CANADA’S HEALTH, FITNESS AND LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE FOR MEN AND WOMEN LONDON 2012 DIVING FOR GOLD THIS JUST IN » MAKE YOUR HEART YOUR TRAINING PARTNER » PREVENT TYPE 2 DIABETES PUT YOUR FEET FIRST GOODLIFE'S MID-LIFE MARATHON PRINCESS ULTRACYCLING FOR ULTIMATE THE UN-RUNNING ISSUE UN-RUNNING THE ENDURANCE Divers Jennifer Abel and Alexandre Despatie OFFICIALGOODLIFE MAGAZINE FITNESS OF AD!"BA#$%&'(, LE)"NA)*+, DO-TH."RE/( are registered trademarks of World Triathlon Corporation used herein by permission. Triathlon are registered trademarks of World ® and M-DOT ® © Wolverine World Wide, Inc., 2012. IRONMAN B01234C5.67 R89:3;L<=> ENDURANCE ROAD RUNS INTENSITY ROAD RUNS Zero-mm ball-to-heel drop keeps you connected to the terrain underfoot, while the purpose-built construction delivers flexibility and comfort. Features Aegis® antimicrobial solution and breathable mesh for odour-free running. Merrell Barefoot. True to your nature. 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Enjoy Brita® -filtered tap water anywhere. 1 Brita® Bottle filter can replace as many as 300 water bottles* *Standard 500 mL bottle contents MAY/JUNE 2012 DEPARTMENTS 4 Editor’s letter The games of our lives 6 The locker room Sex: Nature’s miracle drug 10 Science Eat less, live long By Mandy Wintink, Ph.d 12 Ultracycling Breaking the pain barrier By Bill Farnsworth 16 Fitness 22 Cover: DIpped in gold The 20 Workout By Louisette St. Fort 20 Inspiration FEATURES Running a marathon at 50 30 Frontiers of fitness By David Patchell-Evans Exercises for feet and legs 38 Gym bag By Heather Dennis 36 Training for transition NUTRITION By Richard Thompson 40 Back from the edge: Keep 49 The two-month challenge: Listen diabetes at bay to your body By Brittney Teasdale By Jennifer Brenton 43 Find your number: Let your heart 51 Take a foray into foraging rate tell the story By Pete Luckett By Jorg Mardian 52 Recipe 44 MS bike for a cure Shrimp and mixed melon salad By Caroline Horcher By Dylan Benoit 45 Bright eyes, big smile By Julia Cook TRAVEL 12 Ultracycling 54 Roar! The wildlife of Africa By Manaf Zora COVER 55 Quiet, please 22 Dipped in gold By Bruce Sach No excuses: Canadian divers aim for medals in London Olympics By David Holt 56 Puzzle page 57 Greenworld Breath of life? By Anna-Lisa Jones 58 Finish Line 49 Nutrition: Book review 60 Mind coach Lessons from the ‘hood OptiMYz is the By Joseph Seiler official magazine of GoodLife Fitness COVER PHOTOGRAPHY: CHAMSI DIB Centres Inc. SQUEEZE STRESS OUT 3 editor’s letter The games of our lives Life lessons from Olympians: It’s often the small things that count. N our cover story on Canada’s Olympic divers Alexandre Despatie and Jennifer Abel, you will read about how their lives consist mainly of training, travelling and competing. I They miss out on a lot of the things that others their age take for granted, like simply hanging out. Yet, there is a lot more than drudgery to their lives. The smiles in the photographs on our cover and in the story inside reveal a radiance that is hard to match. When Alexandre and Jennifer dive they get an adrenaline rush—they are doing what they came on earth to do. They feel good. All that exercise and healthy food helps, but it is more than that. Their lives have a purpose. They are aiming for gold in all the events they compete in. Yet as all athletes know, you don’t win every time. You compete because you love your sport. Consequently, you love your life. As our story reveals, thousands of the world’s best athletes will converge on London for the Olympics. Besides the competition, they will enjoy the whole experience: The Olympic Village, the other athletes, the city of London. As Despatie told me, “The experience is so special it’s hard to describe.” The Olympics always remind me of my late father Leif Holt. He was an athlete in his youth and loved to watch high-level competition in any sport. Over the years he attended the Olympics THE JOYS OF LIFE TEND TO COME IN SMALL in London, Los Angeles and Montreal. Before he died he asked me to help him get to the Beijing DOSES: Associate Publisher Claire Rogers and Olympics—the only thing he ever asked me for. But he never made it. He had been to China years I are meeting on the floating dock outside before and talked about it ever since. our office. In winter we skate on the lake and in summer we swim. If you’ve got it, Growing up in Russia, Norway and London, Leif and his brothers were sports mad. I remem- flaunt it. ber attending a track meet in Oslo with my father and his brother Teddy. Seb Coe, now in charge of the London Games, set a world record in the 1,500 metres. His feet seemed to barely touch the track. Teddy is now 92. As a school boy, he was all-England in rugby. We visited him in Norway a few months ago. He still gets up early to the walk the dog for an hour and, although he gave up cross-country skiing a few years ago, he still golfs and sails. He is still competitive. If we were going somewhere he was first out the door and first in line when we got there. He laughs a lot and truly enjoys his life. Get out the door. Do what you love. For me, more than anything this is the Olympic spirit. DAVID HOLT EDITOR 4 WWW.OPTIMYZ.COM OPTIMYZ MAY/JUNE 2012 OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF GOODLIFE FITNESS MAY/JUNE 2012 Vol. 5 No. 2 OptiMYz is a bi-monthly magazine for people who care about improving their health, fitness and lifestyle. PUBLISHER EDITOR Max Brennan David Holt [email protected] [email protected] PRODUCTION MANAGER Megan Blanchard ART DIRECTION/WEBSITE Ron McDougall, HM Design PROOFREADER Brad Milligan ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Claire Rogers [email protected] ASSOCIATE SALES MANAGER Jonathan Dean, [email protected] MANAGER, NEW MEDIA Chris Surette, [email protected] MARKETERS SCAN TO WATCH Glenn Faltenhine [email protected] Julian Mason-Espin [email protected] CONTROLLER Jennifer Garvey [email protected] CIRCULATION The Oyster Group PRINTING » OPTIMYZ TV Dollco Printing Watch exclusive videos HOW TO REACH US: and interviews at OptiMYz Inc. PO Box 392 Station M 1 Yorkdale Rd., Suite 202 youtube.com/optimyztv Dartmouth, NS B2Y 3Y5 Toronto, ON M6A 3A1 Tel: (902) 463-0516 www.optimyz.com » CONTEST Toll Free: 1-877-710-0516 [email protected] Fax: (902) 463-8005 Congratulations to Keri The information in this magazine is not intended to Cawthorne, winner of a TIMEX constitute specific medical, fitness or health advice. It is not a IRONMAN Race Trainer Kit! substitute for advice from your physician or qualified health care professional. Before adhering to any information or We asked what race you had recommendations, consult your physician or qualified health planned for 2012 and Keri care professional. Any reliance on the information in this magazine is solely at your own risk. wrote: "Just completed the OptiMYz is not responsible for the return of unsolicited Golden Ears ½ Marathon. On my schedule are the manuscripts. All contents are the property of OptiMYz Inc. 5 Peaks BC Trail Running Series, BMO ½ marathon Check out our latest contests and cannot be reproduced in any form without written consent. and the Lululemon Seawhease ½ marathon." at optimyz.com/contests The publisher reserves the right to refuse any advertising and bears no responsibility for advertisers’ messages. SUBSCRIPTIONS $19.95 (plus tax) for 6 issues FOLLOW US E-mail [email protected] @OptiMYzMag or call 1-866-285-5459 Canada Post Publications Mail Agreement No. 41578041 FRIEND US ISSN# 1925-9875 facebook.com/OptiMYzMagazine Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: OptiMYz Inc. Sign up for FREE PO Box 392 Station M WATCH US Dartmouth, Nova Scotia B2Y 3Y5 youtube.com/optimyztv OptiMYz Interactive offers a multilay- © 2012 OptiMYz Inc. ered experience of the magazine that Please recycle this magazine. FIND US includes interactive content, embedded optimyz.com video, interactive polls and much more. MOISTURIZE YOUR SOUL 5 The Locker Sex: Nature’s miracle drug OOKING for a workout that improves overall health as well as fitness? One that creates a Lnatural high—and can be completed with a partner? Consider sex. “Having regular sex leads to many physiological advantages for both men and women,” writes Alan Farnham of forbes.com Room Queens University in Belfast tracked the mortality of 1,000 middle-aged men over 10 years. “Those with the highest frequency of orgasm enjoyed a death rate half that of the laggards.” News and views Other studies report that having sex even a few times a week improves sense of smell, reduces depression, leads to less-frequent colds and flu and better bladder control. It also from the world of reduces risk of heart disease: By having sex at least three times a week, men reduced their risk of heart attack or stroke by half.