Physiological Capacity: Run Fitness - Part 2.

 In Part 1 we looked briefly at how your body's systems need to be able to work together to allow you to to get out to run, get to the start-line of a race and the, if it's your goal, to get to the finish-line as easily and fast as possible.

The Key…Optimal Fitness…

Optimal means ‘enough to get the job done’. No more, no less.

It doesn’t mean maximal, nor flat-out.

 

At rest, optimal means maintaining basal or minimal levels to survive.

During training, optimal relates to elevated or raised levels of performance to complete and achieve the goal(s) of the session, or a series of sessions (in a day, week, cycle, block and/or phase).  

In a race, optimal equates to maximal maintainable speed, and minimal managed fatigue.

Your fitness - bottom-line - is how well you are prepared to complete a given task.

Whether for podium, performance, participation, prestige or pride: completing your first 5 minute jog, a 5km Park Run, a cross-country or trail race, or marathon all require similar capacities, yet each requires different fine-tuning – that is, different (run-relative) fitness.

Being a “good” runner is relative. For example, breaking the 30, 25 & 20 minute barriers is “good” for many, and is a measure of progress for others. Running 5km in 15 minutes isn’t close to good at higher (age-dependent) levels, and won’t qualify you for state, national or international championships.

Of course, if your initial fitness is low (and you can’t run 5km to begin with), improving it will likely help you with the physical and mental capacity to attempt or complete longer (run) distances.

In this sense, optimal fitness is relative – to individuals, to event, and to age.

Your body lets you build fitness – or prepare you to complete (run) tasks - in two ways:

 

(1) responses: sudden, temporary changes in function caused by exercise. These functional changes diminish after exercise. Responses relate to acute, single bouts of exercise – a run, a training session, or a race

(2) adaptations: more-or-less permanent changes in structure and function following training – repeated or chronic bouts of exercise. They allow your body to respond more easily during and after future sessions. Adaptations bring about structural and functional changes that have effects at rest, and during sub-maximal and maximal efforts. Adaptations make your initial loads or sessions easier, and build your maximal aerobic power and capacity – or ability to go faster and/or longer.

Ultimately, to improve performance you need to challenge your mind, body and skills – challenge it’s plasticity, or ability to change or adapt.

You run. You run regularly. You train. Your body’s physiological systems will alter their function (respond) in anticipation of, during and after each session. Over time, through repeated sessions their structure alters (thanks to nifty mechanical, chemical and genetic signaling systems) and, unless loaded inappropriately, function improves. Stop training and, at different rates, the improvements return towards their initial levels – you detrain.

Regular running optimises your body’s function in relation to (future) running, and maybe a few other tasks. Specific training optimises it for specific events and performance levels.

Depending upon your starting point, time-frames and goals optimizing your running (and training) can be see as optimising your energy and work.

These are the focus of part 3.

Are you a runner, or is running something you do?

Is a runner something you *are*, or is running something you *do*?

Your bias can either skew or screw your ongoing progress...

Speed, distance and trophies don't define a runner. Intent does!

Having an aim, creating goals and letting your passion, persistence and patience fuel your steps out the door day after day for weeks, months and years; n rain, wind, hail or shine; over path, track and trail; dawn, noon, or dusk; over hills and across dale; through detours, potholes and setbacks; amongst your doubts and those of others; when you flow with ease or grate grind; by body, soul and mind.

Athletic Intelligence & Pain - listening to your body (b)

Athletic intelligence is essentially about changing , altering or adapting what you do to the context of training and/or competition. Pain is one thing that you either need to manage, or it will end up managing you...

Your body is in constant communication with itself. Much of the communication is tacit, silent. A plethora of biofeedback loops subconsciously maintain strict ranges within body systems. You have two major communication systems: nervous system, and endocrine-hormonal system. Each does it’s thing – in different time frames – to keep you going about your daily stuff, ensuring you respond efficiently and effectively during sessions, and adapt to training - that is, you get better as you accumulate training.

 Other parts of the communication network are explicit - louder. These signs usually tell you that something out of the ordinary is going down, and that you need to take note. If not, ill-health, injury, staleness, and loss of performance will visit.

Deciphering what these signs are, and what to do about them is the key to listening successfully to your body. The key signs to listen for are those related to pain.

