The Science of Running - Steve Magness

 

• lampoon: ridiculiser
• marred: gâché
• tenets: principes
• overarching: global
• boulder: rocher
• calf: mollet
• hamstring: ischio-jambier
• to stagger: échelonner
• depletion: épuisement 
• buildup: accumulation
• revved up: vombrir
• curtail: écourter
• priming: amorçage
• to summon up: mobiliser
• to ingrain: instiller
• bout: poussée
• culprit: coupable
• to garner: recueillir
• to ascribe: imputer
• ludicrous: ridicule
• credence: croyance
• prominence: importance
• crapshoot: coup de poker
• nemesis : ennemi juré
• clearance: évacuation
• ankle: cheville
• recoil: recul
• heel: talon
• stride: foulée
• scoot: filer
• to paw: gratter
• namesake: homonyme
• to impart: transmettre
• carbohydrate: glucide
• stardom: célébrité
• imprinting: empreinte
• spurt: jaillissement
• trendiness: coté branché 
• happenstance: hasard
• eagerness: enthousiasme
• overlooked: oublié
• to forgo: renoncer
• makeup: composition
• bout : periode
• to thrive off: prospérer
• efficacy: efficacité
• repletion: satiété
• depleted: réduit
• dumbed down: nivelé par le bas
• unwiedly: encombrant
• overarching: global
• soreness: douleur
• strenuous: fatigant
• to bolster: soutenir
• carbohydrate: glucide
• to eke out: faire durer
• conundrum: casse-tête
• tug of war: tire à la corde
• overly: trop
• buildup: accumulation
• to rev up: faire vombrir
• level off: se stabiliser
• duress: contrainte
• gait: démarche
• shuffling: traînant
• to entail : impliquer
• strain: tirer de toutes ses forces
• belabor: s'éterniser
• grinder: broyer
• revved up: faire vombrir le moteur
• slogging: trimer
• bounding: rebondissement

Introduction

• A method that uses hill sprints and strength endurance circuits to teach the runner to recruit more muscles and then extend their endurance.
• The great Hungarian coach Mihaly Igloi used his knowledge of muscle fibers to theorize that if runners changed their stride patterns from what he called a short swing to a long swing pattern, they would switch the muscle recruitment pattern and thus be able to delay fatigue slightly.
• Remember not to just follow the crowd for the sake of change.
• The goal of training is to build on top of what has been done previously.
• Balancing speed and endurance is the key to proper training.

Section 1: The Science of Distance Running

1 - How running Happens

• You are trying to compensate for fatigue by a variety of biomechanical adjustments.
• Running is a skill that needs to be learned and refined.
• Stored ATP: Adenosine TriPosphate = molécule riche en énergie.
• Increasing the capacity of the aerobic system to produce energy is a beneficial training adaptation to delay fatigue.

2 - Fatigue: Friend or Foe?

• FT: Fast Twitch muscle fiber
• ST: Slow Twitch muscle fiber
• Muscle or tendon damage is one way that the storage and use of elastic energy can decrease.
• Elastic energy is called "free energy".
• The three basic energy systems are the immediate (Phosphagen and Myokinase), Glycolysis, and Aerobic system. Each system requires a series of chemical reactions that ultimately result in ATP (Adénosine Tri Phosphate) reformation.

3 - The Brain: The Master Controller

• Fatigue is a brain-derived emotion.
• Homeostasis: phénomène par lequel un facteur clé (par exemple la température) est maintenu autour d'une valeur bénéfique pour le système.
• Fatigue was a result of a desire to maintain homeostasis.
• In the classic marathon example, pace slows before a runner truly runs out of glycogen.
• The brain is the master controller.
• Neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine.
• Serotonin is popularly known as the chemical in the brain that is associated with depression.
• Dopamine is a chemical that's most well-known role is in the reward pathway.
• Rating of Perceived Exertion (effort physique) (RPE)
• As we get closer to the finish line, it's easier to pick up the speed because the danger is decreased.
• It is the mismatch between our expected feelings versus our actual feelings that governs performance.
• How we feel is a result of physical and psychological effort.

4 - An Oxygen Problem?

• VO2max refers to the maximum amount of oxygen used and is calculated by taking the amount of oxygen taken in and subtracting the oxygen exhaled out.
• Pulse oximeter: this device simply clip on your finger and take the oxygen saturation in the blood in a noninvasive way.
• The takeaway message should be don't focus your training on improving some parameter like VO2max, instead focus on providing the right training stimulus to improve race performance.

