Kale Energy Soup

Kale is a super food that I am often trying to get into my diet but am a little perplexed as to make that happened.  I loved making (and eating!) this soup.

1 medium onion, chopped4 cloves garlic, chopped
5 cups chicken or vegetabe broth
2 meduim carrot, diced into 1/4 inch cubes (1 cup)
1 cup celery
2 red potatoes, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
3 cups kale, rinsed, stems removed an chopped very fine
2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp dried sage
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Chop garlic and onions
2. Heat 1 tbs broth in a med soup pot
3. Saute onion in broth over med heat for about 5 minutes
4. Add garlic and continue to saute for another minute
5. Add broth, carrots and celery and bring to boil on high heat
6. Once it comes to a boil reduce heat to a simmer and
continue to cook for another 5 minutes. Add potatoes
and kale and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15
more minutes
7. Add rest of ingredients and cook another 5 minutes. If
you want to simmer for a longer time for extra flavor and
richness, you may need to add a little more broth

The World’s 25 Most Motivational and Inspirational Athletes

from sportstrainingblog.com Elite athletes naturally have a will to win, but by their actions many athletes also act to motivate and inspire others to achieve their best.
With this thought in mind, we’ve put together a list, albeit controversially, of the World’s 25 Most Motivational Athletes.
The ability of an athlete to inspire others isn’t purely about their performance. Criteria for inclusion included their ability to come back from adversity, their ability to win against quality competition again and again and their sportsmanship - how they handled themselves whether winning or loosing.
(Each entry has a link for more information and a YouTube link for video).

