Should Joggers Pace for the Long-Term?

If you train and compete hard in the early part of your life, does that leave less gas in the tank in the latter part of your life?

That’s the interesting question raised by Gina Kolata in her NY Times Health blog this week:

“There are no definitive data on this question, but there are some suggestive findings, said Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic surgeon and exercise researcher at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Wright’s study of senior Olympians — athletes age 50 and older who participated in the National Senior Olympic Games, a track and field event — found what she considers a surprisingly small rate of decline in performance until age 75: just a few percent a year in their times. After that, though, the athletes slowed down considerably.

She asked the athletes when they began participating in sports. In her survey, 95 percent said they were active in sports when they were teenagers and 85 percent said they were active as young adults.

But the survey did not ask what sports they played when they were younger — the same sports or different ones from those they were competing in now — or when they began to compete (it is likely that many of the women, growing up before Title IX, did not compete when they were young). Both factors bear on whether late-blooming athletes have an advantage as they get older.”

Her piece goes on to quote another researcher who suggests that VO2Max rates drop more rapidly in older people who were once athletic compared to those who were sedentary.

There was a maxim around my home when I was growing up (which applied to everything from alcohol, to food, to exercise): “everything in moderation”. My gut tells me it could serve us exercise addicts well.

There’s no arguing that accumulated injuries and  psychological fatigue are factors. But does the human body also come with a maximum number of lifetime kilometres? If Anton Krupicka circles the globe three times before he turns 50, can he expect to do it again after the age 50?

As a sports journalist, I’ve been inspired by the stories of so many athletes, from the Olympic backstroker who won gold in Barcelona in 1992, to the 85-year-old triathlete who won his age category gold at the World Masters Championships 1999. That the swimmer never swan again after the Olympics and the triathlete only began his training in his late 50’s surely have affected my view on this.

Time to reconsider contact sports at young ages?

With the number of studies on concussion in sport multiplying, more and more focus is now being placed on what’s happening to kids in contact sport. Do you think we need to re-think how we organise youth sport?

The New York Times recently carried a piece on how girls and younger children are more susceptible than others to severe effects of a concussion. Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

“Researchers say that younger athletes may be at greater risk of damage from concussion because their brains are not fully developed. There is also some evidence that young women may suffer more symptoms than young men because of higher estrogen levels, which may exacerbate brain injury, as well as greater rates of blood flow and higher metabolic needs in the brain, which may make symptoms more pronounced. But, says Mark Hyman, author of “Until It Hurts: America’s Obsession With Youth Sports and How It Harms Our Kids” (Beacon Press, 2009), girls may also just be more willing than boys to admit to injury and seek treatment.

“We don’t expect girls to be indestructible, as we do boys,” who may be more likely to play through pain to avoid being sidelined in their sport, he said. “Attitudes are changing about that. But not fast enough.”

The findings also highlight the dangers of treating children and teenagers as “miniature adults,” he added. “The brain and head of a small child are disproportionately large for the rest of the body,” he said. “The result is that their heads are not as steady on their shoulders. When they take a big hit in a football game or are slammed with an elbow in a soccer game, their brains move inside their skulls. That’s when concussions occur.”

My daughter plays on her high school rugby team here in Montreal, and one of her teammates suffered a serious concussion in the second game of the season. Her headaches have been so bad that she missed a month of school after suffering the injury. I noticed that there are no weight limits in their  league, which results in some serious mismatches on the field. In boy’s (american) football, limits on weight variations are respected at the developmental stage.

In Canada, the majority of discussions about concussions have been focussed on the NHL (see Sidney Crosby)  and minor hockey. With science telling us more about what’s happening in the noodle up there, it’s time to give more thought about other contact sports.

30th anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve’s death

Enzo Ferrari and Gilles Villeneuve

Quebecers and car racing fans around the world are marking the 30th anniversary of Gilles Villeneuve’s death today. The Formula One driver died in a qualifying run accident at the Belgian Grand Prix.

His speed, his daring, and his selflessness were admired by racing fans everywhere, especially in Italy, where the Ferrari family practically adopted him as one of their own.

I’ve never been a big fan of auto racing, but I understand why Villeneuve captured the imagination of so many people around the world, and especially in his home province of Quebec. Gilles was supremely talented, but he gave the impression of being the everyman – unassuming, dedicated, and brave. The little guy from the back woods who beat the odds. If he could pierce the inner circles of one of the world’s most elite sporting events, then maybe there’s a chance for the rest of us.

His death – instead of serving as warning about flirting with risk  -has cemented the image of the courageous buccaneer who’s spirit carries on forever.

The salutation you’ll find on the Montreal race track that bears his name.

