New Contest! Free "The Stick"

RunnerDude is proud to announce that The Stick is sponsoring the newest RunnerDude's Blog Contest! If you're not familiar with The Stick, it's an awesome massage tool designed to
• prevent & predict muscle injuries
• dramatically improve strength, flexibility and endurance
• rapidly prepare muscles for physical activity
• disperse the effects of lactic acid following activity
• accelerate muscle recovery

In "medical talk," The Stick converts non-compliant muscle to compliant muscle by performing what Dr. Travell calls stripping massage. In fact, this noted medical physician relates that, "deep stripping massage of the tender spot in the muscle was generally the treatment of choice for muscular rheumatism (myofascial trigger points) long before the turn of this century, and for fibrositis afterwards." The Stick allows people to self-perform general as well as segmental therapeutic procedures with a high degree of precision. These procedures remove the barriers to peak physical performance. It is the unassisted rolling, stretching, twisting and compressing of the muscle that diffuses barrier trigger points and converts non-compliant muscle to compliant muscle. In layman's terms? Short-term and long-term PAIN RELIEF!

I've used The Stick for several years along with another product (The FootWheel) made by the same company. Both have done wonders in alleviating post workout pain and muscle fatigue. For more information and a demo on how The Stick works, check out the video clip below.

How to Enter:
To enter, simply email RunnerDude at runnerdudeblog@yahoo.com by midnight (EST) Saturday, October 17th. Be sure to put "The Stick Contest" in the email's subject line and put your name in the body of the email. That's it! Each email will be assigned a different number based on the order that the emails are received. The winning number will be selected by The True Random Number Generator at Random.org on Sunday, October 18. "Whatcha" waiting for? Email RunnerDude today!

Watch Out Gatorade, Powerade, Accelerade! Mother Nature's Entered the Game!

I'm convinced more than ever that Mother Nature is a runner. I've recently hailed Mother Nature's "natural sports drink"—coconut water—and its health benefits, especially how its naturally high level of potassium helps keep my calf cramps at bay on long runs. Well, it appears that Mother Nature has expanded her line of sports drinks.

Coconut water handles the hydration and electrolyte replacement end of Mother Nature's line of sports drinks and it appears that tart cherry juice handles the post-run anti-inflammatory department. This isn't brand-new news. Tart cherry juice has been lauded for many years as a natural remedy for pain-relief, but now there's some science to back up the claims.

Oregon Health and Science University gathered two comparable groups of runners both ranging in ages from 18-50. Members of one group drank 10.5oz of tart cherry juice each day for two weeks and the other group drank the same amount of an artificial fruit drink. Then each group participated in a long-distance relay.

The results? The tart cherry group had a 23% lower self-reported pain level after the race than the artificial fruit juice group. Dr. Kerry Kuehl, the sports-medicine specialist at Oregon Health & Science University says that this may suggest that the tart cherry juice works like a NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) kind of like Ibuprofen. The upside to this is that using a natural anti-inflammatory like the tart cherry juice may help you avoid some of the bad side effects that result from some NSAIDs. Kuehl said that the anti-inflammatory benefits of tart cherry juice may also benefit non-runners too, such as women with fibromyalgia and he's hopeful that it may benefit people with arthritis as well.

This doesn't mean you have to chunk your sports drinks, as more research is needed, but if you're looking for a more natural way to support your training needs, you may want to check into 100% coconut water for your hydration needs and tart cherry juice for your post-workout anti-inflammatory needs. Thanks Mother Nature!