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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. Moral values and moral identity moderate the indirect relationship between sport supplement use and doping use via sport supplement beliefs
2. Jazmin Sawyers: GB athlete on the need for more women-specific sport science research
3. Uncoordinated? You Can Still Be an Athlete.
4. Asics Gel-Kayano 30 Review: Thirsty Thirty
5. A Deep Dive into the Science of Marathon Recovery
6. Ask the Expert: Does baking soda boost cycling performance?
7. Higher VO2 max may protect against certain cancers, study shows
8. How to use Heart Rate Variability (HRV) to optimise your training and recovery
9. Hoka Tecton X2 Review
10. Sneak Peek: Nike Running Teams With Vibram to Launch ‘Ultrafly Trail’ Shoe
11. Low Energy Availability and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport: What Coaches Should Know
12. This inflatable helmet is claimed to be 4x safer than a foam helmet – and it fits in your pocket
13. Title IX, Male-Bodied Athletes, and the Threat to Women’s Sports
14. The Long Lost Miracle Supplement
15. “If we can locate the barriers faced by women, we can remove them one by one.” Making the Marathon More Gender Inclusive
THIS WEEK'S POLL:
What events are you planning on entering in 2023?
* 5,000m
* 10,000m
* 20k or Half-marathon
* Marathon
* Ultra
* Sprint triathlon
* Olympic distance triathlon
* Half-ironman triathlon
* Ironman triathlon
* None of the above
Vote here
PREVIOUS POLL RESULTS:
What is/are your preferred post-race or post-workout beverage(s)?
1 Sports drink 161 (17%)
2 Water 178 (19%)
3 Chocolate milk 167 (17%)
4 Soft drink 145 (15%)
5 Beer 151 (16%)
6 Other 157 (16%)
Total Votes: 959
FIVE STAR SITE OF THE MONTH FOR JULY 2023:CITIUS MAG
Our mission is simple: make it easier (and way more fun) to be a track fan.
Part commentary and analysis, part media personalities and storytellers— we share content across social, video, podcasts, articles, and newsletters to keep you connected to your favorite sport. Because just like you, we love track and field. And by creating accessible and entertaining ways to follow the sport and its athletes, we believe even more people will fall in love with it, too.
Visit the website at: CititusMag.com.
BOOK/VIDEO/MOVIE OF THE MONTH FOR JULY 2023: UNFAIR PLAY: THE BATTLE FOR WOMEN'S SPORT
By Sharron Davies and Craig Lord
On the face of it, women's sport is on the rise, garnering more attention and grassroots involvement than ever before. However, the truth is that in many respects progress is stalling, or even falling back.
Sharron Davies is no stranger to battling the routine sexism the sporting world. She missed out on Olympic Gold because of doping among East German athletes in the 1980s, and has never received justice. Now, biological males are being allowed to compete directly against women under the guise of trans 'self-ID', a development that could destroy the integrity of female sport. This callous indifference towards women in sport, argue Sharron and journalist Craig Lord, is merely the latest stage in a decades-long history of sexism on the part of sport's higher-ups.
A strong fightback is required to root out the lingering misogyny that plagues sporting governance, media coverage and popular perceptions. This book provides the facts, science and arguments that will help women in sport get the justice they deserve.
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. Moral values and moral identity moderate the indirect relationship between sport supplement use and doping use via sport supplement beliefs:
The Incremental Model of Doping Behaviour suggests doping grows out of the habitual use of performance-enhancing methods (e.g., sport supplements) and belief that they are necessary for performance. Importantly, in this model, doping is viewed as functional rather than moral choice. In two studies, we examined whether sport supplement use was indirectly related to doping use via sport supplement beliefs, and whether personal morality moderated this relationship. Competitive athletes (Study 1, N = 366; Study 2, N = 200) completed measures of supplement use, beliefs, and doping use. They also completed measures of moral values (Study 1) and moral identity (Study 2). In both studies, supplement use was indirectly related to doping use via beliefs. Moreover, this indirect relationship was moderated by moral values (Study 1) and moral identity (Study 2). That is, the relationship between supplement use and doping use via beliefs was negated when moral values and moral identity were high but not when they were low or moderate. Taken together, our findings suggest that sport supplement users, who believe they are necessary, are more likely to dope if they have low moral values and believe that being a moral person is unimportant to their self-image.
More...from Taylor&Francis Online.
2. Jazmin Sawyers: GB athlete on the need for more women-specific sport science research:
Women's sport is growing rapidly in popularity but the science is still lagging behind - only about 6% of sports science research is conducted exclusively on female athletes.
As athletes, we automatically jump to the decision that we're not good enough after a poor performance, rather than stopping to consider what is going on inside our own bodies.
The public do the same thing, because that's the norm. It's the way we treat sportspeople in general. The conversation is often around how an athlete failed to handle the occasion when, sometimes, there's a physiological issue.
