#sam greengard

[innovationforendurance]

An app that makes it easier to "know thyself" (and stay healthier)

Whatever your fitness regimen -- miles logged on the bike, roads, or trails; time spent at the gym -- you know that health isn't just about exercise. It's about what you eat and drink, how you sleep, whether you deal well with stress and find time for the relationships that are important to you, and more. For many of us, it's also about managing medications and fitting in doctors' visits. In short, it's a commitment that even the most motivated of us can be overwhelmed by sometimes.

Enter a tool that makes it a whole lot easier to manage all those tasks: Tonic Self Care Assistant, a $4.99 app for the iPhone (and coming soon to the Android), aims to help individuals learn more about themselves and their health habits by tracking and quantifying a wide array of tasks, problems, and other factors. Rajiv Mehta, an entrepreneur and consultant who co-developed the system, describes Tonic as a way to engage in the “practice of personal science.” It’s a way to “better understand yourself and how things impact your life, health, and well-being,” he notes. You, after all, aren't like anyone else, so what works to keep you feeling healthy and strong isn't exactly like anyone else's regimen. Tonic is all about what might be called the anti-"one size fits all" approach to medicine.

This innovation, Mehta says, was born out of the fact that the medical system isn’t equipped to glean information about our everyday lives. Typically, when something goes wrong, we trudge to a healthcare provider and submit to a battery of tests. Tonic, though, allows us to collect our own information, not necessarily when we're feeling ill, but on an ongoing and daily basis. In short, it makes it easy to see things like how what you eat affects your energy, how exercise influences your sleep, the side effects of medication, and much, much more - giving you a very personal health picture, in other words.

And Tonic, which won an award in May for "Best Mobile Health Solution for Behavior Change," does it all by tracking these things for you, so you don't have to remember a zillion more things. “In our busy, non-stop lives, we often forget to take medications, do exercises, track diet, and keep a journal of symptoms or moods. Tonic is designed to help people remember and keep track of whatever they are trying to do for their health and well-being," explains Mehta. That includes tracking diet and nutrition; weight loss; the use of supplements, medications, and prescriptions; biometrics such as blood pressure and body temperature; therapies, including breathing exercises, physical therapy, and massages; observations related to sleep and mood; and workouts.

Tonic also gives you a schedule for upcoming activities and delivers alerts when it’s time to take a multivitamin, monitor hypertension, or go for your daily run. The icon badge displays a count of current and past-due activities; when you complete an activity you check off a box.

Tell Us: Do you currently keep a dairy or journal to track your health, diet and/or fitness? 

 --Sam Greengard, Runner’s World Reporter

Photo courtesy of Tonic

[innovationforendurance]

Forget Ice Baths: Cryotherapy Chambers for Sore Muscles Plunge to -164 F

One of the least pleasurable aspects of training and running races is dealing with sore muscles. Over the years, weekend warriors and elite athletes have turned to an array of methods to relieve aches and pains, including messages, heat and ice baths.

Now some runners are taking the concept a step further. They’re placing their bodies in super-cold chambers that in some cases plunge to a limb-numbing minus 110 Celsius (-164 F.). The practice, called cryotherapy, is increasingly controversial. But that hasn’t stopped the likes of American sprinter Justin Gatlin and others from taking the big chill. “Cryotherapy has been used for centuries to reduce swelling, edema, and pain in various clinical and sporting settings,” says Joseph Costello, a Ph.D. candidate and researcher at the University of Limerick, in Ireland. “The use of cryotherapy as part of the PRICE (Protection Rest Ice Compression Elevation) technique is widely regarded as an effective adjunct in the treatment of acute tissue injury.”

But before you head to your local cryotherapy chamber, consider this: Cryotherapy, ice baths, and contrast therapy (hot/cold showers) as methods of recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage or soreness is at best inconclusive. Costello, a leading expert in the field, published the results of a recent study in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports earlier this year. He found that whole-body cryotherapy did not lessen muscle damage among a group of volunteers. And a 2007 study found that runners who took ice baths reported feeling better but their muscles displayed the same level of creatine kinase (a marker for muscle damage) as those who didn’t chill their muscles. However, one recent French study found that a group of trained runners did find some benefits.

