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Ottawa Race Weekend Newsletter – April 2009 RUNNING WITH YOUR IDEAS! Over the past few months, we’ve been tweaking our Ottawa Race Weekend Newsletter format and content to offer more inspiring stories, training tips and nutritional info. Now we’d like to hear from you about what’s working, and what you’d like to see covered in future editions of the newsletter. Based on the feedback we’ve received already, we’ll aim to include more info for the half-marathoners and shorter distance runners – who make up a bulk of our Race Weekend registrants. And we’re also interested in hearing your inspiring stories of athleticism and endurance. So don’t be shy! Send your impressions, ideas and stories to media@runottawa.ca. RACE NEWS You can still catch a break! As the weather turns, the sun works its magic on the last of the lingering snow and tulips begin to stir in their bulbs, available spots in all Ottawa Race Weekend events are filling up fast. Yes indeed, race season is in the air! Just so you know, you can still catch a break on fees if you register before May 1st. But fees will increase after that. So pick your Ottawa Race Weekend event and make your commitment today. To register now, click here. Run Fast and Win Big! Run Ottawa is offering the largest Canadian prize purse ever to any man or woman who breaks the current world record in its MDS Nordion 10K Race in May. Haile Gebrselassie of Ethopia holds the current men’s 10K world record of 27:02 minutes, while Paula Radcliffe of Great Britain holds the current women’s world record of 30:21. Shave a second or two off one of those times and you could leave Ottawa not only as the new world record holder, but with an extra $100,000 in your pocket! How’s that for motivation? In 2008, the MDS Nordion 10K race attracted more than 8,418 runners. Julius Kiptoo of Kenya won the race with a time of 28:37 minutes. The fastest woman was Emebet Bacha (Ethiopia), who finished at 32:42 minutes. As for the MDS Nordion 10K record, it was set in 1988 by John Halverston, the current Ottawa Race Weekend Director, who burned up the course in 28:12 minutes. Ottawa Race Weekend: Three Ways You may have already visited the Ottawa Race Weekend Web site. That’s one great way to register for Race Weekend events, access the latest race news and information, and use the Cool Tools area to enhance your running experience – for example, by creating a training blog, using the route planner, or interacting with other runners on the Forum. However, we’d also like to suggest a couple of other ways to access the Ottawa Race Weekend experience online: Facebook and YouTube. Our brand new Facebook page features race schedules, news on Race Weekend-related events, and a wall where runners can post messages and connect with organizers and other runners. It’s a great way to keep tabs on all the latest Race Weekend happenings. Click here to visit our Facebook page. And the Ottawa Race Weekend now has a YouTube account, where we’ll be posting video of Ottawa Race Weekend activities and events. Whether you just found about Ottawa Race Weekend and want to see what it’s all about, or whether you want to refresh your memory about how awesome your last Ottawa Race Weekend experience was, you’ll be able to watch video of races online. Click here to check out the latest Ottawa Race Weekend videos. Get a Deal on Flights with Porter The deal with Porter Airlines is still on. If you’re participating in the Ottawa Race Weekend, you can get 15%* off published fares by using promo code OTW15RCE when you book your flight. So Book by MAY 15th, 2009 for travel between MAY 21st-26th, 2009. Subject to availability. Go to www.flyporter.com to book flights and register your email for more deals from Porter. Run Ottawa In Style This year you have a choice: regular paper bib, or personalized, high-quality technical shirt with your race number printed right on it. Ottawa Race Weekend is offering an official race shirt that features your race number, race logo, and your name or a personalized message printed on the front. It’s a quick-dry, technical running shirt that you can wear in place of the traditional paper bib. It’s comfortable, durable and makes a perfect race souvenir. From an ordinary paper number to an Intera Microdenier shirt designed specifically for distance running? We think that qualifies as progress. Seven styles to choose from. Supplies are limited. Go to www.WearYourNumber.com and place your order today! Accept Sole Responsibility for an Excellent Cause