Fall Season Week 7

"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."
- Lewis Carroll

Fundraising Tip
Send a Postcard Reminder to those who haven't donated yet. Be sure to update your list at this time as you may have realized someone you forgot earlier or you may have recently met someone new.

Training Tip
Bumblebees and Racehorses
(Excerpted from “The Triathlete’s Training Bible” by Joel Friel)

A few years ago, scientists at NASA developed an interest in the bumblebee. The lab folks reckoned that the little insect held some secrets of flight that may provide answers to questions about operating in space. After all, they asked, how could such small wings produce efficient lift for a relatively large and hairy torso? And how could a round body and flight position that violated many principles of aerodynamics move so effectively through the air? Indeed, there was much to learn from the little hummer.

So the scientists set about studying the bumblebee to discover its flying secrets. After weeks of study, they came to one conclusion: Bumblebees are not capable of flight.

Fortunately, no one told the bumblebee. The silly insects go right on believing that flight is normal for them despite what the best minds in the scientific world know as fact.

We can learn a lot from the bumblebee. The single most critical piece of the endurance sport puzzle is believing in yourself and your capacity to succeed. “If you think you can or think you can’t,” Henry Ford said, “you’re probably right.” The bumblebee thinks it can fly. Actually, the thought of anything else never even crosses its tiny mind. It just keeps on flying.

Then there’s the racehorse. Have you ever been to a horse race? The physiology of equine athletes is similar to that of human athletes, and they are trained in much the same manner as a runner. They use heart rate monitors, train with intervals and endurance, follow a periodization plan, and eat a diet designed to enhance performance.

Psychologically, racehorses differ a great deal from athletes. They never question their training preparation. When it comes time for a workout designed by their trainer, they do it without wondering if it’s enough. They don’t go out in the morning and put in a few extra junk miles for “insurance.” They don’t worry and fret after a poor performance. Stable life goes on as usual.

On race day, racehorses are nervous just as human athletes are; they know what is about to happen, but they don’t magnify the tension by comparing themselves with the other horses (“Look at the legs on that stud!”). Instead, they are very purposeful in their approach to training and racing. There is but one reason for everyday existence – to get faster. If the horse is physically strong and the trainer is smart, this happens.

If you are to succeed in training, the first thing you must do is believe in yourself just as the bumblebee does. Without this, all of the science in the world won’t do any good. Also, you must have a purposeful, racehorse trust in your training. Continually second-guessing and changing training direction after every race are a sure way to fail.

Think like a bumblebee. Train like a horse.

Frequently Asked Questions
WHAT ARE SOME NEW APPROACHES TO TREATMENT?
• Monoclonal Antibodies- The treatment fuses radioactive iodine to a monoclonal antibody. These antibodies are used as guided missiles to target and destroy malignant cells in leukemia patients. Since the antibody attaches to specific sites on the surface of the cancerous white blood cells but not to normal tissues, it focuses the radiation effect on the leukemia cells.
• Blood Cell Growth Factors-These are naturally occurring body proteins that help regulate the number of blood cells in circulation. These factors can be genetically engineered into drugs and used to treat acute leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
• Umbilical Cord Blood- Transplant specialists use blood from the umbilical cord and placenta of newborns to replace the diseased marrow of children with leukemia who no longer responded to conventional methods of treatment. Umbilical cord blood is an excellent source of stem cells (also present in marrow) that can reconstitute a healthy blood cell population. LSA researchers were among the first in the nation to perform cord blood transplants from unrelated donors.
• New Drugs-Leukemia & Lymphoma Society researchers are evaluating drugs in development and novel drug combinations as the foundation for more promising new treatments. The use of purine nucleotides such as 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA), is under investigation for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and acute myelogenous leukemia.

Mission Moment
In Memory Of
Luz E. Burgos
New York, NY
Lived with Leukemia - rare type for 2 months

My mother was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia on Mother's Day of 2006, at the age of 62. Unfortunately, she died two months later. She chose to spend the rest of her days at Zicklin Hospice in NYC. They made her last days absolutely wonderful. Until the day she passed she had a smile on her face because of all the support she received. Please, please, if your loved one chooses this path, please support them and enjoy the time they have left. My mother was an amazing woman full of life, love and happiness. She lived and died that way.