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USA Triathlon held their National
Championship races at Hagg Lake in the
foothills of the coastal range, just west of
Portland, OR. This was the second year in a
row that the age
group championships were
held at this site, with the addition this
time of the elite
national championship races. The rolling
hills surrounding Hagg
Lake provided a challenging and beautiful
course for the
competitors.
The format was great, featuring more than a
thousand age group racers starting in a
series of waves beginning at 7:15am with the
various finishers all crossing the line by
mid-morning. Once the age group races were
complete, these athletes become the
spectators for the elite national
championship races.
All three women Olympians (Julie Swail Ertel,
Sarah Haskins and Laura Bennett) started in
the 17 woman field at noon. The elite course
was configured to allow eight laps on the
bike and four for the run, which gave
spectators a chance to see the dynamic of the
race as it changed over time. Olympians
Julie Ertel
and Sarah Haskins pulled away from the pack
after the bike leg. By the end of the run,
Ertel found a bit more and beat Haskins by 10
seconds to win her second straight national
title.
The men's elite race featured two Olympians
(Matt Reed and Jarrod Shoemaker, since Hunter
Kemper was out with an injury). When
Shoemaker dropped out after the swim due to
hypothermia (the age group racers got to wear
wet suits, but the elites did not), Reed had
a clear shot over the rest of the field
finishing over a minute ahead of 39-year-old
Joe Umphenour.
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It's a question that runners get asked all
the time. And the stock reply given by many
a runner is to say, "To eat!".
Aside from enabling modern runners to eat more than their sedentary brethren, it's beginning to look like endurance running might have played a key role in enabling early mankind to eat and to thrive. Several studies over recent years have considered the possibility that early man began his hunting career by running down game. Not by outracing animals in a sprint, but by tiring them out over a long distance endurance run and forcing them to overheat. Discover magazine brought together much of
the evidence for the case that "humans are
built to outrun
nearly every other animal on the planet over
long distances". The thinking goes that
humans could have utilized endurance
running
in two ways to collect meat: by running down
fresh game in a persistence
hunt and also by scavenging (through
observing vultures at a distance and then
running to claim the carcass they were circling).
The team of Lieberman
(Harvard) and Bramble
(Univ. Utah) have considered how changes in
early human anatomy could have empowered the
transition from tree dwelling to becoming
hunters on the savanna. In a recent
paper they defended their argument that
the numerous
anatomical modifications necessary for
efficient running were selected in early man
since successful persistence hunters acquired
access to better nutrition.
While comparing the relative running capabilities of man and animals, Ingfei Chen mentions the Man Versus Horse Marathon, which was finally won by a human during the 25th running in 2004. If you're interested in competing next year, you can sign up here. [If you don't see the "Man Versus Horse
Marathon" in a
YouTube window below
this text, click
here for the video].
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We have a busy fall ahead. Watch for us at other races and events throughout the year to come. As always, make sure to catch The Bounce from nuBound!
Sincerely,
Mark Connell
nuBound
email:
thebounce@nubound.net
phone:
888.480.NUCLeotide (or 888.480.6825)
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| From the archives of The Bounce . . . |
| Advanced DNA/RNA Sports Supplement |
Recover Faster
Train Harder
Perform Better
Train Harder
Perform Better
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