unCoachJasonTM
VO2max
The
monthly newsletter of RunCoachJason.com
Dr.
Jason
Karp, running & fitness coach, consultant, freelance writer
December,
2006
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In
this issue:
VO2max
Distance Running Clinic
Holiday
Gifts
VO2max
and Mileage
Race
Pace
In
Press
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VO2max Distance Running Clinic
On
December 2nd, 2006, RunCoachJason.com will hold its first annual VO2max
Distance Running Clinic for runners and coaches at the University of New
Mexico in Albuquerque. Speakers
include professional coach, writer, and Ph.D. candidate Jason Karp, exercise
physiologist Dr. Robert Robergs of the University of New Mexico, and U.S.
Masters record holder and 2:08 marathoner Mbarak Hussein of
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Holiday
Gifts
Know someone who wants to lose weight
or become a faster runner? Why
don’t you give him or her (or yourself) a personal trainer or coach as a
holiday gift? I offer a number of
online and in-person personal training and coaching services, based on
individual needs and goals. I will
customize an exercise or training program specifically for you (or your
friend). To purchase personal
training or coaching sessions or my popular customized training programs for
beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/coaching.
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VO2max and Mileage
If
you’ve been training for a while, chances are that your VO2max has
plateaued. VO2max is a pretty
stable parameter, with further improvements in performance resulting from
improvements in other physiological variables like lactate threshold and
running economy. While the exact
volume of training at which VO2max plateaus is individual, a number of
researchers have suggested that it plateaus at about 70 miles per week.
Any training above this won’t likely improve VO2max unless you
include more intensity.
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Race
Pace
(excerpted
from Karp, J.R. The Errors of Our Running Ways. Running
Times. July/Aug. 2006, 338, pp. 28,30-33.)
I
used to coach a talented runner who ran the first mile of every race too fast,
only to slow down dramatically during the latter segments and end up
disappointed with the result. He
thought he was better than his workouts and he let his competitive spirit and
pre-race adrenaline obscure his knowledge of his true fitness level.
It was frustrating to watch him start off so well and get slower with
each successive lap of the track.
The
faster you run the first mile of a race, the more your muscles rely on
anaerobic metabolism to produce energy. With
the greater reliance on anaerobic metabolism and muscular work comes an
increase in muscle and blood acidosis and the accumulation of metabolic
by-products that cause fatigue. Whether
the race is a mile or a marathon, you can’t put running time in the bank.
You will end up losing more time in the end than what you gained by
being “ahead of schedule” in the beginning.
No matter how strong your will is, the metabolic condition caused by
running too fast too early will force you to slow down during subsequent
stages of the race.
Although
race strategy sometimes dictates that you change the pace during the race to
challenge your competitors, the best way to run your fastest possible race is
by starting out at the pace you can maintain the entire race.
While it may feel easy, especially in the marathon, to run the first
mile of your race at the same pace as the last, your patience will pay huge
dividends during that last mile. Ideally,
the second half of your race should be equal to or slightly faster than the
first half (i.e., negative splits). To
negative split a race requires accurate knowledge of your fitness level,
confidence to stick to your plan when others have taken the early pace out too
fast, and a good dose of self-restraint.
When
you race, you don’t run at some arbitrary intensity.
The percentages of your VO2max and lactate threshold you can sustain
for a specific amount of time are predictable.
The longer the race, the lower the percent VO2max at which you’ll run
it. Research has shown that the
speed at VO2max can be sustained for only about 8 to 10 minutes. Talented,
highly-trained runners therefore race 3,000 meters at 100
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In
Press...
Training
Characteristics of U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifiers,
my research article documenting how the best marathoners in the U.S train,
with comparisons made between men and women and elite and national-class
runners, appears in the Winter, 2007 issue of Track
Coach, the official technical publication of USA Track & Field.
The
Errors of Our Running Ways,
my article that examines four
common mistakes—going out too fast in a race, doing speed work without first
doing enough aerobic mileage, running workouts too fast or too slow,
My
Fitness
News contributions on muscle
tone, the health benefits of cardiovascular exercise, and exercise and
metabolism appear
in the December,
2006 issue of Oxygen magazine.
My
Fitness News contributions on exercise and bone density, muscle
fibers, fat-burning zone, and how fat burns in a carbohydrate flame appear in
the January, 2007 issue of Oxygen
magazine, on newsstands in December.
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To
view past newsletters, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter.
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unsubscribe from this newsletter, e-mail jason@runcoachjason.com
with the word “unsubscribe” on the subject line.
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©2006
Jason Karp.
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