As an outdoor sport enthusiast I have had my share of confrontations with less-than-gentle dogs who would just as soon bite my rear-end than play fetch or roll over. Invariably, a confrontation with a dog can be traced back to irresponsible dog owners. As far as I understand the law in Canada, pets are considered to be property – possessions of their owner. It is clear that some owners do not value their four-legged property and could be considered irresponsible, if not liable, for the actions of their pet.

Recently, I was attacked twice by dogs while race walking on a public bike path. Their owners did not have the beasts short-leashed or leashed at all. The first attack was by a massive St. Bernard – he simply crossed over and bit my wrist (actually my watch saved me from a nasty bite). I had just begun my 10k walk and was in no mood for any kind of confrontation with either the dog or the owner – I just kept walking. Later on, a second dog attempted to bite me in the calf – this particular medium-sized mutt was not even on a leash. The owner just shook her shoulders and smiled.

The interesting fact is that I must have passed twenty-five dogs on the trail that day. Only about half of the dog-owners had any resemblance of control over their dogs – even on a leash. I suppose obedience school for dogs is just too expensive and bothersome for animal lovers these days. As a former owner of a German Shepherd, Sheltie, Shih Tzu, and many Terriers, I can understand the difficulties of training a dog (especially a pup). Like people, some dogs are incorrigible. Nevertheless, I believe that NOT even attempting to train a dog is a form of neglect. In other words, if you do not care enough about your pet to train them – you are undeserving of ownership.

Several years ago a friend and I were road cycling in the Qu’appelle Valley on a public highway. We had to pass through a small reservation to reach our destination. We rode by a house along the lake with two dogs in the unfenced back yard. Two men were also in the yard drinking beer. The dog owner (assumption on my part) saw us and, without any provocation, loudly commanded the dogs to “sic” us. A large mutt and a smaller dog came after us like two monsters out of hell. I was able to sprint away, but the small dog managed to clamp on to my friends foot and nearly dragged him down. This was no small feat on the part of the dog, as my friend was a former member of a Canadian elite Triathlon team and was a very strong cyclist. He dismounted his bike as the vicious and belligerent dogs were attempting to circle him. In spite of my fear, I made a u-turn and sprinted back towards the dogs yelling and screaming my head off. The distraction gave my friend enough time to mount his bike and get out of there as fast as he could. Once we put a few kilometers between us and the dogs – only then did I feel I could relax somewhat. We never did report that “incident” to the local RCMP – perhaps we should have.

Maybe the biggest neglect of dogs I have witnessed is in some of the communities of Northern Saskatchewan. In one particular community, Buffalo Narrows, many of the dogs simply run wild throughout the town. Besides the garbage strewn all over, there are piles of dog shit everywhere. For a small community, with ample resources to deal with this situation, this is inexcusable. I cannot even recount the number of times I was accosted by dogs while living there. To be fair, some of these dogs were just curious and wanted some affection and to play. I made friends with quite a few dogs in my neighbourhood.

I often snowshoed and skied in the backcountry of that community. On one occasion, I saw a small wolf pack running madly on the ice of a lake in the direction of a spot where commercial fisherman had dumped their “rough” fish (sucker fish). Regardless of that singular wolf pack sighting, I found it hard to distinguish the wolves from the stray dogs. If the wolves didn’t attack the domestic dogs, they mated with them. The inter-breeding of stray dogs with wild animals produced some interesting offspring – did you ever see a wolf/unknown cross with eight-inch legs? How about a cross between a coyote and a poodle – a coyoodle?

As a young man, living in another Northern Saskatchewan community, I used to carry a small 8-inch aluminum bat with me when I went running. Once too often I had found myself in the uncomfortable situation of being confronted my mean dogs or even meaner drunkards. I am thankful that I never had to use that bat (a modern equivalent would be pepper spray) to defend myself. Too often, a person defending themselves from attack ends up being the perpetrator and not the defendant. Our system of justice can become very twisted and convoluted in these circumstances.

