Spring Weather is here! Hope you have all been enjoying some runs outdoors! For those of you who ran the Comox Half Marathon this weekend, hope you had a great race! Have a wonderful Easter weekend with your friends and families! :)

If you would like to submit a newsletter item or article, please email me at mdpeake@hotmail.com.
Melanie Peake
ORCA Newsletter Editor

Oceanside 10k Race

ORCA's "Third Annual Oceanside 10km race" is fast approaching - May 1st is the big day. If you are participating in the race perhaps one of your family members or one of your friends could offer their time in helping us out. Please let Alana know if someone in your family can volunteer by March 31st at alanaleung@shaw.ca

Qualicum Beach/Qualicum Bay Runners:

For Team Orca runners who live in Qualicum Beach/Bay, this group run in Courtenay may be an option.
Extreme Runners Wed. Night Run Club  *NEW*

Group runs from Extreme Runners on Wednesday's at 5:30. There is a $2 drop in fee with workouts planned for all levels (run/walk, intermediate and advanced). Come out and join the fun, the more the merrier!
  FMI call Extreme Runners @ 703-9544. - Lene

 

Track and Field Team

Were you a Track and Fielder in high school? If you have some knowledge about any of the sporting events, please help our Oceanside Track and Field Club this spring season (starts March 29th). The club meets on Tuesday and Thursday nights (9-16 year old kids) from 6:00pm-7:30pm. Please contact Kim for more details at rjl@island.net.

Island Relays

Join our ORCA teams this year for the following Island races (all abilities welcome):
- Snow to Surf, Sunday April 24 Mt Washington to Comox - Alpine Ski, Nordic Ski, Run (2), Mtn Bike, Kayak, Road Bike, Canoe (double) for a 9 member team (Yes, this event will take place snow or no).
- Island Relay, Saturday May 21 long weekend Courtenay to Nanaimo - 10 member run team
- Edge to Edge Marathon Relay, Sunday June 12 Ucuelet to Tofino - 5 member run team

If you are interested in participating, please contact either Brian Laslo 248-6033 GSX-R600@shaw.ca or Rhys Harrison 468-5466 rhysharrison@shaw.ca

After 5 Program

Our ORCA member, Tanja Grad, is starting a new program at Oceanside Physiotherapy where she works. After 5 is 'light-hearted fitness adventures for the hard at work (and for those hardly working)'. It is a twice a week event (Tues/ Thurs from 5:30-6:30pm). The purpose of 'after 5' is to provide the working person an opportunity to get motivated, get fit, and have fun. If you know of anyone who has been contemplating the active lifestyle, please let them know about this opportunity. Tanja's goal is make fitness fun, social, and interesting with new challenges and ever-changing workouts. For more info, please email Tanja at tanjaroo@yahoo.ca.

ORCA Membership Fees

Thanks to those of you who submitted your 2005 Membership fee this year. :) If you still need to renew, or for any new members, Kim Longmuir and Rhys Harrison will have forms available at all the runs. Cost is $10 for single membership or $15 for Family Membership.

UPCOMING RACES:

Sun Mar 20, 11am: Comox Valley Half Marathon, Florence Filberg Centre Courtenay. For more info, please contact Jim Smiley at 338-2402. Website: http://vira.bc.ca/

Sat Mar 26, 9am : Mind Over Mountain Adventure Race #1, Duncan Maple Bay, BC. 10km Trail Run, 8km Kayak, 17km Mountain Bike & infamous after-party. Solo or teams of 2 or 4. For more info, please contact Bryan Tasaka at 250-715-8933. Website: www.mindovermountain.com

Sun Apr 3, 11am: Sooke River 10k. Edward Milne School, Sooke. Contact: sooke@vira.bc.ca.

Sun Apr 17, 11am: Merville 10k. Merville, BC. Contact: Colin Buss at (250) 923-9171.

Sun Apr 17, 11am: Vancouver Sun Run at Burrard & Thurlow, Vancouve. Phone: (604) 689-9441. More info: www.canada.com/vancouver/specials/sunrun/index.htm

Mon Apr 18: Boston Marathon. Boston, Massachusetts. Contact: (508) 435-6905.

Sun Apr 24, 8am: Times Colonist 10k, Victoria, BC. Contact: Sheri Donovan at 250-744-5523 or Email: sdonovan@pacificsport.com. More info : www.timescolonist10k.com

Sun May 1, 11am: Oceanside 10k, Parksville. Email: oceanside@vira.bc.ca. More info: vira.bc.ca

Sun May 1, 7:30am: Vancouver International Marathon,Vancouver. Email: info@vanmarathon.bc.ca. More info: www.adidasvanmarathon.ca/

Saturday May 21: Vancouver Island Relay - from Courtenay to Nanaimo (Saturday of the Victoria Day weekend). Team ORCA is putting together another team! Please email Brian if you would like to join (all skill levels welcome). Brian: gsx-r600@shaw.ca. More info: www.vancouverislandrelay.com.

