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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4. Toronto Waterfront Marathon, 2008
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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

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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.
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WCSN offers comprehensive coverage of over 60 sports disciplines, through
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WCSN is dedicated to providing year round, in depth coverage of these important
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Consistent with the world class caliber of the sports it celebrates, WCSN
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Visit WCSN at:
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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
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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

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* Sports Nutrition by Sheila Kealey.
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* Peak Performance Online
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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
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Largest Running Store) , Peak Running caters to the serious / dedicated runner.
Delivering world class running advice are some of
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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. Anti-Inflammatory Effects Of Fitness
2. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine
3. VO2max Newsletter by Jason Karp
4. EIA a tough, but treatable, condition for athletes
5. Running technique: The Footstrike
Heel vs. Midfoot vs. Forefoot: How do elite runners land?
6. Endurance cycling tied to lasting heart damage
7. This Week in Running
8. Racing Season Stars, A Primer On Sprinting
9. Slow and steady loses the race
Alex Hutchinson draws on the latest research to answer your fitness and workout
questions in this bi-weekly column on the science of
sport.
10. Ask the Coaches: Knee Swelling, Soreness & Alignment Problems
11. Optimal Tapering For Cyclists: Does Muscle Fiber Composition Matter?
12. Should You Run When You're Sick?
13. Nutrition For Recovery
14. Accelerating Work Out Recovery
15. CLA may increase oxidative stress in athletes
16. The Lean Gene: Thinness Is An Inheritable Trait
17. Heart test gets a boost
18. Smarter, not Harder
How one runner revamped his training and revived his racing.
19. Live Long and Perspire: Exercise may slow aging at chromosomal level
20. Digest Briefs

RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Would you support a boycott of the Beijing Olympics?"

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:
"What is the longest road race or triathlon you will do this year?"
Answers Percent
Answers Percent
1. 5,000m 10%
2. 10,000m 3%
3. 20k or Half-marathon 16%
4. Marathon 26%
5. Ultra 10%
6. Sprint triathlon 3%
7. Olympic distance triathlon 3%
8. Half-ironman triathlon 6%
9. Ironman triathlon 6%
10. None of the above 16%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE MONTH: Tim Don - World Triathlon Champion 2006
As a junior, Tim was soon marked out for great things. His swift and easy
running style made him ideally suited to take his place in
the new wave of triathletes who used their pace in the third discipline to
distance their cycling and swimming peers.
Bad luck was never far from the heels of the young Don however, with stolen
bikes and crashes all looming large in his early career.
One aspect of his abilities was never called into question: stomach for the
fight. He quickly gained a reputation for being one of
the bravest emerging talents, often attacking from the front on the bike to stir
up the action. His willingness to take races by the
scruff of the neck often left him staring at silver medals rather than gold, as
more canny rivals took advantage of his enthusiasm
to split the field, but a strong character was starting to shine through.
Those 2nd places were beginning to make Tim look like the nearly-man. A Silver
at the 1998 European Junior Duathlon Championships
was followed by another at the same season's European Junior Triathlon
Championships. Fortunately for Tim, his family and
supporters, they were merely indicators of the good things to follow, as he
shrugged off those disappointments to become World
Junior Triathlon Champion.
He made a quiet but successful transition to the senior ranks, featuring in
1999's ITU World Cup series. In losing out to Spencer
Smith in a thrilling finish to the Windsor ITU race that still lives in the
memory of the huge crowds who lined the streets below
the castle, Tim displayed the guts that he would need to call upon again and
again.
Read more about Tim Don at:
http://www.timdon.com

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

BOOK/VIDEO OF THE MONTH: 30 Years of the Ironman Triathlon World Championship
Available May 13, 2008 - Pre-order Now!
Buy the book at Amazon.com at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1841261149/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. Anti-Inflammatory Effects Of Fitness:
Although a number of studies have suggested that regular exercise reduces
inflammation -- a condition that is predictive of
cardiovascular and other diseases, such as diabetes -- it is still not clear
whether there is a definitive link. And if such a link
exists, the nature of the relationship is by no means fully understood.
A recent study by kinesiology and community health researchers at the University
of Illinois provides new evidence that may help
explain some of the underlying biological mechanisms that take place as the
result of regular exercise.
According to the researchers, that knowledge could potentially lead to a better
understanding of the relationship between exercise
and inflammation.
The objective of their research was to examine the independent effect of
parasympathetic tone -- in this case, determined by
assessing heart-rate recovery after exercise -- on circulating levels of
C-reactive protein (CRP). Parasympathetic tone and its
inverse function -- sympathetic tone -- are components of the autonomic nervous
system. CRP, which is secreted by the liver,
circulates in the bloodstream and is a biomarker for inflammation in the body.
"The sympathetic nervous system speeds things up, and the parasympathetic slows
things down," said Victoria J. Vieira, a predoctoral
fellow in kinesiology and community health and in nutritional sciences, and the
primary author and designer of the study, published
in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. "So when
you're exercising, your sympathetic nervous system
will be on, increasing your heart rate, your respiration, etc. Once you stop,
your body always tries to get back to homeostasis. So
the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in to get everything back down to
baseline levels."
More...from Medical News Today at:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/76250.php


2. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health e-Zine:
* Vitamin D - Special Issue
Over the last few years I have reported on numerous studies linking vitamin D
deficiency with various diseases: diabetes, heart
attacks, at least 30 types of cancer, and
autoimmune disease such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis (a list of these
reports appears below).
This winter I have had a series of baffling exercise-associated muscle injuries.
My blood levels of vitamin D have been extremely
low, even though I spend a lot of time outside
riding my bike. I reviewed my diaries and found that wintertime injuries have
been a lifelong pattern for me. I have not been able
to find any strong evidence that lack of vitamin D causes muscle injuries.
However, it is associated with muscle weakness, falling
in older people, bone deformities and fractures.
People get most of their vitamin D from sunlight. The skin has an enormous
capacity for vitamin D production and supplies the body
with 80-100 percent of its vitamin D. However, a recent study showed that a
high percentage of people in sunny Arizona are vitamin
D deficient (American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2008). How can this
be? A clue to the problem is that a large percentage
of the people who were deficient were African-American, Hispanic, elderly or
overweight. We know that people who have dark skin
need more vitamin D because dark skin blocks the sun's UVB rays that make
vitamin D. Another study showed that almost 50 percent of
African Americans in Boston had low vitamin D in March. We also know that
obesity can cause vitamin D deficiency because body fat
removes vitamin D from circulation. Furthermore, as people age, skin cannot
synthesize vitamin D as efficiently and the kidneys are
less able to convert vitamin D to its active hormone form.
An article from Australia showed that 15 out of 18 young gymnasts in Australia
suffered from vitamin D deficiency (Clinical Journal
of Sport Medicine, March 2008). These athletes spend a lot of time training
indoors. Even if you spend several hours a day outside
in winter, you probably will not get enough sun to meet your vitamin D needs.
At our latitude the sun's rays reach earth at an
angle so they have to penetrate a thick layer of the earth's atmosphere and
fewer rays get through. Also, when the weather is cold
we cover most of our skin with clothing.
My personal plan and recommendations
While we wait for the scientific community to resolve whether lack of vitamin D
causes cancers, heart attacks and so forth, or is
just a marker for other risk factors such as lack of
activity or excess weight, I think you should be aware of your own vitamin D
status and take action if you are deficient.
If you seldom go outdoors, have dark skin, are over 50 or are overweight, I
recommend that you ask your doctor to do blood tests for
vitamin D3 and D2. D3 is made by your skin from ultraviolet light (UVB) or from
the vitamin D you get in foods or supplements. D2
comes just from food or supplements. Your total blood level of vitamin D should
be over 50. If it is below 50, you may need to
take a tropical vacation, use a tanning bed or take vitamin D supplements. A
safe dose appears to be 1000 IU per day during the
winter.
Until summer arrives and my vitamin D levels return to normal, I have chosen to
use a tanning salon. I am reluctant to take
supplements because one study from Australia suggests that they may suppress the
body's ability to synthesize vitamin D.
Tanning lamps emit both UVA and UVB rays. However, because UVB are the primary
rays that cause skin cancer, most tanning beds are
high in UVA which does not make vitamin D and low in UVB that makes vitamin D.
Ask the tanning center about the amount of UVB in
their lamps. Some have 70 percent UVA and 30 percent UVB, but some emit less
than five percent UVB. If you use a tanning bed, start
at very low exposure, preferably with less than five minutes on your first
visit. You won't know if you have burnt yourself until
that evening. Then add only two minutes per exposure and don't go every day.
After a couple of weeks, you can repeat your blood
test. Stop using tanning bed when your total level reaches 50. If it does not
reach 50 in a month, you should stop the tanning bed
and take vitamin D supplements.
I will report to you from time to time on the progress of my training program,
injuries and vitamin D levels; and I will continue to
survey the scientific literature for studies on the
association between vitamin D and various health problems.