Sole Responsibility is once again collecting gently used running shoes to send to the Republic of Cameroon for use by refugees and displaced people from that region. Shoes will be collected during Ottawa Race Weekend at the Pfizer Health & Fitness Expo from Thursday, May 21st to Saturday, May 23rd. For each pair of shoes donated, the organization is also asking for a donation of two dollars to offset shipping costs. For more information please visit our web site at www.SoleResponsibility.orgI Support Canadian Athletes When it Matters Most To help our Canadian Athletes Now (CAN) Fund Team of 2010 runners raise $210 each, CAN Fund will provide each donor who donates more than $20 with a card that identifies them as a CAN Fund Supporter. As a CAN Fund Supporter you can save thousands of dollars over the next year at over 280,000 merchant locations across North America who support the CAN Fund initiative. Our runners and their donors will still find out the name of the athlete that they are directly supporting and receive a tax receipt. We believe this fantastic Supporter program will be a great tool to help our team reach our goal of 2010 runners raising $210 each. With only 11 months until the games, we want to reward all our supporters for getting behind our Canadian Athletes NOW, when it matters the most. Click on this link to join our Team of 2010 Runners/Walkers: http://www.canadianathletesnow.ca/current-events/join-our-team-of-2010-runners.html Make a difference – Run For a Reason In 2008, more than 1,500 people signed up to Run For a Reason and raise funds for The Ottawa Hospital – the official local charity of Ottawa Race Weekend. This year, we want you to be a part of our fundraising team! By signing up to make a difference, you’ll be joining people like 44-year-old Shelby Hayter, a happily married mother of 3 who is also living with Young Onset Parkinson’s Disease. In the past 30 years, Shelby has run long distance both recreationally and competitively. The highlight of her career is her participation in the prestigious Boston Marathon in 2005. This physical challenge took place just one month after she received the devastating diagnosis of Parkinson’s. Although her running pace has slowed down and her distance has progressively decreased from marathons to a 10 km goal this year, Shelby’s spirit remains high. This year, Shelby will be joined by other members of Team PIPR (Partners Investing in Parkinson Research). Collectively, the team has set a goal to raise $100,000 for Parkinson’s research at The Ottawa Hospital. On May 23rd, Shelby will proudly wear her red PIPR t-shirt and will know that her commitment and involvement will help make a difference towards finding a cure. Donate to Team PIPR or join the team. Also making a difference is Team Turnbull School. Since 2002, students and staff have raised more than $232,000 for The Ottawa Hospital. This year, Turnbull School will be raising funds for the improvement of cancer care at The Ottawa Hospital. Support Team Turnbull School’s fundraising. Another team Running For a Reason is the Holzman Team. This family team is made up of former Ottawa Mayor and cancer survivor Jackie Holzman and her daughter Ellyn. Holzman Team will also be raising funds for cancer care in our region. Support Holzman Team. We all have a reason to run. Make yours The Ottawa Hospital. Sign up today to Run For a Reason. Congrats to Allan Brett – Winner of the 2009 National Athletic Scholarship! Ottawa Race Weekend would like to congratulate Allan Brett, the recipient of our sixth annual National Athletic Scholarship! The $4,000 bursary was launched in 2003 to support promising young Canadian track athletes, and Allan definitely fits the description. A second year student in Biological Engineering from Guelph University, Allan was recently named the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Cross Country Most Valuable Player for his performance in the 10K race at the OUA Cross Country Championships in Kingston, Ontario. “It is important to support young Canadian athletes as talented and ambitious as Allan,” says Manuel Rodrigues, Elite Athlete Coordinator for the Ottawa Race Weekend. “The Ottawa Race Weekend’s National Athletic Scholarship reflects our commitment to deserving individuals and to the sport in general.” Volunteers Needed! Each year a group of dedicated volunteers comes together to support our runners and ensure that every Ottawa Race Weekend event is a success. They are part of the reason the Ottawa Marathon and MDS Nordion 10K events are recognized