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The Runner's Web Digest is a FREE weekly digest of information on running, triathlons and multisport activities.
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Runner's Web Digest INDEX
1. Why Carbs Are So Important for Recovery
2.Saucony Triumph 20 Review: Not an Endorphin, But a Triumph
3. How to Beat Jet Lag
4. Top 3 Strength Training Mistakes by Cyclists
5. A Biological Difference – Exercise Affects Boys and Girls Differently
6. Can Your Garmin Accurately Measure Your VO2 Max?
7. A Look at Updates to the Fastest Marathon Shoe Ever
8. Performance, Inclusion and Elite Sports – Athletes with Differences in Sex Development
9. New Study Strengthens the Link Between Exercise and Memory
10. Unpacking The Truth Behind Exercise and Protein Supplementation
11. Supershoe Showdown: The Best Racers Head-to-Head
12. A Low-Pressure Guide to Making Strength Training a Habit
13. Why Is Sex Relevant to the Draft but Not to Women’s Sports?
14. Scientists are closer to pinning down why the world’s best marathon runner is so good
15. Running Is Good. But Research Says You Should Lift Weights Too
THIS WEEK'S POLL:
Which of the following running (athletics) movies have you seen?
* Chariots of Fire
* Golden Girl
* Marathon Man
* Prefontaine
* Personal Best
* Running Brave
* Without Limits
* St. Ralph
* The Jericho Mile
* None of the above
Vote here
PREVIOUS POLL RESULTS:
Should an Olympic athlete be banned for life after their first doping offense?
1 Yes 994 (84%)
2 No 124 (11%)
3 No opinion, don't care 61 (5%)
Total Votes: 1179
FIVE STAR SITE OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER 2022:WOMEN'S RUNNING UK
We are Women’s Running. We are your friendly running coach, whether you’re embarking on your latest ultra or considering your very first Couch to 5K. We love running too, and have a huge wealth of diverse experience between us – some of us have been running since school, some of us only started running more recently. Some of us love the trails, some of us love the roads, but all of us enjoy running for the physical and mental health benefits it brings us.
What we want to do is share that joy with you, no matter what your experience is, and encourage all women to run with all the help and support we can give you. Here on the site, we have reviews of all the latest gear, advice on nutrition and training, lots of strength workouts to help you stay injury free, and up-to-the-minute women’s health advice – and we don’t avoid all the tough bits either, delving into the questions we all want answered, including pregnancy, menopause, stress incontinence and more besides. If you talk about it with your running buddies, we talk about it too!
Women’s Running has been going for more than 12 years, and in that time we have inspired thousands of women to enjoy running and to progress further than they ever thought possible. Since 2018, the brand has been looked after by Anthem Publishing, and now includes the magazine, this website, our emails and social channels, and our podcast.
Visit the website at: Women's Running UK.
BOOK/VIDEO/MOVIE OF THE MONTH FOR OCTOBER 2022: SHOE DOG: A MEMOIR BY THE CREATOR OF NIKE
In this candid and riveting memoir, for the first time ever, Nike founder and board chairman Phil Knight shares the inside story of the company’s early days as an intrepid start-up and its evolution into one of the world’s most iconic, game-changing, and profitable brands.
Young, searching, fresh out of business school, Phil Knight borrowed fifty dollars from his father and launched a company with one simple mission: import high-quality, low-cost running shoes from Japan. Selling the shoes from the trunk of his Plymouth Valiant, Knight grossed eight thousand dollars that first year, 1963. Today, Nike’s annual sales top $30 billion. In this age of start-ups, Knight’s Nike is the gold standard, and its swoosh is more than a logo. A symbol of grace and greatness, it’s one of the few icons instantly recognized in every corner of the world.
But Knight, the man behind the swoosh, has always been a mystery. Now, in a memoir that’s surprising, humble, unfiltered, funny, and beautifully crafted, he tells his story at last. It all begins with a classic crossroads moment. Twenty-four years old, backpacking through Asia and Europe and Africa, wrestling with life’s Great Questions, Knight decides the unconventional path is the only one for him. Rather than work for a big corporation, he will create something all his own, something new, dynamic, different. Knight details the many terrifying risks he encountered along the way, the crushing setbacks, the ruthless competitors, the countless doubters and haters and hostile bankers—as well as his many thrilling triumphs and narrow escapes. Above all, he recalls the foundational relationships that formed the heart and soul of Nike, with his former track coach, the irascible and charismatic Bill Bowerman, and with his first employees, a ragtag group of misfits and savants who quickly became a band of swoosh-crazed brothers.
