Author: Modern Athlete

Spar Women’s
Challenge 10km & 5km, Pretoria, 25 August

As Pretoria’s temperature hiked up to 32 degrees and I
began melting, still being used to the Highveld freeze, it dawned on me: I
should’ve trained more! I was hoping to get in under 1:30, but along with my
mother Debi and aunt Janeen, I would be happy just to finish. Meanwhile, my
brother Brent and cousin Devon decided to man up and don bikini tops, but other
men went the whole nine yards and dazzled in tutus.

THE HEAT IS ON

The busy start meant it took us five minutes to get
going. I started well, allowing my legs to warm up on a flat 2km stretch before
the first sharp incline. I had lost my mother and aunt in the orange traffic,
but around the 3km point, as the route climbed, I found them again, now looking
decidedly pink in the cheeks – the heat was incredible and we used water
sachets to cool down.

With a sharp downhill for the next 2km, I gave myself
a breather, and when we passed the halfway point in Centurion’s quiet suburbs,
we all enjoyed ourselves as the locals cooled the pack down with their garden
hoses. Then, with about 3km to go and the stadium light pylons visible in the
distance, I powered up to a steady run, and with my mother and aunt by my side,
we finished hand in hand in 1:32. After a scorcher of a day, it was better than
I expected! The boys finished in 52 minutes in their first ever 10km event and
we rewarded ourselves with a cold beer.

CHASING RECORDS

In the elite race up front, Ren? Kalmer took top honours
in a time of 34:50, followed by Rutendo Nyahora (35:28) and Nolene Conrad
(36:43). I remember my mother saying “That’s three times faster than us!” With
her fourth win in the 2012 Spar series, Ren? has already secured the Grand Prix
Series title, but will be chasing a fifth win in Johannesburg on October 14^th.
No one has won all five legs before in a single year, so here’s hoping Ren? can
make history!

Back in 1902, the Stella Sport Club was established as
a soccer club, but over the years its members began looking for different ways
to keep fit. That saw the founding of the club’s athletic section in 1970, and
from a small initial membership it has grown into the 350-strong running club
of today. And Stella is for every type of runner, says Grant Matkovich, the
club committee member responsible for fundraising and entertainment. “Stella AC
has a hectic weekly diary, so no matter what your ability of running, you will always
find a run to suit you.”

Based in the heart of Glenwood, Durban, Stella runners
take off on early morning training runs from the club every Monday, Wednesday
and Friday. Afternoon runs start from 5:15pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, with
four groups taking part: walkers, beginners, intermediate and fast. “The route
is called and water points along the way allow everyone to regroup to make sure
no one is left behind!” explains Grant. “A Wednesday ‘quality’ session has also
been introduced, to help those members who want to up their speed, so no matter
what age, body shape or running ability, all are welcome at Stella!”

Saturdays at Stella is ‘Gillies Day,’ a regular 6am run
which always draws an enthusiastic crowd. This social run started back in 1970
with six soccer players who’d all finished their competitive soccer careers and
didn’t know what to do next, but knew they wanted to keep fit. The run was led by
Gilbert ‘Gillie’ Patterson and followed a dedicated route from the clubhouse to
the beachfront and back, covering 13km. No matter what the weather, there will
always be someone running ‘Gillies’, says Grant. Also, the last Thursday of
every month is time trial night, with a 5km or 8km option. Once the time trial
is completed, the charcoal is lit and the music is turned up for club night,
giving members a chance to socialise.

COMRADES FEVER

As with any KwaZulu-Natal club, Comrades is a huge
event on the club calendar, and Stella had the largest contingent of Comrades entries this year for a KZN club (and
the seventh-largest amongst all SA clubs). “Our afternoon running groups
help to develop a novice runner under the guidance of fellow members, who are
always more than willing to offer advice when it comes to Comrades.” says
Grant. “Possibly the best advantage of running Comrades for Stella AC is the
fact that you are running for one of the biggest and most recognisable local
running clubs.”

