Revisiting A Parent's Perspective - Part 4: Eat a Lot – A Lot of What?

Red Hook, NY - We are competing in a curious time.  It seems as if the higher echelons of our sport are competing against the traditional paths.  While one of our harriers going pro is still the outlier, our top female harrier this year is coming off of homeschooling through her middle school years.  In addition, our top male harrier has been competing for the club team Rolling Thunder since he was eight years old.  And finally, the state's next rising talent, has been running CYO meets for years, coached by her father.

So does this mean that High School coaching is dead?  Not even close.  But it does raise some questions.  Questions that have been raised before, when another Home Schooled athlete was the talk of the town.  In 2005, Josh McDougal captured just about all the long distance state records, culminating with a 8:48.11 for the 3200y, and a 14:07.55 for an on-track 5000m run.  Now almost ten years later, the questions come back.

In 2005, one parent set out to answer those questions, submitting to TullyRunners an article entitled, "Josh McDougal is a Perfect Example of What is Wrong With High School Track."  The parent's name was John Raucci, a father with two son's running for Red Hook High School.  Over the next season, we will be re-releasing his original articles, which almost a decade later, prove fascinating.  You can note, that some of the ideas are a bit dated, but some of the things are spot on, before they came to be the accepted standard.  I hope you enjoy the article as much as we have.

 

Josh McDougal is a Perfect Example of What is Wrong With High School Track

by John Raucci



I was at the Albany First Night Run where my two sons Joe and Dave ran. After the race, two Bethlehem High cross country and track graduates, Pat Shaffer and Evan Savage, came up to me and started conversing. Both were injured and unable to run in their freshman year of college throughout Cross Country and now into their Indoor Track seasons. Pat, at that time, told me something that went through me like a knife. He said, "Josh McDougal is the perfect example of what is wrong with High School Track". I assumed he meant that, the High School system by which we train and compete, is flawed and ends up in the destruction of many kids' careers - especially the more elite runners. I train the kids at Red Hook and some from Rhinebeck in the off-season, and I have been doing so for the past 5 years, and I knew that Pat was correct. Now, Josh is beating people who were ahead of him two and three years ago by 2+ minutes. Recently, he defeated Alan Webb and came within seconds of Tim Broe in a nationally acclaimed 4K race. He has been relatively injury free although not entirely, but far better than the non-home-schooled kids. He seems to improve gracefully whereas many others seem to grapple with injury and/or settle for small performance gains. That at least appears to be the trend.

I decided that night that I must write this article as an offering to all runners, coaches, and parents of runners in New York. The purpose of this article is to make us conscious of issues that are at the moment a blip on the screen - those issues that I believe lay behind Pat's statement. This article is not written in conjunction with anyone else including Josh, nor is it endorsed by anyone at the moment. It is simply a compilation of my own thoughts, experience, and research over the past five years. Long distance runners are of a special breed. They work hard, and receive little recognition.

I live an hour south of Albany. On the three local news stations, there are consistent and daily videotape highlights of football and basketball. It took the Saratoga girls to win a National Cross Country Championship to squeeze out 10 seconds on the Nightly News - the only 10 seconds devoted to running that I saw all Fall. How much work did it take to win that championship? How many hours day and night, winter and summer, did those girls train on those lonely upstate roads? I bet one could not count the investment, the dedication. If such athletes cannot be given recognition at least in relation to their effort, I believe they should be given good information, the kind of information that will help them reach their potential. It is in that spirit that I write this article.

As I see it, there are five problems with the way we train our runners, not only in New York, but also throughout the nation. None of the five are easy to correct because running, like so much else, is encumbered by cultural standards that not only impede progress, but also lead us to sickness and injury. The five problems thrive because of our culture. In any case, bringing the five to light is a first step to health and realization of potential. The five are as follows: the problem of running shoes, the problem of breathing, the problem of anaerobic activity, the problem of nutrition, and the problem of mind/body integration.


Part 1: If the Shoe Fits - Beware of It

Part 2: Hold Your Breath

Part 3: Breakdown or Breakthrough

Part 4: Eat a Lot – A Lot of What?