The World’s 25 Most Motivational Athletes

1. Lance Armstrong (USA) - did well at cycling, got cancer, then came back & conquered the cycling world with seven Tour de France wins . But what cements his No.1 position is that he has put his immense power as an athlete of the world to great use through his establishment of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and commitment to the cause to end cancer.
Pain is temporary. It may last a minute, or an hour, or a day, or a year, but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place. If I quit, however, it lasts forever.
2. Muhammad Ali (USA) - Cassius Clay won an Olympic Gold (1960) and three heavy weight world titles. "I am the greatest" and "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" became his trademarks as he transcended sport in his retirement. According to Ali’s website "Ali has devoted himself to humanitarian endeavors around the globe. He is a devout Muslim, and travels the world over, lending his name and presence to hunger and poverty relief, supporting education efforts of all kinds, promoting adoption and encouraging people to respect and better understand one another. It is estimated that he has helped to provide more than 22 million meals to feed the hungry."
It’s not bragging if you can back it up.
3. Michael Jordan (USA) - Definitely the greatest basketball player of all time, Jordan was probably the most effectively marketed athlete of his generation. Through multiple comebacks and a stint in Baseball, His Airness proved his athleticism again and again, inspiring millions to be like Mike. For the record, he earned six NBA titles and two Olympic Golds. His charity work in his own name and through his Jordan Brand is ongoing and so far includes $5 million to Chicago’s Hales Franciscan High School, and donations to Habitat for Humanity and a Louisiana branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
I can accept failure, everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.
4. Michael Phelps (USA) - 14 Gold Medals in two Olympics at just 23 years old - a testament to his remarkable ability in one of the toughest sports as well as the number of opportunities to win medals in multiple events in swimming . Phelps was a 15 year old at the Sydney Olympics, finishing 5th in the 200m butterfly. Only Soviet gymnast Larissa Latynina (born 1934) holds more total career Olympic medals with 18 (nine gold), compared to Phelps’s 16 (14 gold). Extra credit to Phelps for donating a $1 million bonus from the Beijing Olympics to start his own charity.
You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.
5. Andre Agassi (USA) - Andre was the child prodigy who reinvented himself as a 30-something tennis player to win eight Grand Slam singles tournaments and an Olympic gold medal in singles. His post-win gesture of blowing kisses to spectators on each side of the court was admired as a humble acknowledgment of the crowd’s support of him and tennis. Wikipedia says Agassi is regularly cited as the most charitable and socially involved player in professional tennis. It has also been surmised that he may be the most charitable athlete of his generation. He is the founder of the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation (in 1994), which has raised over $60 million for at-risk children in Southern Nevada.
To the US open crowd at his last match: You have given me your shoulders to stand on to reach for my dreams, dreams I could have never reached without you. Over the last 21 years, I have found you. And I will take you and the memory of you with me for the rest of my life. Thank you.
6. Steve Redgrave (GBR) - one of the most enduring successful Olympians of all time - 5 gold medals in rowing at 5 Olympics , a feat shared by just four athletes. Sir Steve is now committed to providing a better deal for the Third World through both his FiveG clothing range and the Steve Redgrave Fund which raised £5 million in five years. His charity work addresses problems associated with lack of exercise, obesity, social inclusion and confidence among children and young people in Britain.
I’ve had it. If anyone sees me near a boat they can shoot me. (After winning his 4th gold).
7. Paavo Nurmi (FIN) - Considered the greatest Track & Field athlete of all time, Nurmi won a total of nine gold and three silver medals in the 12 events in which he competed at the Olympic Games from 1920 to 1928. Nurmi has won the most Olympic medals in Track & Field, 12 total. In 1932, Nurmi was unable to compete at the Olympics, as he had received money for his running and was thus considered a professional. (Born 1987, died 1973). Mind is everything. Muscle - pieces of rubber. All that I am, I am because of my mind.
8. Emil Zátopek (CZE) - was probably best known for his amazing feat of winning three gold medals in athletics at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki . He won gold in the 5 km and 10 km runs, but his final medal came when he decided at the last minute to compete in the first marathon of his life. In total Zátopek won five gold and one silver medals at the Olympics. (Born 1922, died 2000).
Great is the victory, but the friendship is all the greater.
9. Jackie Joyner-Kersee (USA) - Jackie Joyner-Kersee has amassed 20 records in the heptathlon and long jump and has won three Olympic gold medals (2 silver, 1 bronze). Off the track, she is a business executive who runs her own sports-marketing firm. Her Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation sponsors programs for disadvantaged youth and has raised more than $12 million to build a safe haven for young people to come learn, play, and contribute back to their community.
The medals don’t mean anything and the glory doesn’t last. It’s all about your happiness. The rewards are going to come, but my happiness is just loving the sport and having fun performing.
10. Nadia Comaneci (ROM) - One of the world’s best known Gymnasts, Comaneci was the first gymnast to receive a perfect 10 in Olympic competition. At 14, this Romanian dynamo captured the hearts and minds of the world with her daring and perfection. More recently, as contributing editor of International Gymnast Magazine, she is still very involved in her sport. She speaks five languages and is a TV commentator at major gymnastics competitions. Nadia has spoken at the UN, is involved with the Special Olympics and Muscular Dystrophy Association. She has also personally funded the construction and operation of the Nadia Comaneci Children’s Clinic, a clinic in Bucharest that provides low-cost and free medical and social support to Romanian children. Currently she is Honorary Consul General of Romania to the United States to deal with bilateral relations between the two nations.
Hard work has made it easy. That is my secret. That is why I win.
11. Roger Bannister (GBR) - At the time, many well educated people strongly believed that it was not possible to run a mile in less than four minutes.  However, Banister’s determination and spirit resulted in him proving the doubters wrong, running 3:59.4 for the 1609 metres in 1954 . Since his success, thousands of others have followed in his footsteps. Sir Bannister doesn’t rate his famous run as his greatest achievement, instead he cites his "subsequent 40 years of practicing as neurologist and some of the new procedures he introduced as being more significant."
The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.