3. VO2max Newsletter by Jason Karp:
* Workout Speeds
One of the biggest mistakes runners make is running workouts at incorrect
speeds. If you run your workouts too fast, you won't meet
the purpose of the workout. At the very least, you'll add unnecessary fatigue
to your legs without extra benefit. For example, say
you want to improve your VO2max, so you plan to run 1,000-meter repeats at the
velocity associated with VO2max (near 100% max heart
rate). If running each interval at 7:00 mile pace elicits VO2max (and max heart
rate), running each one at 6:30 pace will certainly
also elicit VO2max. But why run each interval at 6:30 pace when you can run it
at 7:00 pace and still get the same benefit?
Running faster is not always better. On the other hand,
if you run your workouts too slow, you may not improve the physiological
variable you're trying to train. To determine your correct
workout speeds, you must know the purpose of each workout. The goal of training
is to obtain the greatest benefit while incurring
the least amount of stress, so you want to run as slow as you can while still
obtaining the desired result.
Want to learn more? In my popular CD collection, "The 3 Players of Distance
Running," you'll get all the info you could ever want
on VO2max as well as running economy and lactate threshold, including specific
workouts to improve your running performance, all
presented in colorful slide presentations! To order, just go to
http://www.runcoachjason.com/merchandise or e-mail
mailto:jason@....
* Research on VO2max
One of the most prominent debates in exercise physiology concerns the limiting
factors of VO2max, and whether those factors are of a
central (oxygen delivery) or peripheral (oxygen use) nature. Central factors
include cardiac output and blood flow, while peripheral
factors include mitochondrial and capillary volumes. Although it is more
intellectually appealing and accurate to regard this
problem as an integration of many factors, there have, and continue to be, many
attempts to pin it on a single most-limiting factor.
For example, research supporting central limitations include findings that
VO2max of the quadriceps is greater when they are
isolated during exercise compared to whole-body exercise; VO2max decreases with
beta blockers due to a decrease in cardiac output;
blood doping increases VO2max by increasing hemoglobin concentration; and the
capacity for VO2max to increase is much less than that
for mitochondrial and capillary volumes.
Research supporting peripheral limitations include findings that VO2max
decreases as the partial pressure of oxygen in the muscle
(the driving force for diffusion from the muscle capillaries to the
mitochondria) decreases; and VO2max increases as a result of an
increase in oxygen diffusing capacity when oxygen delivery is held constant.
While unfit people seem to be equally limited by
peripheral and central factors (they lack both a high blood flow and abundant
metabolic machinery), highly trained distance runners
seem to be more centrally limited. After all, there is a structural limit to
how big the left ventricle of your heart? and thus
stroke volume and cardiac output? can get with training. Since VO2max
becomes more stable when one is highly trained, peripheral adaptations to
training, resulting in improvements in lactate threshold
and running economy, become more important.
To view past newsletters go to: http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter
Copyright Jason Karp All Rights Reserved - http://www.runcoachjason.com


4. EIA a tough, but treatable, condition for athletes:
Vicki Huber Rudawsky is a former Olympic runner whose column appears biweekly in
The News Journal.
For a period of time, while I was living in Eugene, Ore., I had trouble
breathing every time I went out for a run.
I would start out OK, but after 15 to 20 minutes, I would begin to struggle,
feeling like my throat was closing up, and I would
start to wheeze.
I decided to undergo testing because I thought that somehow I had developed
exercise-induced asthma, or EIA. As it turned out, my
symptoms were a result of high levels of stress in my personal life. However, my
experience left me with a great amount of empathy
for those who suffer from both asthma and EIA.
As with asthma, EIA occurs when the bronchial tubes -- the main passages of air
to the lungs -- become inflamed. The muscles of the
bronchial walls tighten and extra mucus is produced, which cause airways to
narrow even more. This can cause problems that range
from minor wheezing to severe trouble breathing.
Symptoms of EIA include one or more of the following: wheezing, coughing,
tightness or pain in the chest, and shortness of breath.
Some additional symptoms include fatigue during exercise, a decline in athletic
performance and a prolonged recovery time after
exercise.
More...from Delaware Online at:
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080326/SPORTS1101/803\
260341/1032


5. Running technique: The Footstrike:
Heel vs. Midfoot vs. Forefoot: How do elite runners land?
I've finally gotten around to this post, which is probably two weeks in the
making, and it follows on from our recent series on
running shoes. That series began by looking at whether shoes are in fact as much
a cause of injury as a cure, and then evolved into
a discussion of how the running market is evolving. Twenty years ago, it was all
about motion-control shoes preventing overpronation
to prevent injury. Today, it's all about running "barefoot in your shoes", as
companies try to go back to "natural" without selling
you "the Emperor's clothes", in effect! (It's quite a long post, my apologies,
but a lot of important information to get through...)
The next logical question is to ask how is the foot supposed to land during
running? This question evolves out of the discussion of
shoes. vs barefoot running, and is often at the heart of discussions on running
technique. Very often, debates of "technique" tend
to start from the feet, jump to the knees ("lift your knees") and then skip to
the arms, and that's about it! We won't go into too
much detail on technique today, focusing instead on only one of many aspects -
the landing of the foot, and particularly, whether
the elite runners tend to land on the heel, the midfoot, or the forefoot.
Elite runners footstrike patterns
Perhaps surprisingly, there are very few studies looking at elite runners and
footstrike patterns during actual races. Despite this,
until recently, the overwhelming majority of coaches and experts were advocating
that heel-striking was the most effective
technique, simply because most athletes did it. That claim will come up again,
but the perception that it was most effective has,
over the last few years, been changing. And with the advent of Pose and other
running techniques, as well as the observation that
not all elite runners are landing on the heel first, people have now begun to
advocate that forefoot landing is better! So we have
this 180 degree shift, often in the absence of any substantial data to support
the claim.
More...from
http://scienceofsport.blogspot.com/2008/04/running-technique-footstrike.html


