|
1. Sports Supplements: What Works for Women:
Surprise, surprise, some ergogenic aids work differently for us than they do for the guys.
Research on female college athletes shows that more than 65 percent of them use some type of supplement at least once a month. I don’t know what the percentage is among performance-minded women outside of the collegiate ranks but based on my experience I’ll say it’s as high if not higher.
I am obviously not anti-supplement, since I use a few ergogenic aids like branched-chain amino acids, caffeine, and adaptogens myself. But I think it’s important for women to recognize that just as women have been traditionally understudied in sports science in general, we have been very understudied in the realm of ergogenic aids. Based on what we know about how women respond differently to strategies like intermittent fasting (previous Blog) and ketogenic diets, we should also take a closer look at how we might respond (or not) to sports supplements.
More...from Dr. Stacy Sims.
2. Cardiovascular Workouts: Spinning vs Running:
When it comes to getting into shape, losing weight, building muscle, or just staying fit and healthy, there is no better way than doing aerobic exercise or cardiovascular activities. Cardiovascular exercise has a wealth of benefits from improving heart health, lowering blood pressure and regulating blood sugar to losing weight, strengthening the immune system, and reducing chronic pain.
There are various forms of aerobic or cardiovascular exercise that you can enjoy, including:
Brisk walking
Jogging / Running
Swimming
Cycling / Spinning
Hockey / Soccer / Basketball
The go-to cardiovascular exercise for getting fit and losing weight has always been running as all you need is a pair of running shoes and your legs. Running has a plethora of benefits, including increased cardiovascular health, weight loss, and even building muscle, as well as being budget-friendly (unless you have the latest high-tech running shoes).
More...from Sport Fitness Advisor.
3. New Balance 860v12 Performance Review:
What You Need To Know
Weighs 11.4 oz. (323 g) for a US M9 / 9 oz. (255 g) for a US W7.5
Fresh Foam X on top and FuelCell underneath is a mad science experiment
Get outta here with that Ultra Heel BS
Available November 2021 for $130
ALDREN: With college football season back in full swing and UCF already on their winning ways (Go Knights), I need something that can go straight from pounding the pavement to blasting a tailgate. I may not have the cutest kicks on my feet, but my feet will enjoy every minute of the action.
Built for miles of support and everyday comfort, the New Balance 860v12 retains the structural integrity that fans of this workhorse know and love while introducing a flair of FuelCell in the midsole. Rolling with a 10 mm offset (34 mm in the heel and 24 mm in the toe), the 860v12 has already eaten a ton of recovery to steady-state runs.
JEREMY: Summer is wrapping up, and many of us are gearing up for fall marathon season. That means temperatures dropping, mileage increasing, and easy runs getting a whole lot easier on fatigued legs. Years ago, the New Balance 860 was a shoe synonymous with easy running for me. It was one of the two shoes I did the majority of my running in for a long time. While the 860v12 has come a long way from the v7 I had back in the day, a lot of things have remained the same for this tried and true workhorse.
More...from Women's Running.
5. Is non-alcoholic beer an effective recovery drink for athletes?
Since non-alcoholic beer was first invented in 1973, German beer companies have historically marketed it as the ‘car driver’s beer’ - the responsible alternative to regular beer. The initial reception to alcohol free-beer was lukewarm at best, thanks in large part to its reputation for being of poor quality and taste.
This outlook has changed considerably in recent years and the market is now booming. There are more than 400 non-alcoholic beers available and, over the past decade or so, a number of breweries such as Erdinger and Krombacher, have expanded their offerings to non-alcoholic athletic beers.
That’s right, non-alcoholic beers marketed explicitly for athletes and recovery.
More...from Precision Hydration.
6. How to prevent and manage muscle injuries:
The end-of-year marathon season is nearly upon us. Call me biased but I do love the marathon!
