Marathons
Could this work for a marathon ? I don’t think so. The ultra is normally ran at a more subdued pace and although longer I feel not as testing as ‘racing’ a marathon. (Well ultras less than 100k, when you get above 100k I’m sure it becomes a tad more testing that a marathon. Once I run further than 100k I’ll confirm?) In an ultra the race pace normally decreases brings your overall cardio fitness in to play more than resting the legs a few weeks before. If you haven’t got the fitness a two week taper will not help, you’ll still be underdone. With a marathon, as the distance is less, you normally have the fitness required to finish the event, the tapering helps more by letting tired muscles recovery.
Also I feel running a good ultra is more dependant on the nutrition and hydration plan, get this right will benefit you so much more than a taper period. Again get this plan wrong and the taper will not save you. In an ultra any mistakes will be paid for, that is a certainty. In an ultra there is no where to hide.
Researching tapering and ultras on the web and there are stories advocating no tapering and setting PB’s while others advocate a 3 week steep taper and lean more towards relaxing rather than stressing about the event. All have their pro’s and con’s and as with all things running there’s no one shoe fits all. It really depends on the runner and also their experience and fitness. The more experienced runner with a good foundation of distance training under their belt will be more likely to be able to go into an event without tapering. They will not need the confidence boost that comes from a good taper as much as someone with less experience. Remember a good taper will also aid confidence and going into any race this is important, anything that helps put you in a positive mindset is welcome and needs to be embraced,
Of course if you have any niggling injuries an enforced taper may be called for. When this happens there is nothing you can do about it, just sit back and smell the roses concentrating on things you can influence like carboloading. Now carboloading, that is a whole new post and one I shall tackle next. Until then enjoy this article below by Ian Torrence which highlights ‘peaking’ rather than tapering as a benefit, pre-ultra. Ian is part of the Greg McMillan stable of writers so has a wealth of knowledge and experience to call upon. (Please note I do not advocate the Joe Kulak method of peaking described below but as you can see in the photo below my friend Jon is convinced it works… ?)
The final weeks before an event are the toughest to get right. The common notion that all hard work must cease and inactivity must ensue is incorrect. It’s also foolhardy to continue amassing mileage and tough workouts as race day nears in hopes of improving fitness. Depending on your approach to this all-important time period, you may be left feeling lethargic or simply exhausted. A runner with the proper peak will feel rejuvenated and ready to go on race day.
Greg McMillan, my mentor, has devised a set of rules to live by as race day approaches. Greg explains, “By studying peak performance research – both physiological as well as psychological – as opposed to just the tapering research, I’ve been able to dial in how to truly peak on race day. It works for all athletes no matter where you find yourself in the pack come race day.” By placing Greg’s simple and effective system into context, let’s get you prepared for your next ultra.
1. Do not drop running volume drastically
Though there are some that prefer three weeks to peak, two weeks seems to be the most popular choice. During the first week of a peak, drop the length of each run by 10 to 20 minutes. The week before your event, drop volume by 20 to 30 minutes per run. I recommend that ultrarunners limit their last long run(s), done a week before the key event, to 90 easy minutes (regardless of the distance of the event). This is enough to give you that long run feeling, but short enough that muscle recovery and glycogen-storage continue. Light, non-impact cross training can be done in lieu of runs, but only if you are used to those forms of exercise.
2. Keep the routine
Run, eat, sleep, work, and socialize when you do normally. Your body and mind have achieved stasis over the past few months of training. Keep them both happy and the keel even. Now is not the time to experiment with new workouts, forms of exercise, foods, and social events. Use the extra time not spent running for sleeping and sticking to “safe” hobbies.
3. Keep the intensity and build confidence
Before the 2007 JFK 50 Mile, I had an exchange with fellow competitor Andy Mason. Nine days before the race, he completed a round of very quick mile repeats on the track; his last quality workout before the race. I knew he was fit and feeling confident. That year, Andy finished in the top ten.
Though most ultrarunners do not need to perform a tough round of mile repeats before their next race, they might consider doing some sort of confidence-building workout 10 days to two weeks out from their event. This workout, however, should be in tune with recent training. Running a 30-mile training run or time trialing up and down Hope Pass (like the author) a few days before a race is neither smart nor beneficial. A moderate length workout that you’re familiar with, that is aerobically challenging, allows for adequate recovery before race day, and demonstrates your fitness should be the order of the day. If you don’t routinely perform hard hill, stamina-building, fartlek, or fast finish workouts then this is not the time to start. Maintain your current training and follow the guidelines for reduction in mileage as mentioned above.
Now is also the time to reflect on all of the training you’ve done thus far. Remember that you’ve done the work necessary to get you to the finish line.
4. Stick to the original race plan and have fun
No one starts a race without a goal. Whether it be to keep your Grand Slam hopes alive, finish your first ultra, or win the event outright, don’t lose sight of why you’re out there. Be deliberate in your actions and calculate each move you make on the race course. Run your own race and enjoy the time you’re having on the trail or road. Greg McMillan sums this up perfectly, “Let’s face it. Most of us aren’t going for an Olympic gold medal here. We are simply enjoying the challenge of doing our best. There is no real pressure, so quit putting so much on yourself. We run for fun, and you should remember that. Have fun!”
PEAKING FOR MULTIPLE RACES
What if you’re gearing up for several important races that are separated by a few weeks or less? The Grand Slam of Ultrarunning, as well as others of that genre, and several race series like the NorCal and SoCal Ultra Grand Prix are perfect examples. In essence, you are recovering and peaking in unison between events. There are two ways to approach situations like this:
1. Reverse taper
This is like returning from injury. Gradually and slowly increase the length of your post-race easy runs and avoid fast and difficult workouts. You won’t reach your normal training level, but you’ll satisfy the need for a few runs before your next event.
2. The Joe Kulak Method
When I asked Joe Kulak what he did between each of his four 2003 Grand Slam record- setting 100-mile races, he quipped, “I sat on the couch and drank beer.” If beer is not your drink of choice, water works just as well. The reality is that you can’t gain fitness in the two or three weeks between long ultras. Recovery will be your best “workout” while preparing for your next event.
On the subject of nutrition I still haven’t totally worked out my plan. I think I’m going with the Comrades ( http://www.comrades.com ) diet of a gu/carbo-shotz every hour. It got me through three Comrade campaigns in a reasonable fashion and at least this time I don’t have to carry them as the ADU is a 12.5 loop so I’ll have an esky of goodies at the side of the track to delve into every 6.25k if needed. Carrying 10 gu’s using a belt sounded like a good idea but in practice it was a disaster as the weight of the gu’s made the belt jump up and down on my back. I only realised this at the start of the race and as you can imagine I wasn’t that excited having 89k ahead of me. On the bright side the more I ate the less of an annoyance the belt became. At around 80k I hardly felt it, albeit at 80 k I could hardly feel anything, truth be told.
Reading articles on ultra marathons there really is a wealth of information on all sorts of different diets and I’ve posted a few lately on this site as I study different approaches. I feel the best way forward is to eat when I hungry and stay hydrated. The race starts at midnight so the sun won’t be an issue initially but after the sunrise this could all change if we run into a Perth scorcher. A hot morning will certainly add to the challenge of the event as I’ll still have around 30-40k to run, and as I mentioned in a previous post when you hit the wall in an ultra you could still have 30k to go.
Hydration wise I’ll be alternating between one small drink bottle of water and then one of electrolytes for the duration of the event per lap. (probably 600ml an hour) Before the race of course I’ll carbo load (muffin time!) and that also includes drinking water and electrolyte drinks a lot, so normally at the start of the race I’m hydrated enough. (For a marathon of course, I’ll need extra for the ultra.) Maybe some flat coke on the last lap or some red bull to give me a final boost. I’m lucky to have an ‘iron stomach’ so have never suffered any issues but then I’m normally done racing in less than 3 hours so maybe the extra food, combined with another 5 hours of running, may become an issue. This is something that will not become apparent till about 60-70k I suppose. ? About the same time as hitting the wall. It seems that around the 60-70k mark things will become clearer and no amount of blogging is going to help my cause now. On the bright side whatever happens there’ll be a post in there somewhere.
