July 25, 2024: This week only, to celebrate the opening of the Paris Olympics, you're receiving the full-text RLRH. Please consider subscribing at the below links. Thanks. Amby
The Little Discussed Secret To Olympic Marathon Success
If there’s one thing we know for sure about marathon performance, it’s this: Staying cool is better than getting hot. This fact plays a bigger role in the Olympics than in 99 percent of major marathons, because the Summer Olympics are held in … doh, summer.
Athletes have long joked that they’d like to see the marathon moved to the Winter Olympics. While that seems unlikely, the International Olympic Committee recently asked several expert groups to produce a “Consensus Statement” regarding events held in the heat. The IOC clearly wants to maximize “protection of athletes competing in the heat.”
What could be done? For one thing, the Olympics now has a special competition rule regarding refreshment tables. It allows that “a maximum of two officials per Member may be stationed at any one time behind the table." These officials can, for example, keep ice and water bottles in insulated containers until just moments before the runners arrive at the refreshment table.
Contrast this with Clayton Young’s situation at the Marathon Trials in Orlando last February. Young had prepared a special strategy for freezing his sports drink and runner’s cap in metal containers. But he had to turn his containers over to officials almost 24 hours before the race start.
Result: He didn’t know what would become of them during the interlude, or what temperature they would be when he reached each refreshment table the next day. A similar process is used at other major marathons. In Paris, with the help of U.S. team officials, Young should have much more control over the temperature of his bottles and their contents.
The Consensus Statement included this additional advice for marathon runners:
# Do little warm up pre race, and wear an ice vest during that time to keep body temperature from rising.
# Hydrate enough during the marathon to minimize weight loss (some weight loss is inevitable on a warm day), but be careful not to over hydrate.
# Wear light colored, loose-fitting clothing with as much exposed skin as possible to optimize sweat evaporation.
# Use ice-towels, ice-socks, crushed ice, and ice cubes as possible
Given these last two recommendations, I recently suggested to Clayton Young that he should wear a “man bra” in Paris. More female marathoners are beginning to stuff ice into their bras, but I haven’t seen a guy dare to wear a man bra and do the same.
Final tip: As you watch the Olympic Marathons, check to see who’s using ice and frozen pods in innovative ways.
It won’t be long before we see new apparel fabrics that are designed for optimal cooling. Here’s a recent study highlighting one shown to make you feel 4 degrees F cooler than a cotton shirt. More at Nano Micro Small.
Will New Running Shoes Disrupt The Olympic Marathon Again?
In the 2016 men’s Olympic Marathon, the top three runners all wore a pair of new Nike super shoes not available to other runners. At the time, only Nike realized it was possible to produce running shoes with super foam and a midsole plate that improved performance.
This was clearly unethical by any standard--you could call it “shoe doping”--but Nike and its athletes got away with it because there were no specific rules against such shoes.
Now there are. That’s one reason why the much-ballyhooed new “spray on” shoes from ON aren’t likely to affect next month’s Olympic Marathons in Paris. All Olympic track or road shoes must now appear on the “Shoe Checker” list at the CertCheck website.
The new “ON Cloudboom Strike LS” shoe is indeed listed as an eligible shoe that has been available since April 4 of this year. On April 15, Hellen Obiri wore the shoes to win the Boston Marathon, and she will apparently also wear them in Paris.
The press material we’ve seen concerning the new shoes is all about the manufacturing process. It doesn’t give any indication of improved performance.
Performance is only altered under the foot--by the foam and plates in the midsole, and perhaps a “rocker” construction. ON has made no comments about theses aspects of the new shoe, and there’s no reason to believe the shoes are superior to other super shoes out there. (Of course, Hellen Obiri has been seriously fast for a long time.)
While elite runners are prohibited from wearing shoes not on the CertCheck list, shoe companies can’t be banned from manufacturing illegally thick, plush shoes. And many runners have wondered if such shoes would allow them to train more and faster, with better recovery.
The early answer appears to be “No.” A recent study compared shoes with varying midsole heights--30mm, 40mm, and 50mm--for runner comfort, running economy, and some biomechanics variables. The first two shoes are legal, but the 50mm shoes are banned in World Athletics competitions.
Comfort was rated tops in the 40mm shoe. The 40mm and 50mm shoes provided an equal boost in running economy. There were no noted differences in runner biomechanics.
Conclusion: “Higher midsole thickness [beyond 40mm] does not provide clear advantages.” You don’t need to try out shoes thicker than the current 40mm limit. More at International Society of Biomechanics in Sports.
