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1. Ellie Bandy: Sprinter calls for more advice and support for athletes on periods:
Sprinter Ellie Bandy has urged sports governing bodies to do more to support athletes dealing with their menstrual cycles while competing and training.
Bandy posted on social media about the effect periods can have
in the run-up to the UK Indoor championships.
She reached the semi-finals in both the 60m and 200m last weekend.
"Increasing conversation around periods definitely will help athletes. It's just not discussed," the 24-year-old told BBC Radio Norfolk.
"There's a lot [of information] surrounding nutrition, injury and anti-doping, these sort of major topics, but actually, periods are a major topic and something female athletes have to deal with on a monthly basis.
"I think governing bodies could maybe put on workshops to help athletes understand the effects that periods can have, not necessarily just on performance, but on hormonal changes and how your body is dealing with it, and possible solutions and strategies on how you manage this."
Bandy began her cycle, which had been due a week earlier, the day before the start of competition in Birmingham.
More...from the BBC.
2. This New Adidas Running Shoe Is the Lightest Ultraboost to Date:
The three-stripe brand continues to innovate with this latest release for lighter, more comfortable pacing.
The Ultraboost family from Adidas has stood as one of the brand's most iconic stables for many years — and for good reason. The innovative foam makeup of each design generates a rich sense of plushness and comfort, one that's often envied by other running shoe brands. Still, the impactful and popular profiles have been at the mercy of one factor: weight. These comfy kicks can be great for creating a pillow-like aesthetic underfoot, but the heavier fill doesn't necessarily lend itself to more efficient, less clunky training scenarios.
Well, it appears the three-striped brand has listened to the critiques and answered with its latest launch — the Ultraboost Light. Boasting a slimmed down frame designed for more performance-oriented pacing, this all-new silhouette aims to serve as a testament to Adidas's constant strive to take its innovations to the next level.
It's fitting that this new kick falls on the 10th anniversary of Boost technology, too, showcasing the brand's dedication to the running discipline while also understanding the enjoyment that can be had with well-equipped sneakers.
More...from Gear Patrol.
3. Fed up with bars that wouldn't play women's sports, she opened one that plays nothing but:
The Sports Bra — no, that's not a misspelling — is creating a supportive space for fans of women's sports.
At first glance, Jenny Nguyen's sports bar in Portland, Ore., is like any other. There are rows of beer taps, autographed jerseys hanging from the ceiling, signed posters lining the walls and of course, big-screen TVs showcasing the latest game or match.
There's just one, subtle difference. The Sports Bra — no, that's not a misspelling — is levelling the playing field by showcasing women athletes. Since it opened in April 2022 The Sports Bra, which bills itself as the world's first women's sports bar, has won fans around the world by unapologetically playing only women's sports on its televisions.
"The only thing we're changing is who's on that poster? Who signed that ball? Whose jersey is that?" said Nguyen.
More...from the CBC.
4. The Next Big Performance-Booster Is Already in Your Kitchen:
Has Maurten finally figured out how to harness the power of baking soda without paying the gastrointestinal price?
Olof Sköld was in a small, hip bike shop in Paris last summer when conversation turned to something odd that people had noticed while watching Tour de France coverage. “Everybody was talking about [Primož] Roglic,” Sköld recalls. “He’s eating soup before racing! There must be some doping in it!” Tour de France riders burn as much as 8,000 calories a day, so they’re famous for hoovering down energy in every available form. But slurping soup before a race was, admittedly, unusual. Sköld, the CEO of Swedish sports nutrition company Maurten, knew exactly what was in the soup, but he wasn’t telling—yet.
Back in 2016, Maurten made a big splash with their new carbohydrate drink, which claimed to ease the pangs of digesting large quantities of sugar during hard exercise by encapsulating it in a hydrogel. Simple carbohydrates are the primary fuel for high-intensity exercise, and top endurance athletes aim to take 60, or 90, or even 120 grams—the equivalent of almost five gels—for every hour of racing. It doesn’t go down easily. “If you went to New York or any of the big marathons back in 2015, they had sand in buckets at the finish line to clean up all the vomit,” Sköld says. “That really doesn’t exist anymore.”
More...from Believe in the Run.
6. How One of the World’s Top Over-50 Runners Got Faster Every Year:
Ken Rideout is a father of four about to race in his sixth major world marathon.
It’s easy to spot Ken Rideout in a crowded marathon.
A former amateur boxer, his bulging biceps stand out in a sea of waifish professional runners. His expression also looks more like he’s about to step into a boxing ring.
“I’m the biggest alpha male on the starting line,” he says. “I am ready to die to win. For me, every race is a fight.”
Mr. Rideout has spent his life battling tough circumstances to become one of the world’s fastest marathoners over the age of 50. He grew up in a troubled home in a tough suburb of Boston and watched his stepfather and brother go to prison. As a teen, he worked as a prison guard and vowed he wouldn’t end up behind bars.
