How to maximize your vo2 max training
Exercise physiologist and avid runner Brady Holmer has done a series of articles on vo2 max--what it is, why it matters, and how to improve it. The latter is particularly important for runners because an enhanced vo2 max is a universally-accepted prerequisite for better race results.
In his fifth installment in the series, Holmer focused on research into the best ways to boost your vo2 max. All running is good, but some types of training are better than others.
In the short term--and virtually all studies in the field cover just a few weeks or months--there’s no doubting the power of High Intensity Training (HIT, ie, running fast). These HIT repeats can be quite short.
At least one paper delved into the effectiveness of 15-second pickups, which proved very powerful at increasing vo2 max. Not only that, but subjects generally rate shorter intervals easier and more enjoyable than longer intervals. So you might be more likely to do them on a regular basis.
But if you’re looking for the optimal vo2 max workout, you’ll need to brace yourself for a bigger effort. Several studies point to 4-minute repeats as the ultimate. You’ll want to do these at roughly your 5K race pace, take a short recovery of 2 to 3 minutes, and then do several more. In the classic study (with free full text) noted by Holmer, subjects did 4 repeats of 4-minutes each for a total of 16 minutes of hard running.
It’s worth emphasizing that no matter how important vo2 max is, you shouldn’t devote all your training (or even a significant portion) to boosting vo2 max. That would violate the hard/easy principle, because vo2 max intervals are hard.
Never forget that all training is good. As Holmer notes: “Again, none of this is to say that lower-intensity training should be neglected. Building a strong aerobic foundation before implementing high-intensity training into your program is prudent: allowing you to maximize the benefits of hard training, in addition to preventing injury and overtraining.” More at Substack/Brady Holmer.
The science of world-class endurance training--present and future
In this nice report, the authors asked 25 of the world’s most renowned endurance scientists what they thought about the “main trends in the practice of endurance sports in the past 10 to 15 years.” The same group was then also asked about “main areas expected to drive future improvements.”
Here’s a quick summary of the responses from the 25 leading scientists.
Past: 1) Better understanding of specific sports requirements; 2) Improved execution in races; 3) Greater, more specific training loads; 4) Improved training quality; 5) Greater focus on healthier lifestyles.
Future: 1) More use of advanced tech in training and recovery; 2) More precise use of heat, altitude, and nutrition; 3) Greater understanding of equipment benefits; 4) More emphasis on injury- and illness-prevention.
I was a little surprised to see heat training move up onto the same plane as altitude and nutrition.
The authors hope their paper will “stimulate curiosity and fruitful collaborative studies about the training, physiology, health, and performance of elite athletes.” More at International J of Sports Physiology & Performance with free full text.
How to win the Olympics when you’re 100
I haven’t read Peter Attia’s best selling book, Outlive: The Science & Art of Longevity, but I’ve ordered it, because so many folks are talking about it. I’ll read it soon
Attia’s work is basically about lifetime exercise, fitness, and health, which is pretty darn close to the RLRH theme. He says he wants to translate “the science of longevity into something accessible, digestible, and actionable for everyone.” So I feel we’re on similar paths even if he’s not committed to running and other endurance sports.
He does have a cool idea that I like a lot, the Centenarian Olympics. He’s not talking about entering a marathon or triathlon when you’re 100, but rather preparing for everyday-life events. This includes stuff like dressing yourself, walking a mile in 20 minutes, tossing the grandchildren a little, walking up 4 flights of stairs, doing a perfect-form plank for 60 seconds, and maintaining enough balance and strength to avoid falls.
Attia doesn’t particularly care what 10 events you choose so long as they contribute to successful physical performance (and good health) at 100. He himself wants to be able to pull back the bow string of a 50# bow.
In a recent podcast, he described the “4 pillars” of his lifelong exercise plan: aerobic efficiency, vo2 max maintenance, strength, and balance.
He suggests that your training program will require at least 3 hours a week. This includes an hour of Zone 2 aerobic training (faster than a jog, slower than a tempo run), an hour of strength work, perhaps 20 minutes of high intensity intervals, and 40 minutes of balance work. More at Rich Roll Podcast.
The simple but surprising superfood of Tour de France riders
The Tour de France has been the source of many performance and nutrition articles through the years because, well, it’s got almost everything: pure endurance including those long mountain climbs, high strength-speed in the time trials, and the requirement for great recovery in order to sustain three weeks of back-to-back days in the saddle. We’ve known for a long time that TdF riders consume 6000+ calories per day, depending on the length and effort required by each day’s ride.
