VO2max

The monthly newsletter of RunCoachJason.com

Jason Karp, professional coach, consultant, freelance writer

March, 2005

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In this issue:

Integrating Science with Application—Training VO2max

Lungs and the Distance Runner

Consulting

Research

Dissertation

In Press

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Integrating Science with Application—Training VO2max

As discussed in last month’s newsletter, VO2max is influenced by cardiac factors relating to blood flow and peripheral factors relating to muscle oxygen use.  You can improve VO2max with different types of training that target improvements in these different factors.  For example, increasing weekly mileage increases muscle capillary and mitochondrial densities, which will improve muscles’ ability to use oxygen.  However, there does not seem to be any significant increase in VO2max when running more than 75-80 miles/week, unless more intense training that targets cardiac factors is performed to supplement the mileage. 

 

The most potent stimulus for improving VO2max seems to be long intervals (2-5 minutes), likely because VO2max can be achieved during the work periods, with the repeated attainment of VO2max serving as the stimulus to improve it.  However, short intervals (<1 minute) can also improve VO2max, as long as they are performed at a high intensity and with short, active recovery periods to keep VO2 elevated throughout the workout. 

 

Regardless of the length of the intervals, you should aim to run them at the speed at which VO2max occurs, which is very close to 3,000-meter race pace for highly-trained runners.  During long intervals, this pace should cause you to come close to reaching your maximal heart rate.  Research on the speed at VO2max has shown that interval training at that speed allows VO2max to be sustained for the longest possible time. 

 

Examples of VO2max workouts are 5 x 1,000 meters in 3:20 with 2:00 recovery and 40 x 200 meters in :40 with :20 recovery.  Although it is tempting to run faster when the intervals are shorter, the pace should be the same for both workouts since the goal is the same—to improve VO2max.  Make the shorter interval workout harder by adding more repetitions or decreasing the recovery period rather than by running faster.  While longer intervals provide a greater load on the cardiovascular system, an advantage of shorter intervals is what famous physiologist Per-Olaf Åstrand discovered in the 1960s—by breaking the work up into smaller segments, you can perform a greater volume of high-intensity work.

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Lungs and the Distance Runner

Many new runners complain that they can’t breathe once they start running around the block.  Indeed, “getting in enough air” is foremost on their minds.  They get frustrated with their lungs, because they perceive them to limit their ability to continue running.  However, studies clearly show that the lungs do not limit the ability to perform endurance exercise, especially in untrained people.  However, it is precisely these people who claim that they “can’t breathe” while running and are forced to stop so that they can “catch their breath.”  Even trained runners sometimes feel this way.

 

At first glance, distance running seems to have everything to do with big, strong lungs.  After all, it is through our lungs that we get oxygen.  If the size of our lungs mattered, you would expect the best distance runners to have large lungs that can hold a lot of oxygen.  However, the best distance runners in the world are quite small people, with characteristically small lungs.  There is no relationship between lung capacity and distance running performance.

 

Many coaches tell their athletes to focus on their breathing.  Trying to breathe more deeply in an attempt to get in more oxygen will not make you run faster because getting more oxygen into your body is not what limits your ability to run.  Oxygen is all around us and has no problem diffusing from the air into our lungs.  What is important in the lungs, however, is the diffusion of oxygen from the lungs’ alveoli into the pulmonary capillaries, a process that is already more than adequate.  While you sit reading this (at sea-level), the hemoglobin in your arterial blood is 97-98% saturated with oxygen, which is maintained in healthy people even while running a race.

 

So next time you’re running up a hill or finishing an interval workout on the track and you’re thinking, “I can’t catch my breath,” don’t blame your lungs.

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Consulting

Are you a coach who needs to find that extra edge to help your athletes maximize their performances?

Are you an athlete needing someone to tweak your training program for better results?

Do you or someone you know want to lose weight and get started on a fitness program?

Are you an editor of a fitness magazine who needs advice on technical issues?

Are you a company designing new fitness products who needs advice on their design and use?

Do you work at or own a business interested in helping employees improve productivity through corporate fitness programs?

Are you a manager or director of a fitness club interested in developing new programs to maximize client retention an increase revenue?

For more information, or to hire Coach Jason as a consultant, e-mail jason@runcoachjason.com.

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Research

I will be presenting my research on the training characteristics of the 2004 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials qualifiers at the American College of Sports Medicine annual conference June 1-4 in Nashville, TN.  If you’re planning on attending the conference or if you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by.    

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Dissertation

After what has seemed like forever, I have finally arrived at what could be described as the dreaded event for some doctoral students and the pièce de résistance for others—the dissertation. 

 

Although unlikely to garner the attention of the Nobel Prize committee, my dissertation will examine recovery in endurance athletes by comparing the effects of different macronutrient beverages (carbohydrate, carbohydrate protein, and carbohydrate-protein-fat) on blood glucose, insulin, and free fatty acid concentrations during recovery from glycogen-depleting exercise and on the ability to perform a subsequent workout.

 

The Nobel Prize may have to wait until I cure cancer.

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In Press

A preview of my upcoming work...

 

My Love Affair With Lactate, an article that discusses the myths and roles of lactic acid, appears in March’s issue of Track Coach magazine.

 

Optimal Recovery, an article that discusses strategies for recovery from hard workouts, including refueling, rehydrating, reducing inflammation, and tapering, will be published in April’s issue of Fitness Plus magazine.

 

An abstract of my recent study, Training Characteristics of U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifiers will be published in May’s issue of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

 

For a complete list of my publications, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/publications.  

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To view past newsletters, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter.

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©2005 Jason Karp.  All rights reserved.