A FREE WEEKLY E-ZINE OF MULTISPORT RELATED ARTICLES. The Runner's and
Triathlete's Web Digest is a weekly e-zine dealing with the
sports of running and triathlon and general fitness and health issues. The
opinions expressed in the articles referenced by the
Digest are the opinions of the writers and not necessarily those of the Runner's
Web. Visit the Runner's Web at
http://www.runnersweb.com The site is updated multiple times daily. Check out
our daily news, features, polls, trivia, bulletin
boards and more. General questions should be posted to one of our forums
available from our FrontPage.

SUPPORT OUR ADVERTISERS: All of the revenue from our advertisers and affiliates
goes to support clubs, athletes and clinics related
to multisport and Canadian Olympians.

1. Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women - Canada's
Fastest Women's 5K
Emilie's Run is over for another year. Almost 300 women completed the race with
38 women running under 20:00
The 2009 race will be run on June 20th.
For more on the race visit the website at:
http://www.emiliesrun.com.
**Register before March 15, 2009 and get a 10% discount**

3. Road Runner Sports, the world's largest running store at:
http://clickserve.cc-dt.com/link/click?lid=41000000010069822.

4. Toronto Waterfront Marathon, September 27, 2009
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/STWM_Transporter.html

5. Goodlife Fitness Toronto Marathon - October 18, 2009
Register before the end of this month for the Marathon, Half Marathon, or 5k and
save $$. Fees increase March 1st!
http://www.torontomarathon.com/

6. Training Peaks Training Peaks, LLC is dedicated to the endurance athlete and
coach. With our industry leading software products,
we're committed to help you monitor, analyze and plan your training. We
encourage you to draw on our passion for excellence to help
you reach your athletic dreams. Trusted by thousands. Dedicated to you.
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7. January 4, 2008: Goodlife Fitness has come on board as a sponsor of Emilie's
Run GoodLife Fitness - Coed or Women's Only Visit
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8. iRun Magazine
More than a million Canadians are runners, making it this country's most popular
recreational and fitness activity. Canadians run
for exercise and we run to raise money for important causes. We run alone and in
groups. And every year, hundreds of thousands of us
participate in organized races, from fun runs to marathons, which are growing
steadily.
Until now, Canadian runners haven't had our own running magazine. But now,
there's iRun, providing a uniquely Canadian perspective
on the activity and the sport. Published six times a year, iRun educates,
informs and inspires Canadian runners.
The Team
Mark Sutcliffe, Publisher and Editor
Mark has more than 20 years of experience in the Canadian media business. An
avid runner, he has completed five marathons and 10
half-marathons. He writes a popular weekly column on running in the Ottawa
Citizen and co-hosts The Running Show every week on The
Team 1200 radio. Mark is the former Executive Editor of the Ottawa Citizen and
has also launched several publications, including the
Ottawa Business Journal, now in its second decade, and the Kitchissippi Times, a
successful community newspaper in Ottawa. His
writing has appeared across the country in daily newspapers, and magazines like
Macleans and Canadian Business.
Ray Zahab, Contributing Editor
Ray Zahab is Canada's most renowned ultramarathon runner. A former pack-a-day
smoker, Ray transformed his life by becoming a
successful long-distance runner, winning some of the world's most challenging
foot races. Beginning in November 2006, Ray and two
other runners ran across the Sahara Desert in 111 days, averaging 70 kilometres
per day without a single day's rest. Ray is an
accomplished public speaker, writes regularly about running and coaches athletes
striving to achieve their own goals.
Distribution
iRun is Canada's highest-circulation and most popular running magazine. With a
total distribution of 50,000 and more than 9,000
subscribers, iRun is leading the market in the rapidly growing and highly
desirable demographic of Canadian runners.
iRun Magazine is a sponsor of Emilie's Run
http://www.irun.ca/

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

10. Mi-Sport - The Ultimate Sports MP3 Player Introducing the world's first and
only waterproof and wireless sports mp3 player.
These Mi-SPORT mp3 headphones have a 1GB memory built into a cool neckband
design. At last no wire tangle and no earbuds to fall
out. The patented design makes this waterproof/sweatproof mp3 player great for
running, cycling and gym work. The player however is
more than splash proof! It can be completely submerged with no harm to it making
it perfect for swimming, kayaking, and water
skiing. Now incorporating the latest 3D music quality with it's adapted
waterproof speaker. Relax to music in the bath, or push out
that training session with no fear of losing your player or tangling the wires.
Circuit training is so much easier with your own
music. Enjoy the waves wire-free. This is the only waterproof pair of classic
headphones with a built in mp3 player in the world.
The stylish looking headphones play the usual MP3, WMA and WAV formats and are
compatible with Windows98/98SE/2000/XP and Apple MAC.
Depending on track length, the headphones hold well over 14 hours worth of music
and the rechargeable battery life is about 8 hours.
Nick Matthew, the 2006 British Open squash champion now uses the player to train
with and Mi-SPORT are endeavouring to encourage
more athletes to enjoy the benefits of training to wire-free music, podcasts or
coaching aids. Inspiration and freedom at last, for
athletes and exercise enthusiasts everywhere.
Check it out at: http://www.mi-sportmp3.com/

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Get the Runner's Web button for the Google Toolbar 4 for Internet Explorer from
the link on our FrontPage at:
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Triathlete.

