Just in time to celebrate our Olympic Athletes

John Kernaghan, The Hamilton Spectator, August 09, 2008

Olympic athletes look for strategies to fight smog and heat

"Environmental fears hung over these Olympics like toxic storm clouds. Would these be the seriously and literally dirty Games, as opposed to other merely drug-dirty Games?

Early returns suggest that, as many experts predicted, it will be heat and humidity that limit athletes, not bad air. While some American athletes packed masks, and some famously wore them out of context inside Beijing's airport, pre-Games training and cooling vests are more prominent features.

Athletes such as Hamilton triathlete Colin Jenkins and mountain biker Seamus McGrath of Carlisle did extensive workouts in a mobile environmental trainer (MET) at their pre-Games camp in Victoria.

It is fitted with a treadmill, bike and rowing machine and can simulate plus-40 C temperatures and altitudes of up to 4,500 metres. A pill with a radio transmitter allowed them to push their training to the limits and get a sense of how far they can push their bodies later this month.

Jenkins, whose role in these Games is to help 2000 gold medalist Simon Whitfield get back on the podium, is also backing that up with a supplement that could help counteract foul air. He calls 7Systems "an insurance policy to give me some peace of mind and maybe an edge."

The supplement has more than 60 ingredients including vitamins, minerals and antioxidants designed to help maximize performance and recovery.

The supplement was reviewed by McMaster University expert Dr. Gianni Parise. He says the product goes beyond most supplements in providing support for respiratory, cardiovascular and immune systems. He said pollution can damage lung tissue in endurance athletes such as Jenkins and the antioxidants can help limit that damage."

> Aside from checking out his own blog at http://colinjenkins.blogspot.com/, here is an extra excerpt for a blog he wrote for slowtwitch.com:

"The Olympics were kicked off this morning with the Opening Ceremonies to open the 2008 Summer Olympic Games! I was able to catch a little bit of the spectacular show on my computer before I was off to swim practice here in Victoria. Yes that is right, I am still in Canada when the Games have already started. We are actually do not leave for Beijing until the 13th when we fly FIRST CLASS to Beijing from Vancouver.

We decided to stay in Canada and go into Beijing late for a number of reasons. The main reason is because we are following the KISS (keep it simple stupid) motto for this race. We all know that this race carries more significance than any other race in the last 4 years and there is no denying that it requires some extra preparation but we do not want to change too much of how we would normally prepare for a "big" race.

We will arrive 5 days before our race which is routine of what we normally do for a race that required a lot of travelling. We also want to stay close to our "comforts" for as long as possible. This means staying out of the hot and humid weather, training in fresh air and staying away from the pollution in Beijing, eating familiar foods, and training in the same locations as we always do."

The 7SYSTEM teams salutes you both and wishes you all the best! Just in case you were wondering, we do not pay our profiled athletes to use 7SYSTEMS- they all use it because it works for them!