For me, managing your body is easily one of the hardest aspects of being a female athlete. But this is a conversation for everyone.
After pulling up with cramps at last year's European Championships, 2019 200m world champion Dina Asher-Smith called for more research into the effect of periods on performance.
It would be career-altering for sportswomen if we knew more.
More...from the BBC.
3. Uncoordinated? You Can Still Be an Athlete:
Many people avoid physical activity because they see themselves as clumsy. But, with practice, there are ways to fix that.
Carmen Chavez spent much of her life avoiding sports. Her aversion, she said, stemmed from the embarrassment of middle school gym class. As more athletic girls slammed volleyballs across the net, she worried about tripping or being hit by a ball. In order to avoid playing, she often sat on the sidelines and acted as the announcer.
For years after, she told herself she was simply too clumsy for ball games. But a year ago, Ms. Chavez, now 26, began playing basketball with a friend and discovered she’s pretty good at shooting and dribbling. Perhaps more important, she enjoys it.
“Being afraid, being avoidant, did me more harm than good,” said Ms. Chavez, who said she still is so clumsy that she has the occasional accident. “I’m trying to stop letting my clumsiness intimidate me from being active.”
More...from the New York Times.
4. Asics Gel-Kayano 30 Review: Thirsty Thirty:
If you’ve read any review I’ve worked on before (you can also go read them now), you may notice that I’m a fan of history. With that in mind, this review will start with a throwback to Roman historian Pliny the Elder (turns out it’s not just a popular beer). Stay with me, I’m going to tie it all together.
According to his Wikipedia entry, once upon a time in ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder’s friend Nigidius saw a strange beetle with large mandibles and named it Lucanus Cervus after both its habitat and its deer-like horns. Eventually this beetle became known to us as the Stag Beetle, a large beetle with technology (large mandibles) on its side.
In the early 90s, Asics designer Toshikazu Kayano was tasked with making a cutting-edge running shoe inspired by the beetle. What he ended up with is the original Gel-Kayano, a shoe he named after himself, and one that has taken on the Japanese spirit of Kaizen, meaning “gradual improvement” (this info comes from this High Snobiety article which is a great read).
Since then, this shoe has been updated 30 times. Does it still exist as a symbol of gradual technological improvement? Does it slightly resemble the stag beetle? Is it even a great stability shoe? Let’s find out.
More...from Believ in the Run.
5. A Deep Dive into the Science of Marathon Recovery:
A high-tech approach called metabolomics offers a new perspective on how your body bounces back from 26.2 miles
One of the big challenges for recovery research is figuring out what it means to be recovered. Maybe it’s the point at which, after a marathon, you’re able to start walking down the stairs forward instead of backward. Or if you want to be more scientific about it, maybe it’s the point when all the various markers of physiological stress in your bloodstream—low fuel stores, damaged muscles, inflammation, and so on—have returned to normal.
But which markers matter? Scientists have made all sorts of educated guesses over the years. For example, tests at the 1979 Boston Marathon showed that creatine kinase, a marker of muscle damage, jumped on average by 2,000 percent after the race, but was back to normal four weeks later. (The race winner, Bill Rodgers, had still had fairly high levels four weeks later, but that was probably just a result of his normal training.) Subsequent studies have looked at other markers like heart and kidney stress, but the real-world significance of these measures remains hotly debated.
More...from Sweat Science on OUtside Onle.
6. Ask the Expert: Does baking soda boost cycling performance?
It makes cakes rise, but will it do the same for your sustainable power? We asked Dr Andy Sparks.
Baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate (often abbreviated to bicarb), has been investigated for its potential to improve exercise performance since 1930. The early pioneering work at Harvard University observed improved exercise tolerance when ingested orally. In the 1980s, research focused on cycling performance, leading to bicarb’s widespread use in road and track racing. Given that the performance benefits have been widely known for decades, why is there renewed research and media interest in this supplement?
This may well be due to the Swedish nutrition company Maurten releasing its new “bicarb system” earlier this year. Elite riders and teams such as Jumbo- Visma, Intermarché-Circus- Wanty and Team SD Worx have been using the product, prompting speculation that bicarb could be the not-sosecret ingredient accounting for Jumbo’s spectacular success.
Is it really the miracle supplement that some have presented it as being? Let’s first consider how research on bicarb has progressed since the 1980s. Traditionally, the supplement was only used in short-duration events of one to 12 minutes, i.e. useful for some track events but not for multiple-hour road races. However, recent research suggests that if blood bicarbonate can be elevated for prolonged periods, it might well be performance-enhancing for much longer exercise bouts.
More...from Cyclong Weekly.
