More on CordyMax

Supplementwatch.com rates CordyMax as an "excellent value".

"A few animal studies have shown cordyceps feeding to increase adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels in the liver and an enhanced ability to take up and use oxygen – both of which are effects that support the “energy” benefits that are traditionally attributed to the mushroom. A number of Chinese studies, elderly subjects receiving cordyceps reported significant improvements in their level of fatigue, mental capacity and sex drive. In 1999, a small study presented at the American College of Sports Medicine showed that CordyMax significantly increased maximal oxygen uptake and anaerobic threshold – both of which may lead to improved exercise capacity and resistance to fatigue."

Supplement May Boost VO2

Remember when the Chinese women distance runners smashed several records in the 1993 Chinese National Games? Speculation ranged from illegal drugs to caterpillar fungus.

CordyMax, a supplement derived from a rare Chinese mushroom, has been found in at least 1 study to boost VO2 max by an average of 5.5% (The American Physiological Society).

Here is another independent study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine that indicates CordyMax can help reduce fatigue and improve endurance, especially in elderly patients.

In the same journal, researchers also published findings that found improved glucose metabolism in subjects taking CordyMax.

CordyMax is a natural supplement developed by Pharmanex. Contact me at dave@watrain.com if you are interested in trying this amazing supplement.

Training Log for Dave Nov 18-24

Sun Nov 18
am: 1 mile with dogs, then 17.5 mile Stoddard loop in 2 hr 30- tired from yesterday's race.
total = 18 miles

Mon Nov 19
am: 3 miles with dogs, 3 miles easy
total= 6 miles recovery

Tues Nov 20
am: 3 miles with dogs
20 x 400 with 30 sec recovery- 82-83 one way, 87-89 back. felt good
total= 8 miles

Wed Nov 21
am: 4 miles with dogs, then 5 miles easy
total = 9 miles

Thurs Nov 22 (Thanksgiving)
am: 3 miles with dogs, then 5 mile fun run
total=8 miles

Fri Nov 23
am: 4 miles with dogs (I have a cold- resting)

Sat Nov 24
am: 9 miles easy

Total for Week- 62 miles

High School Runner Finishes with a Broken Leg

Need some inspiration? Check out this video of Claire Markwardt crawling the last 45 feet of the Ohio state cross country meet with a broken fibula and tibia. -from sports.aol.com

397 Break 70 Minutes in Ageo City, Japan Half Marathon

10th place: 1:03:36
25th place: 1:04:08
50th place: 1:04:41
100th place: 1:05:23
200th place: 1:06:37
300th place: 1:08:13
400th place: 1:10:06
500th place: 1:14:49

Is there another half-marathon anywhere in the world with this depth? (maybe not but send over five or six hundred Kenyans and let's see who has the most depth)

- from Japan Running News

Kenyan Runners

"In Kenya there are probably a million schoolboys 10 to 17 years old who run 10 to 12 miles a day. " - from gladwell.com quoting Alberto Salazar

No wonder!

Protect Your Hearing!

The last thing I need while running or cycling is music. For me, part of the enjoyment of physical activity is the opportunity it provides to daydream. Running has always been that time to generate new ideas or solve old problems.

Occasionally I focus on my workout, monitoring intensity of effort, breathing, speed, foot strike, arm carriage, or pedal rotation on a bike. I like listening to music behind the wheel of a car, but I find it very distracting during a normal workout.

Unfortunately, I may be in the minority. Not long ago, a popular running website published an article featuring the benefits of listening to music while running. It took me a while to realize that this particular piece was actually a paid advertisement sponsored by a well-known company that makes portable music devices.

By coincidence or not, this cleverly disguised ad just happened to appear shortly following a highly publicized study linking hearing impairment to use of portable music devices.

According to the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, the prevalence of hearing loss in the U.S. has doubled in the last 30 years, affecting more than 28 million Americans. Clinical audiology professor Robert Novak of Purdue University believes a big reason for the increase in Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is the use of portable music devices, which were introduced in 1979. Recently he has been randomly examining college students and finding a level of hearing loss normally seen in middle-age adults.

The extent of NIHL depends on loudness, pitch, and length of exposure to sound. Lawnmowers, motorcycles, jet skis, snowmobiles, power tools, guns, many toys, and loud music pumped through headphones can all affect hearing. The problem is, once you damage your hearing, the impairment becomes permanent.

Sound that is projected through speakers is required to travel through distance and has a chance to dissipate. MP3 players, on the other hand, are made to blast music directly into the ear canal with very little leakage of sound.

Listening to music on MP3s or other portable devices for hours each day has become a trend amoung teens. If and when hearing problems develop, they just turn up the volume to compensate.

This practice worries hearing experts such as Professor Novak, who claims to be seeing more and more patients with older ears on younger bodies.

To protect your hearing, wear earplugs anytime you are exposed to loud noises, and by all means tone it down when you listen to music through headphones. Cut back on the time you spend listening and give your ears an occasional break.

Hearing experts from Boston Childrens Hospital say it is safe to listen to your MP3 player or iPod at 60% volume for 1 hour a day.

Take my advice. Learn to run without music, and let your mind work on something else to avoid boredom. If you must listen to music while you run or workout, keep the volume as low as possible. And do me a favor- please stay off the trails!

Hearing is something you want to preserve for a lifetime.

Japan's Olympic Gold Medalist Tries Billy's Boot Camp

Good article here translated by Brett Larner on Japan's Naoka Takahashi, the Olympic Marathon gold medalist in Sydney, who recently finished up 6 months of training in Boulder, including "heavy emphasis on cross-training exercises and weight training." Apparently she used Billy's Boot Camp video tapes.

Stretching Exercises to Improve Your Running

(illustrations from www.easyvigour.net.nz/, www.the-fitness-motivator.com)

Unless you are a professional runner, chances are good that you don't spend much time on the other aspects of training such as stretching, drills, strength training and so on.

If you are looking for a few basic exercises that don't take much time, here is what I would recommend for flexibility- hamstrings, hip flexors, quads, and calf.

hamstrings- most effectively stretched by laying on your back and using a rope or strap to assist

hip flexors- if you google hip flexor stretch, you'll find several versions

quads (see picture)

calf- i like the Pro-stretch (pictured here), but you can do without by using a board or the more traditional wall push

Spend a few minutes a day on these 4 groups- preferrably after running or in the evening when you aren't rushed for time. You'll need to stretch other groups if you have specific problems that are related, i.e. iliotibial band, piriformis, low back pain.

Training Log for Dave Nov 11-17

Sun Nov 11: am: 1.5 mile with dogs, then 17.5 mile loop in 2 hr 27.
19 miles

Mon Nov 12: am: 2 miles with dogs, then 30 min easy spinning, 3 min jump rope, and light weights
2 miles

Tues, Nov 13 am: 3 miles with dogs, then 2 x 3 miles, with 3 min rest. 19:20, 19:45
9 miles

Wed, Nov 14 am: 3 miles with dogs, 8 x 400, 3 miles easy
8 miles

Thurs, Nov 15 am: 3 miles with dogs, then 10 miles in 80 min 13 miles

Fri, Nov 16 am: 2 mile jog
2 miles

Sat, Nov 17 am: 2.5 mile warm-up 5K race 1.5 mile cooldown
7 miles

Total for the week: 60 miles

Notes: ran 17:10 on Sat in Syracuse. Felt very strong but could not finish the last 800 with the leader. My best altitude time.

Marathon Build-up

Like most runners, I like to select fall and spring races to prepare for. The rest of the year, I enjoy 5Ks and since I have moved to Utah, trail races. This fall I tried to peak for 2 races a few weeks apart- the XTERRA 10K Trail National Championships at Incline Village, Nevada, and the Other Half (half marathon) in Moab, Utah.

Last April I did the Boston Marathon, but this spring I've decided to try a new one- the Bank of Montreal Vancouver Marathon on May 4.

While my fast marathon days are long gone, I still believe that I can break 3 hours, and that will be my goal for this spring, the year that I am turning 55.

I did 3 hr 02 at Boston, falling off sub-3 pace on the hills between 18-21 miles. At Moab last month I ran 1 hr 25 very comfortably, with only a handful of 13-15 mile runs behind me. Moab sits at around 4,100-4,200 feet.

With 6 months to go, I am already thinking about what I need to do. Long runs, tempo workouts, speed work, cross training, and recovery. I plan to keep a training log which I'll post at the end of each week. Yesterday, did my first real long run on the road- a 17.5 mile loop in 2 hr 27 minutes. Over the next several weeks I will be working not on going farther, but knocking some time off that loop.

I'll also be adding more cross training than I have ever done before- yesterday during that last 5K I noticed a couple of things that I need to work on- some back fatigue and weak hip flexors. I also have one lower leg weaker than the other- a problem that I have been ignoring for a long time- I'll have to spend more time in the gym than years past working on overall strength and correcting muscle weaknesses.

Stay tuned!

Chondromalacia- A Pain in the Knee

Unfortunately, knee pain is not that uncommon among serious runners and cyclists. If the pain is one that comes and goes, seems to be located on or under the knee cap, and is aggravated by squatting, bending, kneeling, or going down stairs, more than likely you have what is referred to as chondromalacia.

orthoseek.com offers some exercises to help improve the condition. Pronation, hill running, tight, fatigued or weak quadriceps, running on the same side of the road, and overuse are common causes.


cptips.com offers tips for cyclists here. Incorrect seat position, cranking too much against high resistance, and incorrect cleat alignment are all possible causes.

Improve Your Running With Explosive Training

Great new research from Finland reveals that adding simple, explosive routines to running workouts can produce major gains in performance for endurance runners....

According to the article, a group or runners that replaced 1.8 hours per week of running with 3 explosive routines of sprinting, jumping (bounds, hurdle jumps, squat jumps, calf jumps), and strength training exercises (half squats, calf raises, ab curls, low back extensions, knee extension and flexion) improved their 150 meter run time by 3%. Speculating that maximal running velocity is a strong predictor of running performance, researchers are convinced that runners should be spending a little less time running and more time on these drills.

Congratulations Olympians!

Here is the top 10 finishers in the men's marathon Olympic Trials from New York along with my predictions.

Pl Bib Name Age Hometown Affiliation Finish
1 2 Ryan Hall 25 Mammoth Lakes, CA 2:09:02
2 9 Dathan Ritzenhein 24 Eugene, OR 2:11:07
3 5 Brian Sell 29 Rochester Hills, MI Hansons-Brooks Distance Project 2:11:40
4 1 Khalid Khannouchi 36 Ossining, NY 2:12:34
5 47 Jason Lehmkuhle 30 Minneapolis, MN Team USA Minnesota 2:12:54
6 127 Daniel Browne 32 Beaverton, OR Nike 2:13:23
7 20 Nathaniel Jenkins 27 Lowell, MA 2:14:56
8 4 Meb Keflezighi 32 San Diego, CA 2:15:09
9 126 Josh Rohatinsky 25 Portland, OR Nike 2:15:22
10 24 Jason Hartmann 26 Boulder, CO 2:15:27

my prediction- 6 in the top 10 but none in the correct order. I wonder if anybody got all 10!

1. Abdirahman
2. Hall
3. Khannouchi
4. Keflezighi
5. Ritzenhein
6. Hussein
7. Sell
8. Gilmore
9. Hartman
10. Torres

Ritz Still Doesn't Get It!

Dathan Ritzenhein is a very talented distance runner. His resume includes 2 Footlocker National cross country titles in high school, an NCAA cross country title, and some very impressive PRs at distances ranging from 2 miles to the marathon.

Despite this success and his enormous talent, Dathan appears to be on a somewhat misguided course, at least that is what it looks like from the outside.

Claiming that he read how he might improve by dropping a few pounds, Dathan admitted to dieting prior to the U.S. National Track and Field Championships, and was forced to stumble weakly across the finish. He bonked at the New York Marathon last year and now this quote in the Eugene Register-Guard, "In the marathon,” Ritzenhein said, “you have to build up your tank as much as you can, and take in as much fuel as you can during the race, because the human body really can’t store the optimal amount of energy for that distance at that effort."

Anybody foolish enough to "take in as much fuel as you can" during a marathon is indeed headed to disaster- in the form of some nasty gastric distress. Too bad he didn't heed his own advice at the Track and Field Championships and go into that race fully loaded 1-2 pounds heavy.

Approximately 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour is about all your body can use Moderate Carbohydrate Intake Best During Exercise?

Ritz, you are as tough as they come and I hope you have a good race but for Pete's sake get some professional advice on sports nutrition. At your level you can't afford not to.

Win 100K!

LetsRun.com is sponsoring a Prediction contest to see if anybody can correctly guess the top ten finishers in order at the Men's Olympic Marathon Trials to be held this weekend in New York. Go here for details!