If anyone is looking for a web mail provider, you might wish to consider
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Race Directors: Advertise your event on the Runner's Web.
For more information:
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Marathons, Races and Triathlons pages.

NEW THIS WEEK:

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Get Free Shipping with a Purchase of $60 or more from March 13th through March
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The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women - June 20, 2009
Register before March 15, 2009 and get a 10% discount.
http://www,emiliesrun.com

Event directors, add your event to our Event Calendar at:
http://runnersweb.mhsoftware.com/
Events must be approved before going live.

Watch live and webcast of Track and Field and Road races on Universal Sports
Sign up at:
http://www.universalsports.com//SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&KEY=&SPID=13055\
&SPSID=105551

I've created a Runner's Web Group on Facebook. To join the Runner's Web Facebook
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your own space, search "Runner's Web" under "Groups".
At the Runner's Web site, click "Join this group". Once I have approved your
request to join, you'll be able to visit the site, post
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RUNNER'S AND TRIATHLETE'S WEB CONTENT PARTNERS

ROAD RUNNER SPORTS
We have partnered with Road Runner Sports, the world's largest online running
store, to provide a shopping portal. Check it out at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/Mobile_RRS.html

* BREAKSWEAT.TV
We have partnered with Breaksweat TV to provide us with video content.
Simply Sports Media is part of a large group called Simply Media, which operates
more than 25 digital TV channels, including 6 on
satellite and cable. Simply Media has developed and continues to expand on
premium content for TV, web, mobile, captive Audience
Networks, and IPTV.
Breaksweat.tv was recently launched to provide instant access to premium video
content covering outdoor sports. The innovative
online channel uses a system called, Brightcove to continually and seamlessly
deliver content to its users, whilst providing
easy-to-use navigation.
Breaksweat TV is not a user generated website, or a broadcasting channel; rather
it is a platform used to host Breaksweat.tv's
independently produced video content, and content it obtains from key
relationships in the outdoor sports industry. By applying this
strategy to supply content for its viewers, SnowZone.tv is able to showcase
video content that is unique, high-quality, and
continuous filled with updated material.
For more information and to visit other existing channels in the Simply Media
network, please visit:
http://www.simply.tv/

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

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

* Peak Running Performance Peak Running Is The Nation's Most Advanced Running
Newsletter. Rated as the #1 Running Publication by
Road Runner Sports (Worlds Largest Running Store) , Peak Running caters to the
serious / dedicated runner. Delivering world class
running advice are some of running's most recognizable athletes including Dr.
Joe Vigil (US Olympic Coach), Scott Tinley (2 Time
Ironman Champ) Steve Scott (3 Time Olympian) and many more. This bi-monthly
newsletter has been around for over 13 years, and in the
past two it has been awarded the "Golden Shoe Award" in recognition of it's
outstanding achievements.
http://www.clixGalore.com/Sale.aspx?BID=37234&AfID=103794&AdID=5075&LP=www.peakr\
unningperformance.com
Check out the Peak Running article index at:
http://www.runnersweb.com/running/PRP_index.html .

* Running Research News: RRN's free, weekly, training update provides
subscribers with the most-current, practical, scientifically
based information about training, sports nutrition, injury prevention, and
injury rehabilitation. The purpose of this weekly e-zine
is to improve subscribers' training quality and to help them train in an
injury-free manner. Running Research News also publishes a
complete, 12-page, electronic newsletter 10 times a year (one-year subscriptions
are $35); to learn more about Running Research
News, please see the Online Article Index and "About Running Research News"
sections below or go to RRNews.com. Check out the
article index at: http://www.runnersweb.com/running/RRN_index.html

THIS WEEK'S PERSONAL POSTINGS/RELEASES: We will only post notes here regarding
running and triathlon topics of interest to the
community. We have NO personal postings this week.

