Marathon You Can Do It

Quercetin is an energy boosting supplement that was made famous by FRS Energy drink. The energy boosting drink was endorsed by Lance Armstrong and everyone in cycling and running community became curious on what was inside.

One of the ingredients inside FRS Energy drink is Quercetin. In a lab study, Quercetin was been shown to increase energy expenditure in rat which made some people to suspect it might have a similar effect on humans. Although FRS claims it works, many people disagree but some swear by it.

If you believe in it or want to give it a try, you can get it naturally or take the supplement.

Natural Sources of Quercetin

To get more quercetin you can increase your intake of the following foods that are thought to have quercetin: -

• Apple skins
• Onions,
• Tea,
• Red wine.
• Leafy green vegetables
• Berries
• Herbs such as ginkgo and St. John’s wort

Quercetin Supplement

One advantage of buying a supplement is ;  Quercetin is available in higher amounts in dietary supplements than would typically be found in food sources. I guess you would need to eat a basket of Apples just to get the same amount of quercetin in a tablet.

Supplements are sold as capsules or tablets or in drink form like in the case of FRS energy drink.

A word of caution, before taking any supplement consult with your doctor.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Advantage, Apple Skins, Basket Of Apples, Berries, Caution, Dietary Supplements, Energy Drink, Energy Expenditure, Food Sources, Food Supplements, Ginkgo, Guess, Herbs, Lance Armstrong, Leafy Green Vegetables, Natural Sources, Onions, Quercetin, Red Wine, Running Community, St John S Wort, Tea

Chris Carmichael was Lance Armstrong coach since 1990 and he is the one who designed his nutritional program that powered the Texan to eight Tour De France victories.

The goal of the nutritional program was to ensure Lance Armstrong remained lean and powerful.

The coach looked at the demands of his training and lifestyle and used that information to design his nutrition program.

Off season training diet

During the fall and winter Lance trained at moderate intensity. To fuel this level of training, he didnt need as many calories as he does at the height of the racing season. He ate less food during this time. 60% of his calories came from carbohydrates. Protein was added into the mix

Training for The Tour De France.

AS the tour neared, the coach altered the nutritional program. Lance ate more food and 70% of his calories came from carbohydrates because he needed the fast-burning fuel to power his aerobic and anaerobic energy systems. Protein intake was reduced.

As adopted from NBC article to read the full article click the link.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Burning Fuel, Calories, Chris Carmichael, Coach, Diet Program, Energy Systems, Fall And Winter, France Victories, Lance Armstrong, Lifestyle, Moderate Intensity, Nbc, Nutrition Program, Nutritional Diet, Protein Intake, Tour De France

At 36, Lance Armstrong has quit retirement and boldly declared he has his sights set firmly on the Tour de France in 2009.  I love that, people who dream big!

When asked if being over 35 his best days might be behind him (only one rider older than 34 has ever won the Tour—36-year-old Firmin Lambot in 1922). His answer showed the people he had looked at for inspiration and motivation;

“Look at the Olympics,” he said. “You have a swimmer like Dara Torres. Even in the 50m (freestyle) the 41-year-old mother proved you can do it,” he told vanityfair magazine.

“The woman who won the Beijing Olympic marathon (Romanian Constantina Tomescu) was 38. Older athletes are performing very well. Ask serious sports physiologists and they’ll tell you age is a wives’ tale.”

Age is no barrier to an elite sports career the biggest barrier to success is our own doubts.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: beijing olympic marathon, constantina tomescu, inspiration, Lance Armstrong, olympic marathon

As an endurace athlete, you will develop an athlete’s heart which is very different to the non athlete’s heart. You will have;

• Low resting pulse rate of under 50 beats per minute – Scientifically referred to as Bradycardia.
• Thickening of the heart muscle wall
• X-ray reveals an enlarged heart
• Blood tests shows raised muscle enzymes

The above for the average person (non-athlete) indicate a probable heart block, hypertension or heart failure.

Should you need to go into hospital or see your doctor, you should inform them you are an endurance athlete.

My Doctor told me, Athlete’s heart also known as athletic heart syndrome is a medical syndrome in which the human heart is enlarged due to excessive amounts of exercise. Common in athletes who exercise more than an hour almost every day and occasionally in heavy weight trainers, this syndrome is believed to be a benign condition.

