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
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1. Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women - Canada's
Fastest Women's 5K
November 10, 2007: Prize Money Announced for Teams
RunnersWeb.com Inc. is pleased to announce the addition of $2,250 in prize money
for the top teams for the 2008 Emilie's Run. This
prize money is in addition to the previously announced $5,500 in individual
prize money for the top open and masters runners and the
primes for the leaders at 1 through 4K.
The team prize money will be allocated as follows:
1st (Open): $1,000,
2nd: $750,
3rd: $500
A maximum of 5 entrants per team, top 3 to score.
The 2008 edition of Emilie's Run will take place on Saturday, June 21st at the
Aviation Museum in Ottawa with $5,500 in cash prizes
for the top open and masters and merchandise prizes for the top teams and
age-groupers.
There will also be a 1K run for children.
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
January 4, 2008: Goodlife Fitness has come on board as a sponsor of Emilie's Run
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. A Visual Fitness Planner Consultation
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. Access to all cardio and strength-training equipment
. Access to all of our world-class Group EXercise classes
. A copy of Living the Good Life audio CD
Get started today! Visit www.GoodLifeFitness.com Limited time offer.

3. Road Runner Sports, the world's largest running store at:
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New Arrivals from Nike With Web Exclusive Apparel and More!

4. Toronto Waterfront Marathon, 2008
http://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/

5. Mississauga Marathon
The 5th anniversary edition of the Mississauga Marathon will be run on May 11,
2008 with the 10K the evening before on May 10th.
Register before February 6th to beat the price increase.
For more visit the race site at:
http://www.mississaugamarathon.com

6. Training Peaks
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industry leading software products, we're committed to
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7. Running Free
Running Free is a complete online running store with everything for the casual
to serious runner.
They also have retail stores in the GTA (Toronto) and Markham.
Check them out at:
http://www.runningfree.com

8. January 4, 2008: Goodlife Fitness has come on board as a sponsor of Emilie's
Run
GoodLife Fitness - Coed or Women's Only
Visit www.GoodLifeFitness.com today to receive 3 FREE Visits!
Your 3 FREE visits include:
. A Visual Fitness Planner Consultation
. Fit Fix Orientation to learn how to exercise safely and effectively
. Access to all cardio and strength-training equipment
. Access to all of our world-class Group EXercise classes
. A copy of Living the Good Life audio CD
Get started today! Visit www.GoodLifeFitness.com Limited time offer.

9. Watch over 50 IAAF Events Live and On-Demand.
World Championship Sports Network
ABOUT WCSN
World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) is the premier destination for fans of
Olympic and lifestyle sports, delivering an
immersive experience via exclusive live and on demand coverage of world class
competitions, interaction with top athletes and in
depth access to sports news and information year round.
WCSN offers comprehensive coverage of over 60 sports disciplines, through
exclusive long term programming agreements across a number
of key International Federations and National Governing Bodies. Major
championship events in sports ranging from Athletics (Track &
Field), Skiing, Swimming, Gymnastics and Cycling to Volleyball, Karate and
Taekwondo are featured online at
http://tinyurl.com/ysnvnh and on television via WCSN's weekly syndicated
television program, World Championship Sports, available in
more than 45 million US households. WCSN also markets Olympic sports in
partnership with International Federations, National
Governing Bodies, local organizations, clubs, sponsors, and through related
websites and publications.
WCSN is dedicated to providing year round, in depth coverage of these important
and exciting sports to reach millions of fans around
the world for whom they represent a way of life. WCSN is committed to expanding
the audience by delivering programming that
exemplifies the best of the human spirit. WCSN enables fans to interact with
world class champions as well as get to know the up and
coming athletes through blogs, interviews and their broadcast commentary.
Consistent with the world class caliber of the sports it celebrates, WCSN
delivers high quality production values, leveraging
state-of-the-art-technology and next generation distribution platforms to
provide an immersive, interactive experience available
anytime, anywhere.
Visit WCSN at:
http://tinyurl.com/ysnvnh

10. Canadian Running Magazine:
Subscribe at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/CanadianRunner.html

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NEW THIS WEEK:
Road Race Management Newsletter
Save $30 off a new 1-year subscription to Road Race Management, the must-have
monthly newsletter covering the operational,
administrative and marketing elements of the sport of long distance running.
Want to learn more?
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If you like what you see, Click Here
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FREE Stretching, Flexibility & Sports Injury Information!
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I've created a Runner's Web Group on Facebook.
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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

