Reasons to include omega-three fats in your endurance sports nutrition plan
A new study by Iranian and German researchers provides evidence that fish oil supplementation may enhance lung function in athletes. Forty teenage competitive wrestlers were separated into four groups. Two of the four groups received fitness training. One of these two groups also received daily fish oil supplementation. The other two groups received no fitness training, and one of these two groups also received daily fish oil supplementation.
The researchers took several measurements of lung function in all of the subjects before and after the intervention period. They found increases of 41 percent in one-second forced expiratory volume (the volume of air subjects could forcibly exhale in one second) and 53 percent in total lung volume in the fish oil-supplemented groups compared to the non-supplemented groups.
From Wrestlers to Endurance Athletes
Although this study involved strength/power athletes, the results should be of interest to those in 10K training, half-marathon training, marathon training, and triathlon training because the lung function variables measured are associated with endurance performance. But before you get too excited, note that no study has ever found that fish oil supplementation actually enhances endurance performance. For example, a 1997 study by Norwegian researchers found that fish oil had no effect on aerobic power, anaerobic threshold, or running performance in soccer players.
Previous studies have, however, shown other intriguing effects of fish oil supplementation in athletes. A 2008 study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, for instance, showed that fish oil supplementation increased heart stroke volume (or the amount of blood the heart pumps with each contraction) and cardiac output (or the total amount of blood pumped by the heart) during low- to moderate-intensity exercise. Again, there is no performance effect shown here, but it is clear that fish oil supplementation does effect the underlying physiology of athletes in ways that can only be described as beneficial.
A Smart Sports Nutrition Strategy
The apparent benefits of fish oil are probably related to the known ability of the omega-3 essential fats in the oil to enhance the flexibility of cell membranes and the elasticity of blood vessels. Omega-3 fats also improve nervous system function and have anti-inflammatory effects.
Because omega-3 fats are scarce in most foods and generally lacking in the American diet, daily supplementation with an omega-3 source such as fish oil or flaxseed oil is widely considered to be a good idea, for health reasons. So even though it still remains to be seen whether endurance athletes can reap specific performance benefits from such supplementation, a daily dose of 2 to 3 g of the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA combined can contribute to your overall well-being.
Posted Friday, December 4, 2009 by
Matt Fitzgerald
Why your marathon training plan or triathlon training program should include 20-minute workouts
To most non-athletes, 20 minutes of exercise seems like an eternity. But to endurance athletes in marathon training or triathlon training, a 20-minute workout may seem like it’s hardly worth the bother. After all, if your average workout lasts an hour, what can a 20-minute session possibly do to increase your fitness? Quite a lot, actually—even for the fittest endurance athlete. Consider these four benefits:
1. 20-minute workouts burn a meaningful amount of calories and, thereby, help you reach and maintain your optimal racing weight. For example, a 150-lb. runner burns approximately 280 calories in a moderate-intensity 20-minute run. If you normally miss a scheduled longer run roughly once every 10 days due to lack of time, you could burn an extra 10,000 calories over the course of a year by squeezing in 20-minute runs instead.
2. 20-minute workouts provide extra repetitions of the running stride, swim stroke, or pedal stroke that stimulate improvements in efficiency. A big part of what makes you a better, more efficient swimmer, runner, or cyclist is simply time spent practicing the movement. So, even short workouts count as additional movement practice.
3. 20-minute workouts can increase endurance by adding to total weekly glycogen turnover. An interesting Scottish study found that weekly training volume was a better predictor of marathon performance than the distance of the longest training run. In other words, the study suggested that marathon runners are better off running 50 miles a week with a maximum long run of 16 miles than running 40 miles a week with a maximum long run of 22 miles. The reason is that endurance improves through the repeated depletion of muscle glycogen stores in training. And a heavy week of training will result in more total muscle glycogen depletion, and thus build more endurance, than a lighter week. 20-minute workouts can add a meaningful amount of glycogen-depleting volume to your training week.
4. 20-minute workouts can produce an excellent high-intensity training stimulus. A little swimming, cycling, or running at anaerobic threshold intensity and above goes a long way. Twenty minutes is plenty of time to get all the high-intensity work you need to take your fitness up a notch.
There are basically two ways to incorporate 20-minute workouts into your marathon training, triathlon training, or any other endurance sport training. One is to do a 20-minute workout instead of taking a day off whenever you are too pressed for time to complete a longer workout. The other way is to add one or more 20-minute workouts to your weekly training schedule to increase your overall training volume without creating a significant risk of overtraining. Here are some suggested 20-minute workouts:
The Filler Simply swim, ride, or run at an easy tempo for 20 minutes. This is a great workout to do when you want to avoid the guilt of doing nothing but you’re not mentally or physically ready for anything challenging.
Tabata Intervals Swim, ride, or run at an easy tempo for 16 minutes, then complete 8 x 20-second all-out sprints with 10-second passive recoveries between sprints.
Fartlek Intervals Sprinkle 5 to 10 fast 30-second efforts throughout an otherwise moderate, steady-pace workout.
Threshold Session Warm up for five minutes at a comfortable tempo, then go for 15 minutes at anaerobic threshold intensity (the fastest pace you could hold for one hour in a race).
Progression Workout Swim, ride, or run for 15 minutes at a steady, moderate pace, then blast the last five minutes.
Time Trial Swimming: Warm up, then swim 800 meters (875 yards) as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes. Cycling: Warm up, then ride 5 km as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes. Running: Warm up, then run 1 mile as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes.
To most non-athletes, 20 minutes of exercise seems like an eternity. But to endurance athletes in marathon training or triathlon training, a 20-minute workout may seem like it’s hardly worth the bother. After all, if your average workout lasts an hour, what can a 20-minute session possibly do to increase your fitness? Quite a lot, actually—even for the fittest endurance athlete. Consider these four benefits:
1. 20-minute workouts burn a meaningful amount of calories and, thereby, help you reach and maintain your optimal racing weight. For example, a 150-lb. runner burns approximately 280 calories in a moderate-intensity 20-minute run. If you normally miss a scheduled longer run roughly once every 10 days due to lack of time, you could burn an extra 10,000 calories over the course of a year by squeezing in 20-minute runs instead.
