What's In It For Me?

Last week's Athletics Weekly was waiting for me when I came home on Saturday afternoon and there is quite a lot in it for most runners. There is a page on the four most common drinks which looks at how useful they are for runners - water, milk, tea and coffee and alcohol are all discussed. If you are a distance runner looking for a new event or an additional event, or if you are a coach looking for information, David Lowes analyses the steeplechase. On the books front, a book called "An Honourable Run" by Matt McCue is reviewed by Paul Larkins and the review starts as follows: "This book covers all sorts of bases and does what it sets out to do, which is tell the story of how a coach can influence the life of a young athlete....author Matt McCue was a cross country runner in Iowa then Colorado which means for us it's as much an inspirational tale as a fascinating insight into American high school and college running life."
There is also information about a personal trainer for the wii - information at www.newu.me There are a couple of pages with information about whether music helps running which seems to come up with the totally surprising finding that for the top athletes like Daley Thomson, Charlie Spedding and company it doesn't, for those going much slower it is a welcome distraction and it is sometimes useful as part of a warm up to get you in the right frame of mind. It can rebound on you though - I remember coaching Susan Crawford of McLaren Glasgow who had a dire run in the SWAAA 3000 metres and just ran off home afterwards: I had her walkman for safe keeping and took the chance to see what she had been listening to - 'Chariots of Fire'. Who wants to start a long race totally wound up? In a marathon you want to keep as relaxed as possible while keeping on schedule and only get fired up after 20 miles - who can keep themselves totally emotionally psyched up for two and a half hours???
There is an interview with Lisa Dobriskey and eight pages of training advice.
Have a look at their website. Some weeks are better than others and there is a lot in it for us this time - not least the result of the Tooting Bec 24 hours!