Los Angeles Sports & Fitness - March/April 2015

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We’ve Got Your Next Race

SoCal’s Race Calendar

MARCH/APRIL 2015

>> THE RACES ISSUE

WHAT MAKES A RACE WORK? >> SPRING RUNNING SHOE GUIDE

RACE OVERLOAD TOO MANY RACES IN CALIFORNIA?

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FEEL THE FAST

RACE OVERLOAD More event options crowd today’s race calendar than ever before.

How many races are too many races? Are you paying the price for choice?

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Free Play:

Time After Time:

You may think a personal trainer or private coach will help improve your kid’s game. Think again.

Ever have a discrepancy with your race time? A timing expert shares how to eliminate timing issues forever.

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We tested 12 new models of running shoes released for this season. Learn which is right for you.

Matt Hart illustrates how to avoid the puzzling endurance athlete weightgain paradox.

Spring Shoe Guide: Nutrition Edge:

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Intelligent Fitness:

Race Builder: What makes a race work and what makes a race flop? We investigate and explain.

Improve your muscle and joint health by understanding the difference between open and closed kinetic chain exercises.

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Dear Race Director: The Wright Stuff: Did you always want to be a race director? We share an open letter to an unsung hero.

Chris Wright asks why do we enter races?

Is the answer obvious?

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March/April 2015

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

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PUBLISHER’S NOTE

Races Everywhere Have you noticed the number of races to choose from on any given weekend?

This is just a wild estimate, but given this is my area of expertise, without crunching numbers, the number of races available to pick from in Southern California has likely jumped by fivefold in the last 10 years. Where there used to be one race, now there are five.

Mud races, color runs, obstacle races, fun runs, wine runs, beer runs, and of course traditional marathons, half marathons, 10Ks, 5Ks, triathlons in multiple distances, etc., populate our area’s race calendar. Go see for yourself at LAraces.com.

Is this sizeable influx of races good, bad or somewhere in between for the racing consumer and for the race director?

What makes a race work and what makes a race fade away? What goes on behind the scenes at a race?

We explored those questions in this issue, and some of the conclusions may surprise you.

One that shocked me is the cost of race entry fees. Economics class teaches us that supply and demand determines prices in a market. With an increasing supply of races, you would think entry fees would fall or at least hold steady. But that’s not the case. Zoom on over to page 16 to learn more about what we have coined as Race Overload.

The positive side to having so many races is that you have options and there always seems to be a race nearby almost every weekend. However, sometimes you want to get away and travel to go to a favorite race every year or a race that has been around for 20, 30 or 40 years but you just never had the chance to race in it, yet. Great races, plentiful options and a 52-week race calendar are what make the Southern California racing community so unique.

What also makes Los Angeles quite unique is our gnarly traffic.

With Races as the theme of this issue, I recalled a Publisher’s Note that I wrote in 2006 about those two subjects: traffic and races. I thought it’s still relevant and even more appropriate today, Here it is:

Traffic.

Just reading that word, traffic, can create stress. We all hate the traffic here but we know it is just part of the culture when you live in Southern California.

I grow tired listening to out-of-state visitors that ask, or really state, “I don’t know how you deal with this traffic. I could never handle it.” And then I reply with my rote response, “You’d get used to it if you lived here.”

Los Angeles has the dubious honor of worst traffic city in the United States. So we may be last (or is it first?) in traffic but the advantages of living here, especially when it comes to training, far outweigh the traffic woes.

You just deal with it.

But I’ll let you in on a secret. Well, it’s a secret to most of the 14 million people in this magazine’s footprint, but you probably already know. There is an advantage of waking up early on the weekend and heading out to a race. NO TRAFFIC! You can cruise, pretty much to any destination in the more than 6,800 square miles of Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties on an early Saturday or Sunday morning.

While our area and population is larger than many states, we have the fortune of numerous races to choose from on almost anygiven weekend.

So, while the thought of traveling 60 or 90 miles to a race sounds intimidating, getting there is usually a breeze. Keep that in mind the next time you are selecting an event to participate in.

I encourage you to venture out and find some events that you haven’t attended before, perhaps a little outside your regular perimeter.

Give it a try, you may even find that one you’ll want to go back to every year.

The anticipation of a can’t-miss event far outweighs the trepidation of getting there.

However, depending how long you linger at the post-race festivities, no guarantees on how long it will take you to get home.

Danny Greenberg

Publisher Danny Greenberg Columnists Kate Havens, Brian McCormick, Chris Wright Contributors Tim Gargiulo, Matt Hart, Scott Lommers Design Richele Collins Advertising Director Brook Gardner

Los Angeles Sports & Fitness Magazine 5737 Kanan Road #303 Agoura Hills, CA 91301 Editorial: news@LASandF.com Advertising: adinfo@LASandF.com Subscriptions: subs@LASandF.com Event Calendar: LARaces.com Phone: 818-874-1405 LAS&F is published 7 times per year and distributed at hundreds of locations throughout the metropolitan Los Angeles area.

Copyright © 2015, Los Angeles Sports and Fitness.

All rights reserved. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the Publisher.

Views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author exclusively. LAS&F does not knowingly accept false or misleading advertising or editorial content, nor does Publisher assume responsibility should such advertising or editorial appear. LAS&F accepts submissions but is not responsible for the return of unsolicited materials. Submission of materials, including manuscripts, photography or other artwork is the author’s warranty that the material is in no way an infringement on the rights of others and that the material may be published without additional approval. Consult your physician before engaging in any exercise program, athletic activity or nutritional program.

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FREE PLAY Raising Active Kids

By Brian McCormick, CSCS, PES, Ph.D.

The Myth of Personal Trainers The play of 2014 in basketball occurred in a WNBA playoff game. The ball was passed ahead to Lindsay Whalen, the point guard for the Minnesota Lynx, on the left wing. As the defense recovered and matched up, Maya Moore sprinted down the right sideline to the basket. Whalen threw an underhanded scoop pass over a defender to Moore who caught the ball and finished a layup in one motion. While there were more athletic feats and more important shots, the sheer creativity and audacity to attempt the pass, and the skill to complete the pass, made the play stand out amongst so many others.

Whalen’s pass was not a pass that players practice, and few players would attempt such a pass. Instead, Whalen reacted to the task constraints: Her location, the defenders’ locations, Moore’s speed, and the distance to the basket. After accounting for these constraints, the underhanded lob pass was the only option to get the ball to Moore for a layup. These constraints determined the pass execution, and to her credit, she had the confidence to attempt the pass, whereas most players would have dribbled out and set up the offense.

In motor learning, skills are classified as open or closed. Open skills are externally paced; the environment is variable and unpredictable. The timing of Whalen’s pass was dictated by Moore’s speed and the defensive pressure. She did not plan the pass ahead of time, and likely had never practiced such a pass in a similar situation. The ever-changing environment created a situation where the underhanded lob pass was required. Closed skills are self-paced; the environment is predictable and behaviors are planned. A closed skill in basketball is a free throw, as the distance to the basket is uniform on every attempt, and the shooter is able to take her time and shoot when ready.

