Monday, October 19, 2009
Announcement
I added a track meet this year, we will have a preseason meet against Gilroy this year on March 4th. Christopher high School (new school in gilroy) and Sobrato will be attending along with Gilroy (naturally). Another chance for us to get use to the site of CCS Semifinals and Finals. Man I really can't wait for this season to start...February First!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Lifetime Learning
When you tie a reward to something, you strip away its intrinsic value, this is an idea in psychology. You tell your son I will give you 20 dollars for every A you get, sure it may motivate them but now the A has extrinsic value and the research shows that intrinsic value can't last in that situation. The student will never be happy just to get an A. Take away the 20 dollars and now there is no value left, (why should I do this for free?) You can see this alot in professional athletics. We all do this though, I give out reece's after each of you get a PR. The accomplishment itself should be enough. (In my defense, It is more to recognize the athlete than to motivate them. Viz being the only exception haha)
This is my long way of getting to my point, once school is over (college or High school) that doesn't mean learning is over. I understand the point of having tests, it is the (not best) but easiest way to see if the person has learned what they needed to from the class. There is also a problem with people only studying things because they will be tested on it. Now sometimes you are forced to take a class you are not interested in, and it is tough to study. However I recommend trying to actively enjoy learning. I mean increasing your knowledge should be something you enjoy, not something you feel forced to do.
It is not easy to do. I couldn't do it, after I graduated college I was done learning. When I started coaching I realized that I had a deficit of knowledge in exercise physiology and rather than being able to just research and find the information I needed I had to go back to school because I could only really learn when I was being forced to do it for a grade. The good news is my second time through college I was completely engaged I learned for the information not for the test. Now that I have my Masters degree, I am still looking for information, still researching and becoming a lifetime learner.
What I am really looking into for the upcoming year is the kinetic chain of the body. Things like when you have an injury look for a weak synergist. Alot of times with injuries we treat the body part of the injury. If you have a leak on your roof, it shows up with a stain on the wall. Well treating the wall will not fix anything, and sadly that is what happens ALOT. I am really trying to understand the connections within the body. If you have pain in the upperback, stretching the muscles of the chest may be way more effective then working on the spot where there is pain. Really excited to learn more about this and i will definitely post some of the things I find out.
My take home message: Learn for the information not for a test. Try to enjoy it, becasue it is a great skill and there is so much information out there. Alot of people don't.
This is my long way of getting to my point, once school is over (college or High school) that doesn't mean learning is over. I understand the point of having tests, it is the (not best) but easiest way to see if the person has learned what they needed to from the class. There is also a problem with people only studying things because they will be tested on it. Now sometimes you are forced to take a class you are not interested in, and it is tough to study. However I recommend trying to actively enjoy learning. I mean increasing your knowledge should be something you enjoy, not something you feel forced to do.
It is not easy to do. I couldn't do it, after I graduated college I was done learning. When I started coaching I realized that I had a deficit of knowledge in exercise physiology and rather than being able to just research and find the information I needed I had to go back to school because I could only really learn when I was being forced to do it for a grade. The good news is my second time through college I was completely engaged I learned for the information not for the test. Now that I have my Masters degree, I am still looking for information, still researching and becoming a lifetime learner.
What I am really looking into for the upcoming year is the kinetic chain of the body. Things like when you have an injury look for a weak synergist. Alot of times with injuries we treat the body part of the injury. If you have a leak on your roof, it shows up with a stain on the wall. Well treating the wall will not fix anything, and sadly that is what happens ALOT. I am really trying to understand the connections within the body. If you have pain in the upperback, stretching the muscles of the chest may be way more effective then working on the spot where there is pain. Really excited to learn more about this and i will definitely post some of the things I find out.
My take home message: Learn for the information not for a test. Try to enjoy it, becasue it is a great skill and there is so much information out there. Alot of people don't.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Muscle Contraction Basics (part I)
How do muscles contact? Mark is studying this so I figued I would make a blog post about it. One of the lectures I give in my class at SJSU is on this topic so luckily I already have some figures I can post.