THIS WEEK'S DIGEST ARTICLE INDEX:

1. Marathon Race Week: What to Do and When to Do It
2. Pressed for Time?
What to run when your training time is slashed.
3. 10 Tips to Overcome Morning Stiffness
4. It's never too late to start exercise
5. Bananas And Dieting
6. Ankle exercises build seniors' strength, balance
7. The Claim: Morning Is the Best Time to Exercise
8. Bleeding risk for ultra runners
9. Live Fast, Die Young? Maybe Not
10. Credit Crunch
11. Training for Best Race
12. 'No evidence' on running shoe safety
13. Body type training – are we slaves to our ‘body type’ genes?
14. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine
15. Digest Briefs


RUNNER'S WEB WEEKLY POLL:
"Which of the following injuries (conditions) have you had:
Patellofemoral Syndrome
Pulled Hamstring
Iliotibial Band Syndrome
Shin Splints
Stress Fractures
Exercise Induced Compartment Syndrome
Achilles Tendonitis
Plantar Fasciitis
Hip Bursitis
Mononucleosis"

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 was/were the greatest running achievement(s) of all time?"
Answers Percent
1. Emil Zatopek wins the 5K, 10K and Marathon at the 1952 Olympics 20%
2. Roger Bannister breaks 4 minutes for the mile 16%
3. Abebe Bikila wins the 1960 and 1964 Olympic Marathons 8%
4. Lasse Viren wins the 5K and 10K in 1972 and 1976 Olympics 8%
5. Flo Jo runs 10.49 in the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials 8%
6. Joan Samuelson wins the first Women's Olympic Marathon 12%
7. Michael Johnson runs 19.32 in the 1996 OIympics 10%
8. Usain Bolt runs world records of 9.69 and 19.30 in the Beijing Olympics
10%
9. Other (email polls2009@...) 6%


FIVE STAR SITE OF THE MONTH: MileSplit.us
The Nations' Premier High School T&F/XC Network.
MileSplit US is the nation's premier network for high school track & field and
cross country. We believe that the heart of the sport
is on a local, grassroots level. By facilitating the publishing and business
process for our state webmasters, we are able to
provide in depth state-by-state coverage of the sport. At the same time, these
state portals feed content into a national database
allowing us to provide an unprecedented depth of coverage on the national level
as well.
Designed around powerful proprietary database software that unites all of the
important aspects of covering the sport--results,
rankings, articles, videos, photos, podcasts, statistics, etc--MileSplit US is
the only online publisher in the sport with the tools
to provide a high level of timely and comprehensive nationwide coverage.
MileSplit was founded in 2000 by then college sophomore Jason Byrne. It has
continued to grow over the years, incorporating and
adding Don Rich and Fred Finke to the corporate team in 2004. MileSplit has a
partnership with Universal Sports (formerly WCSN),
which serves as its sales team for its national advertising inventory.
MileSplit, Inc. is a privately held Florida corporation. Its primary offices and
datacenter are located in Greater Orlando, Florida.
Additional servers are located just outside of New York City. MileSplit has a
team of staff and affiliates located around the
country. We encourage your questions, sponsorship and investment inquiries.
Visit the website at:
http://www.milesplit.us

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

BOOK/VIDEO/MOVIE OF THE MONTH: Out of Nowhere: The Inside Story of How Nike
Marketed the Culture of Running
By Geoff Hollister
How does a boy from a small Oregon farm town get swept up in the politics of his
chosen sport? Out of Nowhere takes the reader along
on Geoff Hollister's 33 year journey at the center of Nike, the company that
would change not only the world of athletic shoes and
apparel but the business of sport itself.
Nike began with a handshake and a few hundred dollars passed between Phil Knight
and legendary track coach Bill Bowerman. Hollister
was coached by him at the University of Oregon and was Bowerman's pick as Nike's
third employee. Before he had even graduated
Hollister began selling shoes out of the trunk of his car for Blue Ribbon
Sports, the company that became Nike.
Out of Nowhere provides an inside look for the entrepreneur, from someone who
experienced the humble beginnings, lived and breathed
the first 33 years of Nike, now the largest sports and fitness company in the
world. Hollister takes you on the rollercoaster ride
of success and failure.
Buy the book from Amazon at:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/184126234X/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. Marathon Race Week: What to Do and When to Do It:
McMillanRunning.com Coach
Confused as to just how to get fully prepared for a peak marathon performance?
You’re not alone. In this article, coach Jonas
Holdeman, himself a former marathon champion, tells you what he tells his
athletes prior to their marathon.
(1) RACE WEEK
Sleep
Do your best to get to bed early the two to three nights before your target
event. If you get adequate sleep these two nights, you
won’t have to worry about losing sleep the night before the marathon (and you
will because you’ll likely be restless the night
before the race). I typically climb into bed at 9:00 PM and read until I doze
off. I never worry about whether or not I get good
sleep the night before a race: chances are I
won't, due to nerves. And, from a physiological standpoint, if you’re used to
seven hours of sleep and you get ten, you’ll probably
feel more sluggish on race morning. So, don’t worry about the night before the
race. Focus on the night before the night before.
By the way, if you find it hard to sleep, just do the following. Lie on your
back and focus on taking long, deep nasal breaths.
Try to make the inhale and the exhale match in terms of length. (I usually count
the inhale and the exhale – in two, three, four:
out two, three, four). This will do two things: 1) free your mind from the
anxiety of thinking “Oh my! I can’t sleep! I have a
race in the morning! I’ll be too tired to run!” etc., etc. and 2) relax your
body so that you actually fall asleep.
Hydration
In the three days prior to your race, you'll need to consume 0.5-0.7 ounces of
fluid per day per pound of body weight. Shoot for
75-100 ounces daily, consuming an 8 ounce glass at regular intervals. The way I
do it is to set the timer function on my sports
watch for 1:00:00; and, every time the alarm sounds, I drink 8 ounces.
This strategy: 1) ensures that you drink enough without having to really think
about it and 2) provides constant intake instead of
realizing you are behind and chugging to catch up. What the latter means is
that you will not have to jump up and take a leak every
20 minutes. If you drink more water less frequently (i.e., chug a 16 ounce
glass every two hours), you'll be forcing the body to
"pass" on the available fluid because it cannot absorb it. If you need an
analogy, it's like what a farmer wants when his crops are
dry: six hours of light, steady rain that provides a gallon per square meter
rather than a 15 minute downpour of the same volume
that ends up washing into the lake. Stop drinking water about two (2) hours
before you hit the sack to reduce the need to whiz
during the night.
More...from MacMillan Running at:
http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/rununiv/marathonprep.htm