6. Endurance cycling tied to lasting heart damage:
From Dallas, Texas, at a meeting of the American Heart Association
People who compete in grueling long-distance bicycle races are in great physical
shape. But a study now suggests that the endurance
training they undergo could do long-term harm to their hearts.
Researchers in Switzerland located 62 Swiss bicyclers, all men, an average of 38
years after they had competed in the Tour de Suisse
race. As a control group, the researchers examined 52 men whose chief exercise
for much of their lives had been golf. The
researchers took a blood sample from each man and checked for signs of heart
trouble. Men in both groups had an average age in the
mid-60s and had comparable body weights and blood pressures. Although the former
cyclists were exercising slightly more, both groups
had similar heart-pumping capacity.
The blood samples revealed that the former cyclists averaged more than twice as
much b-type natriuretic peptide, a natural compound
that can identify people at risk of heart failure. Eight of the cyclists, but
only one of the golfers, had worrisome concentrations
of peptide, says cardiologist Christine H. Attenhofer Jost of HerzGefässZentrum,
a Zurich clinic.
More...from Science News at:
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20051126/note17.asp


7. This Week in Running:
10 Years Ago- Stefano Baldini (ITA) won the Citta di Roma (ITA) Marathon in
2:09:33 over an
international field. Moges Taye (ETH) was 2nd in 2:09:51 and
Franklin Tenorio (ECU)
was 3rd in 2:10:22. Franca Fiacconi (ITA) ran 2:28:12 to win the
women's race, more
than six minutes ahead of runner-up Irina Sklyarenko (UKR) in
2:34:50. Malgorzata
Birbach (POL) was 3rd in 2:35:18.
20 Years Ago- John Ngugi (KEN) led a Kenyan 1-4 sweep at the IAAF World
Crosscountry Championships 12K,
held in Auckland NZL. Paul Kipkoech and William Kosgei rounded
out the medals, 22 and
35 seconds back respectively. Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR) claimed a
19 second victory over
Angela Tooby (WAL) with Annette Sergent (FRA) and Lynn Jennings
(USA) following, 25 and
34 seconds back respectively.
30 Years Ago- John Tracy (IRL) won the IAAF World Crosscountry Championships
12K, three seconds ahead
of Soviet Aleksandras Antipovas (LTU). Karel Lismont (BEL)
claimed the bronze medal,
another four seconds back. Grete Waitz (NOR) won the women's
4.7K race by 30 seconds
over Natalia Betini (ROM). Maricica Puica (ROM) took the bronze
medal, another 10 seconds
back.
40 Years Ago- Armando Aldegalega won the Portuguese Marathon title with a
2:24:23.6.
50 Years Ago- Nobuyoshi Sadanaga (JPN) clocked a 2:25:08 to win a marathon in
Tokyo JPN. Hideo Hamamura
(JPN) was 2nd in 2:25:16. Keizo Yamada (JPN) finished 10th in
2:32:00. Yamada is still
running marathons!
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.


8. Racing Season Stars, A Primer On Sprinting:
By Chris Carmichael
Every amateur racer should watch the finish of Stage 10 of the 2007 Tour de
France to learn what to do, and what not to do, in a
sprint. Pack finishes are much harder to analyze and learn from because they are
more chaotic by nature. But the scenario we saw in
the final kilometer of today’s stage will play itself out in countless road
races and criteriums around the US this season and for
years to come, so let’s use it to increase your chances of giving a two-armed
salute like Cedric Vasseur’s.
1000 meters out
The group of five rode into the final kilometer together in a long line, but
they weren’t directly behind each other. Jens Voigt was
leading, in a position he knew wasn’t ideal. He would have rather been a few
wheels back in order to be able to accelerate in
another rider’s draft, but that was the position he was in, so he made the most
of it. He positioned himself all the way to the
right side of the road, against the barriers, so he only had to watch for riders
accelerating on his left. He was going to have to
react immediately to an acceleration from behind in order to get on a wheel and
have a chance to come around again by the finish
line. That’s a lot harder to do when you have to watch for riders coming on both
sides. If you’re stuck having to lead out a sprint
from a small group, closing off one side if exactly what you want to do because
it allows you to keep an eye on everyone.
More...from CTS at:
http://www.trainright.com/articles.asp?uid=3347