How an Athlete Heart  Develops

During intensive, prolonged endurance- and strength-training, the body signals the heart to pump more blood through the body to counteract the oxygen deficit building in the skeletal muscles. Enlargement of the heart is a natural physical adaptation of the body to deal with the high pressures and large amounts of blood that can affect the heart during these periods of time. After time, these pressures cause the muscle mass, wall thickness, and chamber size of the left ventricle of the heart to increase.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: heart, Lance Armstrong, Running, Training

After a long summer break, teams playing in the English Soccer Premier league have been getting their players fit for the new season. Top teams such as Manchester united, Asernal F.C, Chelsea F.C and Liverpoool F.C have a strict fitness test to see whether a players’ off season involved too many pints or he is still a goal machine.

I was tidying up my bedroom when I came across a 2005 copy of Mens Health magazine which had the following fitness test by Dr. Charlotte Cowie, head of medical services at Tottenham Hotspsur FC.

1. Fitness of Your Knees  

Sore and painful knees are a bad sign. Swelling or wasting can indicate problems especially with cruciate ligaments of knee cartilage. Such problems require professional attention.

2. Ankle Fitness Test

Are they aching? Ankle wear and tear is inevitable in sports. But accelerated degeneration is a red light. Look for swelling or poor movement.

To restore strength stand on one leg, shut your eyes, and try to hold it. Do a minute on each leg.

3. Groin Muscle Fitness Test

Groin injuries result from over use of the adductor muscles. Recovery mainly requires rest. Beware sit-ups, which can exacerbate groin strain.

4. Do Sprints to Test your Fitness

A fit soccer player should be able to sprint 10m in under two seconds.

5. Vertical Jump Test  

How high you can jump is a sign of how fit you are. The higher the better.

6. A bleep Test

A bleep test basically measures aerobic capacity.

7. How easily can you stand on one leg

Good athletes need to have good balance. Improve yours by standing on one leg while you are brushing your teeth.

8. Your resting heart rate

As an endurance athlete you develop an athlete’s heart which is different to the non athletes heart. Athletes have a low resting pulse rate of under 50 beats per minute.

9. Blood Pressure Test

If you have a very high blood pressure, its worth investigating

10. Your Body Fat Test

The body fat of a top player is 9%. Being lighter saves a runner tons of energy. Lance Armstrong plans to show up at 2008 NYC marathon 4Kg lighter than last year. The lighter you are the faster you can run.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Ankle, Knee, Lance Armstrong, Running, Training

The sports pages of my morning paper had the following story. “Tour de France runner-up Cadel Evans could miss Beijing Summer Olympics after he pulled out on Thursday after injuring his knee when he slipped on a wet floor at a team dinner in Paris.”

How could that happen? It was only a dinner party not a drinking party!

Keep in mind the team dinner was organized in Paris and the French have a culture of serving  alcohol (Wine) with food. I think Australian Cadel must have drunk more than he ate!

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Beijing Olympics, Cyclist, Lance Armstrong, Running

The June issue of Runners World magazine (RW South African Edition) had a detailed plan of how Lance Armstrong plans to run November 2008 New York marathon in the low 2:30s.

In 2006 Lance finished NYC marathon in 2.59, in 2007  he jumped to 2.46, his coach, Chris Carmichael shared the following weekly training plan for his client on how to train for a 2.30 marathon.

MONDAY

60 minutes  hard cross-country with repeats between 30 seconds to five minutes or 30 second pick ups on small hill. Alternative track work outs: 12 x 400 or 6 x 800 at 1.15 to 1.20 per lap.

TUESDAY

2 hour night mountain bike ride

WEDNESDAY

12 to 16Km tempo run at 3.19 pace.

THURSDAY

Rest

FRIDAY

3 to 4 hour road ride

SATURDAY/SUNDAY

Long run or ride and a rest day. Long runs are about 24Km and may go up to 32Km

Lance: How to Train for Your first Marathon

Interesting stuff from the article was how Lance Armstrong trained for his first marathon: 5 – 8kms three times a week; His longest run was 21K!

Chris Carmichael Advice to runners :-

If your goal is to run a fast race 

Do at least one, but ideally two, fast-paced runs a week.  These prolonged periods at hard but sustainable intensity train your aerobic and muscular systems to run faster or longer before fatiguing.