 

A number of years ago, I stood at the Saratoga Section Course where my sons were running in the Junior Olympics. Josh McDougal's father came up to me and declared that his sons had all switched to vegetarian diets. He stated that since they made the transition, their energy levels shot through the roof. I have no doubt that Josh's diet plays a large role in his success. I also believe that it is not just what Josh is eating, but also what he is avoiding that can be so very beneficial--that is processed food.

A number of months ago, ABC news medical consultant Dr. Tim Johnson did a segment on nutrition. The topic was the changing food pyramid whereby the U.S. government prescribes a certain diet and then for some ungodly reason prescribes the very opposite of what it has painstakingly backed for years and years. Dr. Tim Johnson explained such changes by pointing out that the U.S. government is a victim of economic forces, which, through lobbyists, sway the government to promote one food over another simply for the purpose of financial gain. In fact, I believe such motivation is behind the bulk of information we get about nutrition. According to Dr. Johnson, in consideration of the circumstances whereby so many selfish interests are in control of so much information, he suggests that everyone must research about nutrition on their own and come to their own conclusions. This is a sad commentary, but nevertheless accurate and courageous advice as Dr. Johnson's own employers, and ABC, are no doubt linked to many selfish interests within the realm of advertising. So, let's take his advise, and invest by researching on out own.

Runners need to eat a lot to replenish energy. They need fuel. But what is best to eat? I am not a nutritionist, but for the purposes of this article, I want to share two general points that I have researched for myself and feel have brought benefit to my running family. First of all, whatever we do, we should always seek balance, and balance is best served when we eat a variety of foods that are found within nature. Secondly, runners must always pay attention to what is affecting them at the cellular level. That is from whence energy arises, aerobic pathways come into play, and also where the repair of muscle tissue takes place.

Chemicals, and preservatives are not found naturally in foods, but because they are so foreign, the liver often has some means of identifying them and eliminating them (of course, we don't want to overwork the liver). Trans fats are man-made fats, but unlike chemicals and preservatives, they mimic actual fats and make it virtually impossible for the body to recognize and eliminate them. They compromise cellular functions, make it quite difficult for respiration to occur on the cellular level, and stress the body enormously in an overall way. Avoid them!

On the other hand, saturated, polyunsaturated, and monounsaturated fats are found in nature and should all be taken in balance. This is contrary to so much that we have been told until recently. Saturated fats should not be avoided as we were led to believe. The body itself is composed mostly of saturated fats. To eliminate them or reduce their intake too much can cause health problems. Coconut oil is an excellent source of saturated fats, and promotes cellular respiration. Most importantly, it delays the onset of lactic acid production. Some consider it the healthiest oil in the world. My family has been taking coconut oil for a number of years now with good results in terms of health and running benefits. Olive oil is a good source of monounsaturated fats, and salmon or sardines provide a good source of polyunsaturated fats.

Fats are important for energy and proper cellular function, and the right combination can do wonders for athletes. Again, because of selfish interests, the reality of the benefits of good fats has been manipulated due to the market place, and diets are often lacking in an overall balance because of such misinformation. This creates problems for runners. Salt is everywhere in the American food supply as well as sugar. Again, this creates imbalance. We should look at food contents and avoid too much salt or sugar. In the case of my family, we eat a lot of bananas. They contain potassium, and this helps to balance the overabundance of salt (sodium) in the food supply. We do not need to avoid carbohydrates at all. They are found in nature, and we need them for balance.

Meats and poultry would be no problem if they were raised naturally. However, American livestock are often mis-fed for purposes related to the market. Native Americans thrived on Buffalo meat without getting heart attacks and strokes. But in our time, eating mis-fed meat and poultry can put our own bodies in a state of dysfunction and imbalance. Considering what's out there, one does not need to be a scientist to sense that Josh and Jordan are on the right track in terms of their diets.

Doctor Buyteko noticed that processed foods stimulated breathing; the kind of fast breathing that disturbs the balance between oxygen and carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, we can go a long time by eating improperly, just like breathing improperly before we sense that anything is wrong. But it will catch up with us, and when it does, we may have to pay a hefty price.