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Lead Stories: Monday, October 13, 2008

Quote of the Day: 3/19/08

Posted March 19th, 2008 at 8:30 AM by Jamal Walker

Section: Motivation, Famous Quotes

“You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off of your face.”

- Gatorade

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Longer Lower Legs =
More Efficient Running

Posted October 29th, 2007 at 3:30 PM by Allyson Rosen

Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Health & Fitness, Exercise

running stride beginners pace jogging jogger runner People who have longer lower leg lengths (the distance from knee to ankle) will usually have greater endurance during running or walking than those with shorter lower leg lengths.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin showed that people with longer lower legs use less energy when they run (Journal of Human Evolution, August 2007).

In a previous paper in the same journal, these authors showed that people with longer lower legs are better able to prevent heat build-up, which slows you down and makes you tired. When you exercise, almost 80 percent of the energy that you use to power your muscles is lost as heat.
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Preserve muscle sugar for speed and endurance

Posted August 2nd, 2007 at 1:00 PM by Martha Jones

Section: Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Hydration, Race Prep & Recov, Health & Fitness, Exercise

How fast you can move and how long you can exercise intensely depends on the amount of sugar (glycogen) stored in your muscles. The same rule applies in all sports: when muscles run out of their stored sugar supply, they require more oxygen and you have to slow down.

Fluid is less important than muscle sugar because dehydration will not cause you to slow down until your blood volume is reduced. As you lose fluid from sweating, interstitial fluid stored around cells is released into the blood to maintain blood volume. When you compete is sports at a very high intensity, your muscles run out for stored sugar long before your blood volume is reduced, and you slow down from lack of muscle sugar before you slow down from reduced blood volume (Sports Medicine, April- May 2007).
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Impact of extreme weather conditions on marathon running performances

Posted May 23rd, 2007 at 1:00 PM by Megan Hueter

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Training Tips

In general, marathon races are among the most physiologically demanding endurance events in the world with runners competing for a distance of 42 kilometers (26.2 miles). (3,6) Competitive marathon runners often maintain a pace equaling 70-90% of their VO2max (max output) for over two hours. (6) Both biological and environmental factors affect the thermoregulatory balance in marathon runners.

Marathon races are considered mass participation events, and heat injuries occur in less extreme conditions. When running in closer proximity to other runners, it has been reported that the physiological heat stress is three times more straining on the body compared to someone running solo in identical weather conditions. (6) As mentioned earlier biological and environmental factors play a role in maintaining thermoregulatory balance in marathon runners. Biological factors such as dehydration, metabolic rate and gender limit thermoregulatory control. (3)
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Hyponatremia …
… Too much water

Posted May 7th, 2007 at 10:18 AM by Martha Jones

Section: Nutrition, Hydration

glasses of water For the last 40 years, sports medicine experts have told athletes in endurance events that they should take fluids frequently during events lasting more than one hour. However, three years ago, a 28-year-old woman collapsed and died after finishing the Boston Marathon. Her blood salt levels were extremely low and she died from a condition called hyponatremia.

A few weeks ago, a policeman training for bicycle duty died of the same condition. On July 26, 2005, sports medicine experts issued a warning to all athletes from the First International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference.

I have never seen this syndrome in well-conditioned athletes. It has been reported almost exclusively in very thin, less-fit, slower and novice athletes, and is far more common in women. This condition is caused by drinking too much fluid and is not caused by excessive loss of salt in sweat or by exercising. When people with psychiatric problems force themselves to drink huge amounts of water while sitting still, they also can die of hyponatremia, only in this case, it is called water intoxication.
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Q & A Will a cold drink improve my performance during hot-weather competition?

Posted March 19th, 2007 at 12:29 PM by Martin Kennedy

Section: Nutrition, Hydration

It may. During hard exercise, particularly in hot weather, you sweat and lose a lot of water and salt. Your performance does not suffer until you lose a very large amount of fluid, about five percent of your body weight or more.

However, when you lose so much fluid that your performance suffers, you cannot catch up during that competition. That’s why you need to take in fluids during events that last more than 90 minutes. If your event lasts more than 2.5 hours, you also need to take in calories and salt.

According to a study from The University of Birmingham in England, cold drinks taste better so you will drink more (Experimental Physiology, September 2006). The researchers concluded that cold drinks also improve endurance during hot weather by acting as a heat sink, decreasing the rise in body temperature and therefore reducing the effects of heat stress.
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Prevent injury and improve performance by increasing the intensity of your warm-up

Posted March 6th, 2007 at 10:37 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

Warming up before you exercise helps to prevent injuries and lets you jump higher, run faster, lift heavier or throw further.

Your warm-up should involve the same muscles and motions you plan to use in your sport. For example, before you start to run very fast, do a series of runs of gradually-increasing intensity to increase the circulation of blood to the muscles you will be using.

Muscles are made up of millions of individual fibers, just like a rope made from many threads. When you start to exercise at a very slow pace, you increase the blood flow to muscle fibers, increase their temperature, and bring in more oxygen, so the muscles are more pliable and resistant to injury.
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