* ACTIVE.COM
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* Sports Nutrition by Sheila Kealey.
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* Peak Performance Online
Peak Performance is a subscription-only newsletter for athletes, featuring the
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Check out our article archive from Peak Performance Online at:
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Visit the PPO site at:
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* 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.
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* 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. To Stretch or Not to Stretch? The Answer Is Elastic
2. Spring Forward
Spring 2008 Road Shoe Buyer's Guide.
3. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine
4. Trade Secrets of the Kenyans
Simple strategies to train like the world's best runners
5. Running Safely Into Middle Age
Age is the enemy of serious runners. But you can keep the zip in your pace
without excessively straining your body—or your schedule.
6. Stride right and improve your run
7. Twenty Kenyan Commandments
8. Turn on the Power
Energy System Specific Training.
9. The Marathon Long Run
How I Prescribe Long Runs for Maximum Success.
10. The Physiology of Marathon Running
Just What Does Running a Marathon Do to Your Body?
11. How Strength Training Can Be Worthwhile
A Perspective From Kenya.
12. Aging is not for sissies
Today's women are fighting strenuously to stay fit and healthy as they grow
older.
13. Checking In/ Taking Stock
14. Beijing's smog forces champion out of Olympic race
15. Triathlon: To boost your overall performance, you should focus on the
crucial bike-run transition
16. Fueling the Runner: The Onion Bagel
Spread with Psychological Unrest.
17. This Week in Running
18. Carbohydrates for Endurance
19. Osteoarthritis: What happens when you hang up your sports kit - for good?
20. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Have you watched a sporting event via the internet on WCSN.com?"


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:
"Do you support women's only road races?"
Answers Percent
1. Yes 74%
2. No 16%
3. No opinion, don't care 10%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE MONTH: WCSN.com
Watch over 50 IAAF Events Live and On-Demand at WCSN.com.
World Championship Sports Network (WCSN) is the premier destination for fans of
Olympic and lifestyle sports, delivering an
immersive experience via exclusive live and on demand coverage of world class
competitions, interaction with top athletes and in
depth access to sports news and information year round.
WCSN offers comprehensive coverage of over 60 sports disciplines, through
exclusive long term programming agreements across a number
of key International Federations and National Governing Bodies. Major
championship events in sports ranging from Athletics (Track &
Field), Skiing, Swimming, Gymnastics and Cycling to Volleyball, Karate and
Taekwondo are featured online at
http://tinyurl.com/ysnvnh and on television via WCSN's weekly syndicated
television program, World Championship Sports, available in
more than 45 million US households. WCSN also markets Olympic sports in
partnership with International Federations, National
Governing Bodies, local organizations, clubs, sponsors, and through related
websites and publications.
WCSN is dedicated to providing year round, in depth coverage of these important
and exciting sports to reach millions of fans around
the world for whom they represent a way of life. WCSN is committed to expanding
the audience by delivering programming that
exemplifies the best of the human spirit. WCSN enables fans to interact with
world class champions as well as get to know the up and
coming athletes through blogs, interviews and their broadcast commentary.
Consistent with the world class caliber of the sports it celebrates, WCSN
delivers high quality production values, leveraging
state-of-the-art-technology and next generation distribution platforms to
provide an immersive, interactive experience available
anytime, anywhere.
Visit WCSN at:
http://tinyurl.com/ysnvnh

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

BOOK/VIDEO OF THE MONTH: Yoga for Runners
Keeping runners healthy and on the road.
The key to unlocking your potential as an athlete is flexibility. Christine
Felstead’s Yoga for Runners™ is an easy, empathic method
of improving flexibility for all athletes, regardless of body type. The
four-part format allows you to focus on any individual
segment or run through the program in its entirety.
~ Fundamentals – as a runner, how to integrate yoga into daily life to improve
sitting, standing and running postural alignment
~ Lower Back
~ Hamstrings
~ Hips
Also included is a visual Anatomy Reference Guide. As an athlete, knowing more
about your body will help to improve performance;
reduce the risk of injury; and yoga poses will be better aligned.
Read a review of Yoga for Runners on the Runner's Web at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/news_2008/rw_news_20080218_Yoga_for_Runners.ht\
ml
Buy the DVD at:
http://www.yogaforrunners.com/products/

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. To Stretch or Not to Stretch? The Answer Is Elastic :
The truth is that after dozens of studies and years of debate, no one really
knows whether stretching helps, harms, or does anything
in particular for performance or injury rates.
NEWS about stretching seems to come in waves. Stretch as part of your warm-up.
No, stretch after your workout. No, don’t even bother
stretching. Or the doozy: Even if you think you like it, it’s been oversold as a
way to prevent injury or improve performance
The truth is that after dozens of studies and years of debate, no one really
knows whether stretching helps, harms, or does anything
in particular for performance or injury rates. Yet most athletes remain
convinced that stretching helps, and recently more and more
have felt a sort of social pressure to show that they are limber, in part due to
the popularity of yoga. Flexibility has become
another area where many athletes want to excel.
They’re like one of my running partners, Claire Brown, a 35-year-old triathlete.
“I always feel like, well, athletes should do yoga,” Claire said. “It’s supposed
to be really good for running, and when I do it
regularly, it does loosen up my hips and make me feel better for running.”
More...from the NY Times at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/health/nutrition/13Best.html?ref=fitnessandnut\
rition


