Friday, November 16, 2012
Running on the Right Path
I am an avid runner who loves running in the wilderness. The feeling of breaking a sweat with a good stride in the great outdoors is like no other for me. Your heart is pumping blood through your body like a turbo-charger, your lungs are sucking in precious oxygen as fast as you can breathe it in, your pores are excreting sweat and toxins like crazy, and all of your senses are at their peak of performance. You can feel the world around you and you know you are part of it. It is a wonderful feeling; a healthy addiction if you will. My drug of choice is endorphins.
I hurried down the stairs to the parking garage. The woman who lived below me was just getting out of her car when I entered the garage. She was a cigarette-totin’ Maggie with ashen-grey skin and a raspy voice that sounded like it was the product of damaged vocal cords due to years of yelling too loud at parties and breathing tobacco smoke relentlessly. She was tall, rotund and barrel-chested, with bleached white hair that she wore way too long for her age, which I guessed was somewhere around forty. She wore black clothing everyday that made her look like an albino witch. She was also a single mother of a teenage daughter that was seemingly out of control. I often saw this daughter coming home at four in the morning as I was just leaving for work. She was only thirteen, but she seemed to be in a big hurry to become an adult. Her mother didn’t seem to care about her too much.
I drove to a nearby street and parked my car next to a couple of other cars at the entrance to a fire trail. I stretched for about five minutes, and then I was on my way up my favorite wilderness trail that led into the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains (California).
I grew up playing and exercising in those hills. It is my favorite place to go when I need to get away from it all. There are fire trails everywhere that accommodate anyone who is looking for exercise in a wilderness area that includes rolling hills, bush-covered chaparral, and majestic mountains.
About a mile into my run I began to work up a sweat. A group of dark clouds passed overhead and it started to rain. It was winter. I was only wearing a tee-shirt and shorts, and the rain was cold, but it felt good. The rain drops splashed over my face and body like a fire sprinkler from heaven that was released right on cue.
The sun burst through the clouds and I was soon bathed in warm sunlight again.
I entered a rocky area filled with caves that were formed by millions of years of wind and water erosion. The Chumash Indians once lived in those caves before the Europeans came. I looked up to the right and saw a group of teenagers hanging out in a big cave that was about fifty feet up on the face of a cliff. One of them noticed me running down below and threw an empty beer bottle in my direction. The bottle hit a rock about twenty feet away from me and exploded into a million pieces. This explosion was immediately followed by an eruption of laughter from the group. I was thinking about stopping to say something, but I did not want to ruin my good mood.
I made a couple of left and right turns on trails that I originally explored when I was about eight years old. I ran deeper into the hills. Soon I was running up a series of steep switchbacks trails.
I eventually arrived at the top of the highest hill in that area. I stopped for a rest, and to take in the beautiful three hundred and sixty degree view all around me. I had mountains in front of me, hills all around me and the San Fernando Valley off in the distance behind me. I watched the sunset over the mountains and meditated for a moment at my favorite spot on earth. When I turned around I could see the lights of The Valley glistening like a million fire flies. I was about five miles away from the nearest civilization, but it felt like it was five hundred.
A half hour later I started my run back towards civilization. It was now dark, but I was not worried about getting lost, for I knew those trails like the back of my hand. Rattlesnakes were all hibernating, coyotes aren’t much to worry about, but mountain lions were a different story. Although attacks on humans were rare, there had been a couple of people killed in California in recent years. I did not want to be the next rare event, so I made sure to announce my presence by singing loudly (and slightly off-key).
Suddenly, I saw a shadowy figure of a person up ahead on the trail in front of me. I was not used to seeing other people that far back in the hills. I approached with caution. As I got closer and closer to this dark silhouette, I noticed that this person was just standing still at a fork in the dirt road. When I was about to pass this person I noticed that it was a young teenage guy. He was wearing brown nylon shorts and a yellow tee-shirt that said Calabasas Cross Country Team on the front. He looked very worried, and seemed to be lost.
The thin young man politely asked me if I knew which one of the trails he was standing in front of was the one out of there. He explained that he was training for an up coming cross-country competition and did not realize how far he had run, or how quickly it got dark “now that daylight savings was over”. I told him that I knew that area quite well, and that he could follow me out of there.
I made a right turn at the fork in the road, and the kid followed behind me. As we were running down the switchback trails it started to rain again. We ran out into a large valley with tall grass, and then the kid began to fall behind a bit. I slowed my pace down a little until I could see him again slowly running behind me on the trail.
