Everyday Is A Learning Experience

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Everyday isn’t perfect, and it can’t be. But every day is a learning opportunity, a chance to learn about yourself as a runner, as an athlete.

No matter the workout, you have the chance to challenge yourself, physically, mentally and emotionally. It is those not so perfect days that are the hardest mental challenge.

Recently, we had a long progression run on the roads, an out and back route. This workout was tough, and for me, it certainly wasn’t perfect. Usually when starting a workout, I can keep the Stotan men in my sight for a little while. On this run, they were gone in a flash, simply adding more of an effect to me feeling sluggish. I figured, it’s early, I’ll loosen up and it will start to flow. But this was taking a while. I was still on my way out, the first part of the session, and things hadn’t gotten any better; still feeling very cold and hadn’t quite warmed up. This was a challenge. Yes, physically, because I wasn’t quite hitting my pace, but mentally, because I had to fight through all these negative thoughts and frustrations, and continue pushing with miles and miles to go.

This was the best and worst part of my workout. I kept pushing through, trying to pick up the pace and find my rhythm. Just before I hit the turnaround mark I saw the men, looking smooth and moving fast. It was definitely motivating watching them run by, and hearing them cheer and support me. I hit the turnaround mark, it was my workout, turned around. I felt a lot better and smoother as I headed back to our finish line.

This workout was a great learning experience. The best part of the workout was the mental challenge, learning to keep fighting, pushing, and finding your way. What comes from this workout is building up that mental strength, and learning how to use that strength in the future.

Everyday certainly isn’t perfect, but we use these days to get better. Thinking about marathon racing and training, I know that every mile isn’t going to be perfect. Days like this one, are easy to dwell on. They are easy days to feel like you got nothing out of it, and not do all the proper things for recovery. But I didn’t dwell on this day, and I was somewhat pleased with it, the mental workout. I felt I got a lot out of this workout, both on my way out, and my way back during the run.

Days like these are a great chance to learn about yourself and figure things out, maybe what to do differently to prep for next time, layers to wear, what to eat or use to fuel up, and your warm-up. No matter what the outcome of the workout is, you should always remember that you did in fact get something out of that workout, and you should do all the proper things to recover and prep for the following day. After this workout, I still had my Endurox, cooled down and stretched, so maybe next time I would have a more perfect day.

Chasing The Dream

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When I started running I was 13 and my training consisted of running laps around my yard.  At the time it was hard to explain what attracted me to something that was so simple; I remember unsuccessfully trying to convince my brother to run with me.  There was something that drew me to running even then.  I began racing local road races with my sister and uncles who ran regularly and I loved competing.  I wasn’t fast, my first three 5k’s were all slower than 23 minutes, but there was one thing that compelled me to continue.  The idea that the more I ran, the faster I would get was addicting to me.  I wanted to push myself more and challenge what I could handle.

In high school I was becoming a strong local runner, but certainly was not garnering any serious attention from colleges.  As I ran more I found myself running out of time in the day to run as much as I wanted so during my senior year of high school I started getting up at 5:30 AM to run before school.  Before bed I would lay out my running clothes next to my bed so that I wouldn’t waste any time.  My alarm would go off at 5:30 and I would hit the road by 5:33 AM.  I would run my 7 mile loop all winter in the dark and cold.  This is when I knew I had found a passion that I would carry with me throughout my life.  I really did not know how good I was going to be, but there was one thing that would carry me to achieve many goals; I was willing to work.  My best times in high school were 4:42 for 1600 meters and 9:48 for 3200 meters.   Good enough to qualify for the New York State meet, but I was not the best runner in the State, or Section and I wasn’t satisfied.

My freshman year of college I attended Broome Community College where I met a very important person in my life, Tom Carter.  Tom was the cross country coach at BCC but it wasn’t his coaching that was significant to me, it was his passion.  Tom and I shared something in common, our incredible passion for distance running.  To this day there are only a few people I have met who can even understand Tom and his passion.  When Tom was in his 20’s and 30’s he did one thing, and only one thing, RUN.  Tom may not be proud of it now, but his 1.0 GPA his freshman year of college was not a reflection of a lazy student, just the opposite.  Tom did some things in his life that seem absolutely crazy, unless of course you share his same passion, in which case it made perfect sense.  Yes, Tom made perfect sense to me and I wanted to follow his lead.  Tom lived a frugal life; in fact he had lived in a car, a gas station and on a porch at different times of his life.  Tom chose these because he wanted to focus completely on running.  He could not tie himself down with a job.  Running brought Tom many victories including the Utica Boilermaker in 1979.  Tom went on to run a 3:58 mile and 14:04 5k.  There was however one thing that eluded Tom, the Olympic Trials.  Tom trained for years and was never able to hit a qualify mark for the Olympic Trials for Track and Field.  Tom does not regret any of his journeys in fact he wouldn’t trade it for anything.  The best advice anyone has ever given to me, was from Tom and it is simple “Chase the Dream”.

