December 22, 2022

“Descending ladders” climb to top of workout ladder

The descending ladder interval workout has always made a lot of intuitive sense. You go really hard for a set distance and pace (let’s say 3 laps) that you probably couldn’t repeat a second time. So you cut down your second repeat to 2 laps while maintaining pace. Then you do a 1 lapper. Then half a lap. Always at the same pace.

The result is a strong piece of training at a hard pace. You manage to hold that pace through the entire workout, with each repeat remaining “do-able,” only because each is shorter than the preceding one. 

Now we have impressive physiology data to reinforce the benefits of descending ladders. At Outside Online, Alex Hutchinson describes a paper that compares several different workouts, and explains the power of descending ladders.

Several weeks ago I noted another report favoring long intervals over shorter ones for stimulating your vo2 max. It appears that High Intensity Decreasing Interval Training, or HIDIT, is even better. More at European J of Applied Physiology. 

Simple (but complete) guide to good running form

Several running experts who are also members of the American College of Sports Medicine have teamed up to produce a deeply-referenced review article they call “Healthy running habits for the distance runner.” It’s a running-form article, and not one about diet and sleep and the like. Their work includes a nifty free Infographic that actually looks the way most of us would like to look at mid-stride--relaxed, balanced, good posture, moving smooth.

The accompanying article includes many of the usual tips that are always worth reinforcing: Run with shortish, quickish strides, as quietly as you can, while squeezing your glutes, tightening the tummy, and being careful not to overdo a forward lean. Also, the authors are big fans of taking walk breaks when you feel overly fatigued, as during long runs. They believe that excessive fatigue causes bad running form, which leads to injuries.

I particularly like the simple instructions at the bottom of the Infographic. “When tired during a run: Take a break and walk a minute or two. Breathe and eliminate fatigue. Re-envision good running form, and then re-engage back to running.” Also, “Avoid injury: Do not outrun your endurance on long runs, as this is when form breaks down. Consider periodic breaks along the run, or try intervals.” More at Current Sports Medicine Reports.

The secret of Kenyan running success

It’s no secret that Kenyan runners have dominated world competition for the last 30 years. The “secret,” or at least the unknown, is a clear and compelling explanation. Maybe good genetics plays a role; no one is quite sure. Maybe it’s the altitude and clean air. Or the fact that most Kenyan runners don’t touch a drop of fluids during their weekly 30K long runs. “That’s okay,” says head coach Patrick Sang. “They don’t need it.”

In this wonderful story with fantastic photos, Sang posits that simplicity and community are the key building blocks to strong Kenyan running. At training camp, the athletes follow a routine of “Sleep, eat, train, repeat.” Everyone pitches in with the shopping, cooking, and cleaning--even superstar Eliud Kipchoge. He has just one special perk--a modest private bedroom.

“I think that when you stop leading a simple life, your mind-set loses contact with the outside world and you lose your focus on your actual goals,” says Kipchoge. “At this point, you run the risk of forgetting about the really important things in life.”

The article author adds: “The Rift Valley – Iten and Kaptagat in particular – is like nowhere else on earth. Everybody knows a champion who is friends with another champion, who is the neighbor of another champion.” Magic begets more magic. More at World Athletics.

Welcome to the “Recovery Decade:” Get more sleep

If you or I were to claim that we’re in the “Recovery Decade” of exercise training science, it would be hard for anyone to argue. Sleep is the new intervals. A few examples follow.

Here’s an Infographic that sums up a recent Sleep Loss systematic review and meta analysis. It found that every hour of lost sleep diminished performance by 0.4 percent.

The U.S. Navy considers itself a “ high-reliability organization that must maintain optimum performance under challenging conditions.” To see how things were going, the USN commissioned a major study of the sleep habits of 7617 personnel on 73 different ships. Result: Basically no one was getting more than 7 hours sleep. Worse, “Fatigue-induced occupational functional impairment was directly related to sleep deficiency.” More at Journal of Sleep Research.

