MSC Latest News - August 2006
Train Smart is how I usually like to sign off on the articles I contribute to various publications and indeed my own editorial each month on the MSC site. It's not just intended to be a throw away line either. During my twenty-two plus seasons involved in Triathlon - firstly as a professional athlete and then coach. It's two words I practised well before I started to preach them.

Endurance sport (and triathlon in particular) is full of potential world beaters. But many athletes have become accustomed to overtraining. Like drug addicts, these chronically overtrained athletes continue to pursue their ambitions, generally aren't improving but still can't seem to change or break this habit. Athletes should be striving to do the least amount of specific training that delivers a progressive and continued improvement.

Make the most of your training time and even though there are times to do overdistance training verses faster paced work, the self trained athlete needs to systematically work to a plan, get enough rest, listen to the body, work on weaknesses and make a commitment to goals. Train Smart - Nick

"It doesn't get any easier, you just get faster" - Greg Lemond

Latest News - MSC Race Results

IM Lake Placid (New York) 23/7
Justin Hunter - 10.31.22

IM Germany (Frankfurt) 23/7
Peter Seldon 13.42.58

Upcoming events with MSC athletes

Noosa Enduro MTB August 6
Daniel O'Rourke
Cat Brown
Yolanda Brady
Bob Brady
David Chick
Richard Moye
Dallas Blacklaw

State Team Time Trail (cycling) Champs
August 13 - a team of four - some former and some current MSC athletes are pitting themselves against the clock and other teams over the 80km course.

Tim Devries, Jason Cheshire, David Chick and Ashley Thomson, Richard Moye

Rydges Half Ironman Yeppoon - August 13
Sarah Fien, Matt O'Niel, Chris Dmitrief, Jackie Coulter, 'Polo' Harrison, Emma Griffiths, Shaneen O'Brien, Peter Degnian, Rod Wigglesworth, Carl Schmidt, Allan Moustoukas, Steve Buth, Peter Brown, Michael Broadbent

MSC / Triathlon World Championship Team Members
September 3
Shane Vivian - male 35-39
Jenny Tanner - female 55-59
David Hill - male 50-54
Jill Harris - female 55-59

Hawaii Ironman
October 21
Sue Stevenson
Chris Dmitrief
Sarah Fien

Q-Daily going international
Sunshine coast nutritional product Q-daily is currently being placed in 240 Holland & Barrett health stores in the UK and are part of the Australian Government sponsored National Food Industry Strategy push into Sainsbury’s the second largest supermarket in the UK.

Graeme Brewer who developed the product is an MSC squad member and took many years to get the manufacturing process just right to ensure the nutrition content remained 100% for the take anywhere easily consumed fruit and vegetable sachets.

The Q-Daily on line store kicks off kicks off soon. For more info about Q-Daily click here >

Allez Sport Athlete of the month
Our MSC / Allez Sport Athlete of the month award has been awarded to Dan O'Rourke. Dan has had a big few weeks in getting 5th overall in the open men's at the XC Duathlon in Brisbane, followed the week after by a 7th overall in the Pomona King of the Mountain. Dan backed up the last weekend to win the 24km Glass House Trial run in 1hr35min then 'limped' home 4th in the local Noosa Tri club duathlon. Well done and Dan is proof that consistency does pay off over time. Dan wins a $50 voucher courtesy of Allez Sport in Mooloolaba.


System Recovery
Talk to ten endurance athletes and you'll get ten different recovery concoctions. Should you focus on protein, vitamins, carbohydrates or simply purchase one of the many recovery products that line store shelves and appear in magazine ads? Most supplement ads tout 'maximum recovery,' but it's important to maintain awareness of some key principles with solid clinical research supporting their effects. Keep in mind that no supplement will allow you to go from a sedentary lifestyle, or one with limited training, to a 20 hour per week training schedule overnight. Gradually increasing the volume and intensity of your training will allow physiological changes on the cellular level, which support strong performance increases. The following recommendations can help you stay healthy and well-fuelled during your scheduled training program and during periods of high mileage and intense training. Ideally the goal is to use nutrition to optimize your recovery so you can maximize your training adaptations with every workout.

Recover from what?
Before getting into the importance of additional nutrients in recovery, we need to ask the question, recover from what? Since endurance athletes are involved with such varied workouts, there is no single product or magic food that can supply what is needed for all these workouts. Workouts and races come in many different lengths and intensities, and it is your job to decide if it was a glycogen depleting workout or a maximum lactate workout. A glycogen depleting workout is one during which you have put in enough hours to deplete the glycogen stores in your working muscles and are on the brink of bonking. A century ride or a two and a half hour run at moderate intensity are good examples of glycogen depleting workouts. On those occasions when you exceed your aerobic threshold, you are in the realm of maximum lactate workouts. Characterized by considerable lactate build-up in the working muscles, these workouts involve repeat intervals nearing your maximum heart-rate combined with a period of rest. You can see why it's important to know what you are recovering from before you decide what to use for recovery. Be wary of general recommendations that are entirely too broad to be effective.

Water, water, water:
The backbone of any recovery program is always water! Water alone can give substantial benefit in your recovery, but even greater gains can be found combining it with other nutrients. However, no other nutrient or magic pill will work without water as its backbone. All cellular reactions, including the basis of ATP production (electron transport-oxidative phosphorylation) require water and oxygen. Without water, the entire process of converting nutrients to glycogen and protein is limited.
-Average fluid loss during exercise: 1-2 liters per hour. Some individuals may lose even more than that during intense workouts/races in extreme heat and humidity!
Do not drink plain water 2 hours before through 2 hours after training unless it is used to chase down additional electrolytes (tablets, powders), energy bars or gels. Consuming too much water dilutes the sodium concentration in the blood and increases risk of hyponatremia.

Replenish your carbs:
Following water, the second most important nutrient group to consider is not proteins, but carbohydrates. The primary fuel source for endurance athletes is glycogen…period! If you don't restore your fuel, you aren't going anywhere fast, and some carbohydrates are better than others at restoring glycogen to the working muscles. Also keep in mind that a window of opportunity exists where your depleted muscles open their acceptance to this fuel, further allowing for maximum replenishment. Depending on what data you reference, this window is somewhere between 20 minutes and two hours following exercise. To keep things simple, always try to start your recovery immediately following exercise. During this time, insulin sensitivity is at is highest. Insulin, which allows sugar to flow into your bloodstream, works most efficiently immediately following exercise. In addition, high glycemic carbohydrates are broken down easily and further increase the flow of glucose into the bloodstream. This glucose can then be converted to glycogen in your working muscles, in essence 'filling your tank.' To ensure you have refilled your glycogen fuel tank to the top, always practice using a high glycemic recovery product/food immediately following exercise. Glucose, a high glycemic carbohydrate, is twice as effective at restoring muscle glycogen as fructose, a low glycemic carbohydrate. Whether a carbohydrate is a simple sugar or complex carbohydrate makes little difference on the recovery rate -- the key is the food's glycemic index.(Gonzales, Roberts, Roy) Whether a food is a liquid or solid will not make a difference either, though some claims state that liquids offer more efficient absorption. But remember, regardless of the form, the glycemic index is a direct indicator of the breakdown of the food into your bloodstream.

High Glycemic Foods lists are available at www.mendosa.com/gilists.htm