2. Pressed for Time?
What to run when your training time is slashed.
For the competitive runner, daily runs are not simply a means to an end; without
them, normal sleeping, eating, socializing, and
working patterns can suffer. You depend on the daily run, not only to log PRs,
but also to help maintain a precious balance in life.
Unfortunately, balance cannot always be achieved. The scales tip, life steps in,
and you are faced with the dreaded circumstance: a
hiatus from your usual mileage, perhaps for many weeks, because of an
unavoidable work commitment, a family health situation, lack
of child care, etc. Fortunately, even several weeks away from regular training
does not necessarily equate into loads of lost
fitness, if you properly structure your more-limited training time.
Pete Rea, head coach at ZAP Fitness, is well versed in the training of runners
on both ends of the spectrum and everywhere in
between. He says, “If you’re able to continue running three or four days a week
and you do the right things during those three or
four days, you can maintain fitness even for a couple months if you have a busy
time at work or aren’t able to get out the door
every day.” Smart training, with an emphasis on quality over quantity, could
actually spit you out on the other side of those down
weeks rejuvenated, ready to jump back in with full force.
Paul Giannoble, a Minneapolis-based master who wins races outright in his late
40s, knows this predicament well. The father of two
and full-time investment adviser says he had many 5:30 a.m. runs during his
children’s younger years, “trying to get back before
everyone was up.” He looks at balancing competitive running with all of life’s
other responsibilities as a welcome challenge that
can sometimes even improve your running performance by forcing you to make the
most of the limited training time. He explains, “For
the typical runner, let’s face it, quality is more important than quantity. To
get faster, you have to get in the higher-quality
workouts. That’s what it could force you to do if you can’t run every day.”
More...from Running Times at:
http://www.runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=15904


3. 10 Tips to Overcome Morning Stiffness:
Do you find it difficult to get out of bed in the morning, because of too much
pain? Does it take you an hour or two for your body
to ‘warm up' and your joints and muscles to loosen before you can tackle the
tasks of the day? You are not alone.
According to the American College of Rheumatology, Fibromyalgia affects 3 to 6
million Americans. That's 1 in 50 Americans, with
seven times more the frequency in women than in men. And according to the NHIS,
by 2030 an estimated 67 million Americans are
projected to have doctor-diagnosed arthritis.
Morning stiffness is one of the more common complaints doctors hear about from
patients with fibromyalgia, arthritis, rheumatism and
those whose bodies no longer rebound after a day of activity—even gardening—like
it used to.
Don't let morning stiffness cut your day short, by starting it later... And
while most people reach for muscle relaxants like Motrin
and pain relievers like Aleve to get them going, you don't need to.
More... From the Healthy Back at:
http://www.losethebackpain.com/overcomingstiffness.html


4. It's never too late to start exercise:
People who put off regular exercise until they hit the age of 50 can still
benefit from physical activity but it appears to take 10
years for the effects to kick in, Swedish researchers said Friday.
A study of 2,205 Swedish men followed for more than 20 years from the age of 50
showed that exercise made no difference in premature
death rates for at least a decade for those who waited until later in life to
start physical activity.
"It has been shown that young people benefit from exercise but this is the first
time we have been able to show that old people can
also benefit from increasing their physical activity," Liisa Byberg, a
researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden, said in a
telephone interview.
"It's not too late to start."
The researchers put the volunteers into low, medium and high activity groups.
About half the men reported a high level of exercise,
corresponding to at least three hours of sport or heavy gardening each week.
More...from Reuters at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52501X20090306


5. Bananas And Dieting:
After reading this you’ll never look at a banana in the same way again. BANANAS
contain three natural sugars – sucrose, fructose
and glucose - and fiber. No wonder a banana gives an instant, sustained and
substantial boost of energy. Research has proven that
just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous ninety minute workout.
This is what makes the banana the number one fruit
with the world’s leading athletes. But energy is not the only way a banana helps
us to be fit. It can also help overcome or prevent
a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must add to our
diet.
DEPRESSION: According to a recent survey undertaken by “Mind.” Amongst people
suffering from depression, many felt much better after
eating a banana. This is because bananas contain Tryptophan - a type of protein
that the body converts into Serotonin, known to
relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.
PMS: FORGET THE PILLS – EAT A BANANA. A banana contains Vitamin B6 which
regulates blood glucose levels which can affect your mood.