12. Vitaly Scherbo (RUS) - Arguably the greatest or most successful male gymnast of all time, he is the only male gymnast ever to have won a world or Olympic title in all eight events: at the 1992 Olympics , he won 6 of 8 events (team, all-around, and 4 of 6 event finals - more golds at a single Olympics than any other gymnast in Olympic history); and at various World Championships throughout his competitive years, he collectively won every event. He now runs the Vitaly Scherbo School Of Gymnastics in Las Vegas.
13. Dan Jansen (USA) - Over the course of his career, Jansen skated eight world records over 500m and 1000m, however, his mid-race falls during 1988 and 1992 Olympic races gained him notoriety for failing despite being favorite. After years of heart break, Jansen finally won an Olympic gold in his final race in 1994 in a world record time. He set up the Dan Jansen Foundation in memory of his sister, with the purpose of fighting leukemia. He is also a supporter of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation where he is a honorary board member.
I remember standing on that podium, … and for the first time probably before or since, wishing our national anthem had more verses.
14. Martina Navratilova (CZE/USA) - Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles. Navratilova is involved with various charities that benefit animal rights, underprivileged children, and gay rights. Navratilova Vs Evert video .
The mark of great sportsmen is not how good they are at their best, but how good they are their worst.
15. Chris Evert (USA) - Evert also won 18 grand slam titles including three Wimbledons, seven French Opens, two Australian Opens and six U.S. Opens. Evert’s graceful appearance, quiet demeanor, outward appearance of gracious sportsmanship, and positive public image made her a favorite with the media and fans. Evert currently operates a tennis academy bearing her name in Boca Raton, Florida where she lives with husband and golfer Greg Norman.
I was very, very shy as a younger girl, just petrified of people. Tennis helped give me an identity and made me feel like somebody.
16. Arnold Schwarzenegger (AUT/USA) - Arny’s sheer size , action-hero movie roles and great accent has seen him transcend sport. Schwarzenegger, the current Governor of California, is also among the richest in the list with as much as $200 million in assets on conservative estimates. He donates his Governor’s salary of $175,000 per year to charities.
For me life is continuously being hungry. The meaning of life is not simply to exist, to survive, but to move ahead, to go up, to achieve, to conquer.
17. John Maclean (AUS) - The first athlete in a wheelchair to swim the English channel, complete the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon and the Molokai Challenge (ocean kayaking). He also rowed at the Beijing Paralympics (Silver medal), completed a Sydney-Hobart yacht race and was in the Australian Olympic Team in 2000 where he was a finalist in the 1500m wheelchair race. Maclean puts back into sport with gusto as well, especially via his John Maclean Foundation which provides support and assistance to Australian wheelchair users under the age of 18.
From thinking there was no way I could go on, I was now thinking there was no way I could not.
18. Dara Torres (USA) - Torres won three Silver Medals in the pool at the Beijing Olympics. Unremarkable in this field, but she was 41 years old and the mother of a two-year old. In total, Torres is a nine-time Olympic medalist (four gold, four silver, four bronze), first taking gold in the 4 x 100m at the 1984 Olympics in LA. She has also won at least one medal in each of the five Olympics in which she has competed, making her one of only a handful of Olympians to earn medals in five different Games.
I feel like I have so many middle-aged women who look up to me. I want them to feel proud, and feel like they can do what they set out to do.  I would never do anything to disappoint these women.
19. Jenny Thompson (USA) - The 10-Time Olympic Swimming Medalist and has won the most medals by any U.S. female Olympic athlete. Of late, Thompson received her medical degree and now works as an anesthesiologist in Boston.
20. Annika Sorenstam (SWE) - The most dominant player in women’s golf. Throughout her career , she has established new records in the LPGA (72 wins) and Ladies European Tour, won countless awards and events, and brought unprecedented attention to women’s golf. Her achievements have changed how women’s golf is played, covered and viewed, and in her rise to mainstream athlete and celebrity, she has had a positive impact on all women’s sports. Her Annika Foundation is "dedicated to providing inspirational experiences, and educational and financial resources that will help children in need to realize their full potential".
If you think about it, the golf ball doesn’t know which country you’re in.
21. Wayne Gretsky (CAN) - Called the greatest player of all time and despite his unimpressive stature, strength, and speed, Gretzky’s intelligence and reading of the game were unrivaled. He was adept at dodging checks from opposing players, and he could consistently anticipate where the puck was going to be and execute the right move at the right time. His current activities include TV and movie appearances, endorsements, a restaurant in his own name and the Wayne Gretzky Foundation which had raised over $1 million dollars in support of youth in hockey.
A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.
22. Dean Karnazes (USA) - This ultra-fit man most recently made big news for running 50 marathons in 50 states of the US in 50 days. He used the runs to send the message to Americans to get off the couch and reclaim their health . His charity, Karno Kids, aims to improve youths’ health and wellness and preserve the environment and open spaces.
Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up.
23. Tiger Woods (USA) - Just saying his first name is enough to know who. Tiger demands respect - so far he’s won 14 majors and been the No 1 golfer the longest. His list of achievements is longer than his drive and which, in turn, has driven massive earnings. Hence, his charitable actions include the Tiger Woods Foundation (focusing on youth development), the Tiger Woods Learning Center (a school in California), and contributions through golf events and a concert which bears his name. And when all his activities tire him, there’s his sports drink, Gatorade Tiger. Listen to Earl Woods talk about Tiger.
Tiger is no longer a candidate for this list due to his indiscretions.
24.  Erik Weihenmayer (USA) - The first blind person to climb Mt Everest in 2001, Weihenmayer has since climbed the seven tallest peaks on each continent. Erik’s feats have earned him an ESPY award, recognition by Time Magazine for one of the greatest sporting achievements of 2001, an ARETE Award for the superlative athletic performance of the year, the Helen Keller Lifetime Achievement award, Nike’s Casey Martin Award, and the Freedom Foundation’s Free Spirit Award. He speaks to audiences on harnessing the power of adversity, the importance of a "rope team," and the daily struggle to pursue your dreams.
People get trapped into thinking about just one way of doing things.
25. Rocky Balboa (USA) - Ok, ok, the Sylvester Stallone character in these six movies is fictional, but Rocky’s rugged tenacity has inspired millions to fight with their heart. Who can’t remember the running up the stairs montage!
Yo Adrian!
How’d we go? Did we leave out your favorite inspirational athlete? Your comments are also welcome.