As we were passing through the rocky area with all the caves we suddenly came upon the group of kids that were partying earlier. They were slowly walking on the trail and passing around a bottle of whiskey. A young girl noticed us approaching and broke off from the group with the whiskey bottle in her hand. As we were passing by the girl she held the whiskey bottle out towards us and with a sarcastic and drunken voice she said “you guys must be thirsty”! A full moon was now shining down on the area and it illuminated me to the fact that this girl was the thirteen year old daughter of the albino witch lady that lived in the apartment below me. She was too drunk to recognize me. We then jogged past the chuckling group of inebriated teenagers and continued on with our run through the wilderness.
We finally reached the end of the trail and we both stopped running. While trying to catch his breath, the kid thanked me for giving him directions. He then disappeared into the neighborhood. I walked over to my car and stood next to it for a moment. I thought to myself; I may not have much money, but I have my health. I am thankful for having parents who cared, and that I chose to run on the right path in life.
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Choosing the Right Running Shoe
No two people have exactly the same foot; however manufactures have divided shoes into three different categories: Cushioning, Stability, and Motion Control. Within these three categories their can be a lot of variation, but it is a good base guide to start with.
Cushioning - Cushioning shoes are shoes that have little to no lateral support. These shoes are good for runners who do not need this support, and have neutral feet. Generally this type of shoe will be for the runner with a high arch. Instances where this type of shoe is not right is in a case where you are a pronator or an over pronator.
Stability - Stability shoes are a mid range shoe category which offer a balance between cushioning and motion control. This shoe is for a runner who has a normal arch, lands on the outside of the foot and rolls forward. If you are unsure of where else to be this category is a good place to start.
Motion Control - The motion control category is for runners who really need support in a running shoe. Extreme pronators and over pronators can take advantage of a Motion control shoe, as well as a runner with weak ankles and other foot problems that would benefit from a shoe with a lot of stability.
Of course with only three categories like I mentioned above, there is a lot of room for variation. This is only meant to be used as a quick guide for things to look for in running shoes. I would recommend visiting a running store and having an employee look at your feet to give you a good idea of what category your feet fit in. If you have serious foot complications like extreme pronation, fallen arches, etc I would recommend visiting a foot doctor, as running shoes by themselves might not be enough. You could require orthotics, or even just simple strengthening exercises to get and keep you on your feet.
Feel free to reprint this article as long as you keep the following caption and author biography in tact with all hyperlinks.
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How To Choose The Proper Running Shoe
Bargain shopping is the numerous uno bloigtime mistake made by most novice runners. You run out and by the cheapest pair of running shoes you can find. Trust me, you are not going to find a proper running shoe at Walmart!
Thinking cheap will end up making you quit running due to the sheer misery of having bad shoes. Some of those who are more tenacious may wait until they blow out their knee or have major shin splints before they throw in the towel.
With all the choices and high tech shoes available today, choosing the right pair of running shoes for you can be an arduous task at best. But here are some guidelines to help you.
First you need to understand pronation, which is rolling of the foot from heel to toe through the foot strike. A proper or neutral pronation is hitting the outside of the heel and up to ball of your foot evenly across the front. This is how your foot reduces the stress of impact.
Under pronation is not enough evening out so the outside of your foot takes most of the shock instead of finishing in the neutral position.
Over pronation is too much roll across from the outside to the inside of your foot.
To determine your level of pronation, look at your shoes you walk or run in. Most everyone will begin on the outside of the heel, the real indicator would be the wear on the forefoot.
If most of the shoe wear is:
• On the medial (inside) side then you Over pronate
• On the lateral (outside) side then you Under pronate
• Uniform across the forefoot then you have a Neutral Stride
This knowledge will give you the information you know to select the appropriate running shoe for your foot.
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Thursday, November 15, 2012
Running Hydration Gear! A Good Water Hydration System Keeps The Motor Running
Friday, October 19, 2012
Running on the Right Path
I am an avid runner who loves running in the wilderness. The feeling of breaking a sweat with a good stride in the great outdoors is like no other for me. Your heart is pumping blood through your body like a turbo-charger, your lungs are sucking in precious oxygen as fast as you can breathe it in, your pores are excreting sweat and toxins like crazy, and all of your senses are at their peak of performance. You can feel the world around you and you know you are part of it. It is a wonderful feeling; a healthy addiction if you will. My drug of choice is endorphins.
I hurried down the stairs to the parking garage. The woman who lived below me was just getting out of her car when I entered the garage. She was a cigarette-totin’ Maggie with ashen-grey skin and a raspy voice that sounded like it was the product of damaged vocal cords due to years of yelling too loud at parties and breathing tobacco smoke relentlessly. She was tall, rotund and barrel-chested, with bleached white hair that she wore way too long for her age, which I guessed was somewhere around forty. She wore black clothing everyday that made her look like an albino witch. She was also a single mother of a teenage daughter that was seemingly out of control. I often saw this daughter coming home at four in the morning as I was just leaving for work. She was only thirteen, but she seemed to be in a big hurry to become an adult. Her mother didn’t seem to care about her too much.