Perhaps, like dogs, human beings should be allowed one free bite under the law. I know a dog or two I would like to bite back

Hey Dirk, love those sissy-ass blue spandex shorts. It reminds me of the team kit of a certain cycling club I used to belong to. What ever happened to basic black cycling shorts? It is bad enough having to wear spandex, let alone see-through blue bib shorts? I want my money back

A rather poor quality video of race walking technique by yours truly. This project was beneficial for evaluating my own technique. As many race walkers are subject to ridicule in public, especially in North America, I have provided this video for your amusement. Go ahead – have a good laugh at my expense!

High quality video of race walking from local to Olympic class events will be published on this blog from time-to-time. Stay tuned for more giggles and laughs.

Here’s the great thing about walking … anyone can do it anywhere and it flat out WORKS. So why do we forget about walking as one of the best alternatives for losing weight?

It’s common to think “more is better” and if you really want to be in shape you have to work harder, or at least harder than walking. But get this: Exercise is cumulative. That means all exercise throughout the day counts toward calories burned. In other words, you can burn the same number of calories in three short 15-minute walks as you would in a longer stretch of 45 minutes.

In addition to weight loss walking has terrific physiological benefits like increasing your aerobic capacity, improving leg strength and strengthening your heart. The number of calories burned varies some with different people under different conditions, but generally it’s about 100 calories per mile.

Consider these tips before getting started.

• Start out slowly and build your program as your fitness level increases. For example, walk out for 10 minutes and then back for 10 minutes. Do this for a week and then add five minutes each way next week.
• Each session should include a five minute warm-up (slow to moderate pace) followed by five minutes of stretching. Then walk for your desired length of time and finish with a five minute cool-down.
• Watch your form! That means walk tall, head up, eyes forward, shoulders down and follow your natural stride.
• Drink plenty of water before, during and after your walk. Also eat a portion of healthy carbohydrates, like oatmeal in the morning, before walking in order to supply your muscles with energy.
• For general health, 30 minutes per day at a moderate pace most days of the week is a good plan. For cardiovascular fitness walk three to four days per week for 20 to 30 minutes at a fast pace. For weight loss walk four to five days per week, 45 to 60 minutes at a brisk pace.

To learn more about fitness or race walking, contact us at GreatShapeUp.com.

Book Dan Polimino to speak at your next meeting or event today. For program information contact us at info@BookDan.com, visit www.BookDan.com or call 303-683-4795.

Race walking looks so brutal.  There is nothing about that movement that looks natural.  Nothing whatsoever.

I’ll stick with running.

No running here...

Each year, I enjoying spending a large amount of time watching sporting events. I think the time and effort in preparing one’s body for physical competition is admirable. Of of the sports that I think is fairly interesting to watch is Race Walking.

I remember seeing this for the first time in 1984 during the Games in Los Angeles. I was amazed at the speed these competitors achieved… and for how long. For those unfamiliar with the sport, here’s the Wiki:

Racewalking is a long-distance athletic event. Although it is a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Stride length is reduced, so to achieve competitive speeds, racewalkers must attain cadence rates comparable to those achieved by Olympic 400-meter runners—and they must do so for hours at a time since the Olympic events are the 20 kilometres race walk and 50 kilometres (31 mi) race walk.

I mean, think about it… keeping up a fast-paced walk (which is faster than most can run) for more than a marathon. That’s some serious endurance training. I always found it interesting when athletes were accused of running or given warnings for doing so. I’ve tried to do it a few times, and the best I was able to achieve was a 9-minute mile.

Just how fast do these participants go??? Take a look at these records:

Men’s 20 km

Mark	Athlete	Nationality	Venue	Date
1:16:43	Sergey Morozov	Russia	Saransk	June 8, 2008
1:17:16	Vladimir Kanaykin	Russia	Eisenhüttenstadt	September 28, 2007
1:17:21	Jefferson Pérez	Ecuador	Paris	August 23, 2003
1:17:22	Francisco Javier Fernández	Spain	Turku	April 28, 2002
1:17:25	Bernardo Segura	Mexico	Bergen	May 7, 1994
1:17:33	Nathan Deakes	Australia	Cixi City	April 23, 2005
1:18:04	Bu Lingtang	China	Beijing	April 7, 1994
1:18:13	Pavol Blažek	Czechoslovakia	Hildesheim	September 9, 1990
1:18:20	Andrey Perlov	Soviet Union	Moscow	May 26, 1990
1:19:08	Mikhail Shchennikov	Soviet Union	Kiev	July 30, 1988
1:19:12	Axel Noack	East Germany	Karl-Marx-Stadt	June 21, 1987