Great article here on hydration worth a read :- https://www.hammernutrition.com.au/info-centre/hydration-what-you-need-to-know/
Training wise I’m still running twice a day but taking it easy bar the progressive hour run on Thursdays. Probably manage another 160k week this week (100 miles) before dropping down next week by about 40-50% and then just a couple of slow 10k’s the week of the ultra. After that a week or two of blogging and then straight back into half marathon training for my one of my favourite races the Darlington half, before possibly having a tilt at the 50-55 year old age group Australian record for the 50k at Bunbury. (assuming it is AURU registered; if not could be off to Canberra. ) Then the races come thick and fast for the rest of the year, no rest for the wicked, racing is what keeps me quick, the fear of returning to the pack keeps me honest and the fear of slowing motivates me to go faster. There must be a quote in there somewhere…..
Finally I need to share the T-train’s approach to ultra-marathons . To quote Tony ‘eating is cheating’ ,now I can remember saying this as a young man during many nights on the ‘pop’ in sunny Penzance but never in an ultra. The T-train being the T-train has his own ways of doing things and the running community may go one way the T-train normally goes the opposite. That being said he just ran over 125k for a 12 hour race a week after racing a marathon so he is doing something right. I have yet to read anywhere his ‘eating is cheating’ mantra on any running website , no matter the ultra ones, so feel he is in a community of one, just the way he’d like it. I’ll keep an eye on him in the race and let you know if I catch him cheating.
Right back to the point of running 200k in a week. First of all it was to prove I could do it and really I only decided on day 7 of the week to give it a shot. I was running my go-to ‘old faithful’ 10k when, feeling good, I decided to add another 10k with a view to maybe adding a final 10k in the afternoon and giving me a 192k total. Of course once I started to do the maths I knew it was on and turned my 10k into a 34k which was the most I could have run as I was unprepared for a long run with no breakfast and no hydration. As soon as it started to heat up I was in trouble and managed to ‘borrow’ some water from a couple of houses on the way back which had taps at the front of their properties. Believe me when I say I was running in an area where borrowing water would be considered a risk but desperate times call for desperate measures, luckily I live to tell the tale.
Thus Sunday afternoon I ran the 4k I needed and added another 6k as I was again feeling good and had the wind behind me for the first 5k (thus the return journey had to made into a strong headwind, when will I learn?) A 206k total for the week and the double century box had been ticked. Will I repeat this ? Not sure, I’ve read a lot of material where it looks like 100-160k is about all you really need and anything else has negligible benefits but comes with a high injury risk. Most, if not all , of the 206k’s were slow and easy and I’m finding I’m avoiding the faster runs due to fatigue, although the fatigue is not as bad as when I use to run quicker all the time. As ultra training I can see the benefit of these 160k+ weeks but for the marathon and shorter distances I feel you can get away with 100-160k but add some pace work. I’ll certainly be dropping down the mileage after the ADU ( http://australiadayultra.com ) and am looking forward to some good old fashioned mona fartlek and tempo runs.
First though I have the impending 100k race in less than 3 weeks. Weekly distance I’m very confident I’m doing enough but still not really done the ‘long time on legs runs’ that I know I should be doing but just haven’t the inclination. It really will be a case of finding out at around the 70k mark if my cardio fitness as well as a good nutrition and hydration plan is enough to get me to the finish. That reminds me I still haven’t got a nutrition and hydration plan sorted out. Maybe I better get onto that this week ? How difficult can it be with my mate Google as my co-pilot?
Actually looking at the graphic below, a screen shot from Strava, there seems to be a few photos of me and the boys doing more eating than running. Maybe my Yelo Muffin and City Beach Pancakes is the nutrition plan I need ? I wonder how many muffins and pancakes a runner can digest, while running a 100k, without doing serious damage ? What is the tipping point for the number of muffins a runner can ingest before they become an issue and start to do more harm than good ? Probably around one I reckon, more’s the pity. Maybe I could blend then into small Gu like packets ? No, it’s back to Google and ‘proper’ ultra diets, remember I’m old fashioned.
I suppose because I’m still chasing a marathon PB I haven’t found the need to look further afield to get my PB fix. As well as the marathon PB I feel in 2017 I may have a good tilt at all the shorter distances and would like to think there may be the odd PB still there for the taking if I keep putting in the hard yards. I’m not a total beginner when it comes to ultra marathons as currently I’ve ran 18 of them but none further than 89k ( http://www.comrades.com ) Admittedly I did train very hard for my three Comrade campaigns (2008 /09 /10) and this training included the 50k runs that now days I find so hard to complete. On the plus side I running so much quicker now than when I ran Comrades and consider myself a lot fitter than those years, I’m certainly running further. So the question is does a better prepared runner beat a fitter runner over 100k ? I suppose we’ll find out next January as I have no inclination to run further than my normal 30k marathon long runs but I will be maintaining my 130k weekly average and may even nudge that up a bit over the next two weeks.
Tapering will be a two week exercise for this ultra as I feel the distance demands respect and I really need my legs to be as rested as much possible without losing fitness, the old taper tightrope we all walk pre-marathon or ultra. I believe you start to lose fitness after 2-3 weeks of no training so as long as you keep the legs ticking over, with a few rest days, you’ll be ok for a 2 week taper. When I first started marathons I use to give myself a 3 week taper but now I realise this was probably too long and I felt I lost some fitness which combined with the normal 3 day carbo-loading made the marathon uncomfortable. As it’s a 100k I may even treat myself to a leg massage, my friend Mike has recommended a good masseur but after a discussion over a Yelo muffin on Boxing Day I’m not so sure this is the type of massage I’m after. (There was talk of special garments which raised a few concerns amongst us?) It’s important to make sure the legs are ready for the onslaught of running for at least 8 hours (and probably more!) and the massage and a good taper will certainly help.
Once I get the legs ready next will be the mind. Looking at the quotes below it looks like the mind plays as much a part of a successful ultra run than the legs, a lot more than in the marathon when it becomes an issue at the 32k mark with 10k to go. In an Ultra it looks like the wall may be a tad longer to get to but unfortunately there is more distance the other side to overcome. By this I mean if you hit the wall at 70k in a 100k race you still have 30k to use all your mental strength to get you to the finish line, not the normal 10k in a marathon. I’m not selling this to you am I ? Actually I’m not selling it to me either.!
- “If you start to feel good during an ultra, don’t worry, you will get over it.”
-Gene Thibeault, ultrarunner
- “We ultrarunners alternate between depression and stupidity.”
-Don Kardong
- It hurts up to a point and then it doesn’t get any worse.”
-Ann Trason
- “Ultrarunners understand, perhaps better than anyone, that the doors to the spirit will swing open with physical effort. In running such long and taxing distances they answer a call from the deepest realms of their being–a call that asks who they are.”
-David Blaikie
Finally once I get the legs ready and the mind prepared the final piece in the jigsaw is the food and hydration that is so important in an ultra. Haven’t really nailed that one either , truth be told. Typing this has not given me the confidence I felt it would but has instead left me with some unanswered questions and the feeling of what is ahead of me will be a challenge. Would I want it any different, no way ! This is why we run to challenge ourselves and be that by distance or time the end result is always worth the effort we put in. I shall of course draw down on this post at the 70k mark of the Australia Day ultra and hopefully it’ll bring a smile to my face as I power on to the finish…..
An article below from Ian Corless form the Run Ultra website describes the Long Run……
Every weekend, runners all over the world lace up their shoes and head out for a long run. But what is a long run and how long should the long run be?
