Dublin, Budapest, and Fish Creek?

Well hello my friends. I hope you all enjoyed a spectacular sunrise this morning? With this extended summer in Calgary we are enjoying some beautiful red skies as the sun peeks over the horizon to grace the prairie landscape. I am sure the farmers are enjoying the great weather to harvest their bounty. Let’s hope that the rest of fall is as beautiful as day one…

It is the last weekend before Joy and myself trip off to Budapest for our own little run and bike journey through Hungary and England. We are starting our trip with a marathon (me) and 30 km (Joy) before the REAL marathon of biking, shopping, and World Skills-ing! Wish Joy luck as she has to deal with my personality of GO-GO-GO on vacation…We will see you until Tuesday and then again on the 19^th.

A big Ya-Hoo goes out to Candy, Jayne, and Marj for what looks like some great times in Dublin at the half marathon. There were some issues in the days leading up to the event but it looks like all the bits and bites of pain were only temporary. Well done my friends! I hope the Guinness was even more flavourful in the hours after the event.

Now let’s talk about a run. Last weekend we were kind to our northern neighbours by trotting out of Bowness Park. I was quite excited that we had new peeps that had never experienced Blood and Guts, Bowmont Park, and Bow Crescent. Hopefully these road trips allow you to explore and enjoy more of our beautiful city. Tomorrow I am going to make you all come to our hood of Mallard Point in Fish Creek Park. We are going to explore Carburn Park, Southland off-leash, Lake McKenzie escarpment, and maybe even a little bit of Cranston. As well I might add some of the Harvest Half marathon route for those trying this race next weekend. Our trot will start at 8 am from the parking lot at the very east end of Canyon Meadows Drive. Keep going east until you see park, then park. We might even show up on time. Now about you northerners…

See you all tomorrow!

With Joy  and me out of the country for the following couple of Saturdays I would suggest that the group meets at Eau Claire YMCA for the same 8 am. For the new people, we have always met inside the YMCA next to the pool. The weeknight training will remain the same. The weekend following Thanksgiving we will revert back to 9 am as by then the sun will still be sleeping, and we can get up too early!

Chocolate! Now that I have your attention, one of our runners would like to let you know about some fundraising chocolate she is offering the group. Janelle and Afton  will be bringing chocolates to sell Tuesday and Thursday after training? They figure if people have a heads up then they will bring a couple Toonies for a fix. Also, my Yoga Karma Day is happening at Bikram Yoga NW tomorrow. The classes are at 8am, 10am, noon and 4pm. Minimum donation is just $5. All the details are on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=106593866114396

I do know they are also hosting a single's auction. We're holding it November 19th at Redwater Downtown. If anyone is interested in volunteering, or any singles interested in being auctioned off, please email me @ janelle_1_2000@hotmail.com.

I always like to know that someone was inspired by one of my stories. Here is a note from Idaho… As I train for the NYC marathon this November, I am very happy to know that I am training for my own race.  My mantra is - Do my best, no excuses. 

If I can finish my race and know I've done all I can do on that particular day, then I am happy.  My goal for this race also includes a new personal best time.  I understand my body and training more now than when I did my first marathons with the Joints in Motion program, and am enjoying distance running more than ever!

My friend sent me this link, I am wondering if you've read the article.  I thought you'd enjoy it as it relates to your below email topic.  It is a great blog entry by Clara Hughes.

http://sportatitsbest.com/2010/02/03/clara-hughes-part-2/

Thanks Shelanda!

And my comments about margarine elicited some great response! From desires to eat Kraft Dinner to calling out the ‘myth’ I produced, I really like the feedback. So here is a very passionate rebuttal from our good friend Russell.  

Whomever sent the Margerine  link….I think they got the urban myth page…

I don’t know if you clicked on the link from that page but…have a look

http://www.becel.ca/en_ca/about_becel/margarine_myths_and_facts.aspx

oddly look at the first two myths….

And…

http://www.becel.ca/en_ca/about_becel/becel_or_butter.aspx

Sometimes I read a story and just shake my head at how much we limit our success some crazy rules. Greg shared this story from the New York Times and shows that we are not all created equal. It makes me wonder if we will ever get to see another marathon world record (other than Olympics) as I don’t think there are more than a handful of Women-only events in the world. Just dumb if you ask me. I get my butt kicked by women all the time (two at home!) and they deserve the accolades they receive. They too work hard and should be treated as an equal. Why should men be okay with pacers and not women? I ask for your thoughts!

SPORTS   | September 22, 2011 For Women's Road Records, No Men Are Allowed By JER'E LONGMAN AND JULIET MACUR A decision by the world governing body for track and field nullifies the benefits to women of pacesetting by faster male runners, which can exist in some marathons and other races. Copyright 2011  The New York Times Company | Privacy Policy

Enjoy your weekend and we will certainly chat soon!

Your own race - with Margarine!

Almond Butter Energy

Last week was chocolate, this week Almond Butter. I am full just thinking of all the good training food!

Isn’t September great? Every year this month seems to have our hottest days of the year. Perhaps Joy and me were correct when we left you all for a week this time last year? Rarely can I say I was right, right?

Last Saturday we were graced with the sighting of Ken Skea, former member of our group who currently lives in India. Funny to see someone wearing a jacket, gloves, and long sleeves when the weather was quite beautiful! Apparently the 35C weather over there makes our 35F weather seem a little chilly. See you again in 18 months!

Saturday is alright for fighting according to Elton John, but this Saturday we will join together and rock around the reservoir. We will meet many of you at the newly renovated McDonald’s in Glenmore Landing. See you at 8 pm. Or if we don’t see you it is because…

Good luck to Marj, Amy, Jayne, Candy, and the rest of you heading off to Dublin for the Dublin Half Marathon. Don’t forget the two most important parts of the race: pictures (lots of them) and cash (to buy a pint along the way). Yep, my advice is heady like the top of a Guinness. A second good luck to those doing two of my ‘honey-do’ races, the Lost Soul Ultra and Mount Robson Marathons. I was actually accepted into the Mt. Robson race (one of only 100) but was unable to commit because…

Many of us are off to Canmore this weekend for the annual Rocky Mountain Half. This is the most beautiful road race in the mountains (sorry, way better than Melissa’s) and will have our hot feet crawling up and down the paths around Three Sisters and Stewart Creek. Last year the hills darn near killed me…well, the gold cart that towed four of us around 18 holes while our spouses cursed our existence for not being proper athletic supporters.

My ditty today is from a meeting I had with Dr's Dean and Breen on how to determine the cause or effect of strain...Our fellow athlete Amy is feeling stressed! I always stress about stress on the body. Not every cure is a cure for you, listen to what your body says and follow its’ advice. Your body knows best!

The main effects of this are inflammation, pain, numbness and weakening of the joints. Some causes are bad posture, alignment of the frame of the body, and vibration from impact.  There are many reasons why we are structured the way we are, but only the feedback from our body to our brain and the interpretation relayed to others will help improve the performance of our movement.  Like our car it can drive on any given day but does it run well?  Skipping that oil change may save a few bucks today but will cost more in the future. 

The question is asked ‘why is not everyone affected by repetitive strain?’  We all have different strides and efficiencies.  Like our talk on body movement we are all perfect in our own little way, some just make the effort more challenging!  Quite often we are affected on only one side of the body.  This is usually the result of a biomechanical cause of posture or imbalance.  A cure that was suggested is to change the balance of our structure.  The alignment of the spine and hips are usually out of place.  By fixing the top you may then possibly fix the bottom.  While not always the case it may be a solution. 

The most important note to take from this discussion (in my view) is to understand what is happening with your body as it moves along the paths.  Are we feeling the ‘love’ of training?  If there is pain we need to discuss before it becomes chronic.  Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.  We are constantly building on our previous personal record of training distance.  We will feel tired, sore, and irritable.  But the best part of it is we get up the next day (or the day after!) feeling ready to go once again. 

If you don’t feel good while training please ask for advice from those that know.  Dr’s Dean and Breen offer a consult in Calgary for those that would like to know more about themselves.  Their phone number is 299-0170.  -----

This article was from Canadian Running magazine http://www.runningmagazine.ca/. Why do I feel Joy will be Sylvia while I am WilF?

