2010 Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Photo Gallery

by Competitor.com

• February 28, 2010

Here’s an assortment of images from an exciting and beautiful celebration of running in New Orleans.

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Nutrilite Offers New Ways To Keep Runners Healthy

by Sean McKeon

• February 27, 2010

Competitor.com’s Sean McKeon took a tour of the Nutrilite expo truck to learn more about the growing nutrition company. With new product offerings for endurance athletes, Nutrilite looks to continue helping runners get to the finish line fit and healthy. Check out this preview of Nutrilite’s traveling show and be sure check it out at any of the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon expos around the country.

Eat And Run: Are Organic Foods Really Better For You?

by Nutrition

• February 17, 2010

Dr. John Berardi gives a great description of the overall value of organic foods versus commonly grown foods. Understanding the needs of your diet and the benefits of choosing organic foods can help you decide if organic foods are best for your active diet.

Become A Fat-Burning Machine

by Nutrition

• February 09, 2010

Your key to getting leaner and racing better may be metabolic efficiency training.

Written by: Bob Seebohar, MS, RD, CSSD, CSCS

Now is the time of the year when thoughts of dropping weight and body fat become extremely popular among runners.  But what about planning your race-day nutrition to eliminate the demon of GI distress that rears its ugly head during your races?  Attaining metabolic efficiency will have a significant impact on your body composition and GI comfort during races and will also reduce your need for simple sugars when racing.

“Efficiency” is a term that is typically associated with sport. From a nutrition perspective, being metabolically efficient simply means being able to use the proper nutrients that are stored in the body at the right times.

World Record Holder Sammy Wanjiru to Race Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras

by Dan Cruz

• January 28, 2010

Half Marathon World Record holder and 2008 Olympic Marathon gold medallist Sammy Wanjiru announced today he will run his first half-marathon in the U.S. at the inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Mardi Gras Marathon & ½ Marathon on February 28, 2010.

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Speed Training For Beginners

by Training

• January 28, 2010

You don’t have to run fast in training–unless you want to run faster in races.

Written by: Mario Fraioli

If you’re a new runner and you’ve recently caught the racing bug, finishing a 5K is likely no longer an issue; finishing it faster is the new challenge. Time to add speed work to your training.

As a new runner, you’re probably running over the same roads or on the same treadmill at the same speed every day. You’re using the same muscles in the same manner every time you lace up your sneaks. Then, when it comes time to race, you find yourself stuck in second gear from start to finish. In order to shift into overdrive, you need to give your muscles some new stimulation.

2010 P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Press Conference Recap

by Sean McKeon

• January 16, 2010

We were at the press conference to find out the plans for the big race in Arizona on Sunday. Find out what Ryan Hall, Deena Kastor, Dean Karnazes and Matt Reed had to say about their race plans.

Top US Runners Support Kids Marathoners

by Sean McKeon

• January 16, 2010

Running legends Steve Scott and Ryan Hall, among others, took part in the Kid’s Rock clinic at a Phoenix elementary school. The program promotes kids running and fitness. Kids participating in the program will run a total of 26.2 miles throughout the school year.

Deena Kastor’s 2010 Race Plans

by Sean McKeon

• January 15, 2010

American record holder Deena Kastor will toe the line at the 2010 P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon. We caught up with Deena and talked to her about her plans for the race and what she has on the docket for 2010.

Ryan Hall Talks Charity Running

by Sean McKeon

• January 15, 2010

We caught up with Ryan Hall before the P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Half Marathon. He talked about his goals for the race and about his charity The Hall Steps Foundation.

The Art of Peaking

by Training

• January 15, 2010

Being truly race-ready on race day is trickier than you might think.

Written by: Mario Fraioli

In the final weeks leading up to his goal marathon, Ricky Runlong did everything right, or so he thought. He cut his mileage in half, started taking more days off to rest, and ran workouts so much faster than his target race pace, he was positive a huge PR was waiting in the wings.

Olympians Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor Headline P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll

by Dan Cruz

• January 14, 2010

Half Marathon Broadcast Live on Competitor.com

January 14, 2010 – Two of the biggest names in U.S. distance running history will take to the roads in the “Valley of the Sun” for the seventh P.F. Chang’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Arizona Marathon and Half Marathon. Olympians Deena Kastor and Ryan Hall will make their 2010 racing debuts in the half-marathon where they each hold the U.S. record for the 13.1-mile distance. The dynamic duo will lead a top international field, featuring seven past champions from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series and more than 32,000 runners participating in the largest same day marathon and half-marathon in the United States.

The Heart of Rock ‘n’ Roll

by John Bingham

• January 12, 2010

Before you even ask, yes, that’s my real hair. I can’t tell you how many times someone tried to pull the wig off my head only to discover that the hair was connected to my scalp. OUCH.

I don’t know for sure, but my best guess is that this was taken in 1968 or 69. I know that it was taken at the Kappa Sigma fraternity house at Millikin University. The group was called “The Power Company” and we were – I say modestly – the hottest rock and roll band in Macon County, Illinois. We had a great singer who was a cross between Lou Rawls and Ike Turner backed up by a bunch of college kids that – for the most part – had never heard of Sam and Dave, let alone Buddy Miles. But the work was steady and the gigs fun. At 19 I didn’t need much else.

Anaerobic Training For Runners

by Matt Fitzgerald

• January 01, 2010

Adding anaerobic training to your regimen will keep you healthy.

Written By: Matt Fitzgerald

Some runners have funny ideas about the meaning of the word “anaerobic”. It’s not their fault, though, because even many exercise physiologists harbor an outdated understanding of aerobic and anaerobic metabolism. Often I hear athletes talk about “going anaerobic” when their running intensity exceeds the anaerobic or lactate threshold, which is a moderately high but not extremely high intensity—one that most fit individuals can sustain for a full hour. This expression—“going anaerobic”—reflects an incorrect belief that the working muscles get their energy either entirely aerobically or entirely anaerobically, whereas in fact they almost always get their energy from both systems simultaneously, with the balance shifting gradually from aerobic toward anaerobic as exercise intensity increases. And indeed, exercise intensity must increase far above the lactate threshold before the muscles even get a majority of their energy anaerobically. If you were to run as far as you could in two minutes (in other words, as hard as you could for two minutes), your muscles would get about half of their energy aerobically during that effort.

Understanding Your Natural Running Pace

by Matt Fitzgerald

• December 14, 2009

Have you ever wondered why your standard “jogging” pace is what it is?

Written by: Matt Fitzgerald

Every runner has a natural running pace.  It’s the pace you fall into automatically when you go for your typical moderate, steady run of a certain predetermined distance or duration—five miles, 45 minutes or whatever (a format that probably accounts for 90 percent of all runs performed daily by the worldwide population of runners).  For each runner this pace changes over time as fitness is gained or lost, and it even changes from day to day based on how one feels—a factor that is influenced by fatigue from preceding training, above all.