Pain:

Simplified, there are two major types of pain. The first, usually felt in the skin, is described as acute pain, sharp pain, and electric pain. It’s felt quickly - fast pain.

The second, usually felt in the deeper tissues, is chronic, aching, throbbing, nauseous pain – usually slow-burning pain. It is usually associated with tissue destruction (or, injury) and can lead to prolonged pain, and suffering. It can occur in the skin and deeper tissues and organs.

 

Please, don’t confuse these with the pain and suffering associated with tragedy, loss and grief.

Similarly, don’t confuse them with the Self Imposed Discomfort (SID) of hard efforts, and racing. The discomfort of lactic acid, aching muscles, glycogen depletion, increased body temperature, dehydration, heavy breathing and high heart-rates and ‘perceptions of effort’ is self-imposed. They’re not pain for us to swim, cycle, padle and run through. They’re our own barriers – imposed by ability, capacity, training, experience, drive and intestinal fortitude.

What is pain to you? Do you know when to draw the line in the sand?

Next I'll outline "what to listen for", and "when to listen"...

I've GOT the formula to success...

I've been around running a long time.

Although I ran and ran as a kid - sometimes away from things, other times to things - I remember the day, place and time I officially became a runner. That was 32 years and some 835,000 kms ago.

I've learnt a few things in that time - read, listened too, heard, seen, attempted, tried, discarded, remembered, reworked, remodelled, reshaped, retried, and nearly retired. I still learn.

The formula to success in running is something I have always chased, and will continue to do. Not so much for myself, yet for others: those beginning or re-starting, those looking to get better - to go faster and further with more ease; for the experienced and the pros; for those returning from ill-health, for those wanting to prevent and/or come back from injury; and those I coach, mentor and consult.

And, for those prepared to listen, and act -  to learn quickly from what has taken me nearly a life-time to come to know, understand, value, deconstruct and reconstruct, contextualise and apply.

Until this morning, in reviewing some old coaching notes of mine, I'd thought that the formula to success in running was easy, simple, yet not complete.  I call it the GOT formula

• Get Out, Train
• Get Out There - now, wind, rain, hills, snow, sand, heat
• Go Often, Training
• Get Off The couch
• Get Over iT

You GET the idea, right?

Well, how about this then? From The Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport, the proceedings of an International Seminar on the Art & Science of Coaching (December 1979)...

 To those who do have "the answer" or "the formula" good luck to you.  I'm still working on it, and have GOT to get back to it!

Matt Fitzgerald's Iron War - the BIGgest race

Matt Fitzgerald’s Iron War is a terrific book, a great story, and a prologue of man all in one.

It’s the story of a BIG race in more ways than one.

Iron War is a book that Matt poured his heart and soul into to tell a story. In that sense it is a book by a man.  The story is about two men and a race - a storyline built over many years, thousands of kilometres, and countless emotions, and culminated in the Hawaii Ironman Triathlon Championship in 1989. In this sense it is a story of two competitors and one intuitive, defining moment. Ultimately, Iron War portrays the journey of man – in a world that is becoming smaller and smaller, yet less communicative – how collective and individual meaning can be sought through athletic and endurance endeavours.

Matt’s relationship with writing and his dad, and fitness, running and triathlons has a long and impressive history. Matt uses his skills and a variety of resources – personal interviews and conversations, magazine articles, books, and radio and television productions – to put you in the shoes of two of triathlon forefathers and champions as they develop as athletes and mature into men.

Iron War covers the history and development of triathlon – and it’s movers and shakers – in detail I’ve neither seen nor heard elsewhere. Matt put’s to rest some of the myths regarding the inaugural Ironman triathlon, highlights the evolution of the USTS through, firstly, San Diego, and how though these, the popularity, marketing and organization of triathlon events sowed the seeds for what is now a worldwide recreational and competitive phenomenon.

Matt artfully tells the story of Iron War’s two protagonists – Dave ‘The Man’ Scott, and Mark ‘Grip’ Allen. He dives into their history and their relationships. He highlights their sporting achievements and personal journeys, and how they bring each man to a single, defining moment 2 miles from the finish line. He follows Scott, through a childhood of racing buses to school by bike and on foot, through an adolescence of swimming, water-polo and weight training, on a continual quest to discover his physical, mental and emotional limits – limits tested at all extremes. Scott’s challenge was much about Nature, and the gifts given to us by Mother Nature and her brother, Time.

