And he can still run a 2:46! Unbelievable!

I defer to Emily's comment, "Sheryl Crowe must be like wtf."

Ashley's Tour de Lance

http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=677&sid=1285249
November 2, 2007 - 4:10pm

Lance Armstrong may have a special fan cheering him on when he runs the the New York City Marathon with 37,000 others -- including Katie Holmes -- this weekend.

The seven-time Tour de France champ was spotted canoodling with Ashley Olsen (no joke) at the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel Monday night.

Their 15-year age difference didn't seem to faze the couple. Lance Armstrong may have a special fan cheering him on when he runs the the New York City Marathon with 37,000 others -- including Katie Holmes -- this weekend.

The seven-time Tour de France champ was spotted canoodling with Ashley Olsen (no joke) at the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel Monday night.

Their 15-year age difference didn't seem to faze the couple.

Dude set the treadmill record at my running store...

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/7392368?gt1=10637

Everyone has to have a hero

US scientists engineer 'mighty mice'

Nov 1 04:34 PM US/Eastern

US researchers have engineered a line of "mighty mice" whose human equivalent would have similar abilities to the bicycling champion Lance Armstrong, according to research published Thursday.

The breed of mice can run six kilometers (four miles) at a speed of 20 meters (yards) per minute for up to six hours without stopping, according to Richard Hanson, a biochemistry professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

"They are metabolically similar to Lance Armstrong biking up the Pyrenees; they utilize mainly fatty acids for energy and produce very little lactic acid," said Hanson, the senior author of the article which was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

The genetically engineered mice can eat 60 percent more than wild mice in a control group but remain slim and fit. The "mighty mice" live longer, and some females were able to reproduce much later in life than other mice.

The researchers said some "have had offspring at 2.5 years of age, an amazing feat considering most mice do not reproduce after they are one year old."

Hanson said the strength of the mice was made possible by the fact that they produce very little lactic acid, which forms during intense exercise.

Scientists bred 500 of the mice, which also showed more aggression than other mice, over the past five years as part of a project aimed at unlocking the metabolic and physiological function of PEPCK-C in muscles and tissues.

The key to their unusual traits is the over-expression of the gene that influence production of the enzyme PEPCK-C (phosphoenolypyruvate carboxykinases), said Hanson.

The transgenic mice are descended from six "founder lines" that "contain a chimeric gene in which a copy of the cDNA for PEPCK-C was linked to the skeletal actin gene promoter," the research said.

The resulting mice showed different levels of PEPCK-C in their muscles, but one particularly active group had levels of PEPCK-C activity of nine units per gram of skeletal muscle, compared to just 0.08 units per gram in the muscles of control mice.

"From a very early age, the PEPCK-Cmus mice ran continuously in their cages," said Parvin Hakimi, a researcher in the Hanson lab.

The "mighty mice" primarily relied on "fatty acids as a source of energy during exercise, while the control animals rapidly switched from fatty acid metabolism to using muscle glycogen (carbohydrates) as a fuel; this dramatically raised the blood lactate levels," the research said.
The PEPCK-C enzyme was first discovered at the medical school of Case Western Reserve University in 1955, the study authors said.

Copyright AFP 2007, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium

I told you so...

Drinking beer is better than water after workout: Study
London Friday, Nov 2 2007 IST

Sports enthusiasts now have a healthy reason for heading to a pub for a postmatch pint. According to a research, a glass of beer is far better at rehydrating the body than water after exercise.

The sugar, salt and bubbles in a pint may help people absorb fluids more quickly, the study claims.

The study was conducted on 25 students of Granada University by Professor Manuel Garzon.
They were asked to run on a treadmill under stifling temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius until they were close to exhaustion. Their hydration levels, concentrationability and motor skills were later measured by the researchers. While half were given two half pints of Spanish lager to drink, the rest were provided water. Both groups were then allowed to drink as much water as they wanted. Professor Garzon said the rehydration effect in the students who were given beer was slightly better than those given water.

The carbon dioxide in the drink helped quench the thirst quickly, while beer's carbohydrates replaced calories lost during physical exertion, Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

Based on the studies, the researchers recommended moderate consumption of beer - 500ml a day for men or 250ml for women - as part of an athlete's diet. Beer contains malted barley, hops and yeast, which are rich sources of vitamins and minerals. About a litre of water is lost for every hour of exercise in sweat. People who fail to rehydrate after exercise are more likely to feel tired, fuzzyheaded and suffer headaches. Past studies had shown that sensible drinking of one or two units a day can reduce the risk of heart disease, dementia, diabetes and Parkinson's disease.