PROGRAM FITNESS NEWS
www.profitness.net.nz March 2004

INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Happenings and OUCH!
Military Drill and Drunk Again?
Don't Get Hurt!
Shin Splints and Keeping the Pace
Real Hip Stuff
The Right Beat

Happenings

Hi All. No computer crashes this month but we do have a new member.

A special "Hi" to Colin Horne from down Levin way. Colin is a walker who combines running and walking in his exercise regime and wants to improve his race walking abilities. He is looking towards progressing through to the 2005 NZ Masters Games. Along the way the expects to improve his 10k race walking time from 60 minutes to 55 minutes.

Just to get the ball rolling this month, I would like to advise you that although the monthly newsletter will continue the same, from time to time I come across articles that are a little too large for the newsletter but could be of great interest to some of you. With this in mind, I will start sending such articles as they come to hand. So expect a few extra goodies from time to time.

Earlier in the month, Barbara Johnson, one of our runners, took part in a local 10k race in the Auckland Domain and came away with a time of 52:32. This was a PB, so things are looking good for Barbara.

Another member in a slightly distant place is Verlie Shepherd from Gisborne. Recently, Verlie took part in a 24 hour charity event for runners and walkers and I received comments from a walker in the region that indicated that Verlie had totalled 100+ km during her periods on the course during the 24 hour period. Congratulations, Verlie.

At the beginning of the month, Program Fitness members took Hamilton by storm when they competed in the NZ Masters T&F Championships. All took part in both the 3000m track walk and the 10km road walk. Their efforts resulted in a bag of no less than 10 gold medals. Two each for Steve Appel, Michael Harte, Sharon McDonald, Gillian MacDougall and yours truly. To say that we were a happy bunch of campers would be to put it mildly. Nice one, team!

In the recent National T&F Champs held in Wellington, Michael Harte had another good set of race walking results. Up against the young fella's he came away with two 4th placings, with a 14:51.64 in the 3000m track walk and 1:55.31 in the 20km road walk. Things are lookin' good for Michael too.

These earlier events are part of the build-up for a number of our competitive members who have entered events in the World Masters Non Stadia Championships being held in Auckland in mid April.

Barbara Johnson will be lining up to run the Rotorua Marathon, while yours truly, along with Michael Harte, Gillian MacDougall, Sharon McDonald and Steve Appel will all face the race walks starter over distances ranging from 10km through to the 50km event.

Athletes following the lead of the U.S. Army may soon abandon static stretching before competition in favor of a dynamic protocol that does not include any stretching.

Thirty cadets completed three performance tests on each of three consecutive days, with one of two 10-minute warm-ups or no warm-up randomly assigned to each day. The dynamic protocol involved 10 types of calisthenics and five movement drills; the static protocol involved a one-minute run in place and nine 20 to 30-second stretches of the major muscle groups.

WHAT CAUSES MUSCLE SORENESS?
Gabe Mirkin, M.D.

Your muscles should feel sore on some days after you exercise. If you go out and jog the same two miles at the same pace, day after day, you will never become faster, stronger or have greater endurance. If you stop lifting weights when your muscles start to burn, you won't feel sore on the next day and you will not become stronger. All improvement in any muscle function comes from stressing and recovering. On one day, you go out and exercise hard enough to make your muscles burn during exercise. The burning is a sign that you are damaging your muscles. On the next day, your muscles feel sore because they are damaged and need time to recover. Scientist call this DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness.
It takes at least eight hours to feel this type of soreness. You finish a workout and feel great; then you get up the next morning and your exercised muscles feel sore. We used to think that next-day muscle soreness is caused by a buildup of lactic acid in muscles, but now we know that lactic acid has nothing to do it. Next-day muscle soreness is caused by damage to the muscle fibers themselves. Muscle biopsies taken on the day after hard exercise show bleeding and disruption of the z-band filaments that hold muscle fibers together as they slide over each other during a contraction.
Scientists can tell how much muscle damage has occurred by measuring blood levels of a muscle enzyme called CPK. CPK is normally found in muscles and is released into the bloodstream when muscles are damaged. Those exercisers who have the highest post-exercise blood levels of CPK often have the most muscle soreness. Using blood CPK levels as a measure of muscle damage, researchers have shown that people who continue to exercise when their muscles feel sore are the ones most likely to feel sore on the next day.
Many people think that cooling down by exercising at a very slow pace after exercising more vigorously, helps to prevent muscle soreness. It doesn't. Cooling down speeds up the removal of lactic acid from muscles, but a buildup of lactic acid does not cause muscle soreness, so cooling down will not help to prevent muscle soreness. Stretching does not prevent soreness either, since post-exercise soreness is not due to contracted muscle fibers.
Next-day muscle soreness should be used as a guide to training, whatever your sport. On one day, go out and exercise right up to the burn, back off when your muscles really start to burn, then pick up the pace again and exercise to the burn. Do this exercise-to-the-burn and recover until your muscles start to feel stiff, and then stop the workout. Depending on how sore your muscles feel, take the next day off or go at a very slow pace. Do not attempt to train for muscle burning again until the soreness has gone away completely. Most athletes take a very hard workout on one day, go easy for one to seven days afterward, and then take a hard workout again. World-class marathon runners run very fast only twice a week. The best weightlifters lift very heavy only once every two weeks. High jumpers jump for height only once a week. Shot putters throw for distance only once a week. Exercise training is done by stressing and recovering.
To receive Dr. Mirkin's free health & fitness E-Zine each week, send a blank email to subscribe@drmirkin.com
www.DrMirkin.com

