unCoachJasonTM
VO2max
The monthly newsletter of RunCoachJason.com
Dr. Jason Karp, running & fitness coach, consultant, freelance writer
Director & Coach, REVO2LT Running Team™
November, 2009
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In
this issue:
Boston Marathon Training Program
Dr. Karp Signs Book Deal with Coaches Choice
Bones
Running DVDs
VAVi Running Club
Training VO2max
In
Press
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Boston Marathon Training Program
From
November 21, 2009 to April 19, 2010, I will coach REVO2LT
Marathon Training™, the official marathon training program of
RunCoachJason.com for runners who will run the 2010 Boston Marathon. An
acronym for the three main physiological factors of distance running
performance — Running Economy, VO2max, and Lactate
Threshold — REVO2LT Marathon Training™
is a unique, science-based program that targets
each of these factors so that runners can run their best marathon.
Runners in the program will be coached through mid-week track workouts
and weekend long runs at various locations around San Diego. Runners
will also receive weekly educational seminars, a 10%
discount at Road
Runner Sports, free PowerBar
products, a pre-marathon pasta party, an official REVO2LT
Marathon Training™ dri-fit T-shirt, scenic group long runs
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Dr. Karp Signs Book Deal with Coaches Choice
I
recently signed a deal with the publisher Coaches Choice for my book, 101
Developmental Workouts for Cross Country. The
book
covers all of the workouts coaches and athletes need to know to target
all aspects of cross country running and racing. It is scheduled for publication in
early 2010.
Coaches
Choice
is one of the world’s
largest publishers of books and videos for coaches, with over 2,000 titles.
They are based in Monterey, California.
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Bones
As an active person, you’re already doing great things for your bones.
Research has shown that athletes who participate in sports involving running
and jumping — soccer, running, basketball, and volleyball — have greater
bone mineral density (BMD) compared to non-active people and even compared to
athletes in non-impact sports, such as swimming, cycling, cross-country
skiing, and rowing. Research has also shown that tennis players have
greater BMD in their playing arm compared to their non-playing arm, suggesting
that the effect of forceful muscle contractions alone is enough to increase
BMD. While athletes have greater BMD, it’s hard to say that exercise
is its cause since research has shown that BMD increases by only 1 to 2
percent in response to a training program. It’s possible that people
with genetically denser bones are more likely to participate and succeed in
sports that are stressful on the skeleton.
High-impact activities and weight
training have the greatest impact on BMD. Gymnasts, who regularly
experience high-impact loads upon landing, have a greater BMD compared to
cross-country runners. If you’d rather weight train than somersault on
a balance beam, you only need one set of a heavy weight to increase BMD, since
research has shown that the magnitude of the stress on the bone is more
important than the number of times you repeat the stress.
Exercising before you reach skeletal maturity is also important. The
greatest impact on bone mass is achieved when a substantial exposure to
mechanical stress occurs before puberty. Exercising before puberty is
like choosing the best 401(k) plan when you’re young to maximize your
financial status upon retirement. As
you age, the capacity of bone to respond to loading decreases.
The
most important determinant of BMD in women is the circulating concentration of
estrogen. Any condition that reduces estrogen concentration negatively
affects bone remodeling, which explains why a woman’s risk for osteoporosis
and fractures increases dramatically with amenorrhea and after menopause, when
there is a lack of estrogen. Indeed, estrogen deficiency caused by
amenorrhea is the most significant risk factor for osteoporosis in active
women. A number of studies have found a significant loss in BMD,
particularly at the lumbar spine, in amenorrheic athletes.
So, what do you do to increase your BMD? Increase the strain on your
bones with both weight-bearing and high-intensity resistance exercises and
consume adequate amounts of calcium and vitamin D, especially as you get
older. Women aged 19 to 50 years need to consume 1,000 milligrams of
calcium and 400 International Units (IU) of vitamin D per day and women aged
over 50 years (or post-menopausal) need to consume 1,200 milligrams of calcium
and 600 to 800 IU of vitamin D per day.
