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Lead Stories: Sunday, September 7, 2008

Quote of the Day: 3/18/08

Posted March 18th, 2008 at 8:00 AM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Motivation, Famous Quotes

“If you run 100 miles a week, you can eat anything you want.

Why?

Because . . .

(a) you’ll burn all the calories you consume,
(b) you deserve it, and
(c) you’ll be injured soon and back on a restricted diet anyway.”

- Don Kardong

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Podcast 119: Hall-of-Fame Coach and TFS Success Story Honoree BEVERLY KEARNEY

Posted January 22nd, 2008 at 11:30 AM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: Motivation, Success Stories, Columns, Success Stories, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts

TheFinalSprint.com (TFS) is honored to present our monthly Success Story award to individuals who have overcome tremendous obstacles, changed their own lives and/or the lives of others through running, sports or fitness.

I am proud to announce that TFS’s January 2008 Success Story, and my guest on Episode 119 of The Final Sprint Podcast is courageous survivor and hall-of-fame track & field coach BEVERLY KEARNEY, head coach of the University of Texas women’s track & field team and founder and president of “Pursuit of Dreams,” a non-profit organization comprised of leaders from athletics, business, and medicine whose mission is to provide the necessary assistance and guidance to individuals in order to fulfill their total mental, physical and spiritual goals.

Coach Kearney uses those same principals in her coaching. Her success in track and field is almost unprecedented. In her distinguished career, she has led her Longhorns to 6 NCAA National Championships and 14 top-three team finishes, She is 3-time NCAA Outdoor Coach of the Year, 2-time NCAA Indoor Coach of the Year and 15-time Conference Coach of the Year. She has coached 14 individual NCAA Champions who have earned a total of 28 NCAA titles, 36 different student-athletes to 51 NCAA national titles overall (individual and relay) and 15 relay-team NCAA Champions.

To top it all off, she recently was inducted to the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. She has accomplished all of her remarkable achievements despite having to overcome incredible adversity, including losing her mother in high school and becoming homeless, and suffering a near-fatal car accident that killed two of her friends. Using her own principles, she is walking now and has coached her young ladies from her hospital bed, a wheelchair, a walker, and now stands and walks on her own. In our interview we talk about all of this and much more!

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Host: Jimmie R. Markham | Guest: Beverly Kearney
Producers:Greg Cherniet, Jimmie R. Markham
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 16.4 MB | Length: 23:58

Episode Sponsored By: Nike +

Long Live Running!
Nike Plus will improve the way you run. Get feedback from your iPod on pace, time, distance and calories burned.

Log into Nikeplus.com to track your progress,
set goals and challenge friends.

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

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Podcast 115: JAY JOHNSON Univ. of Colorado Middle- Distance Coach (Part 2 of 2)

Posted January 17th, 2008 at 7:40 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Track & Field, Training Plans, Training Tips, Cross Training, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts, Training Plans, Tools & Resources, College

Episode 115 of The Final Sprint Podcast, the most listened to running podcast in North America, features my two-part interview with JAY JOHNSON; middle-distance track coach at the University of Colorado, Director of the Boulder Running Camps and now the producer/editor of a new DVD series for runners.

In part two of the interview Coach Johnson talks about his current middle-distance track team at CU and their chances of making the U.S. Olympic team, the resurgence of distance running in the U.S. and how we can compete with the Kenyan runners.

Download the podcast to hear Coach Johnson discuss these topics, what he thinks about Ryan Hall’s recent performance at the Olympic Trials marathon and much more!

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Host: Jimmie R. Markham | Guest: Jay Johnson
Producers: Greg Cherniet, Jimmie R. Markham
Musicians: Ryan Ahlwardt, Darnell Perkins
File Size: 19.6 MB | Length: 21:27 MIN

Episode Sponsored By: Nike +

Long Live Running!
Nike Plus will improve the way you run. Get feedback from your iPod on pace, time, distance and calories burned.

Log into Nikeplus.com to track your progress,
set goals and challenge friends.

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

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Podcast 114: JAY JOHNSON Univ. of Colorado Middle- Distance Coach (Part 1 of 2)

Posted January 17th, 2008 at 6:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Motivation, Movies, Track & Field, Training Plans, Training Tips, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts, Training Plans, College

Episode 114 of The Final Sprint Podcast, the most listened to running podcast in North America, features my two-part interview with JAY JOHNSON; middle-distance track coach at the University of Colorado, Director of the Boulder Running Camps and now the producer/editor of a new DVD series for runners.