9. Slow and steady loses the race:
Alex Hutchinson draws on the latest research to answer your fitness and workout
questions in this bi-weekly column on the science of
sport.
The question How should I pace myself in a five-kilometre road race?
The answer
At the finish line of this Sunday's Around the Bay Road Race in Hamilton, which
has 30-kilometre and five-kilometre courses, you'll
see everything from the death march of those who went out too fast to the
furious sprint of those who held back too long.
As the 114-year-old event kicks off the spring race season, getting the pacing
right is, understandably, a big concern for road
runners. After all, you don't want to waste all the training you've put in - and
you certainly don't want to be the weak link that
costs your company team a chance for glory at Harry's Spring Run-Off or the Bay
Street Rat Race.
The usual advice, lifted straight from Aesop's Fables, is that slow and steady
wins the race. This is by no means bad advice - and
for beginners, it should be treated as gospel.
But for those who have already run several races and are looking to improve
their time, a 2006 study from the University of New
Hampshire suggests a higher risk, higher reward approach.
More...from the Globe and Mail at:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080328.wxljockology/BNStory\
/specialScienceandHealth/home


10. Ask the Coaches: Knee Swelling, Soreness & Alignment Problems:
Q: Knee Swelling, Soreness & Alignment Problems: When I was first assessed with
this problem, I had no excess play in the knee, my
knees were cross-eyed, and dropped in a bit too easily and I had some slight
swelling/roughness in the cartilage but nothing
warranting surgery. I was then sent to a physiotherapist. I was given more tests
and it was found that a) I had lost some
flexibility in the last 18 months b) my right knee (the injured one) pointed in
more than the other, c) my hip/upper quad was less
than ideally flexible. I think they diagnosed an irritated/tight ITB, but
described it in layman's terms rather than saying that.
I've been through one course of physio, including general quad, hamstring, calf,
groin stretching and trying to slowly get back on
my bike (cycling was always my main sport but I was leaning towards trying
triathlons). I did group rehab sessions, which as far as
I could tell were designed to fix all problems and strengthen the entire leg but
were not very specific. Everything was going well
for over 5 weeks, but then my knee swelled up again and I was back to square
one. Walking downhill aches/hurts depending on the
hill, walking uphill is fine, running downhill is nearly impossible. Any level
of exercise for more than 20-30 minutes left an
ache, more strenuous exercise leaves soreness. What could be wrong?
--Sam from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK
A: I am not sure exactly what you are describing in the first sentence of your
history; it sounds like your ligaments are intact. I
believe that the "cross-eyed knees" describes inward alignment of your patellae
(knee caps should point straight ahead). The
dropped in knees may be "knocked knees". The knee cap alignment may predispose
you to pain in the front of your knee, under the cap,
during activities. The rest of your question relates to pain in the outside
(lateral aspect) of your knee. IT band inflammation is
a common cause of lateral knee pain in runners. This typically responds to
strength and flexibility exercises. Other causes of pain
in the lateral aspect of the knee include popliteus tendonitis, arthritis and a
lateral meniscus tear. Pain could also be due to
inflammation of the outer aspect of the patella or a band of tissue under the
patella (plica) that has become inflamed.
The swelling of the knee is not consistent with IT band syndrome. This raises
concerns about a more significant injury, such as a
meniscus tear, that might require surgical intervention. Work on the exercises
prescribed by the physiotherapist. Apply ice to your
knee for 15 minutes following all workouts. If your symptoms subside, start to
gradually increase your activities. Continue
performing the exercises even as you increase your activities.
Good luck.
--Dr. Cathy Fieseler
From Running Times Online


11. Optimal Tapering For Cyclists: Does Muscle Fiber Composition Matter?
Most cyclists accept the idea that tapering can enhance performance; what is
less certain is how tapering actually works and what
form of tapering is optimal.
By definition, tapering is considered to be a training technique which strives
to eliminate training induced fatigue while
maintaining - or even upgrading - training- associated adaptations (1). In
practical terms, tapering usually involves a diminishment
of training volume, intensity, and/or frequency over a period of two to 28 days
before an important competition. It is clear from
the available scientific research that tapering can promote improvements in
performance-related physiological variables such as
VO2max and lactate threshold speed, as well as in race times (2).
Why does tapering work so effectively? Exercise scientists have noticed that
tapering tends to magnify many of the physiological
changes observed during systematic endurance training. For example, several
studies have shown that tapering bolsters glycogen
levels in muscles and updates muscular concentrations and activities of
oxidative enzymes. The surplus glycogen accruing as a result
of a tapering period increases fuel availability during prolonged exercise, and
the hoisted enzyme concentrations allow useable
energy to be created at higher rates during exertion, fostering higher-intensity
effort during competition.
More...from Running Research News at:
http://cyclingresearchnews.com/News_And_Events.php?cid=3&iid=64


