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Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

Dathan Ritzenhein: Responding to Your Questions & My Olympic Training
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry 8)

Posted June 18th, 2008 at 1:40 PM by Dathan Ritzenhein

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Dathan Ritzenhein

Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Dathan Ritzenhein! Check back every other Tuesday for Ritz’s latest entry at http://dathanritzenhein.thefinalsprint.com/ as he prepares to represent the United States at the 2008 Beijing Olympics!

I want to begin by thanking everyone that has been reading my blogs and send you off a thank you for all the support and encouragement you have offered. I looked back and realized I had yet to respond to several of your questions. And I wanted to touch on those first.

Zach Oliver and Bobby Martinez, my advice for improving your time in the one mile and two mile would be to add more mileage to your week. Don’t be afraid, but add it slowly. More mileage will help you gain more strength. I began running higher mileage in high school starting out at 45 miles per week as a freshman and working my way up to 90 miles per week my senior year and my times improved significantly.

Bryan, you put a hurting on my bubble breaker score. Sadly, I don’t think I have ever broken 1,000.

Keith Sinclair, having an injury this year has actually not changed my plans for representing the US in the marathon this Olympics. I still plan on running the trials; however, my focus will be on the marathon.
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Podcast 83: DEAN KARNAZES on the ESPY, 24-hr record, and criticisms from Scott Jurek

Posted September 26th, 2007 at 6:17 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts, Trail / Ultra

Episode sponsored by: Bill Rodgers Sportswear
After 21 years BR Sportswear is closing out their line of high -quality running apparel. Visit shopfest.com to take advantage of an unprecedented 50% discount on all in-stock items!

Episode 83 of The Final Sprint Podcast features my interview with “Ultramarathon Man” DEAN KARNAZES: the recipient of the 2007 ESPY for “Best Outdoor Athlete”.

In the interview Dean talks about the ESPY award, raising money for charity and his attempt to break the 24-hr. running record in Times Square, and the North Face Ultra-Trail du Tour du Mont-Blanc.

Dean also responds to the critical comments made by Scott Jurek in a recent Endurance Planet interview. Jurek’s comments included: “I’m not winning races and performing, I shouldn’t be gracing the cover of magazines, getting a title, or even being okay with accepting a title such as Outside Magazine’s “America’s Best Outdoor Athlete”. I would feel ashamed to have that title.”

Download the podcast to hear Dean discusses these topics, as well as his continued to efforts to inspire others and hopefully increase exposure and available sponsorship money for trail and ultra running, the conflict between his desire to train/compete and a multitude of marketing and promotional obligations.

Listen In
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Host: Adam Jacobs | Guest: Dean Karnazes
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Musicians: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File Size: 12.5 MB | Length: 18:13 MIN

Episode sponsored by: Bill Rodgers Sportswear
After 21 years Bill Rodgers Sportswear is closing out their line of high-quality running apparel. Visit shopfest.com to take advantage of an unprecedented 50% discount on all in-stock items!

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Wariner, Tibbs, and Karnazes receive ESPY Awards

Posted July 18th, 2007 at 7:45 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Track & Field

ESPY TROPHY ESPN Jeremy Wariner and Casey Tibbs were the recipients of ESPY Awards earlier this week presented to the Best Track & Field Athletes of the Year and Dean Karnazes received the ESPY Award for Best Outdoor Athlete.

The ESPYs recognize outstanding achievements and performances by athletes during the previous year and include 19 “Best in Sport” categories, which pit athletes from different sports against each other, along with 17 individual sport categories and two sponsored awards.
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Speed up recovery with food

Posted March 8th, 2007 at 11:26 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine shows that eating any source of protein and sugar immediately after finishing a workout helps athletes grow larger and stronger muscles (November 2006).

Athletes train by taking a very hard workout that damages muscles. They can tell that their muscles are damaged by the delayed onset muscle soreness that starts 8 to 24 hours after they finish a workout. Anything that helps them recover faster will allow them to do another hard workout sooner and they will become much stronger.

Extensive research shows that muscles healing occurs when protein building blocks called amino acids move into muscles cells and repair the damaged muscle protein. Healed muscles are stronger than they were before the damaging workout. To hasten recovery, you need both amino acids and insulin to drive the amino acids into cells.
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Portable electrolyte tablets: What’s all the buzz about?

Posted December 16th, 2006 at 6:19 PM by Jonathan Faccone

Section: Nutrition, Hydration, Race Prep & Recov, Supplements

Since the advent of Gatorade, manufacturers have been in fierce competition to one-up each other with new and better ways to fuel athletes. This has created a very saturated market; one that features a plethora of choices for competitive athletes. As a result, athletes vary greatly, especially in the world of endurance sports, about which option they believe is the most effective.

One alternative that has begun to slowly, pick-up steam in the market is the electrolyte tablet. There has been a lot of buzz surrounding these portable tablets, such as Nuun and Zym, because they are quick and convenient mechanisms for obtaining vital replenishment of electrolytes and other vitamins.
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TFS Review: Gatorade Endurance Formula

Posted November 30th, 2006 at 1:00 PM by Jonathan Faccone

Section: Nutrition, Hydration, Race Prep & Recov, Product Reviews, Special Features, TFS Reviews

Check out TFS’s review of Gatorade’s Endurance Formula; a revolutionary new product for mainstream endurance sports.

Product: Gatorade Endurance Formula
Price: $1.49 (24 oz bottle), $1.69 (34 oz bottle), $24.99 (50.2 oz powder canister)
Rating: Very Good 8.3/10.0
Pros: Provides increased electrolytes and other benefits for endurance athletes; good value; convenient to purchase
Cons: Slightly salty taste; could include some additional vitamins
Overall: If you can get over the slight difference in taste, then all things considered - Gatorade Endurance Formula is one of the top hydration choices for your training runs and endurance events.

Effectiveness - 8.5 - I used the Gatorade Endurance Formula during several of my training workouts and found it be more effective than my traditional endurance sports drink. I noticed that it prevented me from feeling as fatigued in the latter stages of my workouts; presumably because of its substantially increased electrolyte and potassium content. The Endurance Formula has nearly twice the amount of sodium and potassium as Gatorade’s original formula and substantially more of both nutrients than Accelerade. Read the rest of this entry »