In part one of the interview Coach Johnson talks about his role on the 1998 Colorado Buffalo cross-country team that was featured in the cult running classic Running with the Buffaloes by Chris Lear. He also discusses why runners need to be better prepared nowadays than they were when he ran and how his new DVD Building a Better Runner: Building from the Ground Up can help runners do that. He is offering this DVD to readers of The Final Sprint at a 20% discount (see code in graphic at the top of this post).

Download the podcast to hear Coach Johnson discuss these topics, describes the fantastic experience young runners can have at his running camp, Boulder Running Camps, and much more!

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Host: Jimmie R. Markham | Guest: Jay Johnson
Producers: Greg Cherniet, Jimmie R. Markham
Musicians: Ryan Ahlwardt, Darnell Perkins
File Size: 22.4 MB | Length: 24:31 MIN

Episode Sponsored By: Nike +

Long Live Running!
Nike Plus will improve the way you run. Get feedback from your iPod on pace, time, distance and calories burned.

Log into Nikeplus.com to track your progress,
set goals and challenge friends.

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

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Q&A: Is it true that weight loss during exercise is normal?

Posted December 29th, 2007 at 2:16 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

If you weigh yourself before and after an hour or two of exercise, the difference is likely to be fluid loss. However, in events lasting several hours or even several days, measurable fat loss can occur. At a competitive 12-hour indoor stationary bicycle marathon, one athlete took fluids and food throughout the entire competition, and still lost 2.64 pounds (Schweizerische Rundschau für Medizin Praxis, July 2007).

Of this weight loss, 1.98 pounds was due to loss of fat. His calculated muscle weight increased by 1.46 pounds due to damage to the muscle cells, which results in fluid retention in the cells.
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Podcast 110: Courageous Survivor, Running Hero, and
TFS Success Story Honoree
GILBERT TUHABONYE

Posted December 19th, 2007 at 6:00 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Motivation, Books, Success Stories, Columns, Success Stories, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts

TheFinalSprint.com (TFS) is honored to present our monthly Success Story award to individuals who have overcome tremendous obstacles, changed their own lives and/or the lives of others through running, sports or fitness. Past recipients of TFS’s Success Story award include female running pioneer Kathrine Switzer, father-and-son team of Rick and Dick Hoyt, and amputee athletes Oscar Pistorius and Rudy Garcia-Tolson.

I am proud to announce that TFS’s November 2007 Success Story, and my guest on Episode 110 of The Final Sprint Podcast is courageous survivor and running hero GILBERT TUHABONYE.

Born to a Tutsi tribe farming family in Burundi, a small mountainous country in east central Africa, just south of Rwanda, Gilbert grew up in the midst of the centuries-old war between the Tutsi and Hutu tribes. In October 1993, the Hutu classmates at his school, their parents, some teachers and other Hutu tribesmen forced the Tutsi teachers and children into a room where they beat and burned them to death. After nine hours of being buried by the burning corpses of his beloved friends, and himself on fire and seriously injured, Gilbert jumped free of the burning building and ran into the night, the sole survivor of one of the most horrible massacres in the long Tutsi-Hutu war.

Gilbert, who now lives in Austin, Texas, has continued his efforts to try and compete in the Olympic marathon and is the award-winning coach of Gilbert’s Gazelles, a training group consisting of hundreds of dedicated runners of all skill levels. Gilbert has also created the Gazelle Foundation, with the mission of improving life for people in Burundi and offering educational assistance to children in Austin, Texas, where Gilbert, his wife Triphine and daughters Emma and Grace reside. His life story is captured in his book, This Voice in My Heart, a testament to the triumph of the human spirit as Gilbert emerges from the scars of his unimaginable ordeal to live a life of optimism, grace and victory.

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Host: Adam Jacobs | Guest: Gilbert Tuhabonye
Producer:Greg Cherniet
Music: Ryan Ahlwardt & Darnell Perkins
File size: 19.8 MB | Length: 26:53

Episode Sponsored By: Nike +

Long Live Running!
Nike Plus will improve the way you run. Get feedback from your iPod on pace, time, distance and calories burned.

Log into Nikeplus.com to track your progress,
set goals and challenge friends.

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

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Podcast 109: BILL RODGERS
“Don’t Boycott Beijing”

Posted December 17th, 2007 at 5:00 PM by Jimmie R. Markham

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts

Episode 109 of The Final Sprint Podcast, the most listened to running podcast in North America, features my interview with marathon legend BILL RODGERS; four-time winner of the New York City and Boston Marathons, 1976 Olympian, former American-record-holder in the marathon and winner of an astounding 21 marathons.

