Mental Energy

From Runner’s World online…

Mental Energy

Tired and cranky? Ten simple ways to beat brain fatigue and run strong.

By Mackenzie Lobby

Amanda Rice knows how hard it is to run at the end of a long day. On top of her duties as a U.S. naval officer, Rice, 27, is in her final year of dental school and makes annual trips abroad to assist with community dentistry in places like Guatemala and Samoa. She's also a 2:44 marathoner and 2012 Olympic Trials qualifier. "Sometimes I'm so tired from treating patients all day," she says, "that I wonder if I should just skip my workout."

Mental fatigue can negatively impact physical performance, according to a study out of Bangor University's School of Sport, Health, and Exercise Sciences. Researchers split athletes of similar capabilities into two groups prior to an exhaustive cycling exercise. One group performed a tough 90-minute cognitive task, and the other watched documentaries. Once on the bikes, the mentally tasked riders displayed significantly less stamina than the movie watchers, and felt the exercise was more difficult. Their physical performance suffered because their brains were tired.

The challenge, then, is to find ways to change your thought process and realize that your body can handle a workout. Refocus, acknowledge that you'd rather crash on the couch, but put on your running shoes anyway, says Marshall Mintz, Psy.D., a clinical and sports psychologist. "Once you get going, even if it's for an easy three-miler, it almost always feels good to be running," he says.

Read on here.

Wednesday Night Run 6-15-2011

Hello ORC,

It is Father’s Day weekend, any suggestions?  And here are others.  This Friday is the Decatur Beach Party.  Saturday is the Red Stripe Midsummer Music and Food Festival.  And yes, it is a free event.  The Intown East Tour goes on at Gallery 1526.  The Atlanta Indie Market continues which should be bigger this weekend because there are no competing markets going on.  How about a Rockabilly Luau at masquerade or the Atlanta Rollergirls bout at the Yaarab Shrine Center.  The East Point Possums are having their 14^th Annual Show.  The Westside Art Walk goes on the 3^rd Saturday of every month.

What else is going on?  Want to share?

I was looking for some local runs, local as in a short run to the start line, and there is nothing close to Decatur.  Maybe I am missing a race here and there but there are races from Sandy Springs (Dash4Dad 5K), to Roswell (Possum Trot 10K) and even Snellville for the Georgia Cup Half Marathon.  There is the Green Dash 5K in Piedmont Park.  The ATC is having their Father’s Day 4-miler at Turner Field.  Or you can continue training for your next race, long run Saturday mornings.

Wednesday you will be running Route 9, the Lake Claire run.  It's a nice run starting with the short hills going out and then the long hard flat coming back into Decatur and Oakhurst.  The link is at the bottom of this e-mail.  After the run it's off to Mojo's Pizza for food, drinks and trivia.

Enjoy your run Wednesday night.  Thanks for making the Oakhurst Running Club one of the friendliest running club in Atlanta.

Corny

http://oakhurstrunningclub.blogspot.com/

http://oakhurst-running-club.googlegroups.com/web/Route+9.pdf?gda=mR749kAAAABX1J9qhvqHbbbNJKzo8aYdQbqgrQixVtnK7D5sp4TBNZTvMIATZsyqg5akgzruj0RtxVPdW1gYotyj7-X7wDON

Local Races This Weekend

Local Races This Weekend

Saturday, June 18

Georgia Cup Half Marathon and 5K, Snellville

Dash4Dad 5K, Sandy Springs

19th Annual S.W.A.T. Trot 5K & 1K, Snellville

33rd Annual Possum Trot 10K & Fun Run, Roswell

The Garden Gallop 5K, Kennesaw

Know Your Trails

From Oregonian online…

Lost trail-runners in Columbia Gorge walk out on their own

By Stuart Tomlinson, The Oregonian

BONNEVILLE -- William McBride and Anthony Weber set out Sunday afternoon to run for a couple of hours in the Columbia River Gorge, but wound up spending the night lost in the labyrinth of trails on the steep slopes above Wahclella Falls.