5 - The Fallacy of VO2max

• "If you are a scientist and believe in truth, you've got to say you don't know when you don't know. There's is always a temptation, especially if you have a theory, to try to prove it rather than to find out what is the truth." Frederick Singer
• It is almost as if it is human nature to go through this process of discovery and then exaggeration of the importance of the new finding.
• Whenever something is new, it is overemphasized.
• VO2max reflects this regulation of muscles recruitment.
• VO2max does not improve in well-trained individuals.
• VO2max and endurance performance are used almost synonymously, which is not true.
• After four weeks of training using an interval program designed to elicit time at VO2max, VO2max and, more importantly, performance did not improve.
• The change in VO2max did not correlate with the change in performance on a time trial.
• It probably makes more sense to standardize paces in relation to their recent race performances.
• The logic is that if VO2max is increased, endurance performance increases. This is not the case.
• VO2max does not correlate well with performance and cannot be used to distinguish which runners are faster.

6 - Lactate, Acid and Other By-Products

• "Our almost unlimited ability to ignore our ignorance." Daniel Kahneman
• Lactate Threshold (LT) is defined as the fastest running speed at which blood lactate levels remain in a relative steady state.
• Les mitocondries sont le lieu de la production la plus importante d'Adénosine TriPhosphate (ATP), le "carburant" énergétique des cellules.
• In addition the heart, brain, and liver all play an active role in clearing lactate from the blood.
• Contrary to popular belief, lactate does not cause fatigue. In fact, lactate is a fuel source and likely delays fatigue.
• Lactate produced inn a muscle fiber can be used as a fuel source by several organs.
• 4x1mile w/ 3 min rest
• 3 sets of 4x400m w/ 45 sec rest at 3k pace, 3 mins between sets
• In order to increase energy available we can increase the Anaerobic Capacity.
• The takeaway message is that lactate levels reflect a balance of opposing aerobic and anaerobic forces.

7 - Efficiency

• "The search for understanding, wherever it roams, is a search for better simplifications. Simplifications which explain more and distort less...All human understanding is based on simplifications of more complex realities." Bill James
• Running Economy (RE)
• A stiffer muscle is more efficient during running than a flexible one.
• It was found that the Achilles tendon stores 35% if its kinetic energy, while tendons that are in the arch of the foot store 17%.
• Rapid movements such as sprinting or plyometrics will train the tendons to be better able to utilize the energy.
• Sprinting is about the most specific form of plyometric activity that can be done for runners, yet it is often underutilized. Doing 60-100m accelerations is a great way to work on elastic energy.
• Runners are more efficient at running velocities at which they frequently train.
• Heel striking might be a sort of protective mechanism when we are venturing too far away from homeostasis.
• Swinging your arms gives you an energy saving effect of around 4% compared to not swinging your arms.
• The interesting part was that the 10mm cushioning "saved" more energy than the 20mm cushioning.
• Running is a skill, just like hitting a baseball or swinging a golf club.
• Slow Twitch (ST) fibers being better equipped to utilize oxygen due to its increased mitochondria, myoglobin, and Krebs cycle enzymes.
• How much oxygen is needed by the muscles, the efficiency in delivering and utilizing that oxygen, and how well substrates can be utilized all play a role.
• The preferred fuel of source in endurance races that last less than a couple of hours is glycogen. The body has a finite supply of glycogen stored in the muscles, while it has a relatively large supply of fat. Due to limited glycogen stores, in longer distance races, such as a marathon, glycogen depletion is a major source of fatigue.
• Long runs and high mileage training tend to increase the total glycogen supply of the muscles.
• Training in a fasted state is one way to increase the use of fat as a fuel. Therefore, for a marathon runner, some runs and long runs should be done without taking supplemental fuel, as low glycogen during the run seems to be the signal for a shift in substrate use.
• A marathoner who is able to utilize fats more will spare his glycogen stores, delaying fatigue.
• His goal is to run as fast as he can while using glycogen at a rate that will put him depleted just after the finish line.

8 - The Brain-Muscle Connection

• "The subjective experience of pain is constructed from both our physiological state and contextual data...when nerve cells send a signal to the pain centers of your brain, your experience of pain can vary even if those signals don't." Leonard Mlodinov
• Distance runners need large amounts of training, or damage, to complete this muscle fiber conversion.
• Training increase fiber recruitment during hard training may be one way to combat this problem of fatigue.
• Strength endurance work.
• This idea could explain why heavy resistance training or sprinting improves distance running performance, as it increases the total muscle fiber pool that can be recruited.
• EMG= electro diagnostique
• At higher temperatures more of the blood is redistributed to the skin to aid in cooling.
• An acclimatized person can sweat up to 4 liters per hour; while a person not acclimatized can only sweat about 1,5 liters per hour.
• Recent research has suggested that drinking ice-cold fluids helps to combat the core body temperature.
• Racing is a very intense activity. Dealing with pain or mental toughness is often cited as a reason for success in the sport distance running.
• What motivates elite Kenyan runners is economic incentive, followed by talent and distraction.