I moved on from BCC to SUNY Cortland after one year and I was a new person, a new runner.   I had two wonderful coaches who guided my aggression to meaningful training, Jack Daniels and Matt Moran.  Jack is a legendary coach known for his running books “Daniels Running Formula”. Both men were among the most intelligent running coaches I have seen and I owe them tremendously for helping me reach my potential as an athlete. My sophomore year I began running 100 miles a week, sometimes more, considerably more than other collegiate runners.  I knew that I was willing to train and put myself through more suffering than my competitors and this would lead to success.   In my four years of collegiate cross country I improved my 8k time by more than a minute each year going from 28:00 to 24:46.  By the time I graduated from Cortland I was a five time All American and had won a NCAA Division III Championship in the 5000 meters.  Many would think of this as a successful running career, but to me this was not the end.  It was not easy explaining to friends and family that I was pursuing a career as a runner and that I might not make any money doing it.  People thought I was chasing an unrealistic dream and wasting my time.

In 2007, after a series of strong road races at USA national championships, I was invited to run for a professional running team, Hansons Olympic Development Program in Rochester, Michigan.  At Hansons I was able to train with an Olympian and several World championship qualifiers.  I had some successful races at Hansons but was not able to achieve the one goal that I had always wanted…an Olympic Trials Qualifier.

My wife and I decided to move back to central New York in 2009.  In March of 2010 our beautiful daughter, Chloe was born.  Now a father, my life certainly had added responsibilities.  However, my running career was not over.  Bill and John Aris started a post collegiate running team called Stotan Racing in January of 2010 with sponsorship from Nike and Pacific Health Labs.  Although I now balance a full time job at Fleet Feet Syracuse, responsibilities of fatherhood, and going to graduate school, I was not done competing.  Bill and John and my Stotan teammates pushed me to continue to train for the Olympic Trials qualifier.  To qualify for the Olympic Trials a time standard must be achieved in a marathon.  In 2008 the qualifying time was 2:22:00 for the marathon.  For the 2012 Olympic Trials a committee decided to lower the standard to 2:19:00.  At Hansons, my best Marathon time was 2:23:54.  I had a lot of work to do.  As my training became very intense I started to see results.  In October of 2010 I ran the Chicago marathon in 2:21:23.  It was my best time by over two and half minutes, but I was not satisfied, I had once again missed the Olympic Trials Standard, this was my 8th marathon. After Chicago, we had a big decision to make; when would I attempt another marathon?  Usually it is ideal to fully recover from a marathon and rebuild starting with base training.  This process usually takes at least six months to properly prepare.  Bill, John and I discussed and debated our options for about two weeks because we knew we were making an important decision.  We finally decided to prepare for the New Orleans marathon on February 13, 2011.  We had four months, which meant we had to continue to marathon train.  We wanted to do this because we thought I had the fitness to run faster than 2:21 and wanted to take advantage of my fitness.

Training for the Rock’n’Roll Mardi Gras marathon, had a few challenges.  For one, it meant that we had to train through the Syracuse winter.  As if running 130 miles a week wasn’t hard enough, doing it during a winter in which we had 179 inches of snow meant I was seriously tested by not only my training but the weather as well.  The worse the winter got, and the more intense my training became, the more confident I was becoming.  I was forced to do a long run on a treadmill…it was 23 miles.  We ran our marathon pace workouts on Saintsville Rd and the surrounding area; I ran hundreds of miles down the long straight stretch of road along the rail road tracks.  Every time a train came charging by, I tried to imagine myself running as powerfully as the train.  Seeing a train became a visual reminder of the hard work I was putting in chasing my dream and pushing through anything to achieve it.

Several days before the marathon, I flew to New Orleans where I met my brother, who conveniently lives only an hour from New Orleans in Diamondhead, Mississippi.  Marathon training seems to be an endless journey of training, so arriving at the marathon was surreal, it was finally here, and I was ready.