Muscle Contraction
First some quick descriptions so the process flows a little better.
Electrical Impule & T-Tubules
When you decide that you want to contract a muscle, lets say the bicep. A small electrical signal leaves the brain and travels down motor neurons to that muscle. Within the muscle there is a whole lot more than just muscle fibers. Namely T-Tubules (or transverse tubules) when the electrical signal reaches the muscle it causes the T-Tubules to release Calcium throughout the muscle.
Actin & Myosin
These are the two primary contraction filiments actin being the thin filiment and Myosin being the thick filiment. They overlap each other and then muscle is contracted the myosin filiments (green) attatch to the actin filiments (red) and pull. Making the z-disc (I call them Z-lines) closer together.
Now this is microscopic movement but imagine many of these doing this, your muscle will become shorter which pulls on the tendons attatched to the bicep and causes your hand to move closer to your shoulder (bicep curl)
Crossbridges
So how does myosin attatch to actin? Check out the figure below. As you can see actin has this intertwining pearl like structure. Wrapped up with it is tropomyosin(pink band) which blocks the area that myosin can bind to actin (binding sites) when a muscle is relaxed tropomyosin prevents myosin from binding to actin (which is what it wants to do). When the t-tubules release calcium throughout the muscle the calcium will bind with troponin (yellow molecule attatched to tropomyosin). The calcium causes troponin to be pulled off the actin, which pulls the tropomyosin band off as well and exposes the binding sites. Now Myosin can attatch to actin and we can have muscle contraction.
Muscle contraction
When Myosin attatches to actin that is called a crossbridge. Within the myosin head there are 2 important things ATP (our energy source) and Myosin ATPase (enzyme that breaks down ATP) when the enrgy is used it causes the power stroke. Basically the head moves toward the center of the muscle which pulls the actin and causes the over lap to occur (and muscle contraction) The only way myosin will release the actin is when ATP reenters the head. So very simply the process is this.
1) Electical Impulse
2) Calcium caused to release from T Tubules
3) Calcium Binds to troponin which exposes binding site and allows cross bridge to be formed
4) ATP is used which causes the "power stroke" of myosin (muscle shortens)
5) New ATP enters myosin and crossbridge is released.
If calcium is still present (meaning your brain is still telling the muscle to crotract) the myosin head will grab the actin again and pull. Think of it as climbing the actin rope until the muscle is totally contracted. If the brain no longer wants the muscle to contract the calcium will be pumped out of the muscle. The binding sites will be covered by tropomyosin again and the muscle will return to its original length.
Rigor Mortis: You know how after someone dies the bodies get all stiff well the reason for this can be explained with the process of muscle contraction. Basically The body starts to deteriorate and calcium leaks into the muscle (no electrical signal needed) it attatches to troponin and that casues the cross bridge to be formed. The ATP is used and the muscle contracts, except that because the person is dead, no new ATP is rebuilt and the bond is never released to the muscle is just stuck in a contracted position. (until it deteriorates some more)
Muscle Contraction
First some quick descriptions so the process flows a little better.
Electrical Impule & T-Tubules
When you decide that you want to contract a muscle, lets say the bicep. A small electrical signal leaves the brain and travels down motor neurons to that muscle. Within the muscle there is a whole lot more than just muscle fibers. Namely T-Tubules (or transverse tubules) when the electrical signal reaches the muscle it causes the T-Tubules to release Calcium throughout the muscle.
Actin & Myosin
These are the two primary contraction filiments actin being the thin filiment and Myosin being the thick filiment. They overlap each other and then muscle is contracted the myosin filiments (green) attatch to the actin filiments (red) and pull. Making the z-disc (I call them Z-lines) closer together.