Together, harnessing the electrifying power of a bold vision and a shared belief in the redemptive, transformative power of sports, they created a brand, and a culture, that changed everything.
Buy the book from Amazon.
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For more books on Running and Triathlon visit:
HumanKinectics.com,
Amazon.com,
VeloPress.com, and
SkyHorse.com
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1. Why Carbs Are So Important for Recovery:
New data shows that, unlike a car, you can’t perform well with a half-full fuel tank.
Back in 2010, a journal article in PLOS Computational Biology caused a stir in the running world. It offered a comprehensive model of how you store carbohydrates in your body and how quickly you burn them during a marathon, in order to calculate how much extra you need to consume. “Marathon runners need never ‘hit the wall’ again,” media reports enthused.
The basic assumption behind this model was that you can run happily when you’ve got carbs in the tank, but you’ll grind to a halt—or at least hit the wall and slow down dramatically—when you run out. Of course, there are lots of other factors to consider, like microscopic muscle damage that accumulates during long runs. But some scientists have argued that there’s a more fundamental problem with this assumption, which is that you start getting tired long before your carbohydrate fuel tank is empty—a counterintuitive idea, equivalent to your car automatically slowing down when the tank is still half-full.
More...from Sweat Science on Outside Online.
2. Saucony Triumph 20 Review: Not an Endorphin, But a Triumph:
What You Need To Know
Weighs 10 oz. (283 g.) for a US M10.5 / 8.3 oz. (236 g.) for a US W7.5
We’ll never say no to thicker, lighter foam underfoot
There’s more than enough padding in the upper, too
Maybe Triumph is just how Saucony is describing its year
Available now for $160
MEAGHAN: Saucony has been dropping some gems this year. The refreshed Endorphin line is the crown jewel, so why not expect more greatness across the board? It’s been a couple of years since I laced up a version of the Triumph, but I’m always down to test out a highly cushioned trainer. Bring on the Saucony Triumph 20.
This year’s model comes with a brand new slab of PwrRun+ that’s lighter and softer than its predecessor. Oh, and Saucony bumped the stack height from 32 to 37mm in the heel and 24 to 27 in the forefoot. That means more stack and a higher drop, somehow in a lighter package.
More...from Believe in the Run.
3. How to Beat Jet Lag:
Whether you’re crossing time zones or working shift work, circadian rhythm disruption takes a toll, and is worse for women. Here’s what to know.
Anyone who’s been in an airport lately knows that travel is back. Airports and planes are packed as people take long overdue vacations, head to destination races, conduct business face to face, and make trips to reconnect with family and friends. That means you may be experiencing something else you haven’t felt for a long time—jet lag.
Jet lag is a temporary disruption of your normal circadian rhythm caused by high speed travel across several time zones. Typically, your circadian rhythms align with daytime and nighttime where you live, so your core body temperature, hormone production, and melatonin levels rise and fall to help you be alert come morning and during the day and sleep at night. When you travel out of your time zone, especially across three or more time zones, you experience jet lag: your body’s internal clock becomes out of sync with the local time of your destination.
This leaves you feeling disoriented and fatigued and can disrupt your sleep patterns, which can make the fatigue worse. It can also throw off digestion, leaving you constipated, queasy, and without your normal appetite.
More...from Dr. Stacy Sims
4. Top 3 Strength Training Mistakes by Cyclists:
While strength training is an important component to any cyclist’s training, avoid these three common strength training mistakes to make sure you’re maximizing your time in the gym and on two wheels.
Strength training for cyclists has been the early season norm for many decades and for good reason too. Hitting the weight room increases core strength, stability and balances the muscular system, preventing overuse and injury.
Exercise routines vary greatly from one rider to the next. Some riders believe in body weight exercises only, others in Olympic lifts, gym machines or systems like the TRX. The truth is, any strength exercise that engages your core is a good exercise, however, when focusing on what’s best for cycling, there are some common mistakes made.
1. Lifting Max Loads With Few Repetitions
Olympic lifts with heavy loads in the 1-5 repetition range for cyclists does have its benefits but the window to work these is short and very early in the off-season. Lifting these loads for too long can have its drawbacks.
Heavy lifting has always been a hotly debated subject for endurance athletes because it does provide benefits, such as recruiting more muscle fibers, developing stronger ligaments, tendons and a very strong core.
More...from Training Peaks.
5. A Biological Difference – Exercise Affects Boys and Girls Differently:
A recent study finds that body fat percentage and amount of physical activity in girls are unrelated.