Men’s 50 km

Mark	Athlete	Nationality	Venue	Date
3:34:13	Denis Nizhegorodov	Russia	Cheboksary	May 5, 2008
3:35:47	Nathan Deakes	Australia	Geelong	December 2, 2006
3:36:03	Robert Korzeniowski	Poland	Paris	August 27, 2003
3:36:04	Alex Schwazer	Italy	Rosignano Solvay	February 11, 2007
3:36:06	Yu Chaohong	China	Nanjing	October 22, 2005
3:36:13	Zhao Chengliang	China	Nanjing	October 22, 2005
3:36:20	Han Yucheng	China	Nanjing	February 27, 2005
3:36:42	German Skurygin	Russia	Paris	August 27, 2003
3:37:04	Alex Schwazer	Italy	Cheboksary	May 11, 2008
3:37:09	Alex Schwazer	Italy	Beijing	August 22, 2008

Women’s 20 km

Mark	Athlete	Nationality	Venue	Date
1:24:50	Olimpiada Ivanova	Russia	Adler	March 4, 2001
1:25:18	Tatyana Gudkova	Russia	Moscow	May 19, 2000
1:25:20	Olga Polyakova	Russia	Moscow	May 19, 2000
1:25:29	Irina Stankina	Russia	Moscow	May 19, 2000
1:25:59	Tamara Kovalenko	Russia	Moscow	May 19, 2000
1:26:22	Wang Yan	China	Guangzhou	November 19, 2001
1:26:22	Yelena Nikolayeva	Russia	Cheboksary	May 18, 2003
1:26:23	Wang Liping	China	Guangzhou	November 19, 2001
1:26:28	Irina Pudovkina	Russia	Adler	March 12, 2005
1:26:31	Olga Kaniskina	Russia	Beijing	August 21, 2008
1:26:35	Liu Hongyu	China	Guangzhou	November 19, 2001

However, I will say this… the sport does look funny. The way that walkers swing their hips to get the right cadence cane make you laugh after a few drinks.

This week on Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me it was the subject of one of the on-air games. In the game, a contestant was asked what would make a race-walker run… watch this video from Japan and find out. It’s great.

This was posted on Dave McGovern’s Blog. A shame!

13-14 December 2008 

1) Mizuno Fuego 10K Run on 5:30 PM 13 Dec 08@ Punta Fuego, Nasugbo, Batangas:

I tried the speed walking again on the way home from the PTO meeting.  It’s just not working for me.  I find that I can’t relax my upper body enough while I am walking.  My shoulders go up toward my ears and my shoulders are cramping up.  Then I was getting a sharp, shooting pain in my right side around my ribcage.  It finally went away when I started moving slower and stopped walking.  I didn’t get that with the running, so I am thinking it was due to having such a stiff upper body.  I can do a quick walking pace, but if I push myself to where I am breathing hard and really getting my heartrate up, I have to either run or do the race walking.  I hate the race walking.  It doesn’t make the pain in the knees go away in its entirety, and it makes me want to cry.  Why am I crying because I can’t run?  Mainly because I want to run.  I want to run with John, and I want him to help me learn how to run.  Anyway, I could not take the race walking anymore, so I ran, nonstop, the final two block home.  I think that is the longest running stretch I have done so far.

There is a 2K/5K coming up and I’m thinking about doing the 2K walk.  It would be easy.  It’s only 1.24 miles and I can walk that, no problem.  I could even do the 5K walk, that’s only 3.11 miles.  The only problem is that if the kids come with, I’m not sure if the 5K is the best option.