2. 20-minute workouts provide extra repetitions of the running stride, swim stroke, or pedal stroke that stimulate improvements in efficiency. A big part of what makes you a better, more efficient swimmer, runner, or cyclist is simply time spent practicing the movement. So, even short workouts count as additional movement practice.
3. 20-minute workouts can increase endurance by adding to total weekly glycogen turnover. An interesting Scottish study found that weekly training volume was a better predictor of marathon performance than the distance of the longest training run. In other words, the study suggested that marathon runners are better off running 50 miles a week with a maximum long run of 16 miles than running 40 miles a week with a maximum long run of 22 miles. The reason is that endurance improves through the repeated depletion of muscle glycogen stores in training. And a heavy week of training will result in more total muscle glycogen depletion, and thus build more endurance, than a lighter week. 20-minute workouts can add a meaningful amount of glycogen-depleting volume to your training week.
4. 20-minute workouts can produce an excellent high-intensity training stimulus. A little swimming, cycling, or running at anaerobic threshold intensity and above goes a long way. Twenty minutes is plenty of time to get all the high-intensity work you need to take your fitness up a notch.
There are basically two ways to incorporate 20-minute workouts into your marathon training, triathlon training, or any other endurance sport training. One is to do a 20-minute workout instead of taking a day off whenever you are too pressed for time to complete a longer workout. The other way is to add one or more 20-minute workouts to your weekly training schedule to increase your overall training volume without creating a significant risk of overtraining. Here are some suggested 20-minute workouts:
The Filler Simply swim, ride, or run at an easy tempo for 20 minutes. This is a great workout to do when you want to avoid the guilt of doing nothing but you’re not mentally or physically ready for anything challenging.
Tabata Intervals Swim, ride, or run at an easy tempo for 16 minutes, then complete 8 x 20-second all-out sprints with 10-second passive recoveries between sprints.
Fartlek Intervals Sprinkle 5 to 10 fast 30-second efforts throughout an otherwise moderate, steady-pace workout.
Threshold Session Warm up for five minutes at a comfortable tempo, then go for 15 minutes at anaerobic threshold intensity (the fastest pace you could hold for one hour in a race).
Progression Workout Swim, ride, or run for 15 minutes at a steady, moderate pace, then blast the last five minutes.
Time Trial Swimming: Warm up, then swim 800 meters (875 yards) as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes. Cycling: Warm up, then ride 5 km as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes. Running: Warm up, then run 1 mile as fast as you can. Cool down as long as necessary to make the total workout 20 minutes.
Posted Friday, July 24, 2009 by
Matt Fitzgerald
How to finish up your workouts when triathlon training or marathon training
Many endurance athletes believe that swimming, cycling, or running slowly for several minutes at the end of a hard workout accelerates recovery. There is, however, no evidence to support this theory. In fact, the small amount of research that has been done on cooldowns clearly shows that cooling down does not have an impact on muscle recovery. For example, a study conducted last year by scientists at the University of Sydney, Australia, found that while warmups reduced post-workout muscle soreness, cooldowns had no effect.
Does this mean you should skip the cooldown after every workout in your triathlon training plan or marathon training plan? No. It just means a cooldown is not absolutely necessary after every run, bike, or swim. And even though a cooldown may have no impact on muscle recovery, there are a couple of ways that cooling down may enhance your training. Consider these two benefits of cooldowns:
Cooldowns can help you get stronger. When you cool down at the end of a hard workout, such as a set of intervals, that cooldown is performed in a state of fatigue. Moving in a state of fatigue is a strong stimulus for fitness gains. So it’s plausible that tacking a bit of slow movement onto the end of a challenging workout actually enhances the workout’s fitness benefits by increasing your exposure to moving in a fatigued state.
This particular use of cooldowns, however, is only relevant to workouts that include efforts at lactate threshold intensity and above. There is really no point at all in cooling down at the end of moderate-intensity workouts such as base runs and long rides.
Cooldowns can help you monitor your fitness. Another benefit of cooling down is that it provides an opportunity to monitor your fitness and fatigue by measuring your heart rate recovery. Heart rate recovery refers to how long it takes for your heart rate to return to its resting level after a bout of exercise. Heart rate recovery is faster in aerobically fit individuals than in less fit persons. And a new study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports has shown that short-term changes in heart rate recovery within fit individuals can predict performance. In other words, changes are useful indicators of changes in fitness and/or fatigue levels in trained endurance athletes. So a decrease in heart rate recovery time suggests an improvement in fitness level, while an increase in heart rate recovery time suggests a higher level of fatigue.
To measure your heart rate recovery, wear a heart rate monitor before, during, and after workouts. Note your resting pulse before the workout begins. At the end of your workout, time how long it takes for your heart rate to return to that resting level. Be sure to end each workout at the same heart rate, for example by cooling down until your heart rate gets down to 125 beats per minute, then stopping and beginning the heart rate recovery measurement process.
The lowdown on cooldowns. When you do choose to cool down, do so by performing five to 10 minutes of movement at a steady, comfortable pace at the end of a workout. There’s no need to get any fancier.
Many endurance athletes believe that swimming, cycling, or running slowly for several minutes at the end of a hard workout accelerates recovery. There is, however, no evidence to support this theory. In fact, the small amount of research that has been done on cooldowns clearly shows that cooling down does not have an impact on muscle recovery. For example, a study conducted last year by scientists at the University of Sydney, Australia, found that while warmups reduced post-workout muscle soreness, cooldowns had no effect.
Does this mean you should skip the cooldown after every workout in your triathlon training plan or marathon training plan? No. It just means a cooldown is not absolutely necessary after every run, bike, or swim. And even though a cooldown may have no impact on muscle recovery, there are a couple of ways that cooling down may enhance your training. Consider these two benefits of cooldowns:
Cooldowns can help you get stronger. When you cool down at the end of a hard workout, such as a set of intervals, that cooldown is performed in a state of fatigue. Moving in a state of fatigue is a strong stimulus for fitness gains. So it’s plausible that tacking a bit of slow movement onto the end of a challenging workout actually enhances the workout’s fitness benefits by increasing your exposure to moving in a fatigued state.