ANEMIA: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the
blood to help in cases of anemia.
BLOOD PRESSURE: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet
low in salt, making it perfect to control high blood
pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just permitted the
banana industry to officially claim the fruit’s
ability to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and stroke.
More...from Infinite Health Resources at:
http://www.infinitehealthresources.com/Store/Resource/Article/1-2/2/10.html


6. Ankle exercises build seniors' strength, balance:
A simple series of ankle and foot flexing exercises can improve strength and
balance in older people, research from Portugal shows.
Among elderly individuals living in an institution, those who performed the
exercises showed substantial increases in the strength
of the muscles that flex and extend the ankle, as well as significantly better
balance.
People lose mobility with aging in part due to weakening of the lower limbs,
Fernando Ribeiro of the University of Porto and his
colleagues note in their report in the journal Geriatrics and Gerontology
International. Targeting muscle groups in the legs that
play a key role in helping maintain balance may offer a low-cost way to increase
mobility and prevent falls among elderly people,
they add.
To investigate whether strengthening one set of key muscles might indeed build
balance, Ribeiro and his team randomly assigned 48
institutionalized elderly individuals to an ankle exercise group or a "control"
group.
More...from Reuters at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE52563D20090306


7. The Claim: Morning Is the Best Time to Exercise:
Without a doubt, exercise at any time of the day beats no exercise at all. But
are there physiological advantages to working out in
the morning versus evening, or vice versa?
In various studies, scientists have found that subjects tend to do slightly
better on measures of physical performance — including
endurance, strength output, reaction time and aerobic capacity — between 4 and 7
p.m. The explanations are numerous: the body’s
temperature and hormone levels peak in late afternoon, making muscles more
flexible and producing the best ratio of testosterone
(the muscle-building hormone) to cortisol (the hormone that does the reverse).
But these variations have only small effects. And much as one can adjust to
waking up at the same time daily, studies have shown
that the body can adapt to the time of day that you train. In several long-term
studies, for example, scientists randomly split
people into groups and instructed them to train only in the morning or only in
the early evening. In the end, the morning exercisers
generally did better on tests of physical performance early in the day, while
the evening exercisers did better when tested later.
On a practical level, that means that if you plan to run a marathon that starts
in the morning, it may be best to schedule your
training runs early in the day.
THE BOTTOM LINE
In general, research suggests that the ideal time to exercise is late afternoon,
though the advantages are slight.
From the NY Times

8. Bleeding risk for ultra runners:
Minor bleeding from the gut is a common sports injury in increasingly popular
sport of ultra-endurance running caused by the severe
physical stress of ultra events. This problem, a reflection of the severe
physical stress of ultra events, is particularly common
among older athletes, women and people with existing gastrointestinal disorders.
No one knows the precise cause of this bleeding or whether it poses any
long-term threat to health. But now a new study from Austria
and Greece suggests that it can be prevented in many cases by a class of drugs
known as ‘proton pump inhibitors’.
The effects of this drug were tested in 70 athletes taking part in the 2005
Spartathlon in Greece. This is one of the most gruelling
running events in the world, covering a distance of 246k from Athens to Sparta,
which has to be finished within 36 hours.
Half the athletes were given a proton pump inhibitor called pantoprazole to take
for the three days of the race, while the rest took
an identical-looking placebo. Samples of the athletes’ stools were analysed
before and after the race for signs of ‘occult’ bleeding
– traces of blood that might escape the naked eye. In the end only 37 of the
runners – 20 from the treatment group and 17 from the
placebo group – were included in the final analysis because some dropped out and
others were excluded because they failed to finish
within the specified time.
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/sports-injury-danger-for-distance-runners-35882


9. Live Fast, Die Young? Maybe Not:
The theory that a higher metabolism means a shorter lifespan may have reached
the end of its own life, thanks to a study published
in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. The study, led by Lobke
Vaanholt (University of Groningen, The Netherlands),
found that mice with increased metabolism live just as long as those with slower
metabolic rates.
The theory that fast-living animals die young, known as the rate-of-living
theory, was first proposed in the 1920s. The premise is
simple: Aging is the inevitable byproduct of energy expenditure. The faster you
expend energy, the faster you age, and the sooner
you die. It remained a prominent theory of aging until recently, when
comparisons across broad animal groups cast doubt on it. For
instance, birds have significantly higher metabolisms than mammals of similar
size, yet the birds live much longer.
Vaanholt's study was designed to test the rate-of-living theory among
individuals of one species—in this case, mice.
More...from Science Daily at:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090309162121.htm