McBride, 29, and Weber, 28, both of Portland, were not prepared for their run, let alone the night, said Sgt. Steven Dangler, a search and rescue coordinator for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office. Essentially, Dangler said, they had none of the 10 essentials -- no cellular phone, no extra food, no extra clothing, no water

Read on here.

Pre-Marathon Miscues

From Running Times online…

Pre-Marathon Miscues

How to avoid four common mistakes before your race

By Greg McMillan, M.S.

As featured in the November 2007 issue of Running Times Magazine

We all know that poor pacing is the biggest mistake that marathoners make on race day. Talk to runners of all levels at any marathon expo before the big race, however, and you’ll soon realize that a multitude of mistakes are also made before the race even starts. Here are the most common pre-marathon mistakes that can affect race day (and the easy ways to remedy them).

Read on here.

Beat The Heat

It’s not an NBA Finals chant.  With all the 90 degree days Atlanta has been having, time to find some ways to beat the heat.  From Runner’s World online…

Beat The Heat

Most of us train through several weeks of hot weather. Our man went running with some heat-tested veterans--and took notes. Here's what he learned about training, dressing, drinking, and thriving in the hot spots

By John Hanc

Published 07/05/2007

Beep-beep-beep-beep.

The alarm clock jolted me into consciousness. I opened my eyes, looked around. Darkness. Stumbled out of bed, parted the curtains, and squinted out the window. More darkness.

There I stood, dazed and confused. I looked back at the clock. 3:00. Then I remembered. I was in Phoenix for a business trip; it was early...very early...on a Saturday in August, and I was going for a run.

I was training for a marathon, and my schedule called for a two-hour run. So before I left for Phoenix, I had contacted the Arizona Road Racers and asked if I could tag along with them that weekend. The club president, Mike Sheedy, e-mailed me back. "There are several training groups I can set you up with," he wrote. "Would you like to go out on Saturday morning?" You bet, I responded, envisioning an early morning long run starting at, oh, say, 7:30.

Shortly after I arrived in Phoenix and checked in at my hotel, the phone rang. "Mike sent us," said the voice on the other end. "We have a 14-mile run planned for tomorrow, and we heard you'd like to join us." Yes, definitely! "We run on trails in South Mountain Park. It's beautiful." Sounds great! "And we can pick you up at your hotel." Works for me! "Good, we'll be there at 3:30." Hmmm. "Three thirty?" I finally asked. "In the morning?" There was a chuckle on the other end of the line. "We try to start around 4 o'clock. That's the only time we can run out here."

It was my first lesson in heat training the way the pros--runners, like those in the Valley of the Sun, who have to deal with searing heat, choking humidity, or both for much of the year--do it. And considering what many scientists (to say nothing of Al Gore) are saying about the warming of the planet, we may all be joining these heat vets soon. So best to pay attention now.

Read on here.

More On Barefoot Running

From the NY Times…

Are We Built to Run Barefoot?

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

At a recent symposium of the American College of Sports Medicine’s annual meeting in Denver, cutely titled “Barefoot Running: So Easy, a Caveman Did It!,” a standing-room-only crowd waited expectantly as a slide flashed up posing this question: Does barefoot running increase or decrease skeletal injury risk?

“The answer,” said Dr. Stuart J. Warden, an associate professor of physical therapy at Indiana University, “is that it probably does both.”

Barefoot running remains as popular and contentious a topic among exercise scientists as it is among athletes, even though it is practiced by only a tiny subset of American runners. These early-adopter runners, however, tend to be disproportionately enthusiastic and evangelical. Many cite the best seller “Born to Run,” by Christopher McDougall, which touts barefoot running, and claim that barefoot running cured them of various running-related injuries and will do so for their fellow athletes. “There are people who are convinced that barefoot runners never get injured,” said Daniel E. Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard who runs barefoot himself and spoke on the topic during last week’s symposium.

Read on here.

