Runner's World Extr@

for Friday, August 4, 2000

==== In this issue ====

Sizzling times overseas, Kenyan marathon chaos, making your exercise fun, the skinny on fat, how to motivate overweight children, and words that inspire.

==== News ====

Scorching in Scandinavia: Suzy Favor Hamilton may not have won the U.S. Olympic Trials, but on July 28 she dominated a world-class field in Oslo to win the Bislett 1500m in 3:57.40 - the fastest time in the world this year and less than three tenths off Mary Slaney's American Record. Favor Hamilton ran another PR at 800m in Stockholm August 1, this time finishing seventh. In the same Stockholm meet, Deena Drossin ran 14:51.62 for 5000m, a time second only to Regina Jacobs' ten-day-old AR for U.S. women, but placed only ninth in one of the deepest races ever. Favor Hamilton wins fantastic 1500 (July 31)

Great women's races on tap in Stockholm (August 1) <>

Jones, women's 5000m highlight Stockholm GP (August 2) <>

Olympians or not? Kenyan officials named Boston Marathon champion Elijah Lagat to replace carjacking victim Ondoro Osoro on their Olympic team, but Lagat says he won't run unless Moses Tanui and Japeth Kosgei are also returned to the team; all three had been removed just weeks before. Some members of the U.S. team also are in doubt: 1500m prospective Michael Stember missed his first attempt at the "A" standard which would allow him to join the team.

Lagat's back (July 31) <> http://www.runnersworld.com/dailynew/archives/2000/July/000731.html#shorts

Kenyan marathon selection swirls with confusion (August 2) <>

Stember misses mark (July 31) <>

RW publisher George Hirsch and USATF CEO Craig Masback were guests on August 1's "Talk of the Nation" on NPR, and were joined by phone by Olympic high jumper Amy Acuff and former world-record-holding miler Jim Beatty. You can listen to archived RealAudio of the broadcast

======= Training Tip ======

A sedentary person might not notice subtle signs of food intolerance. Running, however, imposes an enormous strain on the body's homeostatic mechanisms. For runners, the equation is simple: prolonged or intense exercise plus food intolerance results in symptoms. - from George Sheehan’s Running to Win, page 91. You can buy this book

======== Health and Fitness ========

Make it fun: Remember how Mary Poppins got the children to clean up the nursery? She made cleaning into something fun. The same principle can work for you when it comes to exercising. Researchers from Colorado State University have found that obese women are more likely to improve their health if they exercise to feel better, rather than just to lose weight.

Fat facts: A study by researchers in New Zealand has found that total body fat, lean tissue mass, and body weight did not change when the athletes ate a high-fat diet. Thirty male and two female cyclists had diets in which 50 percent of their energy intake came from fat for three months. Being engaged in endurance training allowed their bodies to maintain an energy balance and continue to perform at a high level of physical fitness.

======== In our forums ========

Well, we've turned the corner and August has arrived. The month of ragweed, steamy weather, back-to-school shopping, and least we forget, pre-season cross-country. High schoolers from all around the country will soon be seen dashing through neighborhood streets as they gear up for another fall season. Discuss who you think will be the top contenders this year by visiting our High School Runner forums: <">

======== Interview ========

On July 2, Matt Carpenter won the Vail Hill Climb for the seventh time in a time of 48:26. He will be part of the U.S. team competing for the World Mountain Running Trophy in Bergen, Germany, on September 9. Carpenter was the 1999 USATF Mountain Runner of the Year and the winner of the 1999 Telluride Get High Sky Marathon. Runner’s World spoke with Carpenter: <>

====== Coming this weekend =======

Friday, MacAttack 5-K, Rochester, Minn. Flat multiple loop course around Silver Lake.

Saturday, Manhattan Half-Marathon, New York City, New York. Part of the NYRCC series of half-marathons that covers all five boroughs. Web site: <>.

Saturday, Evergreen Town Races, Evergreen, Colorado. Both a 10-K and a 5-K at high altitude courses.

Saturday, People's Beach to Beacon 10-K, Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Fast, flat course along the Maine coast. Web site: <>.

======= Editor's Advice =======

Flexibility is an often-overlooked component of fitness. Just be sure to stretch after you run -- not before, when your muscles are cold. Keep it gentle, and stretch just to the point of discomfort. - Bob Wischnia, RW deputy editor

====== Words to think about ======

And then it happens. The something new. I feel my thigh muscles pumping, feel them expand and contract, hear them hum. I listen, spellbound. They are singing. I lift my head, the hill is long before me, but I am running strong and ably, and my breath is rhythmic. I run, fat little me, natural as an antelope. The hill is bested, the road ribbons on, and I thrust along it, laughing out loud. I have grown younger. Years younger.- from "Odyssey of a Beginning Runner," an essay by Shannon O’Cork 

====== Television Schedule  ======