Invasion games such as basketball, soccer, and lacrosse are open-skill sports, whereas gymnastics, golf, and track & field are closed-skill sports. Within invasion games, there are closed skills, such as a free throw or a penalty kick in soccer, but the sports are classified as open-skill sports because most of the game is variable, unpredictable, and externally paced. Skill performance depends upon environmental, individual, and task constraints.

In youth sports, coaches often treat open skills as closed skills and ignore the task constraints. Rather than finding an open teammate and passing to that teammate under duress from an opponent, players stand across from each other and make uncontested, unstressed passes. These isolated drills focus on the technique of the pass: Thumbs down on a chest pass in basketball or the proper part of the foot to use when passing the ball in soccer.

When coaches discuss skill development or fundamentals, they often refer to the closed-skill version of these skills. They emphasize the technique of the proper pass or shot, but ignore the interactions between the individual’s skill, defenders, teammates, location, ball, basket or goal, and more.

Because the discussion of skill development centers around the

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Lindsay Whalen physical component of the skill, the decision-making component, or the perception, is ignored. Skill performance in a game depends upon the perception-action coupling: Part of completing a pass is deciding when and where to pass and what pass to use.

When soccer players start in two lines and kick the ball back and forth to each other, there is no perception. When they play in a game, how are they supposed to pick out the right pass in terms of direction, velocity, touch, angle, and more?

When the discussion of fundamentals focuses solely on the action, coaches contrast practice or skill development with games.

These are viewed as two separate things rather than one being an extension of the other. Detroit Pistons Head Coach Stan Van Gundy said, “We are much more interested in playing games...than we are with skill development.” This dichotomy illustrates a misunderstanding of learning, practice, and skill development, as the skill is understood to be the action with no respect for the constraints of a game. Somehow, we believe that more practice of the action will lead to better performance of the skill in the game when the perception-action coupling is required.

Because decision-making and game sense are more difficult to define and teach because the process occurs unseen in the brain,

March/April 2015

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

we largely ignore the perception and focus on the visible, the physical action.

The emphasis on the physical has created an environment in youth sports where every player works with an individual skill trainer or private coach. We have created a perception, furthered by luminaries such as Van Gundy and more recently Kobe Bryant, that coaches, team practices, and games do not develop skills. In his promotional book, Reaching Another Level, Jordan Fliegel wrote, “Receiving private coaching is the single best way to improve performance. Full stop.”

The problem with private coaching and individual training is that the skill loses its context. Private coaches treat open skills as closed skills. There is no perception. Players do not learn the vital aspect of the skill. During the 2014 World Cup, soccer coaches repeatedly tweeted a video of Costa Rica’s goalie Keylor Navas saving tennis balls hit at him with a tennis racquet. It was suggested that this practice was a reason that he stopped a penalty kick in Costa Rica’s penalty-kick shootout victory over Greece, although nobody tweeted about the video when Costa Rica lost in a penalty-kick shootout to the Netherlands, with Navas stopping only one PK in eight attempts between the two games.

The practice looked hard and creative. People watch a goalie saving tennis balls and imagine that that practice must make saving a soccer ball easier. However, they are two different skills.

There is almost no transfer between the two. Saving a tennis ball works only on the physical aspect of saving a shot, as the constraints and informational cues of a tennis ball hitting a racquet, and kicking a soccer ball are entirely different. Successful goalkeepers read the stance leg that provides cues before the ball is kicked. These cues were not present in the tennis ball drill, so it was impossible for that practice to enhance Navas’ learning of those cues.

People love to see drills such as Navas with the tennis ball, and private coaches continually create new and innovative drills to attract clients. Private coaches sell parents on the importance of their drills, and the drills look as though they practice important things, such as saving a tennis ball, when the reality is that the drills have only a small association with the game because they concentrate solely on the physical. In the recently published The QB by Bruce Feldman, former UCLA quarterback and head coach Rick Neuheisel said that parents who hire quarterback gurus, or private coaches, are wasting money. “If you have any sales ability at all, you can make them believe they have to know what you know,” Neuheisel said.

Whalen demonstrates creativity and skill under time stress and the pressure of a playoff game. She did not learn that pass with a private coach in a gym by herself. Her ability to read the defense and anticipate her teammate, skills learned by playing against defenders and with her teammates, enabled her to make the play of the year. It was the coupling of the perception (seeing Moore, anticipating her speed, anticipating the reaction of the defender, seeing the space to drop the pass over the defender’s head) with the action (the execution of the underhanded pass) that created such a memorable play. Private coaches and individual training focus only on one aspect: the physical. Treating open skills as closed skills will not develop this ability. Skill development requires both the perception and the action, which means teammates and defenders. Games are not the opposite of skill development as Van Gundy implied; games are an extension of and an important place for skill development. <<

A Tribute to 1st Responders

—Brian McCormick, Ph.D., is the founder of the Youth Basketball Coaching Association (learntocoachbasketball.com) and the Playmakers Basketball Development League (playmakersleague.com).

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

March/April 2015

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2015

Spring Shoe Guide DEAN ARMSTRONG

Like clockwork, spring is again upon us with its milder temperatures and extended hours of sunlight.

Our testers logged mile over mile in the most interesting running shoes for this season to help you with your selection.

Hoka One One

Mizuno

Asics

WAVE RIDER 18

33 FA

CATEGORY: NEUTRAL WEIGHT: 9.2 OZ. | 7.8 OZ. PRICE: $120 WWW.MIZUNORUNNING.COM

CATEGORY: NEUTRAL WEIGHT: 9.2 OZ. | 7.5 OZ. PRICE: $110 WWW.ASICS.COM

The Mizuno Wave Rider has long been a popular neutral trainer for runners looking for an everyday shoe with some support.

This newest version is slightly heavier and has a standard 12mm drop, but the overall firm ride and transition remain the same.

Mizuno really focused on improving the upper, creating a two-piece flexible mesh that creates a custom-like fit.

The ASICS 33-FA is one of the newest 4mm drop running shoes from ASICS “Natural series” designed to promote a more natural gait. The shoe features new forefoot flex groove geometry, FluidAxis outsole and new AmpliFoam in the midsole. This provides a lightweight, highly ada ptable, and natural ride. Wear testers noticed a narrow toebox, but enjoyed the fluid and cushioned ride the 33 FA offered.

Pearl Izumi

Brooks

Karhu

EM ROAD N2

ADRENALINE GTS 15

FAST5 FULCRUM

CONSTANT CATEGORY: MAXIMAL WEIGHT: 10.7 OZ. | 9.3 OZ. PRICE: $160 WWW.HOKAONEONE.COM

New for 2015, the Constant is the most supportive shoe in the HOKA ONE ONE line. It features a wide toe box, comfortable upper and a thick, oversized midsole.

Testers say that it provides a firm ride and maximum support where needed most.