If you’re thinking about freezing your way to fitness, consider this: cryochamber therapy requires participants to strip to shorts or a bathing suit and apply several pairs of gloves, a face mask and other protective gear before experiencing the Arctic blast. Jewelry or sweaty socks can result in frostbite, even though you spend only about two or three minutes in the chamber, which is cooled with liquid nitrogen. Costello notes that the therapy has resulted in injuries, including a toe amputation due to severe frostbite: “Be careful with the use of any form of cryotherapy. It is colder than any temperature ever recorded on earth, including at the North and South Poles.”

Tell Us: Would you try cryotherapy? Do you take ice baths now as part of recovery?

--Sam Greengard, Runner's World Reporter

[innovationforendurance]

9/11 Heroes Runs: Running in Tribute to the Fallen

On April 29, 2007, 1st Lieutenant Travis Manion, USMC, was killed by enemy sniper fire in Fallujah, Iraq. He died while saving the lives of fellow soldiers and was awarded the Silver Star and a Bronze Star with Valor for his actions that day.

This could have been the end of his story. But before he died, Manion, a runner, had asked his father, Tom, to sign up for the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C. Travis had planned to come back to the U.S. so the two could run the race together. After his parents were informed of his death, Tom, a Marine colonel, decided to run the marathon as a tribute. So did many of Travis’s friends. But when money and letters began pouring in about the impact Travis had on the lives of others, the Manions decided that they wanted his legacy to live on and influence others in the same positive way he did. “We really didn’t know how much he had touched so many people until his death,” says his mother, Janet Manion.

In 2008, they created the not-for-profit Travis Manion Foundation, which now holds 9/11 Heroes Runs in 35 different locations, including Afghanistan, Iraq, and aboard a naval ship. The first race was run in their hometown of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, in 2008. Today, more than 15,000 people participate in the races and many contribute or raise money for the foundation, which awards scholarships and fellowships to wounded and disabled veterans, and offers a “Character Matters” leadership programs at more than 50 schools. The organization boasts that it channels more than 90 percent of its donations to actual causes.

The races — typically 5K and 9K runs/walks — pledge 25 percent of all net proceeds to a first responder or military charity in that town. Each race holds special events and memorials, including, in some cases, military flyovers. Race T-shirts display an American flag. Finishers receive a dog-tag medal that commemorates the event. Those who aren’t running can go to Facebook and make their own commemorative bib with a personal 9/11 message. “This is all about the living honoring the fallen…people who have sacrificed everything," says Janet Manion.

There's still time to enter a number of the 9/11 Heroes Runs across the country. How are you planning to commemorate the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01?

--Sam Greengard, Runner's World Reporter

Photo: Courtesy of the Travis Manion Foundation

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What Do You Think About Barefoot Running Shoes?

These days, barefoot running seems to be all the rage. A growing number of athletes are ditching shoes—at least traditional shoes—and running like a caveman (or cavewoman). Or at least like former South African star Zola Budd. Proponents—and some studies suggest they are right—say that barefoot running results in fewer injuries and a more efficient stride. But the reality of running on the road or trails—typically adorned with such niceties as glass, gum, nails, cans, gravel, and mud—may not seem entirely appealing.

So what’s a runner to do? Slip into a barefoot running shoe. A growing number of manufacturers are promoting this footwear, which provides a bit of protection but mimics the au naturel experience. Vibram, currently the leader of the pack, offers the men’s Bormio, a $160 shoe that has been described as “boots with toepockets.” It’s guaranteed to attract plenty of glances. Another men’s Vibram shoe, the Trek LS ($140), might aptly be described as ape-like in its appearance—though the lace-up system is definitely beyond the scope of hominids. Of course, women can get bare too. Among the Vibram choices: Women’s Komodosport ($110) and its popular KSO model ($85). There’s also the Bikila ($90), which the manufacturer claims is the first model designed specifically to promote “a more natural, healthier and more efficient forefoot strike.”

A number of other manufacturers are also finding their stride by going nearly bare. There’s the New Balance Minimus ($100), which incorporates the Vibram sole in a more conventional-looking shoe; a line of Merrell barefoot running shoes, including the Barefoot Trail Glove ($110); and the Adidas Adipure Trainer M, which is slated to hit stores in November at a cost of $90.

If you’re thinking of going barefoot, experts suggest starting slowly so your feet can adjust to the feel of no shoe or a barefoot running shoe. If you’re not sure whether this approach is right for you, consider consulting a podiatrist to better understand your feet—‘cos, truth be told, crossing the finish line sans conventional shoes may be a feat your feet aren’t quite ready to bear.