Race morning finally arrived; I was up at 4 AM to eat my oatmeal and banana breakfast for our 7 AM race start.  I was nervous, as I usually am for races, but especially so before a marathon.  It was 42 degrees at the start and sunny, which are perfect marathon racing conditions.  The race started and I strode off the line, reminding myself to relax early, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of a race and go out too hard.  A pack of about 5 runners formed right away in the lead of the race.  We passed the first mile in 5:11, a little quick but I felt good and was relaxed.  Although it was very early in the race, I took the lead.  I wanted to make sure we stayed on pace to run under 2:19.  Mile 2, 5:17, mile 3, 5:12 it was already down to 3 of us, one of which was Shamus Nally, a good friend of mine who graduated from SUNY Cortland with me.  Shamus was also going for an Olympic Trials qualifier.  The third member of our group was Kevin Castille, a former Olympic Trials qualifier in the 10,000 meters.  Shamus and I traded leads while Castille stayed tucked behind us.  It became clear early that Castille was running for the win while Shamus and I were racing for time.  Shamus and I continued to push the pace until the 13th mile, when Shamus began to fade, it was down to 2.  We went through the half marathon in 1:08:41, we were averaging 5:14 per mile.  We were 49 seconds ahead of pace.  I continued to lead until mile 14.  I was beginning to fatigue and each mile was becoming increasingly difficult.  For the first time Castille led as I tucked behind him and tried to keep pace.  We continued on until just after mile 18, where we went under a railroad bridge.  As we began to run up the slight incline coming out of the underpass, Castille seemed to let up just a fraction, and I realized he was suffering.  I reacted; I pushed hard to try to break away.  Although I was focused on running 2:19 I was in position to win the marathon and I needed to take advantage of the opportunity.  By the time we got to 20 miles I was about 100 meters in the lead.  I was feeling strong running on the adrenaline of being only 10 kilometers from winning a marathon and qualifying for the Olympic Trials.  But it wouldn’t be quite that easy.  Mile 21 I had run a 5:27, I had slowed but I was putting in the same effort.  This is common in the late stages of a marathon.  As the body begins to run out of glycogen, muscle’s preferred source of energy, in combination with muscle fatigue, it becomes difficult to maintain pace.  I was really starting to hurt, but I needed to average 5:18 per mile in order to run under 2:19, so I was losing time.  I continued to run in the 5:20’s for the next few miles.  The feeling of excitement was slowly turning into desperation.  At mile 24 I ran another 5:27 mile, followed by a 5:26.  I had lost the entire cushion I had a built up early in the race and now had to actually pick it up in order to qualify.  My legs ached and I was feeling exhausted.  I had been in this position before, being ahead of qualifying pace but losing it in the last few miles.  Late in the race, I thought to myself, can I accept going home without qualifying for the trials?  The answer was no.  I just could not accept coming this far, hurting this much, making this much sacrifice, to come up short.  I pushed on, ran as hard as I possibly could.  The last mile and half of the race are in a park and I was winding through the park chasing the lead vehicle, it seemed to last forever.  I wanted it to be over.  I reached the 26 mile mark after a 5:18 mile, my time at the 26 mile mark was 2:17:46, I needed to get to the finish in 74 seconds, which meant I needed to kick, but I knew I could do this.  For the first time of the race, I knew I was going to qualify for the Olympic Trials.  I sprinted down the final stretch in front of a screaming crowd.  My name was announced as I approached the line and I raised both arms pointing toward the sky as I crossed the finish in 2:18:49.  I had won by over 7 minutes.  Although my legs were in pain, I was overjoyed and filled with emotion.  It had been a long and painful journey but I had achieved my goal.  I spent the afternoon with my brother, Shamus, and Shamus’ girlfriend Megan celebrating my win.  By the time I got back to my hotel room and found my phone, I had hundreds of messages from friends and family waiting for me.  I will never forget the message each of my coach left.  John was screaming and could barely control his emotion; Bill kept repeating how “awesome” this was.  It actually took several days to even go through all of my messages.  It was overwhelming.

A few weeks went by and I enjoyed the accomplishment with my family.  When I finally sat down with Bill and John to discuss our plan toward preparing for the trials there was one main question they asked me; what was my goal for the Olympic Trials race?  My answer was simple “How high is up?”   This is something that Bill and John have used as a motto for their running teams, as to not limit what athletes can do.  It was then that I realized my journey of chasing the dream was not over.  In fact, it very well may be just beginning.

On January 14, 2012, I will compete in Houston, Texas with the best athletes in the country where the top 3 finishers will go on to compete in the Olympic Games in London representing the United States of America.  How high is up?

Nutrition Straight Up – As seen in Rock and Ice Magazine

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When Emily, my college-aged daughter, asked me to go to the climbing gym, I thought it would be an easy outing with some quality bonding. After all, I bike and run, and did not consider my daughter a strong athlete. After falling off the easiest route for the fourth time, however, I lay on the ground, rubbing my sore forearms and feeling humbled. My daughter gave me words of encouragement: “Dad, you lasted 10 minutes longer than Mom.” Meanwhile, Emily  effortlessly climbed the most difficult route…

Read the entire Nutrition Straight Up article as seen in Rock and Ice

Running: From Hobby to Competition

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I have always enjoyed running.

I was always excited for Elementary school Field Day’s and Camp Color War’s, especially when it came time for the running races.

I have grown up in an athletic family, with weeknights spent at practice, and weekends spent at soccer games.  I never minded running while playing soccer, playing the position of midfield, and seeming never to get tired running back and fourth during the game.  I even liked our warm-up’s, doing a lap or two around the fields, and I definitely enjoyed when the team did sprinting races.  I played soccer until the middle of high school, but decided to quit to truly commit to running.

Running in high school was a great experience, and successful, earning me a scholarship to Syracuse University.  In high school, I focused primarily on the middle distances, which continued in college.  The focus is much different now, as I am transitioning into a marathon training.

