Running Science Owen Anderson, PhD Human Kinetics Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Anderson, Owen, 1947- Running science / Owen Anderson. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Running--Training. 2. Sports sciences. I. Title. GV1061.5.A63 2013 796.42--dc23 2013004559 ISBN-10: 0-7360-7418-X (print) ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-7418-6 (print) Copyright © 2013 by Owen Anderson All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. This publication is written and published to provide accurate and authoritative information relevant to the subject matter presented. It is published and sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering legal, medical, or other professional services by reason of their authorship or publication of this work. If medical or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. The web addresses cited in this text were current as of January 2013, unless otherwise noted. Developmental Editors: Tom Hanlon and Heather Healy; Assistant Editors: Claire Marty and Sarah Wiseman; Copyeditor: Ann Prisland; Indexer: Nan N. Badgett; Permissions Manager: Martha Gullo; Graphic Designer: Joe Buck; Graphic Artist: Julie L. Denzer; Cover Designer: Keith Blomberg; Photograph (cover): © Human Kinetics; Photographs (interior): © Human Kinetics unless otherwise noted; Photo Asset Manager: Laura Fitch; Visual Production Assistant: Joyce Brumfield; Photo Production Manager: Jason Allen; Art Manager: Kelly Hendren; Associate Art Manager: Alan L. 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Box 80 Windsor, ON N8Y 2L5 Torrens Park, South Australia 5062 800-465-7301 (in Canada only) 0800 222 062 e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected] Europe: Human Kinetics 107 Bradford Road Stanningley Leeds LS28 6AT, United Kingdom +44 (0) 113 255 5665 e-mail: [email protected] E4428 To Liz, for your constant, unfailing caring and support and for keeping me moving forward even in the most-troubled times with no thought for yourself To Chemtai, for teaching me so much about Kenyan running and never giving up To my parents, for mentoring me to do rather than watch To Cori, for being such a cool, tough, and loving daughter To Uncle Bud, for life-long friendship To all the kids in the Tana River Delta, for inspiring and trusting me and for holding on to hope and working for a better future To Eunice and Namwezi, for your integrity and for showing me how to help the Delta kids To Lyn, for your great friendship, always welcoming chair, and incomparable roast-beef sandwiches To Le, for introducing me to real friendship and a positive approach to life And to pastors Jim and Matt, for your faith, guidance, and encouragement Contents Acknowledgments viii Prologue: The Quest for Knowledge in Running ix Part I Genetics and Running . . . . . . . . . . . . .1 Chapter 1 Running’s Nature-Versus-Nurture Debate . . . . . . . . 2 Chapter 2 Genes That Influence Performance . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Chapter 3 Genetic Differences Between Elite and Nonelite Runners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Part II Biomechanics of Running . . . . . . . . . .27 Chapter 4 The Body While Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Chapter 5 Refinement in Running Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Chapter 6 Running Surfaces, Shoes, and Orthotics . . . . . . . . 61 Part III Physiological Factors in Running Performance . . . . . . . . . .75 . Chapter 7 Maximal Aerobic Capacity (V O max) . . . . . . . . . . 76 2 Chapter 8 Running Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 Chapter 9 Minimum Velocity for Maximal . Aerobic Capacity (vV O max) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 2 Chapter 10 Velocity at Lactate Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 Chapter 11 Maximal Running Speed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113 Chapter 12 Resistance to Fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124 iv v Part IV Training Modes and Methods for Runners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 Chapter 13 General Strength Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134 Chapter 14 Running-Specific Strength Training . . . . . . . . . . .152 Chapter 15 Hill Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175 Chapter 16 Speed Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Chapter 17 Cross-Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Chapter 18 Altitude Training . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 Part V Training Variables and Systems in Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 Chapter 19 Frequency and Volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213 Chapter 20 Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218 Chapter 21 Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .224 Chapter 22 Periodization and Block Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . .237 Chapter 23 Integrated Strength and Endurance Training Programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252 Part VI Optimal Training for Specific Conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .308 . Chapter 24 Increasing V O max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 2 Chapter 25 Enhancing Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .318 . Chapter 26 Gaining vV O max . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328 2 iv v } | vi Contents Contents vii Chapter 27 Upgrading Lactate Threshold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 Chapter 28 Increasing Maximal Running Speed . . . . . . . . . . 352 Chapter 29 Promoting Resistance to Fatigue . . . . . . . . . . . . 360 Part VII Molecular Biological Changes in Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .365 Chapter 30 Training Effects at the Molecular Level . . . . . . . . 366 Chapter 31 Training Favoring Molecular Enrichment . . . . . . .371 Part VIII Distance-Specific Training . . . . . . . . .383 Chapter 32 Training for 800 Meters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 Chapter 33 Training for 1,500 Meters and the Mile . . . . . . . 392 Chapter 34 Training for 5Ks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 404 Chapter 35 Training for 10Ks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .414 Chapter 36 Training for Half Marathons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425 Chapter 37 Training for Marathons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .433 Chapter 38 Training for Ultramarathons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 443 Part IX Sports Medicine for Runners . . . . . .447 Chapter 39 Running Injuries and Health Risks . . . . . . . . . . . 448 Chapter 40 Prevention of Running Injuries . . . . . . . . . . . . . 