See attached

2008sept

Link

WOMEN
1.Varin Sylviane FRA 216,370 km 28 h 0 mn 53 s 7,723 km/h
2 Anxionnat Claudine FRA 198,040 km 28 h 1 mn 15 s 7,068 km/h
3 Attias Dorit USA 191,090 km 28 h 1 mn 46 s 6,817 km/h
4 Perevalo Iryna FRA 171,805 km 28 h 1 mn 34 s 6,130 km/h

24 hour split
1 28 Varin Sylviane FRA 185,970 23 h 41 mn 39 s
2 32 Anxionnat Claudine FRA 172,070 km 23 h 51 mn 29 s 7,212 km/h
3 18 Attias Dorit USA 168,595 km 23 h 49 mn 55 s 7,074 km/h
4 52 Perevalo Iryna FRA 161,645 km 23 h 47 mn 3 s 6,796 km/h

MEN
1 Ossipov Dimitri RUS 238,175 km 28 h 0 mn 52 s 8,502 km/h
2 Letessier Gilles FRA 229,315 km 28 h 0 mn 53 s 8,186 km/h
3 Naumowicz Dominique FRA 229,315 km 28 h 0 mn 54 s 8,185 km/h
4 Simon Zdenek CZE 217,935 km 28 h 1 mn 17 s 7,777 km/h
5 Frolov Nicolaï RUS 215,415 km 28 h 1 mn 17 s 7,688 km/h
6 Haumesser Marc FRA 208,465 km 28 h 1 mn 27 s 7,439 km/h
7 Pedersen Per Kleis DAN 206,900 km 28 h 1 mn 31 s 7,383 km/h
8 Bunel Pascal FRA 205,600 km 28 h 1 mn 42 s 7,335 km/h
9 Boetje Hulisclon HOL 204,035 km 28 h 1 mn 49 s 7,279 km/h
10 Foudjem Daniel CAM 200,295 km 28 h 1 mn 45 s 7,146 km/h
11 Haan Ricks HOL 199,095 km 28 h 1 mn 44 s 7,103 km/h
12 Leijtens Frans HOL 198,995 km 28 h 1 mn 25 s 7,101 km/h
13 Costils Alain FRA 195,520 km 28 h 1 mn 23 s 6,977 km/h
14 Dekker Marcel HOL 195,520 km 28 h 1 mn 24 s 6,977 km/h
15 Baudrillard Antonio FRA 195,520 km 28 h 1 mn 47 s 6,975 km/h
16 Czukor Zoltan hun 194,565 km 28 h 1 mn 22 s 6,943 km/h
17 V.den berg Martinus HOL 191,700 km 28 h 1 mn 45 s 6,839 km/h
18 Jones David GBR 190,135 km 28 h 2 mn 50 s 6,779 km/h
19 Grados Daniel FRA 188,570 km 28 h 1 mn 8 s 6,730 km/h
20 Bovin Laurent FRA 188,570 km 28 h 1 mn 13 s 6,730 km/h
21 Courcy Jean Claude FRA 188,225 km 28 h 1 mn 24 s 6,717 km/h
22 Strunc Pierre FRA 186,050 km 28 h 1 mn 26 s 6,639 km/h
23 Lukashevich Nicolaï BLR 181,620 km 28 h 1 mn 26 s 6,481 km/h
24 Watts Ken GBR 179,710 km 28 h 1 mn 43 s 6,412 km/h
25 Leermakers HOL 171,195 km 28 h 1 mn 18 s 6,109 km/h
26 Seynave Serge FRA 170,249 km 28 h 1 mn 21 s 6,075 km/h
27 Spieser Jean Paul FRA 168,330 km 28 h 2 mn 26 s 6,003 km/h
28 Psutka Roman CZE 158,515 km 28 h 1 mn 42 s 5,656 km/h
29 Watts Bob WC GBR 155,040 km 28 h 1 mn 38 s 5,532 km/h
30 Hassevelde Sébastien FRA 149,045 km 28 h 1 mn 33 s 5,318 km/h
31 Mercier Jean Pierre FRA 115,250 km 28 h 3 mn 20 s 4,108 km/h