Sun Jun 26, 8am: Qualicum Beach Triathlon, Ravensong Aquatic Centre, Qualicum Beach. Email: qbtri@nanaimo.ark.com. More info: nanaimo.ark.com/~qbtri/

For a full list of Upcoming Races, please visit: Team West Coast

We Are Born To Run

By Don Heppner

Most runners know this intuitively, we are born to run. It is in our bones, muscles, blood and biology. I also believe it is in our psychology. It is something we need to do.

A recent article in the prestigious science journal Nature seems to corroborate these ideas. Two Harvard anthropologists, Dennis Bramble and Daniel Lieberman, (Nature Vol 432, November 2004) published their research regarding our evolved ability to run. They present sound evidence that in addition to bipedal striding, i.e. walking, we have actually evolved to run and that it is an innate component of our physiology. “The fossil evidence… …suggests that endurance running is a derived capability of the genus Homo, originating about 2 million years ago, and may have been instrumental in the evolution of the human body form.” So you can tell your friends and family members, who view your running as abnormal, or abhorrent even, that they’re wrong. It’s natural and we’re built for it.

Bramble and Lieberman, who are both runners, explain how a substantial number of body parts and functions are adapted to facilitate running, the sum of which seems to indicate a body “engineered” to run. Many of the spring-like tendons in our legs seem overbuilt for simply walking. The longitudinal arch of the foot absorbs forces and acts as a spring. The joints of our legs and hips have expanded surfaces on the joint contacts to absorb shock forces that again seem overbuilt for walking. We have a good thermoregulatory system that allows us to run for long periods with out overheating, e.g. sweating, mouth breathing, lack of body hair and a cranial cooling system (venous blood cooled by face and scalp sweating cools the arterial blood in the carotid artery before it reaches the brain). Independent shoulder movement (unlike that in our flat-footed, hairy primate ancestors) also allows us to counter-balance the forces exerted by leg movement when running.

In addition, our relatively high percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibre, which the authors speculate may have originated from a novel mutation of the ACTN3 gene, contributes to our ability to run long distances. I have always thought that good marathoners are mutants.

Why did we develop this ability? The authors suggest that we needed it to escape predators on the African savannahs, to compete for food scavenged from other predators and also for hunting. They also note that brain development increased following the appearance of early versions of Homo (our genus). They speculate that endurance running provided a richer diet of fats and protein that enabled our unique human combination of large bodies, small guts, big brains and small teeth. *************************************************************

Article: Striking a Balance

Striking the Balance between Running and Health
By Dr. Dale Macdonald
Submitted by Dr. Larry Smith

As with all athletic endeavors, running comes with both great reward and inherent risk. More than 60% of runners will suffer an injury that causes them to take time off running - each year! Fortunately, by improving your balance, you can reduce your likelihood of injury. Balance is of such critical importance in activities like running that researcher's have concluded "balance is the single most important component of athletic ability because of its implicit involvement in nearly all forms of movement"¹.

Virtually all running injuries occur in the lower limb, with the majority of those targeting the feet, ankles, shins and knees. The preventative use of balance training tools such as Wobble Boards, Bongo Boards, SRF Boards and Combobble Boards has been shown to greatly reduce your likelihood of injury.

Balance is defined as a condition during which the body's center of gravity is maintained within its base of support. Balance is a function of joint stability, and joint stability is influenced by the strength and proprioceptive abilities of the muscles, tendons, ligaments and joint capsule surrounding the joint. Your sense of balance is derived from three sources: your eyes, inner ear and "proprioceptors". Proprioceptors are tiny sensors that are found in each joint and muscle in your body. These proprioceptors sense the position of your joint relative to the rest of your body³. Found in high concentrations around each joint of your body, they are also packed very densely in the muscles, tendons and ligaments in the ankle and upper neck. While your eyes, inner ear and proprioceptors are of equal importance when you're standing still, dynamic activities such as running place disproportionately huge demands on your proprioceptors.

The good news is that we can improve our balance at any stage in life, young or old, injured or not, by the liberal use of Wobble Boards. Feed forward loops (as opposed to feedback loops) are the learned mechanisms that allow for the improvement in your balance with practice. Daily use of a Wobble Board for 6 weeks will greatly improve the anticipatory abilities of your proprioceptors, allowing your balance to improve by accurately anticipating any changes in your base of support.