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CATEGORY: NEUTRAL WEIGHT: 9.6 OZ. | 8.4 OZ. PRICE: $120 WWW.PEARLIZUMI.COM

CATEGORY: SUPPORT WEIGHT: 11 OZ. | 9.2 OZ. PRICE: $120 WWW.BROOKSRUNNING.COM

Pearl Izumi EM Road N2 returns with a second version of this high mileage neutral trainer. Boasting improvements to the upper and geometry changes to the outsole, it provides a smoother and more comfortable-fitting ride. Wear testers noted that shoe is still firm, but loved the remarkably smooth transition.

The Brooks Adrenaline GTS returns for its 15th version with updates including a fulllength segmented crash pad and the new BioMoGo DNA in the midsole. This version of the Adrenaline GTS provides a great blend of stability and cushioning, providing a smooth, comfortable ride. The Adrenaline GTS 15 is a quality, everyday shoe for those runners looking for stability.

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March/April 2015

CATEGORY: NEUTRAL WEIGHT: 10.4 OZ. | 8.6 OZ. PRICE: $140 WWW.KARHU.COM

The Karhu Fast5 Fulcrum is a neutral daily trainer providing a stable, simple and comfortable fit. The Fulcrum technology that runs from heel-to-toe along with the seamless mesh upper delivers a comfortable and quick transition throughout the foot strike. The Fast5 Fulcrum feels light-weight and fits securely while providing reliable stability and sufficient padding throughout the sole. This allows it to handle the rigors of daily training.

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

The Gear Bag

adidas

Saucony

ADIZERO TEMPO BOOST 7

TRIUMPH ISO

CATEGORY: STABILITY WEIGHT: 9.4 OZ. | 7.8 OZ. PRICE: $120 WWW.ADIDAS.COM

CATEGORY: NEUTRAL WEIGHT: 10.3 OZ. | 9 OZ. PRICE: $150 WWW.SAUCONY.COM

The Adizero Boost Tempo 7, a lightweight stability trainer, is the first Tempo to feature the popular Boost technology, which is softer and much more responsive than past versions. Our testers praised the simple upper and the added traction from the Continental Rubber outsole.

The Saucony Triumph ISO is the latest addition to Saucony’s Triumph line. With a cushioned neutral shoe coming in at 9oz, it features Saucony’s Powergrid+ sole and ISOFIT upper. Our reviewers noted the Triumph ISO to be both comfortable and highly cushioned.

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Nike

Newton

LUNARTEMPO

DISTANCE S IV

CATEGORY: NEUTRAL WEIGHT: 7 OZ. | 6 OZ. PRICE: $110 WWW.NIKE.COM

CATEGORY: SPEED TRAINER WEIGHT: 7.2 OZ. | 6.2 OZ. PRICE: $155 WWW.NEWTONRUNNING.COM

The Nike LunarTempo brings extreme cushioning to a lightweight trainer. With extra flywire and less rubber on the sole than the predecessor, the shoe hugs your feet while providing just enough traction to keep you connected with the road. Testers found the toe box to be tighter than similar Nike shoes in the same size.

The Distance S IV is the latest model among Newton’s Distance line. Although extremely lightweight, the Distance S IV provides good support to over-pronators. Our testers noted the shoe fits like a glove from the first run, without needing any break-in period.

New Balance 860V5 CATEGORY: MODERATE STABILITY WEIGHT: 10.23 OZ. | 8.75 OZ. PRICE: $120 WWW.NEWBALANCE.COM

The New Balance 860v5 is a stability shoe that can go the distance, yet is sleek and offers good support. Our testers enjoyed the improved lacing, the stable platform and the resulting smooth and stable ride.

Separate, ventilated shoe compartment

CATEGORY: NEUTRAL WEIGHT: 7.8 OZ. | 6 OZ. PRICE: $100 WWW.SKECHERS.COM

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The Skechers Go Run 4 is an ultra-lightweight trainer. It features a low profile frame and upper that fits your foot like a glove. Testers found this shoe to be a great option for both midfoot and forefoot strikers.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dean Armstrong is a professional gear tester and freelance writer. For in-depth reviews of some of the other shoes coming out this season, please visit www.RunningShoesGuru.com/reviews

March/April 2015

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Photo by Kristin Burns

There are well-run races, popular races, and successful races. Then, there are institutions: races that have been around as long as anyone can remember and draw huge numbers of participants year after year. The LA Marathon is one such institution.

What Makes a Race Work?

By Scott Lommers What makes a race work? It seems a strange question, as all of us have favorite races that we know well. Those races are clearly working. If they can do it, then what could be so hard about building a successful race and improving and growing it year after year? Well…

There are thousands of running, cycling, and triathlon races in Southern California every year. Dozens of new races arrive every racing season, replacing those that invariably fade away. Make no mistake - races, much like restaurants, see both success and failure. Then there are those races that make welcome yearly returns, consistently drawing larger numbers of participants. Where is the line between failure and success in the race business? What makes one race disappear, not missed if remembered at all, while another race lasts 20 or 30 years or more?

What exactly makes a race work?

“A well-organized race with a turnkey registration program, affordable entry fees,

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a compelling beneficiary or cause, a flat and fast course and a good shirt and medal just isn’t enough anymore. You’re competing with themed, unique experience events that are part of a national series with large marketing budgets,” says Jeff Orswell, president of Orswell Events, an event company that plans and produces numerous events. “Someone starting up a new race needs to ask themselves, ‘what’s our draw going to be and why will participants choose our race over others?’”

The draw has to be original or inspiring because the competition is fierce, especially in Southern California where we benefit from a 52-week race calendar. In the busy months, dozens of races crowd every weekend. How can any new race stand out in the crowd?

“Good, new races can be created when you identify a need or fill a void,” says Orswell. “In the first year, you are setting a precedent with everything you’re doing.

You need to invest in your event and make sure that you deliver a quality participant experience. Like with anything,

March/April 2015

people who have a good experience will tell five friends and with a bad experience, they’ll tell ten.”

Of course, a good idea is just the beginning. Good ideas without solid execution backing them fail just as quickly as bad ideas. The race industry has seen some very public failures lately. A few fledging race promoters have been caught seemingly unaware at the sheer amount of planning and labor it takes to pull off a successful event.

“Today’s means of communication are incredibly fast, which is both good and bad,” says Chad Sperry, race director at Breakaway Promotions. “If a race drops the ball and does not order enough portapotties, then there is now a vehicle for people to air their frustrations out, not only to their fellow participants but to a broad audience through Facebook, Twitter and other means. That said, if you do an outstanding job and take good care of your participants, it can also be a way to drive the success of increasing registrations by people promoting an event they

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love to their friends and family.”

Participants need to shoulder some of the burden of promoting the good races and sharing information on the bad ones. In the blazing fast, wired world today, athletes can vote with both their wallets and their keyboards – and they should. Athletes know the good races from the bad – and they share that knowledge with their friends.

“I would strongly encourage participants to do a little research about the events they participate in,” says Sperry.

“Look at websites, Facebook, and Twitter for input from past competitors. Also look at how people have rated an event on different blogs or website posts. We always encourage anyone and everyone to do their homework.”

There are well-run races, popular races, and successful races.

