Category Archives: Health

The Grand Prize – Frostbite!!

The Pioneer Press is reporting that a 27 year old won the recent Frozen Otter Ultra Trek and his prize included losing 2 of his toes.

The 27-year-old from Davenport, Iowa, was one of only two competitors to make it past the half-way point of the 64-mile race that started at noon Saturday. He spent nearly 17 hours on the Ice Age Trail in the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest.

At one point, the temperature dropped to nearly 15 below zero.

[Andrew] Wells was the only person to make it past the fifth check point near the 40-mile mark.

Wells is quoted as saying:

“My feet were obviously frozen, so I couldn’t feel them,” he said. “And it was too cold to take my shoes off to check my feet. On my hands, I had mittens on, and just to take them off for 30 seconds, my hands got really cold, painful.

“I thought my toes were OK.”

Wells was wearing shoes, wool socks, and water proof socks to cover his feet. I wimped out and thought it was too cold this weekend even for a 5 mile run, I can’t imagine trying to run 10x’s that far, what were those crazy people thinking?? Remember the Green Bay game? It was -23 with wind chill Brrrr!

On a similar note there is a Frozen 5K and Half-Marathon this weekend as part of the Winter Carnival!

Yesterday’s Workout

I did an easy 4.42 on a -4 degree morning with wind chills around -20 in 41:44. There was a fresh layer of snow (less than a 1/2 inch) that helped make the sidewalks less slick, but still dangerous. I’ve been avoiding the roads still since I don’t have any lights! Less than a week and we’ll be moved into our house and settle into a gym and stuff!

[tags] Frostbite, Tundra, Ultra Marathon, Ultra [/tags]

Gatorade Inventor Dies at 80

I interrupt the regularly planned posting schedule for this breaking announcement.

Dr. James Robert Cade died Tuesday of kidney failure, according to ESPN.  Cade was the inventor of the sports drink Gatorade.

Born James Robert Cade in San Antonio on Sept. 26, 1927, Cade, a Navy veteran, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas.

Cade was appointed an assistant professor in internal medicine at UF [University of Florida] in 1961. He worked until he was 76, retiring in November 2004 from the university, where he taught medicine, saw patients and conducted research.

Cade and his wife, Mary, had six children.

Cade was the first kidney researcher at the University of Florida but is most well-known for researching and creating a re-hydration formula for the UF football team, which they credited for their 1967 Orange Bowl win.

Gatorade which first “tasted like toilet bowl cleaner,” and was vomited by Cade after tasting it, is now sold in 80 countries with 30 flavors available in the US and 50 around the world.  Gatorade has a market share of 81%.  Since 1973 royalties from each purchase of Gatorade have brought $150 million to the University of Florida.  So it could also be called Gator – aid!

Cade was named MIT‘s Inventor of the Week in May 2004.  And at that time was working

… as a professor of medicine and physiology there [UF], conducting research on kidney and liver disease, diabetes, hypertension and other illnesses. He also studies Down syndrome, autism and certain types of schizophrenia and develops diets to help these patients improve or recover. In addition, Cade has developed products similar to Gatorade such as the Go Energy-Recovery Shake, which helps athletes recover more quickly after a workout.

Gatorade’s website made no mention of its founding researcher’s death as of this morning.

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Indiana is Obese

I recently did some research on “healthy living” and needed data related to childhood obesity, physical activity, nutrition, etc. The results are a little staggering.

Some of the results are here:

The state and federal governments are trying to curb the rising trend in obesity across the nation. I personally tend to be more conservative and think the government should be a last resort to “rescue” us from our personal problems. But something has to be done to keep us and our kids healthier.

I was happy to report back in August about the increasing trend of more runners there was a 5% increase from 2005 to 2006.

The Trust for America’s Health report also included statistics on public opinion about specific related programs:

  • 81% of Americans believe that the government should have a role in addressing the obesity crisis. Majorities strongly support government working on proposals to expand education programs about healthy living, provide low-cost access to exercise programs, and reduce the marketing of unhealthy foods.
  • 55% of parents with children under 18 believe lunches provided in schools are not nutritious enough.
  • 66% of Americans rated proposals to establish higher nutrition in school lunches as very useful.
  • Over 2/3rds of Americans believe children do not participate in adequate amounts of physical activity during the school day or engage in enough physical activity outside of school. More than 70 percent of Americans rated proposals to increase physical education in schools as very useful.
  • 60% of Americans favor a proposal to measure students’ BMI annually and confidentially provide this information to parents or guardians.

I know the Anderson Road Runners has a Children’s Fun Run program and most races include some type of kid’s event. What do you think we, as people who value fitness, can and should do to promote a healthier lifestyle for today’s youth?

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Volunteering at a Record Setting Chicago Marathon

While mother nature was setting records with temperatures soaring into the mid-90’s and the humidity levels equaling that, almost 10,000 runners (wisely?) failed to show up to what proved to be a horrendous Chicago Marathon. It became so bad that race officials eventually canceled the race rerouting people at the half-marathon mark back towards the finish area. According to the Chicago Tribune 1 person died (they are still determining cause of death), and 315 runners were removed by ambulance. Twenty-five people remained hospitalized this morning with 9 still in critical condition.

Let me share about volunteering then I’ll comment about the rest of the experience.

VOLUNTEERING

This was my first experience of any kind at a major marathon or any marathon for that matter. I was staying in Chicago with a friend out in the suburbs. Each year his high school cross country team travels in to the race and volunteers (the school gets some $$ for helping). We met at the school at 5am and drove in and helped at Aid Station #2 which was at the 5K mark.

We received instructions and information from our Aid Station Captain and began setting things up. At this point the roads weren’t closed so we were dodging early morning traffic and setting up our 8′ tables.

The entire aid station consisted of 13 Gatorade tables and 16 Water tables, it also included a medical station, and port-a-potties. I was at the 5th or 6th table on the right hand side of the road passing out Gatorade. We were told that each table had approximately 1,000 cups and that due to the heat they were adding an additional 10,000 cups per aid station over last year. We were also told that we were not to refill our tables, but once empty to tear them down (I guess it is too chaotic to try and refill the tables).

It was great to watch the caravan of vehicles, the wheelchair athletes, the elite runners, and then everyone else come through. The wheelchair athletes didn’t want anything from us and the elite athletes have their own bottles setup before the aid station so they didn’t either. But once the first runners started coming through it was complete chaos and craziness for about 30 minutes.

Being at the 5K mark is great because all the athletes are through the aid stations in just over an hour, since they aren’t spread out too much. Our table ran out of Gatorade within the first half hour, with the aid station slowly running out of everything within the next 10 minutes or so. This left quite a number of athletes without any hydration available out our stop. At some point some volunteers went to the BP on the corner and purchased a ton of water bottles and started handing them out.

According to the Chicago Tribune

“The water stations were really depleted,” said Nestor Benanidez, 40, of Maryland. “As much as they might have planned, it wasn’t enough.”
Erin Johnson, 24, of Kansas City, Mo., said the first several water stations “were out or really low” and that she ran with her wax cup because competition for fluids was so fierce.

“You’re running thinking, ‘Oh my God, I really need this water to get through this,’ ” she said.

But race officials said they found no such problems. Each of the aid stations was outfitted with 50,000 to 70,000 servings of water and 37,000 servings of Gatorade, said Shawn Platt, a senior vice president of LaSalle Bank.

As the runners went from packs to small groups to individual runners again, we started tearing down the aid station and had it completely torn down, streets swept, and ready to be opened to traffic within 30 minutes. The marathon had a crew that followed behind the last runners tearing the entire course down as they traveled. The efficiency of the entire operation was amazing.

I really enjoyed volunteering, most of the runners were very thankful and appreciative of our work and told us so. It was an honor to serve people who were laying it out on the line. I understand those who didn’t get any hydration who were quite upset and swore at us. I know it wasn’t personal and I’d be very upset too. You are important and I would have given you water if I could.

I would definitely volunteer at another marathon.

THE REST OF THE STORY

Knowing that most of the second half of the marathon runners didn’t get water at our stop and probably wouldn’t at much of the stops coming up I knew it was NOT going to be a good experience for many of them. But who would have realized the race would be canceled. The group I volunteered with went back to the ‘burbs, but I wanted to stay and watch the marathon and cheer on local runner, Brian Rayl. So I made my way towards the finishing area and saw fourth place female Liz Yelling of Great Britain finish and others around her at the 2:40ish mark. At this point there weren’t crushing crowds so I wandered around and ended up at the 25.80 mark at the corner of Michigan & Roosevelt (the next to last turn in the course, at this turn you go up the bridge before turning for the finish straight).

This was a great place to watch the race and enjoy being part of the crowd. It was great to see the athletes respond to the cheering of the crowd. Several runners stopped to stretch or take care of cramps and the crowd would cheer for them and reach fever pitch when they decided to run again.

At this vantage point I saw one guy staggering and luckily a fellow runner grabbed him before he went down. But the runner had to hold him for at least a minute before the police officer standing at the corner walked over and grabbed him so the “hero runner” could continue. They then laid him down and got the medical personnel there. They proceeded to take him by wheelchair to the medical tent. Shortly after that someone else went down. This individual was eventually taken away by ambulance.

Around the 3:50 mark Police Officers gathered at the corner and started telling the athletes that the marathon was canceled and they should walk the remainder of the race. First, I was a little surprised the race had been canceled, but they kept doing it, become a little over-zealous almost trying to forcing the runners to stop. I couldn’t believe with less than a half-mile to go they were trying to get them to stop. It didn’t make any sense. I realize that they didn’t want anyone else getting hurt, but at that point, LET THEM FINISH!

The event website later read:

Attention Participants and Spectators:

Due to the rising heat index and higher than expected temperatures, LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon Executive Race Director Carey Pinkowski and Medical Director Dr. George Chiampas, in cooperation with city officials, have implemented a contingency plan, as a precautionary measure, to effectively close the Marathon course at the halfway point. Runners who have not reached the halfway point by approximately 11:30 a.m. will be diverted back to Grant Park via Halsted and Jackson. Jackson will be closed to automobile traffic and the participants will be provided with additional support along this route. Participants who crossed the halfway point prior to the shut-down will continue to be fully supported along the standard course to the finish line. Participants are asked to take advantage of medical personnel, cooling buses, runner drop out buses, water, Gatorade and other means of support en route back to Grant Park.

My wife came into Chicago and met me at the 25.80 mile mark. After watching for a while and realizing what was happening we took off and headed back to the Reuniting/Finish Area. We managed to make it through the crushing, hot, and sweaty crowds. We had to cross the path of the now diverted runners to make it to Buckingham Fountain’s recovery area. I’m happy to say we found Brian and his wife and he was doing fine given the circumstances.

I say a hearty congratulations to everyone who started the race and gave it everything they had. I know it is very disappointing to those who weren’t allowed to finish or who were forced to walk if they didn’t want to, but congratulations on your attempt and best of luck if you decide to try another one.

Results here. It looks like anyone who crossed the finish line has results, but there are no rankings.

OTHER STORIES ABOUT CHICAGO

UPDATED: Death was not related to heat. So that is good news. The same article continues with the race director’s saying there was plenty of water available, but that we (volunteers) didn’t refill aid stations “fast enough.” We were told not to refill and that water is usually wasted at the end of the event.

Link list updated for last time 10/6/2007

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Caffeine – A Banned Substance

Since the 2000 Olympics, caffeine has been banned by the International Olympic Committee. The level that is banned is approximately 8 cups of coffee.  If the IOC found that much caffeine in your urine, they would assume that you are trying to gain a competitive advantage.

Does Caffeine Really Help?

Research is all over the place, but the majority seem to suggest that caffeine will not benefit athletes in the shorter distances or those with high intensity. But it can improve performance in an endurance event. Runner’s World published an article about a research study that contradicts that claim, as well as a study that supports it!

Personal differences in tolerance to caffeine, metabolism, diet, and others can have an impact on the benefit of caffeine use.  Doctors don’t recommend the use of caffeine to enhance performance. Caffeine is present in much more than coffee and Coke.  Most energy drinks, sports drinks, and energy bars contain some level of caffeine.  Ingested during a race it can also provide a needed boost to help you continue at your desired level of exertion.

How It Works

According to a Rice University professor, “Caffeine mobilizes fat stores and encourages working muscles to use fat as a fuel.  This delays the depletion of muscle glycogen and allows for the prolongation of exercise.”  To optimize this caffeine needs to be ingested early in an event or before-hand.  This prevents the body from switching to glycogen too early.

Caffeine may also impact the brain, making you feel that your level of exertion is lower than it actually is.  This will also allow you to push longer and harder. It may also help keep your muscles relaxed.

Nasty Side Effects

Caffeine does have some bad side effects including:

  • Sleep deprivation
  • Nausea
  • Cramping
  • Anxiety
  • Fatigue
  • Headaches
  • Stomach Instability
  • Muscle Tightness
  • Muscle Cramping
  • Dehydration
  • Diarrhea
  • May compound existing heart problems

Tips or Recommendations

  • Ingest Caffeine 3-4 hours before performance
  • Abstain for a few days before event, to improve caffeine effect
  • Make sure you have tested caffeine during training

Sources:

Do you drink coffee regularly?  Do you use it to “improve your performance”? What do you think about this topic?  Leave a note in the comments section.

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