Run to Win

Given my fondness for caffeine, I love when I can find a new study that shows that it isn’t good for you.

Scientists in the Laboratory of Sleep and Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of California conducted a test on 61 people who went through a series of physical and mental exercises to set a baseline first thing in the morning.

That afternoon, they split the subjects into 3 groups before running them through all of the tests again.

The first group took a 2 hour nap, and had better motor skills and improved perception during the tests than either of the other two groups. They scored better than both groups by a very large margin in the verbal tests.

The second group took a placebo. They didn’t do as well as those that had taken a nap, but still did marginally better than those who took a caffeine pill.

The last group took a 200mg caffeine pill, and they reported feeling the most alert and awake.

It seems to me that like most drugs, caffeine dims your mental and physical capabilities while making you feel smarter and faster than you really are. That seems dangerous enough to me to reinforce my elimination of caffeine from my diet (as if the increased chance of going blind and having horrible headaches weren’t enough.)

I would be interested in seeing further studies, though. I’d like to know how effective a shorter nap can be, and I’d also like to see how more physically demanding activities are affected. I know that in general when I take a mid-day nap at work, I’m usually limited to about 20-25 minutes or else I won’t have time to eat, and I am always interested how different activities will affect my training.

This is a case where anecdotal evidence isn’t really all that worthwhile.

(The Study: Behavioural Brain Research – Photo: Refracted Moments™ – Hat Tip: Life Hacker)

This week last year ranged from humorous to serious as I discussed topics ranging from cartoons to hospitals.

• In the training tips department, I wrote about training options while on the road. There are a lot of different ways to stay in shape even if you travel regularly, and this article pointed at some different ways to stay fit in your hotel room, the hotel fitness center or a local gym, or by heading outside.
• I make no bones about my abhorrence to caffeine, but I can still joke about it. I found a great webcomic strip that helps you to learn how to quit drinking caffeine. It gave me a good chuckle.
• In local news, cyclists received the protection of some new laws here in Maine by allowing motor vehicles to cross a solid yellow line when passing a cyclist, requiring at least 3 feet of clearance before passing, and by not allowing teenagers to use their cell phones while driving. I haven’t really noticed much of a difference on the streets over the past year, however. In other local news, Team competition returned to the Eliot 5k. Eliot used to be the largest 5k in Maine, and annually draws an extremely competitive local field. This year’s race (which is a week from today) should be no different.
• Also in the news, John L Parker, Jr had a heart attack and spent the next few months recovering. His health has since improved and he is doing quite well as of the last that I heard some months ago.
• This week 2 years ago, I created a video demonstration of how to tie your shoes with a runner’s knot so that they do not come untied. I also listed a few exercise related How-To articles and also reviewed Chariots of Fire, which must be the most well known running movie ever made. Dean Karnazes began the Endurance 50 and ran his first of 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. I began to mix up my pushups with medicine balls to give myself a little extra challenge, and I also offered a race tip about running first thing the morning before a race to properly loosen up your body.
• This week 3 years ago, I climbed Mount Washington and I wrote about proper gym etiquette.

The 2^nd annual Maine Coach and Athlete Cross Country Clinic was on August 18th, 2008 at the University of Southern Maine. This is the second part of my reporting on the clinic; the first part was about injury prevention and treatment. This part covers the presentation on nutrition and fueling.

Nutrition Basics & Fueling for Performance

The second presentation of the night was presented by Karen Hodge Knapton from Whole Health Consulting, who covered what a basic and healthy diet should consist of for an athlete.

“You cannot expect to start the season without a healthy diet.”

It takes months to prepare the body through healthy eating, and you can not concentrate solely on race day. To that effect, you need to be aware of the 6 basic nutrients that make up your diet.

1. Water
2. Vitamins
3. Minerals
4. Carbohydrates
5. Protein
6. Fats

(Click here to continue reading…)

Photo by
Refracted Moments™

• This week last year, I claimed that caffeine is worse for you than alcohol or tobacco. I fully admit that I’m prejudiced, but at least here in the United States I think that caffeine poses more of a public health issue than either of the other two drugs.
• I also listed my 6 favorite inspirational running books, each belonging to a different category. I represent how to manuals, retrospectives, essays and fiction in the list.
• I made a pretty big mistake with my training in the pool, and realizing what that mistake was instantly doubled how far I could swim on my lunch breaks. Not too bad…
• This week two years ago, I demonstrated how to do a 1 arm dumbbell bench press, reviewed Mead Memo Books and their applicability as a training log for the weight room, and discussed how exercise can prevent depression.

Photo by
Refracted Moments™I am not shy about sharing my belief that caffeine is worse for you than alcohol and tobacco. Rather than repeat myself, I would rather give you a laugh by pointing you over to a Basic Instructions comic strip about “How to Quit Drinking Caffeine“. It’s a four panel strip by Scott Meyer from the Seattle Weekly.

I especially found the second panel funny, where the addiction level is pointed out. Take a look at the the strip, and let me know what you think. Am I the only person that finds this humorous?

You can find it at:
http://www.basicinstructions.net/2007/08/how-to-quit-drinking-caffeine.html

Photo by Refracted Moments™I have believed for a long time that caffeine is worse for you than alcohol or tobacco. It is just as addictive, and it is not a controlled substance. We seem to force feed it to our kids. Many people only get through college by using it to stay awake studying. If you stop consuming it, you will go through withdrawal symptoms. Because it is not as strictly regulated as alcohol and tobacco, and it can take a similar toll on your body when used in excess, I classify it as worse than either. I eliminated caffeine from my diet in the late 90s and have been much happier for it.

When I was growing up, I used to get cluster migraine headaches. Many of the drugs to combat a migraine headache contain some form of caffeine, and the only time I ever have caffeine these days is if I feel a migraine coming on and take one of those drugs. While caffeine was a principal ingredient in the fight against the migraines, I also discovered that it was a principal cause for them as well. Stress and caffeine can both be migraine inducing; put them together and I had one guaranteed. As a senior in high school, I went blind for two weeks when I had a long series of strung together migraines that caused varying degrees of hallucinations.
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