12. Should You Run When You're Sick?
Runners don't like to skip workouts--even when they're ill. Here's how to decide
when you should take a sick day from training.
Runners seem to live by a creed that's stricter than the postman's: "Neither
rain, nor snow, nor sniffle, nor fever shall keep me
from my training schedule." Indeed, the coming of winter presents many issues
for runners who'd prefer to keep at it even when sick.
Oftentimes, symptoms aren't severe enough to make you stay in bed, home from
work, or off the roads. And while exercise can give you
a mental and physical boost when you're feeling run-down, there are other
occasions when going for a run may do more harm than good.
David Nieman, Ph.D., who heads the Human Performance Laboratory at Appalachian
State University, and has run 58 marathons and
ultras, uses the "neck rule." Symptoms below the neck (chest cold, bronchial
infection, body ache) require time off, while symptoms
above the neck (runny nose, stuffiness, sneezing) don't pose a risk to runners
continuing workouts.
This view is supported by research done at Ball State University by Tom Weidner,
Ph.D., director of athletic training research. In
one study, Weidner took two groups of 30 runners each and inoculated them with
the common cold. One group ran 30 to 40 minutes every
day for a week. The other group was sedentary. According to Weidner, "the two
groups didn't differ in the length or severity of
their colds." In another study, he found that running with a cold didn't
compromise performance. He concluded that running with a
head cold--as long as you don't push beyond accustomed workouts--is beneficial
in maintaining fitness and psychological well-being.
More...from Runner's World at:
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-241-286--9082-0,00.html?cm_mmc=tra\
ining-_-2008_04_01-_-training-_-HEALTH%3a%20Should%2
0you%20run%20when%20you're%20sick%3f
[Multi-line URL]


13. Nutrition For Recovery:
Steve Lumley writes As Simon has discussed in a previous article, consistent
training is one of the most important factors in
improving fitness and performance. Ensuring recovery from each training session
is key to establishing this consistency and the
right nutrition plays a major part in this recovery.
Those athletes who are training twice a day or more on some days obviously face
a greater challenge in terms of recovery as they
have less time between training bouts.
However, adequate post training or racing nutrition will aid recovery and ensure
that:
~ Fluid and electrolyte balance is restored
~ Fuel stores (particularly glycogen) are restored
~ Muscle rebuilding and repair takes place
~ The immune system is protected - carbohydrate is linked to the maintenance of
a healthy immune system.
~ Psychological recovery is addressed - carbohydrate is linked to a ‘feel good’
factor.
~ Training adaptations are optimised - nutrition is important in promoting
genetic responses, which lead to the adaptations which
training is all about!
More...from TriFuel.com at:
http://www.trifuel.com/training/health-nutrition/nutrition-for-recovery


14. Accelerating Work Out Recovery:
By Ken Mierke
Overtraining is generally the result of a buildup of workout and life stresses
with insufficient recovery, not from a single workout
being too hard. Overtraining really should be called under-resting . Every good
coach searches continually for the right balance of
volume, intensity, and rest. Rest needs to be an active process, taking full
advantage of every opportunity to get the athlete's
body, and their mind, ready for the next hard workout.
Recovery is really the athlete's greatest resource. If an athlete can train
harder and longer, and absorb and adapt optimally to the
workouts, he/she will become faster. Therefore, we should teach our athletes to
take every reasonable step to accelerate recovery.
Recovery is more than just taking a day off from training; it is giving the body
every resource it needs to adapt to the stimulation
of previous workouts. Taking every step to maximize workout recovery is a
critical part of training.
More... From the Sport Factory at:
http://thesportfactory.com/site/trainingnews/Accelerating_Work_Out_Recovery_287.\
shtml


15. CLA may increase oxidative stress in athletes:
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a popular nutritional supplement among
athletes seeking to lose body fat, and there’s also some
evidence that it may help maintain lean muscle mass. But new research on mice
carried out by Italian scientists suggests that CLA
supplementation could be something of a double-edged sword.
In the study, CLA was administered to young, healthy mice to see how it affected
body weight and muscle growth following exercise
and also the turnover of blood cells associated with oxidative stress (increased
oxidative stress indicates increased damage at the
cellular level as a result of exercise – a bad thing). The mice were split into
three groups; one group underwent six weeks of
endurance training (using a treadmill) at gradually increasing durations and
speeds. A second group underwent the same training
protocol, but were also given 0.425mgs per day of CLA for the entire training
period. The third group served as controls – they
neither trained nor received CLA. The results were as follows:
Compared to the controls, both groups of trained mice experienced a significant
decrease in body weight and a consistent increase in
muscle mass;
The trained mice receiving the CLA didn’t lose any more body fat than those
receiving no CLA, but they did experience significantly
more lean muscle mass gain;
Both groups of trained mice experienced an increased turnover of red blood
cells, but the CLA-fed mice also experienced a
significant drop in the levels of circulating cells called lymphocytes – an
indication of significantly increased oxidative stress
in this group.
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/side-effects-of-cla-supplement-36297


