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Lead Stories: Monday, October 13, 2008

TFS Review: DLO Action Jacket for 3G iPod Nano

Posted December 30th, 2007 at 5:00 PM by Paul Petersen

Section: Gear & Apparel, Apparel, Gadgets & Acces., Motivation, Music, Product Reviews

I was pretty excited when I got the 3rd-generation iPod nano; the possibilities for running were great. However, I lacked one critical accessory: a good protective case and armband.

I soon found that the DLO Action Jacket solved my problems. The neoprene case is designed specifically for the 3rd generation (4GB/8GB) iPod nano, and comes with a 180-degree rotating belt clip and an adjustable armband. The Action Jacket retails for $30, but I was able to find it for as low as $18 (plus free shipping!) on Amazon.com. Colors are available in black, white, or pink. I personally like the black.

To me, a mark of a good armband is that it makes no impression on me. In other words, I won’t know it’s there, leaving me free to think about my run and enjoy the music! The Action Jacket succeeds in this with its simple design. The neoprene case with clear viewing window protects the iPod from the elements, and a “cut-out” in the case allows me easy access to the nano’s Click Wheel. I actually ran with it during a snow storm, and it did its job.
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Jon Rankin: Training to Become An Olympian
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #2)

Posted December 19th, 2007 at 1:00 PM by Jon Rankin

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Jon Rankin

Welcome to the official blog of rising U.S. track & field star
Jon Rankin; the inaugural member of TheFinalSprint.com’s
Elite Athlete Blog Series. Make sure to check back every other Wednesday for Jon’s latest entry.

Hi everyone. I hope this entry finds all of you happy and healthy this holiday season. I am writing this entry while I sit on my bed feeling terribly sore. Yesterday, December 17th, twenty of us athletes from the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA experienced something that will forever change our perspectives on mental toughness and limitations: we spent the day going through the BUD/S Navy Seal training course

The day started off with all of us getting up at 4:30 AM. We departed at 5:10 AM for the Naval Special Warfare Training Center in Coronado, CA. We couldn’t arrive late because to keep the instructors waiting would have made an already-hard day that much harder. They would already be yelling at us and putting us through the worst day, psychologically, of our lives. So we left really early to avoid being late and start off on the wrong foot.
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Remembering Ryan Shay

Posted November 11th, 2007 at 9:45 PM by David Monti

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Columns, SPOTLIGHT

Today in East Jordan, Mich., a funeral was held for Ryan Shay, the 2003 USA marathon champion who collapsed and died at the USA Olympic Team Trials - Men’s Marathon on Nov. 3, in New York City. He was 28 years-old and had been married only for four months to the former Alicia Craig, the Stanford University star who won the NCAA 10,000m title in 2003 and 2004.

The exact cause of Ryan’s death is still unknown, but it is clear that his heart abruptly stopped at about the 9 km mark of the Trials and, despite heroic and immediate medical intervention, he died before reaching Lennox Hill Hospital on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.

I knew Ryan both through my role as a journalist and a race organizer. It would be a stretch to say were close, but we were certainly friendly and shared a passion for the sport. I recruited Ryan to run the 2004 ING New York City Marathon where he set his personal best time of 2:14:08, cracking the top-10 in ninth place. It didn’t surprise me that Ryan would run his best marathon in New York, despite the difficulty of the course. He was so strong and so tough, the kind of runner who was well suited to the hills of the Five Borough Classic. Ryan really had heart.
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Repetition Increases Efficiency

Posted September 8th, 2007 at 12:00 PM by Hariz Siddiqui

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

Training is specific, so the more you practice your sport, the better you are able to do it. That’s why triathletes who compete and train in three sports are relatively mediocre in each sport when compared to those who only run, cycle or swim. (Sports Biomechanics, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2007).

In this study, elite cyclists produced significantly more effective force on their pedals than triathletes. They had far less wasted side-to-side motion, and they required less oxygen to do the same amount of work.

Repeating the same motion over and over causes your muscles to become more efficient so they can generate more power with less oxygen. For example, when you run, you use your arms to maintain your center of gravity. When your right leg moves forward, so does your left arm; your left leg and right arm move backward.
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