Allen’s upbringing is followed as closely, nearly draft-legal. Self-doubt, a crucifying painful inner-voice, and a father that had next to no interest in nor intimate relationship with, accompanied Allen through a journey of continually seeking approval (and proof to himself). From dog-paddling across a diving-board pool, to regularly choking as a competitive teenage swimmer the lad discovered that he could run. Lifeguard events, and a burgeoning interest into the spiritual side of life and living, proved to be Allen’s springboard into triathlon.  Allen’s journey was much to do with Nurture, and how attitudes, values and behaviors are inherited as strongly as slow twitch muscle fibres, efficient lungs and a huge heart.

The human heart is many things – an organ, a metaphor, a pump, a charm, a pin cushion, a house, a rose, a gift, and a start and finish line. It sinks, it flutters, it beats, it rocks, it grows, it bleeds, it hurts, it loves , it starts. And stops. It can be given away and accepted; it can be trained and rested, it can be transplanted and nurtured; and, it can be driven. And broken.

Matt Fitzgerald expertly and effortlessly takes us on the journey of  Scott and Allen as they compete against and with each other, compete against others and against themselves in what has been described as the greatest Triathlon (race) ever. He highlights the build-up to the race with grace and the excitable anxiety we competitors encounter pre-race.

And, beyond a start befuddled by the governor of Hawaii, Matt takes us stroke-by-stroke, mile-by-mile , and stride-by-stride  - in near-40C heat among the lava fields of Kona, up out of the town of Kailua-Kona and back, through a defining  moment of intuition and fortitude.

Matt superbly places you there, and in the race. You’re there as spectator and support crew. You’re there as an interested on-looker, and as a competitor. You’re there as reporter, and reader. You’re there as Scott. And you’re there as Allen. You’re wondering what they’re wondering; your wondering what he’s wondering; and you’re wondering what you may.

And, in an indescribable moment of  “feel” – that great human trait – one triathlete leaves the other behind. And leads him to the finish live. One journey to the finish-line is first, yet not finished. The other journey, second, is still unfulfilled.

For a decade Scott and Allen owned the Hawaii Ironman. Each owned his destiny on that day, and beyond. Matt Fitzgerald may not own the story of Iron War, yet he told it the way all good stories should be told: with adventure, and with heart.

Buy a copy of Matt Fitzgerald’s Iron War, take the adventure. And listen to your heart.  Challenging ourselves as people, and as (tri)athletes, in seeking clarity and understanding – even if through a ‘culture of pain’ - is everyman’s war, and perhaps, ultimately, the BIGgest race.

The BIG Race 3

Mornings in Melbourne deliver all sorts of things.
Particularly in Winter.

At 7 this morning, when the 10km and 21km Run Melbourne events started, it was crisp and a northerly wind detracted from any bonus warmth the approaching Sun may have promised. Yet, it didn't deter the many of thousands running, jogging and walking.

A handful of us (in2runners) had the pleasure of enjoying parts of our Sunday long run while running alongside the course.

Although few words were uttered, the faces of many told much of their journey. Particularly at the finish-line.

A race is often a BIG thing for athletes; for people that compete against others or themselves, and against the course and the clock. For some it's about participating and finishing.

Yet, what is it that can make a race BIG?

A BIG race can come in all shapes and sizes, obviously. More importantly, the 'big' is more pertinent as to why it is important to the people that enter, participate, race and finish.

Although the origin of the word BIG is a bit of a mystery, it's evolved from a meaning of powerful or strong. I like this idea. It's a different perspective on BIG as large. This sense creates the idea of BIG conviction, strength and determination.

