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Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

Ryan Hall: Perseverance
(Elite Athlete Blog - Entry #1)

Posted January 18th, 2008 at 5:00 PM by Ryan Hall

Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics, Elite Athlete Blogs, Ryan Hall

Welcome to the official blog of top U.S. distance runner Ryan Hall as he begins his quest for Olympic gold! Check back every other Friday for Ryan’s latest entry.

These past three weeks I have been shown what it means to persevere in the face of hard times. Sara and I arrived in Flagstaff on December 30th to stay with our friend, Alicia Shay, with the goal of helping her in whatever way we could through the recent loss of her husband. However, as is the case so often when we try and help others, we are the ones who get blessed from the experience. I guess this is why Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Alicia showed me what it means to get up every day and face her troubles with courage and strength. I am sure a lot of people are proud of how Alicia has endured this hard time. I am certainly very proud and inspired by her ability to just plain get up everyday and choose to live a life of joy, even though she certainly has the right to be bitter, angry and frustrated.

Perseverance is a trait that I have had to learn a lot about during my running career.
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Q & A: Is stretching helpful or harmful for exercisers?

Posted November 30th, 2007 at 2:12 PM by Andrew Goodman

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Stretching the leg muscles improves muscle flexibility and strength, running speed, and jumping distance, according to a study from Louisiana State University (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, October 2007).

Stretching elongates muscles and tendons. Longer tendons allow muscles to exert a greater torque on the joint to exert more power to help you lift heavier, jump higher and run faster.

However, other studies show that you should not stretch before a competition involving speed and strength (Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, April 2006). The longer the athletes stretched, the weaker they became. Prolonged stretching fatigues muscle fibers so that they contract with reduced force.
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Gauging leg strength

Posted October 16th, 2007 at 2:45 PM by Shannon Clark

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

One of the best ways to determine how you are progressing on your fitness program and how good of leg strength you have in general is with a wall squat test. A wall squat test will primarily assess your quad strength however the hamstrings and glute muscles will also come into play as well.

The nice thing about a wall squat test is that it is going to mimic movements that you perform very often in every day life, whether it’s getting up and down from a sitting position or walking up a flight of stairs. Being strong in this type of body position will be of benefit to you because it will make these exercises easier as well as help to prevent you from suffering any injuries in the future.

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What You Need to Know When Starting a Running Routine

Posted September 20th, 2007 at 8:00 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: Running & Training, Training Plans

Why run?

Running carries with it the same benefits of all cardiovascular exercise: it helps reduce stress, strengthens the heart and lungs, reduces risk of certain diseases, increases confidence, brightens your mood, helps you sleep better, gives you more energy, and, in general, provides a better sense of well being. It is also a great way to burn calories.

How many calories do you burn running a mile?

Conventional wisdom says that, for every mile you run, you will burn 100 calories. But other factors play into the equation as well, including your running speed and your body weight. Generally speaking, a 135 pound person will burn about 100 calories per mile. A 200 pound person, running at the same speed, may burn 150. Obviously, the faster you run, the more calories you will burn.

Starting to run

Running can be stressful on your body, particularly on your leg muscles and knees. But you can minimize your risk of injury by following a few, simple tips.
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De-Stress for Success

Posted May 18th, 2007 at 9:30 AM by Christopher Jack

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Are you digging for the doctor’s number more often lately? Aches and pains forcing you to miss workouts? If you suffer from nagging injuries it may be more than just a streak of bad luck holding you down; it may be your state of mind.

In a consensus statement issued last year by the American College of Sports Medicine, a team of doctors and sports psychologists discovered a link between psychological factors (mainly stress) and injury.
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Hill Repeats vs. Weight Training: Which training workout is more important?

Posted March 16th, 2007 at 11:30 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

I wholeheartedly agree with the value of hill repeats. Too many runners overlook them and focus almost entirely on intervals and tempo runs. Hard hill repeats provide both strength and cardio-respiratory development; making them an essential ingredient of any serious runner’s regimen. In addition, as many easy and long runs as possible should include some hills, rather than being completely flat.

Hills are a great resistance training tool for strength development … and not just in the form of structured hill repeats. Let me explain:
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Renaissance Athlete: Micheline Ostermeyer

Posted March 15th, 2007 at 11:30 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: Columns, SPOTLIGHT

It takes so much work and time to train to become outstanding at any endeavor that there are very few people who have risen to the top of the world’s stage in more than one field. At age 26, Micheline Ostermeyer of France won Olympic gold medals in both the shot put and discus, and a third place bronze medal in the high jump.

She was the niece of composer Lucien Paroche, and three months before the Olympic games she graduated with high honors from the Paris Conservatory of Music. She said that piano gave her strong biceps, and a sense of rhythm. She celebrated her victories with a recital of Beethoven at France’s team headquarters and went on to become a famous concert pianist.

Her accomplishments compare with Paul Robeson, who was an All-American football player at Rutgers, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Cornell and a great opera singers.
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Eating carbohydrates and protein for muscle growth

Posted January 6th, 2007 at 6:02 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Nutrition, Health & Fitness, Exercise

If you want to become very strong, you should lift heavy weights, eat carbohydrates before you lift and eat plenty of protein afterwards.

Normal amounts of insulin help muscles grow, and eating carbohydrates causes your blood sugar to rise, which, in turn, causes your pancreas to release insulin. Taking in large amounts of protein after a workout helps muscles to recover faster from hard exercise, so you can do more hard work and grow larger and stronger muscles (Journal of Physiology).
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Will lifting weights make
me musclebound?

Posted December 31st, 2006 at 12:00 PM by Jamal Walker

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

In 1937, Dr. Peter Karpovich of Springfield College in Massachusetts published a ground-breaking paper showing that lifting weights helped men improve their coordination. At the time, his paper was ridiculed by most athletes, particularly professional baseball players. They were afraid that lifting weights would cause them to develop such large muscles that they would lose the fine coordination necessary to hit and throw a baseball.

Today we know there is no such condition as “muscle bound”. Baseball players all lift weights and they are so much better as athletes that the best baseball players in the world before 1940 probably would not even make today’s professional teams.
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Washboard abs and why they are important for runners too!

Posted December 30th, 2006 at 4:00 PM by Carolyn Hershler

Section: Running & Training, Cross Training, Health & Fitness, Exercise

Toned arms, strong legs, and chiseled abs are all factors that come into play when searching for the ideal athletic body. But what’s the ideal body type for a runner?

A strong abdominal section may seem to only be important aesthetically, but it actually is of the utmost importance for runners. Having a strong mid-section can provide an assortment of benefits for runners, such as: providing a strong core, improvement of running form, as well as a reduction of stress on the back.

With the correct combination of ab strengthening techniques, one can become a stronger runner (and have that beach-ready body you always wanted!).
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