The Game Plan
A publication of the National Senior Games Association - November 2010
Below you'll find the full content from the newsletter, or click a link below to go straight to the story :
- Register now for the 2011 Summer National Senior Games
- Have a great Thanksgiving!
- Athlete of the Month
- Cartilage Care, Part 5
- How to get back into running
- Anthony Travel Information
- NSGA Briefs
- Calendar of upcoming State Senior Games
Register now for the 2011 Summer National Senior Games!
Registration packets for the 2011 Summer National Senior Games presented by Humana have now been mailed to qualified athletes in the 30 member games that have submitted all of their results. In addition to the Veterans Games, these 29 games have submitted their results. Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
The registration deadline is Feb. 15, 2011. Late registrations will be accepted through Mar. 31, 2011. Late fees are $50 for individuals and $200 for teams. Go online at www.nsga.com and register today!
The NSGA wishes you and yours a happy holiday!
We at the National Senior Games Association hope for a safe and Happy Thanksgiving for you, your family and friends. This quote from W.T. Purkiser expresses our thoughts about this holiday: "Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving."
Athlete of the Month: Alison Suckling
Alison Suckling of Arnold, Md., raced in four events in the Maryland Senior Olympics this year. The 55-year-old won all four. In fact, Suckling set Maryland Senior Olympics age-group records in all four: the 400 meters, the 800 meters, the 1,500 meters and the 10k. “The records she broke had been on our books a combined total of 77 years,” Dennis Tuttle of the Maryland Senior Olympics said. “For a program as old as MSO, that's one of the most astounding things I've seen in amateur sports.”
Cartilage Care, Part 5
By Vonda Wright, M.D.
Cartilage care is getting more and more high tech, and armies of scientists and clinicians are working to solve the dilemma of worn out knees. A sophisticated way to get the body to work for itself is called ACI or Autogenous Cartilage Implantation. This procedure does not use whole plugs of tissue, like the OATS procedure we spoke of in “Cartilage Care, Part 4” last month, but instead uses your own cells to grow new cartilage.
ACI is used for cartilage holes measuring 2 to 10 square centimeters and for people aged 15 to 55. ACI requires two surgeries. In the first surgery, the doctor arthroscopically harvests small amounts of your healthy cartilage and evaluates whether the hole in your cartilage is a good candidate for ACI. The harvested cartilage is sent to a commercial lab where the cartilage cells, chondrocytes, are isolated and grown in flasks. When the cells have multiplied enough, they are preserved for you until the time of your second surgery.
During your second surgery, the doctor will open your knee up with a small incision and prepare the cartilage hole to be filled with your own cartilage cells. They do this by using an instrument to remove cartilage debris until the sides of the hole in your cartilage are straight up and down like a canyon. They then use a piece of tissue from your body to cover the hole like a lid. They sew the "lid" in place with tiny sutures. This portion of the procedure is very tedious and involves microsuturing techniques. The suturing technique is analogous to sewing tissue paper to a hard-boiled egg. It is important to make sure that the sutures are placed correctly on the first attempt, because holes in the periosteum lid or cartilage could result in leakage of some of the cells out from under the graft. The edges of the lid are sealed and your own cartilage cells are slowly injected under the lid into the canyon prepared in your cartilage.
These cells will then set up housekeeping and recreate healthy cartilage over time. The outcomes of ACI are variable. Some people get excellent results, while others don't. There seems to be a decrease in the outcome of this procedure with time -- meaning that in the first few years it does well and then the function declines.
As with the other cartilage "re-growth" procedures, ACI requires a long rehab course.
Vonda Wright is an orthopaedic surgeon, author of Fitness After 40: How to Stay Strong at Any Age, and director of the Performance and Research Initiative for Masters Athletes at the UPMC Center for Sports Medicine.
How to get back into running
By Lisa Menninger
People oftentimes don't know how to get started with a jogging program. How much is enough, but not too much? The very first thing anyone should do when starting any exercise program is to see a doctor. Let your doctor evaluate your health and give you the green light before you do anything.
Once your doctor gives you the go ahead, make sure you have good running shoes. Go to a store that specializes in running shoes. Stores like these will analyze your running gait and put you in the right shoes for your body.
When you start, start slow. Walk for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then start to jog at a nice easy pace. One of the biggest mistakes new runners make is to take off at too hard an effort. You will go quickly into oxygen debt and have to stop. If you feel it is doable, run for 10 or 15 minutes at that easier pace. As the body warms up, your pace will automatically adjust, and you will settle into something that feels right. Once you have run for the allotted amount of minutes, go back to a walk. If you are running 10 minutes, walk for about five before you start to run again. If you have been a runner before and having experience with the activity, you will find it comes back fairly quickly.
Don't be discouraged if it's challenging. The first minutes are almost always the ones that feel the worst. If you run for five minutes and really need to stop, then go back to a walk. Walk for two to four minutes and start jogging again.
Do this walk/run combo for the duration of your workout. Usually, 30 to 40 minutes is a good place to start for the total time of the workout, using the last 10 minutes to cool down, going back to the walk.
Then over the next days and weeks, as you grow stronger and more proficient, you can extend the number of minutes you are running and shorten the walk breaks, until you have eliminated them entirely. Once you can run for 30 minutes straight, you can begin to gently increase the number of minutes you run. But add those minutes gradually; generally about three to five minutes at a time. If you add minutes two to three days consecutively, you'll need to go back to your original time for a run or two to let your body assimilate.