This particular use of cooldowns, however, is only relevant to workouts that include efforts at lactate threshold intensity and above. There is really no point at all in cooling down at the end of moderate-intensity workouts such as base runs and long rides.
Cooldowns can help you monitor your fitness. Another benefit of cooling down is that it provides an opportunity to monitor your fitness and fatigue by measuring your heart rate recovery. Heart rate recovery refers to how long it takes for your heart rate to return to its resting level after a bout of exercise. Heart rate recovery is faster in aerobically fit individuals than in less fit persons. And a new study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports has shown that short-term changes in heart rate recovery within fit individuals can predict performance. In other words, changes are useful indicators of changes in fitness and/or fatigue levels in trained endurance athletes. So a decrease in heart rate recovery time suggests an improvement in fitness level, while an increase in heart rate recovery time suggests a higher level of fatigue.
To measure your heart rate recovery, wear a heart rate monitor before, during, and after workouts. Note your resting pulse before the workout begins. At the end of your workout, time how long it takes for your heart rate to return to that resting level. Be sure to end each workout at the same heart rate, for example by cooling down until your heart rate gets down to 125 beats per minute, then stopping and beginning the heart rate recovery measurement process.
The lowdown on cooldowns. When you do choose to cool down, do so by performing five to 10 minutes of movement at a steady, comfortable pace at the end of a workout. There’s no need to get any fancier.
Posted Thursday, June 18, 2009 by
Faster Tomorrow Team
Since the dawn of endurance sports, athletes have believed that one factor more than any other has gotten in the way of stronger training and better performance: the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles. But suddenly, the concept of lactic acid or lactate has been turned upside down. Scientists now know that the lactate produced by exercise can be reused by the body to fuel continued activity. And researchers have discovered a new combination of endurance sports nutrients called ARX that clears lactate quickly and recycles it into a constant supply of new fuel as you perform. As a result, you can:
No matter what your endurance sport, you'll experience improved performance and faster recovery with ARX. Try it today and SAVE $10, plus get FREE Shipping.
Offer subject to the terms of the promotion.
- Train harder
- Race better
- Recover faster
No matter what your endurance sport, you'll experience improved performance and faster recovery with ARX. Try it today and SAVE $10, plus get FREE Shipping.
Offer subject to the terms of the promotion.
Posted Thursday, May 21, 2009 by
Matt Fitzgerald
Will a post-workout rubdown boost muscle recovery?
Many athletes believe that post-exercise massage accelerates the removal of lactic acid—a metabolic waste product that is produced in large quantities during exercise and causes muscle soreness the next day. Even many massage and physical therapists believe it. But a new study by researchers at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina, proved that post-exercise massage fails to accelerate lactic acid clearance.
That’s an interesting bit of myth-busting. There’s only one problem: The researchers who performed the study are themselves guilty of buying into a longstanding myth about lactic acid. So first, let me set the record straight about lactic acid. Then I’ll tell you why massage is still a good way to promote muscle recovery.
The Myth of Lactic Acid
For starters, the human body does not produce lactic acid at all. It produces a close cousin of lactic acid, called lactate. But that’s nitpicking. The big difference between myth and reality regarding lactate has to do with its effect on exercise performance. For decades, scientists believed that lactate caused fatigue during exercise by increasing the acidity of the muscle tissues. But it is now known that lactate does not increase muscle acidity or cause fatigue. Instead, lactate supports exercise performance by serving as an important muscle fuel.
Most of the lactate produced within the muscles during exercise never leaves the muscle cells, but is used directly for energy. Much of the remainder that enters the bloodstream is shuttled to other tissues to be used as energy or it will go to the liver, which can convert it back into glucose and ship it back to the muscles to use.
More on the New Role of Blood Lactate
This new science of lactate suggests endurance athletes need to rethink how they train and even how they supplement, focusing on strategies that will increase the body’s ability to use more lactate faster as fuel to boost performance. And that’s exactly what the all-natural endurance and recovery supplement ARX appears to do.
In a study performed by researchers at St. Cloud State University, subjects were able to complete a high-intensity cycling time trial 18 percent faster after five weeks of supplementation with ARX versus a placebo. ARX supplementation was also associated with significantly faster clearance of lactate from the blood after exercise. The combination of these two findings suggests that ARX increases the body’s capacity to transport lactate and process it for energy.
The functional ingredients in ARX are herbal and fungal extracts that have been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. These ingredients are believed to increase muscle perfusion, or blood flow through the muscles, which could explain how ARX accelerates the shuttling and recycling of lactate.
Back to Massage
Getting back to the massage study, although it’s an interesting finding that post-exercise massage does not accelerate lactate removal, it’s not a reason to cancel your next massage appointment. Recent research has shown that post-exercise massage does accelerate the recovery of muscle function after exercise by moderating inflammation, which is required for tissue repair but becomes counterproductive if it is allowed to slip out of control. So if you’re in the habit of getting sports massage treatments, don’t stop. And if you aren’t, you might want to start.
Many athletes believe that post-exercise massage accelerates the removal of lactic acid—a metabolic waste product that is produced in large quantities during exercise and causes muscle soreness the next day. Even many massage and physical therapists believe it. But a new study by researchers at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina, proved that post-exercise massage fails to accelerate lactic acid clearance.
That’s an interesting bit of myth-busting. There’s only one problem: The researchers who performed the study are themselves guilty of buying into a longstanding myth about lactic acid. So first, let me set the record straight about lactic acid. Then I’ll tell you why massage is still a good way to promote muscle recovery.
The Myth of Lactic Acid
For starters, the human body does not produce lactic acid at all. It produces a close cousin of lactic acid, called lactate. But that’s nitpicking. The big difference between myth and reality regarding lactate has to do with its effect on exercise performance. For decades, scientists believed that lactate caused fatigue during exercise by increasing the acidity of the muscle tissues. But it is now known that lactate does not increase muscle acidity or cause fatigue. Instead, lactate supports exercise performance by serving as an important muscle fuel.
Most of the lactate produced within the muscles during exercise never leaves the muscle cells, but is used directly for energy. Much of the remainder that enters the bloodstream is shuttled to other tissues to be used as energy or it will go to the liver, which can convert it back into glucose and ship it back to the muscles to use.
