Wicked Witch get ol' fashion Ass Woopin'

Family that trains together, stays together.

Are feet over-rated?

Strength in numbers!

STAYING IN CADENCE

With the suffocating heat of summer behind us, it's time to get back to an old friend, jogging. Throughout the fall you’ll find the streets in Chicago, New York, and Washington full of folks getting ready for their upcoming marathon. Heck, little ‘ole Greensboro had 8 ladies short of 4000 participants in the October 1^st Women’s Only Breast Cancer Run.

Talk about Girls on the Go!

As consultants to a few of these runners, we’ve learned there are nearly as many different ways to train for these events as there are participants. But all things are relative, and “One man’s marathon is another man’s 10k.” Many factors play into how and why one trains differently than another. With all the variation, one factor seems consistent among those who do well: stride cadence.

Here’s what we tell folks about it:

Optimal stride cadence (or "turnover", as some call it) equals 180 strides/minute, more or less. The science of this thinking is that tendons allow for elastic recoil if cadence falls into this range, plus or minus 5 strides. Any faster and the muscles are moving faster than the tendons can recoil. Any slower, the same potential energy stored in the tendons is lost. This elastic recoil allows the muscles to work less, as proven by decreased oxygen consumption at 175-185 strides per minute (2007 (R)-Midgley, 2006-Conoboy, 2005-Dallam, 2004(R)-Saunders, 1994-Hamill, 1992-Martin, 1990-Kaneko, 1989-Cavanagh, 1982, Cavanagh, 1982-Power).

Heels are made for walking!

For your stride to reach optimal turnover, you should consider running on your mid-foot and not the heel-to-toe. That method was a “hit” (get it? haha) with many sadistic gym coaches in the mid 1900’s, but no more. Nowadays, we do drills like A-skips and high knees, barefoot running and my fav, jumping rope to strike up elastic recoil and improve cadence. Google: Evolution Running.

If the shoe fits…

And what up with those Five Finger Toe shoes? You guessed it. They promote

mid-foot ground striking position as well as condition the body from the feet up. All that EVA foam at the sole of your sneakers elevates the heel and forces the foot to strike the ground in front of the body’s center of mass (ouch!), not above it ( a-h-h-h!). EVA also slows communication between the ground and your foot’s sensory receptors, diminishing elastic recoil and increasing ground contact time.  For this reason, folks are starting to favor shoes that are more level to the ground. Google: Newton Running Shoes.

No Brakes!

The idea is to make as little work of running as possible. With optimal cadence our goal, the mid-foot, not heal, is the preferred ground striking position. Elastic recoil at the tendons means less braking, which means less impact and sweet stride turnover. So if you want to make it look easy like the Kenyans, stop resting on those heals and get your stride up to speed!

THE WHAT AND WHY OF AED’S

Not known to many of our members is the availability of an automated external defibrillator, or AED, at our front desk. For those unfamiliar, an AED is “a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the potentially life threatening cardiac arrhythmias” (thanks Wikipedia!). Here's a little more about this little lifesaver.

The Basics:

A heart attack is a plumbing problem with the one or more arteries delivering blood to the heart blocked. A cardiac arrest is an electrical problem when the heart’s ventricles develop an irregular rhythm and quiver instead of contract. Both can be fatal. Both can be potentially avoided with the use of an AED.

-Easy to operate, responders follow the voice prompts them through the process. Once the pads are placed, the AED will detect weather or not a shock is necessary. If so, a voice prompts shock need and the responder presses the shock button. If only CPR is necessary, the AED will notify and instruct.

-AED's provide assistance during Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA), a leading cause of death in the U.S., killing nearly 300,000 people each year. That’s more than the total death rate for breast cancer, lung cancer, and HIV/AIDS combined. SCA can strike persons of any age, gender, race, and even those who seem in good health, as evidenced by world-class professional athletes at the peak of fitness. Google Michael Jackson.

-Once seen only in hospitals and ambulances, defibrillators today come as small as laptops, cost as little as $1,300 and can be operated easily by untrained bystanders. Some states now require AEDs in schools; some require them in health clubs, shopping malls and golf courses. Despite their foolproof nature, some businesses oppose them out of fear of being sued if something goes awry with an on-site AED. Fortunately, all 50 states now have AED Good Samaritan provisions that help protect laypersons from liability.

-San Diego City Council member Jim Madaffer said "I predict that 10 years from now, people will say, ‘I’m not going to work in a building or stay in a hotel or eat in a restaurant that doesn’t have an AED." Madaffer helped place nearly 5,000 AEDs in public facilities since 2001. They’ve saved 49 lives. Schools have been a tough sell, largely because of cost. Some parents are raising money for AEDs themselves, often after a tragedy. In Rhode Island, the Michael J. Monteleone Fund was established after the sudden death from cardiac arrest of 14-year-old Michael during a baseball practice.

So here's some take home info from the American Heart Association: 

If someone collapses near you, follow these steps:

•Call 911.

•Push hard and fast on the center of the chest (mouth-to-mouth is no longer recommended).

•Send someone to get an AED (if you are alone, get the AED before doing chest compressions).

*Our unit is a Zoll AED+PLUS, and sits next to the phone. If you're interested in reviewing it's use, just let us know. Hopefully we can now breath a little easier. 

TIGER FLESH

I may be a day late with this, but i did write it last night...

Adam Scott posts a big win at Firestone and Stevie Williams, Tiger's newest Ex, gets the interview. Ok, what the hell?

Amazed at how self-indulged star Stevie was during his interview, I found relief in reading that columnist Gregg Doyel of CBSSports.com “counted 27 uses of I, me and my by Williams in his 90-second interview—with only one mention of Scott.” With an axe to grind and the possibility of a new book, this cunning “megalomaniac” caddie may have another agenda.

Tiger became America's pinata since his booty call nearly two years ago. His combined ignorance and arrogance planted a seed of angst with all those who worshiped his almighty existence, excusing his condescending behavior as Zen-like mind control.  Certainly when the chicks–hit-the-fan, much of his fandom felt betrayed. Many still do. Why else would consumer-driven ESPN continue to show missed putt after putt by Tiger? These same people want to see him struggle.

This brings me to my question: Where along the lines of those missed putts did we lose site of all that is well and good? Is this Original Sin at work?  Are  we truly a fallen people resorting to a default mentality full of envy and dishonor?  Does our thirst for dirt have us wading through the mire to find helpless cadavers of disgraced hero’s to feed upon? Why do we choose to care?

The obvious: Williams’ showed his arse stealing Adam Scott’s limelight as he stroked his ego to the media. William’s was 27 times the jerk for using the wrong pronoun in his interview.  Tiger? Not even going there. His bad karma could fill every deep bunker at St. Andrews. So what’s the “take home” Homey?

Best advice and the final word came from one of our own, Pam Arrington, a 7-year member here at Positive Stress Workout. Pam explained, in the simplest terms, that without allowing God in our lives, we're bound to struggle a bit. As for our attention to the devious, she paraphrased Philippians 4:8 (I checked, she nailed it) : “whatsoever things are true, honest, just pure lovely, of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

Thanks be to God.