7. Higher VO2 max may protect against certain cancers, study shows:
Swedish researchers have found higher cardio-respiratory fitness can cut men's risks of getting certain forms of the disease
Men might be able to boost their protection against certain types of cancer by running or engaging in other forms of cardiovascular exercise, according to a new study. Researchers from the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences have linked cardio-respiratory fitness to a lower risk of dying from prostate, colon and lung cancer—the three most common types of cancer in men.
For the study, researchers pored over 10 years of data from 177,709 Swedish men ranging in age from 18 to 75, with the objective of determining how various levels of cardio-respiratory fitness might offer protection against contracting or dying from these specific cancers. Participants were ranked into four groups, from lowest to highest cardio-respiratory fitness.
After measuring participants for VO2 max—the maximum amount of oxygen your body can use during dynamic exercise—the researchers found those with higher VO2 max had a significantly lower risk of dying from prostate, colon and lung cancer. They also found that those with a higher VO2 max were at lower risk of developing colon or lung cancer; that data did reveal a slightly higher risk of developing prostate cancer among this group, however.
More...from .
8. How to use Heart Rate Variability (HRV) to optimise your training and recovery:
We first met Simon Wegerif from leading Heart Rate Variability training app/sensor developers ithlete at the Training Peaks Endurance Coaching Summit up in Manchester.
He's doing some really interesting work that's helping athletes optimise their training plans by monitoring (and then responding to) the signs of fatigue that can be found by measuring the time gap between heart beats. He's worked with a number of elite athletes and organisations, including Arsenal FC.
If you read our blog on avoiding overtraining and burnout with personal interest then this one's well worth a read...
What is Heart Rate Variability (HRV)?
Heart rate variability (HRV) is an excellent method for assessing the effects of stress on your body. Research evidence over the past decade has increasingly linked high HRV to good health and a high level of fitness, whilst decreased HRV is linked to stress, fatigue and even burnout.
HRV measures the time gap between your heart beats, which vary as you breathe in and out. Measurement of HRV for use in monitoring training and recovery involves analysis of the heart’s beat-to-beat variation.
By accurately measuring the time interval between heartbeats, the detected variation can be used to measure the psychological and physiological stress and fatigue on the body during training.
More...from Precision Hudration.
9. Hoka Tecton X2 Review:
The second carbon plate trail shoe from Hoka is another winner and one of the best off-road racing options you can get
The original Hoka Tecton X was one of the first shoes to successfully incorporate into a trail racer the carbon plate tech that works so well in road shoes. It was one of the best trail-running shoes available, and that remains the case with the Hoka Tecton X2, which sticks to the same design as the original.
Hoka has changed the upper on the shoe to create a more secure fit, but underfoot the midsole and outsole are the same. A marginal improvement is fine for a second-gen shoe, but it’s a shame Hoka has bumped up the price of the Hoka Tecton X2, and this may mean hunting for a deal on the Tecton X is a smarter option for runners.
The Hoka Tecton X2 launched in April 2023 and costs $220 in the US and £185 in the UK. The original Tecton X cost $200/£175, and is now in sales. The Tecton X2 is one of the most expensive trail shoes on the market, though still (a little) cheaper than most of the best carbon plate running shoes for the road.
More...from COACH.
10. Sneak Peek: Nike Running Teams With Vibram to Launch ‘Ultrafly Trail’ Shoe:
The footwear giants call their first offering 'sleek, grippy, and fast.' Here's what we know about the upcoming Nike 'Ultrafly Trail' with Vibram tech.
For the first time ever, Nike Running and Vibram have joined forces to create a “groundbreaking” trail shoe that incorporates rubber and sole technology never before seen in a Nike running shoe.
The Ultrafly Trail officially debuts on July 27 across Europe, before launching worldwide in August. Details are slim, but the shoe will be the first Nike running shoe to carry Vibram Litebase, a proprietary outsole that combines Vibram MegaGrip rubber and Traction Lugs. According to Vibram, Litebase trims 30% of the sole’s weight by making it 50% slimmer.
This weight savings targets an uptick in overall speed, contributing to the Ultrafly Trail’s marketing as a “premium race shoe.” Above the Vibram tech, Nike will, for the first time, incorporate a carbon Flyplate between its lightweight ZoomX foam and a “fabric-wrapped” midsole.
According to Nike, “a flat bottom and minimized cross rocker allow runners optimal stability on trail terrain while the heel-to-toe rocker promotes a smooth transition.”
More...from Gear Junkie.
11. Low Energy Availability and Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport: What Coaches Should Know:
The Female Athlete Triad (Triad) and the more encompassing Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) are disorders caused by low energy availability (LEA). LEA is a state of insufficient energy intake by an athlete relative to their energy expenditure. Persistent LEA results in the deleterious consequences to health and performance that comprise RED-S. With respect to both the Triad and RED-S, researchers have called for more education of those involved with sport, particularly coaches, to help reduce the incidence of these disorders. Recent studies have shown that as few as 15% of coaches are aware of the Triad, with up to 89% unable to identify even one of its symptoms. RED-S is a more recently established concept such that coach knowledge regarding it has only begun to be assessed, but the results of these initial studies indicate similar trends as for the Triad. In this review, we synthesize research findings from 1986 to 2021 that pertains to LEA and RED-S, which coaches should know so they can better guide their athletes.