I drove to a nearby street and parked my car next to a couple of other cars at the entrance to a fire trail. I stretched for about five minutes, and then I was on my way up my favorite wilderness trail that led into the foothills of the Santa Monica Mountains (California).
I grew up playing and exercising in those hills. It is my favorite place to go when I need to get away from it all. There are fire trails everywhere that accommodate anyone who is looking for exercise in a wilderness area that includes rolling hills, bush-covered chaparral, and majestic mountains.
About a mile into my run I began to work up a sweat. A group of dark clouds passed overhead and it started to rain. It was winter. I was only wearing a tee-shirt and shorts, and the rain was cold, but it felt good. The rain drops splashed over my face and body like a fire sprinkler from heaven that was released right on cue.
The sun burst through the clouds and I was soon bathed in warm sunlight again.
I entered a rocky area filled with caves that were formed by millions of years of wind and water erosion. The Chumash Indians once lived in those caves before the Europeans came. I looked up to the right and saw a group of teenagers hanging out in a big cave that was about fifty feet up on the face of a cliff. One of them noticed me running down below and threw an empty beer bottle in my direction. The bottle hit a rock about twenty feet away from me and exploded into a million pieces. This explosion was immediately followed by an eruption of laughter from the group. I was thinking about stopping to say something, but I did not want to ruin my good mood.
I made a couple of left and right turns on trails that I originally explored when I was about eight years old. I ran deeper into the hills. Soon I was running up a series of steep switchbacks trails.
I eventually arrived at the top of the highest hill in that area. I stopped for a rest, and to take in the beautiful three hundred and sixty degree view all around me. I had mountains in front of me, hills all around me and the San Fernando Valley off in the distance behind me. I watched the sunset over the mountains and meditated for a moment at my favorite spot on earth. When I turned around I could see the lights of The Valley glistening like a million fire flies. I was about five miles away from the nearest civilization, but it felt like it was five hundred.
A half hour later I started my run back towards civilization. It was now dark, but I was not worried about getting lost, for I knew those trails like the back of my hand. Rattlesnakes were all hibernating, coyotes aren’t much to worry about, but mountain lions were a different story. Although attacks on humans were rare, there had been a couple of people killed in California in recent years. I did not want to be the next rare event, so I made sure to announce my presence by singing loudly (and slightly off-key).
Suddenly, I saw a shadowy figure of a person up ahead on the trail in front of me. I was not used to seeing other people that far back in the hills. I approached with caution. As I got closer and closer to this dark silhouette, I noticed that this person was just standing still at a fork in the dirt road. When I was about to pass this person I noticed that it was a young teenage guy. He was wearing brown nylon shorts and a yellow tee-shirt that said Calabasas Cross Country Team on the front. He looked very worried, and seemed to be lost.
The thin young man politely asked me if I knew which one of the trails he was standing in front of was the one out of there. He explained that he was training for an up coming cross-country competition and did not realize how far he had run, or how quickly it got dark “now that daylight savings was over”. I told him that I knew that area quite well, and that he could follow me out of there.
I made a right turn at the fork in the road, and the kid followed behind me. As we were running down the switchback trails it started to rain again. We ran out into a large valley with tall grass, and then the kid began to fall behind a bit. I slowed my pace down a little until I could see him again slowly running behind me on the trail.
As we were passing through the rocky area with all the caves we suddenly came upon the group of kids that were partying earlier. They were slowly walking on the trail and passing around a bottle of whiskey. A young girl noticed us approaching and broke off from the group with the whiskey bottle in her hand. As we were passing by the girl she held the whiskey bottle out towards us and with a sarcastic and drunken voice she said “you guys must be thirsty”! A full moon was now shining down on the area and it illuminated me to the fact that this girl was the thirteen year old daughter of the albino witch lady that lived in the apartment below me. She was too drunk to recognize me. We then jogged past the chuckling group of inebriated teenagers and continued on with our run through the wilderness.
We finally reached the end of the trail and we both stopped running. While trying to catch his breath, the kid thanked me for giving him directions. He then disappeared into the neighborhood. I walked over to my car and stood next to it for a moment. I thought to myself; I may not have much money, but I have my health. I am thankful for having parents who cared, and that I chose to run on the right path in life.