Six weeks before Comrades, Stella organises a 60km
club long run along the Comrades route, either up or down, depending on which
direction the race is due to be run that year. The run allows club members to
familiarise themselves with the route, eliminate any nasty surprises and
hopefully gain some confidence before the big day. On the day, the route is
manned with six Stella tables where runners are able to drop off any goodies
they want on the route. The club’s own Thulani Zwane successfully also led a sub-12
hour bus home in this year’s race, and he dubbed it the ‘People’s Bus’.

While Comrades is a huge focal event, the club also
hosts other events each year, the Stella Royal 25km run and 10 km that is held
in March, and the Stella Tribute – NO to Violence 15km, which is held in
November. Both races are long-standing events on the KZN
race calendar, taking runners through the Glenwood, Glenmore and Umbilo areas, and
are well supported by other KZN clubs. Stella’s annual Pub Run happens in
December and is a training run with a difference: Refreshment stations are all inside
local pubs as runners make their way around the neighbourhood.

HELPING OUT

Stella is also focussed on giving back, by helping
with development athletes in sponsoring licence numbers, running kit, race
entries and lifts to races. Money for this is covered by a lot of the club’s
fundraising activities. There is also plenty of support within the club for all
members, says Grant. “Running is often described as an individual and lonely
sport, but Stella AC helps remove the loneliness from the sport. If a member is
seeking advice on an injury, what training to do, or which race to enter,
someone will be able to help them out, whether it’s at the club, on a run, or
on Facebook!”

Visit www.stellasports.co.za or call 031 2014842 for more info.

We all know that we need to train our muscles in order
to be able to do sport, so we work on our leg muscles, throw in core work for
stability, and add upper body work if we’re into multi-sports. But how often do
we specifically target some of the most important muscles in all sporting
activity, the breathing muscles? In most cases, never, because we just rely on
hard running or cycling to automatically also train these muscles.

However, published research findings show that
specific breathing muscle training
can improve your sport performance in as little as four weeks, and one of the best ways to increase the strength, power and endurance of
these breathing muscles is to give them some resistance training, which is
exactly what the POWERBreathe range of products offer: Resistance. You could
describe them as dumbbells for the lungs, and the good news is that your
breathing muscles will respond to this training easily and quickly – just 30
deep breaths at moderate resistance twice a day can help you improve your
performance markedly.

The basic underlying mechanism here is that
impaired oxygen uptake activates a reflex in your body that restricts blood
flow to the limbs and muscles, reserving the blood for the lungs that now need
more support to function properly. Therefore, by training the breathing muscles
to become stronger, you can slow this reflex down to the extent that your legs
and arms will receive more blood, which contains energising oxygen and clears
out muscle metabolite build-up. In other words, you can run harder thanks to
your breathing muscles being fitter and better able to cope with the stress
being placed on them.

POWERbreathe has two inspiratory muscle
training products available in South Africa, the POWERbreathe K-series with
digital display (from R4100 to R7200), and the simpler but no less effective
POWERbreathe Plus (approximately R800). Both ranges offer models with different
features and levels of adjustable resistance, so check them out online and
order them there as well.

The bottom line is that just a few minutes of ‘work’
on your breathing muscles each day can improve your strength and endurance,
delay limb fatigue, improve recovery time, and help you maintain a higher
exercise intensity for longer. It’s as simple as breathing, really.

More
info at www.powerbreathe-sa.co.za, or contact [email protected] or 011 440
2119.

Essential Core

I’ve heard that runners need a strong core, but am not
entirely sure how one goes about doing core strengthening, because I’ve also
heard that it’s not just about the six-pack muscles. – Sue, Bellville

ANSWER

Your core muscles provide stability, even in static
positions such as standing or sitting, and as a runner they are even more
important, providing posture, stability and balance. Therefore, lack of core
development often leads to a predisposition to slouch when sitting, and leaves
you susceptible to lower back pain and muscle injuries. Examples of good core
exercises include bridging, planks and exercises involving balance and
coordination. You can increase the intensity level by using gym balls or
resistance bands.

“As a beginner runner, I am bit overwhelmed by all the fancy products on
the market when it comes to good old water. Is it OK to just drink tap water
before, during and after a run?”  – John,
Durban

ANSWER

Health
professionals recommend that you drink at least eight glasses of water a day,
because water that contains natural minerals and trace elements plays a vital
role in our health, helping to:

?        
flush our system of toxins,

?        
reduce heart attack risk,

?        
reduce risk of disease and infection,

?        
keep us regular,

?        
promote healthy skin,

?        
regulate body temperature,

?        
cushion and lubricate joints and muscles,

?        
improve recovery time,

?        
and keep the body energised and alert.

Unfortunately,
the reality is that tap water quality often leaves a lot to be desired, as much
of the essential goodness has been removed due to chemical treatment or reverse
osmosis (filtration with carbon filters) to remove harmful substances. Thus tap
water is often a chemical concoction that looks and tastes refreshing, and
promises good health, but in fact is the complete opposite. Therefore, I
recommend that you look for purified water products that contain the essential
trace elements that your body needs, notably sodium, potassium, calcium and
magnesium.

We all know
that aerobic exercise, particularly running, delivers many health benefits,
including cardiovascular fitness, muscle endurance and increased bone density.
For those people looking to lose a few kilograms, exercise is also an effective
method of weight control, with excess energy and fat being burnt up and more
muscle being formed. Even better news for weight-watchers is that a new study
has found that exercise may reduce appetite as well, for anything from two
hours up to a couple of days.

Now this may
not quite tally for everybody, as we all know at least one athlete who is
always hungry and eats like a proverbial horse in order to generate the energy
they need for their running. The logic there is that the athlete is burning so
much energy and must replace it by eating, but researchers are now saying that
exercise can reduce appetite instead of sending it sprinting for the fridge.

MEASURING UP

A group of
scientists at the University of Loughborough in the UK, led by Dr David
Stensel, investigated what effect vigorous exercise has on the levels of the
two important appetite hormones, acylated ghrelin and peptide YY. They did this
by asking a group of male university students to do 60-minute sessions on a treadmill
and 90-minute weight training sessions in the gym, then measured the levels of
these hormones in the athletes’ blood during and after the sessions, as well as
asking the athletes about their hunger pangs.

Ghrelin is
released by the stomach and pancreas to increase appetite, while peptide YY is
released from the stomach after eating to reduce appetite. Several previous
studies of the effect of exercise on ghrelin have come up with mixed results,
however, and Dr Stensel says that this is because there are actually two forms
of the hormone – active or acylated ghrelin can pass from the blood into the
brain and affect appetite, while non-acylated ghrelin cannot get into the brain
and does not affect appetite. Thus total ghrelin levels may be misleading in
the case of appetite suppression.

PROOF IN THE PUDDING

The study
found that vigorous treadmill running caused acylated ghrelin levels to drop
and peptide YY levels to increase, which both suppressed the athletes’ hunger. On
the other hand, the weight-lifting sessions led to lower ghrelin levels but
didn’t affect peptide YY levels, which explains why the athletes reported less
reduction in appetite. In both cases, these effects usually lasted for about
two hours, but in some cases longer.

Dr Stensel’s group
admitted that they don’t know why weight training affects acylated ghrelin
levels and not Peptide YY levels, but speculate that it may be because lifting
weights does not cause enough energy expenditure to affect this hormone. They
also say it may be because the disturbance of the gut caused by running is
responsible for changing gut hormone levels. Therefore, while they conclude
that more research is needed to ascertain the ideal intensity and type of
exercise for appetite control, they can still confidently say that working up a
sweat with a hard run is a great way to exercise while not boosting your
appetite to the extent of packing in more than you sweated out. And that’s
great news for all those people who are looking to control or reduce their weight.