Dumpster Dash

Aging is partly out of our control

[LINK] PhysOrg.com

There’s no argument that eating well, exercising wisely, and avoiding high risk behaviors can increase one’s chances for a longer, healthier old age. But it’s also obvious that in many ways the aging process is out of our control; that despite our best efforts (in concert with a genetic make-up that makes us more or less susceptible to certain diseases) our cells and tissues ultimately degenerate and eventually die.

While scientists have long suspected that events outside our control can result in aging, a study led by Buck Institute faculty member Jan Vijg, PhD, provides the first direct evidence that the molecular machinery of our cells providing function to our tissues and organs spins irreversibly out of control as we age. The study appears in the June 22 edition of Nature.

200m training program

[LINK] Sports Coach

200m is actually 218.8 yards. But, it's the closest standard race to the 200yd Dumpster Dash. The training program recommended at the link should be near optimum for the DD.

Study indicates beer makes men more like women

[LINK] Evil midnight ranter

Something we've all seen firsthand, which the article doesn't mention, is the development of apparent mammary glands in men who drink and don't exercise.  Do I have to show you a photo? Men with this extent of affemination really shouldn't EVER appear in public topless, except maybe in France.

Eat lots of vegetables

A couple which eats plenty of vegetables is more likely to be a healthy, contented, shapely, and good looking couple; more likely to succeed and be happy (assuming it doesn't offset this good behavior with negative ones; like eating and drinking too much in general, eating the wrong mix of foods, and not exercising enough).

As far as I know, this photo was not photoshopped.

Fartlek (aka HIIT) training

[LINK] Wikipedia

Jogging at a fixed pace is not the optimum training for the Dumpster Dash. Jogging conditions your body to pace itself so you can finish the task (typically measured in multiple miles/kilometers). It builds your endurance, but does little to improve your short-term bursting capability. The Dumpster Dash is a sprint (lasting only 30-40 seconds for most of us) in which you need to give your all coming back up the hill to win against an equivalent opponent.

Fartlek training (which has nothing to do with passing gas) varies the pace, including some sprinting.

Some call this High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). That sounds like what the military would call it. A simpler, more descriptive name is "interval sprinting."

Optimized training for the 200 yard Dumpster Dash can be optimized for your current condition (and re-designed as it improves), measured in either time or distance segments. Distance segments are better, but only work if you are on a track or measured and marked course.

TIME METHOD:

First time yourself at full speed over a known 200 yard distance. (Measure it by running the Dumpster Course -- when traffic is light -- if you like.)  Let's call that X seconds. Jog for 3X seconds, run full speed for X/3 seconds, then jog again for 2X seconds, then run full speed for X/2 seconds, then jog for 3X seconds, then sprint for X seconds. Wind down with an extended jog and walk. (After you get some experience, you can customize the segment times to optimize them for your current condition, and gradually change them as your condition improves. You should jog for as long as it takes for you to feel like you're ready to sprint full speed again.) Repeat this cycle for the total workout time your condition dictates, always ending by jogging then walking.

Obviously, you'll need a stopwatch to use time segments. Polar offers a wide selection starting at reasonable prices, some with heart rate monitors.  You can buy expensive ones like the $195 Seiko SuperAthlete, but all its features are not needed for this specific purpose.

DISTANCE METHOD:

If you're training on a track or a course on which you've marked distances, you can measure the segments in distances instead of time.  If your on a track, the sprint segments should be a half-lap (actually 220 yards) long.

A distance of a mile is a good overall distance for such a workout, as you'll be expending some serious energy when running the sprint segments. As you get into better shape, you might work up to two miles.

Because the sprint segments are over quickly (under 40 seconds for most of us), you won't build up much lactic acid, which causes your legs to tighten up and slows you down.

SPEED & DISTANCE METHOD:

If you're willing and able to buy a $300 Timex 5E671 Ironman Triathlon Bodylink Performance Monitor, with Digital Heart Rate Sensor and the Speed + Distance Sensor, its GPS capability will keep up with distance and calculate your speed. You don't have to run on a track or measured course, and you don't have to approximate the 200 yd sprint distance. But, you do have to run (or bike) outdoors. I want one! (I love high-tech gadgets.) But, it's not really necessary for DD training.

Atlanta residents, who are used to seeing constant speed joggers and walkers, might be a little shocked to see somebody training in this fashion. Bored local cops or MARTA wannabes might even stop and question you. Using a track or trial (during off hours, when they're not cluttered), is to be preferred.

Sprinting is good for the buns

[LINK] Art de Vany

Strong and solid buttocks are a sign of health and power in a male... A male can't be powerful unless he has developed buttocks. They are the foundation of mobility for almost all athletic moves and they are the prime movers in any rapid or powerful move. Heavy lifting, sprinting, hitting or throwing all move off the drive from the legs and gluts.

Why are buns shrinking?

1. Too much sitting. Sitting cuts off the blood supply to the gluts and they atrophy. They just waste away from a lack of blood flow. Go into a truck stop and you will see men that may have started driving as young, tough truck jockeys whose pants just hang straight down from their belt after 20 years in the cab. Office workers are just as vulnerable.