By Michael Blackburn, BAppSci (Hons), PhD (Sports Science). Michael has won two World Titles, competed in three Olympics in Sailing (winning a Bronze medal) and coached at a fourth (2008). Visit Website

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1. The Art in Sport

Asparagus Guacamole

By Nancy Schuessler

The recipe is simple, easy and delicious! The ingredients and directions are below and I hope you enjoy this dip accompanied by your favorite veggies or on some whole wheat pita! It is also a great addition for a sandwich spread or if you have leftovers you could toss it over whole wheat penne pasta to add delicious layers of flavor to your meal! If you make the recipe and eat it all and leave nothing behind, you can enjoy it with no guilt! Healthy, yummy and low calorie; my 3 favorite things! Enjoy!

Asparagus Guacamole

Ingredients

2 cups (approximately 1 lb) chopped lightly steamed asparagus

3 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 chopped red onion

1/4 cup of finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 large tomato, chopped

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1-2 cloves of crushed garlic

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt  

Red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

Directions

Combine the asparagus, lemon juice, spices and yogurt in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add red onion and cilantro and blend together. Remove from the mixer and put in a bowl to chill in the fridge. Serve cold! Enjoy!

Be a Smart Health Care Consumer

For the first time since people traded chickens for house calls, Americans are focusing on how they use and pay for their health care.

No matter what you think about health care reform – love it, hate it, couldn't care less – one thing is certain. It has brought to light the fact that health care has never worked like other businesses.

Think about buying a car. We spend weeks thinking about which car to buy. Then we do research, and go on test drives. We go online to check quality and safety measures. We ask friends and family for advice about what to buy and what to avoid. We compare prices at local dealerships and online to look for the best deals. After all of that, we buy a car.

But when our family doctor says, "You need surgery," we wait to be pointed in the right direction. We should ask:

• which hospital has the best results?
• what surgeon is the best at this procedure?
• how much of the cost will my health plan cover and how much will I pay?

Armed with information, you can review your choices and make wise decisions.