Then there are institutions: races that have been around as long as anyone can remember and draw huge numbers of participants year after year. How exactly does a race get to be an institution – a race that has been run for 20 or 30-plus years? “Most of the events with that long of tenure are deeply rooted in the community they operate in,” says Sperry. In March, both the Great Race of Agoura Hills and the LA Marathon celebrate their 30th running. The community involvement and support for events like these are enormous both from a financial and a volunteer standpoint. There is a certain amount of ownership and pride that helps them thrive.

Importantly though, even rock-solid institution races don’t rest on their laurels. These races strive to improve, to innovate and, most decisively, listen to participants and give them what they want.

“Races that have been around for that long really know their participants and why they support the event,” says Orswell.

“With that understanding, you figure out ways to expand and improve those elements of your event. We’ve tried to identify what each of our race’s core draws is and highlight and expand those elements whenever possible.”

Even for the best-organized races, challenges abound.

Producing a quality event is serious, year-round work with seri-

Volunteers are the lifeblood of many events, which happen each year only with the support of the local community.

ous, year-round complications. Unfortunately, some issues are impossible to predict and can confound the best race directors.

“Time and weather,” says Sperry. “On race day, the promoter and his or her key staff can easily put in a 20-plus hour day to make sure everything goes well and is dialed in. The other thing is the uncertainty that weather brings: long hours out on course being exposed to cold, hot, or windy conditions takes its toll.”

The racer’s favorite swag, the race shirt, causes its own, unique headaches. “Shirts are the bane of every race director’s existence,” says Orswell. “Being able to accurately predict quantities and size breakdowns and ensure that the correct logo is included for every sponsor that needs to be on there when having to place the order months prior to the race is a challenge every single time. Managing a budget and cash flow on a large race is also very challenging as most of the production costs are incurred months prior to the event, but the majority of participants on shorter distance races will wait right up until race week to register.”

In the end, it’s fairly simple to determine what makes a race work: It’s a race director willing to put in the time and the effort. If that seems like a nebulous conclusion to determine on your own, it’s definitely not to the athletes that have done the race in the past. They know, precisely, which race directors are putting in the effort. Seek out their knowledge.

“We take a lot of pride in what we do and we believe in giving back the most bang for the competitors buck,” says Sperry. “Over-deliver is what Amenities are another piece of the puzzle when it comes to race success. we strive to achieve at each and every event.” << The Great Race of Agoura Hills is known for its food row, where runners

indulge in a variety and abundance of post-race food and drink.

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March/April 2015

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

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Race Overload?

Runners and Triathletes Paying the Price for Choice; Competition Driving Up Entry Fees

LEADER OF THE PACK: The Fontana Days Run has survived the test of time, celebrating 60 years on June 6

By Tim Gargiulo It takes only a quick look at either the race calendar of this very magazine at LAraces.com or a brief survey of the vast number of event flyers that are available at your local running store to figure out that there are a lot of races out there. There are more event options now than there ever have been. In fact, if you’re looking for an event to do on a particular weekend, you may often have three, four, or even a dozen or more offerings at your disposal depending on where you live and how far you’re willing to travel. From a certain perspective this may sound like an ideal situation for a runner or triathlete who’s looking for an upcoming race.

“For the consumer, the participant, it is good because it does give them more options,” says David Grice, operations director and owner of Raceworks, Inc., an event production company.

Not only is having plenty of options available to you when it comes to choosing your next event a good thing, but in addition, having a large number of events all competing for the same limited number of consumers, that being amateur runners and triathletes, hypothetically benefits those consumers even more because race directors would then be encouraged to do everything possible to make their particular event as attractive as possible to prospective participants in order to draw more of them in.

“Race directors have to make sure they are giving their customers good value for their money or they will go elsewhere,” says Grice.

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More Bang for the Buck In many cases, this could take the form of perks like nicer awards, cooler shirts, goodie bags or better post-race entertainment. The most attractive or, in a manner of speaking, the “best” races would continue to draw a sufficient number of participants to keep themselves in operation year after year while those that could not match the appeal of their competitors would eventually begin to see their participant numbers decrease until they fell by the wayside and disappeared. In short, only the

“Even when a race or two does fold, three, four, or sometimes even more new events quickly materialize.” “strongest” of races would ultimately survive theoretically leaving only a manageable number of them remaining to compete in the “marketplace.” Think of this as the “free market” perspective, if you will.

But while this “free market” concept sounds reasonable, based upon what’s been happening over the last ten or twelve years there may be a significant flaw in this line of thinking, however. Anyone who regularly attends more than a few events each year can probably without too much trouble name at least a couple of races that they

March/April 2015

used to go to that are no longer on the calendar. There have been plenty of races over the years that eventually ran their course and simply faded away. This would be fine except for the fact that in recent years it seems that even when a race or two does fold, three, four, or sometimes even more new events quickly materialize ready to squeeze their way into the still crowded event lineup.

Multi-Sport Madness In multi-sport races like triathlons and duathlons, the number of sanctioned events nationwide has roughly doubled since the turn of the millennium according to Jack Weiss, a former race director and current member of the board of directors for USA Triathlon.

“About 10 or 15 years ago there were 2000 sanctioned (multi-sport) events,” says Weiss. “Last year, it was estimated that there were about 4000 events sanctioned.”

Weiss doesn’t view this as a positive development.

“There are too many races,” according to Weiss. “And it’s bad for the sport.”

Weiss cites the fact that established events, ones with a history of extremely competitive racing and a solid safety record, are often the ones being pushed out of existence. He also believes that the level of competition has been diluted by the increase in the number of events.

“You may not see it at the overall winner level, at the very top,” says Weiss. “But in the age groups, I think you definitely see it.”

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

Crowded Calendar Grice believes that it’s not just an increase in the traditional running and multi-sport events that is contributing to the overly crowded event calendar. He points out that a new set of players has entered the game.

“We’re seeing an increase in certain types of non-traditional events,” says Grice. “Like mud runs, obstacle races, light runs and color runs.”

EXPERIENTIAL RUNS: The influx of non-traditional running events have crowded the race calendar and have increased business at some large area venues.

One of the unfortunate byproducts of the steady increase in races is the growing backlash in some communities where residents, businesses and even churches are frustrated with having the streets around them blocked off for several hours at a time on multiple occasions throughout each year.

“We always tried to pick roads that were out of the way…to make it as unobtrusive as possible,” says Weiss of how he designed courses for his events. “But then several other races would come in

(the same areas) and the communities would throw their hands up and say ‘this is enough’.”

Eventually, in one particular community, Weiss had to get permission from all of the churches that were along the proposed course route and go before the city council for their okay as well before he was allowed to schedule his event.

Running Revenues Another potential problem is that as more and more events find their way onto the calendar all vying for the attention of that same limited pool of amateur runners and triathletes, the numbers of participants for most, if not all, of them will inevitably fall which, in turn, means less money is being brought in by each of them.

