VO2max

The monthly newsletter of RunCoachJason.com

Jason Karp, professional coach, consultant, freelance writer

Director & Coach, REVO₂LT Running Team™

September, 2007

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In this issue:

Coach Jason to Teach Running Class

Breathing and Economy

Altitude Training

Size Matters

Customized Training Programs 

In Press

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Coach Jason to Teach Running Class

For those of you in the Albuquerque area this fall, I will be teaching Running for Fitness in the University of New Mexico Continuing Education Program.  The class will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays, September 4 to October 25, from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m.  The class will explore the many benefits of running, including the physical and psychological.  Students will get technical/training and philosophical perspectives of the sport as we go for runs around Albuquerque (the class will be an “out-of-classroom” experience, as we run in places like the Bosque/Rio Grande Trail, the Sandia Mountain foothills, and the track).  In addition to becoming more physically fit, students will learn how their bodies and minds work together to create whole human beings.  As an extension of their running, students will keep a creative journal throughout the class, which will culminate with the students entering and running in a local road race.  For more information and to register for the class, go to: http://dce.unm.edu/PEP/?menu_item_ID=14.

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Breathing and Economy

Many of you know that my doctoral dissertation is on the coordination of breathing and stride rate in elite distance runners.  Past research has shown that coordinating these two rhythms may improve running economy in unfit or inexperienced runners, possibly by decreasing the metabolic cost of breathing, as the movement of the legs assists the movement of the chest cavity.  Since all of my subjects coordinated their breathing to their stride rates, precluding comparisons in economy between runners who coordinate the two rhythms to runners who don’t, I calculated correlations to see if there were relationships between running economy, the percentage of breaths that were coordinated to the stride rate, and the step-to-breath ratio.  Contrary to my hypothesis, there were no such relationships.  It’s possible that coordinating breathing to stride rate may not improve running economy over and above what elite runners have already gained through training.  

Want to learn more about what kinds training improve your running economy?  In my popular CD collection, The 3 Players of Distance Running, you’ll get all the info you could ever want on running economy, VO₂max, and lactate threshold, including specific workouts to help you reach your running goals!  Purchase any CD for $9.95, any 2 CDs for $17.95, or the whole set for just $23.95 (plus $2.95 shipping).  Just go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/merchandise or e-mail jason@runcoachjason.com.

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Altitude Training

In the last newsletter, I discussed the best strategy for altitude training.  If you’re used to training at sea-level but plan on going to altitude, you need to adjust your workout paces to give you physiologically-equivalent workouts at different altitudes.  If you’re traveling to an altitude below 3,000 to 3,500 feet, you may not have to adjust your paces at all since endurance performance doesn't begin to decline until about 3,000 feet.  If, however, you’re traveling higher, research has shown that VO₂max decreases by about 2.6 percent for every 1,000 feet of altitude above 3,400 feet.  So, if you run 5 x 1,000 meters in 3:45 (6:00 pace) to target VO₂max at sea-level, your workout at an altitude of 5,000 feet (e.g., Albuquerque, Denver, Salt Lake City) would be 5 x 1,000 meters in 3:54 (6:15 pace, or 4.16 percent slower than at sea-level).  If you’re running the workout at 7,000 feet (e.g., Flagstaff, Santa Fe, Park City), run 5 x 1,000 meters in 4:05 (6:33 pace, or 9.36 percent slower than at sea-level).  Here’s how you calculate your paces for altitude workouts: 

# of feet at altitude - 3,400 feet = A

A x .026 / 1,000 feet = B

B x your sea-level pace in minutes = C

C + your sea-level pace in minutes = your new altitude pace in minutes

Convert decimal from new altitude pace into seconds by multiplying decimal by 60 = your new altitude pace

For example, at an altitude of 5,000 feet and a sea-level pace of 5:30:

5,000 feet - 3,400 feet = 1,600 feet

1,600 x 0.026 / 1,000 feet = 0.0416

0.0416 x 5.5 = 0.2288

0.2288 + 5.5 = 5.7288 minutes

0.7288 x 60 = 43 seconds = 5:43 pace

Use the same calculation for your lactate threshold runs.  If you live at altitude and are going to sea-level, subtract the time from your altitude pace to find your sea-level pace since you’ll be faster at sea-level than at altitude.  Since there is a great amount of variability in the altitude response between runners, you may have to adjust the paces based on your individual response to altitude.  You may also have to take a longer recovery period during interval workouts at altitude, but that’s okay.  Take as long as you need to run the intervals at the correct pace.   

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Size Matters

Ever wonder how much of a change you can expect to see from strength training?  A study published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise on 585 subjects (342 women, 243 men) who strength trained the biceps of the non-dominant arm for 12 weeks found that changes in muscle size ranged from -2 to +59% (-0.4 to +13.6 cm), increases in dynamic maximum strength ranged from 0 to +250% (0 to +10.2 kg), and changes in isometric maximum strength ranged from -32 to +149% (-15.9 to +52.6 kg).  Of the 585 subjects, 40 percent increased muscle size by 15 to 25 percent, less than two percent increased muscle size by over 40 percent, and 6 percent increased muscle size by less than 5 percent.  Men increased absolute strength more than did women, but women exhibited greater relative increases in strength.  Men also experienced a 2.5 percent greater increase in muscle size compared to women. 

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Customized Training Programs 

If you’re training for the 800 meters, mile, 5-K, 10-K, half-marathon, or marathon, and want a science-based program suited to your needs, try Coach Jason’s popular customized training programs for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels!  To receive your own training program, contact Coach Jason at jason@runcoachjason.com or go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/merchandise.  And don't forget, you can run in style and comfort with RunCoachJason.com’s official REVO₂LT Running Team™ lightweight dri-fit T-shirt.  To order, just go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/merchandise.

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In Press...
The Three Players of Distance Running: An In-Depth Look at Lactate Threshold, Part 2 of my series that explores the physiology of distance running, appears in the Fall, 2007 issue of Track Coach, the official technical publication of USA Track & Field.

Most people neglect their calves in the gym in favor of the more popular muscles, like the biceps, gluteus maximus, and pectorals.  However, a set of cool calves can create a lot of shape to your legs and can be the difference between showing your legs in public and wishing for winter so you don’t have to ever wear shorts.  Cool Calves, Part 7 of my Better Body series that describes how to get the calves you’ve always dreamed of, along with a calf training program, appears in the September, 2007 issue of Ultra-Fit magazine.

Once the place where only athletes and hardcore fitness enthusiasts with big muscles or tight buttocks went to show off their bodies, gyms are now filled with everyone from Mr. Olympia to grandma next door.  So why not you?  Unsure of Whether to Join a Gym?, my article that discusses the reasons for joining a gym, appears in the September, 2007 issue of Ultra-Fit magazine.

Running Between the Lines: Track Running, my article on what you need to know to run effectively at the track, appears in the Fall, 2007 issue of Duke City Fit.

My Fitness News contributions on the best time of day to exercise, stretching’s effect on strength, how often you need to train, and interval training vs. continuous exercise for burning fat appear in the September, 2007 issue of Oxygen magazine.

My Fitness News contributions on track workouts, exercise and anemia, concentric strength training, and getting the most out of bench presses & push-ups appear in the October, 2007 issue of Oxygen magazine, on newsstands in September. 

Also look for my “Ask the Experts” contribution on breathing and running and coverage of my Olympic Marathon Trials research in the September, 2007 issue of Runner’s World magazine. 
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To view past newsletters, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter.

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©2007 Jason Karp.