Water Wise
by Felicia Busch & Associates, Inc.

Do you make this common mistake? Waiting until you¹re thirsty before taking a drink of water. Thirst isn¹t an early signal of water needs; it¹s a warning sign that you¹re dehydrated and need to drink up - and fast. By the time you feel thirsty you have already lost over 1 percent of your total body water. Some subtle signs of dehydration include dry lips, dark colored urine, muscle or joint soreness, headaches, crankiness, fatigue and constipation. More serious complications caused by extreme dehydration include seizures, permanent brain damage, or even death.
In addition to water, milk, juice and soup count toward your daily fluid intake because of their high water content. But don¹t include alcohol, coffee, tea, and soft drinks that contain caffeine as they may have a mild diuretic effect. Caffeine can hold back water from the tissues that need it. Since your body is nearly two-thirds water, it is important to stay ahead of dehydration. If you are out in hot, humid weather or exercising vigorously you need to replace 150% of the amount of water lost to keep hydrated. If you lose 1 pound of sweat during a workout (16 ounces) you need 24 ounces of fluid to rehydrate. The message is crystal clear: Drink plenty of water every day.
Nutrition Actions to Increase Water Intake
-Take water breaks instead of coffee breaks.
- Choose water instead of soft drinks or coffee.
- Drink water before meals and snacks.
- Drink water before, during and after any physical activity.
- Keep a bottle of water on your desk to sip from throughout the work day.
- Alternate sparkling or plain bottled water with alcoholic drinks at parties and social gatherings.
10 practical guidelines that will help you avoid getting injured
by Bruce Tulloh, author of Running Over 40
When I am making out a training plan I always start with the objectives such as improving aerobic fitness, practising changes of pace or maintaining flexibility.
Including "avoidance of injury" in this list brings it into the reckoning when planning a week's training.

These are my guidelines:
1. Never train hard when stiff from the previous effort.
2. Introduce new activities very gradually.
3. Allow lots of time for warming up and cooling off.
4. Check over training and competition courses beforehand.
5. Train on different surfaces, using the right footwear.
6. Shower and change immediately after the cool down.
7. Aim for the maximum comfort when travelling.
8. Stay away from infectious areas when training or competing very hard.
9. Be extremely fussy about hygiene in hot weather.
10. Monitor daily for signs of fatigue. If in doubt, ease off.
Read more about Bruce Tulloh's ten guidelines
(http://www.sports-coach.net/prewp/htw-64.html)

Taking it on the Shin

Shin soreness and shin splints are terms used to refer to a pain in the front lower leg. This could be as a result of:
· The muscles on the front, outer part of the leg being strained, or partly torn, by a sudden awkward movement. Technically known as medial tibial stress syndrome
· A direct blow to the tibia (shin bone)
· Stress fracture
· Swelling of the Posterior or Anterior Tibial muscles within their containing sheath. (Compartment Syndrome)
The potential causes of shin soreness are:
· Increase in intensity of exercise
· Return following injury without adequate build up
· Change of shoes
· Change in running surface
· Incorrect running action
· Pronation of the feet
Strain, tear or fracture
· A muscle strain or tear you would feel the pain immediately whenever you contract or stretch the muscle
· Compartment syndrome can be caused by a tear in the enclosed muscles, so the two problems can co-exist
· Stress fracture requires specialist diagnosis. As the tibial tendons lie close to the shin bone it is often difficult to distinguish between posterior tibial tendon strain and a tibial stress fracture. The two problems can also co-exist as the stress fracture is caused by excessive pull from the tendons against the bone, and tendon tightness and pain may be a protective spasm around the area of a fracture.
Brian Mackenzie