More on the New Role of Blood Lactate
This new science of lactate suggests endurance athletes need to rethink how they train and even how they supplement, focusing on strategies that will increase the body’s ability to use more lactate faster as fuel to boost performance. And that’s exactly what the all-natural endurance and recovery supplement ARX appears to do.
In a study performed by researchers at St. Cloud State University, subjects were able to complete a high-intensity cycling time trial 18 percent faster after five weeks of supplementation with ARX versus a placebo. ARX supplementation was also associated with significantly faster clearance of lactate from the blood after exercise. The combination of these two findings suggests that ARX increases the body’s capacity to transport lactate and process it for energy.
The functional ingredients in ARX are herbal and fungal extracts that have been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. These ingredients are believed to increase muscle perfusion, or blood flow through the muscles, which could explain how ARX accelerates the shuttling and recycling of lactate.
Back to Massage
Getting back to the massage study, although it’s an interesting finding that post-exercise massage does not accelerate lactate removal, it’s not a reason to cancel your next massage appointment. Recent research has shown that post-exercise massage does accelerate the recovery of muscle function after exercise by moderating inflammation, which is required for tissue repair but becomes counterproductive if it is allowed to slip out of control. So if you’re in the habit of getting sports massage treatments, don’t stop. And if you aren’t, you might want to start.
Posted Tuesday, May 19, 2009 by
Sandy Haynes
The Columbia Triathlon, a popular Olympic Distance event held this past weekend in Maryland, offered an exciting race for competitors and spectators alike and included a large number of professional triathletes.
In the men's race, ARX-sponsored triathlete Terenzo Bozzone was second out of the water and despite a strong ride found himself down by almost two minutes at the end of the bike leg. Setting a blistering pace on the run, he chased down Andrew Yoder and was able to get to the finish line first for the victory.
The Top 10 Male Finishers were:
Terenzo Bozzone
Andrew Yoder
Richie Cunningham
Chris Foster
Michael Lovato
James Hadley
Adam Webber
Holden Comeau
Paul Fritzsche
Rick Fesler
The Top 10 Female Finishers:
Rebeccah Wassner
Margaret Shapiro
Laurel Wassner
Kelly Handel
Amanda Lovato
Chrissie Wellington
Uli Bromme
Lindsey Jerdonek
Jacqui Gordon
Beth Shutt
Terenzo was also on hand at the pre-race Expo to meet fans and answer questions about his experience with ARX. Visitors to the booth were interested in several of the Faster Tomorrow endurance guides, including Nutrition for Cyclists, Triathlons and Runners, and Triathlon Training Plans.
ARX is a unique, proprietary blend of all-natural ingredients that help increase endurance and speed muscle recovery. Results of human clinical studies on runners and cyclists demonstrate that ARX effectively shuttles lactic acid from muscles during endurance training and converts it through the liver into glycogen -- one of the body's preferred fuel sources.
In the men's race, ARX-sponsored triathlete Terenzo Bozzone was second out of the water and despite a strong ride found himself down by almost two minutes at the end of the bike leg. Setting a blistering pace on the run, he chased down Andrew Yoder and was able to get to the finish line first for the victory.
The Top 10 Male Finishers were:
Terenzo Bozzone
Andrew Yoder
Richie Cunningham
Chris Foster
Michael Lovato
James Hadley
Adam Webber
Holden Comeau
Paul Fritzsche
Rick Fesler
The Top 10 Female Finishers:
Rebeccah Wassner
Margaret Shapiro
Laurel Wassner
Kelly Handel
Amanda Lovato
Chrissie Wellington
Uli Bromme
Lindsey Jerdonek
Jacqui Gordon
Beth Shutt
Terenzo was also on hand at the pre-race Expo to meet fans and answer questions about his experience with ARX. Visitors to the booth were interested in several of the Faster Tomorrow endurance guides, including Nutrition for Cyclists, Triathlons and Runners, and Triathlon Training Plans.ARX is a unique, proprietary blend of all-natural ingredients that help increase endurance and speed muscle recovery. Results of human clinical studies on runners and cyclists demonstrate that ARX effectively shuttles lactic acid from muscles during endurance training and converts it through the liver into glycogen -- one of the body's preferred fuel sources.
Posted Friday, May 8, 2009 by
Matt Fitzgerald
Professional cyclists train upwards of 30 hours per week. The reason is simple: They race better on 30 hours a week than they would on 20 hours. It’s just the nature of the sport—the more you ride, within reason, the fitter you become.
But most of us don’t have the time to train like a pro cyclist, especially if we also engage in triathlon training, marathon training, or other endurance sports. So how can you get the biggest fitness bang for your bike-training buck? Try any one (or all three) of the following tips to make your cycling workouts as time-efficient as possible.
1. Ride Hard
No doubt you saw this one coming. There are only three variables you can manipulate to increase your cycling fitness: frequency, duration, and intensity. That is, you can ride more often, ride longer, and ride harder. Obviously, riding longer and riding more often are not ways to make your training more time-efficient, but riding harder is. If you’re not doing much high-intensity training already, adding such workouts to your regimen will likely increase your fitness level while reducing your time commitment to cycling.
Because high-intensity training is stressful to the body, you must allow time for sufficient muscle recovery between tough workouts. So, two high-intensity rides per week are plenty, with perhaps a small amount of additional high-intensity riding (such as a few short sprints or a 10-minute fast finish) on one other day.
There are two basic types of high-intensity rides you’ll want to incorporate: interval sets and threshold efforts. A typical interval set is 5 x 3 minutes hard with 3-minute spinning recoveries. You can also perform this type of workout on hills for strength building and climbing practice. Just be sure to warm up thoroughly before doing your first interval. A typical threshold workout is 20 minutes at lactate threshold intensity, which is approximately the fastest speed you can sustain for one hour. Warm up for at least 10 minutes before this type of effort as well.
2. Ride Inside
It’s widely agreed that using an indoor trainer allows a cyclist to get a good workout in less time than it takes outdoors. Why? Because it takes less time to prepare for such a workout and there is no stopping at traffic lights or coasting down hills.