Being a smart health care consumer means looking at health care as a business. It's in your best interest to be informed about the quality and costs of what you're buying, just like any other purchase you make. Why?

Greater awareness can help you:

• find high quality care
• stay safe
• reduce your costs

If any of those sounds good to you, read on.

Original Link

Brussels Sprouts Salad

You can make this salad any way you wish. We have made this with aged cheddar cheese, Manchego, and hard goat cheese. Try pecans or pine nuts or almonds. You’ll be wanting to eat your sprouts. No kidding.

24 Brussels sprouts, washed and dried, woody ends cut off
8 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated fine
6 ounces walnuts, broken into small pieces
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
9 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 
kosher salt and cracked black pepper

Slice the Brussels sprouts thin on the slicing disc of the food processor. (If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a mandoline, carefully, or a sharp knife.)

Put the sprouts in a large bowl. Add the cheese and walnuts.

Put the apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and mustard into a small jar, along with the salt and pepper. Put on the lid and shake that jar until the vinaigrette has come together.

Dress the salad with the vinaigrette. Toss and serve.

Feeds 8.

New Year's resolutions? Brain can sabotage success

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard, Ap Medical Writer – 

WASHINGTON –

Uh-oh, the new year's just begun and already you're finding it hard to keep those resolutions to junk the junk food, get off the couch or kick smoking. There's a biological reason a lot of our bad habits are so hard to break — they get wired into our brains.
That's not an excuse to give up. Understanding how unhealthy behaviors become ingrained has scientists learning some tricks that may help good habits replace the bad.

"Why are bad habits stronger? You're fighting against the power of an immediate reward," says Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and an authority on the brain's pleasure pathway.
It's the fudge vs. broccoli choice: Chocolate's yum factor tends to beat out the knowledge that sticking with veggies brings an eventual reward of lost pounds.
"We all as creatures are hard-wired that way, to give greater value to an immediate reward as opposed to something that's delayed," Volkow says.
Just how that bit of happiness turns into a habit involves a pleasure-sensing chemical named dopamine. It conditions the brain to want that reward again and again — reinforcing the connection each time — especially when it gets the right cue from your environment.
People tend to overestimate their ability to resist temptations around them, thus undermining attempts to shed bad habits, says experimental psychologist Loran Nordgren, an assistant professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
"People have this self-control hubris, this belief they can handle more than they can," says Nordgren, who studies the tug-of-war between willpower and temptation.
In one experiment, he measured whether heavy smokers could watch a film that romanticizes the habit — called "Coffee and Cigarettes" — without taking a puff. Upping the ante, they'd be paid according to their level of temptation: Could they hold an unlit cigarette while watching? Keep the pack on the table? Or did they need to leave the pack in another room?
Smokers who'd predicted they could resist a lot of temptation tended to hold the unlit cigarette — and were more likely to light up than those who knew better than to hang onto the pack, says Nordgren. He now is beginning to study how recovering drug addicts deal with real-world temptations.
But temptation can be more insidious than how close at hand the cigarettes are.
Always snack in front of your favorite TV show? A dopamine-rich part of the brain named the striatum memorizes rituals and routines that are linked to getting a particular reward, explains NIDA's Volkow. Eventually, those environmental cues trigger the striatum to make some behaviors almost automatic.
Even scientists who recognize it can fall prey.
"I don't like popcorn. But every time I go to the cinema, I have to eat it," Volkow says. "It's fascinating."
Much of what scientists know about dopamine's role in habit formation comes from the study of alcohol and drug addiction, but it's a key player in more common habits, too, especially overeating.
In fact, for anything that links an action and a reward, "dopamine is indispensable for the formation of these habits," Volkow says.
A movement to pay people for behavior changes may exploit that connection, as some companies offer employees outright payments or insurance rebates for adopting better habits.
It's not clear yet just how well a financial incentive substitutes as a reward. In one experiment, paying smokers at General Electric up to $750 to kick the habit nearly tripled the number who did, says Dr. Kevin Volpp, who directs the Center for Health Incentives at the University of Pennsylvania.
A similar study that dangled dollars for weight loss found no difference — and environmental temptation might help explain the differing results.
It's getting hard to smoke in public but "every time you walk down the street, there's lots of sources of high-calorie, tasty, low-cost food," Volpp says.
However paying for behavior plays out, researchers say there are some steps that may help counter your brain's hold on bad habits:
_Repeat, repeat, repeat the new behavior — the same routine at the same time of day. Resolved to exercise? Doing it at the same time of the morning, rather than fitting it in haphazardly, makes the striatum recognize the habit so eventually, "if you don't do it, you feel awful," says Volkow the neuroscientist, who's also a passionate runner.
_Exercise itself raises dopamine levels, so eventually your brain will get a feel-good hit even if your muscles protest.
_Reward yourself with something you really desire, Volkow stresses. You exercised all week? Stuck to your diet? Buy a book, a great pair of jeans, or try a fancy restaurant — safer perhaps than a box of cookies because the price inhibits the quantity.
_Stress can reactivate the bad-habit circuitry. "You see people immediately eating in the airport when their flight is canceled," Volkow points out.
_And cut out the rituals linked to your bad habits. No eating in front of the TV, ever.
"What you want to be thinking about is, `What is it in my environment that is triggering this behavior?'" says Nordgren. "You have to guard yourself against it."
___
EDITOR's NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