A BIG race, then can be any of:

• a race that is longer or further than you've ever done, or dreamt possible
• a race distance you complete faster than before - an IWR, an Individual World Record (or PB)
• a race or course that only goes up - a mountain run
• a race or course with large changes in elevation
• a race you paid big entry, travel and accommodation fees to enter and attend
• a race with 5-, 10-, 50- or 70-thousand people in it
• a race in a big city: London, Tokyo, Berlin, Rotterdam, Paris
• a famous race: Comrades, Sydney's City to Surf
• one of USA's BIG four: Chicago, New York, Boston
• the only race you do, ever
• your first race, your first marathon; your first cross-country, trail-, mountain-, track-, parkour- or urban-run
• a race you enter and raise money for charity
• the key focus or priority race for your season or year
• your first team or relay race
• the only or first race you beat your training partner, spouse, child, parent, coach, boss
• the race that sends you off to a representative team
• the race that opens the eyes of selectors, recruiters and scholarship providers
• the race you beat your ultimate rival in: Coe vs Ovett, Tergat vs Gabrisellesie, *Scott vs Allen
• a race you need to finish or beat someone for a bet
• a race (event) that see you travel interstate or overseas
• a race set along one of the world's natural or built wonders: by the Nile, the Grand Canyon, the Great Wall of China
• a race at a championship level: school, region, province, state, national, international
• a race at the Commonwealth, European, World championship, or Olympic Games
• a podium finish
• a first place
• just finishing
• a race that provides proof
• a race that let's you know you are okay
•  a race that inspires you
• a race that reminds you of why you run
• an event that reminds you that you're of the human race

Races can deliver all sorts of things. Some are BIGger than others.

Their importance to individuals has the potential to deliver moer than a crisp Winter morning in Melbourne.

At least, they deliver a knowing and warm smile.

And something so small can be so big!

The Big Race 1

Time goes so quickly.
It's a little after 6 on a Sunday morning. It's drizzling outside. I'm coaching runners at 8am. My sleep has been and gone. So fast.

I check the date.
It's been 3 months since I've been here with you. Not in spirit, because I visit running and running thoughts and running words every day. Just in blog form. Summer has been and gone. So fast.

The date tells me more.
Much of my last 3 months has been planning 2012 (and beyond) with others: with you, with runners, with coaches, with sports-medicine professionals. and with sports-scientists. amongst all that planning there are a few regular questions. One of those asks about your race/s. What is your Big Race for the year?

And, as I speak, one Big Race is about to get underway here in Melbourne. It's not a running race. It does have a run component. It's the inaugural Melbourne Ironman Triathlon. I think it may actually be the Asia-Pacific Championships.

Regardless, with the elite men finishing in a few-ticks around the 8-hour mark, the elite women close-by, and a cut-off time of 17-hours for 1,700 or so competitors. It is a Big Race, in many ways. A marathon is an achievement in itself. Completing a marathon after a 3.8km swim and a 180km cycle capitalises the "A" in achievement.

I dabbled in triathlons through the late-80s and early 90s. I liked to go fast. I liked to run fast. Sprint and Olympic distances were my preference. In fact, there existed only a handful of world Ironman events in those days. And the IM logo never existed. Personally, slugging out 6-, 7- or 8-minute kms is not my idea of racing or competing in an event. More importantly, I certainly get the allure of this for others: it's the challenge, and the promise, and the rebuttal. And the commitment

As Sascha Baren Cohen would have once said as Ali G, "Respect!". As Borat, "Very nice!"

Go you IMMrs.

What makes a race big though? We all have 'The Big Race'.
What's yours?
What's mine?

It's 7.15am, With pre-race nerves now gone, the IMMers are about to "be".

All sorts...

Runners come in all shapes and sizes.

And speeds and styles.  And outfits and gadgets.

I got wondering about this while out and  about coaching this morning. The pleasure of coaching my in2running squad was magnified by the beautiful sunrise and early morning weather. The Botanical Gardens ('The Tan') in Melbourne attracts runners of all types: runners like you, runners like me, and runners like us.


Some speed by, others shuffle by; some stride past, many sigh past; some ease along, others pant-n-puff strong; yet, all move in their own way, and run along.


After our session I rewarded myself with a an hour-and-some of run/walk. I took my new Garmin Forerunner for a test run. Thank you to in2runners for this generous gift. It's nicknamed the Forderunner, hehe.

Then, I got to coach some speedy and agile football players, both Soccer and Australian Rules Football. More different shapes and sizes and speeds. And needs.

To this point, we've looked at some basics of program design. Let's take it a little further. As we do that let's be clear on the different types of running. Strangely enough their are different types of types of running. What the?