In triathlon training there is currently a trend of professional racers choosing to perform much, if not most, of their bike training indoors. While they don’t necessarily do so to save time, it does allow them to achieve a high level of cycling performance with less time on the bike. The poster boy of this trend is American Andy Potts, winner of the 2007 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. Potts typically rides outdoors just once a week. His other rides are performed on an indoor trainer and last just 45 minutes, on average.
3. Ride Long—a Little Less Often
To develop a high level of cycling endurance you need to perform long rides regularly. There’s just no substitute for those multi-hour weekend tours that leave you hollow-legged at the end. Typically, cyclists perform at least one long endurance ride per week. But you can get similar results by performing a long ride once every 10 to 14 days. If you chose to ride long every other weekend, be sure to complete a moderately long ride on alternate weekends. For example, if your usual long ride is three hours, ride two hours on your “off” weeks.
You can also save time by bunching your long rides before events. Simply stay consistent with your training and maintain a solid base of fitness, then build the endurance you need for the event by riding long once a week for only the last six to eight weeks before the race.
But most of us don’t have the time to train like a pro cyclist, especially if we also engage in triathlon training, marathon training, or other endurance sports. So how can you get the biggest fitness bang for your bike-training buck? Try any one (or all three) of the following tips to make your cycling workouts as time-efficient as possible.
1. Ride Hard
No doubt you saw this one coming. There are only three variables you can manipulate to increase your cycling fitness: frequency, duration, and intensity. That is, you can ride more often, ride longer, and ride harder. Obviously, riding longer and riding more often are not ways to make your training more time-efficient, but riding harder is. If you’re not doing much high-intensity training already, adding such workouts to your regimen will likely increase your fitness level while reducing your time commitment to cycling.
Because high-intensity training is stressful to the body, you must allow time for sufficient muscle recovery between tough workouts. So, two high-intensity rides per week are plenty, with perhaps a small amount of additional high-intensity riding (such as a few short sprints or a 10-minute fast finish) on one other day.
There are two basic types of high-intensity rides you’ll want to incorporate: interval sets and threshold efforts. A typical interval set is 5 x 3 minutes hard with 3-minute spinning recoveries. You can also perform this type of workout on hills for strength building and climbing practice. Just be sure to warm up thoroughly before doing your first interval. A typical threshold workout is 20 minutes at lactate threshold intensity, which is approximately the fastest speed you can sustain for one hour. Warm up for at least 10 minutes before this type of effort as well.
2. Ride Inside
It’s widely agreed that using an indoor trainer allows a cyclist to get a good workout in less time than it takes outdoors. Why? Because it takes less time to prepare for such a workout and there is no stopping at traffic lights or coasting down hills.
In triathlon training there is currently a trend of professional racers choosing to perform much, if not most, of their bike training indoors. While they don’t necessarily do so to save time, it does allow them to achieve a high level of cycling performance with less time on the bike. The poster boy of this trend is American Andy Potts, winner of the 2007 Ironman 70.3 World Championship. Potts typically rides outdoors just once a week. His other rides are performed on an indoor trainer and last just 45 minutes, on average.
3. Ride Long—a Little Less Often
To develop a high level of cycling endurance you need to perform long rides regularly. There’s just no substitute for those multi-hour weekend tours that leave you hollow-legged at the end. Typically, cyclists perform at least one long endurance ride per week. But you can get similar results by performing a long ride once every 10 to 14 days. If you chose to ride long every other weekend, be sure to complete a moderately long ride on alternate weekends. For example, if your usual long ride is three hours, ride two hours on your “off” weeks.
You can also save time by bunching your long rides before events. Simply stay consistent with your training and maintain a solid base of fitness, then build the endurance you need for the event by riding long once a week for only the last six to eight weeks before the race.
Posted Thursday, February 5, 2009 by
Matt Fitzgerald
Whether you’re currently in triathlon training or marathon training, here’s how to increase your sport-specific power and boost performance
Power is important for endurance sports performance. The more power you can generate with your running stride, cycling pedal stroke, and freestyle swim stroke, the faster you can go. To improve your sport-specific power, you can perform very short sprints, especially against resistance. For example, on the bike you might do a set of 10 x 20-second sprints up a steep hill with two-minute recoveries between sprints. But research has shown that you can build sport-specific power even more dramatically by cross-training with plyometrics.
Developed in the 1960s by Eastern Bloc sports coaches, plyometrics consists primarily of jumping exercises designed to enhance the power of the legs. More recently, the method has been expanded to include power-boosting exercises for the upper body. Plyometrics is based on the fact that muscles are able to contract most quickly and forcefully when they are first loaded and lengthened to capture elastic energy. (That’s why you naturally bend your knees before jumping instead of starting from a normal standing position). Regular plyometrics training increases power by improving the capacity of your muscles and tendons to capture elastic energy and by enhancing the efficiency of communication between the brain and the muscles.
Studies have shown that adding a small amount of plyometrics to the training regimen of endurance athletes improves performance. A 2005 study by New Zealand researchers found that the addition of plyometrics and high-resistance sprints to the training of high-level cyclists for 12 weeks increased their peak power by 6.8 percent and their lactate threshold power by 3.7 percent compared to cyclists who continued their normal training. And a 2003 study by Australian researchers found that the addition of plyometrics to the training of high-level runners for six weeks resulted in an average 2.7-percent improvement in 3K race times.
Here’s a sampling of four plyometrics exercises that are particularly beneficial for endurance athletes. Do them two or three times per week to increase your sport-specific power.
Split Squat Leap
This exercise develops power in the legs with a running-specific movement pattern, so it’s great for those in 10K training, half-marathon training, or marathon training. Stand with one foot half a step ahead of the other and your knees bent slightly. Using a steady, controlled motion, lower yourself into a deep squat, then smoothly thrust upward into a full vertical jump. While in midair, reverse the position of your feet. Land on both feet and immediately bend your knees and initiate the next deep squat and jump. Do 16 to 24 total jumps.
