Mark from the Mark’s Daily Apple Blog has recently written a great post on how to save money on feed. 99 ways to be exact. A selection of our favorite ones are listed below:

• Shop the perimeter. Don’t buy processed/branded food items.
• Don’t buy things just because they are cheap. If you don’t end up using it no matter how cheap it was it’s lost money.
• Don’t shop hungry.
• Shop alone.
• Do all your grocery shopping on one day of the week, and don’t spend money on food the rest of the week, no matter what.
• Prepare your own food. Clean and chop your own greens instead of buying pre-packaged. Grate your own cheese. Dice your own veggies. Make your own ice. Food manufacturers charge a premium for convenience.
• Avoid Starbucks at all costs.
• Eat the entire animal.
• Stock up on free condiments from fast food joints, truck stops, cafeterias, and yes, churches.
• Go to funerals. There’s always food at funerals.
• Want cheap eggs? Buy a chicken. You’ll be surprised at how many they can pop out.
• Make like Ghandi and fast for a cause.

And our favorite?

• 1 Beer at an L.A. Bar = 24 beers from the Liquormart = 48 generic cans of vegetables. Just stand around with a glass of water in your hand and pretend to be drunk.

For the full list click here…

As athletes we’ve all gotten bad advice before. So it seems fitting that endurance sports writer Gina Kolata of the New York Times has written about this phenomena in her most recent article…

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THE talk, at the Expo Center at the Boston Marathon this year, had an intriguing title: Using Biomechanics to Predict Running Injuries. And the lecturer, Dr. Thomas W. Vorderer, a podiatrist at the division of sports medicine at Children’s Hospital, one of the Harvard hospitals, spoke with great conviction.

You can prevent injuries, Dr. Vorderer said, or, if you get them, can make them heal if you learn the right way to stretch and if you stretch regularly. And you should also learn the right way to run; in general, he said, runners should strike the ground with their heels first. If they strike with their midfoot or forefoot, he said, they are just asking for injuries.

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CBC’s Scott Russell discusses on his blog the immunity of the running industry during the recession. An excerpt has been included below, to read his post in full please visit his blog.

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Running events are myriad in this country and even in a period of recession they seem to be flourishing. The Vancouver Sun 10-kilometre race boasted 55,000 entrants in April. Early this month, 12,000 folks ran or shuffled in Sporting Life’s annual dash down one of the busiest streets in Canada’s largest city. From the Bridge City Boogie in Saskatoon, to the Blue Nose International Marathon in Halifax, people are still running, in literally thousands of races spanning the country and in record numbers.

Continue reading…

A great article from New York Times writer Gina Kolata:

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IF anyone ever wondered whether it was talent or sustained systematic training that makes athletes so good, they need only look at Joshua Gordon, a professional mediator in Boston.

Mr. Gordon ran cross-country in college before stopping completely to take up baseball. Six years later, in 1999, he decided, almost as a lark, to run the Boston Marathon. He joined a program to learn how to run longer distances, a process that involved gradually increasing the length of his runs and focusing only on distance, not speed.

He finished the marathon in a little over four hours, not especially fast for a man of 24, but he did meet his goal. “I was thrilled,” he said.

And so he found himself edging back into running, entering shorter races, 5 and 10 kilometers. He tried to train on his own, but he never did particularly well until he decided to start serious, rigorous marathon training with the Boston Athletic Association. He received coached track workouts once a week, four to six coached runs of 18 to 23 miles along the marathon course, and he had a group of skilled and talented athletes to run with.

Continue reading…

Following is an excerpt from Mark Sisson’s blog (The Daily Apple) where he argues, contrary to the recent emerging popular belief, that humans have NOT evolved to be long distance runners…

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Thanks to the several readers who have pointed out this recent article in SEED Magazine which once again dredges up the tired argument that humans evolved to be long-distance runners. Most of you know by now that I totally disagree with that theory. I say humans evolved to be excellent slow movers (walk, jog, migrate, forage, crawl, scramble, etc) burning mostly fat. We also developed into pretty decent short sprinters, but we did NOT evolve to run long distances. Sure, early humans were all-around fit enough and capable of the occasional long easy jaunt after an animal, but to think that natural selection redesigned our simian shapes to run the Boston Marathon is, in my opinion, ludicrous.

Continue reading on Mark’s blog…

Are you ready for Vancouver Islands premier trail running series?

