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Running Resolutions

With 2013 upon us, it's time to start thinking about resolutions for the new year. Many of us set 'regular' new year resolutions and on that same note, many of us don't stick with them.

And that's just in regular, everyday stuff.

Berries 101

The health halo that crowns berries--the original "superfruit"--hasn't slipped a bit over the years. Ever since it was discovered that berries have very high total antioxidant capacity, the public has had a veritable love fest for berries, making them its favorite fruit. Of all fruits, consumer research finds strawberries the favorite among adults and kids. Over the past decade, multiple research findings have supported the health benefits of berries, showing that they have a profound impact on chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and agerelated mental decline.

Berries 101.

Maybe We Should Just Stay Home?

Walking seems like an innocent activity, but it is particularly dangerous, often ensnaring children as young as 14 months.

"Everyone's doing it," is a common excuse walkers will use to justify their habit. Widely considered a gateway exercise, walking is sometimes recommended by jogging pushers who try to get the curious to start cutting their walks with higher potency bursts of running.

A certain amount of walking is essential in life. You have to get to the elevator somehow. But if you find yourself walking to nowhere in particular, it's time for a reality check. Side effects of walking include shortness of breath, swollen feet and toe jam.

Vomiting, bleeding nipples and hallucinations -- It's All Just Part of the Fun

THE Parthenon is lit, but Athens is still dark. In the gloom, a cleaner is sweeping the pedestrianised road that runs beneath the southern slope of the Acropolis. And in the trees beside the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, an ancient stone theatre, Lycra-clad figures are urinating everywhere.

The Economist Takes on the BMI

 

BEING fat is bad for you. That, at least, is the received wisdom. In reality the picture is more complex, because the prevailing measure of fatness, weight in kilograms divided by height in metres squared, known as the body-mass index (BMI), is imperfect and because bad for you is a vague term. According to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), being a bit too pudgy may in fact reduce the risk of dying in a given period.

Exercise and the Immune System

As the weather turns colder, the U.S. launches itself full-force into cold and flu season. While recent research has correctly reported that exercise can help prevent the common cold, experts with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommend caution for people who are considering an intense workout while they're sick. In fact, there are some cases in which exercise could do more harm than good (see also Common Cold).

ACSM Fellow David C. Nieman, Dr.P.H., says that moderate exercise (30 minutes a day, on most, if not all, days of the week) actually lowers the risk for respiratory infections. Prolonged, intense exercise, on the other hand, can weaken the immune system and allow viruses to gain a foothold and spread.

"The good news, for the majority of fitness enthusiasts who put in 30-60 minutes of exercise most days of the week, is that the number of sick days they'll take during the common cold season is reduced by at least 40 percent," said Dr. Nieman.

Ever Tried Snowshoe Racing?

Aspirin Reduces Risk of Cancer

In a new study of more than 1,200 Asian women, those who took aspirin at least a couple of times a week had a much lower risk of developing lung cancer-whether or not they had ever smoked.

Barefoot Running Myths?

It’s a topic of endless debate among runners. Is there a best way to run, so that you use the least energy and go the fastest? And does it help to run barefoot or in minimalist shoes?

Can Running Kill You? (part 5)

For people who exercise but fret that they really should be working out more, new studies may be soothing. The amount of exercise needed to improve health and longevity, this new science shows, is modest, and more is not necessarily better.

That is the message of the newest and perhaps most compelling of the studies, which was presented on Saturday at the annual meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in San Francisco. For it, researchers at the University of South Carolina Arnold School of Public Health and other institutions combed through the health records of 52,656 American adults who'd undergone physicals between 1971 and 2002 as part of the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study at the Cooper Institute in Dallas. Each participant completed physical testing and activity questionnaires and returned for at least one follow-up visit.

