Category Archives: RCI

Races on August 18 and a Few Notes

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Note: There has been some problems with the e-mail functioning correctly, so those receiving this by e-mail make sure you scroll to the bottom of each message. There could be more than one post!

I only found three races this weekend, so stay out late and watch some high school football!! On a note about high school, I don’t plan on covering high school and middle school cross country meets. There are just so many events and schools in Central Indiana and it would take a herculean effort to keep up with them all.

That said if you e-mail me updates I will post a summary once a week or you can check out these high school focused sites:

Now for the race info!

ICADV 4th Annual 10K and 5K Race Away From Domestic Violence: A Tenderness Tour Event at the Indiana War Memorial begins at 7:40. This race hosted by Ken Long & Associates benefits the Indiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Weather permitting there will be hot air balloons.

Union Hospital Health Group’s 5K for United Way (pdf) begins at 9am in the Clara Fairbanks parking lot at Union Hospital’s campus in Terre Haute. Proceeds from this 4th annual event go towards the local United Way.

Friends of Seelyville 5K begins at 9am in the small town of Seelyville (near Terre Haute). This looks like a pretty cheap race entry. All proceeds benefit the town’s street fair.

WEEKEND WEATHER

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Caffeine – A Banned Substance

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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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Race Review: Pop Weaver 5K

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This race also known as the 2007 Weaver Popcorn Kernal Klassic is run on a loop course in the countryside surrounding little Van Buren, IN.  It is famous for its free post-race popcorn and being part of the annual Popcorn Festival.  Hosted by Pop Weaver Popcorn it is a relatively cheap race with bags upon bags of popcorn given away to age group winners.

Each participant, presumably, received a post race e-mail with stats about their race.  Here is what my e-mail said:

Congratulations on finishing the 2007 Weaver Popcorn Kernal Klassic on August 11, 2007.  For your records, the weather that day was Sunny, Nice & Cool.
There were 5 finishers in the Men 25 to 29 age group and
106 finishers in the race.
Your overall finish place was 17 and your age group finish place
was 2.  Your overall finish percentile was 16 while your age group percentile was 40.  Your time of 19:30 gave you a  6:17 pace per mile.

It was definitely cooler than the preceding days but still warm! I am okay with my overall time of 19:30, but ran 9 seconds faster last year and over a minute faster in 2005, so that is frustrating.  My splits were 5:59, 6:50, and 6:40 for the last 1.1 (which actually breaks down to 6:03 pace).  My GPS-enabled friends agreed that the overall course was accurate but that the specific mile markers may have been a little off.

The race pretty much started on time and quickly leaves the town for some country roads.  There is shade for the first and final stretches, but most of the race is run on rural, corn-field lined roads, without any shade.  The 8:30 start made for decent weather on this specific day, but the sun was definitely out in full force.  The course featured 3 water stops, but only one actually had people passing out water.  The course is easy to follow because you are basically making a square! This is also a popular race for local high school teams to participate in and they have their own chute since they can’t win prizes or actually pay to participate (I believe).

After the finish they had plenty of ice-cold water and fruit available for all participants.  This years awards ceremony was a little confusing.  Someone the overall walkers won in amazing times of 7 something for the guys and 14 something for the females. The walk was a 5K.  I think they mistook the fun run sheet for the walkers results.  Sadly, this was never really corrected and the walkers where never publicly recognized, they made a passing comment at the end about walkers coming up to get popcorn.

Now for the fun of the whole event.  Overall 1st place winners received a gift certificate and a bag of popcorn.  Let me explain abut these bags of popcorn! Large, color-coordinated, paper bags are filled with boxes of various Pop Weaver brand popcorn. First place is blue, second is red, and third is white and supposedly each bag has a little less popcorn than the preceding.  This year I brought home like 26 bags of microwave popcorn in my 2nd place bag.  We traded around to get rid of the kettle corn (my wife doesn’t like it and we still have a half-eaten box from last year!) and took a few extra boxes at the end of the awards.  So that provides a little more of a festive environment for post-race activities.

Overall a good race. All results are posted here.

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Anderson Road Runners Newsletter

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The Anderson Road Runners (which hopefully you’ve gathered I am a member of) has released their August 2007 newsletter.

The Pacer is a publication produced with information about past and upcoming events.

This edition’s feature article is about the $500 Scholarship awarded to former Anderson Runner Andy Prishoff. Prishoff will take this scholarship and many other local and state accolades with him to Mississippi State University, where he will walk on as a Freshman. Good Luck and Congratulations!

It also highlights the success of the White River Mini-Mini Marathon held in May, changes to the Board of Directors roster, tauts the club’s website, and features two race reviews by yours truly!
It continues by highlighting upcoming races in the club’s Road Race Series, the Miriam Project 5K and the famed Run the Mounds.

Check out this latest edition here.


Racing on August 11

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With what looks to be a hot weekend, there are a couple of good races planned. I personally will be at the Popweaver 5K. Not only is it part of the Anderson Road Runners Race Series, but who wouldn’t want a year’s supply of Pop Weaver popcorn??Pop Weaver 5K (pdf) starts at 8:30am in downtown Van Buren. This event is part of the annual popcorn festival and registration is $12.

First Lady Cheri Daniels Heartland Walk for Health is being held in conjunction with the Indiana State Fair. For $7 participate in a wide variety of activities, hosted by Ken Long & Associates. This is not a running event.

Club Kokomo RoadRunners Age Graded 4 Mile (pdf) starts at 8am in Highland Park, Kokomo. This road-race is $15 with 72 awards (not age-group). This event is done a little differently than the POG 8K held recently, but still looks like a great event.

Jeremy Wright Memorial 5K is held at Flat Rock Fire Station in Flat Rock Indiana (southeast of Indy). It starts at 8am.

August 12 Jubilee Days 5K (pdf) starts at 4pm on the Hagerstown Junior/Senior High School Cross Country Course. $15 on race day and participants receive an embroidered bath towel. This event is part of the Wayne County Challenge.

WEEKEND WEATHER

Be careful this weekend and best of luck in your racing endeavors!

 

 

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