24 hour split
1 Ossipov Dimitri RUS 206,820 km 23 h 46 mn 33 s 8,699 km/h
2 Letessier Gilles FRA 199,870 km 23 h 48 mn 3 s 8,398 km/h
3 Naumowicz Dominique FRA 199,870 km 23 h 48 mn 5 s 8,397 km/h
4 Simon Zdenek CZE 189,445 km 23 h 40 mn 31 s 8,002 km/h
5 Frolov Nicolaï RUS 185,970 km 23 h 47 mn 35 s 7,816 km/h

After successfully surviving a late night incident involving a Chrysler 300 and some bats with THRILLHO and LWN, I (LAB BOY) have been given the go ahead to begin contributing. While there are so many things happening in the world that need to be discussed there is not the space, time, nor interest to discuss them all. However, there are some people out there who go above and beyond the call of duty, and I have decided to applauded them in what I have coined “Props from Lab Boy”. So here we go…

This Weeks ‘Props from Lab Boy’

1. Props to you Chinese race walker Song Hongjuan! While most of the world does not know (or care) that race walking is a sport, you are pushing the limits of how fast the human body can walk. To most people race walking is to the olympics what Colt Brennan is to the NFL…worthless and boring. But not to Song! And I know what all you readers are thinking, “LAB BOY, didn’t Song fail a drug test for the endurance enhancing EPO?” But who are we to judge? We aren’t the one’s that have go out and walk everyday. Honestly, I don’t know if it is even physically possible to do training walks everyday without the assistance of endurance boosting drugs.

2. Props to Usain Bolt, for slowing down at the end of olympic 100m! Finally an athlete is smart enough to realize that if you shatter a world record at the olympics you are going to get drug tested like crazy for as long as you have that record. Is Bolt on drugs? I can only make an educated guess. Sprinters using drugs is like regular people breaking the speed limit; it’s illegal and you might get caught, but you and everyone you know continue to do it. Bolt knows he could have shattered the world record, and run substantially faster than any man in history (including those who took drugs). If Bolt doesn’t play his cards right he could end up in the ever growing elite group of pharmaceutical assisted athletes. Lets look at brief list of some of the greatest sprinters who have have recieved bans for performance enhancing drug issues.

Name…Time…Interesting Note
Marion Jones…10.65…Hired Johnny Cochrane in high school (for her performance enhancing drug scandal)
Tim Montgomery…9.78…Marion Jones’ Baby Daddy
Ben Johnson…9.79…Once raced a race horse and a stock car
Justin Gatlin…9.77…Former leading spokesperson against drug use in sports
Carl Lewis…9.86…One of 100+ Americans involved in (supposed) US drug “cover-up”

3. Props to Russian high jumper Ivan Ukhov for combining my two favorite things, world class sports and drinking.  Like a rockstar Ukhov was seen drinking Redbull and Vodka during a European grand prix track meet last week.  The video of his incredible performance can be seen here.   Aparrently one of the other high jumpers snitched on Ukhov to the officials.  I assume the only reason this backstabbing snitch reported Ukhov is because he lost to him.  Hey snitch, if your losing to a drunk Russian maybe your not cut out for the high jump!!!

4. Props to you (former) Iowa City Community College President Robert Paxton for showing students what college is really about…partying.  Not only did you get caught literally pouring beer from a coors light mini-keg into a bikini clad coed’s mouth, but you got a $400,000 resignation package.  Well played sir.  While I consider Paxton one of my hero’s we was semi-defensive after the ‘incident’ stating, ”The beer keg was broken and wasn’t dispensing beer into the young woman’s mouth”.   Additionally, just to set the record straight about his 19 year-old son who was arrested for second-offense drunken driving early the next morning Paxton stated, “He was in the boat but was not drinking.”  Again, well played.

5. And finally, props to you University of Miami football coach Randy Shannon for refusing to shake University of Florida coach Urban Meyer’s hand after Meyer decided to kick a field in the closing minutes of the Gators 26-3 victory over the Canes.   As Shannon said, “Sometimes when you do things and people see what kind of person you really are, you turn a lot of people off.”  So what if you (Shannon) were a member of the UM team that ran up the score and beat Notre Dame 58-7 in 1985…that is not relevant here.  The point is that for many years the University of Miami football program has been know for their class and sportsmanship both on and off the field.  I defy you readers to find 1 time the Canes ever acted classless!  Lucky for Canes Tebow wasn’t on the field for this final score…I assume becuase he had to get up early the next morning for church service/ending world hunger/curing cancer.   Shame on you Urban Meyer for not giving pity to that poor ACC team!  Urban, the University of Florida didn’t hire you to dominate football games, they hired you to be a nice friendly guy on the field!

