West Stride Stories

Join West Stride on Tuesday July 20^th at 6:30 pm for a group run, tri clinic and Smoothie King smoothies!  Team LUNA Chix and West Stride are teaming together to host an evening run and triathlon transition clinic featuring tri pro April Gellatly.

The run will begin at the store at 6:30 and the clinic will start approximately 7:30.  West Stride will have routes from approximately 3 to 7 miles.  Luna Chix and West Striders will be on hand to lead the way.  Post run, the clinic will cover tips and best practices for the transitions from swim to bike and bike to run.  It is designed to benefit both the more experienced triathlete as well as the newbie to the sport.  Free smoothies from Smoothie King will be perfect to sip on during the triathlon clinic that will be presented by pro April Gellatly.  April Gellatly grew up as a collegiate swimmer but changed her focus to the Ironman. Turning pro in 2009, she placed top 10 in 3 consecutive Ironman races (Placid – 10, Louisville – 8, Cozumel – 7). April has 10 + years of coaching experience and is a USAT Level 1 certified coach. She is the head swim coach for the Atlanta Triathlon Club and even helped Dr. Sanjay Gupta and his CNN team train for the NYC Triathlon. April is coached by Matt Russ at The Sport Factory in Roswell, GA.

The clinic is FREE, however donations for Breast Cancer Fund are appreciated.  Donate to the Breast Cancer Fund: www.active.com/donate/getactivechallenge/atllunachix.  West Stride will donate 5% of the evening’s sales to Breast Cancer Fund. 

Team LUNA Chix is a program designed to draw women together that are interested in learning new sports, staying active, and inspiring others to do the same. LUNA supports the Breast Cancer Fund by bringing awareness to the environmental causes of breast cancer.

If you don’t already have a triathlon on the calendar, Click here http://gamultisports.com/ptsolutions-acworthwomens-sprint-triathlon/ to learn more about Triathlons in our area.

See you July 20^th at 6:30 pm. It’s a great way to TRY a TRI with West sTRIde and the LUNA Chix!

Sarah Robbins is speaking Saturday at 8:30am following a group run at West Stride.  The run will begin at 7:30am. We had a chance to ask her a few questions.  Come by on Saturday and ask her some of your own.

WS- As the weather gets warmer, what kinds of foods should runners consume post run to help guarantee we are replenishing lost nutrients? What about pre-run goodies?

SR- Regardless of the weather, runners should always ensure a healthy diet; whole foods vs. packaged, processed foods as much as possible.  Post run is critical for recovery.  Within 30-60 minutes after a run, a meal/snack of complex carbohydrates and protein will help in our muscle recovery.  Some things to try depending on time of day and tastes – eggs & whole wheat toast, spinach salad w/strawberries and chicken; fish & veggies.   (complex carbs - spinach, greens, broccoli…), fruit (apples, strawberries…) and protein (chicken, fish…).  Most importantly experiment well in advance of race day. Find out what works well with your body!  Don’t try new foods and/or combinations leading up to race day. 

WS- What benefit, if any, do special tests such as bone density and iron level tests have for the average runner when they are training for a competition?

SR- Physical activity like walking, jogging, and strength training has positive effects on our skeletons; it strengthens our bones.  Iron is important for running performance.  Iron can be lost in runners in foot strike and through sweating. Good food sources of iron include: liver, lean meat and poultry, fish, legumes, dark green leafy vegetables, dried fruit, and whole grain cereals and bread.

WS- What kinds of foods are essential for an endurance athlete that chooses to consume a vegetarian or vegan diet? 

SR- When running and in general, it’s essential that vegans and/or vegetarians consume a balanced diet.  If you don’t eat animal products, many plant based foods are available and rich in protein; soy, legumes and egg or meat replacements/substitutes for example.  Whole foods and less packaged, processed foods. 

WS- Finally, it seems more popular than ever for runners to avoid certain foods such as gluten and or dairy products.  What are your thoughts on this?  What are the benefits?  What are the risks?

SR- If gluten and/or dairy products upset your system (gas, bloating, constipation, etc) normally then this will only be exaggerated when running.  Experiment adding or avoiding certain foods (or food groups such as dairy or gluten) and see how your body responds.  Find out what works well with your body; listen to your body then go with it.  In particular, many people avoid dairy when running because it creates mucus which can make breathing more difficult. 

Sport psychologist Dr. Rick Van Haveren is speaking at West Stride on Saturday, May 22nd at 8:30am.  We had a chance to ask Van Haveren a few question before his talk.  Check it out.

How do runners differ from other athletes?

From a sport psych perspective, it takes a certain type of mental toughness.  There is no half-time, no time-outs, etc.  Once you start there’s no stopping so runners have to learn to be mentally resilient while performing.  In addition, with something like sprinting a race is over in a short period of time.  Therefore, there’s little room for mental errors.  If a mistake is made there isn’t much time, if any, to recover so the mental approach needs to be exact.

How does this change your approach when you work with them?

It’s also a more solitary sport.  You are really batting yourself as opposed to an opponent.  I have typically worked with runners who were doing individual competitions so we really just focus on the athlete and don’t worry so much about the opponent, team dynamics, etc. 

What is the most common issue competitive female runners tend to have a hard time dealing with?  Is this different for competitive male runners? 

