“The idea that thirst comes too late is a marketing ploy of the sports-drink industry," says Tim Noakes, M.D., professor of sport and exercise science at University of Cape Town, South Africa.

Pretty important book here, especially for me as a coach. I just got my copy of Dr. Tim Noakes newest book and it is an eye-opener. I'll let Dr. Noakes summarize his conclusions which in no way should dissuade you from buying a copy of the book for yourself.

from p.353: Summary
In this book I have described my odyssey of three decades that began when I received Eleanor Sadler's letter in June 1981. During this journey I have learned how science is meant to work and conversely how it often does - a quite different reality. This has been a bitter lesson.
     Over this period of 30 years I did, however, learn the real science of hydration:
• Your body will tell you what it needs, if you just listen.
• So drink only ad libitum - that is, according to the dictates of thirst.
• Dehydration is not a disease. Nor does dehydration contribute in any way to any illnesses associated with prolonged exercise like road, marathon, and ultramarathon running races and triathlons.
• If you are carbohydrate adapted, to optimize your performance during more prolonged competitive exercise, you will need to ingest some carbohydrate or perhaps preferably a favorite food.
• There is no need to increase your habitual daily sodium intake above that dictated by your appetite.
• There is no need to ingest additional sodium during exercise.
• Understand that much of what you believe about your personal well-being is the result of targeted manipulations by industries whose principal focus is their commerical fitness and not necessarily your health or safety.

Academic All State: MITCA

I just found out my Girl's XC team just won Academic All State as awarded by the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association (MITCA). Very Exciting for me! I guess the girls will have to either read my blog or wait until the end of the year to find out because I know they will appreciate this further acknowledgment of what an achievement this particular team was. First getting to the MHSAA State XC Meet for the first time in 29 years and then this! Academic All State in our case means that they are ranked as 4th among the smartest teams, by GPA, in Division 4 girl's XC teams that made it to the state meet. If I may use an acting awards analogy: MHSAA is kind of like the Oscars. Everyone knows about them. But the MITCA award is kind of like the SAG awards. More meaningful for the practitioner because you're being judged by your peers, but less well known. As many people know, cross country is not a sport populated by athletes who are slackers anyway so this is indeed a real prize and I'm so proud of them; they are the gift to me that keeps on giving. What a nice piece of cheese paper to put out in the obligatory senior shrine for the open house. I'm happy to have done well my first year coaching at my daughter's school but it will be tough to outdo these ladies in the coming years.

I love my girls!

Owen Anderson

    My Wednesday night marathon clinic is run by Owen Anderson who is quite a knowledgable man when it comes to running. He just got back from a race director's conference in Houston and had some wry observations about the "celebrity" status enjoyed by Dave McGillivray, race director for the Boston Marathon. Owen's sense of humor is definitely one of his strong suits. He promotes an interesting vision for a less is more philosophy in running. Also he was glad to share that there will be some Kenyans running this year at the inaugural Lansing Marathon event and to say that an exciting new running program for kids is beginning within the Lansing schools. Obesity being a problem plaguing Michigan's youth, I'm sure this will be just the thing for some deserving and motivated young people. 
     One thing that Owen talks about, that I've never really heard too much about, is the importance of the nervous system and developing an overall level of fitness to enhance running, not just "heart size and leg speed" development. We did an interesting array of drills tonight that included soccer balls, cones, and a plastic ladder that we basically hopscotched through. Not at all what I was expecting but very fun things to do with my cross country team next fall. As I look back on my running life I realized I've never really been coached for a marathon before. I just went out and did them for fun. Now I think I'd like to qualify for Boston (before they make it even harder) and I think I've found a coach to get me there.

My Friend Jon...

On the bus with the team going to some XC meet or other.