2. Spring Forward:
Spring 2008 Road Shoe Buyer's Guide.
Springtime is the time to start doing faster workouts, the time to start
planning for a summer of racing and, for most of us, the
time to buy new shoes. Here's what you'll see at your running shop this spring:
More techy buzz
The running shoe business is a marketing guru's dream. For example, there must
be 100 different names for the various forms of
ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) and other foams found in the cushy midsole of a
shoe. While there are very real differences among those
materials and how they're used in the construction of a shoe, don't fall prey to
glitzy terminology or hyper-analysis of lab data.
Let fit, feel and function guide your purchases.
Eye candy
Several brands are pushing the envelope with brilliant hues and functional
design tweaks--such as asymmetrical lacing, seamless
uppers and fashion-forward mesh fabrics--and it's an Olympic year, so you're
bound to see lots of red, white and blue, too. But
color and unique aesthetics don't have much to do with performance--unless
you're so averse to the bold new colors on the shoe wall
that you decide to keep last fall's model for a few hundred more miles. (Don't
make that mistake!)
Lighter weights
A lighter shoe isn't always a better shoe, but companies are constantly
tinkering with new materials, so shoes are getting lighter
across the board--from racing flats to motion control shoes. The slimming down
is most evident in the lightweight stability
category, where more brands are offering models for the mostly neutral runners
who seek just a twinge of support without added bulk.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=12866


3. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine:
* Cramps Probably Caused by Muscle Damage
Even though muscle cramps are extremely common in competitive athletes, we
really do not know what causes them. Nobody has shown
consistent benefit from any of the most
common treatments: multivitamin pills; mineral pills with calcium, zinc,
magnesium, salt and/or potassium; massage or chiropractic
manipulation; drinking large amounts of water; dietary manipulations; or
bio-mechanical stretching and strengthening.
Known medical causes of muscle cramps are extremely rare in athletes. These
include narrowed blood vessels, usually from
atherosclerosis; compression of nerves, low thyroid function, or side effects of
medications such as diuretics. Some cramps are
caused by low mineral or fluid levels (The Japanese Journal of Clinical
Pathology, November 2007). However, for the vast majority of
people who suffer exercise-associated muscle cramps, blood levels of sodium,
potassium, calcium and magnesium are normal. Research
in athletes after they ran in 52-mile races showed that the runners who suffered
cramps had the same level of dehydration and blood
mineral levels as those who did not get muscle cramps. Cramping during exercise
usually occurs in healthy people without any
underlying disease or known cause.
I think that the most common cause of exercise-associated cramps is damage to
the muscle itself. Before you get a cramp, you will
probably feel that muscle pulling and tightening.
If you slow down, the pulling lessens, but if you continue to push the pace, the
muscle goes into a sustained cramp and you have to
stop exercising to work the cramp out. Further evidence that muscle damage is
the cause of the cramp is that the muscle often hurts
for hours or days afterwards.
You may be able to prevent cramps by exercising more frequently but less
intensely and for shorter periods of time, but most serious
exercisers do not want to do this. There is some evidence that taking sugared
drinks and foods during prolonged exercise helps
maintain endurance and muscle integrity which helps prevent cramps. So take a
source of sugar every 30 minutes or so during a
vigorous workout, and back off if you feel a group of muscles pulling and
tightening during exercise.
Most exercisers just accept that occasional cramps will occur and cause no
long-term harm.
* Warm Up Your Heart
Most people know that you have to warm up skeletal muscles to help protect them
from injury, but many do not know that warming up
the heart muscle also helps to prevent heart attacks in people with blocked
arteries leading to the heart
Before you try to run very fast, you can protect your muscles from injury by
performing a series of runs of gradually-increasing
intensity to increase the circulation of blood to your muscles. The same
principle applies to the heart. Angina is a condition in
which the blood vessels leading to the heart are partially blocked so the person
has no pain at rest, but during exercise, the
blocked arteries don't permit enough blood to get through to the heart muscles,
causing pain. A study from the Quebec Heart
Institute shows that exercising very slowly before a person with angina picks up
the pace allows him to exercise more intensely
before he feels heart pain.
If you have any suspicion of heart problems, always check with your doctor
before you begin an exercise program or increase the
intensity of your existing program.
What induces the warm-up ischemia/angina phenomenon: Exercise or myocardial
ischemia? Circulation, 2003, Vol 107, Iss 14, pp
1858-1863. P Bogaty, P Poirier, L Boyer, J Jobin, GR Dagenais. Bogaty P, Hop
Laval, Quebec Heart Inst, 2725 Chemin St Foy, St Foy,
PQ G1V 4G5, CANADA
From Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine at: http://www.drmirkin.com


4. Trade Secrets of the Kenyans:
Simple strategies to train like the world's best runners.
By Scott Douglas
Wouldn't it be great to run like a Kenyan?
Okay, so you're probably not going to move to 8,000 feet of altitude and devote
yourself entirely to your athletics. One hundred
twenty-mile weeks might not be on next week's agenda. And, yes, it's a little
late to pick your parents with an eye toward getting
dealt the best genetic hand. But that doesn't mean you can't still train like a
Kenyan.
I spent December 2004 in Iten, Kenya, the country's unofficial running capital,
where Olympic medalists, world champions and
international marathon winners train. For a month, I ran with and talked with
all types of runners-road racers, track specialists,
cross country aces-to see what common elements ran through their training. Below
is what I learned that all runners, regardless of
race distance, experience, talent level and setting, can easily add to their
programs.
Start Slow, Finish Fast
Every run I did with Kenyans started at a stumble, and most finished
substantially faster. Contrast that with most recreational
runners' practice of starting out the door at the pace they think they should be
running that day, and maintaining roughly the same
pace throughout the run.
Think of a pot of water coming to a boil-there's no one instant where you can
pinpoint when it started to get hot, but the end
result is undeniable. The same thing happens when you allow your muscles and
cardiovascular system to ease into action-as you
gradually warm up, you'll up your pace without really noticing it. Toward the
end of your run, you'll be moving quickly and
comfortably, and will be teaching yourself how to run fast but relaxed.
Finishing faster than you start is also good practice for
running negative splits in races.
More...from the Running Warehouse at:
http://www.runningwarehouse.com/LearningCenter/TrainKenyan.html