Now this is microscopic movement but imagine many of these doing this, your muscle will become shorter which pulls on the tendons attatched to the bicep and causes your hand to move closer to your shoulder (bicep curl)
Crossbridges
So how does myosin attatch to actin? Check out the figure below. As you can see actin has this intertwining pearl like structure. Wrapped up with it is tropomyosin(pink band) which blocks the area that myosin can bind to actin (binding sites) when a muscle is relaxed tropomyosin prevents myosin from binding to actin (which is what it wants to do). When the t-tubules release calcium throughout the muscle the calcium will bind with troponin (yellow molecule attatched to tropomyosin). The calcium causes troponin to be pulled off the actin, which pulls the tropomyosin band off as well and exposes the binding sites. Now Myosin can attatch to actin and we can have muscle contraction.
Muscle contraction
When Myosin attatches to actin that is called a crossbridge. Within the myosin head there are 2 important things ATP (our energy source) and Myosin ATPase (enzyme that breaks down ATP) when the enrgy is used it causes the power stroke. Basically the head moves toward the center of the muscle which pulls the actin and causes the over lap to occur (and muscle contraction) The only way myosin will release the actin is when ATP reenters the head. So very simply the process is this.
1) Electical Impulse
2) Calcium caused to release from T Tubules
3) Calcium Binds to troponin which exposes binding site and allows cross bridge to be formed
4) ATP is used which causes the "power stroke" of myosin (muscle shortens)
5) New ATP enters myosin and crossbridge is released.
If calcium is still present (meaning your brain is still telling the muscle to crotract) the myosin head will grab the actin again and pull. Think of it as climbing the actin rope until the muscle is totally contracted. If the brain no longer wants the muscle to contract the calcium will be pumped out of the muscle. The binding sites will be covered by tropomyosin again and the muscle will return to its original length.
Rigor Mortis: You know how after someone dies the bodies get all stiff well the reason for this can be explained with the process of muscle contraction. Basically The body starts to deteriorate and calcium leaks into the muscle (no electrical signal needed) it attatches to troponin and that casues the cross bridge to be formed. The ATP is used and the muscle contracts, except that because the person is dead, no new ATP is rebuilt and the bond is never released to the muscle is just stuck in a contracted position. (until it deteriorates some more)
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
hmmm....
Big gulps, huh? Well once i decided to restart this I knew it would be important to post every couple days on this thing. I think what I will do is post whatever is on my mind. So in honor of cross country season here is some talk about oxygen debt.
So physiologically oxygen is basically free energy, it has no cost to us. We can burn, for all intents and purposes, a limitless amount of fat (and some carbs) and when combined with oxygen create energy. Now it is a long process (takes about 2 minutes to get going) so if you need energy quickly you will not be able to use oxygen quickly enough. Your body has other energy sources however they are limited.
Alternative 1: Creatine Phosphate
Basically a molecule of creatine phosphate is held together by energy, you have alot of these molecules in your muscle (also important reason to be a meat eater) When this molecule is broken apart that energy is realeased and you use it. The only problem is these bonds can not be rebuilt until you stop moving so after 10 seconds of all out activity you will burn through most of this fuel source. Since this is such a simple process, (1 step: separate creatine from phosphate) you can get energy from this quick.
Alternative 2: Lactic Acid
Your body can also burn carbs faster if it does it without oxygen, however, the lack of oxygen creates an excess of acid (acid is just hydrogen molecules, if there is oxygen they can combine to make water, H2O) Without oxygen acid builds up and there is a burning in the muscles, electircla impulses don't travel correctly causing a lack of coordination etc. You start to feel this after about 40 seconds of all out activity.