But where do those calories come from? A lot comes from rice--a high carb grain that’s easy on the gut. “Riders eat a lot of rice. It’s sort of boring, but it works,” says one team chef. “We add sauces like tomato or pesto to keep it interesting, but it is essentially still just rice!”
Another team nutritionist notes: “It’s nearly always white rice we serve, because it’s so easy to consume and it’s low fiber.” More at Velo.
Can orthotics reduce your injuries?
When companies supply the funding for research projects, that is often thought to influence the outcomes of such studies. Even if the researchers swear they were not influenced.
So eyes-wide-open with regard to this orthotics study, which was intended to determine if orthotics would increase running speed, decrease injury risk, and improve shoe comfort. The trial was funded by Aetrex Orthotics.
The project enrolled 94 runners who were divided into two groups: orthotics wearers vs no orthotics. The study lasted 8 weeks, and runner-subjects supplied data regarding their results for the last half of the time period.
Outcome: The runners using orthotics reported that they ran .3 mph faster than those without orthotics, and were 2.2 times less likely to sustain an injury. However, neither of these results were statistically significant. (If someone started at 10:00 minute pace, and increased their speed by .3 mph, this would yield a new pace of 9:31. Starting at 8:00 would yield an improvement to 7:41).
Conclusion: “Findings were only significant for comfort, and not for speed or injury rates.” Shoe comfort is an important factor for runners, and could certainly be enough to make you choose off-the-shelf orthotics. As usual, this is something you’ll have to decide for yourself. More at World J of Orthopedics with free full text.
Some running injuries, including bone stress issues, require more correction than an in shoe orthotic. Often the treatment includes a “walking boot” for several weeks to several months. The boot allows the bone to heal, but also limits ankle motion and leads to local muscle weakening.
Now a team at the University of Memphis have invented a Dynamic Ankle Orthosis DAO that appears to lower
compression forces even more than a boot, while allowing for more ankle movement to maintain muscle health.
The authors suggest that this could be a viable alternative for runners and other athletes seeking a safe but quicker return to normal activity. More at Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise.
New advice for dealing with bad air-quality days
First there was Covid. Now we’ve got regular Air Quality Index (AQI) alerts due to massive forest fires and other pollution. Sad but perhaps necessary: Keep your supply of face masks close at hand.
The Road Runners Club of America has updated its “Safe Event Guidelines” to help race directors decide what to do when faced with poor air quality. The recommendations range from shortening race distance to outright cancellation. The recommendations note: “Many local governments have adopted guidelines for outdoor activities, which include canceling events/outdoor activities for “Code Red” days or AQI at 151+.”
Also, when the AQI reaches the purple/maroon level, race directors are advised to “100% cancel the event.” The RRCA likes the clear, basic information available at the AirNow.gov website (with quick results for your zip code). You can also use these guidelines to assist decisions about your daily training. More at RRCA.org.
The truth about the best strength-training program
All exercise is a form of strength training. It’s just that some exercises stress the muscles in different ways than others. In running, for example, your quadriceps muscles lift your entire body weight (100 lbs, 150 lbs, 200 lbs, etc) with each stride. It’s just that the quads do this with a relatively small range of motion vs the 90 degree flex you attain when doing squats.
A key question has been long debated in the strength world: Is it better to lift very heavy weights just a few times or to lift lighter weights a larger number of times? Now widely-acknowledged world experts from McMaster University say they have a deeply researched response.
And the answer is? The two are essentially equivalent so long as you lift close to the failure point in both cases. Heavier weights are slightly better for actual strength gains, while lighter weights are slightly better for “hypertrophy,” ie, the size of the muscle.
The McMaster experts reached their conclusion with “the largest synthesis of resistance training prescription data from randomized trials.” The report analyzed results from 178 RCTs with more than 5000 subjects in total, including 45% women. More at British J of Sports Medicine with free full text.
Another long-standing debate in the strength-training world involves the question of free weights vs machine weights, where “the superior effectiveness of free-weight over machine-based resistance training has been a traditionally widespread belief” according to a new paper. However, the paper found no support for this bias when it compared the two approaches on 5 key athletic skills (sprinting, change of direction, vertical jump, balance, and upper- and lower-limb anaerobic performance.
Conclusion: Based on these results, athletes incorporating resistance training as a complement to their field- or track-specific training could use free-weight or machine-based exercises depending on their possibilities or preferences.” More at Scandinavian J of Medicine & Science in Sports with free full text.
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GREAT QUOTES make great training partners
“I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.”
--Carl Jung
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby