Why Usain Bolt is fast and Lance Armstrong never stops

Some people have been given the gift of running insanely fast (Usain Bolt), while others have been given the ability to run for a really long time (your marathoners). The difference between the two is how many slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers they have. Fast twitch muscle fibers can contract reallly fast, allowing the person to fly down the track, or bench 300lbs. When you excersize your fast-twitch muscle fibers, they grow and grow, thats why some people bulk up really easily, they have lots of fast-twitch muscle fibers. But fast-twitch muscle fibers get tired extremely quickly. Thats where slow-twitch muscle fibers come in. They can keep of contracting for hours if you try hard enough, which is why you can walk around Busch Gardens all day and still not be too tired. But no matter how much you work them, they don't get much bigger, you normally end up just losing the fat around them, making them more defined. Most of us have a happy medium of muscle fibers, about half fast twitch and half slow twitch, which is perfect by evolutionary standards. Yay for muscle fibers!

Oylmpic mile champion doped

This guy named Ramzi won the Oylmpic Men's mile in 2008, with a time of 3 minutes and 32 seconds. However, after lots of testing, he was tested positive for "doping", or using drugs to enhance performance (like taking 20 painkillers, or steroids). He is going to be stripped of his medal and it is going to be given to Asbel, from Kenya.

Chocolate Milk is the New Gatorade

Studies show that chocolate milk actually helps atheltes recover better than gatorade, muscle milk or powerade. Milk has natural B12 vitamans plus the optimum ratio of protiens to carbohydrates, in order to help your body recover faster. Plus, since chocolate milk is natural, it is cheaper to purchase and easier for our bodies to absorb (after all, we've been drinking milk since caveman times!).
Oylimpic Medalist, Micheal Phelps drank chocolate milk in between his races, look how well it worked for him. I drank chocolate milk after my 7 mile practice today and I still had the energy to write this blog...
Also, chocolate milk is WAY more delicious than those weird carbo recovery slushy things...

How overtraining REALLY works...

Have you ever lifted hard 10 days in a row? Or upped your mileage by 10 miles in one week? Then you've probably felt the beast of overtraining. Overtraining is when somebody feels intense fatigue and other symptoms caused by pushing their body to the brink. But... how does that happen?
It is said that overtraining effects the automatic nervous system, which is responsible for heart rate and blood pressure. There are two parts, the parasympathetic and the sympathetic nervous system.

What the sympathetic nervous system does in response to overtraining.
-Increases resting heart rate
-Increases blood pressure
-Increases caloric needs
-Causes lack of apatite
the sympathetic nervous system seems to be preparing the body for a time with little food and lots of stress...

What the parasympathetic nervous system does in response to overtraining
-Early fatiguing
-Rapid heart rate after exercise
the parasympathetic nervous system is preparing our body to be lazy whenever it can, which is good for survival, but not for soccer

Hormones are also tweaked out in times of bodily stress
-Cortisol increases (and slows recovery)
-Testosterone decreases (slowing recovery even farther)
In fact, this flip-flop of cortisol and testosterone make it so that the body eats its own muscle for energy, which would be vital in a life-death situation.

Muscle cells are among the most effected by overtraining however
-Muscle tears increase (muscle tears are the leading cause of soreness)
-Lactic Acid builds up (the other cause of soreness)
-The muscles have less oxygen delivered to them
-Gylcogen and Creatine stores become depleted (the sources of energy in exercise)
This is caused by the body essentially giving up on the muscles, and focusing on the internal organs and brain.

The body is under so much stress during overtraining that it even decreases the body's antibodies, greatly supressing the immune system. Thats why so many athletes get colds all the time. So overtraining is actually a preprogramed bodily response, that is good for surviving, but not so good for trying to get that state championship.

Lactic Acid Scapegoat?

Nearly every athlete knows that the muscle soreness from their workouts is caused by lactic acid buildup. This is in fact true. However, the lactic acid disapears from the cells less than 3 hours later. Then why are we sore DAYS after strenous excersizes? The real culprit of the pain are tiny microscopic tears in the muscle. You can't help these, only your own cells can. So they swell like bruises and take days to heal causing the muscle pain we all know.

Running makes people high

When person runs, swims, cycles and performs any other strenuous exercise, pituitary gland releases endorphins: chemicals that release feeling of euphoria and that block sensations of pain. Endorphins are very closely linked to addictions, they were even discovered by accident when scientists were carrying out research on addictions and drugs. Researchers discovered that human brain contains its own neuro-chemicals, which are far more potent than heroin, opium and morphine. They also discovered that endorphins release in times of stress – in case of runners: after strenuous running. Endorphins make runner feel great after exercise and this effect is often referred as 'runner's high'. And it doesn't stop there: endorphins are also motivational. They namely help runner to feel energized throughout their whole day.

so... I think thats why people like to run

runners

if you want a sweet website this is where to go
www.runnersworld.com