Rodgers, along with his friend and long-time rival Frank Shorter, was instrumental in the creation of the American distance running boom. Although he is about to turn 60, he has no plans to quit running, may run the Boston Marathon again next year, and even wants to be able to emulate his running hero Johnny Kelley by running into his 80’s.

In the interview, Rodgers talks about the early days of his career when he would come home with under-the-table appearance money stuffed in his shoes, his feelings about boycotting the upcoming Beijing Olympics and what he thinks should happen with the World Marathon Majors. He also tells us who is the faster runner nowadays whenever he races Frank Shorter. Download the podcast to hear “Boston Billy” discuss these topics, what he thinks about hot-weather running even after all these years and much more!

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Host: Jimmie R. Markham | Guest: Bill Rodgers
Producer: Greg Cherniet, Adam Jacobs
Musicians: Ryan Ahlwardt, Darnell Perkins
File Size: 17.8 MB | Length: 25:59 MIN

Episode Sponsored By: Nike +

Long Live Running!
Nike Plus will improve the way you run. Get feedback from your iPod on pace, time, distance and calories burned.

Log into Nikeplus.com to track your progress,
set goals and challenge friends.

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

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Podcast 108: ANNA WILLARD Olympic Steeplechase Hopeful

Posted December 10th, 2007 at 12:32 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Special Features, Interviews, Podcasts

Episode 108 of The Final Sprint Podcast,
the most listened to running podcast in North America, features my interview with ANNA WILLARD; a standout at Brown and then the University of Michigan as well as one of the U.S. favorites for the first ever women’s Olympic steeplechase.

In the interview Anna talks about her exceptional year, record-setting performances at the Penn Relays, her first IAAF World Championships and the fatigue caused by the spring track season at Michigan.

Download the podcast to hear Anna discuss these topics, as well as, why she believes winning the steeplechase at the U.S. Trials may require an American record, how special it would be to compete in the first ever Olympic women’s steeplechase, waiting until to March to begin her 2008 season, and much more!

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Host: Adam Jacobs | Guest: Anna Willard
Producers: Greg Cherniet, Adam Jacobs
Musicians: Ryan Ahlwardt, Darnell Perkins
File Size: 13.7 MB | Length: 20:02 MIN

Episode Sponsored By: Nike +

Long Live Running!
Nike Plus will improve the way you run. Get feedback from your iPod on pace, time, distance and calories burned.

Log into Nikeplus.com to track your progress,
set goals and challenge friends.

Interested in featuring The Final Sprint Podcast on your site, blog or My Space page? Click here to learn how!

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HIIT: The Ultimate Workout

Posted November 27th, 2007 at 5:45 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

If you aren’t a stranger to the gym, you’ve likely already heard of something called high intensity interval training (HIIT). Whether it was between two trainers discussing their training techniques or someone complaining about the brutality of the workout, it may be something you’ve avoided up until now.

There is no doubt that high intensity interval training (HIIT) is something that will give you a run for your money. It definitely is not - by any means - easy, but it will get you results.

Not only is it more conducive to retaining your current muscle mass then longer cardio sessions, but it is also far better (in most cases) in terms of promoting fat loss and increasing the metabolism. The thing about HIIT is that it does not expend an extremely large amount of calories while you are performing it.

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Who is the worse gas guzzler? You or your car?

Posted September 9th, 2007 at 11:00 AM by Jimson Lee

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Health & Fitness, Weight Loss

I’ve often wondered, who is the worse gas guzzler, you or your car?

My dependable 1999 Saturn SL-1 according to the Marketplace Fuel Survey Data (read the full story here), gets about 52 miles per gallon highway, and about 32 miles per gallon city driving with air conditioning and traffic.

Let’s take the human body for example.

Recently, I had no choice but to eat at McDonalds during a business trip. I had 2 Egg-Sausage-Cheese-McGriddle sandwiches for breakfast and a meduim orange juice. That’s about 1270 food Calories (or kCal) and it cost me $7.28. Here is the breakdown:

• each Egg-Sausage-Cheese-McGriddle sandwich: 530 Calories, 44g Carbs (47%), 20g Protein (21%), 29g fat (31%)
• Medium Orange Juice: 210 Calories, 17g Carbs, 0g Protein, 0g fat

If you add the 3 items above, that’s 55% Carbs, 18% Protein, and 26% Fat! No wonder North America has an obesity problem!

Since an average human body burns about 100 kCal per mile, whether you walk or run, that’s 1300 kCal for 13 miles.
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