Race Website

The GutBuster website can be found at www.gutbustertrailrun.com

Date/Time

GB001::Mt Tzouhalem (May 17th, 2009)

GB002::Colliery Dam (May 31st, 2009)

GB003::Royal Roads (July 12th, 2009)

GB004::Mt Doug (July 26th, 2009)

GB005:Mt Washington (August 8th, 2009)

About the Races

The FRONTRUNNERS GutBuster Trail Running Series is Vancouver Island’s Premiere Trail Running Series that takes runners off the road and onto the some of the most amazing trail networks in Western Canada. We are offering five exciting races for the 2009 season. Each race offers a short course (5-8km) and Long Course (10-21km) option and the last race of the season at Mt Washington is and ascent race which climbs 505m to the top of Mt Washington Ski Resort.

A new study shows that manual-resistance exercises work just as well as weight-based exercises. Written by Matt Allyn and published on Active.com. 

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Building muscle and strength doesn’t require a gym membership, or even weights, according to a new study from the University of Texas-El Paso. In a new test of manual resistance exercises, where a training partner provided the resistance, researchers found the strength training to be just as effective as using weights.

During a 14-week period, the scientists monitored 84 college students who were assigned to either a traditional program of weights-based exercises, or manual resistance workouts. Both groups were given six exercises and performed eight to 12-rep sets two to four times. By the end of the study, the two groups showed no significant differences in strength development.

Continue reading…

If you’re an ultra runner or have at least ocasionally dabbled in the sport be sure to check out Rob Mackay’s lastest posting on his blog titled: An ultra classification system. In it he attempts to classify the different types of ultra runners one might see at your average ultra race. Here’s an excerpt:

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Being an evil marketer I am constantly segmenting people by demo/socio/value-graphic methods. I may get in trouble for this for not including people in various categories but I’m going to attempt to create a classification system for ultrarunners. (I have been in the bottom 3 categories, myself) Anyway, here goes:

• Super-elite (a.k.a. ghosts) – Pre-race: Smiling at the start line. Wearing tank top/no-shirt and shorts, possibly Moeben sleeves even when it’s 5 below (least amount of clothing because there is no chance they will get cold during the race from running slow). Wearing shades or sun visor on a cloudy day.

Continue reading…

The National Geographic Adventure blog has just published their list of the Top 10 Toughest Races in the world. The races include a number of disciplines, here’s a summary (in reverse order):

1. The Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
2. World Bog Snorkeling Championships
3. Furnace Creek 508
4. Arrowhead 135-mile Winter Ultramarathon
5. Manhattan Island Marathon Swim
6. Barkley Marathon
7. Extreme Winter Ultra Marathon
8. Marathon des Sables
9. Race Across America
10. *** (we don’t want to spoil the surprise….to find out read the full article on the National Geographic website)

Written by Gina Kolata and published in the New York Times, March 25, 2009

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WELDON JOHNSON first tried caffeine as a performance enhancer in 1998. He was not a coffee drinker but had heard that caffeine could make him run faster. So he went to a convenience store before a race and drank a cup of coffee.

For the first time in his life, he ran 10 kilometers in less than 30 minutes.

“I remember being really wired before the race,” he said in an e-mail message. “My body was shaking.”

From then on, he was a convert.

Mr. Johnson, a founder of LetsRun.com, would avoid caffeine, even in soft drinks, for a few weeks before he competed in a race, wanting to have the full stimulant effect.

“It may have been a huge placebo effect, but I swore by it,” Mr. Johnson said. “Having a cup of coffee exactly one hour before the race was part of my routine.”

Or maybe it was not a placebo effect.

Caffeine, it turns out, actually works. And it is legal, one of the few performance enhancers that is not banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Continue reading…

From the Vancouver Sun:

VICTORIA – Brent Fougner, race manager for the inaugural Times Colonist 10K, recalls thinking how impressive it was that 1,700 runners showed up in 1990.

On April 26, a throbbing ribbon of humanity comprising more than 12,000 participants is expected to snake its way through city streets for the 20th annual Times Colonist 10K.

It is the second largest 10-kilometre race in Canada after the Vancouver Sun Run.

“It boggles my mind . . . per capita, it’s the largest running event in Canada,” said Fougner, of the event’s growth over two decades.

Continue reading…

Backpacker.com has recently put together an excellent list of ten undiscovered treks. They include the following:

• Pyrenees Traverse, France
• Cape Wrath Trail, Scotland
• Zillertal Alps, Austria
• Tongariro Northern Circuit and Heaphy Track, New Zealand
• Cordillera Apolobamba, Bolivia
• Overland Track, Australia
• Sarek National Park, Sweden
• Rolwaling and Khumbu Valleys, Nepal
• Polar Route, Greenland
• Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

Follow these tips for happy trails wherever you run.

1. Run tall. Running, especially uphill, can be exhausting, but if you bend under the effort it’s more difficult for the lungs to do their thing. On the uphill, keep an eye at the crest or a few yards ahead, not at your feet. If you’re gasping, slow down and pump your arms a little, or if you need to, walk, while keeping your posture tall. Even elite runners will walk a steep hill.

2. Shorten your stride on the way up. And plant your entire foot; climbing on your toes kills your calf muscles. Jump over obstacles. Stepping up on unsteady rocks and roots is not only tiring, it can be hazardous.

3. Be loose on the downhill. Stop braking and allow yourself to fly a little, throwing your arms to the side. But don’t flail. If you lose control, slalom from side to side like a skier. Don’t lean back or dig in your heels to brake (a guaranteed butt slide). Instead, land quickly and lightly.

4. Plot your moves. View the trail like a chessboard. Plan your steps around bumps, dips, soft sand and fallen trees yards before you reach them.

5. Focus on time, not distance. Don’t expect to match your road PR.

6. Diminish your risks. Run in pairs or let someone know where you’re going and when you’ll be back. Take plenty of fuel and fluid, a lightweight jacket and a cell phone, which won’t always get a signal in the mountains, but might. Uphill runners yield to downhill runners. Yell “trail” well in advance of passing another runner or hiker.

7. Find your balance. Slippery downhills let you know what your legs are made of. Build them up between trail runs with weighted squats and lunges, and build your balance using wobble boards.

8. Keep your bearings. Things look different coming back than going. Pause to look around when two or more paths diverge from the one you’re on. Look at trail signs and identify rocks, trees or landmarks on the horizon.

9. Leave no trace. Even in races, trail runners stow empty wrappers and wouldn’t dream of dropping cups like road racers. Stay on marked trails, don’t cut switchbacks and go through, not around, puddles to prevent erosion.

10. Feel like a kid again. Crank it on the downhill, hoot and holler, jump into a stream.

Have FUN!

From the New York Times — For people who are trying to lose weight, it does not matter if they are counting carbohydrates, protein or fat. All that matters is that they are counting something. This is what researchers from Boston have found and have reported in a recently published study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

In summary, more than 800 overweight adults were assigned to one of four diets that reduced calories through different combinations of fat, carbohydrates and protein. Each plan cut about 750 calories from a participant’s normal diet, but no one ate fewer than 1,200 calories a day.

After two years, every diet group had lost — and regained — about the same amount of weight regardless of what diet had been assigned.

The New York Times article on the study can be read here. Or, if you’re more interested in reading the research paper itself it can be accessed here.

The City of Vancouver has just released its 2008 / 2009 Cycling Statistics Update. The report contains a lot of details but Frances Bula on the State of Vancouver blog has summarized the important points nicely:

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- just over 40 per cent of people who live in the Downtown or West End walk or cycle to work. (For the city as a whole, it’s 16 per cent; for all of Metro, eight per cent.)

- in all of Vancouver, cycling accounts for 3.7 per cent of trips to work. Cycling actually decreased slightly in the Downtown and West End between 1996 and 2006, according to census stats, but walking trips there went up in the same time period.

- The Point Grey/Kits, Commercial Drive and lowers Main Street neighbourhoods had the highest rates of cycling to work, up to almost 12 per cent in some of them. I’m not surprised, since I live on a bike route in the Main Street area and see great herds of them go past my house every day.

- Summer peak hour counts along the bike routes show the highest traffic around Ontario and Prior, where the two most heavily used north-south and east-west routes intersect. The count there just over 700. the 10th Avenue route the next heaviest, with about 500.

- No numbers for the Burrard Bridge per se. In fact, the map in this report makes it look as though there is no bridge. Interesting.

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The full report can be read here.

Christopher Kelsall’s latest interview is will Kiwi athlete, coach and author Keith Livingstone. Keith is a Lydiard method enthusist, and has just published a book on the famous training method titled: Healthy Intelligent Training (H.I.T). This is a long interview, but if you are a fan of the Lydiard method then it is well worth the read. 

Note: this interview was originally published on the Flotrack website and is reproduced here with permission from Chris. 

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(c) Copyright – 2009 – Christopher Kelsall

Keith Livingstone, from New Zealand recently published a new book about an old training method, writing it in today’s language. He has taken the famous training method of the late and incomparable Arthur Lydiard and modernized it so everyone can understand the theory and application fully in a book he calls, Healthy Intelligent Training or H.I.T for short.

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Are you a book and adventure lover? NileGuidance , a popular travel blog, has just published its list of the top 50 adventure books of all time. The list is well-received and comprehensive, with the books covering subjects ranging from surviving mountaineering disasters to musings by the likes of Hemingway and Aldo Leopold. Following are the first 10 books, for the complete list head over to the NileGuidance Blog .

1. The Snow Leopard – Peter Mathiessen’s seminal work about a journey of (re)discovery to the remotest Himalayan region of Nepal
2. Wind, Sand and Stars – an ode to the golden years of flying and adventure by the author of The Little Prince
3. The Long Walk – an epic tale of escape from a Russian prison camp followed by a 2,000 mile walk to freedom (so unbelievable that some have questioned its authenticity)
4. Three Cups of Tea – everyone’s favorite book about a climber discovering his true calling by building schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan
5. No Picnic on Mount Kenya – Italian POW’s reinvigorate their own humanity through adventure
6. A Soldier of the Great War – sure it’s fiction, but this story set in the Italian Alps of World War I can’t help but ignite the adventurous spirit within all of us
7. Seven Years in Tibet – the book is better than the movie (duh)
8. The Climb – get the perspective of one of the real heroes of the 1996 Everest disaster, the late Anatoli Bourkreev
9. Into the Wild – while the movie was good, the book was better still. Krakauer weaves in his own personal dramas to add perspective
10. The Worst Journey in the World – this polar adventure fulfills the definition of “epic” in every sense of the word

In just a few days Trainharder.com’s own Donald "Jarhead" Peterson will be running the Fifth Edition of The World’s Expedition Run™

Set for February 1st through 6th in Southern Costa Rica The Coastal Challenge is the “World’s Expedition Run™,” releasing runners over approximately 225 – 250 kilometers of exotic and wild Costa Rican mountainous regions and rugged coastline. For six days, runners embrace the spirit of adventure, discovery and camaraderie within a long distance running competition while navigating wide river crossings, rainforests, jungles, windswept highlands, beaches, and rock outcroppings.  It is an expedition run of epic proportions introducing competitors to the hospitality of the local Tico culture while pushing the limits of their will and endurance. For more information visit www.thecoastalchallenge.com .

Set in Costa Rica’s pristine southern region, the “Rainforest Run” will utilize the country’s rich rainforests as a backdrop for a diverse course that moves from jungle and rainforest trails to highlands, coastal ranges, reefs, and river crossings. The route, which takes a decidedly different feel from last year’s “Route of Fire” in the Northwest, and will weave from the beach into the Talamancas, a coastal mountain range, before finishing in Corcovado National Park, one of the world’s premier rainforest experiences and Unesco World Heritage site.

“We considered a wealth of runner feedback when deciding on this year’s route,” said Tim Holmstrom, race director. “The Rainforest Run combines the best of Costa Rica’s natural beauty with a stunning and challenging route that will reward athletes of all levels.”

During the race you will be able to find daily updates at www.tccadventures.com , scroll over the COMPETITORS tab and then down to the Race Information Center .

There will also be updates at the TCC Telegraph, the official 2009 Rainforest Run Blog .

It’s the new year and time to plan your 2009 training and racing scheduale. In a recent posting from Trifuel.com, triathlete coach Matt Russ offers steps for athletes to plan a successful racing year. He recommends dividing races into A, B, and C races in order to plan a calendar that won’t leave you overwhelmed…

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This is an excellent time of year to consider what you would like to accomplish athletically in the upcoming New Year. As with many things, planning is the key to accomplishment for your race season.

If you are a recreational athlete and your goal is simply to complete your events, then you only need to train one aspect of fitness; endurance. This entails planning enough time to slowly build your mileage to within about 10-15% of the distance of your goal race. Note that many overuse injuries are caused by too much mileage too quickly. Do not increase your duration more than 10% per week and take at least every fourth week as a rest and recovery week. During a rest and recovery week, you should cut back your mileage by at least 25%, reduce your overall training volume, and add in an extra rest or active recovery day. If you are a runner, take a day of non-impact cross-training in place of a run.

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Getting the modivation to exercise, smack in-between Christmas and New Years, can be challenging. But there are ways in which we can be active without beging active. In other words, forget that interval workout and try going for a hike instead. For more ideas, Mark Sisson, who blogs about fitness and nutrition on his blog, The Daily Apple , suggests 10 ways to stay active during the holidays. Check out his post here .