Do you wear barefoot running shoes? Or maybe you run truly barefoot? Tell us about your experience - and why you swear or by it, or would never try it again.

 —Sam Greengard, Runner’s World Reporter

Photo courtesy of Vibram

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A Smarter Water Bottle

One of the toughest aspects of running—particularly long-distance running—is judging how much liquid you need in order to stay properly hydrated. Too little water can result in dehydration and diminished performance. Too much water can cause hyponatremia, a potentially fatal condition that occurs when the body lacks adequate sodium.

There’s no shortage of theories about how to stay hydrated, and a slew of manufacturers offer bottle belts, hydration packs and assorted other systems for carrying liquids. But determining what’s right for you can prove entirely vexing. Not all bodies and days are created equal.

Cambridge Consultants, a UK-based product design and development firm thinks it has the answer. It hopes to make a splash with i-dration, a “smart” water bottle that uses high-tech sensors and Bluetooth technology to dispense hydration advice in real time.

The product, which appeared at the Consumer Electronics Expo in Las Vegas, uses a built-in thermometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope along with a heart rate monitor worn on the chest to assess your exertion level. It feeds this data—along with age, height, weight, and information about how much liquid you’ve already consumed—into a smartphone, which then sends a signal to the bottle. When it’s time to drink the bottle displays a blue light along its side.

Since many runners already carry a water bottle, heart rate monitor, and iPod or smartphone when they run, the system doesn’t add significantly to the load. The i-dration bottle fuses data from all these existing devices to provide advice about when to swig. “It’s another way to help them improve their run times,” says Rachel Harker, business development manager at Cambridge Consultants.

Cambridge Consultants hopes to have the system commercially available within 12 to 18 months. Harker says that the smart bottle is among a new wave of products that will rely on software and hardware—and frequently interact with smartphones—to take running and other athletic endeavors to an entirely new level.

These devices, she says, are “relevant to the increasing number of consumers who view their smartphones and technology products as integral to maintaining their health and wellness.”

Let's all sip to that!

Photo: Courtesy of Cambridge Consultants

— By Sam Greengard, Runner's World Reporter

[innovationforendurance]

Marathon Times: How Low Can They Go?

It’s difficult to imagine the marathon as anything less than the ultimate endurance race. However, as runners flirt with the elusive 2-hour time barrier, one has to wonder whether it’s time to reclassify the event as a sprint. Case in point: Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai established a best-ever time of 2:03:02 at the 2011 Boston Marathon.

Remarkably, Mutai shattered the previous marathon best time by nearly a minute on a course that’s considered one of the toughest in the marathon world. Yet, it won’t go down as a world record because Boston’s net downhill course and 20-plus mile-an-hour winds the day of the race fall outside IAAF standards.

Yet it raises the question: Is a sub-2 hour marathon possible?

Although today’s athletes use equipment that’s far superior to what their predecessors had available, a number of factors go into running a perfect race, including talent, training, weather conditions, and a runner’s mindset.

Marathon times have continued to drop for the last century. At the 1908 Olympic Games in London, American John Hayes ran the first modern race in 2:55:18. In 1925, American Albert Michelson posted broke through the two-and-a-half hour barrier with a time of 2:29:01. And in 2008, Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie set the current world record of 2:03:59.

But past performance isn’t an indicator of future gains. Carl Foster, Ph.D., director of the Human Performance Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse and editor of the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance believes that a 2 hour marathon is “possible but not probable…the rate of improvement is very slow right now. It will take a perfect day, really cool weather and a perfect race,” he says. Nevertheless, “the availability of prize money for winning big races and records will slowly pull athletes to run faster.”

A 2010 article in the Journal of Applied Physiology, "The Two-Hour Marathon: Who and When?" suggested that the barrier could fall somewhere between 15 and 25 years from now. Ross Tucker, Ph.D., a senior lecturer at the University of Cape Town’s Exercise Science and Sports Medicine Department, believes that a 2-hour marathon “will only be possible when the 10,000 meter times and half-marathon times improve by at least 30 seconds and 90 seconds respectively.”  That could take many more years, he says.

To be sure, it’s a fascinating and lively discussion that’s destined to hit full stride every time a major marathon takes place. In the end, perhaps only one thing is certain: It’s a heck of a lot of fun watching today’s elite marathoners chase down the record books. 

-- Sam Greengard, Runner's World Reporter