Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Kashi Beats Cornflakes in Time to Exhausion Test

Kashi Go Lean Crunch This small study suggests an increased time to exhausion on a treadmill following a meal low on the glycemic index scale. "Prior to one exercise test each subject consumed a Low Glycemic meal (LG = 40) consisting of Kashi® GOLEAN Crunch® (Kashi®) and prior to the other exercise test they consumed a High Glycemic meal (HG = 72) consisting of Cornflakes (Kelloggs’ Co.) with low fat milk 45 min before testing." RESULTS: The results showed there was a statistically significant difference between the trials of the High Glycemic (12:05±0.05) and Low glycemic meals (13:57±0.03) in the time to exhaustion (p=.008). THE EFFECTS OF HIGH AND LOW GLYCEMIC INDEX MEALS ON ENDURANCE PERFORMANCE.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Lance Armstrong Wins Half Ironman in 3:45! Drinks Coke On the Way!

JP: Did you do something dramatically different or was it some details you fine-tuned that made a big difference?
LA: Well, I think there are two things: the amount of calories you consume, and the type—so either a sports drink, a gel or a piece of solid food. All of those things we considered, and I guess the takeaway for me was to consume a lot less calories than I had been consuming. I was ingesting a massive amount of calories in the other races, just assuming I could handle that, and my gut was turning off completely. And then it’s doing a much better job of hydrating the days and hours before the start of the race. In the other races I took in mostly sports drink water and gels, and [in Florida] I went with sports drink with salt tabs dissolved in the drink, and Honey Stinger Waffles—solid food [on the bike]. On the run I just took Coke and water at the aid stations. I started with two gels and didn’t feel like I needed the energy so just stayed with water and Coke. I wore a regular hat—not a visor—and was taking cups of ice and putting it in my hat and then putting my hat back on, just keeping the ice constantly on my head so that it would melt and drip down, keeping me pretty cool.  triathlon.competitor.com

Lance ran his half marathon in 1:15!

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Ryan Hall Can't Break 30 Min for 10K

Last weekend Ryan Hall finished 15th in the Healthy Kidney 10K, running a dismal 30:15 seconds. According to Hall, he "just hasn't done the 10K work. My training is very specific to the marathon." From this, my guess is Hall does lots of tempo work at 4:50 pace (2:04:50 for the marathon, under 30 min for 10k), and maybe even Yasso type long intervals. Since he only runs 6 days a week, his weekly mileage is not excessive.

Is he in trouble? Based on past performance, probably not. While a medal in London is doubtful, he shouldn't be embarrassed. Hall has been very consistent for several years now, grinding out one good marathon finish after another, more often than not preceded by sub par races. Would he be a better marathoner if somehow he could run some fast times at shorter races? That is the question many are asking.

Hall has said he talked to lots of people when he decided to go it alone and self-coach, but I wonder if Frank Shorter was one of them. If I were in Hall's shoes, Shorter is the first I would have approached, a guy who before injuries finally took hold, seemed to always be at the top of his game, NO MATTER WHAT THE DISTANCE!   While Shorter is best remembered as a marathoner, he was also ranked in the top 5 in the world four times at 10,000 meters, and once was even ranked 10th in the 5000. 

Here Shorter describes his favorite 2 high intensity interval workouts, four x 3/4 mile, or 10 x 400s run very hard. Here he describes his intervals at "5K pace".

Interesting that Shorter describes 75-90% of his training as "conversational pace"- not anywhere near marathon speed. It wasn't all Long Slow Distance (LSD) training, however. In his book, Olympic Gold, Shorter wrote that when he's fit he'll run the second half of his weekly 20 miler at marathon pace.

I find an interesting contrast between Hall, who says he hasn't run any workouts at 10K pace, and Shorter, who believed his 5K pace interval sessions "were the critical ingredient in my training recipe".   And when Shorter ripped off 10 x 400 in just over 60 seconds at sea level, I don't exactly consider that 5K pace training. He ran hard! 

Shorter ran in the 70s and 80s, and unlike Hall, he never broke 2:10. But Shorter has 2 Olympic medals, not to mention a 5th place in the Olympic 10,000 meters. He could run both distances well, and even turned in many good 3 mile times, something that Hall the marathoner has yet to master, or apparently chooses not to.

Hall has proven time and time again he has the strength to run a good marathon but if he wants to take the next step and seriously go after a medal in London, I believe he has to show some speed at shorter distances.    Shorter's PR in the 10,000 was 27:45, run in 1975, the year before winning the silver in Montreal.  Hall ran an impressive 13:22 for 5K while still in college and 28:07 for 10,000 in 2007. 

I'd seriously consider Hall a threat to win a medal in London if he ever figures out a way to get back to running those times while maintaining his current long distance strength, just as Frank Shorter was able to do.  For now, it doesn't appear that is going to happen. 

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Omega-3 Supplements May Reduce Inflammation

Omega 3 These findings suggest that omega-3 supplementation decreases soreness, as a marker of inflammation, after eccentric exercise. Subjects performed enough eccentric bicep curls to induce soreness, and those taking 3,000 mg of omega-3 supplement reported 15% less soreness than a previous trial. Arm circumference increased after eccentric exercise in the control trial but not in the omega-3 trial. Similar results are reported here: Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation attenuates inflammatory markers after eccentric exercise in untrained men Finally, this paper Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Inflammation and Autoimmune Diseases Artemis reviews the anti-inflammatory benefits linked to omega-3 fats and other medical conditions including arthritis.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

Thursday, May 3, 2012

Skechers Delivers

I recently stumbled on this review of Go Bionic by runblogger of the latest minimalist shoe from Skechers.
The bump he mentions feeling with the Go Run (the PX actually had it in stock), kept me from buying that one, so this is looks like a definite upgrade. I have to hand it to Skechers, they have become a player in a very tough market, and their stock (SKX) has been crushing it lately. Go Bionic is due out later this summer.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Knee Pain Exercises-The Peterson Step-up

I've got knee pain, so will be reviewing and posting what exercises I find that could help!

The Key to Muscle Growth is Lifting to Failure, Not the Amount of Weight

According to a new study, if you want to get strong and grow muscle, it's ok to use light weights, but the key is to lift until you can't anymore. This may be important for runners, particularly older ones like myself that want to reverse age-related muscle loss but avoid potential for injury that may occur with heavy lifting. For more information, go to runnersworld or the globe and mail.