Single Leg Box Jump
The Single Leg Box Jump increases the capacity of the glutes and hamstrings to forcefully extend the hip and knee, which translates into a more powerful running stride and cycling pedal stroke. So it’s perfect for those in triathlon training. Stand on your left foot facing a sturdy platform 12 to 18 inches high (such as stacked aerobics steps). Bend your left leg, swing your arms back then forward to generate momentum, and jump up onto the platform landing on your left foot. Do not allow your right foot to touch the ground. Immediately, jump back down, also landing on your left foot. Continue jumping for 30 seconds with the left leg, then switch to the right.
Lateral Bounding
This exercise develops power in the legs and strengthens the muscles that stabilize the hips during running, making it ideal for distance runners in 10-K training, half-marathon training, and marathon training. Stand with your right side about 12 inches away from a box that is 8 to 16 inches high. Bend your knees and jump up and to the right so that you go over the box and land on the floor. Continue jumping over the box in both directions for 30 seconds.
Power Push-Up
The Power Push-Up develops strength and power in the chest, shoulders, upper back, and triceps for a more powerful swim stroke to help boost your triathlon training. Assume a normal push-up position, but place your left hand on the floor and your right hand on a narrow six-inch-high support. Slowly lower yourself until your right shoulder is just a couple of inches above your right hand. Now push back upward with all the power you can muster, so that your hands leave the floor. As you are in midair, pivot to the right so that when you come back down, your left hand is on the support and your right hand is on the floor. Lower yourself again. Do 6 to 12 Power Push-Ups on each side. If you lack the strength to do this many Power Push-Ups, do a modified Power Push-Up with your knees on the floor.
Power is important for endurance sports performance. The more power you can generate with your running stride, cycling pedal stroke, and freestyle swim stroke, the faster you can go. To improve your sport-specific power, you can perform very short sprints, especially against resistance. For example, on the bike you might do a set of 10 x 20-second sprints up a steep hill with two-minute recoveries between sprints. But research has shown that you can build sport-specific power even more dramatically by cross-training with plyometrics.
Developed in the 1960s by Eastern Bloc sports coaches, plyometrics consists primarily of jumping exercises designed to enhance the power of the legs. More recently, the method has been expanded to include power-boosting exercises for the upper body. Plyometrics is based on the fact that muscles are able to contract most quickly and forcefully when they are first loaded and lengthened to capture elastic energy. (That’s why you naturally bend your knees before jumping instead of starting from a normal standing position). Regular plyometrics training increases power by improving the capacity of your muscles and tendons to capture elastic energy and by enhancing the efficiency of communication between the brain and the muscles.
Studies have shown that adding a small amount of plyometrics to the training regimen of endurance athletes improves performance. A 2005 study by New Zealand researchers found that the addition of plyometrics and high-resistance sprints to the training of high-level cyclists for 12 weeks increased their peak power by 6.8 percent and their lactate threshold power by 3.7 percent compared to cyclists who continued their normal training. And a 2003 study by Australian researchers found that the addition of plyometrics to the training of high-level runners for six weeks resulted in an average 2.7-percent improvement in 3K race times.
Here’s a sampling of four plyometrics exercises that are particularly beneficial for endurance athletes. Do them two or three times per week to increase your sport-specific power.
Split Squat Leap
This exercise develops power in the legs with a running-specific movement pattern, so it’s great for those in 10K training, half-marathon training, or marathon training. Stand with one foot half a step ahead of the other and your knees bent slightly. Using a steady, controlled motion, lower yourself into a deep squat, then smoothly thrust upward into a full vertical jump. While in midair, reverse the position of your feet. Land on both feet and immediately bend your knees and initiate the next deep squat and jump. Do 16 to 24 total jumps.
Single Leg Box Jump
The Single Leg Box Jump increases the capacity of the glutes and hamstrings to forcefully extend the hip and knee, which translates into a more powerful running stride and cycling pedal stroke. So it’s perfect for those in triathlon training. Stand on your left foot facing a sturdy platform 12 to 18 inches high (such as stacked aerobics steps). Bend your left leg, swing your arms back then forward to generate momentum, and jump up onto the platform landing on your left foot. Do not allow your right foot to touch the ground. Immediately, jump back down, also landing on your left foot. Continue jumping for 30 seconds with the left leg, then switch to the right.
Lateral Bounding
This exercise develops power in the legs and strengthens the muscles that stabilize the hips during running, making it ideal for distance runners in 10-K training, half-marathon training, and marathon training. Stand with your right side about 12 inches away from a box that is 8 to 16 inches high. Bend your knees and jump up and to the right so that you go over the box and land on the floor. Continue jumping over the box in both directions for 30 seconds.
Power Push-Up
The Power Push-Up develops strength and power in the chest, shoulders, upper back, and triceps for a more powerful swim stroke to help boost your triathlon training. Assume a normal push-up position, but place your left hand on the floor and your right hand on a narrow six-inch-high support. Slowly lower yourself until your right shoulder is just a couple of inches above your right hand. Now push back upward with all the power you can muster, so that your hands leave the floor. As you are in midair, pivot to the right so that when you come back down, your left hand is on the support and your right hand is on the floor. Lower yourself again. Do 6 to 12 Power Push-Ups on each side. If you lack the strength to do this many Power Push-Ups, do a modified Power Push-Up with your knees on the floor.
Posted Monday, January 12, 2009 by
Matt Fitzgerald
The stuff you need in 2009, whether you’re 10K training or triathlon training
Elite athletes take their gear very seriously and traditionally set aside time during the off-season to try out new gear and integrate it into their training. Why not take a page from the pros and upgrade your gear this year? Below are some options to consider.
Run Speed and Distance Device
There are two basic types of devices that track running speed and distance, both of which measure distance with better than 98-percent accuracy. GPS-based devices communicate with satellites to determine your location, direction, and speed as you run. Accelerometer-based devices use a sensor worn on the foot to measure speed and distance. Leading brands include Garmin, Polar, and Timex. Many units are bundled with a heart-rate monitor. Expect to pay roughly $150 for a good, basic model.