Since many of the costs of putting on an event are more or less fixed regardless of the number of participants that show up, like police protection, barriers and cones, post-race entertainment, timing equipment, and to a certain extent, event insurance, in order for an event to just break even, entry fees have to be increased, in some cases, dramatically. This also doesn’t take into account any additional costs associated with those “perks” that may have been added to an event in order to attract more participants which would likely drive entry fees to an even higher level.

So how many events are too many? Should the “free market” alone be allowed to decide this question or do cities need to step in to help regulate the number of events? Is having too many races a problem that could eventually do damage to running and multisport events in the long term? Only you, the running and multisport race consumer, and time will ultimately answer these types of questions. << Copyright 2014, Texas Runner and Triathlete, August 2014 issue. Reprinted with permission.

SHINING STARS These are some of the area’s longest-running events: 30th LA Marathon – March 15 30th Great Race of Agoura Hills – March 28 60th Fontana Days Run – June 6 38th America’s Finest City Half Marathon – August 16 31st Long Beach Marathon – October 11 38th Mission Inn Run – November 8 38th Santa Monica-Venice Christmas Run – December 5

FADED AWAY These large-draw events no longer exist: Brentwood Run Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon Pasadena Marathon Rock ‘n’ Roll Pasadena Half Marathon LA 13.1 Marathon, Santa Monica Palos Verdes Marathon

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

March/April 2015

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Dear Race Director AN OPEN LETTER TO AN UNSUNG HERO Dear Race Director: Can I call you RD? Did you always want to be a race director? Did you grow up dreaming of the race directing life? The better question is this; who wouldn’t want to be a race director? It’s the easy life, right? RDs basically collect money, shoot off a gun and relax while people take off running. It’s like being a bank robber except you get to spend more time outdoors.

I jest, sort of. Many of us, that is to say runners, underestimate the amount of planning and hard work that goes into a successful race. Every race director knows the complaints, and most of us runners have said at least one or two of them: “Five Port-O-Crappers?! That’s it?!? For this crowd!?!” or “If I see one more stale bagel, I’m going to bean a volunteer upside the head with it!” or “I’m glad the RD put 16 hills on this course – 15 would have just been too ridiculously easy.” But deep down we’d much rather complain about it rather than actually do it. We know how much hard work it takes!

So this is for you, RD. An appreciation of the 12 components of a running race and of everything you do to bring them all together.

By Scott Lommers

PERMITS

FINDING SOMEWHERE TO RACE There are two interconnected needs here: the overall locale and the running course itself. The locale needs to be big enough to support a race. On the other hand, big city races need an entirely higher level of preparation and planning.

Speaking of which, RD, those races you put on with thousands of runners in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego and elsewhere in SoCal; those are impressive works of art. For any size race, once an idyllic spot is found, the actual course must be mapped out, preferably with ocean views, pancake flat and shaded by 100 year-old oak trees. Good luck, right?

In actuality, most cities have a fairly limited number of course options – local governments usually don’t want runners clogging the busiest roads. Somehow you make it work, RD. Somehow you make it work.

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No, I know you can’t “bandit” a race course from the city of your choice, RD. Cities and counties require a myriad assortment of permits before allowing anyone to organize a race. Permits can take up to six months to get through the system, and that’s a kind figure. This step has tripped up many a fledgling race director, but not you. You’ve got the permit lady on speed dial. You remember her birthday. You know she takes her coffee black. And we run through the city streets knowing that you know.

VOLUNTEERS Sorry RD, but we love your volunteers more than we love you. Maybe you love them more than you love yourself. It’s possible – they’re that amazing. Even though you’re almost surely a volunteer yourself. Even though you’ve spent a good deal of the past four weeks begging, cajoling, pleading, and promising free donuts to any volunteer that can stand on

March/April 2015

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

RD

M/ Dail Be y n nd onon sto Am ps eri LAX ca to nA irli n

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their own two feet for more than an hour and point out a right turn without wandering off course to pet a stray dog. So sorry, but…yeah, we still love the volunteers more than you. They’re the best.

RACE COMMITTEE I know you’re out there doing it by yourself, RD. I see you at a lot of races, running the whole show. It’s OK to get some help. When your race gets big enough, it’s basically a necessity.

It’s obvious you’re a multitasker, RD. Months ahead of the race, you’re handling permits and sponsors and media and volunteers and registration and shirts and…well, you know. But on race day? You deserve to have a committee, with a volunteer coordinator, and a finish line coordinator, and maybe even a food and shirt coordinator. Don’t burn yourself out on race day, RD. We want to keep you around for a while.

out. RD, I realize you’re out there hours before I am, sometimes hours before the sun is up. Setting up the registration tables, marking the course, placing traffic cones and signs around town to keep us safe. I don’t always say it, but I appreciate it, believe me. When I cross a road with stopped traffic and some goof is yelling from his car that I’m making him late for work, I’m grateful you were out there hours ago, putting up big, bright, orange caution signs and keeping all of us safe.

AID STATIONS AND MEDICAL This one is important, and I’m glad you take it seriously.

Hey, even a 5K can have an accident, so thanks for being prepared. I don’t even need to mention the aid tent and the EMTs at the marathon you organize. That’s the kind of thing that makes me feel better about pushing it just a little bit harder at the end of the race.

ATTRACTING PARTICIPANTS What’s in a name, RD? Well, ‘Really Fun Fun Run 5K’ doesn’t do much for me on the front of a tech shirt. Are you planning a tough, hilly race, a fun, family run, or a flat, fast race for serious runners? Names matter. Cool races have cool names – you know that. Runners love cool races with cool names on cool tech shirts. Of course, when your race turns 30, your race gets grandfathered in and is deemed cool no matter what. So, there’s that to look forward to!

SPONSORS Local businesses love good press, RD. Your race is good press. Happy runners, a little extra cash going to charity, athletes coming into town and spending their hard-earned money at the bakery, the grocery store, the coffee shop, the running store and the gas station. We appreciate all of your sponsors.

Because we’re cheap. And they pay for stuff so we don’t have to. Thanks RD’s sponsors.

BUDGET The cardinal rule of race directors the world over: don’t lose money. Whether the race is run for profit or for charity, if it loses money, it won’t be around for long. We want to keep you around, RD. We like lots of races to choose from. We appreciate the honest accounting. We appreciate the fact that you keep your race going with only 100 racers showing up each year. I’m sometimes one of those 100 and I appreciate it. Plus, I might be able to win my age group and get a medal. Thanks.

REGISTRATION Hey RD, it’s 2015. Unless you’re running some kind of backto-nature trail run, you must have online registration. We know you don’t have web design skills. We know that you know that we don’t appreciate those sites that hide a huge service fee on the last page. We also need to sign up early – I don’t like going to the website and seeing the date for last year’s race still up. Thanks for taking care of that. Oh, and that one race that we all really, really love. Yeah, you can keep using a paper registration form for just that one race. We’ll still run it.