16. The Lean Gene: Thinness Is An Inheritable Trait:
Your friend can eat whatever she wants and still fit into her prom dress, but
you gain five pounds if you just look at that
chocolate cake. Before you sign up for Weight Watchers and that gym membership,
though, you may want to look at some recent research
from Tel Aviv University and save yourself a few hundred dollars.
A woman's waistline may have less to do with rigorous exercise and abstaining
from sweets than it does with the genes of her
parents, according to a new study by Prof. Gregory Livshits from the Sackler
Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University and
colleagues from King's College in London. Dr. Livshits and his colleagues have
found a scientific link between the lean body mass of
a woman and her genes. They've determined that thinness -- like your smile or
the color of your eyes -- is an inheritable trait.
Bad News First, Then the Good
Prof. Livshits, whose findings were published in the Journal of Clinical
Endocrinology and Metabolism (2007), says, "The bad news is
that many of our physical features, including our weight, are dependent on our
genes. The good news is that women still have an
opportunity to go against their genetic constitution and do something about it."
More...from Science Daily at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080401120505.htm


17. Heart test gets a boost:
Coronary calcium scanning strongly predicts heart risk -- in all ethnicities, a
study finds. But is it cost-effective?
CORONARY artery calcium scanning -- a method that takes images of the coronaries
and uses them to predict heart attack risk -- has
soared in popularity over the last decade. But controversy has dogged the test
for two reasons: a lack of scientific evidence that
it can predict risk in people of all ethnicities and doubts about its
cost-effectiveness.
One of those issues appears to be resolved. A study in last week's New England
Journal of Medicine shows the test is a strong
predictor of heart attack risk in an ethnically and racially diverse group of
people.
The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health, is the largest
evaluation of coronary calcium testing to date, involving
more than 6,700 people nationwide. The researchers showed that participants with
a moderate amount of calcium buildup in their
coronary arteries had a seven times greater risk of heart disease than people
with no deposits. And people with a large buildup had
a 10 times greater risk.
Previous studies have shown that accumulation of calcium in the arteries is a
predictor of heart disease. But most of those studies
involved small numbers of people who were mostly white.
More...from the LA Times at:
http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-scan31mar31,1,2491614.story


18. Smarter, not Harder:
How one runner revamped his training and revived his racing.
I first experienced the unique pleasure of distance running during my senior
year in high school. I achieved modest success almost
immediately, racing a 10-flat 2-mile and a 4:40 mile. This flash of potential
was enough to help me get recruited to college as well
as imbue me with a sense of invulnerability and an almost unshakable optimism in
future success.
These youthful whims were soon dashed in college, however; not only did I fail
to improve, I regressed fairly significantly. I
turned in some truly hideous times: 4:50-plus miles, 17-plus 5Ks, and even a
30-plus 8K. It didn't make any sense to me at first--I
was running a lot more miles, and a lot harder--yet I was slowing down, and
racing became more and more difficult and painful. What
was going on?
Spurred on by an uncommonly talented high school coach and an innate belief that
I was better than my times suggested, I began to
research. Before long, I discovered what is now obvious: I was extremely
overtrained. I had reached the point where my body simply
stopped responding to the demands placed upon it, and I was, in fact, harming
myself even more by continuing to push.
The Training Cycle
As I discovered--both from research and personal experience--the process by
which overtraining manifests itself is deceptively
simple. Every time you go for a run, your muscles tear. When you rest and allow
them to repair, you naturally get faster. In
contrast, should you fail to allow your body sufficient time to recover from its
most recent work, you incur a recovery deficit.
Should this cycle continue, and you consistently and repeatedly engage in
excessive work without adequate recovery, the deficit
grows until full-blown overtraining sets in and severely damages muscular and
cellular functioning.
Perhaps even more distressingly, recent scientific research has demonstrated
that continued overtraining has deleterious
psychological and neurological effects as well. Indeed, Tim Noakes, M.D., writes
in Lore of Running that overtrained runners exhibit
an impaired ability to release stress hormones in response to physical exertion
as a result of exhaustion of the hypothalamus. As
the hypothalamus is solely responsible for regulating the entire hormonal
response of the body, such results are consistent with --
and help to explain--additional symptoms of overtraining, such as insomnia,
depression, and loss of libido and appetite.
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/rt/articles/?id=13149


19. Live Long and Perspire: Exercise may slow aging at chromosomal level
The long-observed association between exercise and a slightly longer life span
may have its origins in DNA maintenance, a new study
finds. Researchers report that the ends of chromosomes hold up better in active
people than in sedentary individuals, possibly
extending cell life and contributing to overall survival.
Those ends, called telomeres, consist of repeating DNA segments that guard the
ends of chromosomes much as plastic tips preserve
shoelaces. Telomeres keep chromosomes from degrading or forming aberrant bonds
with other chromosomes, but they shorten each time a
cell divides. While there is a raging scientific debate over the possible
connection between truncated telomeres and aging, it's
known that shrinking them to a critically short length can mean the death of a
cell.
Since regular exercise is known to add a few years on average to the typical
person's life span, Tim Spector, a physician and
epidemiologist at King's College London, and his colleagues set out to measure
what effect exercise might have on telomere length.
The team tapped into a British health registry of 2,401 adult twins who had
filled out questionnaires detailing their medical
histories, personal habits, and nonwork activities. Participants had also
donated blood samples, from which the scientists
determined the length of the telomeres in the volunteers' white blood cells.
More...from Science News at:
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20080202/fob6.asp