I would say it’s pretty similar.  However, one set issues that tends to come up more often with women than men in sports like running, gymnastics, and swimming is around perfectionism, eating issues, and body image. 

Dr. Van Haveren can be reached at 678.462.3833. He can also be reached by e-mail at: atlantasportpsych@yahoo.com.    

American distance star Todd Williams will visit West Stride on Saturday, January 23 to talk about his experience and provide training tips following our Fit for Atlanta group run at 8:00 am.  Here’s a brief bio summarizing Todd’s accomplishments:

Todd Williams (born March 7, 1969 in Detroit, Michigan) is a retired long-distance runner from the United States, who represented his native country at two consecutive Summer Olympics, in 1992 and 1996.
His personal bests were 13:19.50 (1995) in the men’s 5,000m, and 27:31.34 (1995) in the men’s 10,000 metres. Williams’ seventh place in the 10,000m at the 1993 Worlds was the best U.S. finish in an Olympic or World 10,000m final since Frank Shorter placed fifth in 1972. Todd also holds the American 15k record of 42:22, which he did at the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, FL. He is also a 5 time winner of the Gate River Run.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for our innaugural Red and Green Holiday Group Run, Saturday, Dec. 20.  We had about 40 runners come out on an unseasonably warm and muggy morning to traverse the challenging but beautiful neighborhoods around West Stride.  Thanks especially as well to our friends from adidas, Great Harvest Bread Company, and Planet Smoothie for helping make it such a success.

Good luck to all our local runners at the State meet.  Make us proud!

Photos from the regional meet at Westminster can be viewed on our Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/West-Stride

Check them out and become an official fan on West Stride.

West Stride 2008 Ekiden Team - (L to R) Genie Beaver, Ashenafi Arega, Wil Cramer, Jennie Kormanik, Chris Wiley, Brian Roth, Carl Moe, Ashley King

We may be a little late in sharing this news, but we’re just so proud of our West Stride race team that we figured it was better late than never.  At the Atlanta Track Club’s Ekiden Relay on September 21, West Stride’s Mixed (ladies and guys) team placed second overall (behind only one open men’s team) and won their division in a time of 1:55:44.  The West Stride team consisted of:  Brian Roth, Ashley King, Chris Wiley, Jennie Kormanik, Ashenafi Arega, and Carl Moe.  Thanks and congratulations to our Wild, Wild West Striders for their fine performance in our first team event!

Recently retired University of Arkansas Track and Field Coach John McDonnell is a true icon of the sport - whose presence exudes class, knowledge and winning.  West Stride staff and visitors were privileged to listen to and interact with Coach McDonnell has he conducted two informal clinics in August - one geared towards High School runners and coaches, and one geared to a more general, but running-serious, audience.

The statistics that stand behind Coach McDonnell are mind-boggling - a sampling:

-42 NCAA championships since 1984, including 11 cross country, 19 indoor track and 12 outdoor track.

- 21 conference triple crowns since 1982, including eight straight between

1987 and 1995.

- 25-consecutive conference titles in cross country, indoor track and outdoor track combined from 1987-1995.

- 84 conference championships overall since 1974 including 38 in the SWC and 46 in the SEC (in 451 events).

- 12-consecutive NCAA indoor track championships (1984-1995), the longest string of national titles by any school in any sport in collegiate history.

Coach McDonnell’s message to the runners?  He outlined 4 key principles that he has refined over his illustrious career.  And, as the records demonstrate, these principles have worked to achieve absolute greatness in this sport. 

Education

Coach reminded us all that he ALWAYS instilled in his athletes that education was the single most important facet of college.  Just ask Daniel Lincoln, a celebrated National Champion and multi-All-America…who is currently in medical school.

Communication

The importance of young runners openly talking to their coaches about goals, injuries, concerns, etc. AND the reciprocal importance of coaches communicating clear expectations, plans, etc. back to the young runners - cannot be stressed enough.  And, more specifically for coaches - if you have an “end” goal that you think an athlete can reach, start out with a goal beneath the final one, then once the first goal is hit, throw out another, etc. This builds enormous confidence in the young runner.

Concentration

So much of running is between the ears - staying focused and mentally strong.  Coach told a story of one of his great runners at the Penn Relays, who before hand told McDonell that he would win the race handily.  Sure enough, the runner held a comanding lead the first 3/4 of the race, when Coach noticed him looking to the side of the track for an entire lap, at which point he began giving up some of his lead.  The runner snapped out of it and was able to kick back into gear and win the race.  Afterward, John asked the runner what in the &X%$#(* he was looking at.  The runner replied that he and a teammate were having a conversation earlier about the number of lanes at the unique Penn track, so he was counting the lanes.  There’s an example of a guy who needed to work on his concentration…once he mastered that focus he was able to go on to achieve greatness.

Relaxation

Mentally strong: critical. Physically relaxed - also very important.  Coach McDonnell stressed keeping your hands and wrists relaxed during the race.  And also, making sure that there is time between hard workouts for rest and relaxation.  When asked a question by a student at the West Stride clinic, about how Arkansas could compete with some of the runners whose weekly training mileage far exceeded theirs, Coach’s answer was poignant: “We do the workouts faster.”

For more information on Coach McDonnell’s accomplishments, check out:

http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2008/04/21/news/042208azmcdonretire.txt

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2008-06-10-mcdonnell-ark_N.htm

…or contact the University of Arkansas Media Relations Department.