More...from Sage Journals.
12. This inflatable helmet is claimed to be 4x safer than a foam helmet – and it fits in your pocket:
€150 Inflabi inflatable helmet debuts at Eurobike 2023, with pre-sale scheduled for August
The Inflabi is an inflatable helmet for urban cyclists that can pack down into your pocket and could be up to four times safer than a traditional foam helmet, according to the brand.
The commuter helmet is constructed from seam-welded fabric and packs down to three quarters of its inflated size.
Revealed at Eurobike 2023, a pre-sale of the helmet is scheduled for this August. It will likely cost around €150.
More...from BikeRadar.
13. Title IX, Male-Bodied Athletes, and the Threat to Women’s Sports:
Competitive sport is a zero-sum game where some athletes make the cut, and others do not; someone wins, and others lose. In a zero-sum competition, the inclusion of male-bodied athletes in women’s sport inevitably means that females lose out.
As the number of male-bodied athletes seeking to compete on women’s teams and in women’s events grows, the risks to female athletes also grow. Claims to the contrary deny science, defy logic, and undermine Title IX.
In the Second Edition of Competition: Title IX, Male-Bodied Athletes, and the Threat To Women’s Sports, Independent Women’s Law Center and Independent Women’s Forum synthesize the science and explain the changing legal landscape of American sports.
More...from Independent Women's Forum.
14. The Long Lost Miracle Supplement:
I found a secret to performance. Something that will improve your endurance exponentially. Don’t believe me? Consider these facts.
Researchers found that it increases two of the key components to endurance, hemoglobin and red blood cell mass. In one study on this compound, hemoglobin was an astonishing 14% higher! That’s comparable to taking EPO!
A review in the Canadian Medical Association Journal concluded that it “enhances endurance performance and should be incorporated into high-level training programs.”
Scientists have discovered it activates the same pathways as altitude training. Only you can take it in your backyard, and it costs only around 35 cents per pop.
The technique isn’t new. History shows us that a former world record holder in the 5k, and the 4th person in history to run a sub 4-minute mile, used this product.
It’s science-backed. Elite athlete tested. What in the world is this secret supplement?
More...from The Growth Equation.
15. “If we can locate the barriers faced by women, we can remove them one by one.” Making the Marathon More Gender Inclusive:
Of all the ramifications of the pandemic one certainly includes the declining number of women participating in the marathon. The numbers are down. In 2019, 38% of the marathon runners at the Vancouver Marathon identified as women. Last year that percentage was down to 32%. At the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 2019, 32% of marathon participants identified as women. That percentage dipped to 28% at the same event last year. In 2023, the London Marathon fielded 10,000 fewer women than men.
“It’s about the fact that if women are needing to create the time for training for a marathon then they won’t be home to take care of the kids, cook meals and clean house, but the women who have the inclination to run a marathon—who confidently have household and family support—run the marathon and do it well. Just look at Malindi and Natasha Wodak as examples,” says Lynn Kanuka, 1984 Olympic bronze medalist and BC-based running coach at coachlynn.org. “The women I’ve coached online all have had great support at home, and if they did not then they never did more than one marathon.”
And that is key, having that support. Statistics Canada shows that by April of 2020, 55% of women remained in the workforce, down 6% compared to January 2020. By August of 2022, fewer women than men worked full-time. In fact, more women started working part-time in that same month. The reason for women pursuing part-time work? Not surprisingly, for women ages between 25-54, caregiving is the reason. Moreover, the gender gap widened during the pandemic due to caregiving. Canadian women on average spend 3.9 hours per day on housework, including child care, compared to 2.4 hours per day for men.
More...from iRun.
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FEATURED EVENTS:
*Please verify event dates with the event websites available from our FrontPage.
Upcoming Races, Marathons, Races, and Triathlons
July 1-23, 2023:
Tour de France - France
July 12-16 2023:
European Athletics U23 Championships - Esppo, Finland
July 14, 2023:
Harry Jerome Classic - Langley, BC
July 15, 2023:
USATF Women's 6 km Championships - Canton, Ohio
Women's 6km Festival - Canton, OH
July 16, 2023:
Diamond League Silesia - Poland
July 21, 2023:
San Francisco Marathon Weekend - San Francisco, CA
July 21, 2023:
Diamond League Monaco - Monaco
July 23, 2023:
London Diamonad League - London, UK
London Diamonad League - London, UK
July 27-30 2023:
Bell Canadian Track & Field Championship - Langley, BC
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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