure to perform.
I failed to perform. From one May to the next my mile time slumped by almost
half a minute. I hit the low point of my still-brief
running life and wanted to quit the school, quit the team, even quit the sport.
As soon as Coach Karnes's team training ended for the summer, I stopped running
for the first time in almost four years. For all I
knew or cared at the time, this was an early and permanent retirement.
For a full month I didn't run a step. My only exercise was recreational
swimming. I spent the early part of that summer wasting time
with friends and trying not to think about what might come next.
JULY 1962. Stranded at the pool without a ride home, I started walking those two
or three miles. The walk broke into a slow run,
then a faster run, which led to a plan that would echo through my running (and
writing) for a long time.
More...from Joe Henderson at:
http://www.joehenderson.com/archive/home.php?article=2121


5. Foods that Pack an Energy Punch:
Eating the wrong foods can make you feel too pooped to cross the finish line.
Quick sugar fixes may rev you up, only to let you
crash. Eating carbohydrates with a little bit of protein at regular intervals is
the best way to keep yourself going throughout the
day.
More...from Science Daily at:
http://www.healthology.com/once_daily/once_daily.aspx?cValue=od_dietenergy_0003&\
fValue=od4&bValue=sciencedaily


6. Train to the VO2 max:
VO2 max describes your body's ability to transport and utilize oxygen as an
energy source during exercise. It is also known as
aerobic capacity.
The V stands for "volume" while O2 is the chemical notation for oxygen. VO2 max,
also known as "maximal oxygen uptake" can be
expressed in many ways (from liters of oxygen per minute or the more normalized
milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of bodyweight per
minute). It is a way to not only compare the performance of endurance athletes,
but is also a relative indicator of overall fitness.

Oxygen consumption has a direct link to energy expenditure. Therefore, maximum
oxygen uptake is a direct measurement of aerobic
capacity. It can not only help determine just how much exercise you can perform
in a given amount of time, but also predict the
number of calories you will burn. Understanding of VO2 max really begins within
the muscle. At rest, muscles expend relatively
little energy. When contracting, muscles create a high demand for energy. The
body processes oxygen and releases carbon dioxide
(CO2) as the result. Measuring the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled is one way
to infer VO2 max.
The process of using oxygen for energy requires two key components: delivery and
utilization. Delivery is achieved through breathing
(the respiratory system) and circulation (the cardiovascular system). This is
one reason why exercising improves cardiovascular
health: in order to become more efficient at exercise, the body must become more
effective at delivering oxygen. This is achieved
through improvements to the cardiovascular system. Training improves your stroke
volume, or the amount of blood your heart can pump
in one contraction. Increasing stroke volume improves delivery and therefore
will increase your VO2 max.
More...from AME Info at:
http://www.ameinfo.com/127924.html


7. Heat-Running Secrets:
Hard-won wisdom on training, dressing, and drinking from veterans of the hot
zones.
Beat The Heat
Most of us train through several weeks of hot weather. Our man went running with
some heat-tested veterans--and took notes. Here's
what he learned about training, dressing, drinking, and thriving in the hot
spots
Stay Cool
Three ways to keep you cool and comfy on your next run in the heat.
Burning Questions
Seven ways to gauge your readiness to run in the heat
Gear That Keeps You Cool
What the well-dressed heat runner wears to stay safe under the sun
Sun Reflections
Deena Kastor shares her skin-protection insights
Heat-Tested
A Miami club's best tips for summer running
The Weight of Water
To avoid dehydration and overhydration, just how much should you really drink?
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-267-269-11994-0,00.html?cm_mmc\
=Extra%20NL-_-2007_07_31-_-training-_-A-Z%20Summer%2
0Sun%20Guide
[Long URL]