I love analogies so I will try to make one that works here. The energy you use from only the aerobic system is your salary, the better in shape you are (harder you work) the larger your salary is. You can think of the energy demand of a workout as your expenses. If you make 500 dollars and your expenses are 500 dollars or less there are no problems. If you can run a 6 minute mile and you run at that speed or slower you are fine. Now if you decide to get a cell phone and now your expenses go up to 550 and since your salary isn't enough you need to go to the ATM and take out 50 dollars from your savings account (Creatine phosphate). So our person can run a 6:00 mile no problem but they run at 5:30 speed now to go faster. In order to get that extra energy they use some create phosphate they have stored. (savings account) however it is limited and once it is gone it will not replenish, until you work some overtime. (eat meat) Now say you decide to get premium cable too so now your expenses go up from $550 to $650 and dipping into your savings in not enough. Now you need to take out a loan unfortunantly it will need to be paid back with interest. Back to our runner think of them now running at 5:00 min/mile pace which has a higher energy demand. Now the body needs to start breaking down carbs without oxygen to get energy, even though it creates acid (interest) and anything created will need to be paid back.
When we sprint all out we go too fast to use the oxygen system but after we finish we are breathing hard... why? Remember the aerobic system is free energy so when we finish we use that system to create energy and that energy is used not for running but to rebuild creatine phosphate molecules and buffer out the lactic acid. (when we run out of money we need to go back to work)
SO back to our runner one last time: They can run a 6 min/mile no prob. (90 second laps) If they run 85 second first lap they created 5 seconds of oxygen debt. Meaning those 5 seonds were gained by using some cretine phosphate and making acid. If on the second lap they also run an 85 now they have 10 seconds of oxygen debt and guess what your body can rebuild creatine phosphate or clear out the acid until you stop (go back to work to re supply your bank account and pay back your loan) by the third lap you run a 95 becasue your body needed to use the extra seconds to clear some of the acid. Unfortunantly you can't get rid of the creatine until you stop. Then on your last lap you push your self and run a 92 and feel horrible afterward becasue you are in oxygen depb, your body is breating really hard to create energy that will rebuilt creatine phosphate and buffer out the acid.
This unfortunantly is how a lot of runners run. They think they aren't running right unless they ae pushing themselves. That sample runner ended up with a 5:57.
A more ideal strategy is go out at 90 for the first 2 laps sure you are now 10 seconds behind the first runner, but you are only half way through the race you still have all of your creatine phosphate and no acid built up (most runners can't handle feeling this good so they go too fast) now you can put in a 87 second lap and on the last lap run a 80. This will give you a 5:47. The only real difference is this when you went fast and created acid in the first race you had to pay it back in lap 3 (which is during the race, not a good thing) in the second race you went fast in lap 4 and so you had to pay back the acid after the race was over. (plenty of time to do it then)
Sorry taht this was way longer then I expected
So physiologically oxygen is basically free energy, it has no cost to us. We can burn, for all intents and purposes, a limitless amount of fat (and some carbs) and when combined with oxygen create energy. Now it is a long process (takes about 2 minutes to get going) so if you need energy quickly you will not be able to use oxygen quickly enough. Your body has other energy sources however they are limited.
Alternative 1: Creatine Phosphate
Basically a molecule of creatine phosphate is held together by energy, you have alot of these molecules in your muscle (also important reason to be a meat eater) When this molecule is broken apart that energy is realeased and you use it. The only problem is these bonds can not be rebuilt until you stop moving so after 10 seconds of all out activity you will burn through most of this fuel source. Since this is such a simple process, (1 step: separate creatine from phosphate) you can get energy from this quick.
Alternative 2: Lactic Acid
Your body can also burn carbs faster if it does it without oxygen, however, the lack of oxygen creates an excess of acid (acid is just hydrogen molecules, if there is oxygen they can combine to make water, H2O) Without oxygen acid builds up and there is a burning in the muscles, electircla impulses don't travel correctly causing a lack of coordination etc. You start to feel this after about 40 seconds of all out activity.
I love analogies so I will try to make one that works here. The energy you use from only the aerobic system is your salary, the better in shape you are (harder you work) the larger your salary is. You can think of the energy demand of a workout as your expenses. If you make 500 dollars and your expenses are 500 dollars or less there are no problems. If you can run a 6 minute mile and you run at that speed or slower you are fine. Now if you decide to get a cell phone and now your expenses go up to 550 and since your salary isn't enough you need to go to the ATM and take out 50 dollars from your savings account (Creatine phosphate). So our person can run a 6:00 mile no problem but they run at 5:30 speed now to go faster. In order to get that extra energy they use some create phosphate they have stored. (savings account) however it is limited and once it is gone it will not replenish, until you work some overtime. (eat meat) Now say you decide to get premium cable too so now your expenses go up from $550 to $650 and dipping into your savings in not enough. Now you need to take out a loan unfortunantly it will need to be paid back with interest. Back to our runner think of them now running at 5:00 min/mile pace which has a higher energy demand. Now the body needs to start breaking down carbs without oxygen to get energy, even though it creates acid (interest) and anything created will need to be paid back.
When we sprint all out we go too fast to use the oxygen system but after we finish we are breathing hard... why? Remember the aerobic system is free energy so when we finish we use that system to create energy and that energy is used not for running but to rebuild creatine phosphate molecules and buffer out the lactic acid. (when we run out of money we need to go back to work)
SO back to our runner one last time: They can run a 6 min/mile no prob. (90 second laps) If they run 85 second first lap they created 5 seconds of oxygen debt. Meaning those 5 seonds were gained by using some cretine phosphate and making acid. If on the second lap they also run an 85 now they have 10 seconds of oxygen debt and guess what your body can rebuild creatine phosphate or clear out the acid until you stop (go back to work to re supply your bank account and pay back your loan) by the third lap you run a 95 becasue your body needed to use the extra seconds to clear some of the acid. Unfortunantly you can't get rid of the creatine until you stop. Then on your last lap you push your self and run a 92 and feel horrible afterward becasue you are in oxygen depb, your body is breating really hard to create energy that will rebuilt creatine phosphate and buffer out the acid.
This unfortunantly is how a lot of runners run. They think they aren't running right unless they ae pushing themselves. That sample runner ended up with a 5:57.
A more ideal strategy is go out at 90 for the first 2 laps sure you are now 10 seconds behind the first runner, but you are only half way through the race you still have all of your creatine phosphate and no acid built up (most runners can't handle feeling this good so they go too fast) now you can put in a 87 second lap and on the last lap run a 80. This will give you a 5:47. The only real difference is this when you went fast and created acid in the first race you had to pay it back in lap 3 (which is during the race, not a good thing) in the second race you went fast in lap 4 and so you had to pay back the acid after the race was over. (plenty of time to do it then)
Sorry taht this was way longer then I expected
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Cross Country
The last time I was at a cross country meet was when I was in 7th grade and ran for Martin Murphy. I made the drive to Pacific grove to see Pauline and Chelsie run (and it was a good thing I did because this is their last Saturday meet) Chelsie finished 10th place (23:18) in the juniors race and Pauline got 7th place (22:44) in the senior race. (They race by grade level)
I did take some pictures and will post those in a bit.
I would like to see another meet, but they are all on weekdays from here on out. BVAL Championships are Monday Nov 2nd so I might take a day off of football to go cheer on the ladies and Adam.
Oh and I should mention they gave medals to the top 15 in each race so Chelsie and Pauline came away with some hardware, (Pauline is still a little TOO motivated by medals, haha)
I did take some pictures and will post those in a bit.
I would like to see another meet, but they are all on weekdays from here on out. BVAL Championships are Monday Nov 2nd so I might take a day off of football to go cheer on the ladies and Adam.
Oh and I should mention they gave medals to the top 15 in each race so Chelsie and Pauline came away with some hardware, (Pauline is still a little TOO motivated by medals, haha)
Thursday, October 1, 2009
As promised
Here are some action shots of our 3 field hockey players taken by Steve Drewniany.
So I made a photo gallery where I will put any pictures I have of our track athletes doing what they do in the fall. Right now there are only field hockey photos... soon enough there will be more. I am planning on going to the cross country meet on Saturday and will be at the football game Friday (I'll try to remember to bring my camera)
So I made a photo gallery where I will put any pictures I have of our track athletes doing what they do in the fall. Right now there are only field hockey photos... soon enough there will be more. I am planning on going to the cross country meet on Saturday and will be at the football game Friday (I'll try to remember to bring my camera)
Here is the link to the photo album:
http://picasaweb.google.com/msullivan.kin163/FallSports#
Update Number 1
Here is the first update on our fall athletes
Field Hockey:
(Erika Rodriguez, Catherine Sparling, Lauren Drewniany)
Been doing my best to sneak away from football to watch Lauren, Catherine and Erika take on the BVAL in Field hockey. I still have no clue what is really going on (when the ref blow his whistle I have no idea why and no idea which direction he will point) What I do know is I saw Catherine score a goal last week against Willow Glen, I have seen Lauren be the last line of defense (besides the goalkeeper I guess), she is way more intimidating out there then on the runway. And everytime I see Erika go in the game the energy of the team goes up. The team tied Cupertino today, and is 2-0-1 in league so far. Eventually I will figure this sport out… Steve sent me a whole bunch of action shots which I will post over the next day or so... (gives me something to post/ you a reason to come back, haha)
Cross Country :
(Pauline Olsen, Chelsie Faulk, Adam Groen, Trevor Zandi)
Due to the hot weather last week, their first league meet was postponed to yesterday (Tuesday) . From what I hear there were a lot of PRs (which you all know is my favorite thing in the world) I heard that Adam Groen had a pretty big one in particular. Pauline has promised to get me some action shots of our track athletes out there running. I am planning on making it out to a meet or two to support the team, it is just tough with no home meets and while I am trying to coach football. It will happen though!
Football:
(Dominic Leach, Kenny Lee, Jacob Montoya, Kean Vaziry, Artie Valencia, David Pelz, Taylor Alonzo, Matt Dariano)
The team is hurting a little bit. 0-3 start and a loss to Sobrato. We have a number of track athletes out on the football team. Got to mention former cieves that I coached first Leach had a couple touchdowns in the first game against Gilroy and will figure out how to punt in the game soon. Kenny Lee looks ridiculously good as well… so good in fact that I can’t take any credit for that. In addition to Leach and Kenny we have Artie also out there looking as quick as ever, Pelz (him and Matt Thomson were are entire Frosh Soph team) is the starting quarterback. Half of our CCS guys 4*400 is also out their and getting plenty of playing time Montoya is returning punts as well as playing z, and Viz is one of our top Corners) Taylor had an early injury but scored the first points of the game against Sobrato. Matt is now the QB of the JV team as well as our strong safety.
Also, saw the band put a beating on Sobrato's band (capes and all, haha) at the game last week. Eric Tolson, Jacob Daw, Emily Frederick, and Alex Ukanwa
Track and Field
Well the season doesn’t start until February but I have been contacted by a few freshman parents with children interested in joining. Not to mention I have been spreading the word around the JV football team. (we will see what comes of that) Jacob Daw and Eric Tolson have been finding time when they get a break from band to run the hill each week. Pauline is already starting her weight room program while cross country is going on so she can set some PRs next spring.
As for coaching staff right now Coach Porras and Fresh will be back next year. Mark is moving on to West Valley to be an athlete again. As always I will coach whatever we need so if I find a distance coach I will coach LJ/TJ and if I find a LJ/TJ coach I will coach distance.
The Blog is back
Hey all, Hopefully everyone had a good summer.
Probably won't post as frequently as during the season but I will try to give some updates on what our athletes are doing this fall as well as some alumni notes.
Probably won't post as frequently as during the season but I will try to give some updates on what our athletes are doing this fall as well as some alumni notes.
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