Can Running Kill You? (part 4)

Second Thoughts on "Too Much Running"
By
Alex Hutchinson
Published
June 05, 2012

News outlets are yet again reporting about the potential dangers of too much exercise, thanks to a couple of new studies. Over at the Peak Performance blog, Amby Burfoot has done a nice job of putting these findings into context; I'd recommend heading over there to read it. A couple of additional thoughts:
(1) Here's Amby's closing line:

Can Running Kill You? (part 3)

The Too-Much-Running Myth Rises Again
Risks of an overdose are greatly exaggerated.
By
Alex Hutchinson
Published
November 28, 2012

Stop me if you've heard this one before, but... RUNNING TOO MUCH COULD KILL YOU!!! That's the message of a Wall Street Journal article that's making the rounds this week, based on a forthcoming editorial in the journal Heart. Sound familiar? It should, because someone writes an article with this message every few months, and it invariably rockets around the cybersphere powered by schadenfreude.

Can Running Kill You? (part 2)

Triathletes, marathon runners' extreme slog could wear out hearts, research suggests

The long bouts of hard exercise done by triathletes and marathon runners may be trimming years off their lives by causing tiny tears within their hearts, emerging research suggests.

Runners have occasionally dropped dead during a marathon, but now US heart specialists have assembled evidence indicating long-term problems may be building up for many more endurance athletes.

Can Running Kill You? (part 1)

In a five-kilometer race Thanksgiving morning, Ralph Foiles finished first in his age group, earning the 56-year-old Kansan a winner's medal.

Or was it a booby prize?

Bono Busking in Dublin

Running with God

 

When Christian Blanchard crossed the finish line at the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville last weekend, he pointed upward and, neither elated nor disappointed, thought, "Oh, I just finished a marathon. Thanks, God."

He crossed the finish line after 26.2 miles in 3:28:21 -- placing first in his age group of 19 and under.

Blanchard is 17.

Barefoot Running Will Strengthen Your Feet

Every Friday morning for the past six months, Shelly Kannel and Jon Braunersreuther have stopped after running five of their six one-mile speed intervals on a high school track, removed their running shoes and dashed the last mile barefoot. But only one mile.

The idea, they say, is to strengthen their feet and lower legs. And it's worked.

The Anthropology of Long-Distance Running

The marathon likely began not in Greece, but on the vast savannahs of Africa some two million years ago. Under a beating equatorial sun, the runners would have plunged through the grass, aiming toward a column of circling buzzards many miles in the distance. Beneath the buzzards lay a fresh kill. And the runners -- our distant ancestors -- would have been racing the clock for survival: If they were fast, they would find food for their families; but if they were slow, they would find only bones, picked clean by other scavengers.

Running is My ... Life

The long winter months take a heavy toll on the recreational athlete. Many let their running shoes gather dust in closets or allow their bicycles to lean dejectedly against cellar walls. They resign themselves to watching their sleek lines grow softer, and some may even be grateful for the rest.

Getting a Date at the Gym

What's the single largest grumble from gym-going males? It has nothing to do with feeling the burn, the lack of cardio machines, or the questionable stains on those complimentary shower towels. Surprise! It's how to talk to women who work out.

85 year old passes 50,000 mile marker

Paul Merriman's seven grown children have arrived from as far away as Vermont to celebrate their 85-year-old father's having run 50,000 miles.

They've set up a portable canopy in Memorial Park and lined a section of the new Outer Loop Trail with Burma Shave-style signs - "See Paul run! 50,000." A whimsical cake decorated with a runner in a red shirt, sweat band and socks sits on a table, surrounded by individual Rice Krispies treats shaped to spell out "Paul's 50,000." There's a banner, too, and everyone is taking photos of each other in their red "Paul Merriman's 50,000th Mile" T-shirts.

Running is Such a Great Sport

Tucsonans getting ready for Sunday's marathon

Marathons are not just for the young and agile.

Athletes of all ages will hit the pavement Sunday during the 26.2- mile Jim Click Tucson Marathon, the Gadabout Marathon Relay and the 13.1-mile Lute and Bobbi Olson Half-Marathon.

Started at age 50

Beverly Schulz estimates that she has run 20 marathons - in addition to two 50-milers and a half-dozen triathlons - all in the last nine years.