9 - The Genetics of Training

• "Our ability to spot patterns is what allows us to make sense of the world, but sometimes, in our eagerness, we are oversensitive and trigger-happy and mistakenly spot patterns where none exist." Ben Goldacre
• In order for the workout to elicit adaptation, it has to be significant enough both in terms of intensity and volume to disturb the body's homeostasis.
• Two examples of this process are a high intensity endurance workout at altitude might decrease the oxygen saturation levels, while a lengthy endurance workout might result in a depletion of glycogen.
• A larger stimulus is required to disturb homeostasis.
• If the marathon is an event that is dependent on the optimal fuel use ratio between carbohydrates and fats, how do we signal the body to change that ratio so that there is more reliance on fat. We need to "embarrass" it and send the signal that more fat needs to be used. How do you do that? Simple, by running a workout that depletes the glycogen stores to a significant enough amount that the body adapts to make sure that it does not run low on glycogen the next time. It accomplishes this by increasing the use of fat as a fuel and/or increasing glycogen stores.
• The idea is to train low, compete high, or, in other words, do some training in a low glycogen state, while competing fully stocked with glycogen.
• That explains why runners in particular need a wide variety of training stimuli.
• EPO: hormone qui stimule la fabrication des globules rouges.
• hypoxic: inadéquation entre les besoins tissulaires en oxygène et les apports.
• RBC: Red Blood Cell

10 - Theories of Training Adaptation

• "It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change." Charles Darwin
• General Adaptation Syndrome (G.A.S)
• "Fight or flight"
• Assigning the correct intensity and volume of a workout to elect an optimal response is essential in proper training.
• The change in VO2max did not correlate with the change in performance on a time trial, which is a significant finding demonstrating that perhaps more attention should be paid to changing performance instead of manipulating physiological parameters such as VO2max.
• In practical terms for trained distance runners, it probably makes more sense to standardize paces in relation their recent race performances or based on percentages of goal race pace in well-trained runners.

11 - Volume and Intensity of Training

• East African runners averaged 172 km per week.
• High volume approach.
• Several higher intensity workouts per week, which are separated with easier runs.
• Faster training could have an impact on the traditional factors in performance: V02max, LT (Lactate Threshold), and RE (Running Efficiency).
• It was the amount of easy running that impacted running performance over a 10km race not the amount of high intensity training.
• Low volume training is optimal.
• This approach where high volume training must precede high intensity training is fundamental in popular literature on distance running, but it is neglected in the research.
• The idea that a base moderate work needs to be established before intense training is done in order to achieve maximum benefits.
• A long block of high intensity training leading to decreased performance, mostly likely due to overtraining.
• In distance running, it is accepted that well-trained runners train every day or at least six days out of the week.
• Elite Kenyan runners trained between 10-14 times per week.
• Some researchers have suggested that training in a fatigued state may enhance subsequent adaptations.
• It has been found that training in a glycogen depleted state enhances gene transcription of several markers of training adaptation.
• Recommendations in the popular literature suggest that 2-3 intense workouts should be done per week.

12 - Periodization of Training

• Periodization is the process of dividing the training into smaller periods of training where the emphasis, or the target, of the training is altered during each period.
• The mesocycle consists of several weeks of training.
• It is generally accepted that harder days are followed by one or two easier days before another hard day is repeated.
• After 16 weeks of training the periodized cyclists performed significantly better in a time trial.
• The traditional approach consisted of very high volumes of work early in the season that consistently lowers as the season progresses with a proportionate increase in intensity.
• 3 blocks of 4 weeks each.
• Started with a several month period called Marathon Conditioning where high volumes (100mpw) of easy to moderate running were done. Following this phase, mileage was decreased and the intensity was increased with a one month period called Hill Resistance which focused on strength endurance by using a variety of hill repeats and hill circuits. The next phase consisted of track training, starting with longer intervals on the track (800's, miles) and progressively working towards shorter intervals (200's and 400's). This was followed by a sharpening and peaking phase that consisted of shorter faster work, such as 50m in and out sprints or an all out 200m,, and a further drop in volume.
• 
  
  
  
  
• Essentially, the workouts start at the extreme and work towards each other, like a funnel:

13 - Where Do We Go From Here?

• Perhaps this shift in thinking will get us away from the propensity for relying almost solely on VO2max as a measure of endurance when it is only one factor, has exploded due to its ease of measurement, and does not even change in elite runners.
• It is tough to give advice on training to improve performance when the exact mechanisms that limit performance are not known.
• Training does not occur in isolation. Instead, a global and integrated approach to training should be taken.

Section 2 How to Train

• "We don't have the time or the mental bandwidth to observe and consider each detail of every item in our environment. Instead we employ a few salient traits that we observe to assign the object to a category, and then we base our assessment of the object on the category rather that the object itself." Leonard Mlodinov

14 - The Philosophy of Training

• "It is much easier, as well as far more enjoyable, to identify and label the mistakes of others than to recognize our own. Questioning what we believe and want is difficult at the best of times, and especially difficult when we most need to." Daniel Kahneman
• "Oversimplifications can be in science; they can cut through the hideous complexity with a working model that is almost right, postponing the messy details until later."
• It seems simplistic but the adaptation that we get from any training method is a result of whatever stimulus was applied. In other words, our body adapts to the stimulus it is given and in the direction that the stimulus is applied.
• What a coach needs to know:
• What adaptations are needed for your individual athlete training for an event
• Timing - At what period and how often should the athlete be working on these adaptations.
• How much stimulus (volume, intensity, density, etc...) needs to be applied for your individual athlete
• How much recovery and what type of training can be done while the athlete adapts.
• Obviously each event requires different demands, whether it is in terms of aerobic versus anaerobic contribution, tactics, psychology, or mechanical demands.
• It should be obvious that the amount of stress that a workout causes should be in proportion to how much recovery is needed following that workout.
• So if we gon on a 38km run, we expect to be heavily glycogen depleted.
• In running we are keenly aware of the physical stress, but we need to realize that psychological or emotional stress also contributes to the total stress load.
• The best way to monitor recovery is not by some top-secret scientific gadget, but instead by simply listening to your body. It is a skill to understand the feedback that your body is providing.
• The first way is to perform workouts in a pre-fatigued state. Instead of being completely fresh for all hard workouts if we start them in a slightly depleted state, we can now delve deeper into the depths of glycogen depletion and access muscle fibers we seldom recruit.
• The last amplifier that influences the training stress part of the equation is manipulating fuel to shift adaptations.
• The best way to do this is either via fasted runs or longer runs with no supplemental fuel.
• Consider running some with only water.
• The obvious one is recovery nutrition. We all have been inundated with information about taking carbohydrates or protein after a workout, so I won't cover that in detail, except to say that it works and that protein is showing to be more important not only fro the muscle repair but also for tendon growth.
• Taking five hits of 20g of protein throughout the day will keep protein synthesis elevated throughout the day. Additionally, taking a large dose of protein before bed will keep protein synthesis elevated during sleep, which is when large portion of recovery and repair takes place.
• Research has shown that testosterone levels rise during the first REM (Rapid Eye Movement) = sommeil paradoxal qui est la dernière phase du cycle de sommeil = c'est à ce stade que nous rêvons le plus.
• If our body senses a lot of inflammation, it brings in the heavy-duty repair equipment to shore up the defenses and build it stronger.
• Oxidation occurs during running and acts as one of the major triggers for increasing mitochondria to deal with all of those pro-oxidants. If all of a sudden we take an artificial anti-oxidant, then we again have a 3rd party that acts as a cleaning crew and shuts down the signal that the body needs to majorly adapt. What is interesting is that, according to research, only artificial antioxidants vitamins seem to have this strong effect. Natural antioxidants coming from fruits do not cause this effect.
• The concept of train low, compete high in regards of the carbohydrate intake. There is a growing body of evidence that shows training in a low glycogen state activates signaling pathways that influence both aerobic gains and fuel efficiency.
• Altitude should be thought of as another stressor, just like heat, humidity, or including a hill in a run.
• The reduction of psychological stress may play a role in their success.
• The major key concepts to keep in mind when considering balance are speed, endurance, strength, and power.
• mTOR : contrôleur central de la croissance cellulaire en réponse aux facteurs de croissance et aux nutriments
• Speed and endurance play opposing roles.
• There's a reason why the base phase, which traditionally includes a lot of general endurance training, is done in early in the season. And regardless of your beliefs, we generally follow a base phase with something more intensive and more speed oriented.
• It's about knowing how to balance the development of speed and endurance and knowing when each needs to be at their highest in the season.
• It's important to know what we need to know, what questions we need to ask, and what we do about it.

15 - What Are We Trying to Accomplish?

• "When faced with a difficult question, we often answer an easier one instead, usually without noticing the substitution." Daniel Kahneman.
• His point was that most of the time endurance was the key to performance.
• Decrease in blood glucose is believed to play a role in fatigue.
• We need to do workouts that cause a large increase in muscle fiber recruitment such as sprints, hill sprints, or heavy weights lifting.
• Another option is to do long uphill repeats as more muscle fibers are recruited during uphill running than flat running.
• Marathon: the main cause of fatigue is the depletion of fuel.
• "A Scientific approach to the Marathon" Renato Canova.
• The ultimate goal training is to race a particular distance at a certain pace.
• Steady refers to a pace that is generally 5-10% slower than marathon pace, or, in other terms, it's a good consistent pace that requires some focus to run but is not tiring. Easy refers to paces that are up to around 25/30% slower than marathon pace. Easy refers to paces that are up to around 25-30% slower than marathon pace.
• The bottom line is that not only do runners need to have an endurance foundation off which to build, but they also need a speed foundation.
• Start backwards. Work the extremes. Bring it together. Never leave anything behind. Progress everything.

16 - Creating and Manipulating Workouts

• We have to challenge homeostasis. So, we have to delve a little deeper into the depths of glycogen depletion to get the body to respond and make us utilize glycogen a little more efficiently. Or if we are improving strength, we need to have just enough micro-tears so that the body responds with repairing and making the muscle stronger. Essentially, we need to embarrass the body just enough so that it decides it is more prepared next time it faces this challenge.
• I'am a big believer in very gradually increasing the stimulus of the workout.
• The problem with training to complete exhaustion is that it is very hard on the nervous system, the endocrine system, the immune system, and psychologically.
• Working too hard or not being challenged enough can lead to the same result, apathy.

The optimal challenge window 

• The goal is to embrace the freedom and creativity of being able to design workouts to work with you as a runner.
• The "Typical" List:
• Rep distance
• Total volume
• Rest between intervals
• Speed
• If we are able to increase speed, we improve in the direction of speed; if we handle longer reps, we increase our ability to endure.
• By negative splitting, we are working on recruiting more fibers as we go along and gradually ramping up the stress, as well as ingraining a positive psychological mindset towards finishing fast.
• We know physiologically that when we change out of a rhythm, it takes the body a little time to adjust the breathing, heart rate, etc... to the new level.
• Having much longer recovery between sets than we would between reps.
• 3 sets of 3x800 with 90 sec rest with 5 min between sets towards 9x800m with 90 sec rest by the end of the season.
• If we shorten the recovery, the aerobic demands of the workout actually increase.
• In standing rest, our oxygen consumption and heart rate would drop.
• We could insert strength work such as squats, lunges, or squat jumps into the recovery to work on strength endurance.
• When we switch a workout to include hills, it increases the strength component of the workout and slightly changes the muscle fiber recruitment.
• As a general rule, the degree of incline can almost be taught of in terms of the light weight versus heavy weight lifting paradigm.
• Running on a variety of surfaces.
• Take away the sets to increase the stress of the workout:
• 3 sets of (4x400 with 60 sec rest) 3 min rest between sets
• 2 sets of (6x400) with same rest
• 12x400 with 60/70 sec rest
• Density is essentially a combination of work done and the time taken to do that work.
• The surrounding density of the training can greatly affect the stress and subsequent adaptations.
• Instead of fully recovering, we may use minimal recovery devices so that we create the pre-fatigue state. In fact, during the base and pre-competition phases of training, recovery is de-emphasized for this exact reason.
• We want to shift fuel metabolism and the way to do this is to "embarrass" the system. So we need to delve deeper into the depths of glycogen depletion. To do this, we could do fasted runs where we wake up and don't fuel before a run so that we use our overnight fast as a way to train with less glycogen. Similarly, we may do really long runs without fueling support to push the stress of low glycogen further. We can use nutrition to manipulate the stressor of the workout.
• We have to train the mental aspect during practice.
• We see workouts as a way to increase stress and drive adaptation. The way that stress is increased determines the direction of the adaptation the body takes. Therefore, it's a simple act of stress that leads to adaptation.

17 - Individualizing Training

• For example, if someone was using a strict Lydiard system, he would try to get the athlete up to 100mpw, then follow it with hills, and so forth.
• The key to true individualization is creating the training system around the individual runner's needs.
• They should be able to use a high mileage approach when that is needed and a low mileage/high intensity approach when that is needed.
• The best coach adapts to the individual giving him exactly what he needs.