8. Re-Aligning: Body, Mind & Soul:
Amy Kuitse writes: We have all read articles about the affects of body, mind &
soul on our performance and how it can positively
effect the outcome of our races. We go to yoga classes, meditate, and visualize
ourselves riding strong, and running smoothly all
the way through the finish. Have you ever considered though, what the effect of
body, mind & soul could have on healing?
The thought of body, mind & soul when it comes to dealing with injury is a
little more foreign to most of us. How do you go from the
ultimate high of crossing the finish line at Kona one year to having your season
come to a screeching halt because of a herniated
cervical disc and an iron deficiency? You spend time with doctors, and physical
therapists. You deal with the concern of your
family, who wonder if you will make the right decision to allow yourself to
heal. Their bigger question is... "How will she/he
handle this emotionally?"
Initially it feels questionable if you will handle things well, but as you move
beyond the bargaining & denial and accept what is
going on, you find that you hold the most powerful set of tools within you to
deal with an injury... YOUR body, mind, & soul.
So, the re-aligning of these powerful tools to help you heal begins. You can
approach this process a lot like you do race
preparation. First, a gradual return to the sports that you love becomes part of
therapy. As the saying goes, “What the mind
conceives, the body achieves.” If you REALLY believe that you will heal, you
will give yourself a chance to get better sooner. Right
now some of you are saying, “Well of course I’ll heal,” but do you believe that
how we heal and what we believe in our soul is
within our power?
More...from TriFuel.com at:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/health-nutrition/re-aligning-body-mind-soul


9. Caffeine And Exercise May Prevent Skin Cancer:
A new US study based on laboratory mice suggests that drinking low to moderate
amounts of caffeine and exercising regularly protects
the skin from damaging ultraviolet rays known to cause skin cancer. The caffeine
and exercise appear to work together to kill off
precancerous skin cells whose DNA has been damaged by ultraviolet B (UVB) rays.
The discovery is yet to be tested in humans.
The research took place at Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research
at Rutgers University Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
in the state of New Jersey, and is published as an early online edition in the
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
(PNAS).
Skin cancer triggered by sun exposure is the most common type of cancer in the
United States, with over 1 million cases being
diagnosed each year, according to the National Cancer Institute.
In this experimental study the researchers, led by Dr Allan Conney, Director of
Rutgers' Cullman Laboratory, put hairless laboratory
mice into four groups. One group drank caffeinated water (equivalent to a human
drinking one or two cups of coffee a day). Another
group of mice took voluntary exercise on a wheel. The third group drank
caffeinated water and exercised, while the fourth (the
control group) had no caffeine and did not exercise.
All the mice were exposed to UVB light from laboratory lamps.
The scientists found that all four groups of mice had DNA damage in their skin
cells with varying degrees of apoptosis or programmed
cell death. However, the mice that drank caffeine and exercised showed the most
skin cell apoptosis compared to the control group.
More...from Medical News Today at:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/78306.php


10. Is It Time For a Flex Plan?
Techno-Athletes Change The Definition of Natural.
Some day soon -- maybe today -- we're going to have to admit it.
We have a new norm in sports. Athletes routinely are enhanced. Many of their
achievements are as dependent on technology as they are
on talent, dedication and spirit. The way their competitions are set up, they
have little choice.
The old rules are increasingly untenable. Especially the one that goes:
Enhancement is indistinguishable from cheating.
This is not just about Barry Bonds, who may break the all-time home-run record
this week. Nor is it just about the Tour de France
and its ejected riders. It's about Tiger Woods's laser surgery to improve his
eyesight. It's also about even the legitimate
Olympians. The exotic training and nutrition and astonishing genetic endowments
of some render them scarcely recognizable as the
same kind of human you see on the Metro.
Is it inevitable that there soon will be two kinds of leagues in baseball,
basketball or football -- the Naturals and the Enhanced?
More...from the Washington Post at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/31/AR2007073101997.\
html


11. Experts issue new physical exercise guidelines:
Adults should engage in moderately intense exercise for at least 30 minutes five
days a week or vigorous exercise at least 20
minutes three days each week, experts recommended on Wednesday.
Two leading health groups issued new guidelines on physical activity, updating
influential recommendations issued in 1995 while also
crafting advice tailored specifically for those 65 and older.
The guidelines from the American Heart Association and the American College of
Sports Medicine recommend weight lifting and vigorous
aerobic exercise while also being more specific on how many days a week people
should work out.
The advice comes amid rising health problems stemming from sedentary lifestyles
and obesity among Americans, as well as people in
many other nations.
"I think physical inactivity is the biggest public health problem we face. I
think it actually accounts for more morbidity and
mortality than anything except maybe cigarette smoking," said Steven Blair of
the University of South Carolina, one of the experts
who crafted the recommendations.
The 1995 recommendations, issued by the American College of Sports Medicine with
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had
stated, "Every U.S. adult should accumulate 30 minutes or more of
moderate-intensity physical activity on most, preferably all, days
of the week."
More...from Reuters at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN0138037220070801


