Gary’s Fitness Blog

I have now watched the NOVA - Marathon Challenge program twice.  My personal opinion is that the documentary is way better than the Spirit of the Marathon Documentary that was done about the Chicago Marathon trainees.

That may be due to the face that I’m a little bit of a science freak when it comes to the training involved in  marathon training.  The NOVA special doesn’t go into a lot of detail, but they do address certain training issues:  injuries, VO2 Max, Body Composition and a little about nutrition during long runs.

Here are some key take home messages that I’d like to point out and my view:

1.  Long Runs

I’ve discussed this many times in the past.  I recently wrote an article that I called, “A look at the long run and marathon training.”  And my first podcast, “The long run in a marathon program.  The double long strategy,” addresses my thoughts on how to approach a long run.

One of the interesting discussions was when the exercise physiologist and nutritionist from Tufts said that by the time you get to the “long” runs you have already developed the physiological changes and the soft tissue changes, the long runs are primarily beneficial for the psychological outcomes.

That is a point that I like to make and my point-of-view is that the downside of injury (for most runners) is greater than the psychological uplift a person may generate.

Just a reminder that there is no magic to a 20 mile run.

2.  Weight Loss / Body Composition

They analyzed the body composition of the runners before and after their marathon training programs.  What they found was that only one of the runners changed their body weight or body composition during the program.

This is hard to believe for many people, especially when you consider the amount of exercise they added to their lifestyles.  The take home message (which they made) is that we often over-estimate the caloric expenditure of the activity we participate in.

Thus, if we want to get into a weight management situation or lose some weight, nutrition is a very important (if not the most important) variable in that program.  This can be hard for an exercise physiologist and personal trainer to admit because I want to believe that exercise is the most important key to any lifestyle… but there are limitations.

A better message is that there needs to be a combination of exercise and non-disordered-eating.  One thing that I see often (and see in myself), is a belief that with all the exercise that comes with running a marathon or training for an Ironman, a person can eat whatever they want.  That mentality leads to disordered eating.

Exercise Session –> Eat what mind wants –> Non-Optimal Food Choices

This is one thing that I am currently working on.  I know that when I’m in full capacity training I have little mental energy and strength to combat poor nutritional habits.  Last summer it got a little crazy as I trained for Ironman Wisconsin.  Now that I’m not in full capacity training, I see myself being able to change some of those habits.  Still more changes that need be made.

3.  The other side of body composition.
The other side to their body composition discovery was that the one person that did have changes also included a bootcamp training program in addition to their marathon program.

This is a good lesson because it helps us realize that even within an exercise program, there needs to be a balance between strength training, flexibility training, and cardiovascular training.  Many endurance athletes can become addicted to the “runner’s high” and neglect other aspects that would benefit their health (again, I am as guilty as anyone).

4.  The injury issues:

There seemed to be a lot of injury issues that the runners were dealing with.  One of the most important lessons that I’m continually learning is the value of specific strength training and flexibility training as a hedge against injury in a beginner / novice marathon program.

You can go back and read the posts I’ve had on strength training and patellofemoral pain.  Many lessons learned there.

I had the opportunity to go to UC (University of Cincinnati) to have some metabolic testing done this past weekend. Since I’m not in training for anything, I was leary about going, but the opportunity to be in the lab again and see how another lab does their testing was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

The set up at their lab was very nice for several reasons:

1. They have standard road bikes that are available… which means you don’t have to ride those uncomfortable Monarch cycles that both the University of Kentucky and Nebraska had. (Although to be fair, I never spent time on UK’s).

2. They have the bikes set up with powertaps. I liked this because they are commonly used power meters by cyclists and triathletes on the road. I have not made the investment to start riding with power, so it was nice to get my hands on one.

3. They have four stations. Very nice when you are testing a large group of athletes. I am assuming they have a good funding source?

4. They have metabolic analyzers that are worth using. I still have questions as to the validity to the portable systems that we see at fitness centers and other various places. Maybe someone could show me that those systems have been proven reliable, but I just hear too many strange results for me to be a big believer.

The Tests:

After getting 5 minutes of resting data, I got onto the bike. (Which had my own pedals on it!) We started at 120watts and increased the power output by 20watts every three minutes. The watts were increased initially by changing the gears, then by the incline (using a Tacx trainer).

The metabolic analyzer was measuring o2 consumption, co2 output, ventilation, the powertap was measuring heart rate and power output, while an assistant (Jim was the man) was taking blood samples at the end of each 3 minute stage to measure blood lactate (using a Lactate Pro).

The protocol (3 min steps) was used in order for the rider to achieve a steady state prior to increasing to a new workload.

The Results:

I have had this done before several times on the bike, but many more times on the treadmill. What I found out was similar to past experiences: my cycling Vo2 is about 10 ml/kg/min lower than my running Vo2 max.

Here’s a link to the results: RESULTS HERE - username: gditsch01

I haven’t had much time to look through the data, but the initial things that I wanted to look at were these:

Vo2 : 56.93 ml/kg/min
Watts/kg at Lactate Threshold : approx 3.2
Watts at Lactate Threshold : 213
Heart Rate at Lactate Threshold : 176bpm

I need some more time to look through the efficiency data and the other metabolic data before I can make a more detailed comment on them.

One interesting comparison to make is looking at the watts/kg at lactate threshold. I remember reading a book on Lance Armstrong (Lance Armstrong’s War, I believe) that talked about a test he did with his coach, Ferrari. They would go to a mountain climb and ride the climb a few times. Each time increasing the intensity, until they hit his lactate threshold (they took the sample at the top of each climb). After the testing, they new Lance was ready for the Tour if he had a watts/kg result of 6.7 or above. (You might have to go check the facts, as it has been awhile since I read the book.)

I guess I am not ready to take on the Tour! But still not completely disappointing results as I have the worst fitness that I have had in several years (Fall of ‘05).

To compare the results that I got this weekend to last year’s Vo2 testing I had done on the treadmill might be of interest. You can read my post after those tests:

Here - Vo2 Max the Good Results.

Hopefully this will start a discussion, as it is much easier to be in a discussion about this information than it is to state all that seems important.