New Generation Running Shoes
The main purpose of running shoes is to prevent injuries. Yet despite all the advancements in running shoe design over the past 30 years, the injury rate among runners has not changed. Some running biomechanics experts believe that certain running shoes actually increase injury risk because their elevated heel alters normal (i.e. barefoot) stride mechanics. In response, some running shoe manufacturers are now making lighter, lower-profile running footwear that is designed to facilitate a more natural running stride and thereby reduce injury risk. Examples of such new-generation running shoes include the Adidas Adizero Ace, the Avia Avi-Bolt, the Ecco Biom, and the Nike Free.
Bike Power Meter
Power is the purest measurement of work output on the bike. It is a function of the amount of force you apply to the pedals with your feet and your pedaling cadence. Monitoring your power output on the bike gives you more reliable information about your training intensity and fitness progress than heart rate and speed. That’s why virtually all professional cyclists now train with power meters on their bikes. The leading makers of bike power meters are Ergomo, Polar, PowerTap, and SRM. Be forewarned: They’re not cheap! The most affordable units cost roughly $350 and high-end models could top $2,300.
Compression Tights
Compression tights, which are sort of like pantyhose for cyclists, fit so snugly that they actually squeeze the muscles and blood vessels, increasing return blood flow from the lower extremities to the heart. Research has shown that compression tights reduce perceived exertion and blood lactate levels during cycling. Popular brands of cycling compression tights include 2XU, Skins, and Zoot. Prices start at approximately $100.
Stroke-Rate Pacing Device
A stroke-rate pacing device is a small tool that fits under your swim cap and beeps at an interval that you set, working like a waterproof metronome. You can use a stroke-rate pacing device to determine your most efficient stroke rate at a given pace. All you have to do is perform a set of fixed-length swim intervals at different stroke rates—using the device to set the tempo for each—and record your split times. The stroke rate associated with your fastest split is your most efficient stroke rate for that distance. Currently there is only one stroke-rate pacing device on the market: the FINIS Tempo Trainer, which goes for about $30.
Skin Suit
Skin suits are swim suits that cover much more body surface area than conventional swimsuits and are made with special fabrics and designs that decrease water resistance during swimming. The incredible number of swimming world records that have been broken since the skin suit revolution is a testament to their effectiveness. There are two basic types of skin suits: tights, which cover the entire legs, and full suits, which cover the legs (only to the knee in some designs) and the torso. Tights start at roughly $150 and full suits at $250. Popular brands include Speedo and Tyr.
Posted Wednesday, September 17, 2008 by
Matt Fitzgerald
Unless your Internet access has been cut off and your marathon training has totally replaced your TV time, you’ve heard the news that Lance Armstrong has come out of retirement and will compete in the 2009 Tour de France. He says that he was inspired to do so in part by recent Olympic performances by older endurance athletes like American swimmer Dara Torres (41) and Romanian marathoner Constantina Tomescu (38). (Armstrong turned 37 on September 18.) Perhaps it’s only fitting that Armstrong is now benefitting from the inspirational example of others, as he has long been an inspiration to fellow cancer patients and survivors—not to mention other cyclists.
While atop the cycling world, Armstrong’s innovative training methods set a new standard that has since been widely emulated at all levels of the sport. Specifically, according to Mr. Yellow Jersey’s longtime coach Chris Carmichael, Armstrong’s training regimen emphasizes the four components of aerobic development, pedal cadence, consistency, and stretching more than most other training systems. So whether you want to make your own run at the 2009 Tour de France or you just want to boost the cycling in your triathlon training, here’s how to do it like Lance.
1. Aerobic Development
Armstrong does a greater percentage of his riding, and just plain more riding, in the aerobic training zone than most other cyclists. “Aerobic development—that is, increasing Lance’s ability to transport oxygen to his working muscles—takes up 95 percent of our focus in training,” says
Many other cyclists, according to Carmichael, place too much emphasis on raising their lactate threshold—the level of exertion at which the blood lactate level begins to increase—instead of concentrating on building their VO2 max, which is the maximum amount of oxygen a person can use to fuel exercise. “I see a lot of triathletes focusing on getting their lactate threshold up as high as possible,” he says. “But there’s a point of diminishing returns. If your lactate threshold is 85 to 90 percent of your VO2 capacity, it’s just not going to get any higher. So what you’ve got to do now is go back and build a bigger engine, which means you’ve got to grow your VO2.”
There’s no single method or type of workout Armstrong uses to increase his aerobic capacity, says
2. Pedal Cadence
When prescribing workouts for Armstrong, who is known to turn his cranks faster than any other man in the European peloton,
“You start to develop efficiencies at certain pedal cadences the more time you spend at them,” explains
3. Consistency
Never shy about revealing the ingredients of his recipe for his success, Armstrong has said, “I never miss a workout. Ever.” This machine-like consistency is the key to achieving the high training volume through which Armstrong continually builds his aerobic capacity. Says
4. Stretching
Armstrong stretched an hour a day in preparation for the 2001 Tour using a program designed by Jeff Spencer, a former Olympic cyclist himself and now a Scottsdale, AZ-based chiropractor. Armstrong publicly credited the stretching with taking his cycling performance to a new level by increasing his power output and pedaling efficiency, reducing muscle recovery time, and keeping injuries at bay—all results sure to lift your cycling performance as well. So give your muscles a thorough stretching after your workouts. You certainly don’t have to spend an hour per day, unless, of course, you want to try to spoil Armstrong’s second cycling comeback.
Posted Wednesday, September 10, 2008 by
Matt Fitzgerald
What we now know about blood lactate and exercise
The whole world has been talking about Michael Phelps since he won eight swimming gold medals and broke seven world records at the Beijing Olympics. While most of that talk focuses on his jaw-dropping performances, some of it centers on the much more mundane topic of his lactic acid levels. Apparently testing has determined that Phelps has significantly lower levels of blood lactate (lactate being the correct term for lactic acid) after intense swimming than do other elite swimmers.
So are Phelps’s unusually low blood lactate levels the key to his unparalleled success? Maybe partly, but not for the reasons most people have been suggesting. Some have been saying that while higher blood lactate levels cause his rivals to slow down, Phelps’s low blood lactate levels allow him to keep chugging along and finish stronger. Others insist that his lower blood lactate levels leave his muscles less sore and therefore allow him to recover more quickly after workouts and races than others with higher blood lactate levels. These common explanations, however, are actually based on old ideas and misconceptions about the effects of blood lactate during exercise.