Don't try to run every day right off the bat. You need to let the muscles and tendons get stronger with the work and not overload them. So if your goal is to work out every day, then do your run or walk/run every other day, and walk -- just walk -- on the days between. Walking is something you can always do without too much concern of overdoing it.
Here's a sample schedule of how your workout schedule might look in your first month if your goal is to workout five to six days a week:
Monday: Walk/run for 30 minutes.
Tuesday: Walk for 30 to 40 minutes.
Wednesday: Walk/run for 30 minutes.
Thursday: Walk for 30 to 45 minutes.
Friday: Walk/run for 30 to 40 minutes, increasing the number of running minutes.
Saturday: Off.
Sunday: Run/walk 40 minutes with longer running segments.
Again, you continue to add running minutes until you can run without the walk breaks over the course of the month. After four to six weeks of building up, you can begin to run on consecutive days. You can string two to three days of running together, and then take a day off or walk on that day to give the legs a break. And then repeat that cycle.
Lisa Menninger is a personal trainer for triathletes, runners, and cyclists. She has competed at an elite level in running, cycling and multisport. You can contact Lisa via her website at www.lisamenninger.com.
Anthony Travel Info
Anthony Travel is a one-stop resource for athletes and guests for the 2011 Summer National Senior Games
Anthony Travel is the most convenient and knowledgeable resource for making your travel plans for the National Games in Houston next year. Athletes and guests who make reservations through Anthony Travel receive these benefits and more:
• Exclusive discounted rates at Official 2011 Summer National Senior Games Hotels
• New this year! A daily complimentary breakfast is available at all of the Official Hotels
To make your reservations or for more information, please visit AnthonyTravel.com (search Senior Games) or call (800) 736-6377.
NSGA Briefs
Here’s the latest from the National Senior Games Association.
Here’s the latest from the National Senior Games Association. The cycling time trial dates have been moved, and the time trial course has been revised for additional safety. The venue has been changed for track and field, race walk and power walk. The NSGA has announced two demonstration sports for the Summer National Senior Games to be held in Houston next year: 6-on-6 soccer and power walking. Additionally, the NSGA has reduced the fees for softball teams by more than 35% and altered the rules for qualifying for the national games in team sports. Also, the NSGA has provided a video of the venues at the 2011 Summer National Senior Games
Changes to cycling time trial dates
There have been scheduling changes in the 5K & 10K cycling events. Practice for both 5K and 10K is June 19. The 5K competition date is June 20, 2011. The 10K competition date is June 21, 2011. The rain date for both is still June 22. Changes were also made to the time trial course to provide additional safety. More information is available by clicking here
Venue change for track and field, race walk and power walk
Uncertainty about future expansion of the Metro Rail system to the University of Houston has caused the University to halt planned resurfacing of the Tom Tellez Track prior to the 2011 Summer National Senior Games presented by Humana, June 16-30 of 2011. As a result, the Houston Local Organizing Committee has been forced to move the Track and Field events, the 1500 meter Race Walk and the 1500 meter Power Walk (a demonstration event) to Turner Stadium in the Humble Independent School District.
Swimming and racquetball competition will still be held at the University’s new Campus Recreation and Wellness Center facility.
“We certainly understand the University’s decision to wait for final resolution of the Metro Rail project before committing to the track improvements,” said DJ Mackovets, President and Executive Director of the HLOC. “Fortunately, we were able to secure the outstanding facility at Turner Stadium. We know our senior athletes will be impressed with the venue and enjoy competing there.”
Stayed tuned for important hotel information from Anthony Travel related to this change in venue.
Demonstration Sports
Houston will conduct two demonstration sports during the 2011 Summer National Senior Games presented by Humana. Soccer 6-on-6 and Power Walking 1500M and 5K. Athletes may not participate in both Race Walk and Power Walk; therefore, they must choose one or the other sport, not both. Complete rules for these demonstration sports is available on the NSGA website under the tab “2011 National Games”.
Two new deadlines
The NSGA has announced two deadlines for the 2011 Summer National Senior Games. “Limited Event” forms for qualifying must be postmarked no later than April 15, 2011. Additionally, the deadline for partner changes is March 31, 2011.
Changes to softball qualifying, fees
The softball fee was reduced from $1,175 to $750. We’re expecting that an increased number of teams will make the national tournament even more competitive. Each event allows for a specific number of qualifiers. If out-of-state residents qualify at an “open” qualifying games, they will not take away a qualifying spot from a state resident.
Check out the great venues in Houston
Below is a link to a video of the venues for the 2011 Summer National Senior Games in Houston, Texas. Many events, including archery, badminton, basketball, horseshoes, table tennis, tennis, and volleyball will be held in the air-conditioned George R. Brown Convention Center. Bowling, racquetball and swimming will also be held in air-conditioned venues.
Click here for a video showing Houston venues
State Senior Games Calendar: Last Chance to Qualify!
Take a look at the upcoming state senior games listed below. Remember: It’s a qualifying year, and the only way to have a chance of qualifying for the Summer National Senior Games in 2011 is to compete in an NSGA-sanctioned state event. There’s just one qualifying event left – the Florida Senior Games State Championships.
Dec. 4-12
Florida Senior Games State Championships
Lee County, Florida, and Cape Coral, Florida