Running long depends on what type of ultra you are training for, what your objectives are, what the date of the event is and so on. If you don’t have answers to these three questions, stop, find the answers and then start planning. Read an article about planning and running a race here.
If you are used to running 5km and 10km events, a long run for you may well be 75-90 minutes. If you are a marathon runner, your long run will typically be 21/22 miles or 3 to 3.5-hours. If you are running an ultra, mmmmm, this is where it gets tricky.
First of all, let’s look at why we run long. This is something discussed in a previous article on ‘Base Training,’ it would be a good idea to read that here. In summary, we put an emphasis on three key points: Efficiency to use fat as a fuel, muscular and physical adaptation and mental strength.
If you never run for more than one hour in training, then three hours on your feet just feels like a really long time so you need to adapt mentally for the challenge ahead and you need to be strong to get the job done.
You have had sore legs from running, yes? We have all been there, it comes from running fast and hard and building up lactic acid or it comes from running long. Muscle soreness will come for everyone, however, we can train to reduce the impact or delay the process. Progressively running longer with recovery periods allows our muscles to adapt to the stress and become stronger. The term DOMS refers to the ‘Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness’. You may well feel muscle pain during a training event or race but it’s usually in the 24/48/72-hour period after that the soreness really kicks in. By running long in training we adapt to delay or reduce the DOMS.
You need fuel to do anything, even a shopping trip. Our bodies can only store so much carbohydrate and once those stores are used up we have only two options left: top them up or slow down and maybe even stop if they have got very low. As an endurance athlete we need to tap into our almost unlimited fat stores. We do this by teaching our body to use fat as a fuel in the long run. The more efficient you become at this, the longer you can run and the longer you can maintain a pace. Ultimately it means the whole race/training experience will be better and more enjoyable. Check out our diet advice for training here.
The Long Run
Let’s be clear here, running longer requires running slower, especially if we are going to switch fat burning on, mentally make you strong and allow you to last the distance. Running hard has its place for sure but be specific and think of your objectives and what you are trying to achieve.
Think of long runs in terms of time and not distance. Distance adds some confusion and also as runners we get stressed and worried by mileage. Time on feet does very much depend on the terrain we are running on, for example in three hours on the road you may well cover 20-miles, but on the trails or in the mountains you may only cover 12-miles.
This brings in another very important and key point, make long runs specific and in line with your objectives. No point doing three hours on the road if you are doing a 50 mile mountain race with 4000m of vertical gain.
Slow down! Many runners run the long run too hard which impacts on the following days’ training and it also impacts on the long run session. Maybe use a heart rate monitor or GPS to keep on top of this and don’t worry about walking. Walking is a key element in completing ultra distance events. You can read an article on this here.
The big question, how long should the long run be?
Short distance runners often run over distance in training. Think about it, a 10km runner may run a long slow half marathon to build endurance. A half marathon runner may run a long and slow steady 16 miles in preparation for a fast race.
This all falls apart when we go to the marathon and beyond. How often have you heard in marathon training that the long run should be 21/22 miles or 3 hours and 30 minutes in preparation for a race.
Long runs and adapting for an endurance run such as an ultra comes from not one run but a combination of all runs. It’s about your accumulative run history. They all add up to make you an endurance machine.
First and foremost, consistency is key and long runs should be progressive and based on ability and experience. A long run should test you but not break you.
What do I mean by progressive?
Let’s use a 12-week scenario based on a runner who can currently run two hours in a long run. I am not looking at base training here, but the specifics of a long run and how to make the long run longer. I’m a big fan of building over three weeks and recovering for one week, I call this 3/1.
Example:
Month 1
Week 1 – Sunday 2:30 hours
Week 2 – Sunday 2:45 hours
Week 3 – Sunday 3:00 hours
Week 4 – 2 hoursMonth 2
Week 1 – Sunday 2:45 hours
Week 2 – Wednesday 90min / Sunday 3:00 hours
Week 3 – Wednesday 90min/ Sunday 3:20 hours
Week 4 – Sunday 2:30 hoursMonth 3
Week 1 – Wednesday 90min/ Sunday 3:00 hours
Week 2 – Wednesday 1:45 hours/ Sunday 3:30 hours
Week 3 – Wednesday 2:00 hours/ Sunday 4:00 hours
Week 4 – Wednesday 60min/ Sunday 3:00 hoursThe above scenario provides a structured example on how to build up from running two hours comfortably to four hours. But remember the above scenario is 12 weeks of running with over 37 hours of running, just in the long runs! That is huge and a great place to start for any endurance challenge.
But my race is 50 miles, can I run the distance?
As mentioned above, it’s not wise or sensible to run too long in anyone session. But the 12-week plan above on a 3/1 scenario shows you how it’s possible to build time and confidence. As you gain more experience you can look at doing back-to-back sessions and plan long training weekends all as part of a long term plan. Ultimately though, running too long in terms of distance or time is something that should be very carefully planned. You will always here about runners who can do 200 mile weeks or 50-mile training runs; they are exceptions and not the norm. Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security and don’t feel inadequate, we are all individuals and this is maybe the most important aspect. Running long is a voyage of discovery. Check out our 50km training plan to start you towards your 50 miler here.
Training should be about preparing you to tackle the challenge, but it will never FULLY prepare you. There’s always going to be a bit of extra and a bit of unknown on the day of the event, but surely that’s why you’ve entered?
http://www.runultra.co.uk/Training/January-2016/THE-LONG-RUN#sthash.JjUUh2iz.dpuf
As I hobbled into my morning run, and it was a hobble, I realised I was certainly walking a tight rope where the benefit of the morning run was more for my sanity than my running fitness well being. I could have just as easily hit the snooze button on my alarm , rolled over and went back to sleep. Of course I would have missed running my favourite 10k for the 199th time ( thanks Strava.) and a biblical sunrise over Star Swamp but as for doing me good I would probably argue the snooze option was the better one.
There has been numerous studies showing after a marathon doing nothing for a week is probably as good as recovery runs. The snooze option is also safer as you avoid the risk of injury as you roll over and get some more sleep, which is another benefit as more sleep helps your body recover. Typing this I wonder what the hell I was doing running this morning ! The answer is of course because we are runners we like to run, even when we know the right thing to do is rest and recover. We kid ourselves these slow runs are doing us some good even when the legs are screaming in protest. It’s the same when we have to taper and of course hits us worst when we are injured.
I have been working hard on adding distance since June this year and even pre 6inch gave away the normal easy week pre-race and ran eight times for 82k before the race on Sunday. I justified this as the ADU (Australia Day Ultra http://australiadayultra.com/ ) is my goal race at the moment and the 6 inch was to be a long run with friends. Of course when the gun went off it was on for young and old and I ended up running a 4min PB and racing the event. (As if that was never gong to happen!) On the bright side it did get me another good week of distance (130k) and some serious ‘pain box’ time , which is all good. Downside, my legs are complaining more than Hilary Clintons supporters after the American election at the moment with a huge case of DOMS.
Anyhow after searching the internet I actually found an article that advocates DOMS as a good thing rather than just a side effect of a good beating a few days previous. Google was very generous on this subject and offered another good article from ultrarunning.com ( https://www.ultrarunning.com/ ) which also was worth a read, so go get yourself a cuppa and a chocolate digestive, settle down and digest these articles.
An article from Runners World on Why Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness is a Good Thing. By MacKenzie Loddy.