10. Credit Crunch:
Jason Gootman, MS, USA Triathlon Certified Coach, NSCA CSCS
Will Kirousis, BS, USA Triathlon & USA Cycling Certified Coach, NSCA CSCS
Tri-Hard Endurance Sports Coaching (www.Tri-Hard.com)
It’s mile 5 in your big ½ Ironman. You had a real good swim and your best bike
split ever by 15 minutes! You’re working real hard,
but you think you can keep the pace up. Then you head up a steep hill, around a
corner, and bam—your pace slows to 8:00 per
mile…8:35…9:15, you’re cramping up bad, your stomach feels lousy, you’re walking
now—it’s not a pretty finish. You missed your PR by
five minutes, when it seemed earlier that you had it in the bag. What happened?
You took out a loan you couldn’t pay back and there was no bailout for you! You
have a certain amount of energy you can expend in a
race. The sound approach is to parcel out this energy evenly from start to
finish, paying your bills with cash (energy) you have on
hand, one mile at a time as they come. Do so, and you’ll have a good day.
Disobey this contract with your body and you’ll eventually
pay the penalty—you’ll slow down considerably, and it won’t feel good!
There’s three ways you can approach pacing a race: even splits, positive splits,
and negative splits. To illustrate these
approaches, let’s consider a five-mile run and a runner trained to run 8:00 per
mile.
More...from Tri-Hard at:
http://www.tri-hard.com/SCC%20Materials/Credit%20Crunch.pdf


11. Training for Best Race:
I got a long email from an athlete last week. The bottom line was that he wanted
to know what he might be missing in his training.
He’s got an important race in the spring and wants to make it his best ever. Of
course, there is no way I could tell him exactly
what to do. Even when I know an athlete quite well this is a challenge. So I
pointed out three things he needs to do in order to be
aiming his energy and time in the right directions. Here’s what I told him.
1. Know what your limiters are and train so as to improve them while maintaining
your strengths. There are lots of things that could
be one’s limiters. This guy is a triathlete so I asked him to consider, first of
all, the three sports and how good he is at each.
Sometimes age group race results tell you this. A good example of this is a
triathlete I coach. It was obvious when I first started
working with him that swimming was his weakest sport. So I shot video of him and
determined that the greatest weakness here was his
catch. So we have been working on that for a month. I just got a new video from
him this week and he has improved it considerably.
There are still flaws but they are minor. Our focus now shifts to his running.
This will be a bigger challenge as we need to improve
both his technique and his muscular endurance. We’ve been working on the
technique for about a month. It’s also coming along quite
well. Now we’re ready to get his ME improved. That will take several weeks.
Of course, there’s a lot more to limiters than this. One has to also determine
what the course will be like and compare that with
weaknesses. For example, if it’s a hilly course and he is a poor climber then
this is a limiter. But if it’s a flat course climbing
is not a limiter. Wind, cold, heat and humidity can also be limiters. Water
conditions (rough, flat, cold) are also possibilities.
There are others to consider such as nutrition and inadequate recovery time.
More...from Joe Friel's Blog at:
http://www2.trainingbible.com/joesblog/blog.html


12. 'No evidence' on running shoe safety:
AUSTRALIAN joggers are being warned there's no hard science underpinning what
they wear on their feet.
Scientists at the University of Newcastle wanted to find independent studies on
the safety of sneakers that have cushioned heels and
other features to prevent the ankle rolling in.
Dr Craig Richards said an analysis of the global pool of sports medicine
research turned up nothing relating to the commonly used,
and recommended, sports shoes.
"Since the 1980s, distance running shoes with thick, heavily cushioned heels and
features to control how much the heel rolls in,
have been consistently recommended to runners who want to avoid injury,'' Dr
Richards said.
"We did not identify a single study that has attempted to measure the effect of
this shoe type on either injury rates or
performance.
"This means there is no scientific evidence (the) shoes provide any benefit to
distance runners.''
Dr Richards said Dutch researchers had previously found between 37 and 56 per
cent of recreational runners become injured at least
once each year.
More...from the Herald-Sun at:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25171370-5005961,00.html


13. Body type training – are we slaves to our ‘body type’ genes?
The human body comes in a huge array of different shapes and sizes, but should
your natural body type dictate the sport you choose
or the way you train? John Shepherd looks at the evidence and in particular
whether it’s nature or nurture that really counts
In a particular sport or event within a sport, the participants will often share
a similar body shape. For example, male sprinters
tend to be relatively tall and be proportionately muscled, whilst female
gymnasts tend to be relatively slight with very low body
fat and shot-putters relatively round with more body fat and large muscles.
These sports’ body shapes quite closely reflect the
three derivative ‘somatotypes’ (body type classifications). The sprinter fits
the typical mesomorph body type, the gymnast the
ectomorph, and the shot-putter the endomorph. In this article, we’ll consider
the relationship between body types, sports
performance and training response.
Somatotypes, body classification and ‘typical’ training response
As indicated there are three main body types or somatotypes: endomorphs,
mesomorphs and ectomorphs. This basic classification
derives from the work of the psychologist William Sheldon in the mid 20th
century. In everyday terms these types can be described as
‘fat’, ‘athletic’ and ‘thin’ (see figure 1). Sheldon believed that each
somatotype had distinct physiological (and psychological)
traits.
More...from Peak Performance Online at:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/body-type-training-and-body-classification-39798


14. Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine:
* Increasing Exercise after Age 50 Prolongs Lives
Men who start or increase their exercise programs after age fifty live longer
than those who remain at their present activity
levels, according to a study in the British Medical Journal
(March 2009). More than 2200 men were checked at ages 60, 60, 70, 77 and 82
years. The greater the increase in exercise duration
over that span, the longer their lives were extended. The reduction in early
death from increasing exercise was the same as for men
who stopped smoking.
Lack of exercise is associated with obesity, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes,
osteoporosis, and cancer. Exercising regularly more
than halves your chance of dying prematurely
(Archives of Internal Medicine, December 2007). Yet more than 50 percent of
North Americans do not exercise.
Exercise prevents disease and increases life span by many mechanisms. The major
benefit probably comes from the contracting muscles
themselves. A high rise in blood sugars and fats after meals damages cells.
When blood sugar levels rise too high, sugar sticks to
the surface of cell membranes. Once there, it can never get off, eventually
killing the cells and leading to blindness, heart
attacks, strokes and the other consequences of uncontrolled diabetes.
Contracting muscles draw sugar and fat so rapidly from the
bloodstream that they usually prevent blood sugar levels from rising too high.
This effect is maximized during exercise. The
effect is maintained for about half hour after you stop exercising and gradually
tapers off until it disappears after about 18
hours. That explains why you get maximum benefit by exercising every day
(rather than three times a week), and why greater benefit
is gained by exercising more intensely for longer durations.
* Dear Dr. Mirkin: Since I started to train seriously for marathons, my wife
has complained that I have markedly reduced my
interest in making love. What can I do to keep running and satisfy my wife?
Get a medical check-up. If your doctor finds nothing wrong with you, you may be
training too much. Most endurance athletes have
normal blood levels of the male hormones,
testosterone and dihydro-testosterone, and lose neither sexual desire nor sexual
performance (Journal of Endocrinological
Investigation, October 2008).
Endurance athletes who have low levels of testosterone usually have normal blood
levels of LH and FSH, the brain hormones that
control testicular production of testosterone.
Defective testicular production of testosterone is usually associated with very
high levels of brain hormones. That means that
reduced sexual desire associated with endurance training is governed by the
brain, not testicular damage, and is often part of an
overtraining syndrome.
Training for competition is done by taking an intense workout on one day,
feeling sore on the next, and going at reduced intensity
for as long as it takes for the soreness to go away. Taking intense workouts
when you feel soreness causes muscle injuries and
fatigue that affects all your organ systems, including your sexuality. Once you
develop an overtraining
syndrome, it can take a very long time to recover. If this has happened to you,
I recommend jogging slowly each day and stopping
each workout immediately when your legs feel heavy or sore. When you feel
better, you can start to train intensely again, but be
sure to include slow recovery days in your training program.
From Dr. Gabe Mirkin's Fitness and Health E-Zine at:
http://www.drmirkin.com