12. The Feedzone with Monique Ryan: Good fats, bad fats and achieving balance:
Dear Monique,
I just read your column about fish. I don't eat fish for many reasons, some of
which you mentioned in your article. I didn't hear
you mention flaxseed oil, which surprised me because I am told that it is a
great alternative to fish, yet with a much lower or no
risk of contamination. I was hoping that you could explain the difference and if
it isn't, what else could I include in my diet.
Thanks,
Adam
Hi Adam,
As you are aware, foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids may alleviate or prevent a
variety of health problems. But getting enough
omega-3s can be a unique modern dietary challenge. Omega-3s used to be quite
plentiful in our daily diet in foods like milk and eggs
when cattle and chicken used to graze on rich sources of omega-3s like grass,
and wild plants and seeds, rather than grains which
contain very low levels of omega-3s.
While fish is an excellent source of omega-3s, there are concerns with
environmental contamination. Currently the American Heart
Association recommends the consumption of 12 ounces of fish weekly. Of course
there are concerns with contamination of fish,
specifically around mercury contamination. Pregnant and breastfeeding women need
to limit fish consumption to no more than 12 ounces
a week and limit those fish at highest risk of mercury contamination, including
King mackerel, shark, swordfish, and tilefish. Other
high mercury fish include fresh tuna, while albacore tuna, red snapper, and
saltwater bass. Excellent sources of omega-3s that
present a low risk for contamination includes sardines, Alaskan Chinook salmon,
and herring.
For vegetarians, persons allergic to fish, and individuals wanting to increase
their intake of these healthy fats through plant
sources, the options are more limited. Omega-3 fats include docosahexanoic acid
(DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), which are
easily utilized by the body. Another omega-3 fatty acid is alpha-linolenic acid
(ALA), which comes from plant foods such as walnuts,
canola oil, and flax meal. ALA must be converted to DHA and EPA for the same
health benefits. Unfortunately, this is not a very
efficient conversion, and about 5000 milligrams (5 grams) of ALA will convert to
500 milligrams (one-half gram) of EPA and DHA.
There are other health benefits to consuming ALA, which is an essential fatty
acid, and experts currently recommend that we obtain
at least 500 and up to 1800 milligrams of EPA and DHA combined as well as 1000
to 3000 milligram of ALA.
More...from VeloNews at:
http://www.velonews.com/train/articles/13034.0.html


13. Training nutrition: avoid the bonk:
Trainer Karen Sargent is helping athlete Verna Goldade prepare for her first
triathlon, the Cardel Lake Chapparal event, on August
19.
There are several vital aspects to training and race nutrition, including daily
nutrition, pre-race carboloading, during-the-race
consumption and post-training or post-race nutrition.
Since Verna has begun her training program for the Lake Chaparral Triathlon,
she's definitely noticed an increase in her appetite.
Part of her reason for entering this event and program was to shed a little bit
of weight. We've spent some time talking about her
daily diet and her increased hunger.
We all have a daily caloric requirement for maintenance and general everyday
activities and survival. Add in regular physical
activity and your caloric requirements jump. If someone this active is trying to
lose weight and therefore spends a lot of time
counting calories or restricting their diet, they will often end up without
enough energy to complete their workouts effectively. We
need fuel in our body to be able to get out and put in the strong efforts during
our workouts in order to burn the calories we are
wanting to burn.
More...from the Calgary Herald at:
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/neighbours/story.html?id=58f9e61d-7f29-\
42a8-8a61-da938907d0b0