Since college, I had been running on my own, running shorter road races and attending graduate school.   Since last spring, I have been a member of Stotan Racing, a post-collegiate team out of Syracuse.  Stotan has become another family to me.  After graduating Syracuse, it was much different training on my own, and not having that team environment.  Stotan has given me that team environment and more, it has been a great experience, and has only just begun.

I look forward to each of my practices and my future on this team.  Stotan has even provided me the opportunity to connect with great resources such as Pacific Health Labs, and I have become a big fan of their products!  It has been beneficial having these products available for us before, during and after our workouts, and I certainly can feel a difference in my performance.

- Maegan Krifchin

Stotan Racing: Trust, Dedication and Family

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Every day I come home to my 19 month old daughter, Chloe. She screams DA-DA and runs to give me a big hug at the door. My wife, Shelby is expecting our 2nd child in November and we are excited for the new addition to our family. My family is the most precious blessing I have and really helps to keep my life in perspective. They are also my biggest motivator. My wife Shelby has certainly made many sacrifices to allow me to chase the dream of competing as a distance runner. Knowing that I am given this opportunity really makes me realize how fortunate I am and drives me to produce the absolute best results that I possibly can, regardless of what those results are.

Stotan Racing and our members is also a family to us. With our very successful year of running, many people ask, what is the secret of Stotan Racing? Well, that is a hard question to answer, but I think you might be surprised by my answer. Usually the expected answer is some formula of workouts that no one has heard of before. While training hard and persistence is essential to what we do, it is not why we are running so well right now. It really comes down to trust, dedication and family. Trust is something that most people do not think of when talking about distance running because it is always perceived as an individual sport. However, this is something that we have, that fuels us. Athletes and coaches alike trust each other and know that we are all working together to become the most powerful team we can. Success of one athlete is success for the entire group. Thus, responsibility of everything we do falls on all of us.

Long before the Rock ‘n’ Roll Philadelphia half marathon even started, I was prepared by Bill and John Aris with my teammates to run the fastest half marathon of my life. When I qualified for the Olympic Trials in the marathon, I was fast enough to get into the event and run the race. But we knew that if I wanted to be competitive I was going to need to do something bigger, something faster. After a summer of training toward a goal of running under 65 minutes, I was confident and excited to run for Stotan Racing and represent everyone on our team through my race. The four of us that raced (five including Brad Miller who raced the USA 5K championships in Providence the same day) prepared to race not for ourselves but for our entire team. John gave me instructions for Philly, and this made the race simple, I was trained, prepared and had a plan. I was going to start at a pace that was fast, really fast. In fact it would take me through 10k at a personal best time on the roads.

As the race started I jumped off the line right up front. This raced was being promoted as the most competitive half marathon in the world, so I knew I was going out fast. I found my rhythm as I formed a chase pack behind the leaders. Our pack contained 5 runners including Olympian and 4 time NCAA Division 1 Champion, Adam Goucher. We were running ahead of some of the best runners in the country. If I was using common sense, I would have dropped back, but that was not my instructions. I was aggressive, I usually don’t go out this hard, but this was the plan, I was simply running the plan. My first 3 splits were 4:50, 5:01, 4:51. Certainly the fastest start to a half marathon I had ever run, but I felt strong. I went through 5k in 15:15 and 10k in 30:30–right on pace. After 10k my legs began to tighten and I was pushing more and more to maintain the aggressive pace I had set. I went through 15k in 45:54 and 20k in 1:01:17, both were Personal Best times through those distances. My finish time was 1:04:37 exactly what we were preparing for. More importantly this puts me in a position to begin my buildup for the Olympic trials marathon.

Stotan Racing had a powerful day at Philly, Maegan Krifchin ran 1:11:04. That is the third fastest half marathon by an American woman this year. Jared Burdick ran under 68 minutes and Chris Raulli ran under 70 minutes, PR’s for both. Our group is moving forward and looking forward to getting back to training.

For more information visit www.StotanRacing.com

Caffeine and The Endurance Athlete

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Caffeine is naturally occurring chemical compound that functions in the body mainly as a mild nervous system stimulant. It has been shown to enhance performance in sprints, in all-out efforts lasting 4-5 minutes, and in longer performance tests.

It appears caffeine enhances performance in shorter events through four interrelated neuromuscular effects: it 1) lowers the threshold for muscle recruitment, 2) alters excitation contraction coupling, 3) facilitates nerve impulse transmission, and 4) increases ion transport within muscles. In longer events, caffeine delays fatigue by reducing the athlete’s perception of effort. It increases the concentration of hormone-like substances in the brain called ß-endorphins during exercise. The endorphins affect mood state, reduce perception of pain, and create a sense of well-being.

Caffeine has also been found to delay fatigue during exercise by blocking adenosine receptors on fat cells. As a result, caffeine increases the level of free fatty acids in the bloodstream and thereby increases fat burning during exercise. This latter effect of caffeine used to be considered the major mechanism by which is enhanced endurance performance, but it is not known to be a minor factor. In fact, for those who normally maintain a high-carbohydrate diet it is virtually a non-factor.