The Fastest Nation
To prove this point of view I’m giving the so-called rating of all nations’ Olympic performance athletes of which ever took prices at the modern Olympic Games. A nation gets 3 points for every gold medal, silver is 2 points and bronze is 1 point. For example, at the 2004 Olympics the Americans won all medals in men’s 200 meters dash. In women’s 200 meters dash a Jamaican won gold, an American got silver and a Bahamian got bronze. Thus Americans get 8 points, Jamaicans - 2 point, Bahamians – 1 point. Summing up points for all years we get following statistics:
100 meters:
USA – 120
Germany – 22
Great Britain – 20
Canada – 14
Australia – 13
Other countries – 69
200 meters:
USA – 117
Germany – 18
Jamaica – 16
Australia – 14
Great Britain – 12
Other countries - 63
400 meters:
USA – 97
Germany – 22
Great Britain 20
Jamaica – 13
Australia – 12
Other countries – 52
In every event Americans are far ahead of others. However, even if we take into consideration such a huge advantage, it might be still wrong to say that other countries’ athletes are much worse trained. During the twentieth century there were stars among British, Canadian, Caribbean and other sprinters whose achievements have become part of sports history. Many of them are Olympic and world champions. There also world record holders among them. Now we talk about Asafa Powell, Veronica Campbell and Tonique Williams-Darling. We also remember Linford Christie, Donovan Bailey, Marita Koch and Marie-Jose Perec from the past.
However, the point is that they are the only representatives of their nations. They come into sports, show outstanding performance and go away followed by no compatriots matching their level. But only the USA athletes show high-level performance constantly. It’s quite hard to find reasons for it taking into account that the level of training process is also high in many other countries. Actually it is not the training process itself that differs the States from other countries. It is rather sports system organization which selects, raises and motivates athletes.
Prevalent approach to athletics
There are two models of sports system organization in the world.
The first one is the system of state financing developed in most countries. State Sports Department exercises supervision over Sports Federations which provide athletes with good conditions for trainings, medicine care, opportunities for preparations and so on. The State takes care of athletes from the beginning of their career and they feel comfortable in such conditions.
Many of them come into athletics and train like for fun, considering running from this point of view: “I have an opportunity for training. First I will train for fun and will see if I am good in running. If I’m good, I will pay more attention to trainings. If I’m not, I will just enjoy the achieved level. My country will take care of me and will give me an opportunity to afford such “pleasure” trainings.” For some of them sprint is a hobby. Some of them achieve good results at the local level performing time of 10.4-10.2 seconds in 100-meters dash, and think that it is good enough. Those who are highly motivated progress further and sometimes take prizes at international level. But most of such sprinters don’t even reach a 10-second barrier let alone 9.8-9.7 second time which is necessary for major competitions.
So there are no good selection process and no high competing environment in such a system.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association
One more model is when business interferes with sports and government doesn’t take part in the process simply providing the athletes with conditions. Such model is developed in the USA. Besides professional sports, there is a unique system of university sports organization which gives birth to a huge amount of world-famous stars in athletics. The National Collegiate Athletic Association sports are fantastically popular and widely covered on television and in press. Even world-known bookmakers provide lines for bets on NCAA leagues. No country in the world can boast of such situation. College teams receive huge money from their team sponsors and are interested in achieving high results attracting well-trained athletes. It means that skilled athletes receive scholarships which cover expenses on study and living. For many of them such way is the only chance to enter a university. Thus athletes who competed for a university team are highly motivated in achieving good results. They don’t just train, they secure stability of their lives. Very often at NCAA championships college athletes achieve higher results than professional athletes of other countries.
There is one more positive aspect of the USA model. Several sport events are extremely popular in the United States. These are football, basketball, baseball, hockey, track and field and some others. Almost all universities have their own teams for participating in these sports. If an athlete at the beginning of his career chooses some event, and some time later it turns out that he is much better in some other event, he can simply change an event within the same university. There are many such examples among Olympic champions at sprint events. Marion Jones who was member of her university basketball team, later became the fastest woman in the world. Famous sprinter Ato Boldon started his career playing soccer. Jim Hines used to be a baseball player in his early years. Eddie Tolan won Michigan state football championships as a high school boy. Much more examples could be mentioned.
Such conditions give an opportunity to find out really talented athletes, and hard competition compels them to develop their skills very fast. Yesterday’s NCAA champions become top world athletes today. Now it is John Capel, Shawn Crawford, Justin Gatlin, Jeremy Wariner and Lauryn Williams. In future there will be new stars and the National Collegiate Athletic Association model will never fail.
It’s worth mentioning that Caribbean athletes are good too. But note that many of them studied in American universities.
One might ask why American athletes are not so good at long distance running as they are at sprint events. The answer is simple – they like action. It’s much more interesting for them to watch a 100-meter race during 10 seconds than wait for the end of a 10-kilometers race for a half of an hour. They are crazy about eye-catching shows. And what could be more eye-catching than short-distance running? It’s not just a part of running or athletics, it’s another kind of sport, where limits of human body performance come out. That’s why they just go and grab world and Olympic titles in sprint and left the rest of events for the others.