The Gilles Villeneuve circuit in Montreal is used as an exercise circuit for cyclists, inline skaters, and runners when the Formula One Race is not in town. Even if they are not car racing fans, people are connecting with one of the grand legends of this part of the world.

I’m attaching a Youtube video with racing images of Villeneuve. You’ll note that his wife Joan is in a couple of sequences, with her eyes wide and lit up. When I met her in 1992, as she accompanied her then 17-year-old son Jacques to his first North American race in Trois Rivière, her eyes had a haunted look that I’ve had trouble shaking ever since.

Light jogging and longevity

Gain might come without pain

It’s just one study, but it touches on one of my favorite topics. Can science actually tell us whether running or jogging is good for us? And what is the ideal amount?

A Danish study suggests light workouts over the long term might be best

A study from Copenhagen looked at people between the ages of 20 and 93, and measured how much they ran. They did this over a 20-year period. Turns out people jogging lightly, a couple of times of week, are living longer lives.

For me, the study’s biggest limitation is in what it measures! Longevity is a commonly used marker for health, but how does it compare to other factors? How many people actually run so they can live longer?  A lot of people run because they feel pleasure in the moment. Others do it because it makes them feel stronger with everything they do in life.

The trails of New Jersey! Some people run for the joy of being in the woods.

For more on the study from Peter Schnohr, MD, in Copenhagen, please read the JAMA article  by clicking here.

Long may you run

Chad Loeven with his three boys in Boston

It wasn’t the Boston marathon and it wasn’t a medal finish, but it was just as significant.

The day before the 2012 marathon, Montrealer Chad Loeven completed the Boston Athletic Association’s 5 km run.  He crossed the finish line behind his three boys, and his wife Melodie – a leading marathoner featured elsewhere on this blog. It’s not a cliché to say this one was just about finishing, and not about where he finished.

The back road in New Hampshire, where Loeven and his family suffered a head-on collision three years ago.

In the spring of 2009, Loeven was in the front passenger seat when an oncoming car crossed the centre line of a New Hampshire road and hit his vehicle head-on. His lower leg was shattered, and doctors prepared him for a possible amputation. Fortunately, they saved the leg — but it would take six surgeries and two years before he could walk again.

The BAA 5k represents the closure of one of the most difficult chapters in Chad’s life. Here’s the Good4sports Q+A about this most remarkable day and race.

The eyes say it all

When the arena manager cares this much, it tells you something about a community.

I’ve been working on CBC TV’s Hockey Day in Canada for more than a decade, and I continue to be amazed by how the game of hockey is the heart beat of so many communities. This snapshot of Abrams Village, home to Acadians in Western PEI, is a great example – a story of  people who rallied back from a devastating arena fire.
It was voiced by CBC Radio host Matt Rainnie, produced by Nancy Russell and Keith Whelan, while I acted as as supervising producer. The item aired on CBC’s Hockey Day in Canada 2012, from PEI.

Hockey fun – music to my ears!

That's me on the left, fending off Leafs legend Wendel Clark.

I had so much fun in PEI last week with the CBC Sports team, and a cast of legends from the hockey world. The photo above is from our annual pre Hockey Day in Canada shinny game. That’s Ron MacLean in the helmet, and to the right, Stephen Stanley from Lowest of the Low (among others).

Stephen was part of a great line-up of musicians chosen by Dave Bidini, who put on the “Stolen from a Hockey Card” concert on Thursday night.  For a terrific account of the concert and the events around it, read Dave’s Macleans piece here. Former Islander great Bryan Trottier closed out the show with two country tunes.  The show at the Confederation Centre of the Arts was a huge success, and so was the after-party at Baba’s Lounge.

For most people, it was a delight to discover that Trottier is a bonafied country singer.Here’s an iPhone video of Trottier singing Waylon Jennings’ Good Hearted Woman – an appropriate post on Valentine’s Day. He’s backed up by the Dave Bidini band, along with Stephen Stanley, and you can hear the wonderful Carmen Townsend singing back-up. Not singing – but standing (wearing a black vest) in the foreground on the left, is rising star Liam Corcoran of Two Hours Traffic.

i2P – Running across the Andes

"You toughen up. You have no choice."

Kevin Vallely sees the world in ways most of us only dream of.  One of the world’s leading explorers, he set a speed record skiing to the south pole in 2009,  trekked across the sea of Siberia in 2010, and completed the grueling Fiji Eco Challenge in 2002. I could continue listing his accomplishments for several pages, but will point instead to his next expedition, the i2P Andes Run from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, set for February 2012.  The G4S Q+A that follows reveals a man with a sharp mind and a tough pair of feet.

RIP Oh Great Lifter

In high school, I never missed a cover of Sports Illustrated, including this one.