459 Chapter 41 Health Benefits of Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 467 Chapter 42 Health Considerations for Special Running Populations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477 } | vi Contents Contents vii Part X Running Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . . . . .484 Chapter 43 Energy Sources and Fuel Use for Runners . . . . . 485 Chapter 44 Eating for Enhanced Endurance and Speed . . . . 497 Chapter 45 Fueling Strategies During a Run . . . . . . . . . . . . 507 Chapter 46 Weight Control and Body Composition . . . . . . . .519 Chapter 47 Ergogenic Aids for Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 530 Part XI Psychology of Running . . . . . . . . . .539 Chapter 48 The Brain and the Experience of Fatigue . . . . . . 540 Chapter 49 Psychological Strategies for Improved Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545 Chapter 50 Addictive Aspects of Running . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 556 Epilogue: The Future of Running 561 References 562 Index 587 About the Author 596 Acknowledgments Iw ould like to thank my Human Kinetics editors, Claire Marty, Tom Han- lon, Heather Healy, and Sarah Wiseman, for expertly guiding this book to completion. I would also like to thank Walt Reynolds for our always productive and stimulating discussions of innovative training techniques and for helping me to understand so many valuable concepts and practices concerning run- ning form and running specific strengthening. I would like to thank Chemtai Rionotukei, Walter Reynolds, and Julia Wil- liams for their patient, wonderful, and skilled work during the photo shoot for this book. Chemtai, Walter, and Julie spent countless hours ensuring that each exercise, drill, and running segment was photographed optimally. I would also like to express my gratitude to Neil Bernstein for his professional and outstanding work taking the photos. viii ix Prologue The Quest for Knowledge in Running The science of running is undergoing a revolution that has now entered its fifth decade. In the 1970s, exercise physiologists were sure that endur- ance running was an oxygen game, with oxygen limitation the key cause ∙ of fatigue during exercise and VO max the main physiological variable to 2 be examined. From a scientific perspective, endurance runners were little more than hearts and leg muscles. The heart was the pump that sent oxygen to the waiting sinews in the lower appendages, and specialized structures in those muscle fibers called mitochondria permitted the muscles to use oxygen to provide the energy necessary for running. Once the limit in that system was reached, anaerobic energy took over, lactic acid built up in the muscles, and the hapless runner was done for the day. A competitor with a better oxygen- delivery and supply system won the race. In that model, which had its origins in the 1920s at the Harvard Fatigue Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the work of Nobel Prize– winning physiologist A.V. Hill seemed to show that lactic acid could decrease muscular force production, the brain and spinal cord were viewed as just along for the ride, responding meekly to the requests placed by the heart and leg muscles during exercise. If the leg muscles were rollicking along in a steady bath of oxygen, the nervous system sent enough impulses to keep them moving at the requisite rate. All of this seemed fine until some probing running researchers began to reveal in the 1970s and 1980s that there were other physiological variables that predicted running success. Notably, running economy (i.e., a measure of how stingy runners were with their oxygen) and lactate-threshold velocity (i.e., the velocity above which lactate began to build up in the blood; origi- nally called anaerobic threshold speed) were shown to be relatively reliable predictors of endurance performance. viii ix } | x Prologue: The Quest for Knowledge in Running Prologue: The Quest for Knowledge in Running xi · Limits of VO max and the Role 2 of the Nervous System Making matters much worse for the traditional model, studies began to ∙ appear that revealed that VO max was a decent forecaster of performance if 2 one were comparing elite runners with runners in the middle of the pack— but it was weak at foretelling race times among similarly trained runners (e.g., elites, subelites, medium-level runners, and novices). How could that be? After all, endurance running was and still is a truly aerobic sport, with oxygen usage supplying 99 percent of the energy required to run a 10K and oxygen limitation seemingly crucial in determining what can happen in races. Flying in the face of the conventional model, some studies even had the audacity to determine that 300-meter (.19 mi) sprint time—a primarily anaerobic activity—could predict endurance performance far more effec- ∙ tively than maximal aerobic capacity, or VO max. 2 Thanks to such findings and to brilliant and innovative research, we learned that endurance runners do have nervous systems after all, and that the nervous system plays a profound role in determining the success or failure of both training and competition. The nervous system can create fatigue and actually regulate running pace during endurance training and racing via what is now termed the anticipatory regulation of exercise per- formance through effort perception. This is part of the revolution in which exercise science is currently immersed. The understanding of the nervous system’s role has not only shaken up exercise physiology but has also had a dramatic impact on the training of endurance runners, as the reader will come to understand by reading this book. The other part of the revolution concerns fatigue itself. Originally thought to be a simple phenomenon related to intramuscular lactic acid, fatigue is now linked with nervous system functioning along with a whole complex ∙ of physiological factors such as velocity at VO max, running economy, 2 lactate-threshold velocity, resistance to fatigue, maximal running speed, intramuscular pH, and even muscular potassium levels. The search for the origins of fatigue during running is an important one: When fatigue is understood, the optimal mode of training to limit that fatigue and thus to optimize performance can be researched and implemented. Science Sheds Light on Running As a scientist, I love the fact that an understanding of running performance is approachable via the scientific method and that running science has provided so many valuable clues about optimal training. No longer are we completely bound by tradition and myth: We can look to great research car- ried out by running scientists around the globe in order to plan our training and prepare for our most important races.