Whether it’s caused by mile repeats at 7,000 feet, a brutal long run before the upcoming Houston Marathon, or digging out from under 16 feet of snow in Mammoth, delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) has yet to evade anyone who engages in physical activity. The discomfort associated with DOMS usually materializes 24 hours post-exercise and lasts anywhere between two and four days. When your legs hurt immediately after a marathon, it’s not DOMS. However, when you roll out of bed the next morning and find yourself unable to descend the front steps to retrieve the morning paper, you’re experiencing DOMS.As a result of the fact that nearly every athlete has experienced this type of soreness, much research has been devoted to the prevention and treatment of this side effect. Massage, microtherapy, icing, hyperbaric oxygen treatment, fish oil and i.Tonic whole body vibration are just a few methods that have been tried with varying degrees of success.
While the silver bullet to avoiding DOMS has yet to be identified, several methods have been shown to be more effective in lessening soreness and encouraging optimal recovery. Probably to the surprise of no one, it all relies on smart training.
Where does DOMS originate?
According to Dr. David J. Szymanski, assistant professor and the director of the Applied Physiology Laboratory at Louisiana Tech University, there is currently a lot of misinformation floating around about DOMS — namely, the assertion that the accumulation of lactic acid causes it. While DOMS results from new, higher intensity workouts and an increase in lactate comes along with such activity, the soreness felt the next morning is not related. “That lactate concentration will go back down to resting levels within 20–40 minutes after exercise,” says Dr. Szymanski, who has studied the subject extensively. “Because of that, the pain that somebody associates with delayed onset muscle soreness 24–72 hours later cannot be because of that lactate that was built up while they were running.”
He contends that lactate does cause soreness during or immediately after exercise, and can end up decreasing performance if the athlete can’t clear it. However, the deferred discomfort has nothing to do with that process. Higher intensity workouts that you are not accustomed to, like hill repeats or intervals on the track, are often the culprits of DOMS. The eccentric component of exercise, in particular, can damage the integrity of the muscle cell membrane. This micro trauma creates tiny micro tears in the muscle fibers, which leads to inflammation, and thus soreness, fatigue, stiffness and reduced range of motion
Treating and preventing DOMS
Although the cool-down has long been touted as the main tool in a runner’s arsenal to combat muscle soreness by flushing out lactic acid (which is still important), research suggests that the warm-up is more important to reducing DOMS. One of the world’s leading researchers on the subject, Dr. Priscilla Clarkson of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has demonstrated how important it is to get out and warm up before competition. By increasing the muscle temperature by 1 degree Celsius before eccentric training, the amount of muscle soreness experienced by athletes is noticeably reduced.
“If you already have the muscle warmed up and prepared, it is better able to handle the activity,” explains Dr. Szymanski. “Before a race, you need to lubricate the joints, ligaments and tendons so your body is better prepared for what’s coming next.”
He also identifies the “repeated bout effect” as a method by which DOMS symptoms can be ameliorated. While the term may be foreign, the concept is far from rocket science. For instance, the Boston Marathon is known to be brutal on the quads as a result of its many downhills. To prepare for this, a runner should train on downhills the few months leading up to the race. “The more times you repeat the activity, the less pain you’ll feel because your body will continually adapt to it,” explains Dr. Szymanski. “Keep doing this multiple times and your body will say, ‘No big deal. What else you got for me?’” Physiologically speaking, the body recovers and rebuilds, and with each passing week, is less fazed by the hills.
While this is a good way to avoid continued DOMS from the same types of workouts, it doesn’t mean you should simply train your body to withstand one form of training. It’s about building on your workouts week after week and training your body to withstand more. Dr. Szymanski explains: “We have what are called chronic adaptations. Once you do a specific amount of training for a certain length of time, your body will be able to handle it. That’s why training plans help you gradually progress.”
Perhaps the best news is the fact that delayed onset muscle soreness isn’t all bad. “Although DOMS is associated with something negative, it’s actually a physiologically positive reaction,” says Dr. Szymanski. “Once your body is exposed to whatever made you sore, the next time your body will say, ‘I got it, I’ll protect you.’ It’s actually a beautiful thing.”
An article from Ultrarunning.com by Roy Stevenson, MS, Exercise Physiologist
Muscle soreness and inflammation are some of the biggest nuisances for distance runners and unfortunately, many of the dubious treatments of these symptoms are based on all sorts of witchery and myth. Some of the treatments even exacerbate the soreness and prolong recovery. Runners can be a superstitious lot, and many continue to swear by certain ineffective treatments.
Since 1902, over 2,000 research studies have been conducted on various aspects of muscle damage, muscle soreness, inflammation and potential recovery treatments for these afflictions. You’d think that with this impressive pile of studies we’d be closer to figuring out some sort of effective therapy for the symptoms, or better yet, some sort of preventative measures that would minimize or eliminate them. Well, take heart, sore runners, because we are getting closer to answering these important questions. First, let’s look at what causes delayed onset muscle soreness (known as DOMS), what the symptoms of muscle soreness and inflammation are, and the recommended treatments for reducing the pain from this affliction. I’ll finish with some recommendations on how to prevent or minimize your chances of being reduced to hobbling around like a stiff-legged duck, based on some promising recent research.
Causes of DOMS
It is very common for out-of-condition or beginning runners to experience DOMS. Its severity depends on how much and how intensely we exercise, and whether we have performed that exercise before. But it’s not just beginning runners who are susceptible to DOMS – even well-conditioned runners who’ve been training consistently for several years can experience DOMS after a race or vigorous training session, especially a lengthy downhill-running workout.
What specifically triggers muscle soreness are the high force eccentric contractions we experience when we take up unaccustomed exercise, run harder than usual, or downhill. Our leg muscles lengthen under high load or impact, while trying to contract or shorten – a lethal combination! Recent research shows that some people are high responders to eccentric exercise, meaning that their muscle damage and inflammatory markers remain excessively high for several days after running.
The effects of DOMS on muscle tissue look formidable when seen through an electron microscope. Traumatized muscle is a war zone! Your leg muscles are under siege after repeated eccentric contractions and the descriptions of the damage sound horrifying. Here are some of the main protagonists: disruption to the muscle sarcomere; breaching of cell membranes; swollen muscle fibers; wear and tear on connective tissues (ligaments and tendons); calcium spillage from muscle tubules; cell inflammation and increased production of superoxide free radicals;
We’ve all experienced the nasty symptoms of DOMS: dull, aching pain, soreness, tenderness, stiffness of muscles and joints, swelling, loss of strength, and reduced range of motion. Typically, symptoms appear 24 – 48 hours after we run, and peak between 24 and 72 hours. After five to seven days, DOMS has usually abated.
Over the years many treatments and interventions for muscle damage repair have been proposed and tried. Some “work” and some don’t, and you’ll be surprised at what the research shows.
What Doesn’t Reduce DOMS Symptoms
Stretching Surprisingly, the majority of studies that looked at the effects of stretching on DOMS have found that stretching before or after exercise does not alleviate DOMS, or that its effect is so small that it is not worth the time. My recommendation here would be that if you try stretching, make the stretches mild, and hold them for only a few seconds. If they aggravate your soreness, discontinue them.
Massage therapy Research suggests that massage is either ineffective or has only limited influence on DOMS, muscle repair and swelling. Its effects are minor or transitory.
Ultrasound Using ultrasound in physical therapy was found ineffective in reducing DOMS (Tiidus et al 1999).
Heat Above all, resist the temptation to apply heat in any form immediately after an ultramarathon or intense training session. Heat vasodilates (widens) the capillaries and arterioles, hastening the release of inflammatory substances into the muscle, thereby increasing swelling and inflammation. Sitting in a hot tub after a long run, no matter how tempting, exacerbates muscle damage.
What Might Reduce DOMS Symptoms
Much research into the hot topics of antioxidants and natural supplements is underway. Some substances being looked at are alpha-Tocopherol (vitamin E), Beta-Carotene, Ubiquinone, flavanoids, bromelain, Genistein, alpha-Lipoleic acid, Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Glutathione, and Cysteine. In addition, there are enough kitchen ingredients thought to decrease inflammation to make a good curry: sage, black cumin, cinnamon, capsaicin, quercetin, turmeric, and ginger.