‘Secret’ half-marathon runner gets caught on tape

September 7, 2011

He might be 90, but Wilf Cooper’s wife has caught him in a compromising position - running a half-marathon.

Cooper, who lives in Bristol, U.K., told his wife Sylvia he was just going to stand on the sidelines of recent half marathons, but was actually running in them despite her objections. She caught him in the act after a neighbour told her Wilf was on television.

Cooper ran half-marathons throughout most of his 80s, says an article in Britain’s Daily Mail, and says he’s still planning one final race even though his wife knows his secret.

Cooper once sneaked out to race even after dislocating his shoulder and breaking his ribs in a fall on the stairs. His wife told the Daily Mail she worries about him running because he had a heart attack 20 years ago.

An article from our long lost friend April. She always has a good ‘pick me up’. Hope your dog still floats after all those quills in the snout!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM5A1K6TxxM

April L Clay, R. Psych.

Bodymindmotion

Mental skills for sport and life

www.bodymindmotion.com

www.ridingoutofyourmind.com

From Barb on the long run...

Thought you might like to put your culinary skills together and whip up these energy bars that you tasted on our 28 km run.  I have a few other good ones including protein type bars that are soft, easy to chew and digest on a run, if you are interested.  -  Enjoy!  (When I made these, I halved the recipe)

ALMOND BUTTER ENERGY BARS

1 c. almond butter

1 c. brown rice syrup (or corn syrup)

1 c. liquid honey

4 tbsp. molasses

2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. chopped dried apricots or raisins

1 c. sliced almonds

1/2 c. sesame seeds

1/2 c. flax seeds

1/2 c. sunflower seeds

5 c. bran flakes cereal (or other flaked cereal)

2 1/2 c. quick rolled oats

In a saucepan, cook the 1st 5 ingredients until blended.  Combine with the rest of the ingredients and spread mixture onto a lightly greased cookie sheet with sides.  Press down to compact evenly.  Let stand about 30 minutes and then cut into squares.  Freezes well.

Success with Wine and Chocolates?

Hello everyone. How was the first day of school? Traffic chaos on the Deerfoot? Kids fighting to stay home? Shocked at the list of needs for the year that they brought from the teachers? All I can say is Sadie loved meeting all her buddies on her first day of class, she can’t wait to see all the other cars on the road, and her treat and toy list is endless… Granted our little mutt is a priceless addition to our family, but I don’t miss what our new moms and dads are facing with school these days. Being kid-less does have some advantage…

So the last long weekend of the summer is here. August has flipped to September. Traffic is back to normal (well, after the calf robe is finished). September is always a beautiful month in Alberta even though the sun just doesn’t seem to be around like it used to be. This weekend should be a great one to get out and enjoy the last few festivals that remain on the calendar.

We will meet at Max Bell Arena for our Saturday training. This is the red and yellow arena just off Memorial Drive between Barlow and Deerfoot Trail. We will head south to enjoy the paths of the Western Irrigation District. Haven’t been out this way? If you keep following the path you will be in Chestermere before lunch! For us we will see you at 8 am. Email if you need directions.

A big congratulations to our friend and local Schmoozer in Edmonton, Nick Lees. The Edmonton Journal writer and wine lover raised around $50,000 with his tenth annual Zin on the River event last week in support of the Arthritis Society. I so wanted to join in the fun and wine but a Wednesday night event 300 km to the north is a tough sell to HRH. Someday…

One of my Facebook ‘friends’ is a site called I Love to Run. Every day they have an inspirational poster that I love to see. A couple of weeks ago they had this little guy who reminded me of the double amputee racing in the World Championships. The only difference I see is…well no difference…just sweet victory.

So you couldn’t make it out today to train?

I am always looking for the next GREAT training tool to get us all to the next level. I know Janelle and Afton have been diligently preparing for their Joints in Motion fundraising by selling chocolates, among other events. I wasn’t really sure that chocolates were the way to go until I read this article in the New York Times. Now I see the ulterior motive for their fundraising. It is all part of training!