Caribbean Seafood Stew

2 lbs of  raw seafood (I used 1 lb of wild caught shrimp and 1 lb of mahi mahi pieces, both from Trader Joe’s)
1 yellow onion, diced

5 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons cumin
1 bunch cilantro
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 can coconut milk
1 tbsp coconut oil
Sea salt and black pepper to taste.
Dice up the stems of the cilantro bunch and set aside. In a large soup pot saute the onions in the coconut oil.  When the onions start to turn brown, add the garlic and the cilantro stems and saute for another 2-3 onions.  Add the tomatoes, cumin, salt and pepper, mix well and cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Add the coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Add the seafood and cook for another 3-5 minutes or until the seafood is done.  Serve with the cilantro leaves on top as a garnish.
Enjoy!

The Incredible Flying Nonagenarian

On the third floor of the Montreal Chest Institute, at McGill University, Olga Kotelko stood before a treadmill in the center of a stuffy room that was filling up with people who had come just for her. They were there to run physical tests, or to extract blood from her earlobe, or just to observe and take notes. Kotelko removed her glasses. She wore white New Balance sneakers and black running tights, and over her silver hair, a plastic crown that held in place a breathing tube.

Enlarge This Image

Patrik Giardino for The New York Times

STRENGTH Kotelko holds the world indoor shot-put record for women 90 and over.

Olga Kotelko’s Record:16.1 ft.
High-School Record, Women’s: 54 ft.
World Record, Women’s: 74.3 ft.

Enlarge This Image

Patrik Giardino for The New York Times

AGILITY She holds two world records in javelin for women over 85.

Olga Kotelko’s Record: 41 ft
High-School Record, Women’s:176.5 ft.
World Record, Women’s: 237 ft.

Tanja Taivassalo, a 40-year-old muscle physiologist, adjusted the fit of Kotelko’s stretch-vest. It was wired with electrodes to measure changes in cardiac output — a gauge of the power of her heart. Taivassalo first met Kotelko at last year’s world outdoor masters track championships in Lahti, Finland, the pinnacle of the competitive season for older tracksters. Taivassalo went to watch her dad compete in the marathon. But she could hardly fail to notice the 91-year-old Canadian, bespandexed and elfin, who was knocking off world record after world record.

Masters competitions usually begin at 35 years, and include many in their 60s, 70s and 80s (and a few, like Kotelko, in their 90s, and one or two over 100). Of the thousands who descended on Lahti, hundreds were older than 75. And the one getting all the attention was Kotelko. She is considered one of the world’s greatest athletes, holding 23 world records, 17 in her current age category, 90 to 95.