Local Races This Weekend

Saturday, June 11

Muddy Buddy Atlanta, Conyers

Hands Around the Hill - Race to House the Homeless 5K, Grant Park

Magnolia Run and Walk for Epilepsy, Perimeter Mall

2011 Atlanta Children's Shelter 5K Run/Walk, Piedmont Park

Long Runs For All

From Running Times online…

Why Non-Marathoners Still Need Long Runs

Long runs help you race better at any distance

By Duncan Larkin

As featured in the September 2009 issue of Running Times Magazine

In November of 1961, legendary coach Arthur Lydiard told the 1960 800m gold medalist, Peter Snell, to go run a marathon. Before that, Lydiard had Snell incorporating the Waiatarua circuit, a grueling, 22-mile long run up and down the Waitakere Ranges in New Zealand, as part of his 100-mile training week. What was a man who would race for less than 2 minutes doing running for 2 hours? This type of training was completely unheard of for middle-distance runners back in those days.

But it paid off.

Only two months after his Lydiard-mandated marathon, Snell ran a world-record mile (3:54). And in the 1964 Olympics, he won gold in the 800 and 1500m events.

The long run has been popular ever since.

Why is this? What are the physiological changes long runs produce that are beneficial to someone who is racing for a short period of time? According to Running Times columnist and coach, Greg McMillan, there are three key physiological adaptations that occur in the body during a long run: enzymatic, capillary and musculoskeletal. When you run long, you increase enzymes in your muscle cells and grow capillaries, which are the small vessels that surround the cells. These important changes allow more oxygen to be delivered to working muscles. You also strengthen your muscles, tendons and ligaments. "These adaptations help you in shorter races like the 5K because it's still primarily an aerobic activity," McMillan says. "The more oxygen that you can deliver to the working muscles, the better your performance will be. And the stronger your muscles, tendons, bones and ligaments become, the more you are capable to conduct better race-specific training like intervals."

Read on here.

Wednesday Night Run 6-8-2011

Hello ORC,

I read an article saying it was the 9^th straight day of temps over 90 degrees.  So it will be another hot run this Wednesday night.  I guess that is some relief that it’s not 90 at 7pm.  Saying it doesn’t make it any better either.  Happy 1 Year Anniversary to the Decatur Farmers Market.  They celebrate 1 year this Saturday.  At Freedom Park is the Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance and they are planning to celebrate both World Wide Knit In Public Day and International Yarn Bombing Day.  Everyone is invited.  Dick Dale will be at the EARL on Friday night.  Yes, Dick Dale, surf rock guitarist.  The Indie Craft Experience is also this weekend in the West End.  The place always has some very cool stuff.

Other big events this weekend is the EvolverFest at Lake Claire Community Land Trust and Atlanta Streets Alive along Edgewood Av.

What else is going on?  Want to share?

If you want to run and run dirty, there is the Muddy Buddy in Conyers.  For cleaner running there is the Hands Around the Hill in Grant Park, Atlanta Children’s Shelter in Piedmont Park, and the Magnolia Run at Perimeter Mall.  Sure there are more runs farther out, why not run to a 5K, race a 5K, run back home, and enjoy a drink.

This Wednesday you are running through the Winnona neighborhood on Route 1.  The run goes through Kirkwood, through McKoy Park, around Winnona, through Agnes Scott, and a long finishing straight on Ansley.  The link to Route 1 is at the bottom of this e-mail.  After the run it's off to Mojo's Pizza for food, drinks and trivia.

Enjoy your run Wednesday night.  Thanks for making the Oakhurst Running Club one of the friendliest running club in Atlanta.

Corny

http://oakhurstrunningclub.blogspot.com/

http://oakhurst-running-club.googlegroups.com/web/Route+1.pdf?gda=v86xvD

Once A Running Shoe Salesman

What a story, from Competitor online…

Once A Running Shoe Salesman

Published: May 31st 2011

by Competitor.com

A longtime runner reflects on the motivation and madness behind the endurance lifestyle, and how once you start living it, there’s no turning back.

Written by: T.J. Murphy

This story first appeared in the May issue of Competitor Magazine.

I am not an elite athlete; I never have been and never will be. Yet every day I obsess about running. I psych myself up for training. I think about freeing myself from injuries. I dream about races I want to do and study ways to rev up speed and stamina, a search I’ve conducted since the 1980s. It was then that I went mad for running and, recently while reminiscing over the days when I worked at a running shoe store, I wondered why, after so many years of obsession, I haven’t become completely sick of it all.

Read on here.