UK Athletics Senior Coach (UKA 4)
Editor, Successful Coaching

"As the days grow shorter, remember visibility on the road. Wear as much reflective safety gear as possible. And don't forget your pet - reflective running jackets are available for dogs too!" -Beth Moxey Eck, RW senior editor

"Think of a hill workout as a running-specific weight workout. The exaggerated knee lift, driving arms, and pronounced toe-off necessary to run up hills strengthens you every bit as much as hitting the weight room. Hill running also works the cardiovascular system as your heart tries to keep pace with the increased energy required to fight gravity. Consequently, hill workouts are very taxing and should be done only once or twice a week." -Ed Eyestone, two-time Olympic marathoner
Bake Some Bread: "Select breads that offer lots of muscle-fueling carbohydrate along with a dose of fiber, and avoid those, such as croissants, that come with unwanted fat. Whole-grain breads such as seven-grain, 100 percent whole wheat, and whole-wheat sourdough make excellent choices. One slice of whole-grain bread usually supplies about 15 to 20 grams of carbohydrate and 3 to 4 grams of fiber. Bread also supplies a decent amount of B vitamins-thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and folic acid-which all help your body produce energy."-Liz Applegate, Ph.D.

Continuous training is when an athlete exercises in a steady aerobic way and interval training is characterised by repetitions of work with a recovery period following each repetition.

Continuous Training
This can be broken down into the following sub-divisions which have slightly different effects upon the energy pathways.
· Running at 50 to 60% of maximum heart rate or 20 to 36% of V02 Max. Very easy pace, metabolises fat, aerobic. Duration 60 minutes plus. Useful for joggers & ultra distance runners

· Running at 60 to 70% of maximum heart rate or 36 to 52% of V02 Max. Slightly faster pace, burns glycogen and fat, aerobic. Duration 45 to 90 minutes. Useful for marathon runners. Improves cardiovascular system and capillarisation

· Running at 70 to 80% of maximum heart rate or 52 to 68% of V02 Max, 10km pace, burns glycogen, aerobic. Duration 30 to 45 minutes. Useful for 10km and marathon runners. Improves cardiovascular system, capillarisation and is glycogen burning

· Running at 80 to 90% of maximum heart rate or 68 to83% of V02 Max. 5km pace, burns glycogen, anaerobic. Duration 10 to 20 minutes. Useful for 5km to marathon runners. Improves cardiovascular system, capillarisation, glycogen burning, lactate tolerance and removal

· Running at 90 to 100% of maximum heart rate or 83 to 99% of V02 Max. 800/1500m pace, burns glycogen, anaerobic. Duration 1 to 5 minutes. Useful for 800 to 5km runners. Improves glycogen burning, lactate tolerance and removal

Brian Mackenzie, UK Athletics Senior Coach (UKA 4)
Editor, Successful Coaching

Hip injuries in athletes usually are few and far between, so radiologists don't often schedule MR, CT, or a bone scan in an initial workup. But when a patient has nagging hip, groin, or low back pain, imaging can find small and subtle stress fractures in the hip before they become full breaks. If missed, these can lead to avascular necrosis, nail-and-screw hip arthroplasty, or even a hip replacement that may have to be revised in about 15 years.

This is why Dr. Nancy Major, an assistant professor of radiology at Duke University, favors a quick MRI referral for endurance athletes with vague hip or back problems.

"As soon as you suspect an athlete may have a hip stress fracture, you need to get them off their weight-bearing immediately and image them with MRI. You have a diagnosis right away, and the patient can get the needed weight-bearing protection," she said.

MRI studies of the hip are uncommon in athletes, said Dr. J. Bruce Kneeland, a professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania. MR imaging of the hip typically is done to rule out atraumatic osteonecrosis when there is no reason to think a person has the disease-in someone who isn't taking steroids or suffering from alcoholism, for example-or to spot a radiographically occult fracture in elderly women with severe osteoporosis.

Athletes do, of course, sustain fractures of the hip or pelvic ring, and MRI is an excellent modality for evaluating them. But MRI is not a frontline imaging tool; it is performed when plain radiographs cannot identify a cause of persistent pain.

According to Major, orthopedic surgeons and sports medicine physicians shouldn't be satisfied with radiography, since gases in the bowel and the configuration of the sacrum can obscure hip stress fractures. Physicians should go to MRI whenever an elite athlete has groin or back pain because early diagnosis of a stress fracture will dramatically affect the athlete's training.

"Athletes who have a big track meet coming up over the weekend or who are training for the Olympics will want to run through pain. What we need to do is make sure they don't have a stress fracture. Then they can go ahead and participate in their sport," Major said.