Most interesting of all, recent Philadelphia Marathon winner Amber Zimmerman, PhD, is doing post-doc work in “sleep medicine.” Does that make her a believer? Yup, big time. Even though she’s often running long in the pre-dawn hours, Zimmerman aims for 8.5 to 9 hours of sleep a night. There’s another good reason she’s performing better now than ever before, having achieved a 5 minute improvement with her 2:31:35 at Philly. Zimmerman notes that she has slowed her easy-day runs from 7:00 pace to 8:30 pace. More at Fast Women.

“Train your brain” with pre-workout exercises

The effect of brain training and brain fatigue on endurance performance remains an area of great academic interest. Not to mention practical potential. Here, researchers put subjects through several rigorous mental routines before exercise training. Another group did the same training without the prior mental stress.

After five weeks, both groups were tested for endurance performance, which improved twice as much in the mental-routines group (24%) vs the exercise-only group (12%). Conclusion: “Mental training before physical training improves endurance performance greater than physical training alone.” More at European J of Sport Science.

The power of Relative Perceived Exertion

Relative Perceived Exertion (RPE) might be one of the most important concepts in training, coaching, and exercise physiology. But it’s under attack every day because you can’t measure it with a wristband or a pricey digital gizmo. There’s no multi-million dollar marketing campaign trying to convince you of RPE’s benefits because there’s nothing to sell. 

RPE is literally the way you feel--good or bad? energized or fatigued?--and some have become so high-tech that they dismiss anything without a bright, blinking display. They may also become dazed and confused by advice to train and recover according to “how you feel” just as they lack faith in the “drink when you’re thirsty” recommendation.

But what other device can factor in, as RPE does, changes in pace, terrain, distance, altitude, heat, humidity, dehydration, mental fatigue, muscle soreness, glycogen availability, and more? None. And it’s free. 

Using RPE, you can monitor your training so it’s “mostly easy, sometimes hard, and sometimes very hard.” You might also realize it’s smart to adjust any workout that doesn’t feel the way you expect it to feel.

RPE was developed by Swedish physiologist Gunnar Borg from the 1960s onward, and first appeared as a 6 to 20 scale roughly equivalent to low and high heart rates (from 60 to 200, divided by 10). The scale extended from minimal effort to max effort. Borg RPE ratings have also been transposed onto a 1 to 10 scale. 

If you pair your daily exercise with a Borg assessment of how each effort felt, you could move toward an enhanced notion of training intensity, recovery, and adaptation (ie, increased fitness.) The link here includes a free full text history with updated neurophysiology and practical applications. See Int J of Environmental Research & Public Health.

Consider these for your New Year’s resolutions

I’ve reread Steve Magness’s and Brad Stulberg’s “The Growth Equation Manifesto” many times this year, and it only rings more true each time. If you’re looking for a couple of solid resolutions for 2023, start here. I guarantee you’ll find one or more.

It’s hard not to smile over “Avoid foods wrapped in plastic.” The most important might be: “Don’t expect things to feel good all the time.”

You might want to print out the full Manifesto and refer to it often. That’s what I do. The advice is “Simple though not easy,” as Magness and Stulberg would phrase it. But any effort you put into these principles will almost surely be returned many times over. More at The Growth Eq.

Curcurmin gets positive review for exercise and recovery

There are a number of spices and herbs with supposed beneficial effects on running or at least on reducing muscle soreness and inflammation. Cinnamon is a favorite in my home. We enjoy putting it in coffee, on oatmeal and apples, and basically wherever we can.

Curcumin has probably attracted the most attention in sports medicine. It’s the yellow spice in turmeric, which is often used in Indian and Middle Eastern cooking. Here a long review article reaches positive results on curcumin, concluding “Due to the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin, it can increase exercise performance and decrease exercise-induced muscle soreness and muscle damage.” 

Also: curcumin, via its antioxidant properties, may be effective in “reducing cellular oxidative stress, especially in mitochondria over the long term, as well as positively impacting exercise endurance, strength, and recovery to improve overall health.” More at Food Science & Nutrition (free full text).