So when I began my XC coaching journey it was becasue of Jon (picutred left) who is part of my regular, once a week, running gang. He went to the athletic director at the high school we were both teaching in back then (2004, I believe) and said we would both be interested in taking the cross country coaching position that had recently opened up. The thing is we had never discussed it. I didn't even know he was interested! Nevertheless, when I found out, I was excited and of course surprised. Jon and I coached together for four years. His older brother had coached XC as well at another high school and I feel like he wanted to follow in his footsteps to some extent. I met Jon initially when we ran together on our high school XC team. Little did I know that we would be coaching together let alone both be teaching English at the same high school across town from where we went to school. In the end it was a great experience to learn how to be "the coach" alongside such a fine friend whom I've known for so long. I think my recent success in coaching my daughter's team at her school could not have happened so smoothly had it not been for my formative years learning how to actually be a coach with Jon. The picture says it all really. Two Englsih teachers who are having fun being XC coaches together. Who is Oscar and who is Felix? We still debate that one. While running of course. Here's to you my friend!

TriCrowd.com

Well I'm quite happy to be listed on one of the hippest triathlon sites out there. Real people with real jobs talking about what it is to live with Ironman dreams. I had run across the site before I started my own blog and noticed that it was populated with not only coaching and elite advice but also the reflections of people I've run into while doing triathlons. You know. That person you run with for 3 or four miles because you're feeling about the same way and you help each other along...and then either you or the other person breaks away towards the finish line. Or that person you talk to in the transition area next to you while you're both waiting for the event to begin, but your friend you came to the race with is two rows away from you where their bike is racked . I call them "mini-friendships". 

TriCrowd has interesting featured bloggers and good deals on tri-gear through their associated web site called Trinero.com: (think Triathlon + Dinero). I haven't found another triathlon specific site out there that really fills the niche that TriCrowd does. Check 'em out! (And don't forget to scroll down on the right hand side of the page and look for the "More Triathlon Blogs," that's where I am.)

Goodbye Diet Coke

I did forget to mention another thing in my last blog entry that I stopped doing which is I no longer drink Diet Coke. My particular habit was one can a day during the week at lunch and usually one day on the weekend I would skip the Diet Coke. I drank it for the caffeine and because it tasted better to me than regular Coke. There really isn't super compelling evidence on the web that should alarm people who drink Diet Coke in moderation. I do like what this fellow Blogspot blogger says. I gave up Diet Coke this Fall because I told my cross country team that I didn't want them drinking any soda during the season (we call it "pop" in Michigan, but I guess we're actually the odd ones in that regard) and that I would give up drinking Diet Coke so that I was giving up something too. It turned out to be easier than I thought and I do feel much better but I don't know if it contributed in any way to my weight loss or not. I just figured that all those chemicals on a daily basis couldn't be a good thing. I've replaced the daily Diet Coke with Naked brand "Green Machine" or Odwalla "Superfood" smoothies (in spite of seeing Soylent Green in the '70's) or those little V8 V-Fusion juice blends. I feel quite virtuous about this too. I feel like I'm doing my body a favor. So that IS one thing I neglected to mention last time. I doubt I could measure speed gain in my next race from quitting Diet Coke but it sure can't hurt. Plus it made my daughter happy.

Success is counted sweetest...

Moving on to the State meet! October 29th, 2011.

This past XC season, my eighth year coaching but the first at my daughter's school, the girl's team took third at our regional in Allendale, Michigan. This qualified the team to move on to the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) state cross country meet. I was overjoyed of course but I did wonder about a comment made by one of the parents I overheard at the starting line of the race (not directed at me). The comment made me ponder for several days about whether I would've rather gone to the state meet as a coach or a runner. The "either/or" thing*. My team in high school won our league and went on to the state meet the year after I graduated. We failed in our bid my Senior year due to our top two guys being out for injuries although we still took second in our league. I have, after thinking about it, concluded beyond a shadow of a doubt that I would rather coach a team to the state meet rather than go as a runner. Probably a good thing since that's how it happened anyway. But still I marvel at my capacity to be so happy for others. Maturity is shocking sometimes. In any case I just want to share with blog readers an unforgettable group of girl's on one of the happiest days of my life.

*not an allusion to Kierkegaard