Instead, scientists have recently learned that lactate does not cause fatigue. Nor does it cause post-exercise muscle soreness, as blood lactate levels return to normal within an hour after exercise has ended while muscle soreness doesn’t peak until one to three days later. So what does lactate really do? Here’s what we now know about lactate and exercise—and how it all applies to the Phelps phenomenon.
Lactate doesn’t hamper performance—it fuels performance.
During moderate to intense exercise, the muscles get most of their energy from two forms of carbohydrate: blood glucose and muscle glycogen. The muscles are able to burn carbs at a slow rate with oxygen (aerobically) and at a quicker rate without oxygen (anaerobically). Lactate is produced during the anaerobic breakdown of carbs. But instead of slowing the muscles down as was previously thought, the lactate that is produced during intense exercise can be immediately utilized by the muscle cells to continue to fuel exercise. Ultimately, if the muscles cannot use the lactate as fast as it is being created, it will begin to leak out of the muscle cells and into the bloodstream, where it will travel to other tissues to be used as energy or it will go to the liver, which can convert it back into carbohydrate fuel and ship it back to the muscles to use. So whether it is used immediately by the muscles or circulated throughout the body via the blood, lactate serves as a primary source of fuel during exercise.
Phelps’s low blood lactate levels are a sign of efficiency.
Knowing what we now know about the role lactate plays during exercise, there’s a better way to explain Phelps’s low blood lactate levels. It’s not that he doesn’t produce a lot of lactate in the first place, but that he has a superior ability to utilize the lactate his incredibly hard-working muscles create before it exits the muscle cells and enters into the bloodstream. Any athlete’s ability to use lactate as fuel is determined by factors that include the concentration of mitochondria within the muscle cells and the concentration of protein transporters that deliver lactate to the mitochondria. Proper training certainly enhances these factors, but they are also influenced by genes. Phelps is probably gifted with very high concentrations of both mitochondria and lactate transporter proteins that allow his muscle cells to use most of the lactate they produce before it leaks into the bloodstream.
The faster you can process lactate, the longer you can exercise at a high intensity.
The bottom line is that Phelps’s unusually high capacity to use lactate as fuel enables him to convert more energy into forward motion when he swims, so he wins a lot of races. Would you like to be a little more like Michael Phelps? While you can’t change your genes, you can boost your ability to use lactate for fuel by taking ARX. Using ARX won’t make you a gold medalist, but it may take you one step closer.
Posted Thursday, August 28, 2008 by
Matt Fitzgerald
Training is a delicate balance of stress and adaptation. Workouts stress the body by challenging the limits of its speed and endurance. If you apply the right amount of stress with the right frequency, your body will change in response to this stress—adapting in ways that make it better able to handle the same stress when repeated. The result: improved athletic performance.
Subjecting your body to too much exercise stress, however, will cause negative adaptations in your body. That’s because every workout breaks down a certain amount of muscle tissue. If you do another hard workout before the muscle damage caused by the previous workout has been repaired by the body, the damage will begin to accumulate. Continually stressing the body in this manner without allowing for proper muscle recovery makes the body progressively sorer and weaker and performance consequently takes a nosedive. As you may have guessed, this process is known as overtraining.
So how do you know if you’re among the ranks of the overtrained? The primary sign to look for is an unexpected decline in workout performance. Other symptoms include persistent fatigue, muscle soreness and a loss of training motivation. The cure for overtraining is relative rest—that is, reducing your training load until you begin to feel and perform better. But here are four training tips that can help head off the downward spiral of overtraining.
- Train progressively. The surest way to avoid overtraining is not to train very hard. But that’s also the surest way to not get very fit. To build peak fitness without overtraining, you need to train progressively, or increase your training load at a gradual rate that stays within your body’s adaptive limits. As a general rule, you should increase your weekly training volume by no more than 10 percent each week. So if you train 10 hours this week, train no more than 11 hours next week.
It is also important that you be conservative when increasing the amount of high-intensity training (lactate-threshold intensity and above) that you do each week. For example, the greatest amount of lactate threshold-intensity work you’d want to do in a single session is about 40 minutes. But if you haven’t done threshold-intensity training recently, your first such workout should feature only 15 minutes or so at that intensity level. Try 18 minutes in your next threshold workout, and then 20, and so on.
- Employ the hard-easy rule. The next workout you do after any challenging workout should be relatively easy, to ensure proper muscle recovery. If you’re a cyclist or runner, designate three workouts per week (two high-intensity sessions and one long endurance session) as hard workouts. The rest should be easy to moderate. Here’s a sample schedule:
Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Rest Hard
(high-intensity)Easy Easy Hard
(high-intensity)Easy Hard (long endurance)
If you’re in triathlon training, do one high-intensity workout and one long endurance workout per week in each discipline. Because it’s easier to recover from swimming, you may also do a second high-intensity swim each week. For the same reason, competitive swimmers do not customarily do “easy” workouts. But not every swim can be equally hard. If you’re a swimmer, roughly half of your weekly swims should be truly hard and the rest only moderate to moderately hard.
- Plan recovery weeks. Although your training should be progressive, it should not be progressive in the sense that it steadily and continually increases in volume. Instead, interrupt your training progression periodically with brief periods of reduced training to give your body a chance to fully absorb and recover from your recent hard workouts and prepare for even harder workouts in the following weeks. I recommend that you plan every third or fourth week as a recovery week. Reduce your training volume by roughly 20 percent in these weeks.
- Listen to your body. If your training schedule is challenging enough to push you toward a true fitness peak, there will inevitably be times when you feel unexpectedly run-down. When this happens, heed the warning your body is giving you and take a day off, or at least replace your next hard workout with an easier one. Many competitive athletes find it difficult to pull back and allow for the necessary muscle recovery in response to unexpected moments of accumulating fatigue, but it is usually the best choice. If you practice restraint and take it easy today, you will probably feel strong again tomorrow or the next day. But if you stubbornly persist in training hard despite your body’s warnings, you may dig yourself deep into the whole of overtraining and find that it takes weeks to climb back out.
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