Physical activity provides numerous health benefits. However, physical activity affects boys and girls differently. A recent study analyzed the connection between children’s physical activity and body fat.
“We looked at the connection between objectively measured physical activity and the proportion of body fat in girls and boys,” says Silje Steinsbekk, a professor at NTNU’s (the Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Department of Psychology.
Rather than weight and height, the researchers assessed individuals’ body composition. They addressed questions such as: does greater physical activity result in a reduced proportion of body fat over time? Or is it possible that people who accumulate more body fat over time become less physically active?
Body fat and physical activity in girls are unrelated
The children were checked every two years by the researchers from the age of six to fourteen. They discovered that the degree of exercise had varied effects on the sexes.
More...from SciTechDaily.
6. Can Your Garmin Accurately Measure Your VO2 Max?
Getting your VO2 max measured requires expensive laboratory equipment and it’s not really cheap or convenient to do it often. Garmin promises to estimate your VO2 max just by having you wear a watch while exercising. How accurate are Garmin devices when it comes to VO2 max?
VO2 max measures your fitness
VO2 max tells you how well your body uses oxygen during exercise. It’s a measure of aerobic fitness and endurance capacity. The higher VO2 max you have, the better. Just for reference, most Tour de France riders have a VO2 max above 70 ml/min/kg and general classification winners have above 80 ml/min/kg. Untrained people would measure at between 25-35 ml/min/kg, but seasoned amateur cyclists could push their VO2 max into the high 50s. If you want to know what a good VO2 max for your age and gender is, you can check out Garmin’s spread sheet here.
More...from WeLoveCycling.
7. A Look at Updates to the Fastest Marathon Shoe Ever:
The Nike Air Zoom Alphafly Next% 2 has better forefoot energy return and runs smoother.
For the refresh of the Alphafly, Nike focused on a few key areas—energy return, long-run cushioning, and keeping weight as low as possible. I’d argue that a fourth criterion was to make the shoe quieter—the first version of this shoe is as loud as a horse galloping—but, Nike achieved that by also making the shoe transition a little better to toe-off.
The most visible change to note from the first Alphafly is that Nike added a thin layer of ZoomX foam directly under the forefoot Air units. It also changed the outsole material, using a more durable but thinner rubber. That change makes the shoe more compliant when the sole under forefoot hits the ground. It improves energy return, as well—ZoomX is obviously far bouncier than rubber. And, yes, we’ve found that it makes the shoe considerably quieter, though you’re still going to have the loudest footfalls of anybody in your race.
More...from Runner's World.
8. Performance, Inclusion and Elite Sports – Athletes with Differences in Sex Development:
A POSTnote giving an overview of the scientific and ethical debate around policies regulating the participation of female athletes with differences in sex development (DSDs) in the female category of elite, professional sports.
Differences of sex development (also known as intersex, variations of sex characteristics or disorders of sex development) is an umbrella term for a wide range of traits that differ from typical sex development, including chromosomal, anatomical, hormonal or gonadal sex. Certain DSDs can result in a female individual having naturally elevated levels of testosterone. As the hormone testosterone is known to confer an athletic advantage when administered as an anabolic steroid, a key question is whether female athletes with DSDs have a performance advantage over female athletes without DSDs. Some international sports organisations, such as World Athletics and FINA, require female athletes with certain DSDs to reduce their testosterone levels in order to compete in the female category, to maintain fairness of competition. However, such regulations are contested by many on scientific and ethical grounds.
More...from UK Parliament.
9. New Study Strengthens the Link Between Exercise and Memory:
Experts have long known that fitness is good for the brain. A recent paper connects different types of workouts with assorted improvements in memory.
t’s no secret that regular exercise has many benefits. It protects against developing chronic conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, and in some cases can improve mental health. But what effect does it have on specific functions, like memory? Can a workout regimen help you remember the scores from last night’s Yankees game, where you went on your first date with your significant other or where you left your keys?
It’s possible. Studies over the years have suggested that a single workout can improve recall, and that engaging in regular exercise over the course of years or decades not only improves memory, but also helps fortify against future memory problems. Now, a recent study from Dartmouth focuses on how the intensity of exercise, over a period of time, may play an important role in bolstering different types of recall.
More...from the New York Times.
10. Unpacking The Truth Behind Exercise and Protein Supplementation:
Few have studied protein in sports as much as Prof Stuart Phillips, from the Department of Kinesiology at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada. Together with the team, Phillips shares some of the latest research on the value of protein in exercise sports, discuss whether protein supplementation has any real value in enhancing recovery and performance and what the best type of protein is to consume.