Be consistent

Many runners have a lot going on in their life. When you’re running low on time, a short run is better than no run.

Stay lean

Being lighter saves a runner tons of energy.

“I have to have something that forces me out the door. I can sit around for a year and do a 10-K, no problem, even a half marathon. But the marathon is scary and intimidating enough that you can’t just phone that in. You have to train” Lance Armstrong

Pain is temporary 

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Lance Armstrong, Marathon, Marathon Running, New york marathon, Resistance, Running, Training

Former Republican presidential contender, Mike Huckabee was in the news this week for saving the life of a choking politician. Mike is not a stranger to heroics, I remember in February this year he took a break from his busy campaign schedule to train for April 2008 Boston marathon.

After Huckabee dropped out of the running to be the Republican nominee, he went out of the news and I forgot he was supposed to run Boston marathon.

It’s after this save a life incident by Huckabee that I checked his Boston Marathon finishing time. The official position is that Mike didn’t post a time. Was he disqualified? No. It turns out he dropped out a few days before the race, claiming a knee injury.

Better luck next time.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Boston Marathon, Boston Stories, Lance Armstrong, Robert Cheruiyot

Robert Cheruiyot win at 2008 Boston Marathon means a Kenya runner has won 16 of the last 18 Boston Marathon.

Cheruiyot, 29, beat runner-up Abderrahime Bouramdane of Morocco by a wooping 1 minute 18 seconds. The gulf in time between the the winner and second place finisher is telling of what it takes to win what is arguably the toughest marathon.

Unlike 2008 London Marathon where we saw Martin Lel of Kenya sprint to the finish line, Cheruiyot slogged to the  finish. He reminded me how I finished my finished my first marathon, thirsty and breathless.

What makes boston marathon difficult is the four hills on the course. The last hill fittingly called “Heartbreak hill” is located at around 21 mile mark. This is the point where most athletes hit the wall. Just when your body is running out of glycogen you are faced with a hill!!!

This is a race that a runner needs a lots of stamina to do well. Ability to run fast won’t do here. The best way prepare for Boston is to do lots and lots of hill runs.

Lance Armstrong 2008 Boston Marathon

Lance Armstrong, finished the 112th Boston Marathon in 2:50:58, placing 488th out of more than 25,000 runners.  His  time was 5  minutes behind  his  2007 New York Marathon  time  2:45 . He blamed his inability to beat his time on getting carried away with excitement. According to bikerider.com “he pushed the pace a bit too hard in the middle of the Boston race, mostly due to the excitement of being there and ended up paying for it in the final four to five miles.”

Armstrong, running together with 50 Livestrong ‘teammates,’ was raising funds and awareness for his Lance Armstrong Foundation, known around the world as Livestrong.

Armstrong said he plans to run the New York City Marathon again this fall.

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Boston Marathon, Hill runs, Lance Armstrong, Robert Cheruiyot

The dream for every marathon runner is to run a marathon under 3 hours. When Lance Armstrong announced he would be running his first marathon, the 2006  New York Marathon, his target was to run 26 miles under 3 hours.

Lance Armstrong Marathon Training Plan to Run Under 3 hours

You would expect someone who has the best training advisors in the world  to have a strategic plan on how to run. In an interview with runners world he confessed  “There was nothing scientific about his runs.”

He did a daily routine of Kayaking, swimming, riding and hitting the gym. As for running he used to run about 5 to 10 miles in a time of 45-60 minutes. His longest practice run was about 13 miles.

What Lance Learn’t  from Road Learning

He admitted on runners world interview “The hardest part was the pounding of running.” It gave Lance a lot of aches and pains in the Hips and you know where,… ankle joints.

On the day of 2006 ING New York Marathon, Together with Nike, Armstrong assembled a pace team consisting of well known runners Alberto Salazar, Joan Benoit Samuelson, and Hicham El Guerrouj to help him reach his goal time of 3 hours.

He struggled with shin splints but pushed through the last 5 miles (8.0 km) to come through at 2:59:36, finishing at position 856.

Read Lance marathon training plan Interview at runners world

written by Constantine Njeru \\ tags: Lance Armstrong, Marathon, New York City Marathon, Training Plan