“We have in masters track ‘hard’ records and ‘soft’ records,” says Ken Stone, editor of masterstrack.com — the main news source of the growing masters athletic circuit. “Soft records are like low-hanging fruit,” where there are so few competitors, you’re immortalized just for showing up. But Stone doesn’t consider Kotelko’s records soft, because her performances are remarkable in their own right. At last fall’s Lahti championship, Kotelko threw a javelin more than 20 feet farther than her nearest age-group rival. At the World Masters Games in Sydney, Kotelko’s time in the 100 meters — 23.95 seconds — was faster than that of some finalists in the 80-to-84-year category, two brackets down. World Masters Athletics, the governing body of masters track, uses “age-graded” tables developed by statisticians to create a kind of standard score, expressed as a percentage, for any athletic feat. The world record for any given event would theoretically be assigned 100 percent. But a number of Kotelko’s marks — in shot put, high jump, 100-meter dash — top 100 percent. (Because there are so few competitors over 90, age-graded scores are still guesswork.)

In Lahti, watching Kotelko run fast enough that the wind blew her hair back a bit, Taivassalo was awed on a personal level (she’s a runner) and tantalized on a professional one. She hoped to start a database of athletes over 85, testing various physiological parameters.

Scientifically, this is mostly virgin ground. The cohort of people 85 and older — the fastest-growing segment of the population, as it happens — is increasingly being studied for longevity clues. But so far the focus has mostly been on their lives: the foods they eat, the air they breathe, the social networks they maintain and, in a few recently published studies, their genomes. Data on the long-term effects of exercise is only just starting to trickle in, as the children of the fitness revolution of the ’70s grow old.

Though the world of masters track offers a compelling research pool, Taivassalo may seem like an unlikely scientist to be involved. Her area of expertise is mitochondrial research; she examines what happens to the body when mitochondria, the cell’s power plants, are faulty. Her subjects are typically young people who come into the lab with neuromuscular disorders that are only going to get worse. (Because muscle cells require so much energy, they’re hit hard when mitochondria go down.) Some researchers now see aging itself as a kind of mitochondrial disease. Defective mitochondria appear as we get older, and these researchers say that they rob us of endurance, strength and function. There’s evidence that for young patients with mitochondrial disease, exercise is a potent tool, slowing the symptoms. If that’s true, then exercise could also potentially be a kind of elixir of youth, combating the ravages of aging far more than we thought.

Continuing reading

Wondering what to wear?

Here's a great tool to use when you're not quite sure what you should be wearing for a workout.  It asks you about the temp, weather conditions and your preference-cool, in-between, or warm.

Runner's World-What to Wear

Falafel with Avocado Spread

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 stuffed pita half)

Ingredients

• Patties:
• 1  (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/4  cup  finely crushed baked tortilla chips (about 3/4 ounce)
• 2  tablespoons  finely chopped green onions
• 1  tablespoon  finely chopped cilantro
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1  large egg white
• 1 1/2  teaspoons  canola oil
• Spread:
• 1/4  cup  mashed peeled avocado
• 2  tablespoons  finely chopped tomato
• 1  tablespoon  finely chopped red onion
• 2  tablespoons  fat-free sour cream
• 1  teaspoon  fresh lime juice
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• Remaining ingredients:
• 2  (6-inch) pitas, each cut in half crosswise
• 4  thin red onion slices, separated into rings
• Microgreens

Preparation

To prepare patties, place pinto beans in a medium bowl; partially mash with a fork. Add cheese and next 5 ingredients (through egg white); stir until well combined. Shape bean mixture into 4 (1/2-inch-thick) oval patties.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until patties are browned and thoroughly heated.

To prepare spread, combine avocado and next 5 ingredients (through salt), stirring well. Place 1 patty in each pita half. Spread about 2 tablespoons avocado spread over patty in each pita half; top with onions and greens.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

281 (30% from fat)

Fat:

9.5g (sat 3.4g,mono 3.9g,poly 1.5g)

Protein:

12.2g

Carbohydrate:

37.4g

Fiber:

5.9g

Cholesterol:

13mg

Iron:

2.4mg

Sodium:

625mg

Calcium:

188mg