Most of these substances have no effect on DOMS, but a glimmer of hope shines through for vitamin C, D and E. Before you rush off to buy these supplements, consider the modest findings first. Although vitamin E has shown a reduction in cell leakage, thus far it shows no alleviation of DOMS symptoms. A Vitamin D supplement of 2,000 IU, twice daily, has been shown to alleviate muscle soreness, but only if Vitamin D levels are lower than 75 nmol/L. The Vitamin D Council has some interesting anecdotal evidence of its effectiveness, although this source is hardly likely to be objective.
Several promising research papers support the practice of ingesting a solution of mixed carbohydrate and protein immediately after our training and racing efforts to rebuild our muscle tissue.
What about homeopathic remedies? A natural anti-inflammatory preparation comprised of plant and mineral substances including St. John’s Wort, echinacea, belladonna, arnica, and chamomile, under the brand name Traumeel ©, was found in one study by Peter et al (2009) to reduce certain anti-inflammatory markers after running downhill on a treadmill for 90 minutes on a -6% gradient, but no mention in this study was made of perceived pain relief.
What Does Reduce DOMS Symptoms
Warm-up One study found that a ten-minute warm-up reduced DOMS a small amount 48 hours post-exercise, while a cool-down performed after strenuous eccentric exercise, surprisingly had no effect at all.
NSAIDs and other drug therapies Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have the benefit of relieving DOMS pain by blocking the production of prostaglandins, a compound that activates the inflammatory response in damaged muscle. However, bear in mind that several studies show that by doing this, NSAIDs actually delay the recovery process by impairing protein synthesis and muscle cell regeneration.
Currently, we think it is necessary for inflammatory cells to invade the injured muscle to control the tissue damage, so the muscle tissue can then be repaired. This needs to take place for the muscle to bounce back stronger and be more resistant to future encounters with DOMS.
However, if you are in extreme pain and hobbling around like the walking wounded, NSAIDs may be just what the doctor ordered. Thus, short-term use of NSAIDs or painkillers when the pain and soreness is unbearable may well be recommended, but the prudent runner will discuss this therapy with a sports medicine physician before popping NSAID pills like candy, especially in light of what I’m about to say about their side effects.
There is strong evidence that long-term use of NSAIDs can cause gastro-intestinal bleeding, stomach upset, ulcers, kidney problems, impaired blood clotting, and possible death with long term (greater than 90 days) use of NSAIDs. So if you must use them, take them with meals and monitor yourself for sharp stomach pain and distress that could indicate ulceration. And never, ever take NSAIDs before competition or training! They can mask pain signals and reduce blood flow to the kidneys, which is definitely not what you need during a race.
RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation)
Rest, then light mobilization Temporary rest during the most acute phase of inflammation is indicated if the athlete is in severe pain. However, this is not an invitation for complete bed rest until the soreness has dissipated. Mobilization, or light exercise using the affected area, has been shown to reduce soreness to some extent. Some physical therapists recommend that when the pain has subsided to a manageable level, light exercise – such as walking on a soft surface (sawdust, dirt trails, or grass) will help disperse residual waste products. Then you can progress to several days of slow, easy running on soft surfaces. Use your own subjective pain and soreness to help decide when to resume normal training intensity and duration, somewhere around two to four weeks.
Ice. Cryotherapy (application of ice) has been found effective in pain reduction and limiting inflammation, presumably by limiting swelling through vasoconstriction of the capillaries and arterioles in the affected area. Ice also temporarily deadens the nerve endings, bringing temporary pain relief. Ice is most effective when the ice pack or “cold cup” is gently rubbed back and forth over the affected area for no longer than ten minutes; cold-water baths or showers can also be helpful.
Compression One study found that compression bandaging of the legs was more effective than massage. Moderate pressure bandaging of the calf and quadriceps muscle groups, with frequent bandage release to encourage blood to circulate, may help prevent swelling and pain.
How to Prevent DOMS in Distance Running Training Apart from using the modalities recommended above as preventative methods (warm-up, ice, compression, some antioxidants, and post-training carbohydrate/protein mixtures), stimulating DOMS to a minor degree in training will prepare the runner better for DOMS muscle trauma.
The Repeated Bout Effect This effect occurs when a bout of unaccustomed exercise (such as running downhill) gives a protective effect in subsequent running sessions of the same nature. This explains why, after recovering from muscle damage and soreness from a race or hard session, you recover faster, and experience less soreness and pain in subsequent workouts.
What can we learn from this to implement in our training programs? Start slowly and gradually allow your muscles time to adapt.
When beginning running, or coming back from a layoff, avoid strenuous eccentric muscle movements such as downhill running, until your muscles are ready for it.
After a month or two of steady running, while slowly increasing your distance and pace, include an occasional faster, more intense effort. Then hit it hard again after allowing yourself time to recover and adapt. Every two to four weeks, do a strenuous high-intensity or downhill workout again.
Studies indicate that higher intensity eccentric workouts designated for the repeated-bout effect do not even need to be maximal in quantity or quality, and can progress in small increments over more than two weeks. The repeated bout effect lasts from two weeks to ten weeks, so runners should include hard, long or downhill running sessions at least once or twice every month to retain the effects of this training phenomenon. By gradually increasing the intensity and duration of higher intensity workouts, you should avoid that painful zombie walk that accompanies severe DOMS.
Incorporate resistance training into your program. Using a different mode of eccentric exercise (such as weight-training) confers the repeated-bout effect. Thus runners, especially beginners, benefit greatly from a basic resistance-training program that starts several weeks before beginning a running program. The resistance-training program should involve the major muscle groups used in running: quadriceps group, calf muscle complex, and hamstring group.
Recovery after repeated-bout workouts You will need to determine how easily you run after these intense workouts by how you feel. It is unwise to set a prescribed workout schedule and stick rigidly to it because your body may need extra time for the inflammation and repair process to take place. The days following repeated bout workouts, either take the day off, or run very slowly, for a short period of time.
Warm up Perform five – ten minutes of general aerobic activity, such as jogging or cycling.
Run on soft surfaces as much as possible. Harder surfaces impart a higher impact, causing more muscle damage than running on soft surfaces.
Consider some form of cross-training at least once a week to give your leg muscles a break from impact. Cycling, swimming, deep-water running, elliptical trainer, Stairmaster or similar modes are ideal.
Roy Stevenson has a master’s degree in exercise physiology and coaching from Ohio University. He teaches exercise science at Seattle University in Washington State and has coached hundreds of serious and recreational runners and triathletes in the Seattle area. As a freelance writer, Roy has over 200 articles on running, triathlons, sports, fitness and health published in over fifty regional, national and international magazines in the U.S.A, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
Today I ran the 6 inch ultra marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) for the 8th time in perfect conditions , or about as perfect as you can get for Perth in December. Rather than drive down from Perth on the morning of the race, which means a 1am alarm call as the race starts at 4:30am, we stayed locally so had a lie in until 2:50am, luxury. (I may have been woken a tad earlier thanks to Felix Meister as he was volunteering this year after setting a new course record of 62k last year, the course is officially measured at around 47.5k. I think it’s safer if Felix volunteers rather than runs. ) Dave Kennedy, the Race Director, organises a finely tuned race which includes a bus from the check in point to the start and three aid stations crammed with goodies before a final smorgasbord of sandwiches and drink at the finish. (including alcohol, naughty Dave.) Even an esky to cool down with, but that’s a different story for another time.
The 6 inch is more about the comradery of running than a race itself. Truth be told it seems all ultra-marathons and trail runs are similar. There is a togetherness that you will not find in marathons because I feel a marathon is more about personal time and goals where-as an ultra, or trail run, is about a community together trying to achieve the same goal, which is usually to finish. Time, although not totally irrelevant, is something just to measure how long you took on the course and not as a mark of achievement. The achievement was finishing and this is shared by all. At the end of an ultra all you hear is tales of the journey and not the time taken to complete the journey. Of course the front of the field pays some attention to position and time but on the whole it is all about the journey from the start to finish and the experiences embraced along the way.
