It’s Friday again already. Man!
I came across a lot of interesting things this week, but there’s on thing that I could use everyone’s help with. I’m about to switch insurances and my wife and I are utterly confused on what to do. We’ve shopped around, but the options are so great. If you have any advice on this topic, please post it here. Or email me if that’s easier ChronicTriathlete(at)gmail.com.
Also… I’m in the final phase of fixing up this blog. If you find things are broken or displaying funny, I’m sorry. I hope to have it all back to normal in a week or so.
Here’s what I’ve got this week
Slate: The Vita Myth – An informative article about the cloud of confusion surrounding the effectiveness of daily vitamins and other supplements. I’ve personally given up on taking supplements. I’ve never noticed any improvement or changes in my condition while taking up to 40 pills a day so I’ve just stopped. I’m opting to just eat better and get the nutrients I need via food. That said, I do plan to get my vitamin levels checked next week when I go to my LLMD.
Runner’s World: Do Running Shoes Cause Running Injuries? – I tweeted this link earlier in the week. It’s an interesting response by Amby Burfoot to a recent study done on the amount of torque suffered by the knees of runners wearing traditional running shoes versus runners wearing minimal or no shoes. There’s a growing (or perhaps reemerging) trend in fringes of the running community that claim that less is more, big shoe companies are the devil (sorry Jim) and that we should all run barefoot.
Being a coach and having worked in a running store that fits people in shoes via a treadmill analysis system I have to say that I believe there’s some validity to the topic. I’m not as Evangelical as some, but I’ve personally experienced the benefits of running in less and less shoe. I plan to write more about it in the near future.
LA Times: What Goes Into Chicken – This freaked me out! Read about how manufactures are “plumping” your chicken.
This American Life: Long Shot – A podcast by Ira Glass that I found particularly inspirational. In the first segment he talks to Leo Paur, coach of a high school football team in Utah that hasn’t won a game in two and a half seasons, about how he motivates his team to keep going after so many crushing defeats. Namely: you decide that you’re about to turn things around.
In the second segment Nancy Mullane reports on the case of Don Cronk, an inmate at San Quentin Prison, to see what would happen as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger reviewed his case. Though Cronk knew the odds were against him, he found it hard to stop himself from believing he’d get out.
I couldnt agree more about the running shoe comments. I have been wearing racing shoes or light weight running shoes for quite awhile now and prefer them. It will take awhile to get used to them if you have been running in the typically over built running shoes that are currently on the market, but if you gradually work them into your running program, I think you could find benefits. The main thing is to GRADUALLY work them into your training, Your body has to get used to the lesser cushion and lower heights of the midsole. For the uninitiated..it is a pretty drastic change.
Interesting read about vitamins. I would tend to agree with you. If the vitamins and suppliments that I take have done anything for me and my Lyme /CF, it’s unclear what. I’d support what the article said about macular degeneration though, suppliments seem to have studies to support their usage.
BTW, my LLMD mentioned to me the other day that on reason he did n’t like suppliments was because of the myriad of unknown effects that they could have….one of which, in his opinion, was that B vitamins might suppress the immune system.
bt
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