TRAFFIC/SIGNAGE I’m sure you’ve heard me, and others, complaining about the early start times. That’s just the pre-race nerves coming

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SHIRTS AND NUMBERS AND MEDALS AND SWAG IN GENERAL Yes, I know, the bane of your existence: the race shirt. It’s probably best here to own up to it and face reality; everyone wants a shirt at the race, but no one, no one, will actually like the shirt that you choose. Sorry about that, RD. Cotton shirts are cheap, so that’s good. But they’re cotton, so that’s bad.

Tech shirts are cool and breathable, so that’s good. But they’re expensive and apparently sized by blindfolded monkeys, so that’s bad. Having shirts on hand for every runner, even those who sign up on race day is good. Getting stuck with hundreds of leftover XS shirts is bad. And can we talk about the design on last year’s shirt? I wasn’t crazy about it.

FOOD When it’s chow time at the end of a race, I’m not a picky guy. RD, if you’ve got something sitting there at the finish line for me, I’ll eat it. Bagels, energy bars, oranges, bananas, whatever, I’ll take it. I know you’ve got other things on your mind.

People asking if you’ve got gluten-free bagels, if you’ve got Gatorade instead of Powerade instead of Accelerade instead of water, if you’ve got extra food for the wife, for the kids, for the dog. I’ll take whatever replenishment you’ve got. I’ll eat it.

THANK YOU! Look RD, I run a lot of races and I know you can’t make them all perfect. You’ve got a tough job with a whole lot of moving parts, and sometimes things break – it’s an imperfect world. I know that. But wow, when it all comes together. When the volunteer hands you a cup of water right in stride. When the traffic cop holds traffic with one hand while high-fiving runners with the other. When the announcer calls out finishers by first and last name. When the last walker comes across the finish line with a smile.

RD, when it all comes together like that, just take a step back, relax for a moment, smile and feel all the pride that you should feel.

Because that’s what runners live for, and we thank you for letting us do it. You rock.

March/April 2015

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

TIME IS ON MY SIDE The Challenges of Timing a Race At your last race, you gave it your all, you had a great performance and you have reason to believe your finish time is a personal record. After you grab your water, medal and post-race nutrition, you head to the timing tent to find your finish time.

You check the results computer and you can’t find your name or your time in the results. It should be there. Where is it?

Before you make a knee-jerk reaction and start griping on social media on how the race lost your time and it’s the worst event ever (we’ve all seen that before), or before you start getting huffy with the timing company or race director, stop and realize that race directors and race timers very much want you to receive your correct time and placement quickly.

But when thousands of entrants run a race, mistakes happen, and what you may not realize, believe it or not, is that most mistakes originate because of an error by the participant. You may have mistakenly swapped race bibs with your spouse, or you decided to run the 10K instead of the half marathon you registered for, or you typed your birth year incorrectly when you registered. These actions affect not only your results but also create a domino effect and create errors in the placement of others in the overall and age group standings.

To learn more about race timing and some of the common mistakes that happen and how to avoid them, we caught up with Greg Richards, the founder of SVE Timing, to give us an insider’s perspective. As one of the largest event timers in the nation, SVE Timing has seen just about everything when it comes to questions from participants.

LAS&F: What are the five most common questions you hear at a race?

Greg Richards: 1. YOU spelled my name wrong! 2. Do I look like a man? 3. My GPS says the course is long, can you change my time to account for the extra length? 4.

Another funny one: I stopped to go to the bathroom, can you adjust my time? 5. I decided to run the 5K, instead of the 10K, can you change me?

What other issues come up?

Oh, participants commonly do not look at the correct year’s results online.

We get questions about how did so-andso win my age group, I finished first? That happens because the age group awards are based on chip time, not gun time. That means it’s possible they started behind you.

How do you handle all of these questions?

Customer service is very important to us.

Not just service to the event company that hired us, but you the actual person participating. It’s critical to our success that you have a fun, safe, and successful event. So our number one goal is to make sure inquiries are handled in a timely manner.

What happens when there are mistakes and how can we avoid them?

We understand that if you don’t have a time, or your data is incorrect that it affects your event. So we have prepared a list of items that commonly affect results. We have a correction form attached to every event we time. Participants use this form to send us feedback or changes. Inquires we get after events typically fall into the following categories: • Wrong age or gender = 80% • Name spelled wrong = 10% • I ran a different distance = 5% • Missing start time = less than 1%

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March/April 2015

• Missing finish time = less than 1% • Complaint about the course = 2% (we can’t help you here) • Miscellaneous = 1% What can athletes do to make their event successful when it comes to timing and results?

In the signup process, make sure your date of birth and gender are correct when you signup. If you are signing up others, make sure their gender and date of birth are correct. Double check the spelling of your name. And, if you are signing up event morning on paper, make sure the writing is clearly legible.

What are some tips for race day?

• Wear your bib clearly on the front of your body at all times. Yes your bib is still used at chip-timed events!

• Do not go near the finish area before your race, or if you choose not to run. We can pick your chip up 50 feet away.

• Start at your assigned time. When you start at the wrong time, you mess with the winners’ results. Did you know that almost all events use gun time and not chip time for awards?

• Run the distance you signed up for or have it changed at packet pickup.

• Look up your times on the timing website (live), or use the computerized kiosk to look up your time at the festival area.

How about after the race?

Be patient. While many companies do not post results during the event, we do. If you find an error, use the correction form online to submit your changes. The results are not finalized and deemed official until after the event. <<

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

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LAS&F – LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

March/April 2015

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NUTRITION EDGE A Guide to Healthy Eating

By Matt Hart

The Endurance Athlete Weight-Gain Paradox “My scale must be broken!” my sister screamed at me over the phone. She was frantic. “The scale must be broken, right?” She had just finished her third month of training for her first sprint triathlon, and she was not losing weight. In fact, she was gaining weight.

To calm her down, I explained my own experience with this phenomenon. In 2006 I was riding upward of 400 miles a week on my bike — just shy of the mileage of a professional cyclist. But I was gaining weight. How is this even possible?

American obesity has hit epidemic status, and this generation will likely live shorter lives than their parents as a result.

Conventional wisdom says that diet plus exercise will keep you lean. This advice has driven at least one-third of Americans to participate in endurance sports. The problem is that these two variables don’t share equal responsibility.

Somewhere in the range of 80-90 percent of your body composition comes down to what you put in your mouth, with the final 10-20 percent being exercise and genetics.

There are many possible explanations for

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the paradox of gaining weight while endurance training long hours. I’ll cover the three main causes, in descending order of importance.

Over Carbing Carbohydrates drive insulin, and insulin drives fat storage.

The reason you can run for 60 to 90 minutes without eating — even though you could be burning upwards of 1,000 calories — is because your body has stored on-board energy in your muscles and liver, called glycogen.

When you train, you deplete your glycogen stores. The best way to refill these stores (so you can run tomorrow) is to give your body some simple carbohydrates that it can easily break down and restore. Taken immediately after training, foods high on the glycemic index are best for this purpose. Research shows that glycogen uptake is heightened for around 30 minutes immediately post workout.