A number of studies have shown significant performance increases in various endurance disciplines following caffeine ingestion. In one study, elite runners improved their time in a treadmill run to exhaustion by 1.9% with caffeine. Caffeine boosted time to exhaustion in a cycling test by 15 minutes in another study. And in a study involving swimmers, caffeine was found to enhance performance in maximal-effort swims of up to 25 minutes’ duration.

Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning that it increases urine production, which could theoretically exacerbate dehydration during exercise. However, exercise negates this effect if caffeine. In a recent scientific review, researchers from the University of Connecticut wrote, “Dietitians, exercise physiologists, athletic trainers, and other sports medicine personnel commonly recommend that exercising adults and athletes refrain from caffeine use because it is a diuretic, and it may exacerbate dehydration and hyperthermia. This review, contrary to popular beliefs, proposes that caffeine consumption does not result in the following: (a) water-electrolyte imbalances or hyperthermia and (b) reduced exercise-heat tolerance.”

Caffeine is commonly used by endurance athletes 30 to 60 minutes before races to enhance competitive performance. The ergogenic effect of caffeine is dose-dependent. The maximum effect is seen with doses of 5 to 6 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. For a 150-lb runner this translates to roughly 340-400 mg, or the amount of caffeine you’d get in 14 to 17 ounces of drip brewed coffee. The minimum amount of caffeine the average runner must consume for a measurable ergogenic effect is about 2 mg per kilogram of body weight.

It makes less sense to use caffeine as a daily workout performance enhancer, for two reasons. First, workouts are seldom maximal efforts. Second, the ergogenic effects of caffeine consumption decrease with habituation. For this reason, if you are a regular coffee drinker, you should cease coffee consumption four to six days before participating in a race.

In moderation, caffeine consumption does not cause any health problems. In fact, a daily cup of joe is good for you. The health benefits of coffee come from its caffeine content and its unique blend of antioxidants. According to Harvard Medical School, “Studies show that the risk for type 2 diabetes is lower among regular coffee drinkers than among those who don’t drink it. Also, coffee may reduce the risk of developing gallstones, discourage the development of colon cancer, improve cognitive function, reduce the risk of liver damage in people at high risk for liver disease, and reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease.”

However, heavy caffeine use can cause or exacerbate problems ranging from headache to insomnia, and it is possible to become physically dependent on the drug. Caffeine is especially harmful when used as a means to stimulate artificial wakefulness or energy in those suffering from conditions such as chronic fatigue. So if you do like caffeine, limit yourself to one mug of coffee or green tea in the morning. Those who rely on regular “caffeine injections” throughout the day are well advised to cut back.

Got Milk In Your Squeeze Bottle?

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As many of us know, milk is a nutrient-rich beverage containing protein, natural sugars, calcium, and vitamin D. Recently, milk has caught the media bug as a top sports drink for athletes. Milk is being sought after as one of the top beverages used in recovery, hydration, and building muscle.

Believe it or not, 1% low-fat chocolate milk is one of the best recovery foods out there according to the results of a small, randomized trial reported in the February issue of the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. “Our study indicates that chocolate milk is a strong alternative to other commercial sports drinks in helping athletes recover from strenuous, energy-depleting exercise,” coauthor Joel M. Stager, PhD, from Indiana University in Bloomington, said in a news release. “Chocolate milk contains an optimal carbohydrate to protein ratio, which is critical for helping refuel tired muscles after strenuous exercise and can enable athletes to exercise at a high intensity during subsequent workouts.”

Stager and colleagues had nine cyclists bike until their muscles were depleted of energy, followed by a four-hour rest, and finished up with a bike ride again until exhaustion, over the course of three stints. During the rest period, the cyclists drank one of three beverage choices:

1) low-fat chocolate milk (whey and casein-based)
2) a traditional fluid replacement sports drink
3) a carbohydrate replacement sports drink

During the second round of exercise, the researchers found that the cyclists who drank chocolate milk during the rest period were able to bike nearly twice as long before reaching exhaustion than those who consumed the carbohydrate replacement drink, and as long as those who consumed the fluid replacement drink.

1 cup (8 ounces) of low-fat chocolate milk provides roughly 160 calories, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 8 grams of protein, and 2.5 grams of fat. Yes, this post-workout drink does contain some saturated fat (about 1.5 grams per serving) and is fairly high in sugar, but moreover is an excellent glycogen-boosting drink after a hard workout. Furthermore, chocolate milk offers the ideal combination of carbohydrates and protein (about a 4:1 ratio) and offers a variety of other nutrients including calcium for strong bones and fortified vitamin D, which assists in the absorption of calcium. Chocolate milk is a great-tasting, satisfying, and cost-effective alternative to many commercial sports drinks.