5. Running Safely Into Middle Age:
Age is the enemy of serious runners. But you can keep the zip in your pace
without excessively straining your body—or your schedule
.
Like other older, overcommitted but still competitive runners, I'm no longer
trying to set personal bests. Those days are gone with
President Reagan and the Bee Gees. My goal instead is to race as fast as I can,
take as little time for training as possible, and
still not get injured. Those of us who achieve this elusive balance will enjoy a
small miracle. While our finishing times get slower
and slower, we get closer and closer to the front of our age group. In running,
at least, the greatest triumph is to decay at a
slower rate than our peers.
My recommendation for most busy, injury-prone, type A runners is to emphasize
quality of training over quantity. This conclusion
comes after consulting with experts and fellow runners and going by my own 35
years of experience as a competitive runner. (For what
it's worth, I ran a half-marathon last month at age 49 in 1 hour, 23 minutes.)
What's wrong with quantity? Because running, say, three tough workouts a week
and resting or going easy on other days will give you
better results, in less time and more safely, than slogging through lots of
mileage at a mediocre pace. Cutting back on mileage will
also free up time for the strengthening and stretching exercises you know you
need but have been ignoring. True, high-quality
workouts are a strain on the body—by design, they break down muscle fibers so
they rebuild themselves stronger. But done right, such
programs aren't much riskier than the ultracautious approach of going both short
and slow.
A new book that takes this position is Runner's World: Run Less, Run Faster by
Bill Pierce, Scott Murr, and Ray Moss, a team of
health and exercise experts at Furman University in South Carolina. The Furman
program involves only three days of running per week,
plus two or three days of cross-training. Even marathoners in the program do
just 35 miles in their longest week.
More...from Business Week at:
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/07_21/b4035092.htm


6. Stride right and improve your run:
Your running stride length is a useful tool in your training that, unlike many
other factors influencing performance, remains
largely within your control. When optimized, stride length can help keep you
going stronger, faster, and better protected from many
common injuries.
Interestingly, professional runners have frequently been shown to utilize
shorter strides than their less accomplished, but
nevertheless experienced, counterparts. In a related study of collegiate
runners, researchers observed a decrease in running stride
lengths from their first to their final year. How do you avoid the impulse to
overstride, then?
Stride length
Stride length, both natural and optimal, increases at faster speeds. The key is
to discover the way your optimal stride length
feels, and it will follow you at any running speed. Renowned exercise
physiologist, coach, and Running & FitNews editorial board
member Jack Daniels, Ph.D., has observed repeatedly that leg turnover naturally
determines stride length.
Focusing runners on reaching 180 steps per minute is an excellent way to move
their stride length into the optimal range, without
unduly placing all of their focus on running form. For many people, this running
cadence is faster than they are used to attaining,
but it achieves several noteworthy results.
Daniels writes, "The main problem associated with a slower turnover is that the
slower you take steps, the longer the time you spend
in the air." This displaces your body mass higher, and leads to a greater ground
landing shock. A shorter stride means a lighter
stride. Daniels advises that optimal stride rate should feel like you are
running "over the ground, not into it."
More...from Active.com at:
http://www.active.com/story.cfm?STORY_ID=12114&CATEGORY=running&CHECKSSO=0


7. Twenty Kenyan Commandments:
by Owen Anderson, Ph.D.
If you want to find the origin of the Nile, there's no use paddling back and
forth in its middle regions: You've got to travel up
the darned thing until you find its source. Likewise, if you need to know how to
become a great runner, you shouldn't talk to the
man on the street, the middle-of-the-pack competitor, the exercise physiologist
locked away in a university laboratory, or the coach
who has tutored just one or two really successful runners over a career. You
must go the country which has the highest number of
world-class runners per capita - a country where world-champion harriers are
sighted on the streets as often as taxis, where
teen-age runners are so good that they often out-compete Olympic medalists,
where shoeless seven-year-olds sizzle past you as you
run along country roads, and where 28:45 10-K runners and 4:03 milers are
considered strictly back-of-the-pack material.
You should go to Kenya, the cradle of endurance runners. Kenyan athletes have
been dominating the world of running for more than a
decade, and experts have suggested that the Kenyan superiority is the result of
special genes, altitude, diet, or incredibly intense
training. However, after visiting the Kenyan-team's cross-country camp on the
slopes of Mt. Kenya and interviewing dozens of elite
Kenyan athletes, I realized that no single factor could explain the Kenyans'
almost-unbelievable successes. The Kenyan runners
themselves understand the reasons for their dominance better than anyone, and
they were kind enough to give me not just 10 - but 20
- "running commandments" to transport from Mt. Kenya back to the rest of the
world. Just to make things extra challenging, the 20
edicts, outlined below, are divided into two categories - principles which you
should follow in your own training, as well as a
couple of factors which are very difficult for you to control.
More...from the Kenyan Way at:
http://www.kenyanway.com/TrainingTips/20KenyanCommandments.php