She bases her opinion on a study of four marathoners who complained of low back and vague buttock pain after running more than 50 miles a week. Although each of the patients was treated for disk disease, none of their symptoms improved. So Major performed further imaging investigations and found clear signs of hip stress fractures in every patient.

CT showed unilateral vertical disruption of cortical bone through the sacrum and sclerosis in the sacral foramina in two patients, and bilateral cortical disruption and sclerosis along the ala sacralis in a third patient. T1-weighted MR produced a low-intensity signal in the lateral aspect of the sacrum, which became high intensity on T2-weighted images in two patients. And radionuclide bone scanning revealed linear uptake in the ala sacralis along the sacroiliac joint in another patient. Results from the study were reported at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in May 1999 and published in the March 2000 issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Because MRI is multiplanar, it avoids some of the technical problems associated with CT, such as motion or other artifacts that affect the reformatting of axial slices into coronal or sagittal images and, as a result, may camouflage a stress fracture. CT imaging in the axial plane also may completely miss a fracture in the same plane, she said.

Although Major found small stress fractures in only a small number of long-distance runners, she believes that hip problems may be occurring in other endurance athletes, such as sprinters who train extensively.

"We're seeing more stress-like injuries than we ever did before. The reality is that stress fractures around the hip might be more common than we thought," she said. "With our sophisticated imaging techniques and with the increase in the number of orthopedic surgeons who specialize in treating athletic injuries, we can diagnose these fractures before they become real problems."

By: Jeff Devlin
TransitionTimes.com: Pennsylvania

HEART RATE MONITORS. A TRAINING BUDDY. If you don't have one, get one! Ack! I've watched "Toy Story" once too often. Seriously though, if you want to get the most health and fitness benefits from your training, a heart rate monitor is an essential training tool. If used properly, it will enable you achieve maximum fitness levels while avoiding illness and injury caused by overtraining. However, a heart rate monitor is useless if you don't know how to use it.

The most accurate way to determine heart rate zones is to have a stress test done. This will determine your maximum heart rate and your anaerobic and aerobic threshold heart rates. This may not be an option for most athletes. So, without knowing your maximum heart rate or threshold heart rates you need another method. There are many formulas that are about as accurate as a coin toss. Using a formula that considers your current fitness level and health will increase the odds of finding the correct heart rates. Once you have some training under your belt there are self tests you can perform to more accurately determine your target zones. I will discuss this further in another article.

You also have to realize that everyone is different. Some people are "slow beaters" and some are "fast beaters." A low heart rate does not necessarily mean you are a"stud" and a high heart rate does not always mean that you are out of shape.

There are many factors that influence your heart rate including age, genetics, training, overtraining, conditioning, illness, recovery, weather, hydration and nutrition. These factors may affect your resting heart rate, your maximum heart and your threshold heart rates in a variety of ways.

AGE - Maximum, resting and threshold heart rates decrease with increasing age.

TRAINING, CONDITIONING -Maximum heart rate typically does not change with training. However, the rate at which it decreases with age will be slower with consistent training. Threshold heart rates can change drastically through training. The more well trained an athlete is, the higher his threshold heart rates will be. Resting heart rate will decrease with training.

OVERTRAINING, RECOVERY -Overtraining and incomplete recovery will cause lower maximum and threshold heart rates while causing a rise in resting heart rate. It may be difficult to keep heart rate in low intensity zones and impossible to achieve high intensity zones. You get stuck in no man's land. Your body is too fatigued to work out at high intensity and needs to go slower at your normal low intensity zones.

ILLNESS -Like overtraining, illness will cause a rise in resting heart rate and lower maximum and threshold heart rates. However, heart rates will typically be higher than normal at any given pace or perceived effort. Your body is working overtime trying to fight off infection or a cold.

WEATHER-In general, the hotter it is the higher your heart rate and the slower your pace is going to be. Athletes can overcome this by regular training in warmer climates. When you acclimate to the heat, the increase in heart rate and decrease in pace will be less drastic.

HYDRATION/NUTRITION-When it is hot, you sweat. When you sweat you cool your body but you also lose fluid. Without cooling and without fluid replacement heart rate will increase while pace decreases. When you exercise, you burn primarily carbohydrate and fat calories. Carbohydrates (which are limited) must be present in order to burn the fat (which is virtually unlimited). Without proper nutrition during exercise, heart rate will increase while pace decreases.Listening to your body and understanding what it is telling you is the key to staying healthy and getting fit.

MAY YOUR TRAINING AND YOUR LIFE BE ALL POSITIVE

CHEERS!
GARY