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The following parks and tracks are great places to run in Denver. If you need additional support and inspiration – from expert coaching to good nutrition to a fun group of training partners – be sure to join Club Run Denver next Spring.
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Dr. John Berardi discusses one of the most important aspects of an athletes life: staying hydrated. As he explains, dehydration can not only lead to reduced performance but it can also lead to various medical conditions. Learn a little more about the dangers of dehydration and how best to prevent it.
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2010 Event set for Sunday, October 17, Registration special for first 500 runners
January 12, 2010 – The Competitor Group (CGI) today announced that online registration has opened for the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Denver Marathon and Half Marathon. The race, scheduled for Sunday, October 17, 2010, is expected to draw over 15,000 runners and will feature entertainment along every mile of the scenic course. The Mile High City will come alive with runners and spectators creating a community-wide celebration that culminates with a rockin’ post race celebration at the Finish Line Festival in Civic Center Park.
Algae superfood is shown to increase fat burning and antioxidant protection during prolonged running.
Spirulina is microalgae, powdery and brilliantly green, that is touted as a “superfood” because of its nutrient profile, which includes a lot of protein, vitamin B-12, the essential fatty acid GLA, beta-carotene, iron, and other vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals. It is sold in powder and capsule forms as a nutritional supplement to be added to smoothies and such.
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Former Boston Marathon champion Greg Meyer offers some sound advice on nutrition for race day. Meyer, now a spokesman for Nutrilite, explains the best way to plan out your nutritional needs for the days leading up to, during and after a big race.
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Dr. John Berardi breaks down the pros and cons of having eggs in your diet. Eggs have long been connected to high cholesterol levels, but Dr. Berardi explains how that is not necessarily the case, and how, even someone with high cholesterol, can still have the occasional egg.
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Nutrition expert Dr. John Berardi offers the benefits of adding fish oil to your diet. Fish oil contains the most important omega-3 fatty acids, making it paramount to other similar supplements. Learn why these fatty acids are important and how they can benefit the diet of any endurance minded athlete.
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Training, nutrition and gear tips for the days leading up to your big race.
Written By: Matt Fitzgerald
The final two days before a race are very important. The final workouts, meals, equipment and mental preparations and logistical planning you do in this window can have a major impact on your performance – for better or worse. Here’s a checklist of things to do in the 48-hour race countdown to ensure that you get the most out of the hard training you’ve done.
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This edition of Monday Minute features an exercise called the thoracic spine extension on a foam roller. This exercise improves posture and helps to make your arms more efficient while running.
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Have you ever wondered why your standard “jogging” pace is what it is?
Written by: Matt Fitzgerald
Every runner has a natural running pace. It’s the pace you fall into automatically when you go for your typical moderate, steady run of a certain predetermined distance or duration—five miles, 45 minutes or whatever (a format that probably accounts for 90 percent of all runs performed daily by the worldwide population of runners). For each runner this pace changes over time as fitness is gained or lost, and it even changes from day to day based on how one feels—a factor that is influenced by fatigue from preceding training, above all.
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Dr. John Berardi helps set out a simple plan as to when and how often you should eat every day. Planning eating frequency will keep you energized and ready to tackle your next workout.
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Dr. John Berardi takes us through the pros and cons of eating meat. Eating the proper types of meat is not only healthy but can become a very important part of any athlete’s diet.
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Cytomax Recovery is an example of a post-run recovery drink.
Written by: Shawn Talbott, PhD
Recovery is the neglected performance enhancer, and proper nutrition is the best recovery enhancer.
Everyone is training hard – but the winners are recovering better. Athletes at the highest levels of competition – Tour de France, Ironman, Olympics – understand that the ability to recover quickly and completely often makes the difference between peak performance and poor performance.
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Dr. John Berardi breaks down the benefits of drinking a fresh cup of tea. Learn what types of tea are the best, the most efficient way to make tea and how to get the most out of your daily cup.
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The ultimate vitamin D supplement. Photo by: skyseeker.
Low vitamin D levels are very likely limiting your running performance, and may compromise your health.
Written by: Reyana Ewing, MPH, RD, CLE
As runners we want to do everything possible to perform well and have a great season. We are meticulous about our training schedules, hydration, sleeping habits, etc. Yet many times we fall short when it comes to nutrition.
My Story
In the summer of 2008 I started to feel rather lethargic during workouts and I struggled to maintain my normal training paces. My recovery from my harder efforts and long runs took longer than usual. I immediately and incorrectly assumed I had low serum ferritin levels indicating iron deficiency anemia.
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In this edition of Eat and Run our nutrition expert Dr. John Berardi he discusses eating healthy for your body type. Learn which body type you have and how you can cater your eating habits to match.
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Saturday’s Blue Sky Velo Cup cyclocross race on the Xilinx campus in Longmont, Colorado, might already be a fading memory, but there’s a good chance that a few bikes (and riders for that matter) are still bearing the muddy scars.
I finally scrolled through my photos, and here’s a bit of what I saw around the pit. A few new bits and pieces, and a few tried and true strategies for beating back the muddy mess.
SRAM
SRAM’s Michael Zellman and Jeremiah Boobar were in town, checking out the race and helping ensure that SRAM sponsored riders were fully outfitted. Katie Compton dominated the women’s race on her Stevens equipped with SRAM Red, Zipp 303s, and Dugast Rhino tubulars. Meanwhile, the Cannondale-cyclocrossworld.com team swept the podium in the men’s race, also riding SRAM Red.