So, why is low-fat chocolate milk so great? The carbohydrates in the chocolate are “quick” carbs which replete our depleted glycogen stores at an increased rate. As for the proteins, milk contains two types- whey and casein that work in a yin-yang type of fashion. Whey protein is a soluble, quick, and easy-to-digest protein that offers the body an immediate surge of amino acids (the building blocks of protein) to jumpstart the post-workout recovery process. Whey also contains leucine, an essential amino acid, which plays a key role in promoting muscle protein synthesis and muscle growth. Lastly, whey protein keeps the body healthy by maintaining optimal immune function by increasing the levels of glutathione in the body. Glutathione is an antioxidant that is required for a healthy immune system, which may be decreased due to exercise. Unlike whey protein, casein is broken down at a much slower rate, resulting in the availability of these amino acids over an extended period of time. Chocolate milk also contains about 2-7 mg of caffeine per 8-ounce serving. Caffeine has been demonstrated to improve exercise time to exhaustion by 22-23% compared with a placebo.

While there are many pros to the above study, there is a limitation. This limitation includes the possibility that the 4-hour recovery period limited the complete digestion of the complex carbohydrates contained in the carbohydrate replacement beverage.
Furthermore, when compared to a sports drink, low-fat milk with the addition of 20 mmol/L of NaCL, proved to be an effective post-exercise rehydration beverage. This post-workout rehydration beverage is recommended for all healthy individuals without lactose intolerance.

Milk, non-fat in particular, is also an excellent beverage used for building muscle during the beginning stages of resistance training when compared to soy protein. This was evident in a study by 56 young healthy male weightlifters who trained 5 days a week for a 12 week rotating split-body resistance exercise program. Subjects either consumed fat-free milk, fat-free soy protein, or maltodextrin that was isoenergetic with milk and soy. Type I and II muscle fibers increased the greatest and quickest in the milk group.

The next time you are at the grocery store, make sure to stock up on low-fat chocolate or white milk!
Depending upon your individual nutritional goals (and to liven up a plain glass of low-fat milk), you may wish to try the following recipe:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Rush
1 cup low-fat chocolate milk
1 small frozen banana, sliced
1 TBS dark-chocolate covered espresso beans
½ TBS natural peanut butter
1 scoop protein powder as needed, about 21 grams of protein
Ice (and more low-fat chocolate milk or water for a smoother consistency)
Blend and enjoy!

Calories: 450
Carbohydrates: 50 grams (45% of total calories)
Protein: 34 grams (30% of total calories)
Fat: 13 grams (25% of total calories)

Chrissy Barth, RD, CFT, RYT is a sports and clinical dietitian for Live Breathe Nutrition (www.livebreathenutrition.com) and the Mayo Clinic.

Taming The Flame

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When you think of inflammation, you probably think of the pain and swelling you experience after you suffer an acute injury, such as an ankle sprain, or an overuse injury, such as tendonitis. But exercise scientists have recently discovered that inflammation has a much more pervasive impact on athletes than was previously thought. It is now known that every hard workout triggers a less severe and less localized inflammation response affecting the muscles and joint tissues. Over time this type of inflammation may affect your performance and health even more than an ankle sprain.

In competitive athletes who train hard every day, post-exercise inflammation may become chronic, thereby compromising recovery from workouts, limiting your body’s adaptations to training, and increasing the likelihood of overuse injuries. The good news is that there are various methods you can use to “tame the flame”. By better managing post-exercise inflammation, you can recover faster, enhance your fitness adaptations, perform better in workouts and competitions, and possibly avoid injuries.
Proper training practices are essential to limit inflammation. Nutrition is also helpful. Here are the top anti-inflammatory nutrients that you must include in your diet.

Glutamine

Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in skeletal muscle and is consumed at a high rate by the muscles during exercise. Glutamine is also an important fuel source for immune system cells, including Neutrophils, which are an important type of white blood cell that plays an essential role in muscle tissue repair following exercise. The effectiveness of neutrophils is determined in part by the fatty acid composition of their cell membranes.

Brazilian researchers recently investigated the effects of a single bout of exercise, a single dose of supplemental glutamine, and the combination of these two interventions on the fatty acids composition of neutrophil cell membranes. They found that exercise and glutamine supplementation had significant independent and combined effects on the fatty acid composition of neutrophil cell membranes that would likely alter their function.

All animal foods are good sources of glutamine. The single richest source of glutamine is whey protein.

Omega-3 Fats

As you’ve probably heard many times, the human body is unable to produce the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA, which must therefore be obtained through the diet. These nutrients have a number of important biological functions that include the production of anti-inflammatory compounds called prostaglandins. Thus, eating a diet rich in omega-3 essential fatty acids may reduce the amount of post-exercise inflammation you experience. Good sources include fatty fish such as salmon and tuna, flax seeds and flax oil, walnuts, and soybean oil.