Even now tying this post my mind is wandering back to some of the scenes on the trail yesterday. Running with good friends discussing all sorts of topics while moving forward towards an end goal, combined with some wonderful scenery and you start to see why some many runners move away from the sterile concrete world. It reminds me of the opening scene of the Wizard of Oz with Dorothy in Texas filmed in black and white before being taken, by a tornado, to the Land of Oz where the world is all of a sudden in Technicolor Colour. Maybe that was a tad over the top but yesterday I feel this analogy was justified. The morning sunrise through the trees really was that inspiring. Maybe I better look into buying some more trail shoes on sale this Christmas, the old Brooks ‘Pure Grit’, after 4 successful 6 inch runs are looking a tad worse for wear. Soon time to join my other 60 pairs of trainers in the garage in semi-retirement. That again is another story.
So back to the race. The start of the 6 inch is a 2k hill with some serious steep sections. You’ll be lucky to make 6min/k average for the first 2k, and that will put you at the front of the 330 runner field. You seriously question whether you can make the full 47k distance after this 2k introduction. It does get easier, briefly. Overall the race is testing, and that’s putting it mildly. Being a trail race there are some serious rises together with some encouraging descents. The race itself takes about an hour longer that a ‘normal’ marathon distance, albeit the race is only 5k’s longer. This shows how challenging the terrain is and what it can do to the unprepared runner. I was lucky enough to finish high up the field this year, a 7th place finish with a 4min course PB of 3hrs44mins. Other runners weren’t so ‘lucky’ with an 8 hour cutoff they cut if very fine. Running can be a cruel sport with the quickest (and thus normally fittest) runners finishing first , the less ‘fit‘ runners (this is in italics because there could be a number of reasons for taking a little longer to finish) are forced to spend more time running in conditions which can be really testing. Today I stayed at the finish line to cheer in the slower runners who had been ‘out on the course’ for anything between 4 hours to 8 hours. There is an 8 hours cutoff for the 6 inch but I think all the runners who were past the last aid point finished within this cut off, though I’m talking a few minutes for the last runners. Serious kudos to these guys.
I attached the Strava race report to highlight the start I described earlier in previous paragraph. Goldmine Hill is highlighted within the first 3k, thanks for that Dave. The escalator or elevator as it is called is at 37k and that, although very short, is a monster of a hill which is just about unrunable in both directions. (photo attached below) Admittedly it looks very minimal on the chart above but trust me it can break you if you are unprepared as you still have 10k to go if the legs give way and the last 10k, although not overally testing elevation wise, is slightly uphill for the most the way, and as it’s the last 10k it soon becomes a big deal ! On the 6 inch ultra it really is the person who slows down the least who wins or at least , in the last 10k, cuts through the field like a hot knife through butter. ( On a side note Jon fell into one of the ruts on this hill last year and never made it out until June, he never speaks of what went on in the dark recesses of that rutted hill but as you will note later in this post he now drinks with both hands. )
Todays race was, as I already mentioned, ran in perfect conditions but it was more than the conditions which were memorable. The trails today shone in the natural first light as the sun rose for another summers morning. Running into the sunrise, at times, lit up the trail infront of you and it was a pleasure to be out there running with friends. The bib on your chest was a secondary afterthought at times as you turned another corner and marvelled at the wonders that presented themselves to you.
Highlights of the day was most of the BK running posse running the event and all having a great run. Jon managed a sub 4 hour run for the second year on the trot and instantly started drinking in preparation for the Australia Day Ultra in a months time. I tried to convince him I had read on the internet that beer has been proved not to be any good for carboloading but he ignored me and just said he’d start drinking twice as much just to be on the safe side. I’m not sure his logic is sound myself, we’ll find out in a month I suppose.
Another highlight was ‘Barts’ get his ‘red spike’ for completing six 6 inch ultramarathons, in the picture below shown with the Race Director Dave Kennedy, a three times winner of the event. That’s over 24 hours and nearly 300km’s of trail running for one red spike, that people is a good deal. There is some contention about this award and Barts has an asterix next to this name in the all time excel finishers sheet but that is something only Jon knows about.
Finally no 6 inch finish is complete without the head in the esky shot. Unfortunately this year I left my head in the esky too long and ended up burning my forehead. Lesson learnt for next year, maybe , and there will be a next year I promise you that as I’m missing my trail fix already, somebody get me to a tree quickly I need a hug.
Unfortunately it got worse not better as we got lost and ended up running 50k instead of the course 46k so myself and Brett finished middle of the pack. This was due to a ‘random’ Tiger snake at a left turn that is now named ‘Big Kev’s Corner’ and normal has a picture of yours truely, Dave taunting me. I told you Dave is evil. To this day I swear he placed that Tiger snake there on purpose. I just can’t work out where he carried it for the first 17k of the race ? I digress, as always, so I will continue. There was no medal at the end just a stagger back to the car and a slow drive back to Perth. The race went so badly I actually tried to cancel my flight to South Africa the following year to run my third Comrades, ( http://www.comrades.com ) I was that beaten. Luckily South African airways wouldn’t refund me the coast of the flight so I ended up going to Comrades and having a great run for a Silver medal. (finishing quicker than 7hrs 30 minutes gets you a Silver, I sneaked in for a 7hr 22minute finishing time.)
I have returned to the 6 inch every year since 2009 and even went on a few recon visits in between races in the early years. I still get lost and wear two gamins, one for pace and the other for directions, but even these don’t help and I still make the odd detour now and then. Will I get lost on Sunday ? I’m not confident either way really, that’s what makes trail running so challenging, you never know if you’ll even find the finish not matter get a good placing !
To further compound my theory about Dave Kennedy not being a nice man a few years ago, under the pretence of some work being done on the original part of the course, Dave found a hill that in my view could double as a wall! This bad boy is unclimbable on the way up and suicidal on the way down. Oh did I forget to mention Dave makes us run up and down this hill (wall), not content with one way, he likes to double the chances of a fatal injury. As I already mentioned in a previous post it was on this hill (wall) that Jon fell in one of the ruts and it was so deep it took him a few attempts to get out, while another friend of mine Michael Barton jumped over poor Jon stuck in the rut and continued on his merry way, probably laughing all the way to the top of the hill (wall).
The final peace de resistance in Dave’s catalog of pain is the final two kilometres of the race, a single track in dense forest that I swear never ends. It’s like a stuck record playing the same song over and over, you know you’re moving forward but you never seem to get to the end of the trail and the waiting finish line. You can even hear the cars so you know the road is close but still you seem to keep running, and running. I tell you that Dave Kennedy is an evil man.
My times at the 6 inch ultra have never really been that quick bar a 2nd place finish one year when the first 5 all got disqualified for taking a wrong turn and coming down the finishing road instead of crossing it. Truth be told the first three runners (which included a two times winner!) could have back tracked to the point they got lost and still come across the line ahead of the rest of the field, they were probably 20-30 minutes ahead of the next group which included me. Funnily enough this was the one and only year Dave Kennedy, the Race Director, put up money. I managed to grab 2nd and my friend, and navigator Brett , got third. We both offered our prices to the guys who should had won the money but they both declined saying ‘rules are rules’. I think the chaos of the decision to DQ the top 5 put paid to any monetary prize money from then on, and the race is better for it. (though it was a nice surprise at the time to go from 7th to 2nd.) So the logic behind my plan not to taper for the 6 inch would be the 100k Australia Day Ultra takes precedence and thus I need to put in a big 3 weeks including this one to properly prepare for it.