Zellman pointed me toward new brakes on Mark Legg’s bike, which our own Matt Pacocha first checked out at Interbike (Matt finished fifteenth on the day, after a flat). Zellman said that the Shorty Ultimate brakeset is three or four steps away from production, but by the looks of Legg’s outfit, they are nearly good to go. Note that the front brakes have very wide arms, and the rears are narrower for heel clearance. External spring tension adjustment and a straddle cable barrel adjuster complement the one-bolt pad adjustment. If only they were actually adaptable from wide to narrow profile, as they look like there should be …
Legg worked the pits for his wife, Katie Compton, with a portable Nomad power washer. He said that the SRAM Professional cable system (designed by GORE Ride On Cable Systems) was helping ease his workload, by preventing contamination of the shifter cables.
After the race, Zellman commented on the proliferation of SRAM road components in cyclocross and road racing alike. He reminded me that SRAM Red has only been on the market for a few years, but has rapidly ascended the competitive ladder.
He’s right. Statistics from the 2009 Tour de France are impressive: while sweeping the top three General Classification positions, Red also placed 10 out of the top 29 riders with only four teams (Astana, Saxo Bank, Milram, and Agritubel), won seven stages including every time trial, wore yellow for 12 days, and took best Team and Young Rider titles. Additionally, SRAM occupied the top three podium places at both the world mountain bike cross country championships (Nino Schurter, Julien Absalon, and Florian Vogel) and downhill world championships (Steve Peat, Greg Minnaar, and Mick Hanna). It’s remarkable when you actually frame it in those terms.
Giant
Giant team rider Kelli Emmett pedaled a prototype Giant cyclocross bike to fifth in the women’s race. Her mechanic Steve Kiusalas pointed out that it was a size or two too big for her, but that obviously didn’t hold her back. The new welded aluminum bike has internal headset bearings and a press-fit Shimano bottom bracket to go with the formed tubes of the front triangle.
In an email from Taiwan, Giant’s Andrew Juskaitis said only that he can’t say anything. “Kelli is riding a prototype–can’t say much other than that. Will have more information at CX Nationals in Bend.”
On the men’s side, both Carl Decker and Adam Craig appeared none the worse for wear after a rally car mishap that left them upside down a few weeks ago. Craig sported the new carbon Giant cross bike that we first saw at Cross Vegas. Despite the mud, he rode the Di2 bike (with its $1000, one-of-two-in-existence 46-tooth Dura-Ace chainring) to fourth place.
Mavic neutral support
I checked in with Rob Love, owner of Blue Sky Cycles and part-time Mavic neutral support mechanic, to see how things were going. He said they weren’t doing anything special to fight the mud, and saw more flats than expected. Fortunately, Mavic had plenty of staff on hand, spare wheels, and even new spare bikes from Focus.
“People are flatting on some exposed landscape edging,” said Love. Evidently, as the soft ground wore away, some sharp metal or plastic edging (used as borders for landscaping) created ample opportunity for pinch flats. Love’s opinion was that low pressure wasn’t helping in the alternately sticky and gloppy Colorado mud. “In mud like this you need higher pressure,” he said.
Love also noted that narrow tires were performing better, due to their ability to knife through the sticky mud. “We’re putting on a lot of Michelin mud tires,” he said. “The thinner, knobbier tires are working better.” In contrast to what I might have expected, he said that deep-section rims were not doing as well, either. “They’re not shedding the mud—they’re glopping up,” he said.
Other than correct wheel and tire choice, Love had no secrets for handling the mud. “The power washers are key,” he said. “Any bikes we’re washing we’re just using really heavy lube,” he said, holding a bottle of Pedro’s “GO!” biodegradable chain lube. “We’re just lubing everything with a ton of this – pedals, chains, whatever,” he said.
Alison Dunlap’s Orbea
In the parking lot, before the women’s race, I found Alison Dunlap’s husband Greg Frozley. He was on the way to the pit with a bucket and brushes, and Dunlap’s spare bike. He must have done something right, because she wound up third on the day.
Frozley didn’t have any secrets to waging wet-dirt warfare, but pointed out a section of innertube over the seat collar, to keep out water and grime. “We’re using thicker chain lube,” he said, but nothing special on the frame besides Pedro’s Bike Lust. Also, her bike was equipped with sections of plastic sheathing covering any exposed shifter cables. The sheath fit over the tips of Shimano SP-41 long-nosed ferrules to help prevent contamination.
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Dr. John Berardi discusses the benefits of chocolate for endurance athletes. We have all heard that chocolate has some health benefits but learn how it may help you during your next run or race!
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Specific strength training will improve your running. Photo: John Segesta
Forget about those branded, one-size-fits-all technique systems. If you want to run faster, just get stronger. It’s that simple – and that hard.
Written by: Neil Cook
While Evolution Running, Chi Running and Pose Running all claim to be able to improve your speed and reduce injuries (all desirable outcomes), there is no research proving that any of those programs actually accomplish those outcomes.There are many people who believe one or all of these approaches is the way to improve your running. I am not one of those people. I’m old (fashioned).
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Dr. John Berardi describes a very important part your daily nutrition plan: the balance acids and bases. No need to pull out the old high school chemistry book, John breaks down an easy way to use different food types to keep you balanced and get your diet on track.
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