He says he hustled his way into a finance career where a nagging feeling of imposter’s syndrome led him to start using opioids between 2000 and 2010. “Addiction isn’t about drugs,” says Mr. Rideout. “It’s about trying to escape the anxiety and discomfort you feel in your own life.”
More...from the Wall Street Journal.
7. Is Athletic Greens Worth It? A Nutrition Expert’s Review:
The supplement Athletic Greens/AG1 seems to be everywhere in the endurance market these days. Registered Dietitian Matthew Kadey takes a look at "greens powders" for athletes and whether they deliver on their mighty claims.
Fact: As an athlete, you can’t show up as the best version of yourself if you have poor eating habits. It’s important to include plenty of vegetables, fruits, and other nutrient-dense foods for peak health and performance.
Another fact: It can be challenging to get those healthy foods when one has a demanding schedule. Even the best dietary intentions fall apart in the face of work deadlines, kids’ soccer practices, appointments, and a fully-loaded training schedule.
In the hustle of daily life, we’re all looking for ways to add a little more ease to our days. So, it seems, everything is coming up in the hue of green. Or at least in the supplement world. Overcoming nutritional gaps is a problem “greens powders”—a collective term for supplement shake mixes made of dried and powdered vegetables, fruits, algaes, or grasses—claims to solve. In the athletic world, the most prominent brand of greens powder today is Athletic Greens, now rebranded as AG1, which can be found sponsoring just about every podcast on wellness, self-improvement, and fitness. Athletes of all stripes seem to be raving about their daily emerald drink on Instagram, and it’s all part of the company’s plan to connect with hard-charging athletes via social media.
The promises of Athletic Greens and similar greens powders are lofty: better performance and recovery, improve immunity, glowing skin, enhanced digestive functioning, and never-ending energy. But the biggest appeal for most is the convenience: If you can just drink all your fruits and vegetables in one fell swoop, then that surely is easier than gnawing through a kale salad, right?
More...from Women's Running.
8. Fitness: When life is a pain in the knees, keep moving:
Giving up exercise won't make your achy joints feel better in the long run.
If it seems like there’s an epidemic of achy knees out there, you’re not wrong. Osteoarthritis affects more than four million Canadians, which means one in seven adults lives with joint pain. By 2040, that number is expected to grow to 12 million.
Admittedly, not all of those people have sore knees. The hands, big toe and hips are also common sites for osteoarthritis, but knees account for almost 80 per cent of all cases — a number that has been increasing in recent years.
The exact cause of osteoarthritis is still a mystery, but previous knee injury, family history of osteoarthritis, abnormally shaped joints, excess weight, an occupation that requires lots of kneeling or squatting, and being female can increase the risk of being in the large cohort of Canadians complaining about sore knees.
For most, osteoarthritis hits around middle age when the cartilage in the knee starts breaking down. And contrary to what you may have heard, high-impact activities like running don’t speed up its onset. Being active is good for your knees, circulating more joint-friendly nutrients to help replenish aging joints and cartilage. So if your knees are just starting to hurt, don’t give up exercise thinking it will make your achy joints feel better.
More...from the Montreal Gazette.
9. Why Male Athletes Who Identify as Transgender Should Not Compete in Women’s Sports:
Should transgender athletes compete in women’s sports? Here’s why males will always have an advantage over females in athletics.
Should male athletes who identify as transgender compete in women’s sports?
If you’ve listened to any major news outlets recently, you’d hear a resounding “yes.” Athletes who identify as—then compete against—the opposite sex are often celebrated in the media.
Collegiate athlete Lia Thomas, a male swimmer from the University of Pennsylvania, was applauded after winning the NCAA women’s championship in the 500-yard freestyle in March 2022. CeCe Telfer, a male runner, was similarly commended after winning the NCAA Division II national championship in the women’s 400-meter hurdles in 2019. And the media cheered as Laurel Hubbard, a 43-year-old male weightlifter from New Zealand, became the first athlete to compete against the opposite sex in the Olympics during the 2021 Tokyo Games.
You’ll notice that all these athletes have one thing in common: they are all males competing in women’s sports. It’s not often that you hear of a controversy involving female athletes competing in men’s sports. And the reason for that is simple and obvious: males have a physical advantage over females in athletics.
But those who simply state this truth are often met with vile attacks online and in the media. That’s because the fact that men and women are different and have different strengths and weaknesses has become taboo in our culture today. But this difference isn’t a bad thing—and it's necessary that we recognize it to preserve the integrity of women’s sports.
More...from ADF.
10. REM Sleep Is Magical. Here’s What the Experts Know:
Dreaming, memory-making, problem-solving: A lot happens during the most active sleep phase.
Any sleep tracker will show you that slumber is far from a passive affair. And no stage of sleep demonstrates that better than rapid eye movement, or REM, commonly called dream sleep.
“It’s also called paradoxical sleep or active sleep, because REM sleep is actually very close to being awake,” said Dr. Rajkumar Dasgupta, a sleep medicine and pulmonary specialist at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.
Before scientists discovered REM sleep in the 1950s, it wasn’t clear that much of anything was happening in the brain at night. Researchers today, however, understand sleep as a highly active process composed of very different types of rest — including REM, which in some ways doesn’t seem like rest at all.