8. Turn on the Power:
Energy System Specific Training.
By Jason R. Karp, M.S.
We usually talk of energy in vague terms. "I don’t have a lot of energy today,"
or "You can feel the energy in the room." But what
really is energy? Where do you get the energy to run? And how do you get more of
it so you can run faster?
As our high school biology teachers taught us, the energy to move our bodies
comes from the chemical breakdown of a high-energy
metabolic compound found in our muscles called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP.
Simplistically speaking, running faster comes down to
increasing the rate at which ATP is produced so it can be broken down to
liberate energy for muscle contraction.
Like many other animals, humans produce ATP through three biochemical pathways.
The phosphagen system (also called the ATP-CP
system) uses our muscles’ store of creatine phosphate and their small store of
ATP to anaerobically power short bursts of running.
Anaerobic glycolysis, which occurs in the fluid-filled portion of cells, breaks
down blood glucose and glycogen (the stored form of
carbohydrate in your muscles and liver) to get ATP. Finally, the aerobic system,
which includes the biology teacher’s
often-mentioned Krebs cycle and electron transport chain, uses blood glucose,
glycogen, and fat to synthesize ATP aerobically in the
mitochondria of cells.
More...from Running Times at:
http://runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=7792&page=1&c=85


9. The Marathon Long Run:
How I Prescribe Long Runs for Maximum Success.
by Greg McMillan, M.S.
Ahh, the marathon long run. What a worrisome thing for most runners. And for
good reason, the long run is such a crucial part of
marathon training. I don't think there's any other race distance where one
single workout plays such a large part in the success or
failure of the race. As a result, you're often left with many questions: How far
should I run? Do I run for time or distance? What
about pace? What to eat and drink? The list goes on and on.
In this article, I'll answer these questions for you as I describe my thoughts
on the marathon long run and how I utilize long runs
for the marathoners I coach. As I like to do, I'm not only going to give you the
"how-to" but I'm going to provide you with the
rationale for why I think this plan works. This way, you can take the
information and incorporate it into your specific training
plan.
I will preface this article with a note that these are simply my ideas. Some of
them have been widely criticized in forums. I aim to
address these concerns but in the end, you have to do what you think works for
YOU. And, I would also recommend that you experiment
in your training to determine what works for you. With that, here is how I
prescribe long runs in the marathon phase. The results
have been consistent and positive. You can hear from some McMillan Running
athletes by clicking here.
More...from McMillan Running at:
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/marathonlongrun.htm


10. 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).
Noakes (1987) bolstered his opposition with a follow-up report on a total of 36
documented cases of heart attacks or sudden death in
marathon runners prior to 1984. Angiography, autopsy, or electrocardiographic
results were available for 27 of the runners, 25 of
whom had some degree of CAD. Sudden death occurred in 22 of the 36 runners, with
19 of those deaths occurring during, immediately
after, or within 24 hours after running a marathon or a long training run. While
this report clearly showed that marathon running
alone does not guarantee a life free of CAD, it should be noted that the
contributing factors of smoking and diet mentioned by
Bassler were not addressed.
The most damning evidence against Bassler's theory, however, came from one
unfortunate case study. Jim Fixx was an overweight,
overstressed smoker whose father suffered a heart attack at the age of 35 and
died eight years later. Rehabilitation of a tennis
injury motivated Fixx to start running to the point that he completed several
marathons and wrote the bestseller The Complete Book
of Running. Because of Fixx's positive family history for heart disease and his
passion for running, he understandably agreed with
Bassler's theory. His faith in Bassler's theory may be why Fixx ignored chest
pains while he ran, hoping they would eventually go
away if he kept on running (Plymire 2002). Unfortunately, his passion for
running came to an end along a Vermont road in 1984 when,
in the middle of a run, Jim Fixx died of a heart attack. An autopsy found a
complete blockage in one coronary artery, an 80 percent
blockage in another, and signs of previous heart attacks.
More...from Marathon and Beyond at:
http://www.marathonandbeyond.com/choices/emmett.htm


11. How Strength Training Can Be Worthwhile;
A Perspective From Kenya.
By Mads Matthiesen
Worth your time?
Is strength training worth the time you spend on it, or not? That is the first
practical hurdle in this debate. If you’re running
one to three times a week, putting one gym session a week might give you
pleasant variety, but one more running session would
improve your running more. When running four to six times a week for years,
likely with a quality session once or twice a week, you
have gone through the initial fitness progressions. If you are running with even
more quantity, six to 14 times a week, as elite
runners do, you will have reached a physical level and experience where you know
exactly how to push yourself as much as you can,
both in terms of quantity and quality. Also, your performance might have reached
a steady state, due to a highly developed aerobic
power and capacity. For these two last categories there should be no doubt that
one or two weekly strength sessions of 45 to 70
minutes duration can enhance performance.
Determining factors in distance running
In his article and response, Mr. Karp keeps on emphasizing that " . . . the
ability of muscles to perform endurance work depends on
the delivery of oxygen to those muscles and their capacity to use the available
oxygen." This is true, but the ability of the body
to perform endurance work depends more on the usage of your VO2 max and your
work economy. Runners with similar measures of VO2 max
can have very different PRs in races from 5,000m to the marathon. The truth is
that for running fast over long distances, you need
to lower the energy consumption of your running; you have to make good use of
your VO2 max for a longer time. An efficient use of
VO2 max (connected to AT) over a long time, combined with an efficient running
economy, are truly what determine performance.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=8996&page=1