Racewalker Jared Tallent today became the first Australian male track and field athlete in one hundred years to win two medals at the same Games.  This occurred when he won silver today in the 50km walk at Beijing.

Link

AUSTRALIAN Jared Tallent has made history, taking a silver and bronze medal at the Games, fuelled by a diet of pizza and flat soft drink.

Tallent finished second in the Olympic men’s 50km race walk today, adding the silver medal to the bronze he won in the 20km race last week.

Click to see pictures of Jared Tallent at the Beijing Games.

Remarkably, today’s gruelling race was just Tallent’s third over the 50km journey.

And he did it after succumbing last night to the lure of his favourite food, pizza, and while sipping flat Coke in the latter stages of the race to get a caffeine and sugar rush, without the stomach-trembling fizz.

After vomiting after the finish line in the 20km race, he was happy just to keep it down today.

“It (pizza) is my favourite food, it had been tempting me for the whole two weeks,” Tallent said.

“Everyone was telling me ‘keep it down today’ so I was thinking about that.”

The pizza helped restore energy sapped from his bronze medal performance in the 20km walk.

“I started to feel good yesterday,” he said.

“I wasn’t sure, I was a bit worried that I might get to 20km and go ‘oh geez’… lucky it didn’t happen.”

Tallent, better known as a 20km walker, finished second to Alex Schwarzer of Italy in a personal-best time of 3hr 39min 27sec.

Schwarzer, who finished third in the 50km race at the world championships in Osaka, Japan, last year, won in an Olympic-record time of 3hr 37min 09sec.

Denis Nizhegorodov, the world record-holder and the 50km silver medallist in Athens four years ago, finished third in a time of 3hr 40min 14sec.

Tallent’s Australia teammate Luke Adams finished 10th in a time of 3hr 47min 45sec, but Adam Rutter, from Sydney, failed to finish.

Tallent led the race at the 40km mark, with Nizhegorodov and Schwazer on his heels as the three men broke away from the rest of the field.

But the Italian produced a burst of speed which left Tallent and Nizhegorodov in his wake and fighting for the silver medal.

The Australian then upped his pace and achieved an advantage of about 40 seconds on Nizhegorodov by the 45km mark.

Tallent said he was exhausted after the 20km race, but warming up in the magnificent Olympic stadium this morning pumped him up for the 50km walk.

“I was just looking up at the flame, at the rings up on the tower … and just though this is it,” he told the Seven Network.

“All those years of hard work, it all comes down to this.

“I just thought about that the whole way.”

Tallent will marry his fiancee, road walker Claire Woods, who placed 28th in yesterday’s women’s 20km walk, after the Games – in Walkerville in South Australia.

“I’m so proud of her, it’s just a dream come true both coming to the Olympics together,” he said.

“She walked her PB yesterday, she’s rapt with her performance.

“I don’t think the rest of our lives will probably ever live up to this.”

Stan Rowley, at the 1900 Paris Games, was the last Australian male previously to win multiple track and field medals at a single Olympics. Rowley won bronze medals in the 60m, 100m and 200m.

Nigel Barker, however, won two bronze medals in the 100m and 400m at the 1906 Intercolated Games in Athens, which are often referred to as an “unoffical Olympic Games”. The 1906 Games have not been sanctioned or ratified by the International Olympic Committee.

Raelene Boyle, at the 1972 Munich Games, was the last Australian of any gender previously to win two medals at one Olympics, with her silver medals in the 100m and 200m.

I like handball!
Water polo is okay.
Race-Walking is stupid.

American men dropped the baton in the semi of the 4×100m… my heart sank a little.

edit… now the women dropped the baton and they had a huge lead… now I am DONE watching the olympics.