Sacramento Running News

Ranger Ollie sez: “Be careful!”

If you are planning to run on the American River Parkway this weekend, don’t forget that Saturday (July 21st) is Eppies Great Race.

This means the trail will be closed from the Guy West Bridge to Sunrise (figure miles 7.5 to 20) from 6:00 AM until noon.

One option is to run somewhere else and then head over to River Bend Park and watch the finish. Count how many athletes get out of their kayaks and fall down to the ground because their legs cramp 50 feet from the finish line.

Plan accordingly!

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Lea Wallace at the 2011 Big Sky Conference Championships

We at the SRN were sad to see that Sac State standout Lea Wallace didn’t quite make the Olympic team this time around.

It turns out there was a lot going on in Wallace’s life in the time leading up to the finals.

Taylor Dutch at Flotrack informs us that: Read the rest of this entry →

Expect to be hearing a lot about Tim Noakes‘ latest book on the subject of hydration and sports. In it, Noakes tears apart much of the dogma surrounding hydration and human performance in athletics.

Joe Uhan, at Irunfar, writes a terrific review of Noakes book, Waterlogged, that is well worth reading. In his review, Uhan writes:

A new book by renowned sport medicine expert, Tim Noakes, MD, aims to change our beliefs– many of them longstanding, many of them inaccurate – on what it means to fuel optimally in endurance sports:

• Drink only to thirst, not on a schedule.
• Drinking does not prevent heat illness.
• Ingesting salt is unnecessary in ultras.
• Urine frequency or color has nothing to do with hydration or kidney function.

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Maybe it’s because Le Tour is underway or the Summer Olympics are on the horizon, but it seems that the news is filled with stories about doping in sports.

The first that caught my attention was a story about three top-rated Russian runners, including two European champions, who were busted via the biological passport program. These were middle distance runners Yevgeniya Zinurova and Svetlana Klyuka, and marathoner Nailya Yulamanova.

My favorite aspect of the story was that  Nailya Yulamanova had won the gold medal in the European Championship marathon only after the original winner, Zivile Balciunaite of Lithuania, had been stripped of her medal due to a doping violation.

I suppose this means that the original third-place finisher, Anna Incerti of Italy, will now–two years after the fact–be awarded the 2010 European Championship. You need an abacus to keep this straight!

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If you’ve ever been involved with measuring and certifying a course for a race, you’ll appreciate this article about the men responsible for measuring out the Olympic Marathon course.

The London course, specifically designed for the Olympics, is already gaining notoriety for having more than 90 turns, which include several hairpins. The longest straightaway is less than half a mile long. All of which makes it a nightmare to measure while trying to ride a bicycle precisely 12 inches from the inside curb.

Great stuff!

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Aaron Mulder and Quintin Barney work their way up to the Devil's Thumb aid station. (SRN photo)

With a race as long and challenging as the Western States Endurance Run, it is hard to strip it down to the essential kernel of a story that everyone should know.

Every single runner, finisher and non-finisher alike, has a compelling story to tell–about the race itself or the long journey that brought them to the starting line at Squaw Valley.

An astonishing field was assembled, the weather was perfect for running fast times, and records were destroyed.

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Can a vegan diet help you run faster?

Gretchen Reynolds, writing at the New York Times Well blog, explores the issue of whether athletes can perform well on a vegan diet.

Her piece was sparked by the release of Scott Jurek’s new book Eat & Run, which we all are no doubt going to run off and purchase.

I enjoy Reynold’s writing on running and health, but was a little frustrated by the lack of distinction here between vegetarian (no meat) and vegan (no animal products).

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If you are pacing someone this weekend, you might want to check out this great write-up by Tim Long on the rules of pacing. Not really rules, per se, but more like guidelines.

One of the most selfless acts a human can perform is pacing another person in an ultrarunning event. Mother Teresa never paced, nor did any of the popes.

Good stuff! Read it (parts I and part II) and you’ll be ready to tackle this challenge!

The Countdown: (L-R) Luis Alvarez, R.D. Greg Soderlund, Assistant R.D. Craig Thornley, and Mike Saling are getting ready for the big day. (From the WS Facebook page)

Of all the many races in the region, there is only one of international importance: The Western States Endurance Run.

Even though there are bigger races, and faster courses, the Western States 100 has history and prestige by the bucket-full.

The race gets more media coverage than any other in the region.

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David Stipp, writing at Slate.com, makes a compelling argument that “every sport other than long-distance running is fundamentally absurd.”

I’ve known that for a while, but why does Stipp think this?

In his article All Men Can’t Jump, he argues that despite the fact “we crowd into arenas and stadiums to marvel at our pathetic physical abilities as if they were something special,” among the animals, man is pretty pathetic at everything except long-distance running. Read the rest of this entry →