There are types defined by differences in gait, technique and mechanics: walk, jog, run, sprint.
There are types defined by distance: sprints, middle-distance, long distance, ultra-. Each of these have their own classifications and event names.
There are types defined by obstacles: hurdles or 'sticks', steeple-chase.
There are types defined by terrain: hill, trail, cross-country, even orienteering and rogaining.
There are types defined by outcomes: health-related, fitness-related running, performance-related running. Some even run for it's contribution to aesthetics.
There are types defined by relationship: individual, team, age-group.
There are types defined by no definition, yet for the exhileration and the experience.

Training effectively for each of these different types of running simply requires us to understanding running in context: who it's for, what they're training for, and the demands of their event.


A one-approach to training for running does not fit all people, nor does it fit all athletes or all events. It certainly doesn't fit all outcomes or goals, and nor should it remain the same for all people over time. This is Training Programs 101, 102 and 201.


Although sprints, middle-distance and endurance events all involve running...training for them requires different and individualised programs over time.  Yet, each effective program will be based upon sound athletic development principles of training.


In blogs to come I'll share my experiences with you about program design for endurance events.


Endurance runners come in all shapes and sizes.

What sort are you, and me?

Programs 101

"Do you know where I can find a good program for...?"
"Can you help me with a good program for...?"
"Is ABC a good program...?"

Ring-a-bell? They do to me. I get asked them almost everyday. Feeling cheeky I could reply, "Possibly", "Sure", and "Maybe", respectively. Those who know me recognise my wry grin.

They're interesting questions for two reasons. Firstly, no-one really wants a 'bad' or 'mediocre' program, do they? They want a "good" program. Secondly, what is a program?


What a program is depends upon your perspective, experience and, importantly, your expectations.


To some a program is having a weekly routine; to others, its a chapter or page from a magazine, a journal, a blog, a website or  a book; to some, it's a series of sessions repeated on a weekly (or thereabouts) basis; to many, it's a series of sessions that require them to go further, or faster, or run hills etc; some even consider it getting a tweet or email or SMS from their coach that outlines the daily session/s to complete; a few would consider it going out and training according to how they feel.

None of these 'definitions' or 'types' of programs are necessarily right or wrong. It depends upon how you look at them, and what you were expecting. It depends upon your context, and how you go about framing your view of a program.  (I return to 'context' and 'framing' another day).

To me a program has a number of fundamental or basic elements.

Firstly, a program is a journey. This journey is all of planned, reflective (is revised over time), reactive (or flexible, catering for 'stuff that happens'), respectful (individualised or customised), and robust (includes a range of elements).

A program is not a routine or schedule to be blindly followed or adhered to...it is a living, ongoing entity.

Secondly, like a journey your program has three parts: (1) a destination - your finish point, where you want to end-up, your aim or ultimate outcome; (2) it takes stock of your current position - where you're at, what your'e currently doing, and what you think you need to do; and, (3) it also considers your past - where you've been, what you've done, what worked and what didn't, and what you've learnt.

A program is not a schedule of sessions that you're given, or have been taken from a source, that aren't adapted to you and your context.

Thirdly, a program must be planned. This planning gives you direction. It respects where you've been, has considered where you're at, and points you in the direction of your destination. It provides guidelines. It highlights complementary elements to assist you in 'staying on track'. It highlights progressions and milestones in a descriptive and, sometimes, quantitative sense.

Each of these are based upon the demands of your event, and your capacity to progress to meeting these demands.

A program is not a serious of random sessions; it is not a routine of sessions completed a little further and/or faster each week; it is not a compilation of daily or weekly emails or posts or tweets or SMSs.

Finally, a program is based upon fundamental principles of training: individuality, specificity, adherence, progression, overload, recovery, variety - all based upon science, knowledge and 'known stuff', yet applied, combined, mixed, brewed or created with the deft wisdom of an artist.

Programs come in all shapes and sizes. They also come with various degrees of professionalism, effectiveness, and price-tag$.

An "effective" program for you, ultimately, is based around you and your progress toward the goal/s you wish to achieve. Where you start, how you get there, and how you manage the road-blocks, detours, road-works and accidents along the way - the journey - is the special aspect of your program. It is the "good" in a good program.


A program is your journey.

How does your current program stack up?
Alarm bells?