20. Digest Briefs:
* Calcium and magnesium can conquer leg cramps
I spent many sleep-deprived nights because I was awakened with severe leg
cramps. My mother said, "Take calcium-magnesium." I was
already taking calcium, but her doctor had told her it must be the combination
supplement. I thought, "I'll try it; it won't work."
It did. I continue to take calcium-magnesium each night and no longer have
cramps. One exception: I bowled six games in succession
and later awoke from a nap with an excruciating cramp in my leg. I took three
calcium-magnesium tablets and the cramps were soon
gone.
Calcium, magnesium and potassium are all essential minerals for muscle function.
Other readers also have had success preventing leg
cramps with magnesium or calcium supplements. Taking them together is a good
idea.
From the LA Times


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

April 4-6, 2008:
World Triathlon Festival - New Plymouth, New Zealand
ITU

April 5, 2008:
Eisenhower Marathon - Abilene, KS

Half Marathon Unplugged - Burlington, VT

Santa Anita Derby Day 5K - Arcadia, CA

Ukrop's Monument Avenue 10K - Richmond, VA
USA Men's Championship

April 6, 2008:
Big D Texas Marathon, Dallas, TX

Carlsbad 5000 - Carlsbad, CA

Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile - Washington, DC

GO! St. Louis Marathon, St. Louis, MO

Great Bay Half Marathon - Seacoast, NH

More Marathon - New York, NY

Paris Marathon - France


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.

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bid=0

Your very own personal trainer at a fraction of the cost
http://www.cartville.com/app/?af=473063

Check out TotalWellness's mp3 Personal Training Program - only 5% the Cost of
Regular Personal Training!
http://www.totalwellnessconsulting.ca/fitter_u_totalwellness.htm

Geezer Jock Magazine, The Masters Sports & Fitness Magazine
http://www.geezerjock.com/index.cfm?affID=runnersweb

Athletes, Coaches, Trainers and Physio's
..new software designs unlimited stretching routines with ease!
Design unlimited stretching routines today, starting from scratch, in under 60
seconds!
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cmd.php?af=245575&u=http://www.thestretchin\
ghandbook.com/products/instantstretch.htm

Mental Strength Training Center:
http://www.memberstar.com/redir_a.php?LFAId=1027

National Bike Registry
http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=vVGS2V*0iZg&offerid=21387&type=3&sub\
id=0

Buy Paula Radcliffe's book, My Story - So Far, from Amazon UK at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/074325242X/runnersweb-21

Endurance Films
Triathlon Training DVDs
https://endurancefilms.hivelocity.net/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=SFNT&Store_C\
ode=EF&Affiliate=runnersweb

Instant Stretching Routines
Design unlimited stretching routines today, starting from scratch, in under 60
seconds!
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cmd.php?af=245575&u=http://www.thestretchin\
ghandbook.com/newsletter.php

ShoeWallet.com has set out on a mission to enable people to easily carry ID and
medical information at all times. Basically, anyone
who is out on the roads or trails needs a convenient place to carry this vital
information.
http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?joggerscompanion+pXgxpm+index.html+

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

Visit on AssociatesShop.com Online Bookstore for running and triathlon books:
http://associatesshop.filzhut.de/shop/index.php?ID=90c9f271c1a519abc4a69299be707\
5a9

TrainingPeaks.com by Wes Hobson.
Find the training program that fits you at:
http://www.trainingpeaks.com/rw

TriSwim Coach - The Complete Guide to Triathlon Swimming
http://hop.clickbank.net/?rhianyth/triswim1

If you have an accident while running or cycling, do you want your family to be
contacted? Do you want to receive immediate and
proper medical treatment?
If so, make this cool item part of your gear -- for safety and peace of mind.
Road ID has created 4 awesome ways for athletes to
wear ID: the SHOE, the WRIST, the ANKLE, and the NECK. Get your RoadID at:
http://www.roadid.com/?referrer=50

The Stretching Handbook:
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cmd.php?af=245575&u=http://www.thestretchin\
ghandbook.com/newsletter.php
The Stretching Video in a DVD version. With the DVD version you're able to use
the convenient menu facility to:
* Go directly to a specific stretch;
* View only stretches for a specific muscle group;
* Pause each stretch to get a good look at how it is performed;
* View only the introduction and rules for safe stretching; or
* Play the entire video from start to finish.
Buy the DVD at:
http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/cgi-bin/at.pl?a=286905&e=products/video-dvd\
.htm

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