Great athletes performing at their peak have always captured my attention – especially when they involve feats of physical strength. I marveled watching Vasily Alexeev at the 1976 Olympic Games here in Montreal, and still marvel when I look at those images today.

Alexeev died earlier this week from heart problems at the age of 69.  His death has inspired me to post a vignette I produced for CBC TV in 2006. It was part of series I created called “30 years later”, featuring current-day recollections of the same great moments from those Games. In this short, you’ll hear the legendary Brian Williams’ voice from the original broadcast, blended with recollections from long-time commentator Aldo Roy. The late and great Don Wittman does the narration for this vignette.  The video quality here isn’t perfect, but you get the idea!

The dogged Ironman

Patrick O'Neill battles to an impressive finish

We’re all getting older -but no less interesting, I discovered at my Loyola High School 30th reunion celebration recently. The boys from the class of ’81 are finding various ways to battle, or slow down time. Some of them are using sport and/or adventure racing. In an upcoming post, I’ll tell you about Kevin Vallely; but today I’m publishing a guest post from one classmate who was too busy training to make it to the reunion.

Patrick O’Neill, who was featured in an earlier post, recently completed another ironman triathlon in Florida. Here are his thoughts.

Catching a dream

More than just a baseball

The sight of a baseball fan nearly falling out of the stands trying to catch a ball at the All-Star Game’s homerun derby got a lot of attention on television this week. The visual is irresistible, but the problem is that guy is too old. The dream of catching a ball at a game is really the stuff of kids.

When I was kid, my mitt was good at catching balls, but never did it snag a dream. That’s why I marvel at the story of 12-year-old Mark Morrison who recently traveled from Toronto to a Chicago Cubs game. The score sheet doesn’t mention him, but his star was shining that afternoon.

Running into the clouds

Melodie Sullivan, in the orange, fights her way to the top of Mt. Washington

There’s hill training, there’s suffering, there’s near-death experiences, and then there’s the Mount Washington Road Race. The latter is a thing onto itself. Just ask Montreal marathoner Melodie Sullivan.

“Never once did I want to give up, so I had to find ways to deal with the pain. “

Rob Callard is beating cancer, and one of his docs says it’s because of cycling. Read on about one of Montreal’s best-known restaurateurs and his nascent journey on a two-wheeler.

“In the two years that we ran, our feet became great instructors”

 

Dawn Ruddick is trailed by the children of Oshikuku, Namibia.

GUEST POST

At its best, running is a transformative experience. Read on about how a Canadian teacher made a special connection with children in Namibia, using her feet instead of her words.

 

Failing to succeed

What steers you in sport? Success or passion?

GUEST POST

Jeff Hastings is a former US National ski jumping champion whom I met covering the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. He’s worked color for NBC and ABC at the last 7 Olympic Games, and has a lot to say about drawing the line between success and failure in sport – especially as we embark on another season of winter sport. In this piece that originally appeared in the Valley News in Lebanon, N.H., he calls on  Good4sports readers to weigh in with their views.

Suarez reveals colors again

Suarez takes a bite out of Bakkal

He’s the talk of the football (soccer) world …again!

How would you discipline Luis Suarez for biting an opponent, and would you accept to play on the same field as him?

Cassie Campbell Pascall becomes a mother!

Congratulations to Cassie Campbell Pascall, who gave birth to Brooke Violet Pascall on Wednesday, Nov. 17 — her first child. Cassie is a groundbreaker. A former national hockey team captain and two-time gold medallist, she is now one of the top hockey analysts and reporters in Canada.

To mark the day, I’m posting an item we produced together last year near Terrace, B.C. for Kraft Hockeyville. It’s a profile of the Kitselas First Nations people.

A kick out of life

It’s never too late to get a thrill from watching spectacular kicks, which is why I’m finally posting a video report I completed in August at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore. It features the World Taekwondo Federation’s demonstration team, and their spectacular kick-ass show. Elsewhere on this blog, I’ve provided snippets I shot with my CoolPix camera from the broadcast position. This is the feature report that went to air, shot and edited by Cordell Wolking.

 

Heroes in Space

Robert Thirsk with fellow Canadian astronaut Julie Payette

What could Jean Béliveau and Bobby Orr possibly have to do with Canada’s work in space? Read about the lasting impressions our sports heroes can make, and leave a comment.

Looking back to Fishin’ in Terrace, B.C.

Just finishing the edit on the Kraft Hockeyville-The Game (from Dundas, Ont.) program that will air on CBC-TV across Canada, Saturday Oct. 2, at 9:30 pm.

This is the fifth year the one-hour  program has aired, and I’m feeling nostalgic for small-town Canada.