Athletic Training

Age: 45. College: Texas. Hometown: Katy, Texas Denied claims made by McNamee to investigators working for former Sen. George Mitchell that he had used steroids and human growth hormone. Clemens maintains he received injections only of vitamin B-12 and pain-relieving lidocaine from McNamee. Could face perjury investigation if Congress or Justice Department officials come away unsatisfied with the legitimacy of his denials of drug use.

After months of training, buckets of sweat and countless tasteless energy bars, they're ready -- or hope they are. More than 26,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair athletes will take to the streets Sunday as the Los Angeles Marathon kicks off its 23rd year with a 26.2-mile race through Hollywood, Koreatown, Boyle Heights, downtown and points in between.

Taking on a marathon for the first time is both exhilarating and mystifying. To help runners navigate those 26.2 miles, we asked experienced marathoners and coaches for their advice. Weighing in are Pat Connelly, official coach of the L.A. Marathon and the L.A. Roadrunners, the marathon's training program; Kathrine Switzer, author of "Marathon Woman: Running the Race to Revolutionize Women's Sports" and a former L.A.

Entrants to this year's L.A. Marathon may have been training for months, but the remaining days leading up to Sunday are critical. The body needs appropriate rest, nutrition and a little exercise to stay in racing shape.

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Basketball already is a job for Kevin Love. His schedule before this week proves it. He's awake and eating breakfast by 6:30 a.m. He has made the trip from his Westwood apartment to the Home Depot Center in Carson by 8:15 a.m. There he joins UCLA teammate Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Arizona's Chase Budinger in a weight room where the three players spend 90 minutes doing workouts tailored for their particular needs by Joe Abunassar, founder and owner of Impact Basketball.

Dripping with sweat, Bakr Sallih lunges toward his opponent and delivers a cracking punch to the jaw. "Easy," chides his coach. "I want wisdom. I don't want force." Less than a year ago, the lean 17-year-old was running the streets of Adhamiya with a Kalashnikov, defending the Sunni Arab enclave from attacks from the surrounding Shiite Muslim districts in east Baghdad. But that was then, he says. Now, his fights are confined to the boxing ring at the Adhamiya Sports Club.

One of the keys to baseball's future lies in Compton, on fields so close to the 91 Freeway that the rumble of trucks and whoosh of traffic are part of the ambience. It lies in the hands of the 36 young men who gathered there last week for the Major League Baseball Urban Youth Academy's first high school showcase and displayed their talents for more than 130 scouts.

Covering, as it does, 3.7 million square miles, China ought to be big enough for the Dodgers \o7and \f7the New York Yankees. Populated, as it is, by more than 1.3 billion people, the country should provide ample opportunity for more than one team to teach baseball and, perhaps, someday reap the benefit of developing a major league player.

The Dodgers first held spring training in 1901, in Charlotte, N.C. They hopped through a dozen other sites, including Havana, New Orleans and Hot Springs, Ark., before settling into an old naval air station in Vero Beach, Fla., in 1948. Over the decades, Dodgertown evolved into the most storied and arguably the most charming site for spring training. Fans and players mingled easily, along Vin Scully Way and Don Drysdale Drive. Coaches and executives rode in golf carts.

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed seven free agents this winter, including stars Jason Schmidt and Nomar Garciaparra, but the best deals they made might be the ones that enable them to move their spring home from Florida to Arizona. The Dodgers will pay nothing to terminate their lease in Vero Beach, Fla. They will pay nothing to move into a new, two-team complex in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Ariz., in 2009.