2. Too little full body exercise. Dead lifts, squats, splits, power cleans, and overhead moves engage the gluts. Sitting in a leg extension machine does not. Hack squats on those slanted racks were designed to avoid developing the glutes by body builders seeking a Steve Reeves look.

3. Not enough sprinting. Glutes are essential to a powerful and full leg drive. Jogging doesn't do it. Running at varying speed does to some degree. Long term joggers tend to have a tucked under pelvis, tilted forward from the base, probably to protect their lower back. This reduces engagement of the glutes.

4. Too much alcohol. Alcoholics have no glutes. Check it out. They do all of the above: sitting, not exercising, no sprinting. But, they have another problem. They are so malnourished, particularly in protein, that they consume their own muscle mass to maintain their overworked organs. Their organs are busy trying to detoxify their bodies and are overloaded.

Alcohol and athletic performance

[LINK] Gatorade

The linked article; by Dr. Jacqueline R. Berning, Ph.D., R.D., University of Colorado; doesn't speak well of alcohol as a beverage for the sprinter -- short term or long term.

DOES ALCOHOL ENHANCE ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE?
  Due to the quick absorption characteristics and the fairly high energy content,   alcohol has been viewed as a potential ergogenic (work-enhancing) agent. In   fact, just the opposite is true. Alcohol can diminish physiological functions   needed in exercise and sports. In a recent study, nine healthy men (ages 21   to 26) drank in one hour, the legal limit for driving in most states. The result   was a depression in left ventricle contractions of the heart; in other words,   it was harder for the heart to get blood and oxygen out to the rest of the body.   The researchers concluded that alcohol was toxic to the heart, even in young,   healthy adults. Alcohol also slows the respiratory rate; it is classified as   a depressant. This is just the opposite effect that the athlete wants.

Get in shape for the Dash by drinking tea

[LINK] Wu-Long Tea

Exercise is hard and time consuming. You know you like to drink. All you need to do is reduce alcohol consumption and start drinking this particular tea.

Legitimate scientific research, published in the world's leading academic journals, is now showing that an extraordinarily rare tea produced at Mt. Wu Yi Shan in China's Fujian Province may carry remarkable slimming and health benefits... so much so that Chinese scientists are calling it, "The world's most powerful fat burner."

... 37 scientific studies published within the last several months alone show it helps melt away bodyfat; boost energy; and even clarify skin, giving your face a clear, radiant glow.

 

How does smoking affect one's ability to sprint?

Dr. Alison McConnel of Runner's World provides the answer:

Cigarettes contain a cocktail of harmful chemicals that attacks the delicate structures of the lung with devastating consequences. Most people think that the only consequence of this damage is lung cancer, but a more common consequence of smoking is the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

COPD causes the alveoli to collapse, reducing the surface area available for gas exchange, and the airways to become floppy. The reduction in surface area hampers the lung’s ability to transfer oxygen efficiently. The floppy airways mean that, as you breathe out, the airways collapse. This causes increased breathlessness and also makes breathing more difficult.

Although this doesn’t normally manifest itself until early middle age, it is developing throughout the smoker’s life, and will actually become apparent earlier in a regular exerciser [or sprint runner] than in a sedentary smoker, because the sedentary smoker does not push their breathing to its limits.

[A more immediate] performance-related consequence [regardless of age] is carbon monoxide (CO) ‘poisoning’. Smokers have high levels of CO in their blood – the more cigarettes they smoke, the higher the level. CO combines more easily with haemoglobin than oxygen, so it reduces the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood, reducing maximal oxygen uptake.

This is not to say a smoker can't beat a non-smoker in the Dumpster Dash. But, if other factors are about equal (age, weight, height, physical condition, exercise level, determination, etc.); the smoker is going to be at a disadvantage, especially in the final half of the uphill leg, where the course is steepest, and the competitor has no reason not to run full steam.

David's secret revealed

[LINK] Gene Therapy

Unlike college and pro sports, the Dumpster Dash has no restrictions on body enhancements.

This is how a guy over 60.5 years old can outrun a guy who just turned 50.

Then, there's the Timberland hiking boots. Some day, Olympic runners will be wearing them, as soon as they discover how great they are for sprinting.

But, David (an overweight 5 ft - 6.5 in. out-of-shape old pudgy guy) may soon meet his match.  Bob, a 6 ft X in. 58.5 year-old race car driver and avid bike rider, with a stride at least a foot longer and a lot less excess weight, is ready to challenge him for the 50-60 year-old male division. (David currently holds it by virtue of beating both runners in that age range.) For safety reasons, given wet pavement,  a race was not run Sunday night.

And, unlike Tut, who enjoys a "Black & Mild" cigarillo at least once a day; Bob doesn't smoke. Smokers can't run very fast, very far, before they run out of air.

Ray, the kilt-wearing, thirty-something blacksmith, warned "I'm fast!" and challenged any takers to a race for $100 a couple of weeks ago, but "Chip" (who has said he can run the full 200 yards at full speed) would not take him on until Ray bragged he could run it backwards wearing flip-flops over his boots while smoking a cigarette and wearing a kilt. Chip was ready to take the bet at that point, but Ray said the time had expired.