The problem comes when athletes simply take that advice too far, gorging on carbohydrates all day because they are “training hard.” Eating in excess of your glycogen stor-

March/April 2015

age capacity causes the body to store the excess for later. According to Mark Sisson, former elite marathoner and author of The Primal Blueprint, “Endurance athletes get fat because they come to rely too heavily on carbohydrates to fuel their training. Over time, they tend to consume more carbs than they can store as glycogen and/or burn, so the excess gets stored as fat.”

To combat this, focus the rest of your day on the other two macronutrients: protein and fat. Registered Dietitian Jess Mullen of FitFirst.net has seen the benefit of shifting athletes’ diets away from carb-dominant days of old: “Many clients have come in with a diet log of about 70-80 percent starches and sugars [carbohydrates]. When they change that proportion and have more protein and fat with less starch and sugar, they lose weight [fat] easily.” The only appropriate time to consume sugary, starchy carbohydrates is before, during and immediately after training. Avoiding sugary, starchy carbs the rest of the day will have the added benefit of evening out your energy throughout the day.

Not Enough Sleep Endurance athletes often have a “sleep when you’re dead” attitude. And it comes into play when considering why athletes can gain weight when their training volume increases.

Research shows that athletes who forgo sleep to get up early are paying the metabolic consequences of reduced insulin sensitivity of fat cells, which leads to weight gain. Have you ever craved sweets the day after an allnighter? This is because lack of sleep inhibits leptin levels. Leptin, often called the appetite hormone, helps us feel satiated. It’s an antagonist to the hormone ghrelin, which makes us feel hungry. Lack of sleep also decreases the body’s ability to produce human growth hormone, which helps your body burn fat. Simply put, less sleep means more fat.

The fix is simple, but hard to implement because it requires some assessment, followed by lifestyle changes. Sleep in a blacked out room for at least eight hours each night — more if possible or needed. Try to get to bed early enough that you wake up naturally, without an alarm. If you are exhausted, get more sleep. Don’t get an energy drink. To this end, remove the taboo of napping and go down when you need it.

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

Too Much Stress: You’re Swimming in Stress Hormone!

Since there are no longer any natural predators in our environment, we’ve figured out other ways to kill ourselves. One of the biggest is stress. We can usually get a fair dose of it from work, family or our run training. The worst-case scenario is when we get it from all three simultaneously, and therein lies the problem.

If you aren’t getting enough sleep, chances are you are riding a stimulant roller coaster to fuel your day. This is extremely stressful, and the constant artificial overstimulation of you adrenal glands will eventually bottom you out. Lack of sleep and too much stress cause the body to secrete the stress hormone cortisol. Cortisol is the hormone released in the morning when light hits our skin. It helps us get up and be productive. Cortisol levels should drop at night, as melatonin levels rise, allowing us to fall asleep.

However, overtrained and under-rested individuals eventually end up with not enough cortisol in the morning and too much at night. These people usually can’t function without caffeine first thing in the morning. At night, their cortisol rises, keeping them awake — thus causing the above stated suppression of leptin. This eventually causes you to be tired in the morning and wired at night, unable to sleep. Cortisol is an antagonist to testosterone, so if you are swimming in cortisol, you are also not producing enough testosterone. This perfect storm of hormone dysfunction results in a multi-faceted weight gain (leptin suppression, insensitive fat cells, etc.).

Why Timing Is Everything Athletes who train daily need to make sure they get their glycogen replenished within the 30-minute recovery window. Consuming a recovery drink or high glycemic fruits with some protein is the best way to do this. They are recovery foods. Try to get a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein. The rest of the day, try to avoid these simple sugars and starches. The subsequent insulin spike isn’t doing you any favors throughout the day; it’s only serving to make you feel tired after the sugar rush. Focus on timing your carbohydrates around training. The rest of the day, eat whole non-processed foods that are of good quality — these include organic vegetables; grass fed, organic meats; and moderate to low amounts of fruits and nuts. << –Matt Hart owns and operates Coaching Endurance LLC, through which he’s helped hundreds of athletes reach a wide range of fitness and endurance goals. For more information on Matt, you can visit his website at CoachingEndurance.com or follow him on Twitter @TheMattHart

LAS&F — LOS ANGELES SPORTS & FITNESS

Tour of California reveals 700-mile route for its 10th Year The route is set for the tenth Amgen Tour of California, America’s largest and most prestigious professional cycling race. The course will feature several rider and fan-favorite locales from past races, as well as five stages that highlight different regions of California for the very first time.

An all-star field featuring 144 of the world’s most talented cyclists will come together May 10-17 to compete on the eight-day route covering more than 700 miles of the state's most stunning and recognizable roadways, highways and coastline drives.

Starting in front of California’s iconic State Capitol building, the first two stages are the flattest and should make for exciting moments with some of the world’s best sprinters facing-off during the race’s first weekend. As for uphill challenges, riders will be tested by more than 43,000 feet of climbing throughout their eight days on the course including encounters with Mount Hamilton and Mt. Baldy.

The final decisive days of the race will be highlighted by the individual time trial set in high-altitude Big Bear Lake and the Queen Stage finish at the top of Mt. Baldy with its 1,900-foot elevation gain in the final 4.3 miles, over eight percent average gradient. On the final race day, which begins at L.A. LIVE, the overall title will be up for grabs until the finish line at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena.

Stage 1 – Sacramento Sunday, May 10 Start/Finish Location: State Capitol Building Stage Length: 127 miles Stage 2 – Nevada City to Lodi Monday, May 11 Start Location: Broad Street & Pine Street Finish Location: Hutchins Street & Walnut Street Stage Length: 120 miles

Stage 5 – Santa Barbara to Santa Clarita Thursday, May 14 Start Location: Cabrillo Boulevard & Garden Street Finish Location: Magic Mountain Parkway Stage Length: 98 miles Stage 6 – Big Bear Lake Individual Time Trial Friday, May 15 Start Location: Village Drive & Pine Knot Avenue Finish Location: Pine Knot Marina Stage Length: 15 miles

Stage 3 – San Jose Tuesday, May 12 Start Location: Berryessa Community Center Finish Location: Motorcycle County Park Stage Length: 105 miles

Stage 7 – Ontario to Mt. Baldy (Queen Stage) Saturday, May 16 Start/Finish Location: Mt. Baldy Ski Area Stage Length: 80 miles

Stage 4 – Pismo Beach to Avila Beach Wednesday, May 13 Start Location: Pismo Beach Pier Finish Location: Front Street & San Antonia Street Stage Length: 107 miles

Stage 8 – L.A. LIVE to the Rose Bowl Stadium Sunday, May 17 Start Location: L.A. LIVE Finish Location: Rose Bowl Stadium Stage Length: 60 miles

March/April 2015

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INTELLIGENT FITNESS Inspired Training

By Kate Havens, Ph.D.

A Chain is only as Strong as its Weakest Link As the song goes, the hip bone is connected to the knee bone. Because that is indeed the case (of course barring more anatomically correct terminology), movements at one joint affect another. This relationship is referred to as the kinetic chain, and fitness movements can be classified as either open or closed kinetic chain exercises. This may sound fancy or even intimidating, but understanding the difference between them can be important for muscle and joint health.