While the body typically remains “off” during REM sleep, the brain is very much “on.” It’s generating vivid dreams, as well as synthesizing memories and knowledge. Scientists are still working to unravel exactly how this strange state of consciousness works.
More...from the New York Times
11. Seven healthy habits may help cut dementia risk, study says:
Researchers present initial findings from study that followed thousands of US women for about 20 years.
Seven healthy habits and lifestyle factors may play a role in reducing the risk of dementia, according to a two decade-long study.
Being active, eating a better diet, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, keeping normal blood pressure, controlling cholesterol and having low blood sugar in middle age may all lower the chances of developing conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease later in life, research suggests.
The preliminary findings, from a study that followed thousands of US women for about 20 years, are being presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Boston.
“Since we now know that dementia can begin in the brain decades before diagnosis, it’s important that we learn more about how your habits in middle age can affect your risk of dementia in old age,” said Pamela Rist, an associate epidemiologist in the division of preventive medicine at Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston and a member of the American Academy of Neurology.
More...from The Guardian.
12. Americans have changed the way they exercise. Here’s how gyms are adapting:
lanning to hit the gym during rush hour? You’ll have much better luck finding an open elliptical machine than a bench press, squat rack or 30-pound dumbbells.
Strength training — also called weight training or resistance training — has surged in popularity, driven by new research on its health benefits, the growth of high-intensity gyms like CrossFit, and more women brushing off stereotypes that body building is for men only. It’s just the latest in a series of radical shifts over decades in how Americans exercise.
The pandemic led more people to take up weight training, gym owners and industry experts say. After gyms reopened in late 2020 and early 2021 from Covid-19 safety restrictions, more people rushed to lift weights and use equipment they didn’t have access to at home.
More...from CNN.
13. The Science of Hydration:
Hydration isn’t just for race day. The latest science shows that it not only makes you feel better and stronger today, but is key to a long and healthy life.
Daily hydration is (almost) a fountain of youth. Check this recent study. After a thorough analysis of serum sodium levels—the concentration of sodium in the blood—hydration is now linked to longevity, a lower risk of developing chronic diseases, and prolonged biological aging. Which means establishing a proper daily hydration routine could help you avoid early development of chronic diseases like heart failure, dementia, chronic lung disease, stroke, and diabetes as well as premature aging and even early mortality. But hydration isn’t just about longterm effects, of course. You also get these immediate benefits:
* Lubricated Joints: When hydrated, your joints are lubricated with a thick gel called synovial fluid. Without this fluid, joints become vulnerable to harmful friction that leads to pain and, over time, deterioration.
* More Energy: Staying hydrated can make you feel more energized. Our bodies are up to 60 percent water, and maintaining a healthy fluid balance is essential to organ function, nutrient delivery, and blood flow. Dehydration can cause the body to work harder to complete vital actions, such as delivering blood to the brain, leading to a decline in cognitive clarity and increased fatigue.
* Regulate Body Temperature: Sweat is our body’s built-in air conditioning, and we’d be in big trouble without it. Daily hydration provides the required amount of fluid to produce the sweat you need to maintain a healthy body temperature.
More...from Outside Online.
14. The Mystery behind BU’s Record-Breaking Indoor Track:
There are a number of reasons why the world's fastest runners come to Boston when they want to set a new record.
n indoor track race at Boston University is a symphony. First, there’s a buzz of anticipation in the crowd, until the explosion of the starter’s pistol launches the performance. That’s followed by the percussion of runners’ feet stampeding across the rubber-coated plywood surface. A surge of cheers follows the athletes around the oval, like the wave circling Fenway Park during a Red Sox game. And in the most magical of moments, the cheers build to a crescendo when a single runner crosses the finish line and the clock freezes on a new American or world record.
The 200-meter, six-lane track at the BU Track & Tennis Center on Ashford Street—which celebrated its 20th anniversary this academic year—has hosted so many of those moments that it’s regarded by many runners as perhaps the fastest indoor track in the world. Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia ran a 3:47.01 mile at BU in 2019—the fastest indoor time in history. The men’s 4×800 meter world record was also set at BU, as were countless national, conference, collegiate, and school records. When elite athletes want to run their best during the winter months, they often circle a BU meet on their calendar.
More...from BU Today.
15. Americans have changed the way they exercise. Here’s how gyms are adapting:
Planning to hit the gym during rush hour? You’ll have much better luck finding an open elliptical machine than a bench press, squat rack or 30-pound dumbbells.
Strength training — also called weight training or resistance training — has surged in popularity, driven by new research on its health benefits, the growth of high-intensity gyms like CrossFit, and more women brushing off stereotypes that body building is for men only. It’s just the latest in a series of radical shifts over decades in how Americans exercise.
The pandemic led more people to take up weight training, gym owners and industry experts say. After gyms reopened in late 2020 and early 2021 from Covid-19 safety restrictions, more people rushed to lift weights and use equipment they didn’t have access to at home.
More... from .
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