unCoachJasonTM
VO2max
The monthly newsletter of RunCoachJason.com
Dr. Jason Karp, running & fitness coach, consultant, freelance writer
Director & Coach, REVO2LT Running Team™
September, 2008
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In
this issue:
VO2max Distance Running Clinic
Training Adaptations
Mileage vs. Time
Athlete Spotlight
Consulting Services
In
Press
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VO2max Distance Running Clinic
If you missed the second annual VO2max Distance Running Clinic in July, don’t fret. You can purchase the clinic info packet with all of the speakers’ handouts for just $11.95 at http://www.runcoachjason.com/clinic or http://www.runcoachjason.com/merchandise. *******************************************************************
Training
Adaptations
How much you adapt to a training stimulus ultimately depends on how
responsive your cells are to signals. Muscle
cells are able to detect all kinds of signals: mechanical, metabolic, neural,
and hormonal, which are amplified and transmitted via signaling cascades and
lead to the events involved in gene expression.
This signaling is fast, occurring within minutes of completing a
workout. Signaling results in the
activation of transcription factors, which are proteins that bind to a
specific part of DNA and control
the transfer of genetic information from DNA to RNA.
Many
of the physiological and biochemical adaptations to training begin with your
DNA, with the copying of one of its double helical strands (a process called
replication). The replicated DNA
strand, under the action of transcription factors, is then transcribed into
messenger RNA (a process called transcription), and the messenger RNA is then
translated into a protein (a process called translation).
Finally, the protein is transported from the nucleus of the cell where
transcription and translation occur to the place where it will function.
While
a single workout alone, especially if it is new to you, introduces a specific
signal and activation of transcription factors,
repeated workouts will lead to a concerted accumulation of messenger
RNAs that can be translated into a host of structural and functional proteins.
In the case of endurance training,
the accumulation of proteins is manifested, for example, as an increase in the
number of mitochondria in your muscles, which is where aerobic metabolism
occurs.
When you begin a training program, you will experience many signaling
responses and subsequent adaptations. However,
continual training at the same level decreases the exercise-specific signaling
responses involved in the adaptations to training.
In other words, if your training stays the same, you can expect
your performances to stay the same. For example,
if you run 15 miles when you’re used to running only 12, you will send a
strong signal to make specific adaptations (increase in mitochondria, muscle
glycogen content, etc.). If you
continue to run 15 miles every Sunday for a period of time, you’ll continue
to send signals to make adaptations until those adaptations are fully
realized. After you have run 15
miles so many times that you have become habituated to it, a 15-mile run will
no longer be enough of a stimulus to initiate any further adaptations.
Therefore, if you want to force more adaptations, you must run longer
than 15 miles. To become a faster
runner, you have to gradually and systematically increase the amount of stress
so that you increase the signaling response.
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Mileage
vs. Time
As runners, we tend to think a lot about mileage. Indeed, it’s the number of miles we run each week that often defines our status as runners. The more miles we run, the more we’re validated. Even other runners will ask you how much mileage you run and make judgments about you based on the answer you give. However, the amount of time spent running is more important than the number of miles since a faster runner will cover the same amount of distance in less time than a slower runner. For example, a runner who averages 10-minute mile pace for 28 miles per week is running the same amount of time as a runner who averages 7-minute mile pace for 40 miles per week (280 minutes per week), and therefore is experiencing the same amount of stress. And that’s what matters—the stress. The same is true when you’re doing long runs in preparation for a marathon—don’t worry about running 20 miles or 21 miles or 22 miles. Focus on lengthening the time. Your body has no comprehension of what a mile is; it only knows how hard it’s working and how long it’s working. Effort over time.
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Athlete Spotlight
Nicole Prause
Nicole Prause, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the department of psychology
and principal investigator in the Sexual Psychophysiology and Affective
Neuroscience (SPAN) Laboratory at Idaho State University, joined REVO2LT Running Team™ in May, 2007. Four
months later, she won the Pocatello Marathon in Pocatello, Idaho in
3:16:59. Recently, she ran a personal best of 38:26 at the Deseret News
10K on July 24th in Salt Lake City, Utah, set the 3.06-mile course record of 18:49 at the Pocatello Summer Race Series
on August 16th, and placed 7th with a personal best of 1:26:52 at the Top of
Utah Half-Marathon on August 23rd in Logan, Utah. She’s
currently training for the California International Marathon on December 7th
in Sacramento, California.
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Consulting Services
In addition to their consultations for runners, RunCoachJason.com has recently added telephone consultations for coaches and fitness professionals to their list of services. If you want to learn more about specific aspects of training to take your athletes or clients to the next level, or you want the opportunity to have your fitness and running questions answered immediately, you can talk to Coach Jason live. For a list of consultation topics and to book a telephone consultation with Coach Jason, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/consulting.
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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 Summer, 2008 issue of New
Studies in Athletics, the official technical publication of the
International Association of Athletics Federations.
The
Long View, my article on how strength training, only when done for power, can improve your
running, with sample programs for
strength and plyometric training,
appears in the Summer, 2008 issue of Techniques for Track & Field and
Cross Country, the official technical publication of U.S. Track &
Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.
Tapering for the Marathon, my article that describes the physiology of
tapering and gives advice for the best tapering strategies,
appears in
the September/October, 2008 issue of Washington Running Report.
Weight
Training Grips and Positions, my article that discusses changes in body position and grips that changes the
muscular emphasis of a variety of exercises, appears in the Fall, 2008 issue of Duke
City Fit.
6
Simple Ways to Reach Your Best Body,
my article that describes new takes on old, traditional ways of exercising,
appears in the October, 2008 issue of Shape magazine, on newsstands in
September.
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To
view past newsletters, go to http://www.runcoachjason.com/newsletter.
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©2008
Dr. Jason Karp.
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