I would of course still set a race goal finish time and this would be another sub 4 hour finish to go with the five I already have. Both times I have failed to run sub 4 hours have been down to geographical challenges. i.e. I got lost. The first time was due to a rather large snake placed just at a very important and unmarked left turn. (I suspect the Race Director, who was also running, placed said snake myself but this has never been substantiated.) Myself and Brett were too busy jumping over the snake, a Tiger snake we think, to notice the left turn and this cost us a four kilometre detour. This was the first time I ran the 6 inch so could probably be excused this small detour. The next time I got last was the 7th time I’d ran the race and this was near the end when I was closing in on a good sub 4 finish and a top 10 placing. To make it worse I convinced another runner he was going the wrong way and to follow me, as it turns out on a 3-4k detour. Sorry Phil.
Running for a sub 4 also allows me to spend a large amount of the race with my Sunday morning crew who will also be targeting times around the four hour mark. Although this is a race, and if you drop off the pace you will be left for dead, it is one of the most sociable occasions which much banter and there’s always a talking point or three somewhere along the course.
The 6 inch has grown from a fat-ass (a free entry, self supported race) twelve years ago to a 350 sell out it is today. Dave has also added a half marathon (the 3 inch, it had to be really.) which also sells out quickly and I’m assuming the same amount of numbers. As it is so close to Christmas it has turned into the ‘last race of the year‘ type run with a great social gathering at the end where everybody can reflect on the race and start to unwind towards Christmas. I think, truth be told, I enjoy the end of this race , and the banter about the day, more than the race itself; actually no, it’s a close call though which is a nice position to be in.
Another great part of the 6 inch is the tradition of a railway nail (spike) rather than a medal as a finishers reward. For the first few years we all got black ‘spikes’ before the race got too popular and Dace couldn’t find enough old railway spikes without first derailing some trains ! Now you get a red spike for 6 finishes and we’re not sure what you get for twelve but will find out this year as Nate will have ran all twelve of the 6 inch races.
I seemed to have digressed for a change and will try and get back the point of the post. I think for this rendition of the 6 inch I need to finish sub 4 but also it’s as important to get another big week in for the Australia Day Ultra. Thus rather than a pre-race week of only 2 * 10k easy runs (which I my normal pre-marathon race routine) I’m going to try and find 100k from somewhere pre-race Sunday; without starting the race too fatigued. This in itself will be a challenge but as I always say if it was easy everybody would be doing it.
I admit it was a tad warm but by slowing my pace to a 5min/k average I was able to conserve enough energy to keep my core temperature down and actually enjoy the run. I concentrated more on my heart rate than pace and let my heart beats dictate how fast I ran. This was a success as I moved through the kilometres actually enjoying being ‘out there’. The run itself turned into a progressive, albeit a slow one, as I eased into the run and I was in two minds whether to turn a 10k into a 12k as I was enjoying myself so much. Take that Steve, you missed a great run.
With the 6 inch ultra marathon ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) in a weeks time there is the chance we could be starting at 4am and the temperature could be in the twenties and rising. I’ve ran the 6 inch seven times and we had a couple of scorchers in that time. Certainly adds to the enjoyment factor (?) when you’re facing a 46k trail ultra with some serious elevation and the temperature starts at twenty and rises quickly. To this end these lunch times runs are a necessity to get your body use to running in the heat. Matt Fitzgerald eludes to this in his article on heat training below so it must be true, in Matt we trust. ( http://mattfitzgerald.org )
It’s summertime and the weather is heating up. Soon you will be forced to take measures to avoid training in excessive heat, such as moving workouts from the middle of the day to the early morning or evening and transferring outdoor workouts indoors.
Not only is training in excessive heat uncomfortable, after all, but it also slows you down and thus doles out a smaller fitness benefit.
Or does it? Actually, new research suggests that training in the heat may be more beneficial for fitness than doing equivalent training in cooler weather. So instead of doing everything you can to avoid exercising in the heat this summer, you may want to use it (carefully) to your advantage.
The idea that suffering through a one-hour run or a two-hour bike ride on a 100-degree day could be more beneficial than doing the same workout in greater comfort and faster in 55 degrees may seem crazy. But there are other methods, including altitude training, that are known to enhance the effectiveness of exercise by making it more difficult. Heat training has the potential to boost fitness in a parallel way; however, like altitude training, heat training is not something you’d want to do all the time.
The proof of heat training’s effectiveness comes mainly from research conducted by Santiago Lorenzo at the University of Oregon. In 2010 Lorenzo recruited 20 highly trained cyclists and had them complete a performance test in temperate conditions on two occasions separated by 10 days. Between the tests, all 20 cyclists completed a prescribed training program, but 12 of them did it in a controlled, hot environment (100 degrees) while the other eight performed their workouts in temperate conditions (55 degrees) matching those of the performance tests.
The 12 cyclists who underwent heat acclimatization improved their performance in the cool performance test by 6 percent. In addition, their VO2max and their power output at lactate threshold increased by 5 percent. There were no improvements among those who trained in a cool environment.
The authors of the study attributed the performance-boosting effects of heat training on endurance performance in cool conditions to improved efficiency in heat dissipation and increased blood volume. They also found evidence that it caused some changes in muscle cell enzymes, which may have contributed to the effect as well. Lorenzo and his colleagues are planning future studies to pinpoint the specific mechanisms underlying the performance benefits and to determine whether heat acclimatization enhances performance in a real-world temperate time trial.
In the meantime, you might wonder what the practical implications of these findings are for you. In this regard, it is important to note that it didn’t take much heat training—just 10 days—to increase performance capacity in cool conditions. Therefore the results of this study do not suggest that endurance athletes should train in the heat all the time. In fact, that would be a bad idea, because no matter how heat-acclimatized you are, you can’t go as fast in a hot environment as you can in a cool environment, and there’s something to be said for going faster.
It is for this very reason that few elite endurance athletes train at high altitude all the time. Instead, they spend most of their time at sea level, where they can go faster, and then go to the mountains for brief “altitude camps” before racing
So, one thing that this study might inspire you to do is to conduct your own “heat camp” before racing in temperate conditions. For example, instead of going out of your way to avoid hot weather, go ahead and expose yourself to it for the last 10 days of training prior to racing in a cooler place or at a cooler time of day (usually early morning).
Another viable option is to periodically expose yourself to hot weather in training over a longer period of time. While Santiago Lorenzo’s study involved 10 consecutive days of training in high temperatures, it is likely that you could get a similar boost from doing one or two hot workouts per week for eight to 12 weeks. This approach might enable you to exploit the benefits of heat training not only when you race but within the training process itself.
If you decide to try either of these experiments, do it cautiously. For starters, don’t exercise in temperatures above 90 degrees unless you are already in good shape. Aerobic fitness enhances heat-training capacity just as heat training enhances aerobic fitness. No matter how fit you are, it’s very important that you give yourself a chance to gently acclimatize to training in hot weather before you attempt any kind of challenging workout in the heat. You can do this both by doing shorter, slower workouts in very high temperatures (90 to 100 degrees) and by doing normal workouts in progressively warmer temperatures (75, then 80, then 85, etc). Avoid training in temperatures much higher than 100 degrees.
Obviously, you’ll want to be sure to have plenty of fluid available throughout your hot workouts. Since heat increases both the sweat rate and thirst, plan to carry or have access to a significantly greater volume of fluid than you would need for a workout of equivalent length in cooler weather.
Be aware, however, that staying hydrated has a very limited capacity to keep the core body temperature from increasing. A much more effective way to stay cool is to slow down. Listen to your body when training in the heat and go as slowly as necessary to remain relatively comfortable. Exertional heat illness is relatively rare because the nervous system ensures that we feel lousy before we’re in real danger; don’t try to override this self-protective mechanism.