[SUBSCRIBE HERE to receive the complete, full-text edition of “Run Long, Run Healthfor every week for as little as $3/month.]
Tour Cyclists Rumored To Use New Blood Boosting Method
If they are, what about Olympic runners who often follow methods first used in the Tour? It’s possible this is happening, though there is no hard evidence to date.
However, carbon monoxide inhalation was a huge topic in this year’s Tour de France, especially because winner Tadej Pogačar and several other riders produced record-breaking performances on several mountain climbs.
On those steep slopes, they raced upward significantly faster than known dopers like Lance Armstrong had managed in the past. Which immediately raised the question: If you're performing way better than past riders known to have used drugs, what exactly are you using?
An explosive article behind a paywalled website, Escape Collective, revealed that several Tour de France teams were using carbon monoxide equipment to measure their riders’ hemoglobin levels during altitude training. This is completely legal and presumably safe, as the teams have big budgets and expert physiologists working with them.
However, the same article suggested that breathing more carbon monoxide (than necessary for a hemoglobin test) could dramatically boost the blood’s oxygen-carrying capacity. How? Since the carbon monoxide would steal some hemoglobin from the blood, the body would react by producing a surplus of extra hemoglobin.
This is not expressly illegal, but violates the spirit of fair sport, which states that an athlete’s blood should not be tampered with.
Tour teams have denied carbon-monoxide doping, and there is no evidence that they have done so. Also, the “science” behind such a practice is virtually nonexistent. It’s pure theory at this point.
This is what happens when someone rides (or runs) exceptionally fast against a context of some new, rumored performance-enhancement technique. In that scenario, people begin gossiping and speculating. Only time will tell. More at Cycling Weekly (free).
Keto Diet = Yes For Weight Loss. With A Big BUT …
We live in an age of increasing obesity, thus great interest in anything that can assist weight loss. That’s why we read newspaper articles every day about successful new weight loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound and similar prescription meds for diabetes.
At the same time, athletes and others continue to explore the keto diet for weight loss and/or improved performance. A new well-designed and controlled study gives the ketogenic approach a thumbs-up for weight loss, but with a clear warning.
Here’s the warning: You’d better do strength-training along with your low-carb eating. Otherwise, you’re likely to lose twice as much muscle as fat. And losing muscle could be bad for your long-term health.
Subjects in this study were young, normal-weight Swedish women. They spent 4 weeks on a keto diet, and 4 weeks on a recommended Swedish diet. In both cases, they received all their meals from a test kitchen, and those meals contained equal numbers of calories, and the same percent of protein (19%).
The keto diet included large amounts of meat, fish and seafood, high-fat dairy, eggs, coconut fat, olive oil, nuts, and avocado with just 4% of calories coming from carbs, and 77% from fats. The recommended diet included large amounts of vegetables, fruit and berries, fish and chicken, vegetable oils, low-fat dairy, and high-fiber products. It provided 44% of calories from carbs, and 33% from fats.
Between the two test diets, subjects returned to their normal eating during a 15-week “wash out” period.
Result: The women lost about 6.5 pounds on the keto diet, and a little more than 2 pounds on the normal diet. This occurred “despite similar energy intake and physical activity levels.” Researchers were surprised by this degree of muscle loss, because they thought the 19% protein diet should have prevented this.
Conclusion: While the keto diet proved effective for weight loss, it disproportionately reduces lean mass over fat mass, suggesting the need for concurrent strength training to mitigate muscle loss in women following this diet.” More at Nutrients with free full text.
The 7 Best Gels For Sensitive Stomachs
Super shoes are not the only super-performance-enhancers being used by endurance runners these days. We’ve also got super gels.
A short number of years ago, most scientific groups were advising that marathon and ultra marathon runners should try to absorb about 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per hour (120 to 240 calories). Now we see reports every day of Tour de France riders and ultra-runners who are gulping down twice that amount--up to 120 grams/hour.
Marathoners and half-marathoners probably can’t reach this total. The faster you’re running, the harder it is to consume the high-carb gel. And the greater the chances that your stomach will protest the heavy carb consumption.
Be cautious because runners have vastly different individual sensitivity to different carbs, flavors, and textures. Still, it makes sense to carb up as much as you can without distressing your gut.
There are as many gel companies today as shoe companies. So it can get confusing. But gels are relatively cheap, so you owe it to yourself to try a few, and to find out which works best for you.
Here, Coach Laura Norris summarizes what she has learned about various gels from her own research and from runner reports. She touches on all the key issues: glucose:fructose ratios, electrolytes, caffeine, hydrogels and isotonic gels, and FODMAPs. This is a solid, informative read with useful information about nearly a dozen gels including one I had never heard of before. More at Laura Norris Running.
