TheFinalSprint.com - Track & Field, Marathons, Racing News, Training Advice, Elite Athlete Blogs, Interviews, Podcasts, Videos and More! - TheFinalSprint.com is the Premier Destination for Track & Field, Marathon, Cross Country, Olympic and Road Racing Enthusiasts.

Lead Stories: Saturday, September 6, 2008

Low Blood Sugar Causes Mental Fatigue During Competition

Posted November 23rd, 2007 at 3:45 PM by Martha Jones

Section: Nutrition, Race Prep & Recov, Health & Fitness, Exercise

Athletes can expect to feel fatigued when their blood sugar levels drop. Researchers at Loughborough University, UK showed that athletes who did not take sugar during soccer competition lasting 90 minutes felt more tired, had less competitive desire, and had far lower blood sugar levels than athletes who took a sugared drink every 15 minutes during their game (Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, October 2007).

Your brain gets more than 98 percent of its energy from sugar in the bloodstream. However there is only enough sugar in the bloodstream to last about three minutes. The liver must constantly release sugar into the bloodstream, but there is only enough sugar in the liver to last eight hours during rest and far less than that during exercise. So athletes who do not take a source of sugar during events lasting more than an hour can suffer the psychological effects of low blood sugar levels what include a mental feeling of fatigue and lowered competitive desire.
Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

3 comments, add yours | Permalink

Q&A: Will following a low- carbohydrate diet help me run faster?

Posted August 17th, 2007 at 10:30 AM by Martha Jones

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Race Prep & Recov

There is no evidence that it will. Runners get fuel for their muscles from fat and sugar in muscles, fat and sugar in the bloodstream and, to a lesser degree, from protein. The key to increasing endurance for racing is to store as much sugar in muscles before you race and keep it there as long as possible. Muscle sugar gives you the most energy for the least amount of oxygen.

Restricting carbohydrates does not stimulate muscles to store more sugar (Sports Medicine, April-May 2007). A low carbohydrate diet may impair performance if carried out for extended periods because a runner cannot train on a low- carbohydrate diet.
Read the rest of this entry »

3 comments, add yours | Permalink

Do not limit calories before competition

Posted June 14th, 2007 at 9:03 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: Nutrition, Race Prep & Recov

Most athletes know that lack of fluids weakens and tires them, so they take adequate amount of fluids, before, during and after competitions.

However, many do not know how much they need extra calories. They often are told incorrectly that the human body has so much fat on board that lack of calories is not a significant problem.

Researchers at the University of Wales in the United Kingdom found that moderate calorie restriction two days prior to competition slows down endurance far more than reduced fluid intake over that same period (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, February 2007). Moderate dehydration does not harm performance until a person becomes severely dehydrated. On the other hand, lack of calories stops you cold in your tracks.

Read the rest at our partner site: HerActiveLife.com

Comment on this post | Permalink

ASK FLASH: Questions regarding nutrition, diets, supplements and more…

Posted March 31st, 2007 at 1:41 PM by Joshua Flash Gordon

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Supplements, Columns, Ask Flash

Need advice? Injured? Confused? Overwhelmed? Bored? ASK FLASH!
ASK FLASH is a free advice column to help you with all of your running, fitness and nutrition inquiries. To ASK FLASH — simply fill out the form at the conclusion of the column.

—— —— —— —— ——

The most frequent topic that I get asked about is nutrition. We are all in search of ‘the perfect food‘ or ‘the ideal diet’ to complement our training.

Furthermore, many runners, and athletes in general, are looking for the ‘quick fix’ or supplements that will lead to certain improvement. It is a topic worthy of considerable discussion, but also one that can be difficult to fully grasp and/or resolve.

However, there a few fundamental concepts (that many of us are already familiar with) that everyone should keep in mind:
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink

Amino Acids 101: Do they positively affect performance?

Posted March 11th, 2007 at 12:52 PM by Megan Hueter

Section: Nutrition, Supplements

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. About two-thirds of a person’s body consists of water, and most of the rest is made of proteins. Proteins are one of the three principal nutrient elements, along with carbohydrates and fats. About 100,000 different kinds of proteins are found in the human body. These proteins are made up of only 20 amino acids, some of which are produced by the body (non-essential amino acids), others of which we have to ingest (essential amino acids). (1)

Amino acids act in various ways. During physical exercise, your body needs energy to do work. Initially, the body uses carbohydrates for energy, and then after a period of time, it resorts to fat. When the body breaks down fats, it goes through a process called the Krebs Cycle, where lactic acid is formed. A buildup of lactic acid makes muscles very fatigued. During prolonged physical activity such as a marathon, if sugars and fats are no longer available for energy, lactic acid builds up in the muscles and stamina declines and the athlete tires very quickly. (1)
Read the rest of this entry »

3 comments, add yours | Permalink

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.
Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink

To eat or not to eat? Ten foods runners should know about

Posted January 29th, 2007 at 12:00 PM by Christopher Jack

Section: Running & Training, Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Race Prep & Recov

Nutrition is an essential, but often misunderstood, dimension of any training plan. As a runner you are probably tuned in to the idea of carbo-loading, but beyond that - you may be drawing a blank. That’s why I am going to help familiarize you with ten foods that can help (or hurt) your performance.

For even more information on what and when runners’ should eat, check out: “Crunch Time: Optimum nutrition for runners”)
Read the rest of this entry »

2 comments, add yours | Permalink

Crunch Time: Optimum nutrition for runners

Posted January 25th, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Christopher Jack

Section: Running & Training, Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Race Prep & Recov

Find yourself dragging through those morning runs? Your 10k pace not where you want it? Sprinting toward the porta potties on race day? There could be an easy fix and it all starts with your diet.

Every runner’s training regimen, regardless of experience level, should have a focus on proper nutritional maintenance. When and what you eat can significantly affect your workout and performance will suffer without the proper balance of nutrients.

A common mistake made by runners, especially those early morning warriors, is running before fueling up. Without the proper nutrients in your system, your body will suffer from lowered glycogen and blood-glucose levels; depriving the body of essential energy and sustenance.
Read the rest of this entry »

3 comments, add yours | Permalink

SPIT and SNOT – How you handle them may be more important than you think

Posted January 16th, 2007 at 12:00 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Running & Training, Health & Fitness, Exercise

One of the joys of trail running is that body fluids can be discarded almost anywhere. Most of us have perfected our nostril and loogie ejections (ie, snot and spit) to the point it is a subconscious endeavor. But do we leave behind anything that we should be personally recycling to our own bodies? As disgusting as it sounds, would it be better for hydration and electrolyte balance to swallow rather than eject?

Every runner occasionally experiences times when thick saliva seems to build up in the throat or when the nostrils partially block with mucous. It takes little extra physical effort to propel that spittle to the trailside or, by occluding one nostril at a time with the index finger, expel nasal secretions to first one side then the other (as my son, Scott, calls it, the “snot cannon”). We feel better afterwards and air seems to flow more readily into our lungs. Mother Nature absorbs and repossesses our effluents so efficiently that most of us leave little trace in the wilderness. This is exactly as it should be. But I had always wondered if helping Mother Nature hydrate might be at the expense of our own hydration.
Read the rest of this entry »

One comment, add yours | Permalink