How Chocolate Can Help Your Workout

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

For those who worry that fitness requires nutritional denial, there is good news, with caveats. Auspicious new science suggests that chocolate can have a surprisingly large effect on the body’s response to exercise, although not in the ways that many of us might expect, and certainly not at the dosages most might hope for.
Researchers have known for some time that chocolate has healthful effects, and recent epidemiological studies have shown that people who regularly indulge in moderate amounts of dark chocolate are less likely to develop high blood pressure or heart disease or suffer strokes. But chocolate’s potential role in exercise performance had not been studied, or probably even much considered, until scientists at the University of California, San Diego, and other institutions gave middle-aged, sedentary male mice a purified form of cacao’s primary nutritional ingredient, known as epicatechin, and had the mice work out. Epicatechin is a flavonol, a class of molecules that are thought to have widespread effects on the body.
The mice were given small liquid doses of epicatechin twice a day. A separate control group of mice drank equal amounts of water.
Both groups were divided into two. Half of the animals in each group began a light exercise routine, which consisted of strolling on a treadmill for a short period each day. The regimen was not meant to get the animals into tiptop shape, only to get them moving. After 15 days, all of the animals completed a treadmill test, during which they ran to exhaustion. The researchers also biopsied the animals’ back leg muscles.
By and large, the animals that had been drinking water were the first to give out during the treadmill test. They became exhausted more quickly than the animals that had received epicatechin. Even the control mice that had lightly exercised grew tired more quickly than the nonexercising mice that had been given epicatechin. The fittest rodents, however, were those that had combined epicatechin and exercise. They covered about 50 percent more distance than the control animals.
The muscle biopsies offered some explanation for their dominance. The muscles of all of the animals that had been given epicatechin contained new capillaries, as well as biochemical markers indicating that their cells were making new mitochondria. Mitochondria are structures in cells that produce cellular energy. The more functioning mitochondria a muscle contains, the healthier and more fatigue-resistant it is.
The leg muscles of the mice that had been given epicatechin and exercised displayed far more mitochondrial activity than the leg muscles of the control mice. Even the mice that had drunk epicatechin and not exercised contained markers of increased mitochondrial health, suggesting that the flavonol prompts a physiological reaction even among the sedentary. But that response is greatly heightened by exercise, no matter how slight.
Exactly how epicatechin intensified the mouse muscles’ response to exercise is not yet known, but “it seems likely that muscle cells contain specific receptors for epicatechin,” said Dr. Francisco Villarreal, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Diego, and one of the authors of the study, which was published last week in The Journal of Physiology. Epicatechin binds to the receptors and “induces an integrated response that includes structural and metabolic changes in skeletal and cardiac muscles resulting in greater endurance capacity,” the study concluded.
Mice are not people, though, and it remains to be seen whether the fitness-boosting effects of epicatechin will be identical in humans, especially since most of us would be getting the substance not in purified liquid form but in chocolate. “Processing destroys epicatechin,” Dr. Villarreal said, so heavily processed milk chocolate contains almost none of the flavonol, while cacao-rich dark chocolate has far more.
And even for those who adore dark chocolate, there is a catch. “A very small amount is probably enough,” Dr. Villarreal said. Extrapolating from his group’s mouse data, he said, five grams of dark chocolate daily, or just a sixth of an ounce — about half of one square of a typical chocolate bar — is probably a reasonable human dose if your aim is to intensify the effects of a workout.
Sadly, “more is not better,” he continued. “More could lessen or even undo” any benefits, he said, by overloading the muscles’ receptors or otherwise skewing the body’s response.
But given human nature, microdoses of chocolate may be impractical, underscoring the difficulties of using nutrition to bolster fitness. Dr. Villarreal’s colleagues regularly filch from his cache of dark-chocolate bars, he said, and despite his admonitions, they invariably finish the entire thing. “I keep telling them that’s too much,” he said. “But it doesn’t matter. They want to eat the whole thing and,” no matter what the expert tells them, “they do.”

So don’t ever forget that training is not all about higher, stronger, faster…some days it is good to just have funnier, dirtier, and memorable. At least that is what I like.

All the best,

John