This year it is more packed than ever, with several iconic races, including the London, Paris and Boston marathons, having been rescheduled from earlier in the year due to the pandemic. But along with being a unique and exhilarating challenge, the marathon also brings with it the risk of injuries.
I imagine there are a few runners out there preparing for one of the forthcoming marathons who are nursing injuries. This week I’m looking at muscle injuries – very common but thankfully often easier to resolve than other types of injuries.
More...from World Athletics.
7. Transgender Athletes and Principles of Sport Categorization: Why Genealogy and the Gendered Body Will Not Help::
This paper offers a discussion of the rationale for the creation of sports categorization criteria based on sporting genealogy and the gendered body, as proposed by Torres et al. in their article ‘Beyond Physiology: Embodied Experience, Embodied Advantage, and the Inclusion of Transgender Athletes in Competitive Sport’. The strength of their ‘phenomenological’ account lies in its complex account of human experience; but this is also what makes it impractical and difficult to operationalize. Categorization rather requires simplicity and practicability, if it is to be applied to all athletes (and not exceptionally to transgender athletes). This discussion helps us to formulate three general principles for the process of categorization of athletes, relating to fairness, verifiability and practicability.
More...from Taylor & Francis Online.
8. A Complete Guide to Proper Marathon Nutrition:
Training for your marathon means more than just putting in miles. Having your nutrition plan dialed in for before, during, and after the race is equally important. This guide from sports nutrition expert Asker Jeukendrup will help you create the right plan for all aspects of your race day nutrition.
How do I fuel for a Marathon?
Test a variety of food options in your training to determine which ones work best for you.
Understand what will be provided in aid stations.
Increase your carbohydrate intake moderately in the days before your race to fill up your glycogen stores.
Eat a familiar breakfast 3-4 hours before your start. Avoid excessive fiber, fat or protein.
Bring a gel or carbohydrate drink to sip in the hour before your start.
Focus on hydration and carbohydrate intake during your race.
Nutrition continues to be a much discussed topic amongst marathon runners. Questions about what to eat before, during, and after the race are commonly asked by beginners and even advanced runners. Here is a quick guide to getting your nutrition for your marathon just right.
More...from Training Peaks.
9. Why Thinking About Death Makes Us Happier:
In the United States, we rarely think about death—especially our own death. And when we do, it tends to make us sad and uncomfortable. But there are powerful benefits to regularly contemplating the fact that our time in this world will eventually come to an end. The shift in perspective can be profound and lead to a kind of deeply felt and enduring appreciation for life. In this first episode of a new series exploring pathways to happiness, we hear from journalist Michael Easter, who makes the case in his bestselling book The Comfort Crisis that, despite all the conveniences and ease of modern life, we are less happy than previous generations. A big reason for this he says, is that we don’t think about death nearly enough.
More...from Outside Online.
10. New Insights on Energy Availability for Female Athletes:
t seems like for the last several years, female athletes have been told to tailor their training, nutrition and even the way they recover towards their menstrual cycle. Apps like Wild AI and books like ROAR have done quite well in the commercial space, leading to specialty off-shoots like these continuing education courses, which I and several of our coaches have taken. While I’ve learned a lot about how ‘Women are not Small Men’ (and yes, I will even rock this shirt), from each of these iterations of the same theme; women are underrepresented in sports science research. Indeed, in the years 2011, 2012 and 2013 only 4% of studies in three of the most prestigious sports medicine journals were female only. Those same years, women represented only 39% of all study participants despite comprising nearly half of the participants in all sports (Brookshire 2016, Costello 2014). This led to an assumption by some (me included) that we might be misapplying sports science derived from men to women. The aforementioned interventions around training, nutrition and recovery then took root into our collective psyches.
More...from CTS.
11. Don’t Judge a Runner’s Efficiency by Their Stride:
A new study asked coaches to rank the most economical runners after watching video footage. It didn't go well.
