The short list of those who were caught or admitted to doping includes: Marion Jones, Justin Gatlin, Tim Montgomery, Kelly White and Tori Edwards. The list may soon grow longer depending on what happens with Maurice Green and the information which Trevor Graham as well as Angel Guillermo Heredia, a known supplier of performance-enhancing drugs, may disperse.

This puts an enormous amount of weight on our top US sprinters all of whom are 25 years old or under. This includes Lauryn Williams, Tyson Gay, Allyson Felix, Wallace Spearmon, LaShawn Merritt, Xavier Carter, Kerron Clement, Walter Dix, Sanya Richards and Jeremy Wariner, just to name a few. These runners will shape what happens in American track and field from a sprinting standpoint for the next 5-10 years depending on each runner's longevity and success in the sport. These careers could be shortened though due to overwhelming media pressures about drugs in the sport which was passed down to them unjustly by those who have come before them.

Consider this: over the course of the 108 history of the modern Olympic Games, the United States sprinters have come home with a total of over 260 (I counted) medals which does not include the men and women's 400h event. To say that the United States sprint team has been the most dominant sect of track and field from any country in the Olympic Games would be tough to argue against And because the US has been the most dominant they will continue to be the center of the most scrutiny.

It would also be an understatement to say that these young sprinters not only have a legacy to uphold but the task of repairing not only the sport and the minds of the world. This task will be making sure that our sprinters are and will remain clean.

If the BALCO investigation against Greene holds any weight, the sport has not seen the end of this relentless gauntlet of users. Victor Conte shed some light on just those who were using just in the BALCO case alone:

This is going to be very big," said Conte, who has completed his own jail sentence even though the government's prosecution of BALCO continues to sprawl. "Something like 12 athletes who won 21 Olympic and world championship medals. The IOC, IAAF, USOC are all turned upside down now. This is huge." (New York Daily News)

No matter what happens, the credibility of US sprinting is scarred and will take many many years to repair. The unfortunate part about all of this is that these young sprinters will have to bare the results of whatever comes out in the BALCO case. It is difficult enough for them that they are already redefining American track and field as it is with their tremendous work ethic, talent and incredible performances but hopefully these performances will not all be under the skepticism of drug use.

It seems that the future is in good hands with these young sprinters as Allyson Felix was questioned this past week at the Penn Relays. Felix showed her maturity and integrity as she spoke about being apart of a USADA drug testing program in the future:

"I felt I've always been willing to submit to tests," she said. "We want to do as much as we can to take a stand against doping, so I think this program was the perfect thing, especially given the climate of the sport right now." (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Hopefully our young sprinters can overcome the shadow that has been cast on them, especially heading into the Olympic Games in August. If these athletes are in anyway similar to Allyson Felix, then we can rest assured that the state of American sprinting in the future will someday be remedied.

Without knowing what I was doing, by not purchasing gas and doing all the great things that cars and trucks do to our environment, I was actually in the beginning stages of "going green". Yes I do admit there are things that cars are good for such as getting groceries or driving in the rain or snow but all in all I really had no need for a car. I can virtually ride everywhere I want in Eugene and everyone of my teammates has a car here, which is what I started dwelling on.

According to Epic Magazine:

2. For every 10 people who walk instead of drive a one-mile trip every week, we can reduce 500 pounds of emissions every year.

In fact one day, I had practice scheduled at Hayward field for 11:00AM when I decided to ride my bike over. I thought instead of carpooling with some of my teammates, the ride over would be a good way for me to warm up. I began doing this with all of my practices, including those up to 2 1/2 miles away. I would either run or ride my bike, but I would notice a trend with my teammates, everyone drove. It wasn't the fact that everyone drove that bothered me, it was that the majority of people that drove, drove alone.

What bothered me about this was not that I was riding my bike, but that as a group we were wasting so much and contributing to the problems which we face today with our environment. I think what bothered me most of all is that we are runners and we were doing this. I find it funny that runners will be willing to go on runs for 12-20 miles but in general have trouble recognizing that we have become lazy in certain respects of our lives, mainly wasting. Another thing that I found fault with was that I am just as guilty as everyone else who drove their car. I needed to educate myself and take more responsibility.

My teammate echoed my same thoughts:

I'm with you on the green thing. For being active, runners are some of the laziest people I know. Always have been, probably always will be. Use your endurance for something other than running circles around a track, ride a bike, or actually RUN an errand. There's a novel idea."

Runners set a standard of health and maximize the potential in their bodies by fueling properly and performing at our highest levels which our bodies will allow. If in fact we were to slack in our training and take a day off, or feed our body fuel which would not optimize output, we would do a great disservice to our goals and hinder our training. What I don't understand is how can most runners treat their bodies like a temple but not carry that through to the other aspects of their lives.