Both neutral control and muscle strength are important components of joint stability. The stronger a muscle is, the better able it is to protect a joint from injury. The use of Wobble Boards is an incredibly effective was to strengthen the muscles of the foot, ankle, lower limb and core while stimulating the proprioceptors in these regions. With an increase in strength and improvement in balance, you run more efficiently and more safely. A great example of this is the decreased incidence of "shin splints" and stress fractures by judicious use of Wobble Boards. In addition, a recent study showed that increasing your quadriceps strength (i.e. through the use of such aids as a BOSU ball, Bongo Board or SRF board) by merely 3% was associated with 1.2, 2.4 and 3.4% greater static balance, dynamic balance and quality of life, respectively².

The most common and avoidable running injury is the ankle sprain. Ankle sprains cause mechanical damage to various structures of the ankle. Acute sprains also result in an important deficit in proprioceptive (balance) abilities. Prompt rehabilitation of an ankle sprain by daily use of a Wobble Board is vital to retrain the balance and position sensors that get injured when we sprain an ankle¹.

Balance training will also help to strengthen your core musculature, which is of particular importance to runners. The impact forces associated with running are enormous. Your feet, ankles, knees and hips all help to absorb these impact forces, but your lower back still absorbs literally tons of force during a run. Research has conclusively shown that a stronger core leads to less back pain. More recent research has taken this one step further and shown that low back pain impairs your sense of balance (remember that joints are full of proprioceptors, and a sore joint won’t sense it’s position as well as a healthy one). So an interesting little link is established; running can make your back sore, but balance training can strengthen your core, improve your balance and reduce back pain!

All these benefits – just from working on your balance a little bit each day!

About the Author:
Dr. Dale Macdonald is a Chiropractor, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Resident with the College of Chiropractic Sport Sciences (Canada). He is the director of Elite Sport Performance, and can be reached at: drmacdonald@elitesportperformance.com

References: ____________________________________________________________________ 1. Blackburn, T., Guskiewicz, K. et al. Balance and Joint Stability: The Relative Contributions of Proprioception and Muscular Strength. Journal of Sport Rehabilitation. 9(4): pp. 315 – 329, 2000. 2. Carter, N., Khan, K. et al. Knee Extension Strength is a Significant Determinant of Static and Dynamic Balance as Well as Quality of Life. Gerontology. 48; pp. 360 – 369, 2002. 3. Greenspan, S.L., Myers, E.R. et al. Fall Direction, Bone Mineral Density, and Function: Risk Factors for Hip Fracture in Ambulatory Elderly. American Journal of Medicine: 104; pp. 539 – 545, 1998. 4. Gribble, P. The Star Excursion Balance Test as a Measurement Tool. Research Digest. The Pennsylvania State University. March, 2003, pp. 45 – 47. 5. Gunter, K., De Costa, J. et al. Balance Self Efficacy Predicts Risk Factors for Side Falls and Frequent Falls in Community-Dwelling Elderly. Journal of Aging and Physical Activity. 11; pp. 28 – 39, 2003. 6. Guskiewicz, K., Perrin, D. Research and Clinical Applications of Assessing Balance. J Spt Rehabil 5; pp. 45-63, 1996. 7. Newcomer, K.L., Laskowski, E.R. et al. Differences in Repositioning Error Among Patients with Low Back Pain Compared with Control Subjects. SPINE. 25(19); pp. 2488 – 2493, 2000. 8. Runner’s World. 38(5); pp. 22 – 23, 2003. 9. Verhagen, E., van Mechelen, W. et al. The Effect of Preventive Measures on the Incidence of Ankle Sprains. Critical Review. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. 10; pp. 291 – 296, 2000.

Welcome New Members

- Anette Thingsted
- Jodi Ikert
- Miranda Pymble
- Donna Sims
- Rick Macdonald

Thank you to Mike Bourcier for putting on an excellent CPR course for ORCA members on March 12th. Stay tuned for further first aid courses.

MAT PILATES WORKSHOP

Don't miss this chance to be a part of this awesome core workout!

Instructor: Donna Doucett
Date: Thursday April 7, 2005
Run: 6-7pm from Shelley Center (optional)
Workshop start time: 7:30pm
Cost: $10 ORCA members, $15 Non-members.
Snacks and beverages provided.
* Please bring a yoga mat if you have one.

Stay tuned for emails with more details...

President and Treasurer: Brenda Light

Past-President: Rhys Harrison

Membership Director: Kim Longmuir

Secretary: Donna Golding

Communications: Melanie Peake

Events: Brian Laslo


ORCA meetings are held every 2 months. If anyone from the club would like to join us, please do so! Goodies are always provided!
Location: Kim's home at 629 Banks Ave, Parksville

Next ORCA Meeting: Monday May 30, 2005