Finally, when preparing to train in very hot weather it’s a good idea to plan routes that allow you to get indoors quickly if necessary. For example, you might do an eight-mile run comprising eight one-mile loops around your neighborhood. It’s a little dull, maybe, but it’s better to be bored and safe than entertained and at risk.
Another reason for the lunch time run was to get use to a slower pace so I can prepare myself for the 100k in January when I attempt my first Australia Day Ultra. ( http://australiadayultra.com ) I’m actually starting to enjoy my 4:45min/k to 5min/k slower training runs as this pace would be ideal if I could maintain it for 8 hours or so. Sounds so easy typing that but pulling it off will be a huge challenge. The only saving grace is Ron , the race director, has started the 100k race at midnight this year so we should only be faced with 3-4 hours of sunshine to deal with. Of course this presents its own issues as I’ll be surprised if I get any real sleep before the start, thus sleep depravation will also play a part combined with distance and heat. Got to love this ultra scene. At least the course itself is dead flat albeit with around 20 speed bumps which may be challenging in the dark. Thanks Ron.?
Funnily enough I have a funny story about my 50k race last year at the ADU. I decided that I wouldn’t need a head torch as we were starting at 3am and it would be light by 5am. I would just run with the leaders, who all had head torches of course, and then when first light came I would explode to the finish under glorious sunshine. My plan worked for the first 12k loop but at the start of the second I was in trouble and dropped quicker than an Ikea instructions booklet. The next group was probably 600m behind and I was in no mood to wait for them so I continued on with only three finger torches I had worn as a joke for the start. (Basically one small LED light you attach to your finger for no real purpose and definitely not for shining light to help you run ultra marathons!) Luckily it was awful moon and I stumbled on , alone in the dark, for the next 45minutes cursing my ‘great idea to save weight’, lesson learned. Also these speed bumps were then a serious issue for me as I really couldn’t see them. How I laughed each time I nearly tripped up as yet another speed bump appeared out of the dark.
So the hotter the better at the moment, don’t hide from the heat , get out there and play in it. If Matt says it’s good for you that’s good enough for me.
With the Australia Day Ultra looming on the horizon I need to start thinking about a racing strategy for the big day. ( http://australiadayultra.com ) I’ll work on the nutrition part of the plan over the next few weeks with help from Jon ‘an Ultra is more about eating that actually running’ Pendse. For now I need to lock in a pacing strategy as Jon always says ‘the person who slows down the most wins’, so this strategy is pivotal to the success of this little adventure. It seems in an ultra everybody slows down but its the front of the pack runners who slow down the least. Common sense really but you’d also need to take into account the initial pace from which you would slow down from. No point going out at a snails pace and then slowing and then coming home feeling you have more left in the tank. Like all things racing its a fine balancing act between finishing strong enough to still finish on empty, totally spent, knowing you gave your all, or finishing feeling as fresh as a daisy and wondering why your time was so disappointing.
Of course the one problem with my pacing strategy, once I get round to actually creating one, is the small fly in the ointment in the shape of a thing called the ‘competition‘. It will be very hard to let other runners go ahead early in the race and depending on their pacing strategy I’ll probably still go with them and try and hang on before the wheels fall off my wagon or theirs. This is race strategy plan B I suppose if plan A (my pacing strategy) fails because of the competition employing plan B. Man this ultra running is complicated. On the bright side I’ll have lots of time to mull over all my plans, assuming I can make up any more of course, as the 100k will take at least 7 hours and 59 minutes (according to plan A). This time may be faster or slower depending on ‘competition’ and plan B. Would my nutrition plan be plan C or do I start a whole new alphabet and run the two in parallel ? I can see why you have to eat so much during ultra marathons, keep yourself sharp while you work through all the possible scenarios, you can’t think straight on an empty stomach right ?
I found a great article from John Davises from Runners Connect on the subject of ultra pacing which I have digested (it was an ultra article, apparently you digest these!), worth a read while I eat my muffin and ice cream, I really am beginning to like being an ultra runner…..
Track fans had their eyes fixed on Sacramento in July for the USATF outdoor track championships, but that wasn’t the only championship event in the running world. That weekend also played host to the Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile ultramarathon that’s arguably one of the most storied ultra-endurance events in the world.The big story at this year’s Western States was a strong push through the first 60 miles of the race by Max King, a latecomer to ultramarathoning who boasts very impressive track and marathon credentials, including a national-caliber 3km steeplechase PR.Alas, Max King faded in the final third of the race, passed by eventual winner Rob Krar, who finished the hundred-mile trek in just under fifteen hours.For the better-known running distances like the 5k or the marathon, it’s pretty well-accepted that even pacing is the best strategy (here’s some research). But how about the ultramarathon?Does the ideal pacing strategy change when you push out your race distance far beyond the length of a marathon?
Identifying the ideal pacing strategy
A study published in 2004 by Mike Lambert and a team of other researchers at the University of Cape Town in South Africa looked to find some answers to these questions.In the study, Lambert et al. analyzed the 10km splits of 67 high-level ultramarathoners at the 1995 and 1997 IAU World Challenge, a 100 km ultramarathon.By sorting the runners into groups based on their finish time and applying statistical analysis to their intermediate splits, Lambert et al. were able to identify what type of pacing strategy led to a good race outcome.
Fast runners vs slow runners
Unlike many ultramarathons (including Western States), the course at the IAU World Challenge is a flat loop course, which makes comparing split times much easier.Unlike the pacing of elite runners in shorter events, everybody at the IAU World Challenge 100k slowed down over the course of the race—even the podium finishers.But critically, the most successful runners were the ones who slowed down the least.The fastest group of runners only ran their last 10k loop 15 percent slower than their first, and they were able to maintain their initial pace up to about 50 km into the race before slowing at all.The pacing of the slower runners dropped off by 40%, and they started to slow significantly earlier. Even the middle-of-the-pack ultramarathoners slowed by 25-30%.Further, the fastest runners also had less variability in their splits, meaning they didn’t have any big surges or drastic drop-offs in pace.Now, some of this might be incidental: a runner with stomach problems or one who tripped and fell would obviously have more split-to-split variability than one who didn’t.
Low split variation and gradual slowdown
And one of the study’s other findings—that the faster runners started out at a higher speed than the slower runners—is almost surely correlative, not causative.But the combination of low split variation and a more gradual slowdown in the best ultramarathoners makes a strong case for efficient pacing in the ultramarathon.
Why do runners slow down?
This still doesn’t provide a direct answer as to why even very successful ultramarathoners tend to slow down in the latter portions of the race.
Lambert et al. propose a number of different possible reasons.
- First among these is fueling: even with very high carbohydrate intake, there comes a point where your body’s ability to absorb carbohydrates limits how fast you can run, because faster paces necessitate higher carbohydrate utilization and you can only absorb carbs so fast.
- Interestingly, Lambert et al. point out that this threshold occurs around 40-50km in most people when running at a moderate pace, right around where the best runners in their study started to slow.
- Alternatively, muscle fatigue or simply pacing mistakes by the slower runners could account for much of the slowdown.
Whatever the cause, it’s not unique to ultramarathon running.
A 2008 review study by Chris Abbiss and Paul Laursen at Edith Cowan University in Australia cites research on Ironman triathlons and long-distance cycling races that shows a similar progressive slowing of pace in the later stages of the competition.Unlike in a 5k or even a marathon, a progressive (though gradual) slowing of pace after about 50km (31 miles) appears to be part of the ideal pacing strategy—at least according to the research published to date.
Conclusion
Scientific evidence isn’t always in-step with the latest training and racing strategies, but it does help explain the reasons behind the phenomena we observe on race day.
If you are shooting for success in your next ultra race, you should maintain your goal pace as evenly as possible for as long as possible.
Although some slowing is probably inevitable after running for a few hours, you should do your best to keep the slowdown as gradual as possible.