12. Aging is not for sissies:
Today's women are fighting strenuously to stay fit and healthy as they grow
older.
Boomer women aren't taking aging lying down.
During a recent spinning marathon, the women fused to the spin bikes for three
hours of sweat and hard-core cardio were not just
twentysomething twinkies. A good third or more were in their 40s, 50s and even
60s.
Boomer women are taking to the streets in marathons, lifting weights at gyms and
doing hard time on treadmills in record numbers and
it's not about being cougars and attracting stud muffins.
Increasingly, Women of a Certain Age are refusing to limp off into geezerhood:
the only rolling over they are doing is on the
Pilates mat.
More...from the Toronto Star at:
http://www.thestar.com/living/Health/article/326708


13. Checking In/ Taking Stock:
If you are a competitive athlete, even a semi-competitive athlete, now is a
good time of year to take a solid look at your current
state of training and ask yourself, "Am I on track to accomplish the goals I've
set for myself this year?"
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored."
-Aldous Huxley
March isn't that far from June. And June isn't that far from August. Our peak
races aren't all that far away, really.
What you're doing in training now will largely determine how well you do on
race day later this year.
An athlete's season can and should be broken into the following training
blocks:
Off season
Training season
Racing season
Most if not all of us are currently in our Training season. It is during this
season that we actually get stronger than the previous
year. Because once come Racing season, all we're essentially doing is
maintaining our fitness while reducing our fatigue so that we
can race to our potential. Put simply, Racing season is not the time to worry
about training. Now is the time to worry about
training. Are you doing what needs to be done to improve?
"What we think or what we know or what we believe is, in the end, of little
consequence. The only consequence is what we do."
-John Ruskin
Are you working on your weaknesses, your limiters, as opposed to your strengths?
What are your numbers at this time of year (ie,
speed, power, heart rate zones, weekly volume, etc)? How do they compare to
previous years? Are you taking care of any injuries or
aches and pains that are affecting your training? Have you addressed your diet
such that you're taking in what you need to, and
scaling back on what you don't necessarily need? Are you planning some early
season, dust-the-cobwebs-off races? Are you working on
your race-day nutritional requirements?
If things are going as you had planned for...terrific! But if they're not, it's
not too late to change and get things back on track.
Don't delay, though...summer is going to be here before we know it (despite all
the snow we've been getting!).
"None of us can change our yesterdays, but all of us can change our tomorrows."
-Colin Powell
Subscribe to The Endurance Lab at Toronto SEMI newsletter at:
http://www.endurancelab.ca/maillist.asp


14. Beijing's smog forces champion out of Olympic race:
The world's fastest long-distance runner said yesterday he will not compete in
the marathon at the Beijing Olympic Games because of
the city's choking air pollution, a move that is prompting runners of all levels
to reassess the net health benefits of going for a
jog in the smog.
"The pollution in China is a threat to my health and it would be difficult for
me to run 42 kilometres in my current condition,"
Haile Gebrselassie, the 34-year-old Ethiopian who many enthusiasts call the best
distance runner of all time, told Reuters.
Mr. Gebrselassie, who has exercise-induced asthma, said he still intends to run
the 10,000-metre race. He is the world record holder
in the marathon. The withdrawal of such a marquee athlete from such a marquee
event dredges up troubling questions for both Beijing
Olympics officials and the running community at large.
For Beijing, officials must scramble to convince other athletes that its air
pollution - which has been reported to exceed World
Health Organization recommended limits by as much as five times - will not
adversely affect their health. And for runners of all
stripes, the question is broader:
If even the great Mr. Gebrselassie is worried about smog, should the rest of the
running community be paying closer attention to the
air they breathe so deeply?
Canadian Olympic officials have been monitoring the air in Beijing for some time
and have persuaded athletes to stay away from the
city until three or four days before their events to avoid the build up of
particulate in their lungs.
Much of the Canadian team will spend the weeks ahead of the Olympic Games in
Singapore, a city with much cleaner air whose heat and
humidity closely resemble Beijing.
More...from the Globe and Mail at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080311.wlrunning11/BNStory/\
lifeMain/


15. Triathlon: To boost your overall performance, you should focus on the
crucial bike-run transition:
If you have ever competed in a duathlon or triathlon or even carried out a
'brick' workout, in which you shift quickly from biking
to running, you will know how challenging the bike-run transition can be. Once
you have left the relative comfort of your bike seat,
those first running steps can feel awesomely difficult; your running pace will
certainly be below par - and you may well wonder
whether you will be able to finish the run portion of your competition or
workout with any kind of quality at all.
Why do your legs feel so leaden when you try to run after strenuous cycling? If
you happen to be competing in an Olympic, middle- or
long-distance triathlon, your leg muscles may well be somewhat glycogen-depleted
after 40, 80, or 180k of strenuous cycling
respectively. This glycogen depletion can cause significant fatigue, making your
legs 'heavy' and unresponsive. When your leg
muscles are low on glycogen, they simply don't have enough of the 'high-octane
fuel' needed for fast running.
If you haven't stoked up on fluids properly during the bike stage, dehydration
may also be taking its toll. But even when glycogen
level and fluid intake are fine, there is another complication which can make
you struggle: as you start the run phase of your
bike-run transition, your nervous system is still geared towards controlling the
mechanical movements required for cycling. It takes
time for the brain and spinal cord to adjust to the completely new patterns of
neuromuscular coordination needed for running, and
during this adjustment period running feels sluggish and uncoordinated. This is
an attractive explanation for the troubles
experienced during the first few minutes of running after biking, especially
since the muscles often begin to feel less fatigued
after a few minutes, which would not happen if glycogen depletion or dehydration
were the source of the fatigue.
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0624.htm


16. Fueling the Runner: The Onion Bagel:
Spread with Psychological Unrest.
By Jackie Dikos, R.D.
Tension was a bit high as we were nearing the biggest meet of the season: the
regional cross-country championships. After a nice
team dinner, we retired for a quiet evening while coach went on a ritual trip to
the grocery store.
We rose early with an excited queasiness, ran a quick morning shakeout as a team
and made our way up to Coach’s room for breakfast.
I can recall the comments we made walking down the corridor: I’ll get sick. What
if I burp it up? I can’t eat that. The anxiety
level climbed over what was considered less than the breakfast of champions -
onion bagels!
Disappointment over the onion bagel as a pre-race meal was plainly evident.
Believe it or not, the grocery shelf was empty of any
other bagel flavor, and it was the best Coach could find. Most of the runners
that day thought he wouldn’t have had any trouble
picking up basic bagels but in this case, there was no other option.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=12879


17. This Week in Running:
10 Years Ago- Paul Tergat (KEN) defeated Hendrick Ramaala (RSA) by 5 seconds at
the Cinque Mulini Cross (ITA)
11K. Mark Bett (KEN) was 3rd, another 3 seconds back. Merima
Denboba (ETH) took the women's
5K by a 3 second margin over Birhane Adere (ETH). Lornah
Kiplagat, running for KEN,
took 3rd, seven more seconds in arears.
20 Years Ago- Mauricio Gonzalez (MEX) won the Azalea Trail Run (AL/USA) 10K in
28:04, well ahead of
John Doherty (IRL) in 28:36 and Peter Koech (KEN) in 28:46.
Teresa Ornduff (USA) took
the women's race in 32:27 by a similar wide margin over Susan Lee
(CAN) in 32:55.
Maureen Cogan (USA) was 3rd in 33:12.
30 Years Ago- Markus Ryffel (SUI) won the European Indoor (ITA) 3000m title by
0.4 seconds over
Emile Puttemans (BEL), 7:49.5 to 7:49.9. Jörg Peter (GER) took
the bronze medal
with a 7:50.08 while Dan Glans (SWE) and Klaas Lok (NED) rounded
out the top five,
posting times of 7:51.2 and 7:51.4 respectively.
40 Years Ago- Viktor Kudinskiy (RUS) won the European Indoor Games (ESP) 3000m
with a 8:10.22. Bernd
Diessner (GER) was next in 8:11.0 while Wolfgang Zur (GER) took
the bronze medal in 8:11.8.
50 Years Ago- Alan Perkins won the English (AAA) Crosscountry Championships by
five seconds over Frank
Sando. Basil Heatley placed 4th and Gordon Pirie was 19th.
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. Carbohydrates for Endurance:
Reviewed and Updated by ERB member Bob Seebohar, MS, RD, CSSD, CSCS, Sport
Dietitian for the US Olympic Committee.
Intro: Energy for endurance exercise is fueled primarily by fats and
carbohydrates, with carbohydrate utilization increasing as the
intensity of the exercise increases. Thus, carbohydrates are crucial to
competitive endurance exercise performance. In addition to
food based carbohydrates, there are many different energy supplements marketed
for sport, which are available in a variety of forms.
These carbohydrate supplements are available as a result of demand based upon
experimental and research based evidence, but
understanding when your body needs carbohydrate in which amount depends on three
key areas: capacity, conversion and type.
Capacity: At rest, the human body typically has enough carbohydrates to fuel 3
hrs of exercise at a rate of 10-12 kcal/minute
(600-700 kcal/hour) which includes blood, muscle, and liver glycogen stores
totaling 1,520 to 2,020kcal. The conversion of
carbohydrates to energy is highly efficient compared to fats and protein. Thus,
carbohydrates are a great fuel source, but our
storage capacity, even with training, is generally insufficient to meet the
demands of competitive endurance sports.
Conversion: The ability to rapidly replenish carbohydrate stores after training,
and the ability to consume and convert ingested
carbohydrates into a usable form of carbohydrate is important in allowing you to
train and compete at the your best. Ingesting the
wrong carbohydrates at the wrong time, or ingesting too little carbohydrate can
impair performance both in the short term and long
term. Consuming a slowly digested carbohydrate during times where the body is
at, or above threshold can lead to disaster. During
times where you exercise or race at and above your threshold, your blood
circulation is focused on the working muscles and away from
the stomach. This makes digestion of foods difficult. In fact, consuming a
slowly absorbed sugar during these times will slow
gastric emptying (the emptying of fluids and foods from the stomach to the blood
stream) and in essence block fluids from being
absorbed. This can actually cause dehydration.
More...from First Endurance at:
http://www.firstendurance.com/newsletter_carbs_vol6_3.html


19. Osteoarthritis: What happens when you hang up your sports kit - for good?
You may be at the peak of your sporting powers right now, having conditioned
your body to be the ultimate machine for your sport,
but what will happen to that machine as the miles clock up? Will that highly
conditioned physique break down later in life because
of too much sport-induced wear and tear? And is there anything that you can do
now to prevent potential decline in physical function
caused by your sports participation?
A great deal of research has been carried out into the effect of sport
participation on the incidence of osteoarthritis and
long-term muscle damage in later life. There is also a growing body of research
considering the impact of cardiovascular (endurance)
training on heart health. These and other sporting ‘legacies’ are the focus of
this article.
Let’s take osteoarthritis first: this is a degenerative condition of the joints,
which can become swollen and painfully inflamed.
The ‘itis’ bit implies pain, without which the condition is known as
osteoarthrosis.
The condition affects the joint cartilage – a smooth substance covering bone
endings that allows bones to glide over each other with
minimal friction and also cushions force as it is transmitted through the
joints. In fact, cartilage serves a very similar function
to the oil in your car engine, the big difference being that it cannot be topped
up when lost.
Degeneration of cartilage occurs as a result of ageing and – more relevant to
this article – injury and overuse. The condition is
diagnosed by Xray, where cartilage appears as a black space between bones and
the joint space is significantly narrowed.
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/osteoarthritis.html


20. Digest Briefs:
Drop and Give Me Twenty!
The humble push-up has long been a symbol of strength and vitality
Video from the NY Times at:
http://video.on.nytimes.com/index.jsp?fr_story=e44e36dfb869fe48dfd1a44343a41f591\
16a5d61
* Commando running
When he saw an ad in a local running magazine for a "clothing optional" race,
Adam Buckley Cohen of Oklahoma thought it would be a
good antidote to his having
become a "reserved, middle-aged drone." After the race, he concluded: "The race
brochure had promised to free runners from 'the
burden of clothes.' But on the drive home, it struck me that the entire
adventure had proved
decidedly unliberating. Sure,
for a few minutes I'd forgotten my nakedness. But otherwise, my unclothed loins
were all I'd thought about. Call me repressed, but
the most liberating moment came when I pulled my shorts back on."
Source: Runner's World magazine
* Runner’s World Website Honored by Industry
Runner's World’s website, a finalist for the Year's Best Sports Website at the
Magazine Publishers Association’s Best of the Web
Awards, was recognized at last week’s awards announcement in New York. Runner's
World came in second, behind Sports Illustrated.
From www.RunningUSA.org.
* Quick Tip
By Robert Kunz MS
Using EFS Bars as a Pre-exercise Snack
EFS bars take the guesswork out of what to eat as a pre-exercise snack. The bars
are designed to be easy to digest, are fortified
with a mix of three different carbohydrate sources, provide10g of protein,
2,000mg of amino acids and vitamin C. EFS bars also
deliver all five electrolytes, in the levels endurance athletes need to prevent
cramping, so you don’t need to bother carrying extra
electrolyte pills. It’s important to be consistent with a pre-exercise snack
during training AND racing. Trying something new on
race day is an invitation for disaster.
From First Endurance
http://www.firstendurance.com


THIS WEEK'S FEATURED EVENTS:
*Please verify event dates with the event websites*

March 14-15, 2008:
NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field National Championships - Fayetteville,
Arkansas

March 15, 2008:
Catalina Island Marathon - Two Harbors, CA
American Trail Championship Finale

Central Park Challenge 8K - New York, NY

Slainte Irish Pub St Patricks Day Road Race - Ottawa, ON

March 15 -16, 2008:
Yuengling Shamrock Sportsfest 8K & Marathon - VA Beach, VA

March 16, 2008:
Arizona Distance Classic Half Marathon - Oro Valley, AZ

Bay to Bay 12K - St. Petersburg, FL

Fin del Mundo Marathon - Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego

Henry Weinhard's St. Patrick's Day Dash - Seattle, WA

Kelly St. Patrick's Day Shamrock 5K - Baltimore, MD

(20th) Runnin' of the Green Lucky 7K - Denver, CO

Maratona Città di Roma - Italy

Shamrock'n Half Marathon - West Sacramento, CA


Saturday, June 21, 2008
Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K race for Women
http://www.emiliesrun.com
Over $7,000 in prize money for top individual and teams
In 2007 45 women broke 20:00!

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/

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Have a good week of training and/or racing.

Ken Parker
Runner's Web
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