In the spring of 1984, Craig Virgin—already a two-time World Cross Country champion and one of the most decorated runners in American history—was running a 10,000-meter race in Eugene, Oregon, against a relatively undistinguished field. But there was one runner he couldn’t shake: an unheralded 20-year-old from Newfoundland named Paul McCloy whose unorthodox running style evoked the famous description of Emil Zatopek: “like a man wrestling with an octopus on a conveyor belt.”
As the race proceeded, according to the apocryphal version of the tale long circulated in Canadian running circles, McCloy was delighted to hear the Eugene crowd begin to cheer him on, chanting “Newfie! Newfie! Newfie!” Virgin himself looked puzzled by the continued presence of this tortured shadow behind him—but in the end, it was McCloy who sprinted away to victory, head bobbing wildly, in a time of 28:11.72. It was only later that someone explained to McCloy that the crowd had actually been chanting “Goofy! Goofy! Goofy!”
More...from Sweat Science @ Outside Online.
12. Why Exercise Is More Important Than Weight Loss for a Longer Life:
People typically lower their risks of heart disease and premature death far more by gaining fitness than by dropping weight.
For better health and a longer life span, exercise is more important than weight loss, especially if you are overweight or obese, according to an interesting new review of the relationships between fitness, weight, heart health and longevity. The study, which analyzed the results of hundreds of previous studies of weight loss and workouts in men and women, found that obese people typically lower their risks of heart disease and premature death far more by gaining fitness than by dropping weight or dieting.
The review adds to mounting evidence that most of us can be healthy at any weight, if we are also active enough.
More...from the New York Times.
13. Struggling With Mental Burnout? Aerobic Exercise—Like Running—May Help Your Brain Recover:
New research suggests that getting active can have an effect on this type of exhaustion.
Aerobic exercise, like running, can help your brain recover from mental exhaustion or burnout, according to new research.
This may be because this type of exercise provides recovery for your cognitive processes and nervous system so they can function more effectively.
Stress, overwork, and super packed schedules can all contribute to cognitive overload, leaving you feeling emotionally drained and easily overwhelmed. This is mental exhaustion, a state that can lead to burnout if it becomes chronic—and that, in turn, puts you higher risk for a range of health issues like diabetes and heart disease.
Strategies that rely on distraction, like watching TV, have been shown to be non-effective, according to a new study in the journal Physiology & Behavior. But, as it turns out, a single session of aerobic exercise can seriously help.
More...from Runner's World.
14. Tough times favour tough people:
Reflecting back on a less than perfect build-up to a race is something we all do at some point. Karla Borland takes us though her Anglo-Celtic Plate 100k training and performance.
It’s taken me a while to be able to write this which sounds more dramatic than it is!
If you’ve been following my blogs and social media, you’ll know that I had a rocky Spring. I tripped in a cool down in April and banged my knee. After a lot of rest, some attempts to train and race (I dropped out of the Thames Path 100 at 40 miles) I got a MRI in June and found that I’d fractured the bone under my cartilage in my femur and had lots of tibial bone bruising.
There have been quite a lot of changes to my racing plan since then, but I eventually settled on competing in the Irish 100km Championships in August.
More...from Fast Running.
15. Sports should create 'universal' categories because transgender women DO have an advantage over female athletes, says major review:
* UK Sport published guidance on transgender inclusion in domestic competition
* Documents state trans women retain advantages competing in female sport
* Guidance stresses the need to encourage everyone to participate in sport
* But highlights the challenge of balancing fairness and safety with inclusion
* It recommends individual sports find 'creative ways' to ensure no one is left out
Transgender athletes have an unfair advantage in female sports and a new 'universal' category should be introduced for them, a major review has suggested.
The report, from Sport England, concluded that trans women have an advantage in some sports, even when testosterone levels have been reduced.
To protect female sport while also ensuring transgender participation, the report suggested that new 'universal' or 'open' categories are introduced for trans athletes.
More...from the Daily Mail.
|
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?