Feet First: Run Stronger With These Essential Foot Exercises
Some past studies have suggested that strengthening the so called “intrinsic muscles” of the foot could reduce injuries. Others indicated that a foot strengthening program could “improve running performance.”
A just published paper looked more closely at the potential for faster racing. It reported: “Strengthening of the short foot muscles may improve lactate threshold velocity which is connected with running performance.” In fact, it’s one definition of running economy.
In this randomized, controlled trial, groups of middle-aged recreational runners (logging about 30 miles a week) were compared before and after two training strategies that lasted 8 weeks. One group performed a daily 30 minute session of “short foot muscle exercises” while barefoot. The exercises are described with additional photo reference at the free full text link below. Some included balance on a “stability disc.”
The other group received a pair of minimalist Vibram Five Fingers shoes and wore them during a walking break-in period--then in 8 weeks of their regular running in the Vibrams.
In follow up lab testing, both groups of runners showed an increased velocity at lactate threshold. However this value was only “slightly noticeable” in the Vibram group, and not statistically significant. In contrast, the change reached statistical significance in the foot-exercise group.
Conclusion: “Considering the obtained results, it is worth contemplating the implementation of these methods in the training of long-distance runners.” The researchers believe the improved performance occurred due to “an increase in elastic energy storage restitution following foot interventions.” More at Nature Scientific Reports with free full text.
The New York Times recently produced a great visual guide to foot strengthening. It features 5 exercises that take just 12 minutes a day. More at NYTimes.
How To Run Better In The Wind
I don’t know anyone who enjoys running in blustery conditions. You feel slower and more awkward, and need to keep adjusting your running biomechanics to stay efficient. This of course makes you fatigue more rapidly.
Research on running (and cycling) and wind resistance has long focused on various laboratory “models” or “simulations.” Many of these, like those surrounding Eliud Kipchoge’s eventual 1:59:40 in an exhibition marathon, looked at ways to draft more effectively if you have a handful of other runners at your service.
Amazingly, no one has previously studied real runners as they battled various wind conditions. This new paper is the first. It put runners on a treadmill that was placed inside a wind tunnel.
Result: When facing a headwind of 33 miles per hour, runners had to do 50% more work to maintain their pace. This included “increased activation of core muscles and lower limb muscles.” To achieve this, they adopted more or less the same running biomechanics used for uphill running: shorter strides, and more of a forward lean.
Another tip: Make yourself more aerodynamic. “This can involve tucking in the arms, and lowering the head.”
These adjustments probably won’t make you enjoy those irksome winds. But they could move you closer to “optimizing aerodynamic performance in competitive running,” More at J of Applied Physiology.
What You Can Believe--And Not--About Probiotics
We are told that the microbiome in our gut contains trillions of bacteria, viruses, and other microbes. Some of these are naturally occurring probiotic bacteria and yeasts.
We can also consume probiotic supplements that are heavily promoted everywhere. Many athletes take these probiotics in the hope of improving their health and wellness.
But, let’s face it, we’re still talking about the Wild West. The National Institute of Health says: “The effects of many commercial products containing probiotics have not been examined in research studies, and it is difficult for people not familiar with probiotic research to determine which products are backed by evidence.” No kidding!
Here’s a new randomized, controlled trial that put a probiotic supplement to a running test. The question being examined: Could the probiotic improve training, and ultimately fitness level?
The researchers hypothesized that the probiotic would have a beneficial positive effect “by reducing gastrointestinal (GI) and cold/flu symptoms.” That seemed reasonable. If the supplement could improve the users’ general wellness, it ought to help them train better, and increase fitness. The supplement included a common Lactobacillus probiotic that had looked promising in some other exercise trials.
But the results disproved the hypothesis: During 6 weeks of probiotics, subjects trained less and slower than the placebo group. As a result, they gained no fitness improvement as measured by a treadmill time to exhaustion test. In fact, they performed worse in the exhaustion run while the placebo group improved significantly. Subjects were regular, normal weight runners in their mid-20s.
Conclusion: The researchers don’t know why the supplement group trained less than the placebo group. They support additional research. “Future studies should consider higher probiotic doses, a longer intervention, and structured exercise regimens to better understand the potential ergogenic effects of Lactobacillus helveticus Lafti L10 in non-elite athletes.” More at Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism with free full text.
SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss
GREAT QUOTES Make Great Training Partners
"You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself--your own highest standards. And when you reach your limits, that is real joy."
—Arthur Ashe
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby