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Lead Stories: Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Tapering for Athletes and Ordinary Exercisers

Posted October 2nd, 2007 at 10:55 AM by Adam Berger

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips, Health & Fitness, Exercise

marathon Tapering refers to the period just before a major race or game, when an athlete reduces workload to be in peak shape on the day of the competition. Ordinary exercisers can apply this training principle when they plan to enter a local race or charity event.

Top athletes must spend a tremendous amount of time training to be able to compete successfully. Their huge volume of work leaves them near exhaustion and before major competitions, they have to find the best way to reduce fatigue while retaining fitness. Many studies have been done to help athletes and coaches decide on the best strategy.

Researchers at the University of Montreal compiled the results of 27 scientifically acceptable studies. They concluded that the best duration of tapering is two weeks, the optimum training volume reduction is by 40 to 60 percent, and the intensity of workouts should be maintained (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, August 2007).

Training load during taper: Almost all of the studies agree that athletes should reduce the amount of work they do. While each athlete must decide on his optimal reduction, many bicycle racers drop from up to 400 miles a week down to fewer than 200, and many runners drop from above 100 miles to fewer than 40.
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Doping with blood substitute has negative impact on performance

Posted June 28th, 2007 at 3:53 PM by Courtney Albon

Section: News & Results, Running & Training, Nutrition, Supplements, Health & Fitness, Drugs In Sports

Attempts to enhance performance with a doping agent called Hemopure, may not be worth the effort. According to a recent study, the blood substitute intended to strengthen patients with anemia, may actually do the opposite for elite athletes seeking a boost in endurance.

Hemopure is a blood substitute derived from cow’s blood that serves to deliver Oxygen throughout the body at a faster rate and is intended for individuals with a low count of red blood cells. The drug was approved in South Africa in 2001 and has recently been made available in some parts of Europe, but only to be used as a strengthening agent for anemic patients.

In the past, Athletes have used a product called EPO, also a drug used by anemic patients, but doctors say that the increased amount of oxygen that Hemopure delivers to the body, sets it apart from EPO and similar drugs.

Athletes who use Hemopure in search of strengthened endurance may be disappointed, however, as recent studies reported in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, have found that Hemopure does little to improve performance.
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Impact of extreme weather conditions on marathon running performances

Posted May 23rd, 2007 at 1:00 PM by Megan Hueter

Section: Running & Training, Injury & Rehab, Training Tips

In general, marathon races are among the most physiologically demanding endurance events in the world with runners competing for a distance of 42 kilometers (26.2 miles). (3,6) Competitive marathon runners often maintain a pace equaling 70-90% of their VO2max (max output) for over two hours. (6) Both biological and environmental factors affect the thermoregulatory balance in marathon runners.

Marathon races are considered mass participation events, and heat injuries occur in less extreme conditions. When running in closer proximity to other runners, it has been reported that the physiological heat stress is three times more straining on the body compared to someone running solo in identical weather conditions. (6) As mentioned earlier biological and environmental factors play a role in maintaining thermoregulatory balance in marathon runners. Biological factors such as dehydration, metabolic rate and gender limit thermoregulatory control. (3)
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Hill Repeats vs. Weight Training: Which training workout is more important?

Posted March 16th, 2007 at 11:30 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

I wholeheartedly agree with the value of hill repeats. Too many runners overlook them and focus almost entirely on intervals and tempo runs. Hard hill repeats provide both strength and cardio-respiratory development; making them an essential ingredient of any serious runner’s regimen. In addition, as many easy and long runs as possible should include some hills, rather than being completely flat.

Hills are a great resistance training tool for strength development … and not just in the form of structured hill repeats. Let me explain:
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Running Strength

Posted March 11th, 2007 at 10:21 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

Running strength isn’t quite as definitive as VO2max or LT. It’s a bit ambiguous. However, as I view it, it has two components … physiological and psychological.

The physiological component is related to running economy, but it is also different. I think of both running strength and running economy as sub-elements of a broader subject that I call running efficiency.

Running economy is a measure of how efficiently you use oxygen while running at a specific pace. Improving running economy means that you can physiologically sustain a faster pace at a given percentage of VO2max, or a given pace at a lower percentage of VO2max, for a longer distance.
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Heart Rate Training

Posted January 21st, 2007 at 2:00 PM by Emily Hoskins

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips, Health & Fitness, Exercise

Monitoring your heart rate during exercise is an excellent way to improve performance, avoid overtraining, and track your progress. Heart rate training is popular because it is easy to monitor and for most athletes if offers a practical way to measure exercise intensity. Heart rate training relies on the fact that as your exercise intensity increases so does your body’s demand for oxygen.

It is important to monitor your exercise intensity because (1) there are different physiological adaptations associated with training that depends on the intensity being implicated, and (2) you can manipulate your entire training program to reach your own personal goals based upon your specific sport or event.
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Expand your comfort zones; improve “running strength”

Posted December 22nd, 2006 at 6:15 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

Running strength isn’t quite as definitive as VO2Max or lactate threshold. It’s a bit ambiguous. However, as I view it, it has two components: physiological and psychological.

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Live High, Train Low
Benefits of altitude training

Posted December 11th, 2006 at 8:13 AM by Emily Hoskins

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Many endurance athletes utilize altitude training. While it was once a controversial topic, researchers now universally agree that when done correctly altitude training offers many benefits.

So how does altitude training work? When you are exposed to hypoxia (oxygen reduced environments) your body struggles to produce the required energy needed to perform due to less oxygen available. This struggle initiates many physiological adaptations that enhance the efficiency of your body’s respiratory, cardiovascular, and oxygen transport systems.
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Do you want your child to be a champion athlete like Lance Armstrong?

Posted November 18th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Jeanie Rebb

Section: Health & Fitness, Exercise

young athletes child flexing muscle Champion athletes are [BOTH] born AND made.

Lance Armstrong is arguably the greatest endurance athlete of all time. Edward F. Coyle, professor at the University of Texas, has tested him in his laboratory several times over the years. (Journal of Applied Physiology, March 17, 2005). We can be certain that Lance has extraordinary genetic attributes.

A laboratory measure of a person’s genetic ability to compete successfully in endurance events is called the VO2max, the maximum amount of blood the heart can pump in a given time span. Lance’s value was 6 liter/min (expressed per body weight as 75-85 ml/kg/min). Of the hundreds of athletes he has tested, Coyle has found only two other athletes in that range. Read the rest of this entry »

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Ultimate speed workout for marathon training

Posted November 14th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Jim Fortner

Section: Running & Training, Training Tips

Jim Fortner is a weekly, guest contributor to TFS. Make sure to also check out his own personal running and advice site: “Jim2’s Running Page”.

runner seawall1.gif I think the consensus of most experienced marathoners is that a balanced training program that includes a mix of lactate threshold (LT), hill training, VO2max, anaerobic, and marathon pace (MP) sessions is the best way to improve and optimize marathon performance.

Most also agree that the emphasis in such a program should be on LT and hill work, although a growing number also advocate extensive MP training. Except for novice programs, most “cookbook” marathon training programs include all of the above in one form or another and to one extent or another. In fact, most training programs for distances shorter than the marathon also include the same “speedwork” ingredients, except for MP runs, but the mix of them changes for the shorter distances.

However, I believe there is a specific “speed workout” that is superior to all of the above. It provides more training benefit, with little or no additional risk of injury, than the “standard” speed workouts. Run correctly, it is a “balanced” workout within itself that includes all of the speedwork elements, except for MP running. And it is much more fun than any of the other speed training workouts.

So, what is this “ultimate” speed workout? It’s 10k racing. Not 5k racing. Not half marathon racing. But, specifically, 10k racing. Read the rest of this entry »

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