14. Mom, I’m at the Gym Doing Homework (Really!)
IT is 5 p.m. on a Tuesday and Victor Cal and Suliman Sharif, both 14, have
already taken Overtime Fitness in Mountain View, Calif.,
by storm. They hopped wildly on the flashing lighted squares of an In the Groove
dance pad, rode stationary bikes, shared cellphone
pictures, chatted with a personal trainer and played a rousing game of table
tennis. The pair, friends since seventh grade, once
spent five hours at this airy health club.
Conceived for teenagers, Overtime Fitness has a rock-climbing tower, a lounge
area with a flat-screen television and a study room
with Internet access and books like “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens,”
where teenagers can get academic tutoring and attend
seminars on health, stress management and relationships.
Harried parents head to the gym with a purpose: to get in a solid block of
cardio, then get out. Quick.
Teenagers think differently. They want a place to chill after school with pals,
where they can go online, watch reruns of “The
Munsters” and maybe even break a sweat. After a snack.
“Sometimes in the middle of our workout, we head down to the 7-Eleven to buy a
hot dog,” said Suliman, a sophomore at Los Altos High
School.
Until recently, health clubs passed over the hard-to-please teenage set and even
had policies to keep them out. After all, what club
manager wants to herd cats? But in the last year, smaller gyms have started
wooing the MySpace generation. Most of the effort so far
involves adding a teenagers-only lounge and Internet access, and creating
centers with workout equipment, foosball tables and juice
bars.
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/02/fashion/02fitness.html?_r=1&ref=fitnessandnutr\
ition&oref=slogin


15. Understanding BMI:
Learn what BMI is and how it impacts your life and your running.
Not too long ago, the American public was jolted by the release of new medical
guidelines from the federal government that lowered
what scientists believe to be a healthy weight. According to these new
guidelines, 97 million Americans (55 percent of the
population) are now overweight. This is a serious national health concern, as
obesity has been linked to a higher risk of
cardiovascular disease, diabetes and even certain forms of cancer.
The numbers were calculated using a formula known as the Body Mass Index (BMI).
(To find yours, plug your height and weight into our
BMI calculator. Anyone--male or female--with a BMI of 25 or greater is
considered overweight, and anyone with a BMI higher than 30
is obese.
Runners, of course, have always been concerned with their weight. At the same
time, the fact is that many runners--despite
consistent training over many years--will never resemble those skinny elite
athletes who line up at the front in the world's most
competitive races.
So what kind of impact should these new numbers have on us? And how much should
we care?
The Weight Debate
"The BMI guidelines should be used as just that--guidelines," says Glenn
Gaesser, Ph.D., associate professor of exercise physiology
at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "If you are above the
recommended BMI, you need to ask yourself: Is this genetics,
or is this lifestyle? People can assess in a matter of seconds if they're active
enough or eat too much. I think it's ridiculous to
focus totally on weight and weight loss."
Steven Blair, Ed.D., of the Cooper Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas,
agrees. "Fitness, not fatness, is the more important
issue," he says. He bases his conclusions on years of research conducted at the
Cooper Institute, studying the relationship of
cardiorespiratory fitness to mortality in men grouped by BMI.
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-242-304--11928-0,00.html?cm_mmc=Ex\
tra%20NL-_-2007_08_02-_-nutrition-_-Are%20You%20Fat%
3f


16. Is Strength Training Really Beneficial For Endurance Athletes:
Strength-training research carried out with endurance rowers, swimmers, skiers,
and cyclists has tended to produce 'negative'
results. The same cannot be said for runners. Learn more...
By: Owen Anderson
"The 150-pound person who runs the marathon in five hours is just as strong as
the 150-pound runner who completes the race in two
hours and eight minutes. After all, the slower runner has shown that he can
accomplish the same task completed by the elite
competitor - the work of transporting a 150-pound weight 26.2 miles."
Jim Bledsoe, Noted American Exercise Physiologist.
Can strength training really help your running, cycling, swimming, skiing, or
rowing? The majority of endurance athletes accept the
idea that strength training is beneficial for their sport, but some athletes,
coaches, and scientists remain unconvinced.
On an anecdotal level, it does seem odd that the best endurance athletes in the
world - the Kenyan runners - rarely report to the
gym, and on a more scientific level it seems clear that training for endurance
and training for strength and power are at opposite
'poles' of the conditioning spectrum.
To run a marathon in two hours and eight minutes, for example, a runner's leg
muscles need to develop the capacity to take about
23,000 rapid but submaximal steps without stopping, while training for strength
often consists of hoisting a close-to maximal weight
fairly slowly - and no more than eight to 10 times - before stopping.
More...from BodyBuilding.com at:
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/peak45.htm


17. The End of "Periodization" in the Training of High Performance Sport:
By Yuri Verhoshansky
Russian sport science expert, Prof. Yuri Verhoshansky, questions the validity of
Matveyev’s theory of periodization, considers it
outdated and provides detailed criticism on why the concept is supposed to be
unacceptable for contemporary training. The article
appeared originally in Leistungssport, Germany, Vol. 28, No. 5, September 1998.
This abbreviated translation is reprinted from SA
Sports Institute’s documentation services. Re-printed here with permission from
Modern Athlete and Coach.
“Periodisation” Faces Criticism.
The methodical principles of contemporary training systems are frequently based
on the work of Russian coaches in the early
1950’swhen the former Soviet Union prepared for the first participation in the
Helsinki Olympic Games (1952). The preparation
followed the information collected by L.P. Matveyev at the Moscow Institute of
Physical Culture, generalized, and published as a
theoretical concept known as “periodization” in 1965. Matveyev’s concept
attracted attention outside the Soviet Union, because
training theories had at this stage not yet involved scientists and the
successes of Soviet coaches and athletes on the world stage
were exceptional.
The periodization concept became gradually a synonym for “planning of training”.
Many specialists use even today this concept in
progressive presentations of the organization of training. However, the majority
has found in practice that the theory of
periodization is not acceptable and it has been criticized at home, as well as
internationally.
Many experts today consider that the theory of periodization does not meet the
requirements of contemporary sport and can have a
negative influence on performance development. It also appears that
periodization does not present a model training system for elite
athletes within the demands of modern competition calendars and other
international development tendencies. Only some of the thesis
of the periodization concepts can somehow be applied to the training phases of
young athletes.
It has been stressed that a formal, mechanical division of a training year into
periods and mesocycles is not practical. Further,
the principles of periodization are not really reliable because they are based
on a relatively short study and from experiences
assembled in the early days of the Soviet training system in the 1950’s.
More... From the Canadian Athletics Coaching Center at:
http://www.athleticscoaching.ca/UserFiles/File/Sport%20Science/Planning%20&%20Pe\
riodization/General%20Concepts/Verhoshansky%20The%20
End%20of%20Periodization.pdf
[Multi-line URL]


18. East African running dominance: what is behind it?
Introduction
East African middle and long distance runners are currently the dominant force
in athletics. As well as dominating the track events
at the last several Olympic Games, they are also dominant on the American and
European road racing circuit and world cross country
events. Although many physiological and anatomical factors have been proposed to
explain East African dominance, research into these
variables has not yet revealed any definitive advantage for the African.
Traditional social and cultural factors have often been
described as "advantageous", and, although these factors may be to a greater or
lesser extent involved in the East African
dominance, it is probable that both the African and caucasian psychology or
"mindset" are now additional important factors in
maintaining that dominance. Like Scandinavian distance runners in the early 20th
century, who won 28 of 36 possible Olympic medals
over 5000 and 10 000 m, the East Africans have developed an aura of
invincibility, both in their own minds and the minds of their
caucasian opponents. Caucasians world wide are searching for proof of the
physical advantage of the East Africans while handing them
on a platter a psychological advantage which, until removed, will perpetuate the
current state.
Possible reasons for East African dominance
Many factors have been described to explain both the dominance of East African
middle and long distance runners and West African
sprinters. Many of these have been disproved many times but are so fixed in
folklore that they continue to be touted as possible
causes of success. Despite being shown to be unsubstantiated in the 1930s,1 Sir
Roger Bannister, in a speech delivered to the
British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1995, suggested that
factors such as heel bone length, subcutaneous fat, and
differences in Achilles tendon length may explain the advantages that West
African athletes appear to have.1,2 Proposed factors
involved in the success of East African athletes include environmental, genetic
endowment, and social development,3 while the
psychological make up of the East African is rarely considered.
Environmental And Physiological Variables Environmental determinism is a term
used to describe the attribution of human performance
to the environment in which the human lives. Scandinavian running dominance in
the early 20th century, easily comparable with that
of East African dominance today, was felt to be a result of the forests, lakes,
and scenery enhancing the performance of the
athletes.4 In the case of the East African runner, it is widely believed that
birth and living at altitude produces great athletes,
despite the great range in athletic productivity observed between areas of
similar altitude.5 If altitude were the only factor
involved, then all African countries with high altitude populations, as well as
countries such as Nepal, Peru, and Mexico, should be
producing many world class athletes.5 While studying the difference between
muscle fibre types of highland and lowland Andean
dwellers, Rosser and Hochachka6 found that type I (slow twitch) muscle fibres of
those living at altitudes of 3300 m had reduced
levels of oxidative enzymes (malate dehydrogenase) and enhanced glycolytic
ability. Despite the small sample size (three), this may
suggest that chronic exposure to altitude reduces rather than enhances maximal
aerobic potential.6 Similarly, using analysis of
indirect maximal oxygen uptake and muscle biopsies, Kayser et al7 compared five
Nepalese Sherpas with caucasian climbers and lowland
sedentary adults. They found the Sherpas to have significantly lower maximal
aerobic uptake and lower mitochondrial density, but
equivalent capillary density and muscle fibre size compared with acclimatised
caucasian climbers. They concluded that the Sherpas'
legendary endurance could not be explained by any of the features studied, which
were found not to be unique to Sherpas. It could be
argued that the variables measured do not reflect the key physiological
parameters involved, and Noakes8 has theorised that cardiac
function may well be the differentiating variable. Saltin et al3 found that
Scandinavian athletes living at sea level had a higher
muscle buffering capacity than Kenyan athletes, and that altitude training
enhanced muscle buffering capacity in sea level residents
training at altitude, but not in Kenyans who reside at altitude.
More...from the British Journal of Sports Medicine at:
http://bjsm.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/34/5/391 [Free registration required]


19. Running Training: Principles and Needs:
Article By: Jack Daniels
Training principle #1 -- the body reacts to stress. There are two types of
reaction to the stress of exercise: 1) An acute reaction,
such as you would experience if you got up from your seat, went outside and ran
to the comer. Heart rate speeds up, stroke volume
(the amount of blood pumped with each beat of the heart) increases, ventilation
rate and depth of breathing increase, blood pressure
rises, your muscles feel some fatigue, etc. If you perform this ritual--running
to the comer-on a regular basis, then you will
continue to get regular, acute reactions to this activity. You will also get a
different reaction to the repeated, chronic exercise,
or training, as we favor calling it.
(2) Training produces changes throughout your body , which allow you to perform
the daily run-to-the-comer with less discomfort (and
probably in less time as well). The muscles that are stressed become stronger
and blood flow to the exercising muscles becomes more
generous. Changes inside the muscle cells provide more energy for the muscles,
and less lactic acid accumulates during the bout of
exercise. Your resting heart rate will undoubtedly be slower (due to a stronger
heart being able to pump more blood per beat and,
therefore, needing fewer beats to deliver the needed blood). Also, you'll
probably develop a lighter, springier step (due to fitter
leg muscles), lower resting blood pressure, lower body weight, and less fat
under the skin.
Training principle #2 - Specificity of training. The system which is stressed is
the one which stands to benefit from the stress.
While training for one particular sport usually has little or no beneficial
effect on your ability to perform a second sport, in
some cases there may actually be a detrimental effect. An example of this would
be the negative effect that long-distance running
has on explosive leg activities, such as sprinting and jumping. The same thing
could be said for what body building would do for
distance running; the extra muscle mass developed can act as dead weight,
interfering with a runner's ability to optimize his or her
distance-running capabilities.
To become really accomplished at something, you must practice doing that thing,
not some other activity, which may not only take
time away from the activity of primary interest, but may also actually produce
results which limit performance in the main sport.
This is not to say that all non-specific activity is bad, but considerable
thought must be given to every aspect of running, and you
must know what everything you do is doing for (or to) you.
More...from CoachesEducation.com at:
http://www.coacheseducation.com/endur/jack-daniels-june-00.htm


20 Digest Briefs:
* The 411 on Antioxidants
Research is suggesting that we can forget about single antioxidant supplements,
like vitamin E or beta carotene. Nutritionists point
out that they haven't lived up to the hype. However, antioxidants are very
important to your health. Antioxidants stabilize free
radicals, which damage DNA, make LDL ("bad") cholesterol even worse, and wreak
all kinds of general havoc. So, how do you get enough
beneficial antioxidants if supplements don't help? Studies show that people who
eat foods rich in a variety of antioxidants have
superior long-term health.
Researchers believe that single antioxidant supplements haven't panned out
because it takes a network of antioxidants--like those
that exist in food--for them to work effectively. An international team of
researchers has identified which foods top the list at
providing these invaluable antioxidants. Top scoring nuts and berries are
blackberries, walnuts, strawberries, and cranberries.
Other high scorers included raspberries, pecans, and blueberries.
One no-fuss way to infuse your diet with antioxidants this summer is to dress up
your regular "boring" breakfast by sprinkling fresh
fruit and nut pieces over your cereal in the morning, or enjoy them solo as a
refreshing treat between meals.
* 5 things you may not know about drinking enough water
The Miami Herald
1. Eight is more than enough: Drinking eight glasses of water a day has been
exposed as a myth. In 2002, a kidney specialist tried
to find scientific evidence to support the advice. His report in the American
Journal of Physiology found the rule was bunk and,
like many urban legends, stemmed from a grain of truth. The dietary guidelines
provided by the Food and Nutrition Board of the
National Research Council do say that humans need 1 milliliter of water for each
calorie of food (about 10 cups a day). But the same
guidelines say that we get much of this liquid from the water in solid food.
2. How much then? If you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and
produce 1 to 2 liters of colorless or slightly
yellow urine a day, your fluid intake is probably adequate, says the Mayo
Clinic.
3. Bottled or tap? Tap water is usually just as safe as bottled water and it
typically contains beneficial fluoride. So quench your
thirst at the faucet -- unless you have immune system problems, high blood
pressure (soft water can contain more sodium) or are
prone to kidney stones.
4. Don't get dehydrated: Even mild dehydration -- as little as a 1 percent to 2
percent loss of your body weight -- can sap your
energy. Strenuous activity, excessive sweating, vomiting and diarrhea can cause
dehydration. Symptoms include mild to excessive
thirst, fatigue, headache, dry mouth, little or no urination and dizziness.
5. Too much of a good thing: It's possible to drink too much water. It's called
hyponatremia and it happens when your kidneys can't
excrete excess water. Marathon runners and other endurance athletes who drink a
lot of water are at high risk for this, but it's
rare in most people.
* The menstrual cycle and its effect on the immune status of female endurance
runners
Twenty highly trained, eumenorrhoeic female endurance runners were studied over
three consecutive menstrual cycles. Average training
distance per week, total years training and mood states were recorded throughout
the three cycles. Salivary progesterone and
menstrual cycle diaries were recorded over the first two cycles to identify
luteal phase onset and the presence of any menstrual
irregularities. Saliva samples were collected daily over the third cycle for
analysis of immunoglobulin A (IgA) concentration and
secretion and saliva flow rate. Twoway analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no
significant differences in mood states across the
phases of the menstrual cycle (P > 0.05). Training logs indicated that training
did not alter throughout the 3 month study. One-way
ANOVArevealed no significant differences in IgA concentration (P = 0.92),
secretion rate (P = 0.84) or saliva flow rate (P = 0.95)
across the phases of the menstrual cycle. Pearson's product-moment correlation
revealed no relationship between IgA concentration
and progesterone between the phases of the cycle (r = 0.39). We conclude that,
in ovulatory female endurance runners whose physical
and emotional stress are stable, IgA concentration is not significantly affected
by fluctuations in progesterone during the
menstrual cycle.


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.

August 4, 2007:
10th TD Northbank Beach to Beacon 10K - Cape Elizabeth, ME

National Capital Triathlon - Ottawa, ON

August 4-5, 2007:
London Triathlon - UK

August 5, 2007:
K-Town Triathlon - Kingston, ON

NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE - New York, NY

SheROX Philadelphia Triathlon - PA


June 21, 2008
Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K race for Women
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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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
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The Stretching Handbook:
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