January 25, 2024

 Jan 25 xx

The U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials are approaching fast--on Saturday, February 3--so this week we’re looking at a few of the high-performance strategies the Trials runners will be using. Along with the usual assortment of training, nutrition, and injury prevention advice. Amby

The Best Tempo Run Ever

The tempo run is a central training component of almost all endurance runners. It teaches you--physically and mentally--to run “hard but controlled.” Those two words are the key to all successful endurance training and racing.

But many things can go awry when overeager coaches and athletes get their hands on the tempo run. In particular, many do tempos that are too long and/or too hard. The “terrible toos” lead to unsuccessful endurance training and racing.

Another tempo-run problem? Relying too much on a strict formula. You think you must do 20 continuous minutes. Or 40 minutes. Or whatever.

Endurance running coach Steve Magness has a better way. He calls it “the split as you feel” threshold run. I’m tempted to call it the “flexible tempo run” or even the “fartlek tempo run.”

Here’s how to do it. First, pick how many minutes of tempo running you want to complete on a particular day. Say, 25 minutes. Second, warm up, and then start your run. Third, evaluate how the run is going. 

If you find that you’re working too hard (not “controlled”) or maybe feeling too muscle-sore, stop your tempo run after X minutes. Jog very slowly for several minutes to recover. Then start up again until X + your second effort = 25 minutes, your goal for the day.

Don’t get upset at yourself for the two-pronged effort. Instead, congratulate yourself for being smart about completing this workout just as it was meant to be--hard but controlled.

Magness notes: “This takes some pressure off the workout, makes it more manageable, teaches you how to listen to your body...while still getting the stimulus for the workout!” Some days you’ll run 20 minutes + 5 minutes, others 15 + 10. You might even end up with a 10 + 7 + 5 + 3. It’s all good. More at X/Steve Magness.

If Supplements Don’t Work, Why Is Everyone Taking Them?

There are going to be a lot of supplements consumed by a lot of marathon runners at the Olympic Marathon Trials. That’s not because there’s a mountain of evidence supporting supplement use. 

It’s because all the Trials runners are looking for every fractional benefit they can find. And you don’t have to go farther than the corner drugstore to find row upon row of vitamins, minerals, and weird combinations of stuff making veiled claims. If you’ve ever heard of the Internet, the possibilities expand to … ???

Why take something of little known value? Because you’ve done it once or twice, or often, and thought you felt better, stronger, faster. And thinking you’ve taken something with magical powers is basically as good as taking something magical. (Though you’d be very stupid to take something that could be contaminated with a banned drug.)

It’s an absolute given that most Trials racers will take some form of caffeine, possibly pre-race and also during the race. Caffeine is the go-to endurance booster around the globe. 

Some will no doubt take a shot or two of beet juice, or a nitrate pill. Various forms of baking soda are a new and popular choice. Creatine has been viewed more as a muscle building supplement, but, hey, it takes muscle to run a marathon.

It’s also a given that more runners will be consuming more sugars (carbohydrates) in more forms than ever before. After super shoes, high-carb intake is the most discussed strategy in endurance sports. A few might veer in the opposite direction to try a ketone ester drink to increase fat-burning.

But here’s the scary thing about all the above: These supplements make you “go.” You know what I mean. 

So if we see an unusual number of runners veer off the road and disappear mid-Marathon Trials, you’ll know why.The total race registration numbers are small; the porta potty lines could be long.

Of course a runner could limit his/her risk of stomach distress by staying away from all the supplements. That would be safer. But it might not elevate you to an Olympian performance, which is why everyone is running the Trials.

It’s easy to be critical of supplement taking if you’re sitting on the sidelines. It’s much tougher--a powerful Catch 22-- if you’re in the Game. 

At Outside Online, Alex Hutchinson explains, correctly, that “most supplements don’t work.” That’s not going to make them disappear, however. In fact, there might be more at the Olympic Marathon Trials than anywhere else. 