Phytonutrients

Phytonutrients are nonessential nutrients in plant foods, many of which function as antioxidants in the human body. Oxidative damage to muscle cells during and especially after workouts is a major trigger of inflammation. Therefore nutrients, including phytonutrients, that reduce oxidation also tend to limit inflammation.
There are literally thousands of individual types of antioxidant phytonutrients, only a fraction of which are known and classified. One of the most powerful known antioxidant phytonutrients is quercetin, a flavonoid found in onions, red wine, green tea, and berries. Quercetin prevents lipid peroxidation, or the destruction of fatty acids in cell membranes, which is a major cause of post-exercise muscle damage.

There is no need to go out of your way to increase the amount of quercetin or any other specific phytonutrient in your diet. Rather, you should aim for a high level of phytonutrient intake generally by eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. Note that organic fruits and vegetables have higher levels of phytonutrients than nonorganic fruits and vegetables.

Whey Protein

Inflammation increases the body’s demand to produce glutathione, which is known as the body’s master antioxidant. The amino acid cysteine is a key ingredient in glutathione synthesis. Cysteine-rich protein sources such as whey increase circulating cysteine levels and boost glutathione production. Whey protein contains three to four times more bioavailable cysteine (i.e. cysteine in a form the body can readily use) than other proteins including casein and soy. Cysteine also happens to be the rate-limiting amino acid in glutathione synthesis.

Glutathione also regulates cytokine production. Cytokines are immune system messengers that play key roles in inflammation. Both free radical damage and chronic tissue inflammation create an increased demand for glutathione that creates competition with the liver for cysteine resources. Insofar as the liver loses out in this competition, there is less cysteine available for amino acid conservation and more muscle wasting. By providing an abundant supply of cysteine, whey protein reduces competition for cysteine between the immune system and the liver, leaving more cysteine available for amino acid conservation.

The Myth of The Optimal Diet

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There are a lot of different diets out there. There are low-fat diets, low-carb diets, paleo-diets, vegetarian diets and many more. Proponents of each diet believe that theirs is the best diet for everyone. Thus, while there is a lot of disagreement concerning the specific nature of the optimal human diet, there is almost universal agreement that there is an optimal human diet of some kind—a single best way to eat. True, there are proponents of various “individualized” diets, such as the metabolic typing diet, but these individuals still believe that there is a single, optimal diet for each person.

I don’t. While I can’t claim to be the most knowledgeable nutrition expert in the world, I’ve done my research, and if my research has taught me anything it has taught me that the most salient characteristic of human metabolism is its adaptability to widely different diets. The best available science suggests that the majority of people can make drastic changes to the foods they eat without experiencing drastic changes in their health, especially if they exercise. The human body seems to be exceedingly well designed to make due with what’s available. Thus, if what’s available (or preferred) changes, it’s no big deal.

Let’s look at an example. There are those who believe that a high-carbohydrate diet is best for endurance athletes. This is, in fact, a matter of conventional wisdom. Well-known endurance sports nutrition experts such as Nancy Clark and Monique Ryan advocate a high-carb diet for runners, cyclists, swimmers and triathletes. Others advocate a high-fat diet for endurance athletes. These voices are in the minority, but there have been some noteworthy high-fat diet exponents, including Barry Sears and Phil Maffetone. And there are also those who recommend a high-protein diet for endurance athletes. As you might expect, most of these experts, including my friend John Berardi, come from a strength sports background, but that doesn’t mean they don’t know anything about endurance sports.

Proponents of each of these diets—high-carb, high-fat, and high-protein—can point to scientific evidence that it is beneficial to endurance athletes. And that’s just my point: Each of these diets can be beneficial to endurance athletes, and most any individual endurance athlete can probably adapt equally well to all of them.

One analysis of the diet of seven elite male Kenyan runners found that they consumed extremely high amounts of carbohydrate—76.5 percent of calories—and very low amounts of fat (13.4 percent of calories) and protein (10.1 percent of calories). If this diet were in any way inadequate for these individuals, they would not have been capable of the world-class running performances they had achieved.

So, if an extremely low-fat diet is good for runners, a high-fat diet must be bad for them, right? Wrong. A number of years ago, researchers from the University of Buffalo studied the effects of different levels of fat intake on runners. Various health parameters of 25 competitive runners were tracked as they first followed their normal diet, then maintain a low-fat (16 percent) diet, then a moderately high-fat (30 percent) diet, and finally a very high-fat (42 percent), each for one month. (Only a dozen of the subjects agreed to do the final phase). The results were interesting. Good cholesterol levels rose along with the amount of fat in the diet. Everything else—body weight, percent body fat, heart rate, blood pressure, serum triglycerides, total cholesterol and bad cholesterol—remained the same.

Another study by the same group found that competitive runners performed better in a running endurance test on a high-fat diet than they did on a low- or moderate-fat diet. Women in this study saw a bigger boost than men.

The effects of a high-protein diet on endurance athletes are more equivocal. Very little research on the effects of high-protein intake on endurance performance has been done. In one short-term study, New Zealand researchers found that cycling time trial performance was significantly impaired after seven days on a high-protein diet. However, these results leave open the possibility that the athletes would have better adapted to the high-protein diet over a longer period of time and recovered their performance.

The high-protein diet in this study was 30 percent of calories, which is three times the minimum daily requirement of 10 percent. The average American gets 18 percent of his calories from protein. In other words, the average American, including the average American runner, is already on a high-protein diet. While increasing protein intake to 30 percent of calories might have a negative effect on endurance performance, it’s also possible that increasing protein intake from the minimum recommended level of 10 percent of calories to the 18 percent level of the typical American might enhance performance.

The effects of making such a dietary shift have not been formally studied. However, there are many examples of high-performing runners who eat a relatively high-protein diet. Among them is Dean Karnazes, winner of the 2004 Badwater Ultramarathon, who follows a classic “Zone Diet” comprising roughly 40 percent carbohydrate, 30 percent fat, and 30 percent protein. Six-time Hawaii Ironman winner Mark Allen followed the same diet throughout his career. Again, what applies to the Kenyan runners and their massive carbohydrate intake also applies to Dean: if his diet were harming him, he wouldn’t run as well as he does.

The Straight Dope on Salt

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Last year my father-in-law and his wife visited my wife and me at our home in California. My wife cooked up lots of good food for all of us. But her dad has high blood pressure and is scrupulous in his avoidance of salt. So he asked her to cook without it, and advised us to avoid excess salt in our own diet.

I was tempted to disabuse the man of the widely held but false notion that high levels of salt consumption cause hypertension, but I held my tongue, because that’s what one does with one’s father-in-law. But I certainly went right on eating a high-salt diet after he returned home.

The research-supported truth is that salt avoidance is beneficial only for the roughly 30 percent of already-hypertensive individuals who are “salt sensitive.” In the rest of us, salt intake does not have a significant effect on blood pressure. A recent review of 114 studies performed by researchers from the University of Copenhagen and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that even an extreme reduction in salt intake would barely lower blood pressure to a measurable degree in those with normal blood pressure.

Endurance athletes have a more favorable view toward salt than the average person does. That’s because we know that we lose a lot of salt every day through exercise-induced sweating, and we’re used to consuming salt in sports drinks during exercise to compensate for those losses. Failure to do so, we’ve been taught, will cause internal fluid imbalances and muscle cramps.
Or are these notions false too? The answer is yes and no. There is surprisingly little scientific evidence that salt consumption during exercise provides any benefit. However, the practice does no harm and is advisable whenever large volumes of sweat are lost and large volumes of fluid are consumed during very prolonged exercise.

The notion that sodium depletion during exercise causes muscle cramps is clearly false. A 2005 study found no difference in blood sodium levels between athletes who suffered muscle cramps and athletes who did not during an Ironman triathlon. Some exercise physiologists now believe that exercise-induced muscle cramps represent a type of tendon fatigue that occurs during unaccustomed levels of exertion. The fact that some athletes are especially prone to muscle cramps while others are not also suggests that sodium depletion is not the cause.

However, there is some evidence that consuming fluid and salt during prolonged exercise may at least delay cramping in those who are susceptible. In a study from the University of North Carolina, cramp-susceptible athletes were able to exercise twice as long before experiencing cramps when they consumed a sports drink during activity than they when they did not drink.

Gatorade teaches athletes that the addition of sodium to a sports drink improves hydration by increasing the rate at which fluid is absorbed into the blood stream and by slowing the decline in blood volume. But most research supports neither of these claims. A study from the University of Iowa found that sports drinks with different levels of osmolality, both with and without salt, were all absorbed at the same rate during exercise and none reduced blood volume decline more than another. Studies from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and the University of Auckland, New Zealand, found that sodium supplementation during an Ironman triathlon had no effect on blood sodium concentration or blood plasma volume.

Interestingly, the studies showing the greatest beneficial impact of salt on exercise have involved sodium loading before exercise instead of sodium intake during exercise. Another group of New Zealand researchers found that when runners consumed a highly concentrated sodium beverage prior running to exhaustion at 70 percent of VO2max in a hot environment, they maintained a higher blood volume, lower core body temperature and lower level of perceived exertion than when they consumed a low-sodium beverage before running. It’s tough to know what to make of this result, though, since no fluid was consumed during the runs.

No study has found that consuming salt during endurance exercise has a detrimental effect on performance. Couple that fact with the mountains of anecdotal evidence from real athletes who say that salt intake is beneficial to them in extreme endurance events such 100-mile runs and you get the following sensible prescription: Consume salt in the normal amounts contained in sports drinks and energy gels during prolonged endurance exercise, but don’t knock yourself out to get more salt in the form of salt tablets or salty foods.

Nor do you need to add salt to your diet. However, you just might do it unconsciously anyway. A 1999 Israeli study found that exercise increased the preference for salty foods. So that’s why you crave potato chips after a long weekend endurance session!