Watch the podcast at: The Real Science of Sport.
11. Supershoe Showdown: The Best Racers Head-to-Head:
We ran in ten new supershoes and compared their feel and ride so you can narrow your search for the model that best fits your stride and preferences.
Five years after the debut of the first supershoe, the thick-stacked, carbon-plated racers are no longer new nor controversial, but they continue to amaze with their ability to enliven a run and produce fast times. While a few brands didn’t join the party until this year, many models on the market are two or three generations deep—and the new releases keep coming.
Every shoe in this genre boasts some sort of ultralight, hyper-responsive foam with an embedded, curved carbon-fiber plate, but each delivers a surprisingly unique ride. Designers manipulate myriad elements of the shoe—midsole thickness and composition, heel-toe drop, rocker shape, plate stiffness and location, upper materials—each of which affects how the shoe interacts with your stride. And, since the resulting roll and explosive response of each shoe is tuned to optimize a specific stride pattern, it’s important that you find the supershoe that complements how you move.
More...from Outside Online.
12. A Low-Pressure Guide to Making Strength Training a Habit:
For real this time.
I still remember the torturous feeling of hanging from the pull-up bars in elementary school gym class, struggling with all my meager might to lift myself up. While other kids seemed naturally gifted with physical power, I came to believe my arms were best used for answering a question in class.
And yet, I have tasted physical strength since then. I took a weight lifting course in college and loved how the boost in muscle made me feel. Before my wedding, I got hooked on barre workouts, and discovered the satisfaction of being able to carry groceries for more than two minutes without resting.
More...from the New York Times.
13. Why Is Sex Relevant to the Draft but Not to Women’s Sports?
Having transgender status (being a “transgender woman”) does not exempt men from signing up for the Selective Service. Nor does it require females with transgender status (“transgender men”) to sign up.
The Biden administration has kept the policy in place, despite its other policy moves to appease transgender activists. The Selective Service policy was brought to light by its Twitter account, which posted: “Parents, if your son is an only son and the last male in your family to carry the family name, he is still required to register with SSS.”
How is it that when it comes to women’s interests — female-only spaces and sports — sex is deemed irrelevant, but when it comes to defending the national interest, sex is relevant after all?
More...from NPR.
14. Scientists are closer to pinning down why the world’s best marathon runner is so good:
Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge is undoubtedly the greatest marathoner of the modern age. He has won 11 of the 12 marathons he has competed in. His only loss was to another Kenyan, Wilson Kipsang, during the 2013 Berlin Marathon when he came in second.
In 2018, Kipchoge not only won the Berlin Marathon: He also broke the world record, completing 42 km (26.2 miles) in 2:01:39. Earlier this year, he ran the second fastest marathon in history, in London.
Kipchoge, then, is virtually unbeatable over the 42-km distance. This raises questions about his physical and mental strength and willpower. How does he do it? Is he superhuman?
More...from Quartz Africa.
15. Running Is Good. But Research Says You Should Lift Weights Too:
Weight lifting and aerobic activities like walking, running or cycling are key to longer and healthier lives.1 A new study suggested that combining strength training and aerobic activities, even in later life, could help with disease prevention and reduce the risk of early death.
The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that older adults who lifted weights once or twice a week and did at least 150 minutes of moderate physical activities lowered their risk of early death by 41% compared to those who did not exercise at all.2
Those who lifted weights once or twice a week without any other form of exercise also had a 9% lower risk of dying from any cause except for cancer.
“Older adults who participated in weightlifting exercise had significantly lower mortality before and after accounting for aerobic exercise participation, and importantly, those who did both types of exercise had the lowest risk,” Jessica Gorzelitz, PhD, MS, a co-author of the study and an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Human Physiology at the University of Iowa, told Verywell in an email.
More...from VeryWellHealth.
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FEATURED EVENTS:
*Please verify event dates with the event websites available from our FrontPage.
Upcoming Races, Marathons, Races, and Triathlons
October 14-16, 2022::
Detroit Free Press Marathon - Detroit, MI
October 16, 2022::
TCS Amsterdam Marathon - Amsterdam, NL
TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon - Toronto, ON
October 22, 2022::
Women's 10K - Edinburgh, Scotland
October 23, 2022::
Valencia Half Marathon - Valencia, Spain
October 29, 2022::
Desjardins Great Big Cookie Run 5K - Ottawa, ON
For more complete race listings check out our Upcoming Races, and Calendars.
Have a good week of training and/or racing.
Ken
Email: webmaster@runnersweb.com
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