15. Digest Briefs:
* Effects of strength training on running economy.Guglielmo LG, Greco CC,
Denadai BS.
Human Performance Laboratory, UNESP, Rio Claro, Brazil.
The objective of this study was to compare the effect of different strength
training protocols added to endurance training on
running economy (RE). Sixteen well-trained runners (27.4 +/- 4.4 years; 62.7 +/-
4.3 kg; 166.1 +/- 5.0 cm), were randomized into two
groups: explosive strength training (EST) (n = 9) and heavy weight strength
training (HWT) (n = 7) group. They performed the
following tests before and after 4 weeks of training: 1) incremental treadmill
test to exhaustion to determine of peak oxygen uptake
and the velocity corresponding to 3.5 mM of blood lactate concentration; 2)
submaximal constant-intensity test to determine RE; 3)
maximal countermovement jump test and; 4) one repetition maximal strength test
in leg press. After the training period, there was an
improvement in RE only in the HWT group (HWT = 47.3 +/- 6.8 vs. 44.3 +/- 4.9 ml
. kg (-1) . min (-1); EST = 46.4 +/- 4.1 vs. 45.5
+/- 4.1 ml . kg (-1) . min (-1)). In conclusion, a short period of traditional
strength training can improve RE in well-trained
runners, but this improvement can be dependent on the strength training
characteristics. When comparing to explosive training
performed in the same equipment, heavy weight training seems to be more
efficient for the improvement of RE.
From: International Journal Of Sportsmedicine
* Middle age 'key for exercising'
Increasing activity levels in middle age can prolong life as much as giving up
smoking, a study suggests.
Swedish researchers from Uppsala University monitored more than 2,200 men from
the age of 50.
They found those who increased activity levels from 50 to 60 ended up living as
long as those who were already exercising regularly
by middle age.
Public health experts said the findings showed it was never too late to start
exercising.
The team asked the men about their activity levels at the start of the study in
the early 1970s, when they were aged 50.
The men were put into three groups - high levels of activity, moderate levels
and sedentary.
High levels was classed as those who did at least three hours of sports or heavy
gardening each week.
Moderate was said to be the equivalent of several hours of walking or cycling,
while people who were classed as sedentary spent most
of their free time watching TV.
Their exercise habits were then reassessed at the age of 60.
The team found that those who were doing high levels of activity at the age of
50 lived 2.3 years longer than sedentary men and 1.1
years longer than those who reported medium levels of activity - once a range of
factors such as weight, alcohol intake and smoking
was taken into account.
But interestingly the researchers found that those who increased their activity
level to high - whether they were in the moderate or
low group - from the age of 50 to 60 also lived the longest.
It was not clear what effect reducing activity levels during this period had,
the British Medical Journal report said.
From: British Medical Journal.
* This Week in Running:
10 Years Ago- Gabriela Szabo (ROM) won the gold medal in the 3000m at the IAAF
World Indoor Championships,
held in Maebashi JPN. She was two seconds ahead of the silver
medalist, Zhara Ouaziz (MAR),
8:36.42 to 8:38.43. Regina Jacobs (USA) took the bronze medal in
8:39.14. Haile
Gebreselasie (ETH) took the men's gold in an African medal sweep
with a 7:53.57. Very close
behind was Paul Bitok (KEN) at 7:53.79, while Million Wolde (ETH)
was 3rd in 7:53.85.
20 Years Ago- Liz McColgan (SCO) lowered her own 10K road WR for the second
time (third consecutive
record) at the Red Lobster (FL/USA) 10K with a 30:38.4. She beat
former 10K road WR-holder
Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR) by one minite with Kristiansen clocked
at 31:39. Lynn Williams
(CAN) was 3rd in 31:44. Keith Brantly (USA) edged William
Musyoki (KEN) in the men's race,
both were given 28:02. Gerardo Alcala (MEX) was 3rd in 28:05.
30 Years Ago- Don Ritchie (SCO) won a 50,000m race in Timperley ENG with a
2:50:30. Cavin Woodward
(ENG) was 2nd in 2:55:24 while Tom O'Reilly (ENG) was 3rd in
2:56:34.
40 Years Ago- Ian Stewart (SCO) won the European Indoor Games 3000m, held in
Belgrade YUG (now SER)
with a 7:55.4. Javier Alvarez (ESP) took the silver medal in
7:56.2 while Werner Girke
(GER) ran 7:56.8 for the bronze medal. This competition later
evolved into the European
Indoor Championships.
50 Years Ago- Allan Lawrence (AUS) won the Knights of Columbus (NY/USA) 2 mile
with a 8:46.7, defeating
Max Truex (USA) and Laszlo Tabori (HUN) who ran 8:47.1 and 8:47.8
respectively. William
Dellinger (USA) was 4th in 8:49.9.
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.


THIS WEEK'S FEATURED EVENTS:
*Please verify event dates with the event websites available from our FrontPage
(www.runnersweb.com)

March 13-14, 2009:
NCAA® Indoor Track & Field Championships - College Station, TX
ESPN Coverage

March 14, 2009:
Catalina Island Marathon - Two Harbors, CA

CNL Bank Winter Park Road Race 10K - Winter Park, FL

Gate River Run - Jacksonville, FL
USA 15K Championship

H-E-B Bayou City Classic 10K - Houston, TX

Irish for a Day 5K - Minneapolis, MN

OIRC's Ottawa St. Patrick’s Day Races - Ottawa, ON

March 15, 2009:
Bay to Bay 12K - Tampa Bay, FL

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

Little Rock Marathon - Little Rock, AR

Shamrock'n Half Marathon - West Sacramento, CA


June 20, 2009:
Emilie's Run - The Emilie Mondor Memorial 5K Race for Women - Ottawa, ON
**Register before January 31, 2009 and get a 15% discount**
**Register before March 15, 2009 and get a 10% discount**

August 15-23, 2009:
World Athletics Championships - Berlin, Germany

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

Ken Parker
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