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Running
DVDs
If you’ve missed any of my
conference presentations or my VO2max Distance Running Clinic, you
can purchase a number of DVDs that will give you all of the cutting-edge
information you need to become a better runner. To
order, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/merchandise.
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VAVi Running Club
I
recently started working as a coach and consultant for the VAVi Running Club in San
Diego. VAVi Running Club is a full marathon and half-marathon training
program and is part of VAVi Sport & Social Club, which brings together
adults who want to have fun through a variety of social events, vacations,
volunteer opportunities, and adult sports leagues in
For more information about
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Research
has shown that the key to improving VO2max is to run at or close to
the velocity (speed) associated with VO2max (called “vVO2max”).
A study published in Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport in
February, 2007 compared a group of runners who did an interval workout twice
per week for 10 weeks consisting of 8 x 3-3.5 minutes (which equaled 60% of
the time they could sustain VO2max) at vVO2max with
equal time as recovery to a second group that also did an interval workout
twice per week for 10 weeks consisting of 12 x 30 seconds at 130% vVO2max
with 4.5 minutes recovery and to a control group that ran for 60 minutes at
75% vVO2max four times per week for 10 weeks. Overall, the
first group showed greater physiological and performance changes, improving VO2max
by 9.1%, vVO2max by 6.4%, the time vVO2max could be
sustained by 35%, the speed at the lactate threshold by 11.7%, and 3,000-meter
performance by 7.3%. The second group improved VO2max by
6.2%, vVO2max by 7.8%, the time vVO2max could be
sustained by 32%, and 3,000-meter performance by 3.4%, but did not improve the
speed at the lactate threshold. The control group that did no interval
training did not show significant changes in any of these variables.
While the percent improvements for each interval training group were
statistically greater after training than before, the groups were not
statistically different from each other. Given that the first group
improved their 3,000-meter performance by more than double that of the second
group, it seems that using longer intervals run at the speed at VO2max
for 60% of the time you can sustain your speed at VO2max (about 3
to 4 minutes) is more effective than using shorter intervals run faster than
VO2max.
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In
Press...
Carbohydrates for Distance Runners, my article that discusses how much,
how often, and what types of carbohydrates runners should consume to maximize
recovery and performance, appears in the November, 2009 issue of Sports
Nutrition Insider, the world’s first and only trade publication dedicated
to the sports nutrition industry.
Mountain Training, my article on altitude training for sea-level runners,
appears in the October, 2009 issue of Competitor magazine, the Southern
California fitness resource.
Bones,
my
article on everything you wanted to
know about bones and exercise,
appears in the
November,
2009 issue of the United Kingdom’s Ultra-Fit magazine.
How
Much Should You Lift?, my Chest Essentials piece on
recommendations for the amount of weight to lift to get a more defined chest, appears
in the November/December, 2009 issue o
Carbohydrates and Distance Running: A Scientific Perspective, my
article on the role that carbohydrates plays in distance
running, with recommendations for maximizing muscle glycogen
synthesis,
appears in the November/December, 2009 issue of Washington Running Report.
It’s
All Downhill From Here, my article on downhill running with tips on how to
prepare for downhill races, appears in the November/December, 2009 issue of Colorado
Runner.
Beat Winter Weight Gain, my article on the best 15-minute workouts you
can do to lose weight and stay in shape during the holidays, appears in the
December, 2009 issue of Shape magazine, on newsstands in November.
How
to Survive Your PhD: The Insider’s Guide to Avoiding Mistakes, Choosing the
Right Program, Working with Professors, and Just How a Person Actually Writes
a 200-Page Paper,
my self-help book for graduate students published by Sourcebooks, Inc., is
available on Amazon.com
and will be available in bookstores nationwide in December, 2009.
Also look for my quotes on swollen hands while running a marathon in the
November/December, 2009 issue of Marathon
& Beyond.
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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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©2009 Dr. Jason Karp.
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