The kinetic chain refers to a series of connected body segments. While the links of this chain are typically thought of as being joints—like the ankle, knee and hip—the surrounding muscles, tendons and ligaments are also involved. This concept originated in the late 1800s by the mechanical engineer Franz Reuleaux and refers to the idea that movement at one end of the chain can influence movement at the other. In other words, movements around your ankle joint can affect those joints up the chain. This is a concept that you may be familiar with if you’ve ever had an injury in your foot, and after a few weeks of limping around, your hip hurts.

Open kinetic chain exercises refer to movements in which your limb is not weight bearing and is freely movable in space. In other words, your foot or hand is not in contact with the ground or another surface. This type exercise could be done with added external weights like a dumbbell or pulley machine or without additional weight. For example, say that you want to target your quadriceps muscles, the knee extensor muscle group on the front of your thigh. One open chain exercise you might do is seated leg extension on a weight machine. You would sit on a seat with your knees flexed initially and then extend your knee and press against a weighted bar near your ankle.

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Closed kinetic chain exercises are the exact opposite: your foot or hand is on the ground so you are working against the weight of your body. Each of the body segments involved is then receiving force from and transferring force to adjacent segments. These exercises are considered to be more functional, since they are more common in every day life: walking over ground or up stairs, lunging, pushing, etc.

Here, if you want to target your quadriceps, you might perform a squat. You would stand with your feet hip-width apart and squat to some depth then return to standing.

You have probably already noticed one major difference between these quadriceps exercise examples. For the open chain exercise, you are truly only targeting one muscle group—your knee extensors. But when performing a squat, you don’t just target your quads but also work other muscles around your hip and thigh.

There are two more subtle differences between open and closed kinetic chain exercises. The first is that the moving and the stationary bones differ between the two. During open chain exercises, the bone that is farther away, in this case the calf bone (tibia), is moving on a fixed thigh bone (femur). In contrast, during the squat, the femur is primarily moving on a more fixed tibia. Because of this, the direction and the way that these bones slide and roll over each other differ.

Another difference between open and closed chain exercises is the position of the joint in which the muscle works the hardest. First, consider the open chain leg extension exercise. Here, your quads act harder as you go from a flexed position, the original set up resting position, to a fully extended position. When your leg is fully extended, your quads are working hardest against the external force and are

March/April 2015

activated to the greatest extent. On the other hand, during a squat, your leg muscles do not work very hard when your legs are extended because that is when you are standing upright.

Instead, they work harder when your leg is flexing, as you lower to the ground. In this way, the muscle’s effort is dependent on the position of the joint.

This more subtle difference is important when considering exercise programs, especially if you have an injury. By necessity, stressing a muscle by exercising also stresses the associated joint. But if you have arthritis or an injury like knee pain (common in runners), you don’t want to put a high level of stress on your knee by working your quads hard. So you’d want to limit the range of motion you do the leg extension exercise (going from fully flexed to half way up) or squatting to a smaller depth.

Both open and closed chain exercises are valuable. While there are pros and cons to each one, both can be safely integrated into your exercise routine. Perhaps you want to work many muscles at once, then choosing a closed chain exercise could be more beneficial. But if you want to isolate a certain muscle group, an open chain exercise is necessary. << —Kate Havens is a professor at University of Southern California and a researcher at the USC Human Performance Lab.

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THE WRIGHT STUFF Sound Body, Sound Mind

Why Do We Enter Races?

The question may seem trite, and the answer obvious—but is it?

Running, cycling, swimming, or a combination of all three: many of this magazine’s readers devote substantial time and significant proportions of their income to entering races. Why? This question is not one that had ever before occurred to me— despite the fact that, in the past three decades, I have entered many hundreds (could it be thousands?) of races. In much the same way that you probably don’t want to know how much you spend at Starbucks each year, I probably don’t really want to know the grand totals of leisure time and legal tender my racing has cost me. And that’s because, now that I think about it, racing is to me an axiomatic activity. “I think, therefore I am” realized Descartes—and “I train, therefore I race” sums up pretty concisely how I typically thought about this, if I thought about it at all.

The contemplation of this seemingly arcane point was prompted by two anecdotes. First, in discussing with this magazine’s publisher how crowded the Southern California race calendar has become, I was made aware for the very first time of a phenomenon known as virtual racing: doing a run on your own, wherever you choose, but paying money to do it so that someone sends you a number and a medal.

Second, I heard a true story regarding an individual who wrote to a race director demanding to see a photo of the medal for a particular race before he would commit to entering. He simply was not prepared to run a race that gave participants a small or ordinary token of their participation.

My goodness. There is an awful lot to unpack in those sad tales.

Look, I’ve said it before in this magazine and I’ll say it again.

Almost any exercise is better than none, and one wants to be extremely cautious in passing judgment on those who are simply exercising their right, to, er, exercise—however they see fit. Point conceded. However, with that said, it seems fair and appropriate to probe why virtual races must exist at all. In my humble opinion, it is one thing to be motivated by entering and preparing for a tradition-

By Chris Wright

al, real-world race, to travel to and participate in it, to commune with like-minded individuals and be pushed to one’s limits by them.

It is quite another to pay money to some faceless organization to have them send you a number so that you can run some pre-determined distance, whenever and wherever—specifically including a treadmill—you choose. And all of it, this paying to do what you can do for free, apparently only so that the same organization can then send you a medal? Not at all, say some: it’s for charity. Bollocks, say I: if your true motivation is getting dollars to a deserving cause, send your money directly to that cause, not to some quasi-legitimate ‘race’ that will keep most of it and funnel a few pennies on the dollar to the charity whose name they use as a marketing hook.

No, the tragic reality is that people appear to do this for the medal—which ties in to this month’s second somewhat pathetic tale.

Upon reading the e-mail sent (by someone who in his day job appears to be a successful professional) to a real race director refusing to enter a race without knowing details (design and dimensions) of the medal, I couldn’t decide whether this person needed therapy, a hug, or a slap in the face with a large, frozen fish.

Come on, people! We run (and bike, and swim) because the activity is inherently good. Training is in truth a perfectly legitimate end in itself. But even if in your world, as it is in mine, training is the means, let us not lose sight of the fact that the end then becomes the race. The goal is not merely some piece of tin, imported with substantial administrative difficulty and at significant environmental cost from China. Racing is a validation of all the hard work of training, an opportunity to celebrate one’s hard-earned fitness and to test it against that of others. It is a time to turn inward, to find the quiet place from which one can simply execute without questioning. It may well be the time at which we most truly live—at our simplest and at our best.

As someone who has spent much of his life training and racing, I beg you: please don’t demean and diminish the beauty of what you do. Making this endeavor even for a moment about the medal rather than the mettle, the trinket rather than the training, cheapens the intrinsic value of this unique communal playground. Let racing strip away all of society’s false privileges, and let your resolve be steeled in the agony of superlative effort that only real racing can extract.

The medal is not why we race. We race, my friends, to find our most authentic selves. <<

—You can e-mail Chris with your story at wright@lasandf.com