They key factor in changing habits is knowledge in this case. I don't think too many people would be opposed to being more environmentally friendly if they knew the right ways to go about it. In my mind it seems almost foolish for someone to not want to save money, help the environment, waste less and in many cases become more healthy from these practices.

The first thing I would suggest for anyone seeking this knowledge is to take the quiz. I was amazed at how easy it was to become more "green" by just changing a few things in my life. 

In closing, take the quiz, take a few moments to educate yourself and in the long run you'll be saving a lot more than just money. I love you.

I am not writing my official blog yet this week, but I am putting in the research for it now and hopefully I will have one by the weekend.

I really want to look into two major themes which have been plaguing my thoughts recently, and based on your feedback I will write about the one which garners the most interest off the bat.

The first idea I am investigating is going green. I have been disturbed lately at the laziness of runners on my team who find it too difficult to either bike or jog the 1-2 miles to practice every morning. The Eugene Marathon got me thinking about this topic with the Green goodie bags that they will be distributing and I have been thinking about it ever since.

The second idea is Semi-Pro track and field, and this is one that I have been mulling over a lot recently. There are many runners out there who would like to continue careers in running post collegiately but are not able to due to the fact that there is little to no money in Semi-Pro or what I would like to think of as Olympic Development running. If you are a distance runner (800 and up) it is easier to find enclaves and groups around the country to run with but for sprinters and jumpers who have not signed contracts and are pursuing a professional career it seems almost impossible to continue dreams. Is this right and are we giving the best chances to those who need it? 

The last thing is I had my first race this weekend as a post-collegiate, running with Team XO! The race temperature and weather were horrible and it was my first competitive race since college, almost two full years ago. I am finding themes with a lot of people who are posting about first races and I, myself agree that you have to shake the rust off. I was not pleased with my performance but I was excited to step back into the world of competitive racing and was lucky enough to run with some close friends and training partners.

Well thats all for now. Look for this weekend's better version of my blog when I put a little more time into it and some research.

Before I get into my findings, I shared my results with a few of my teammates from Team XO and Oregon Track Club Elite last week after writing my blog. One of my teammates admitted to "drinking Gatorade immediately after brushing his teeth", which I found amazing. Another one of my teammates, a rather close friend of mine admitted laughingly to actually using Gatorade as a mouth wash substitue for bad breath. I can't make fun of him too much because I actually have done the same thing many times. Rushing out of hotels during college and not having enough time to brush, Gatorade was a huge help and it tasted splendid!

So I did some research. I first anticipated finding flavored waters, or even other low calorie sports drinks to top the list. This was not in fact the truth, as even many other flavored waters are packed with sugar! Just this past week I tested some out including Sobe Life Water, Snapple antioxidant water, and even the very popular Vitamin Water. They actually are pretty good, but thinking that these are waters, one wouldn't think that they have a tremendous amount of sugar in them. In fact they almost the same amount of sugar as the regular Gatorade flavors themselves.

So the Vitamin Enhanced waters were out of the question. I then thought of the waters the type of waters that Gatorade and Powerade and other sport beverage companies produced, and even included the G2 which Gatorade has which cuts the sugar in the sports beverage tremendously. In terms of sugar, these beverages are tremendous and offer very low calorie and low sugar solutions. I was very impressed by Gatorade's line which includes Propel, which I am drinking around the clock just because I like the taste. I found Propel Calcium on the shelf the other day which not only includes Calcium for bone health but also a good amount of B Vitamins for energy. Here is the problem with Propel though. Even though it is low on sugar and has tremendous benefits of calcium and B vitamins, it doesn't seem to do what I want it to do, which is act as Gatorade would. Propel is good at hydrating and giving you a boost of energy, which means to me that it would be an excellent during workout beverage, but it doesn't replenish and refuel the way that the traditional Gatorade does with its electrolyte advantages.

The problem with G2 is that it tastes like watered down Gatorade. It also doesn't taste all that great to begin with. Bevnet.com likened G2 to the vitamin water category. Which is something that I am not looking for. So after Propel and G2 I still am stuck with something to replace, refuel and rehydrate the way I need it to, but also with the added necessity of low sugar. I thought I was asking for a miracle until I came across something I never thought about, Chocolate Milk.

It actually wasn't hard at all to find information that supported these findings. A quick search on google yielded dozens of results supporting these claims from research.

Fox News - But a group of scientists recently discovered that one of the most effective drinks to help athletes recover after exercise is the same thing moms across America have been giving their kids for years. A simple glass of chocolate milk.

CBS News - The study, published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, was small in scale; it was partially funded by the dairy industry. But dietitians say the study should help to counter the notion that high-tech, expensive supplements are better than whole foods when it comes to athletic performance. They also note that milk contains key nutrients, such as calcium and vitamin D, in quantities that sports drinks can’t match.

Chocolatebytes.com - Just as periwinkle is the new blue, chocolate milk is the new Gatorade. Sports nutrionists are now saying chocolate milk provides many benefits for endurance athletes. The proteins and carbohydrates found in chocolate milk help athletes maintain their energy levels and recover after events. In fact, a 2006 study in the International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism reported that cyclists who were given chocolate milk 30 minutes after a workout recovered more quickly than those who were given a sports drink.

Slashfoods.com - The article cites a study set to be published in International Journal of Sports Nutrition in which researchers compared the effects of sports drinks like Gatorade and Endurox R4 with chocolate milk when given to “elite” cyclists. The milk was as effective as Gatorade and twice as effective as Endurox.

Now here is where I challenge you to take this test. I have not yet tried the experiment myself yet, though I suppose I should. I have been working out twice a day and have been feeling quite fatigued at the end of the day. This past week we had two workouts in one day on the track, and I know that this experiment could have been a good test there. So this week, I will drink Chocolate Milk in between workouts and see what the big fuss is about. You try it too. Make sure to give yourself enough time for your body to digest the milk and take it in, which means don't try back to back workouts in a half hour, but rather let a few hours set in between that first and second workout. Let's see if this thing works!

As an athlete, I as many do, replenish myself after a long run or tough workout, and many times in between. It is not uncommon for me to go through two or three 64 ounce bottles of the Gatorade in a race weekend. I love Gatorade, it tastes great and I feel great afterward, but the whole time I am drinking it, am I digging my own grave?

This past fall, my roommate and I stocked up on a great deal at our local supermarket, which was in my mind gold. There were Gatorade 8 packs, 3 for $12 and if you bought three you got one free. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that we then bought enough 8 packs of gatorade (12) to last us through the fall. So after hard workouts, I would drink a Gatorade, or maybe two if I was thirsty, and before long we began to see that our stock was diminishing, faster than we had expected. Less than two months later we had finished all 100 bottles we had purchased.

Returning home this past winter for my check up with the dentist, he noticed that there was a fair amount of decay on a few of my teeth and asked "have you been sucking on lemons?" due to the fact that he saw a difference in the enamel of my teeth. This check up provided me with a wonderful two emergency root canals and the thought that the abundant drinking of my favorite sports drink my have been the leading cause of the problem.

So I began to do some research and found some extraordinary findings. It has been well documented in the past few years that Gatorade is very corrosive to tooth enamel.

According to an article on WebMD.com "Gatorade erodes teeth faster than Coke". Yes this is the same Coke that according to all of our high school science teachers "will eat through the metal on your car" if poured on the hood and left to sit. The article continues on to say:

"I don't think everybody realizes how erosive these things are, especially Gatorade and Red Bull," Ehlen tells WebMD. "People need to be aware that all sorts of beverages can be causing dental erosion."

That was not the only place where I found evidence of Gatorade's effects on tooth enamel erosion. According to a study done in General Dentistry:

"We were totally shocked at how aggressive these were towards dental enamel," von Fraunhofer tells WebMD. "This study revealed that the enamel damage caused by noncola and sports beverages was three to 11 times greater than cola-based drinks, with energy drinks and bottled lemonades causing the most harm to dental enamel," he says, in a news release."

It is troubling for me to know that I may have been doing this to myself all along and my recent problems in the dentist chair are a result of what I have been putting into my body. But there is a solution. Drinking Gatorade doesn't have to be detrimental to your teeth, as long as you use it the right way. The suggestion I received from my dentist was to water down the sports drink or to rinse my mouth afterwards to make sure that the after effects of the drink did not go to work on my teeth. This is echoed by a few of the articles I read.

An article which I found on dentalcomfortzone.com said the following:

"The most important thing to remember is that acidic beverages and those that contain sugar can damage teeth. If avoiding these beverages is not practical, I recommend rinsing your mouth with water or brushing your teeth directly after drinking. Use a straw and drink the beverage in one sitting, do not sip it throughout the day, will also limit damage. Good oral hygiene, fluoride toothpaste and mouth rinse can help prevent tooth decay promoted by acidic and sugar-containing beverages."

Reviewing the article from WebMD left me with a haunting feeling in my gut, especially knowing the condition of my teeth now:

Von Fraunhofer stands by the study and says he isn't trying to trash any drink. "What we're saying is, by all means, drink what you want. Don't sit and sip [these drinks] for a long time. Rinse out with a bit of water. That will minimize the effects. The other thing to realize is that when once enamel is gone, it's gone forever. It doesn't come back."

Drink with care.

Ryan