How to use percussion therapy for muscle pains/injuries

Percussion massage “guns” (horrible name but quite descriptive) seem like the current and future leader for anyone suffering from muscle pains like the familiar DOMS that runners experience after hard workouts and races. These things are new and not extensively researched yet, but you have to admit that a machine can apply forces much faster and perhaps harder (if that’s what you want) than human hands. Also, while they can be expensive, you also have to compare them to the hourly fee of your favorite massage therapist.

Here’s a guide to their use. The author makes an important point--one that you’ve heard a million times about the way you train: Don’t go too fast, too soon. With massage guns, that means start gentle and build up as your muscles adapt to the percussion. More at Stack.

Here are two free “Consumer Reports” evaluations of massage guns from a year ago, but without the actual reviews (which would require a subscription). The first. The second.

Big data reveals that exercise protects against serious Covid

Doctors from the large Kaiser Permanente health insurance group took a retrospective look at more than 190,000 people in their system who had a positive Covid test. They asked these subjects: “How much did you exercise before getting Covid?”

The results showed a clear dose-response association between degree of inactivity vs regular exercise and severity of eventual Covid illness. “Those who were consistently inactive were 191% more likely to be hospitalized and 391% more likely to die than those who were consistently active.” This held true across ethnicities, ages, prior high blood pressure, and other variables. 

The researchers concluded: “The results of this study document substantially higher odds of hospitalization, deterioration events, and death, with lower amounts of self-reported physical activity in a stepwise fashion for adults infected with COVID-19.”

Therefore, “Public health leaders should add physical activity to pandemic control strategies.”

More at American J of Preventive Medicine.

SHORT STUFF you don’t want to miss

>>> Nasal breathing strips helpful to runners but certainty of evidence is “very low.”

>>> DIY myofascial release effective against ITB in cyclist group (free full text)

>>> “Hormonal and metabolic considerations” to guide women’s nutrition across the lifespan (free full text)

GREAT QUOTES make great training partners

“Eventually the hoopla will die down, and people will run the same way we brush our teeth--every day, without a fuss.”

--Jim Fixx

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading. See you in two weeks. Amby

December 15, 2022

A newer, simpler, better way to train

Okay, take a deep breath. I’m going to try to summarize a 208-page PhD thesis. It’s titled “A novel approach to training analysis for distance runners based on race-pace,” and is written by Mark Kenneally, a former elite Irish marathon runner. 

When Kenneally was a 2:13 marathoner a decade ago, and wanting to improve, he read everything he could find about endurance training. And he was confused. Because what he read in the top scientific journals seemed quite different from what he was hearing from the best runners and their coaches.  

In some ways, this wasn’t surprising. Training methods are always bouncing in and out of favor. Or perhaps we should say they are “evolving.” You had your intervals in the 1950s and early 1960s, massive volume in the ‘70s and ‘80s, lactate threshold (tempo training) in the 90s, a tempo revolt in the 2000s, and the HIT infatuation of the last decade. 

Kenneally himself was reading a lot of positive articles about HIT workouts and polarization, but hearing that the world’s best marathon runners seemed more focused on lactate-threshold work. Strange, because this training had been declared a black hole or dead zone that should be almost entirely avoided.  

Additionally, he came to believe that training analysis and programs were overwhelmed by laboratory gibberish--all the physiology measures like heart rate, vo2 max, blood lactate, critical speed, and the “zones” separating one type of training from another. For example, the ever popular 80/20 training method is all about zones. 

That’s because the guys and women writing journal papers make precise calculations of physiological measure. What else are you going to do with your PhD and expensive lab equipment? 

But runners don’t train by their physiology--at least not Kenyan runners who lack digital straps on their chest, wrist, and other body parts. They train by pace: 5 minutes per mile, or 7:00, or 9:00, or whatever works for you.  

And while an 800/1500 runner obviously must do some training in Zone 3 (serious speed), a marathoner may not need any Zone 3 work at all. So zones don’t have much across-the-board utility.  

Kenneally came to believe it makes more sense to base your training on “race pace” of your goal race. No matter what your key event, you still do 80+ percent of all running at a slow, relaxed pace. 

Then, as you get closer to a major competition, do more training at your goal race pace. If you’re a miler, run fast 200s. If you’re entered in a half marathon, do 3 to 6-mile tempos at your half marathon pace. 

If it’s a marathon you’re chasing, you might do long tempo runs (of 10 to 12 miles) at marathon pace. Always remember that training is a rehearsal, not the real thing, so be sure to leave something in reserve on these long tempos. 

Why should you follow the Kenneally system? There certainly aren’t any RCTs to support it. He argues several main points. For one, many lab studies using physiology markers have been performed on swimmers, cyclists, and cross-country skiers. These endurance athletes don’t endure as much “pounding” as runners. They can probably do more HIT training with less muscle damage than runners. 

It’s also possible, perhaps for the same or a related reason, that runners need more time to reach their potential. Less HIT training likely reduces injuries and increases longevity in the sport. The payoff doesn’t come next month but many miles down the road.  

Kenneally began his thesis by reviewing recent exercise physiology papers. This review led him to conclude that “polarized training” was the superior approach. He writes: “However, the world’s best athletes were observed to train in a manner contrary to this claim.” So he undertook a thesis project to look more closely, and now he has a PhD too. More at University of the Basque Country. 

Important, unexpected result: Stroke risk lowered, not raised, by atrial fibrillation in endurance exercisers

One of the few bad outcomes associated with long term vigorous exercise is an apparent increase in rates of atrial fibrillation. This is worrisome because AF is linked to a higher risk of stroke. And no one wants that. 

However, regular exercisers are weird. Some of the bad stuff that happens to non-exercisers doesn’t happen to those who stay active. One example of this is coronary artery calcium. Large CAC deposits are deadly in men who don’t exercise, especially if they are overweight smokers. But in exercisers, the risk basically disappears.  

Now it seems the same may be true for AF. When Norwegian researchers investigated 500 men who were over age 65 and had been frequent participants in the Birkebeiner 33 mile cross country ski race, they found that the athletes did in fact have a higher incidence of AF. However, “the long-term risk of stroke was substantially reduced [by 40 percent] compared with non-athletes.” So the skiers suffered fewer strokes, which is the feared and dangerous outcome. More at BMJ Open Heart. 

Movement is exercise, and it doesn’t take much to produce health benefits

In some quarters, the “Exercise is medicine” approach is morphing to “Movement is medicine.” There are several reasons for this. Some believe that “exercise” is an intimidating term to many sedentary folks. But there’s also the fact that it doesn’t take much very intense movement to have a significant health impact. 

In fact, it only takes 4 to 5 minutes a day of VILPA (Vigorous Intermittent Lifestyle Physical Activity) to attain essentially the same health benefits as the 15 daily minutes of VPA (Vigorous Physical Activity) or 30 minutes of MPA (Moderate Physical Activity) noted by most global exercise recommendations. This eye-opening result comes from a new, big-data paper that followed more than 25,000 non exercising British citizens for almost 7 years. 

The subjects were classified as nonexercisers because, you guessed it, they didn’t exercise on a regular basis. Some did, however, sprint after buses, climb stairs fast, mow the lawn, and engage in other “lifestyle” forms of VILPA. These efforts often lasted just 45 seconds at a time, but they recurred 5 to 6 times daily, to reach a sum of 4 to 5 minutes. And they were associated with much better health outcomes than those who didn’t ever break into “vigorous, intermittent” activity. 

VILPA had never been measured before. You can think of it as “running hard” while VPA is “running comfortably” and MPA is “walking.” Any of these routines yields roughly a 40 percent mortality reduction over a set period of years. 

Leading exercise epidemiologist and first author Emmanuel Stamatakis noted: “A few very short bouts totalling three to four minutes a day could go a long way, and there are many daily activities that can be tweaked to raise your heart rate for a minute or so.” More at Nature Medicine (free full text). 

16 science-backed benefits of running

I don’t recommend every article about the benefits of running and high-level fitness, because we have heard much of it before. On the other hand, it’s often a good idea to be reminded of that which we already know. 

Especially if the reinforcement helps us keep going--the ultimate goal. So here are 16 mostly-scientific benefits of running. I’ve found that their relative importance have changed for me through the years (and decades). Now things like “Running makes you happier” and “Running connects us” rank higher than ever. More at RunStreet. 

Run “quiet” for fewer injuries and no loss of speed

It’s nice, if a bit rare, when a simple piece of running advice proves to have measurable benefits. This study describes one such stride technique. 

The researchers wondered what might happen if they asked a group of experienced subjects to “run quieter.” So they designed a study to find out. Here’s the protocol. 

Fifteen female runners with a 5K PR under 23 minutes ran on a laboratory treadmill to allow for measurements of their running economy and various forces they generated. Next they did a comfortable 15-minute run while an audio device recorded the sound of their running footfalls on the treadmill. Throughout the effort, they were instructed to “run quieter.” They were also given feedback every 3 minutes regarding the decibels they were producing 

For their next week of normal run training at home, the subjects were asked to remember and repeat how they had run quieter in the lab. Then they came back to the lab for retesting of all their initial measurements.  

Result? First, running economy didn’t change. That’s good news. You wouldn’t want to improve one set of measures while lowering another. Also, ground reaction force and loading rate decreased. This might lower injury risks.  

The researchers concluded: “Simple instructions to ‘run quietly’ can yield immediate and sustained reductions in force profiles, which do not influence running economy.” Runners might benefit from “periodically monitoring foot strike decibel level and focusing on reducing” it. More at Journal of Sport Rehabilitation. 

Which does more for your endurance: Altitude training or heat training?

The paper noted here was written about cyclists preparing for the great multi day tours. The findings should mostly apply to distance runners. The basic question: What’s better, altitude training or heat training? 

Physiologists have known for a century that altitude training can improve hemoglobin mass and thus boost oxygen efficiency in endurance sports. Usually it requires three weeks residence at 7500 feet or slightly more. There’s reason to believe in the “Live high-Train low” approach (you can maintain speed better at low altitude workouts) but newer research seems to favor “Live high-Train high.” 

The concept of heat training for endurance is newer but well established. Heat training improves the “sudomotor response”--you sweat more efficiently and fare better under hot conditions--and can also increase blood plasma and hemoglobin levels if you stay at least 3 weeks in the heat.  

It would be nice to combine both methods to get an additive effect, but “It appears the two may clash if imposed in combination.” So which environmental training technique wins this battle? The one that mimics where you’ll face your next big race. In distance running, you’re more likely to face heat challenges as in the summer Olympics or World Championships or even unusually warm spring/summer marathons. 

Which brings up the question of heat training in winter time for a spring marathon. Is there any point in trying the old multiple “sweat shirts” method? Sure. It might produce “physiological adaptations comparable to natural exposure” while also allowing you to “complete the rest of your weekly training in cooler conditions” to maintain a faster pace. More at Scandinavian J of Medicine & Science in Sports. 

What’s wrong? “My half-marathon pace is way better than my marathon pace.”

This is one of the most common complaints heard from runners who haven’t achieved the marathon of their goals and dreams. They seem to have all the bases covered, and have run a strong half-marathon tuneup … but … then comes marathon race day, and things don’t work out as planned. 

What went awry? It could be one or many things. The discussion here lists the leading candidates. If you’re unhappy with your recent marathon performances, you could find a solid answer or two. More at Reddit. 

The latest “truth” about 8 x 8 oz glasses of water/day

In 1968, I was part of a small group of Boston Marathon runners who were weighed before and after the race by pioneering running physiologist David Costill. On a warm, sunny day, I lost nearly 10 pounds, or about 7 percent of my body weight. Ever since, I have closely followed research regarding sweat rates, hydration guidelines, and so on. 

As a result, I wasn’t surprised by a recent headline about research that debunked the common advice to drink 8 glasses of water (8 ounces each) per day. I’ve read (and written) variations on this report for decades. 

However, I was surprised when I read the full text. First, by the mindblowing amount of innovative data that the global research team pulled together. Super-impressive! Second, by the lack of debunking. Or perhaps more accurately, by the lack of evidence for any specific guideline. No one knows how much you should be drinking. 

Here’s why, as the new paper makes clear: Human needs for water consumption are hugely variable. They depend primarily on your genetics, your weight, your activity level, your environment (hot or cold), and the amount of water in foods that you consume. Too many variables to allow for a simple answer. 

The researchers actually identified a handful of individuals who needed the equivalent of 40 glasses of water a day. Others who are small, sedentary, and living in a cold (or air conditioned) climate probably need fewer than 8 glasses a day. The rest of us are over/under the 8 glasses rule, and we need to determine our personal hydration. 

Now back to the paper’s impressive data gathering. A long list of researchers cooperated to measure doubly-labeled water turnover of more than 5000 individuals from26 countries. They also had objective basal energy expenditures for a third of their sample, and they calculated adjustments for local weather (Northern Europe vs equatorial Africa, for example). 

There was no average or “correct” amount of daily water drinking because there is no average individual or environment. Most interesting is the fact that we still don’t have good data regarding human water intake from foods. Water obtained from foods is water we don’t have to drink from the faucet and other sources. It’s also likely to be declining in a world of ultra processed foods. 

The CDC recommends that adult men take in 125 ounces of water a day, and women 91 ounces from both drinks PLUS water-containing foods. In 8-oz glasses, that amounts to 15.6 and 11.4. Runners obviously need more. So keep drinking plenty of fluids, the healthier the better. And check out this list of foods that contain a lot of water. They are all good options. 

The researchers undertook this massive project in part due to their concerns about a looming worldwide water crisis, and disparities in access to healthy water. More at Science. 

Tiger Woods has a common runner injury--plantar fasciitis

Many distance runners have found their training and racing routine frustrated by plantar fasciitis, which can be painful and difficult to overcome. One journal called it “the most common musculoskeletal disease of the foot.” Still, PF didn’t receive much attention--certainly not in the mainstream media.Then Tiger Woods announced that he was battling the sore-heel condition, and everything changed.  

The NY Times “Well” section published an article advising soft gel heel cups or maybe self-massage with a plastic soft-drink bottle containing frozen water. One doctor said, “There’s no magic pill or treatment--just stretch, rest and ice.” 

You’ll find much more at the following link, a lengthy medical review of PF and runners. The senior author, Adam Tenforde, is an expert in the field as well as a former elite runner with Ryan Hall at Stanford. The review doesn’t offer any magic either, but supports platelet rich plasma and extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT). More at Life (free full text). 

A brand-new trial of ESWT concludes: “The use of extracorporeal shock wave therapy reduced the intensity and frequency of pain, and improved daily and recreational activity.” And a new “prospective case series” found barefoot running on grass lowered pain scores after 6- and 12-weeks. It added, tantalizingly, that “the intervention may also address some impairments of the foot associated with plantar fasciitis.” More at J of Clinical Medicine, and at Int J of Environmental Research & Public Health. 

SHORT STUFF you don’t want to miss

>>> American football players “less likely to demonstrate intact healthspan than the general population.”

>>> Ladies, be careful. A too-tight heart-rate chest strap could lead to Mondor’s disease. (Here’s the definition of Mondor’s disease.)

>>> The “Mediterranean Diet” is super-healthy but the Green Med approach is even better, especially for belly fat reduction. 

GREAT QUOTES make great training partners

“Believe you can, and you’re halfway there.”

--Theodore Roosevelt 

That's it for now. Thanks for reading. See you next week. Amby