as two of the world’s best-organized and most prestigious road races. And we could not do it without their help. If you or someone you know would like to support the 2009 Ottawa Race Weekend as a volunteer, click here to visit our Volunteers page. MOTIVATION Wisdom in Motion: Breathing and Running Form As you gear up for this year’s Race Weekend, stay focused and motivated with training tips from John Stanton, expert marathoner and founder of The Running Room. This month’s tip is about how proper running form will help you breathe better and run faster! Staying tall and relaxed will improve your running form. A relaxed, upright posture is the best running position. Keeping your head, shoulders and hips up over your feet makes it easier to move the whole body, improving your breathing. With your shoulders back and body relaxed, imagine a string attached to the centre of your chest leading you up a hill – almost pulling you up the hill. Shift your hips forward to keep your alignment and posture correct. Strong abdominal muscles maintain form - the very reason for those sit ups. Lead with your knees to keep your alignment correct and prevent you from over striding. Concentrate on the correct push off from the ankle with short fast steps – more of a shuffle. Rather than breathing from your chest area, focus on breathing from your belly. Master your breathing techniques and you will be faster and more efficient. As pace increases, there is a tendency to over breathe; you may feel as if you’re gasping. Instead, focus on exhaling rather than inhaling – the in breath will happen on its own, involuntarily. Breathe in a manner that feels comfortable to you. Click here to read John’s other tips. On the Road: Doubleheaders Along the Way “On the Road” chronicles the trials and tribulations of Laura Clark, a children’s librarian and ultrarunner based in Albany, New York, as she preparaes for the 2009 Ottawa Marathon. This month Laura discusses how to train for a marathon without logging extreme mileage… Snowshoes! Doubleheaders in February? Either I am way too early for spring training or I have totally bonked from staring at my idyllic, leafy green May in Ottawa poster. Perhaps a bit of both… Towards the end of any sports season, folks wake up and realize if they want to prove anything they had better get with the program. And when you are talking about the brief three month span of snowshoe season, the pressure is on. For the past few weeks now our Dion Snowshoe Series has been featuring doubleheader weekends. This is a great way to take advantage of all the wonderful snow we have been having but not such a smart way to fit marathon training into the mix. Or is it? Several years ago when Nikki Kimball still lived in the Adirondacks and was a member of our Western Mass Athletic Club, I asked her how she managed to train for longer events while still participating in shorter races. At the time we were both warming up for the famously difficult Mt. Washington Uphill Road Race and her female overall victory at the Western States 100 Miler was still in the future. Nikki’s beginning warm-up pace was roughly equivalent to my fastest-ever race day effort, so I had to talk fast. She revealed that by doing a Saturday race followed by a longish Sunday workout she could replicate the conditions one would normally encounter two-thirds of the way through a marathon without actually having to log extreme mileage figures. Read the rest of Laura’s post here. The Runner’s World: Training Blogs A training blog can be a way to keep in touch with other runners, gain inspiration, and stay engaged as race season approaches. As one blogger put it, a training blog allows you “to experience the journey, not just the destination.” Click here to create your own training blog, or to read the latest entries from other people blogging about their Ottawa Marathon training efforts. Continuuing on from last month, here is the latest entry from Molly English, a 40-something mother of two (step-mother of five) in Syracuse, New York, who is training for the 2009 Ottawa Half Marathon. March 26 – The Need for Speed! I attempted my first tempo run in five months today, and did OK. For 4 miles I was able to sustain a mid-8-minute mile pace. Is it my fastest? Not by a long shot. But I've been working on building endurance first, then speed. Now that the snow appears to be gone, I can head to a school track to do speedwork there. Our high school track has been under construction for a few years (long story; don't ask), so I have to drive to another nearby town to get on a track. I miss the days of warmup and cooldown attained while jogging to and from the track. But the track I go to attracts its share of wildlife, and spying foxes at 6 a.m. is well worth the drive. Click here to visit Molly’s training blog. HEALTH AND NUTRITION Eating for Peak Performance During Workout Fluid & Food Guidelines: If the activity is vigorous and for longer than 90 minutes, take in some carbohydrate with your fluids, e.g., sport drink or diluted fruit juice. For prolonged endurance events or activities (2 hours or more) , eat small carbohydrate rich snacks (approx 15-20 gms/60-80 kcal of carbohydrate) every 20 minutes or so. Examples include dried fruits, fig newtons and oatmeal cookies, energy, or sport gels. This ingestion of carbohydrate during exercise has the potential to delay fatigue and enhance exercise performance. Remember that everyone is different and that what works for you is not necessarily the best choice for one of your training buddies! Post Workout Fluid & Food Guidelines: Muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrate) may be measurably reduced after 45 minutes of moderate intensity exercise. Glycogen depletion can occur in: · endurance athletes (runners, rowers, cyclists) · in team sports such as soccer · in fitness and aerobics instructors · in resistance athletes (weight trainers) · in high intensity intermittent exercise (interval training) The more glycogen you burn off the greater and more receptive your muscles will be to re-fueling. That means that the tougher a workout is (a function of intensity and duration), the more important it is for you to refuel...ASAP! To maximize muscle glycogen stores, carbohydrate rich foods should be consumed immediately after exercising. Timing is critical to restore muscle glycogen. Research shows that athletes who want to store maximal amounts of muscle glycogen for optimal training and peak performance should shift their intake of carbohydrate-rich foods to immediately after workouts. In fact the best way to rapidly replenish muscle glycogen is to eat or drink carbohydrate immediately after exercise. When carbohydrate is combined with protein, this muscle glycogen storage is enhanced post exercise. Skim milk, fruit yogurt or chocolate skim milk are ways to encourage post workout refueling with carbohydrate-protein combinations. Make your own power punch for recovery nutrition by combining fruit and/or fruit juices with milk or plant based beverages. Stay tuned next month for Beth’s next tip: Keep Injury Free with Carbs About Beth Mansfield and Peak Performance Beth Mansfield is a Registered Dietitian, Sport Nutrition & Exercise Specialist with Peak Performance, a sport nutrition and corporate wellness consulting company in Ottawa. Beth educates Canadian athletes of all levels, including Olympians, national and provincial team athletes, as well as University, masters and recreational athletes on sport nutrition for health and performance. Beth is a popular corporate wellness speaker throughout Canada and also maintains a therapeutic lifestyle change (TLC) clinic for people with elevated cholesterol at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute. She is currently working on her PhD at McGill University focusing on energy balance and body composition in health and disease. You can check out her show on CJOH/CTV the 1st Wednesday of every month with Leanne Cusack on the News at Noon. Email Beth – beth@peakperformance.ca Eat and Run You need food to fuel your body – to help you push further, to run faster, to perform at the highest possible level. But food should be more than just fuel. It should also be a pleasure to prepare and eat. Each month, we share a simple, nutritious recipe to help stoke your energy for the race, or help replenish energy spent during long training miles. This month’s recipe is sourced from caloriecount.about.com. A great way to start any day, we call this easy-to-prepare, nutritious meal the “Breakfast of Champions”. Breakfast of Champions Veggie Omlette, followed by half a banana and, for good measure, a whole wheat enlgish muffin with strawberry jam. Ingredients 1/2 cup mushrooms 1/2 cup spinach 1/2 cup red onion 1/2 red bell pepper 3/4 cup egg beaters 2 teaspoon of olive oil 1/2 large banana 1 english muffin, whole wheat 1 tablespoon of strawberry preserve Directions Nutritional Info per Serving: Calories 538 Protein 30.4 g Fat 16.8 g Saturated Fat 2.7 g Carbs 67.8 g Cholesterol 2 mg Sodium 621 mg Sugars 26.5 g Fiber 6.2 gOttawa Race Weekend Newsletter – April 2009
