This will be a brief newsletter as I’m preparing to head up to Milwaukee for Summerfest and some sailing later today. It will primarily be just the facts. This is the first newsletter for CARA Libertyville MTP participants that have been added to the list. I promise that they’ll get better when I have more time. Please tell your fellow MTP participants that they need to add their e-mail address to my list if they haven’t received this issue.

Last week’s and this week’s run – Last week was supposed to be a cut back week for all of us. But, since I only ran one long run while in Israel, I decided to run 11 miles to catch up on mileage. With the excitement of being back with the group and the decent conditions, I ran much faster than my target pace. As a group leader, I’m expected to run at pace. Since my small group was actually running the cut back distance, running a faster pace wasn’t terrible. But, as we build mileage again the next two weeks, it’s important that we all run at a comfortable pace. Training runs are not races and they should be run anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds slower than the target marathon race pace. The basic idea behind the long runs is to condition the body to produce energy for longer and longer periods of time and to accustom the joints and muscles to extended pounding. They should be at a pace that allows comfortable conversation to take place. If you can’t converse, you’re running too fast (or like me, you’re afraid you’ll say something stupid or offensive) so slow down. After 4 weeks, we should be settling into our pace groups. Feel free to move back (or up if it’s been too comfortable) this week if it helps the run. This week, we’re heading south, hoping that the Des Plaines River Trail is passable under Route 60. If not, we’ll safely cross the street and hook up with the trail on the other side. Novice runners are running 9 miles, intermediates will run 11, and advanced will do 13 miles.

Hydration – Our mileage is now long enough to insist that all runners must wear belts with water bottles. We’ll have a tank for refilling at the 4.5 mile mark, but it’s critical to hydrate more frequently that that. We do not provide cups because past experience has shown they end up being used by everyone on the trail except us, and the tank is emptied by the time we get there. If you don’t have a water bottle belt, they are sold reasonable at any running store and many sporting goods stores. Please buy one before this Saturday. Thanks to Julie Pfeffer and Jim Burkett for assisting with hydration last week. This week is Ken Porrello and Jeff Van Laeke. The following week, 7/12, is Julie Rochester and Dan Kaplan, so they need to pick the supplies up this Saturday.

What’s happening in your sport – Have you been watching the 2008 US Track and Field Olympic Trials this week? Did you see Tyson Gay’s wind aided 100m world record? On Monday, Kenyan-born U.S. citizen Bernard Lagat won the men's 5,000 meters giving him a berth to Beijing. Tonight, Jeremy Wariner defends his world and Olympic titles in the 400m finals, which I’m DVR’ing. As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, you may want to watch the 20 km Race Walk on the final day, July 6th, for some local flavor. Jolene Moore, from Northbrook, will be competing for a slot on the Olympic team. Jolene actually ran (or more specifically walked really fast) with the NSDRC a few winters ago. Also adding some local flavor, Jorge Torres from Wheeling will be competing in the men’s 10K meter race on Friday night. If he ever ran with the NSDRC, he would have been too far in front for anyone to know but I don’t think that he did.

Tom’s tips – Every week, we’re privileged to gain more knowledge from Tom Garmisa, courtesy of Runner’s World. Some of it isn’t useless.
Endurance Running Increases Fast-Twitch Muscle Fibers –
It has long been believed that sprinting increases fast-twitch muscle fibers, and distance running increases slow twitch fibers. However this study by muscle fiber experts at Ball State University compared competitive distance runners with recreational runners. The competitive group had increased fast twitch muscle fibers, as well as the expected slow twitch fibers. This is probably what makes them fast, say the researchers. Source: Journal Of Applied Physiology.

At Last, Good News For You Fans Of Stretching –
For the last 3 to 4 years, everyone's been picking on the utility of stretching, particularly the paucity of studies that indicate stretching improves performance. This time researchers from the University of Alabama's Human Performance Laboratory take a closer look at stretching's effect on muscles, and conclude that stretching could decrease muscle injuries. At present, more than 30 percent of athletes entering sports medicine clinics have muscle injuries of one kind or another. Source: Sports Medicine.

Guess What Can Limit Your Muscle Fatigue? Yes, Caffeine
A lot of recent research has focused on the loss of calcium ions as a major reason why muscles begin to function ineffectively when they get fatigued from endurance exercise. And guess what plays a role in releasing more calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum to your wacked-out muscles? Your old friend caffeine, that's who. Source: Journal Of Applied Physiology.

In past seasons, we’ve interviewed members and asked them what was on their MP3 player. Most of the responses were typical – The Beatles, Rolling Stones, John Mayer, U2….But, no one bothered to interview the person with the most interesting tunes on his MP3 player – me. And what I just loaded onto my MP3 player this week was probably as different and interesting as anything already on there. Mash ups started to become popular a few years ago. They are two (or more) songs ‘mashed up’ together – one song’s vocals over another’s melody. They are available all over the Internet from DJ’s download sites. Mash ups are generally free because the artist doesn’t own the rights to the music that they are mixing so they can’t profit from them. They were cute and amusing but I grew tired of them shortly after they hit the scene. There is one exception. The best in the game is back at it again. Greg Gillis aka Girl Talk has a new release titled Feed the Animals. It's downloadable Radiohead style - pay what you want. Girl Talk blows away any other mashup artist with his innovative, fun style. Where else can you hear Jay-Z's Roc Boys over Paranoid Android or Weezy's Lollipop over Under the Bridge, plus a million other mixes? His songs aren’t simply a couple of artists mixed together. They’re more like 100 per song, changing so fast that you barely notice the transition but can place most of it as it occurs. It’s not for everyone, but music lovers might appreciate it. Warning: you may have to be a hip hop fan to enjoy this plus some of the lyrics may not be appropriate – Greg Gillis aka Girl Talk.

Good running and have safe, enjoyable 4th,

Bill