Real Life, Real Runner Results From The “Train Low, Race High” Diet

Carbohydrate loading for optimal results has been the Golden Rule for Endurance Performance for over a half century. It has survived full frontal  attacks (like the Keto diet), and also several different manipulations. 

One of those manipulations--Train Low, Race High--has been adopted by many top marathon runners in the last decade. There are several reasons. First, who’s going to get up 3 hours before a typical weekend long run to eat a high-carb meal? It’s easier to just slam a coffee, and get out the door.

Then there’s the alleged performance benefit: Training Low (carb) might teach your body to burn fats more efficiently at the end of a long effort (20 miles or more) when the body is mostly depleted of its carb-glycogen supply. At this point--ie, the last 6 miles of a marathon-- every runner wants to feel efficient and energized vs hitting-the-wall.

The question is: Does the Train Low, Race High approach actually deliver on its promise? A new study, which appears to be the best to date, says No.

It’s a good study because it used highly fit cyclists as the subjects. It lasted 5 weeks, and all the subjects did the same training during that period. The research team includes several well known, highly regarded endurance experts.

Over the 5-week experimental period, half the subjects continued their normal practice of consuming a high-carb meal before training sessions. The other half did 13 sessions in a low-carb state.

Both groups got a little leaner and faster after 5 weeks, but there were no differences between the two groups. Also, neither improved in a time-to-exhaustion test at race intensity. There were likewise no differences in heart race, carb or fat oxidation, or post-exercise lactate concentration. 

Conclusion: “Periodizing the carbohydrate intake in well-trained cyclists during a 5-week intervention did not elicit superior results to an energy intake-matched high-carbohydrate diet.” 

The authors followed up with a modest warning. “Practical application: It should be considered that low energy availability during prolonged periods may cause adverse effects that will eventually compromise sports performance and health.”

There’s a clear message here: Eat healthy carbs to fuel your workouts. Any other manipulations probably aren’t worth the hassle, and might deliver unhappy results. More at Nutrients with free full text.

The Psychological Effects Of Thinking You’re Dehydrated

Just about everyone--runner, coach, physiologist--understands that getting dehydrated by more than 2-3 percent during a long endurance race is a bad thing. Below 2%, the evidence is less solid.

Here researchers used a clever design to see how dehydration under 2 percent affected cycling performance in an all-out 15 minute test after a prior 80-minute endurance effort.

Each subject performed the same protocol twice with a gastric fluid tube introduced into the stomach. They were allowed to drink a bit of water during the 80-minute pre-test, and also had water released (or not) into the stomach. As a result, subjects didn’t know how much total water they had received. 

But researchers controlled the experiment so that each rider did one 15-minute test while fully hydrated, and one while 1.6% dehydrated. They also told the riders when they were dehydrated. With an important twist: They lied 50% of the time.

Sometimes riders were told they were dehydrated when in fact they were not dehydrated. Result: They performed 6% worse thinking themselves dehydrated vs the exact same all-out test when they thought they were fully hydrated.

Alternatively, when actually dehydrated (but told they weren’t), the riders’ performance did not suffer.

Also, heart rates, gastrointestinal temperature, and relative perceived exertion were not different between trials, whether riders were dehydrated or not. 

Conclusion: “This study demonstrated that when participants believed they were dehydrated by ∼2%, endurance performance in the heat was impaired by ∼6%.”

It seems, then, that you should keep aiming to avoid dehydration of more than 2%. But if you’re not sure you’re hitting this goal, try not to obsess about it. A small miss might not have a large effect. More at Physiology & Behavior.

Super Drinking Could Lead To Faster Marathon Times

One possible way to avoid dehydration is to hyper hydrate before your race. This refers to drinking more than normal pre-event, often in a solution that contains sodium or glycerol. 

A recent meta analysis of this process indicated that it can “provide small to moderate improvement” in time-to-exhaustion tests and in time trials (but not in total work accomplished.) The hyperhydration didn’t seem to affect heart rate, perceived exertion, body temperature, or thermal comfort. Sodium was more effective at lowering body temperature than glycerol.

Conclusion: “These results suggest that pre-exercise hyperhydration provides a small to moderate benefit to endurance performance in total time to exhaustion and time trial. I think a fair number of runners will be attempting this at the Marathon Trials, particularly if the day dawns warm. More at Applied Physiology, Nutrition & Metabolism. 

Also likely to be quite popular: pre-marathon cooling vests. Companies are no doubt introducing new cooling vests in advance of a Paris Summer Olympics that could be hot at times. 

Can Time Restricted Eating Boost Health & Performance?

Time Restricted Eating (TRE), generally following a pattern of an 8-hour-eating-window and 16-hours of no eating, has been possibly the hottest nutrition trend of recent years. And there have been good theoretical reasons to support TRE, especially with regards to glucose regulation and healthier insulin levels.

Some runners have been attracted to TRE, hoping it might also help them lose a couple of unwanted pounds and improve their performance. However, a new randomized, crossover trial of 15 male recreational runners aged 18 to 30 found no support for TRE.

During 4 weeks of TRE, the runners consumed caloric foods only between 1 pm and 9 pm. They trained in a structured, controlled way, and were evaluated for changes in weight, “metabolic health,” and performance.

During another 4 week period, the same participants “consumed their habitual diet without any timing restrictions.” 

They were also evaluated by the same measures as just noted.

Results: “Neither condition elicited observed changes in total body mass, fat mass nor fat-free mass between time points.” There were also no significant changes in “metabolic health.” While both conditions produced significant improvement in performance metrics including vo2 max, these improvements did not differ by condition.

Conclusion: 4 weeks of TRE was no better than a traditional diet for weight, fat, or muscle mass. “In addition, TRE  did not offer any additional benefit for improving submaximal or peak exercise capacity in this population.”

There will be many more studies manipulating dietary intake patterns and endurance athlete health and performance. For now, this is a good one, and it didn’t uncover any clear benefits. More at J of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Your Complete Guide To Avoiding Iron Deficient Anemia

Many runners, especially females and/or strict vegetarians, have issues with anemia. And often they don’t realize it. That’s why a simple, complete guide is always a valuable resource.

That’s what dietitian Nancy Clark has produced here. Iron deficient anemia strikes athletes because they “lose iron with heavy sweating, blood loss in urine or via the intestinal tract, and damage to red blood cells caused by footstrikes while running.” Plus young women have monthly periods.

Clark covers “What to do” if you think you might be anemic, and also “Preventing and/or resolving anemia,” and “Iron supplements” that can help. One tip I didn’t realize: “ Taking an iron supplement every other day is as effective as taking it daily.” More at Nancy Clark RD.

The 24 Hours That Will Make Or Break Your Marathon

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a first time marathon runner or an Olympic Marathon champ headed back to the big time for another crack at the gold: You’d better have a solid plan for your pre-race prep. Especially in the last 24 hours.

The ideas presented here are simple. And so essential that I bet many Marathon Trials runners have honed them to the point of fine art. 

Stay prone on a bed as much as possible the day before your race? Not easy for many recreational runners who might be traveling to their event, scouring the Expo, picking up bib numbers, etc. But elite runners are absolute aces in this department.

Lay out your race clothes in several groupings that make it easy to mix and match according to your last-minute weather calculations? An absolute must-do.

Set several alarms, and a backup, and another backup … and maybe several more just to be certain you don’t oversleep. This one is ripe for a comedy skit or funny Instagram video. And everyone will do it.

Make sure you know how to get to the start line, given tight race-morning security, and where the best toilet options are? Frantic, last-second sprints hither and yon are a definite negatory on race morning.

Here’s a solid list of 15 day-before strategies. You’ll regret it if you flake out on any of these. So don’t. More at Run To The Finish.

SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss

>>> Water, water everywhere: Here’s how to know if you’re drinking too much water, and risking hyponatremia (water illness). 

>>> Got knee pain? Here’s a great infographic to help you figure things out.

>>> How to time your caffeine consumption: The best muscle contraction response occurs 30 minutes after caffeine--not 60 minutes. 

GREAT QUOTES make great training partners

"The more you frame the marathon as a stressful experience, the more negative messages you'll receive. But it's just as easy to frame the marathon as a positively challenging journey."

--Jeff Galloway, U.S. Olympian, running writer, and coach

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby

January 18, 2024

How To Train (And Eat) For World-Record Endurance Performance

It’s always fun and informative to read case studies of athletes who attempt endurance feats most of us admire but would never consider. Here are two. One describes what it’s like for a recreational cyclist to ride the Tour de France course, and compares his physiology to that of an actual elite Tour competitor. The other tells us about the training of a runner who broke several ultra-distance world records in recent years.  

The two cyclists (one recreational, age 58, weight 212 pounds; the other elite, age 28, weight 148 pounds) both covered just over 2000 miles in 21 stages). The rec rider burned 8,580 calories/day en route--an astounding amount. The elite rider burned 7,098 calories/day.

Amazingly, both ate almost as many calories/day as they burned. We know this because “both individuals lost minimal body mass during the event.” The elite rider was able to spend more time at higher intensities. But, hey, give him a round of applause, our 212-pounder got the job done. 

Conclusion: “Not only professional cyclists but also recreational athletes can reach currently known ceilings of total daily energy expenditure for humans.” This could be one reason explaining the big growth of ultra-endurance racing. Yes, the event distances can be staggering. But, also yes, recreational athletes can train to complete the distance (and eat enough on a daily basis to sustain themselves.) More at J of Applied Physiology and Outside Online.

If you’d like to run 198 miles in 24 hours, you’d better be prepared to average well over 100 miles/week in training with occasional weeks up around 230 miles. Your peak training will come 4 weeks before your big race. Regular training will include both cross-training and interval sessions with repeats from 1000 meters to 6 miles. 

You’ll do most of your daily training at about 7:15 min/mile, and also complete your 24-hour race at that pace. Conclusion: You should train with “high-volume running at varied paces and intensity with cross-training to avoid injuries.” More at International J Of Sports Physiology & Performance.

Is Plyometrics The Secret To Better Endurance & Stronger Bones?

You can do strength training to boost your running … and probably should--especially for distances from 800 meters on down. Or you can do plyometric exercises (jumping and skipping) with  the hope that they will improve your endurance performance. (Prior evidence has been modestly positive but mixed.)

Now a trio of new articles  have found varied benefits for plyometric training. In one, plyometrics were particularly successful for those who usually race at a pace slower than 8 minutes per mile. If your strength training includes a combination of heavy lifting and plyometrics, you might also become more efficient at faster paces. On the other hand, lighter lifting and isometric exercise were not helpful. More at Sports Medicine with free full text.

Triathlete has an article illustrating a pre-workout plyometric routine that should take just 5 to 10 minutes to complete. 

Another new scientific report has conducted a systematic review of exercises that can improve the bone health of adolescent female athletes, a threatened group. Result? The paper found that “plyometric training increases lumbar spine bone mass in adolescent girls.” More at J Of Clinical Densitometry.

The Best, Most Effective, Safest Strategies For Optimal Sleep

As far as I can tell, the best way to make money these days is to sell a sleep-related product: pills, pillows, mattresses, weighted blankets, sound devices, and many more. Just about everyone seems obsessed by their sleep habits and problems.

Endurance athletes are leading the pack. These days, some count their nightly sleep hours as carefully as  their daily running miles. And for good reason. A week doesn’t pass without another article emphasizing the importance of sleep for adaptation to and recovery from your workout sessions.

However, few of these articles have reviewed possible solutions. Indeed a number of exercise and sleep experts were disappointed that a recent Sleep Concensus statement failed to discuss “the use of pharmacological and non-pharmacological strategies to optimize sleep in athletes.” So they dove in to fill the gap.

A key series of questions: How can you fall asleep faster, sleep better, and perform at your best the next day? All the while making sure that you don’t become addicted to a particular substance.

The top pick: Cognitive Behavior Therapy, recommended by major sleep-science organizations. The problem is that CBT “is not an effective short-term treatment and is not a practical solution in high pressure situations that occur in sport.” No kidding. When you big race is just 3 days ahead, there’s little time to master CBT

Let’s face it: Most of us want a simple pill for such situations. And plenty of pills are available, with different risks and benefits. These range from melatonin, to Ambien (zolpidem), to antidepressants and antihistamines.

The sleep experts who wrote this paper believe that “judicious use of sleeping pills appears to be sensible.” But they want you to track your use carefully to make sure you don’t become over-reliant on sleep aids. 

For a great summary that includes Performance Effects, Side Effects, and Other Considerations regarding various sleep strategies, you’ll want to carefully review Table 1 at Open Research St. Mary’s University with free full text. 

Positive Self-Talk Improved Mid-Distance Performance

A Greek researcher wondered if middle distance runners would benefit from learning positive self-talk cues and strategies. In other studies with endurance athletes, the process seemed to work. What about 1500 meter runners?

To find out, he gave an experimental group of adult runners 5 weeks of lessons in the use of positive cues. The idea: “While practicing strategic self-talk as a part of an intervention, athletes become able to internalize the use of the predetermined cue words and finally they choose them unintentionally as part of their organic self-talk during the moment they perform.”

Another group of matched runners did the same physical training for the next 5 weeks, but received no instruction on self-talk cues. Both groups were tested in a “field setting” (ie, not in the lab) before and after the 5 week period.

Results: Both groups improved their performance significantly, and about the same. “Nevertheless, participants of the strategic self-talk improved more.” Conclusion: “This study supports the effectiveness of self-talk training in running performance in a realistic field setting. More at University of Thessaly with free full text.

Three Cheers!  Running Is Healthy For Your Vertebral Discs--Just Like Your Knees

Thanks to an increasing number of medical journal articles, and more accurate reporting of those articles by the mainstream media, runners now understand that running does not cause excessive knee injuries and arthritis. In fact, there are good reasons to believe that running strengthens the knee joint, and reduces serious problems.

Runners used to believe in the knee injury hypothesis, because it made a certain amount of sense. Running does increase impact forces all up and down the body. And it seemed logical that these forces could injure bones, joints, muscles, and associated tissues. 

After all, that’s what happens to the support structures of your car with increased driving mileage.

But there’s a difference. Our human structures are biological, not mechanical, and they often get stronger with use--not weaker.

Many have said in the past: “Use it, or lose it.” I think we need to make this phrase even more positive and powerful. Something like: “Use it to maintain and strengthen.” I know--not so catchy. Let me know if you come up with something better.

So, what about the back and the intervertebral discs? Does running harm the discs? A lot of people have thought that the answer must be “Yes” because so many suffer from back pain. Just like knee pain.

But again the evidence seems to point in the opposite direction. The discs are biological joints a little like the knee, and they appear to prosper when modestly stressed. 

A new systematic review looked at the effect of “running exercise on intervertebral discs.” It found that the disc space looks damaged “for a short period of time after running,” probably because water is squeezed out of the space.

However, the water returns soon enough. Result: “Long term running exerts a mild positive effect on intervertebral discs.”

Running doesn’t damage your knees and it doesn’t damage your discs. Indeed, running might have a positive influence on both. More at Sports Health.

Running 60 Minutes/Day Defeats Ills Of Too Much Sitting

High exercise more than 6-75 mins a day does beat sitting sedentary inactivity ft

When the science of inactivity physiology (sitting) burst onto the scene a decade or so ago, we runners were mildly perturbed. It seemed that our vigorous daily/weekly running activity wasn’t enough, alone, to overcome the heart risks related to prolonged sitting.

In other words, we had to be vigilant about taking short “exercise snacks” multiple times during the day in addition to our running workouts. These 3-4 minute snacks were necessary to battle prolonged sitting (at the office, watching TV, perusing social media).

Now a couple of unexpected studies are giving a bit of a boost to serious exercisers like marathon runners.The first found that high daily levels of exercise (about 60 to 75 minutes/day) “seem to eliminate the increased risk of death associated with high sitting time.” 

Strangely this was a bit less true of TV time vs other sitting time. That is, TV time is more dangerous than other sitting. I suspect that’s because TV time often comes at the end of the day--a time more fraught with health risks. Such as the risk of consuming large, high-calorie meals late in the day with no movement activity after the meals and before sleep. . 

We should be particularly mindful of our late-day behaviors. More at The Lancet/Norwegian School of Sports Sciences with free full text.

A separate study of sedentary behaviors of recreational marathon runners reached a similar conclusion. This suggested that “endurance exercise might offset the negative effects of sedentary behavior.” Furthermore, the authors argued that individuals who must spend many hours sitting at work “should be advised to be involved in regular high-volume exercise training of low-to-moderate intensity..”

I don’t think these reports give serious runners a “get out of jail free card.” We should still aim to move throughout the day, and add strength work to our cardio. But the research is reassuring for those who tend to get in one long workout at a time. More at Open Access J of Sports Medicine with free full text.

Advice From The Experts: How To Return To Running Post Childbirth 

We see lots of anecdotal stories and even research papers about elite women runners who achieve remarkable performances after childbirth, and sometimes multiple children. These stories are always inspirational but not necessarily helpful for recreational mother-runners who don’t aspire to a sub-2:30 marathon.

Fortunately, there are sports med experts focused on more typical women, and how they should plan their return to running after child birth. Here’s advice from a group that included more than 100 medical professionals with experience in the field.They engaged in a “three-round Delphi approach to gain international consensus from clinicians and exercise professionals on run-readiness postpartum.”

The quick summary: First, take a “minimum 3-week period of rest and recovery.” Also, be sure your approach is individualized to your personal fitness and situation. This should include “screening for medical and psychological concerns, current physical capacity, and prior training history.

Finally, your comeback should include a progressive and “gradual return to running.” More at British J of Sports Medicine.

Your Body Can Absorb More Protein. But Then What?

Protein-loving fans, perhaps mostly body builders, are excited about a revolutionary new study result. The paper seems to show that we’re capable of utilizing much more dietary protein from a meal than was previously believed.

Old school: Your body can only absorb about 20 to 30 grams of protein at a time. Therefore, to maximize protein intake over the course of a day, you should consume that much at every meal. 

New school: You can absorb up to 100 grams of protein (and possibly more) at a time. This seems reasonable from an evolutionary perspective, since early humans didn’t have credit cards or a nearby Whole Foods supermarket. They had to cope with periods of “feast or famine,” so it wouldn’t make much sense for a feast to have a protein ceiling, given protein’s importance to so many body processes.

Brady Holmer explains the study’s methods and findings in his Physiologically Speaking newsletter, and protein/strength expert Stu Phillips has written “Great study! Best evidence yet that meal distribution doesn’t matter that much.”

But we should note a few things first. There’s little evidence that most of us are lacking protein. There’s consistent evidence showing a link between higher (meat) protein intake and shorter lifespan, though this may not be true for those over age 65. More at National Institutes of Health.

Finally this is one of those trials that measures a measure--”muscle protein synthesis”--and not the sort of outcome we’re really interested in such as strength, endurance, or health. As Phillips himself observes: “ We don’t know if all this protein “translates into gainz.”

Also, before boosting your protein intake, take a look at studies showing a link between higher (meat) protein intakes and shorter lifespan, except in those over age 65. 

SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss

>>> Run Right: 9 ways to improve your running form 

>>> Supplement Crazy: 62% of recreational cyclists take supplements (average: 12/each), and 23% use banned substances

>>> Exercise Vs Cancer: A systematic review reveals that “aerobic and resistance training enhance the quality of life of patients with prostate cancer.”

GREAT QUOTES Make Great Training Partners

“Running is just you. You can’t cheat yourself. You get out exactly what you put in.”

--Des Linden, 2-time U.S. Olympic marathoner; 2018 Boston Marathon winner

That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby