What Determines Performance in Ultra Running? - Part Two

Hi,

Having just re-read my post from the other night, to summarise, it all seemed a bit simplistic, "Keep positive and everything will be fine and you will perform well in ultra running". So I thought I would add a Part Two post to expand a little bit on some of the aspects raised.

But first I will briefly mention one comment I received from a running friend, and one post I have read earlier tonight.

From my running friend:

"Just had a quick look at your blog on psychological stuff very interesting, my thoughts exactly, I think running is 90% in your head. I like to look back over my training diary having gained confidence from good training and very frequent 3,5,10k races and take that into marathons and ultras and rarely fail to meet my targets if im am fully comitted to achieving a certain result. The only time i struggle badly is when someone passes me in the latter stages of races and i go to pieces as i start to think i have run a terrible race as my mental state completly changes, its like someones switched my legs off, all in my head."

It is really pleasing to see that other people have similar thoughts to myself regarding the importance of getting it right "in your head".

The post that I read earlier tonight that I found interesting was John Kynaston's post on meeting Graeme Obree. http://www.johnkynaston.com/2010/05/meeting-graeme-obree.html

Having been a 'full time' cyclist for four years I was a strong follower of Graeme Obree, and have read his book and seen the movie about him "The Flying Scotsman". Both excellent, but as usual the book is heaps better. Well worthy of a read as it covers more than just cycling. What was so great about Obree was that he did things his way, always questioning the accepted norm, experimenting, and amazingly succeeding at the highest level. Setting a number of world records, and changing the style of bike riding, so much that everyone had to adopt his riding style, until it was banned. He then invented a new style "The Superman Position", set another world record, then bettered by Boardman using his style, which was then also subsequently banned. Absolutely amazing story. A truly great inspiration to not just all cyclists, but all athletes!

Well anyway back to what Graeme Obree had to say as summarised by John K:

"He had some interesting thoughts about the role of the mind and said that when he set out to break the one hour record he knew he could do it. He seemed to be saying that if you have the will to do something then you will achieve it if you have the right attitude."

So it appears that he also has the similar views to what I expressed in my last post. Maybe my ideas are the accepted norm! Well in that case sorry for stating the obvious, I'll try to add something new in this post as I expand things a wee bit!.

I think the key paragraph from my post the other night was:

"The true secret of ultra running is ensuring this positivity remains, and is not overcome by a negative 'state of feeling/being'. Although. I talk about the body and mind being inseparable, I do find that the initiation of a negative state can occur from either the mind or the body. It may start from within the body, due to muscle damage, cramp, dehydration, lack of glycogen/glucose. All of these will initiate a negative response. Two things are important here, trying to deal with the physical causes, but then as soon as possible return back to positivity."

I guess what is an even more important issue is developing strategies to help prevent these 'negative states' being initiated from the mind or body. How can this be achieved? What are they?

In answering these questions I will refer you to a well written article by William Sichel that I stumbled across on his website a few weeks ago as I followed him on his amazing 1000 mile race. Click the link to see what his thoughts are on "The Limitations to Performance in 100km and 24 Hour Events http://www.williamsichel.co.uk/limitations.php

If you have followed the link, and know some of my beliefs, you will see that I obviously don't 'on the face of it' totally agree with all of his ideas e.g. "6) The ability to pace the race effectively. This means to run as near even pace as possible although effort will be very uneven." But I really need to give this aspect some more thought. I will return to it in a future post.

It is difficult to try to list the sources of negative states being initiated in a ranking order, as all are important and can lead to negativity, which then subsequently decreases performance. However, since William ranked them, I will try to do the same.


Sources of Negative States Being Initiated from the Mind and/or Body in Ultra Trail Running, or in other words - Limitations to Ultra trail Running Performance

At the top of the list, but not really on the list, is the ability to remain within a 'positive state of being, a positive state of mind', while all of the many negative states from various sources are being initiated. It may sound simple, but it is extremely difficult. It all comes from changing one's mindset, and starts by changing one's terminology.

Some people may refer to it as learning to "deal with the pain", to deal with the "discomfort from the increasing fatigue". Both of these phrases are rather negative in expression. I tend to refer to it as "learning to enjoy the satisfaction as the body and mind work together, running to their absolute limit!" It is a positive experience, it is what I strive to achieve, running as hard and as fast as my body and mind will allow me. It is what I look forward to, in addition to taking in the surrounding natural environment of the trails.

However, sometimes things may go a little wrong, and make it extremely hard to maintain this positivity. So here is my list of "Sources of Negative States Being Initiated" for ultra trail running, this would differ for road running, and also differ for trail marathons:

1. So finally, at the top of the list has to be fuel. You must get the fuelling correct. Running intensity in an ultra, depending on it's duration, will be below lactate turnpoint, and the longer the race, significantly below. Hence fatigue will not arise due to lactate accumulation. However, the higher one's intensity, the more carbohydrate fuel will be used. The body has limited stores within the body in terms of muscle and liver glycogen. To help spare these limited stores, you must take on carbohydrate during the race! If you do not, then no matter how 'strong' your mind is, you can not maintain the same pace once your glycogen stores are depleted. It doesn't really matter what form or type of carbohydrate you take on. This will be dependent upon personal preference, experiences. There is lots of research suggesting a carbohydrate percentage concentration of around 6 - 7% is ideal. The key thing is that you must take on sufficient water in order to dilute the carbohydrate consumed to this approximate percentage level. I tend to use gels, cliff bars, but during last year's UTMB I pretty well got all the way around eating the flapjack and sultana/fruit cake provide at the feed stations, in combination with 50/50 ratio of coke/water (to ensure a 6-7% concentration as coke is around 12%).

2. Closely following at number 2, but really part of number 1. Do NOT get dehydrated! Ensure you take on sufficient water, (but not to the extremes that can lead to hyponatraemia, which has lead to death in marathon runners!) This is where the carrying of a backpack with a bladder is really beneficial in long races. Yes, carrying the extra weight of water on your back will affect your running economy/efficiency, but if you get your water, carbohydrate/water ratio wrong, then it doesn't really matter how efficient you have been running, it is pretty well end of a good performance, and may be even end of the race!

3. Stay 'within the now' whilst racing. Focus on enjoying every moment, staying confident in that your preparation has been sufficient for the realistic goal you have set yourself, and feel assured that the fast, but comfortable pace you have started at, is correct. Listen to your own 'deep and inner beliefs', and ignore the comments, views and actions of others if they are in conflict with your well thought out and planned strategies. (Quite a few topics that need expanding there, but not tonight!)

4. Muscle damage, muscle soreness, stiffness, cramping etc. As the duration of the race progresses, your muscles will get damaged, your running economy decreases, i.e. there is an increase in intensity, effort, heart rate, in order to run at the same pace. This is fact, clearly demonstrated in loads of research. But how can you help decrease the rate at which your muscles get damaged? This is all to do with running technique! Running is a skilled event. Unfortunately, as mentioned in some of my earlier posts on running economy, it takes years of miles for the legs 'to harden up', to be able to take the pounding of long distance running. Not only is it the legs 'hardening up' but it is also your running style improving, becoming more relaxed, more smooth, more flowing, more cruisey. However, you want to describe it, it is about running in rhythm. Running with your mind and body as one. Running with positivity, running with joy! I think now is an appropriate time to 'throw in' another one of my strong beliefs, but I will not explain it now. It would take too long! As a certain Jo, once said to one of my work colleagues "You will have to just trust me on this one, until the time is right to explain!" Hopefully I will be able to explain it in a post in the not to distant future. Well anyway here is my belief:

"To run faster in ultra trail races, train slower! Your training pace should enable your running to be relaxed, smooth, flowing, cruisey, and in total rhythm, with positivity and joy. For the vast majority of your runs, do not train hard!"

5. There isn't one! Ultra running performance is pretty well largely determined by the above four factors.

On my closing note I would like to draw your attention to the following, that both within my list, and also within William Sichel's list, there is no mention of VO2 max, and I only barely refer to lactate threshold / turnpoint. Therefore:

"In order to address what training is appropriate, one must first consider what limits performance!" Stuart Mills, 2010.

Enjoy your training,

Stuart

Running Economy - Eccentric Muscle Damage / Technique

Hi, welcome back.

If you are on my blog for the first time, a warm welcome to you. Unfortunately though, my posts often follow on from a previous post or two. Sorry for this, but often I get useful feedback form the comments left, which make me think and therefore requires further expansion in a subsequent blog. So you may wish to read some of the earlier posts to 'get into the flow'.

The aim of tonight's blog is to 'tie up a few loose ends' on "running economy" first introduced in the "Is More Always Better?" post and expanded within the "Running Economy" post.

Firstly I will briefly recap on "endurance fitness" which is related to three factors: VO2 max, lactate threshold, and running economy. Within the "Running Economy" post I proposed that for ultra running, it is running economy that is most important, mainly due to the intensity one runs at during an ultra race, which is way below VO2 max pace, and even significantly below lactate threshold pace.

Although my blog consists of my ideas, wherever possible I will try to acknowledge the source of any material that helped me formulate my ideas, however, quite often I can't recall where I read the interesting bit of information. (As this isn't an academic paper I wont list the full reference within the post, but if anyone would like the full reference, so they can read the original paper, just send me an e-mail.)

With regards to running economy, Midgley et al (2007) conclude that the enhancement of running economy may be due to the cumulative distance the runners has covered over the years of training. They state this may be due to: (i) the continued long-term adaptations in skeletal muscle, or (ii) a slow but progressive long-term improvement in mechanical efficiency.

Looking at skeletal muscle adaptations first, mention is made of increased musculotendous stiffness which increases the storage and return of elastic energy, thereby improving the overall efficiency of running as less additional energy is required. One would also expect that as the number of miles ran increases the muscles, tendons etc. become stronger, more resistant to damage.

A recent study by Lucia et al (2010) found a link between running economy and muscle damage, with reference to Zerisenay Tadesse the current world record holder for the half marathon (58:23 set in March 2010). They believe his running economy is the most efficient ever reported, in terms of the amount of oxygen required to run at 17, 19 and 21 km/hr. What is interesting is that they also found that his levels of serum activity of creatine kinase (an indicator of skeletal muscle damage) measured following a half marathon, was extremely different to typical values indicating "minimal muscle tissue damage, suggesting an extreme ability to minimise eccentric muscle damage".

Eccentric muscle damage occurs during an eccentric contraction, which happens on every foot strike as the muscle e.g. quadriceps, lengthens at the same time as it is contracting. So it therefore appears that if one has very good running economy, then they are likely to have less muscle damage, and hence therefore able to continue running at a good pace for a longer duration, i.e. during ultra races. The muscle damage will still occur, which will lead to a decrease in running economy as the duration of the race progresses, however, for those runners with good running economy their rate at which this decline in running economy occurs will be lower.

Now lets look at the second issue related to the improvement in running economy over the years; a slow but progressive long-term improvement in mechanical efficiency. Running is often not thought of as a technical event, however, if you watch people run, they all have slightly different styles, with some appearing 'smooth', others appearing 'inefficient'. For most activities, the more one practices, the better one gets at the movement. I also believe that this occurs during running. Yes, some runners have a more natural efficient running style, but over time, I would suggest that all runners will become more efficient at running as their technique gradually improves to become more efficient, to have less vertical oscillations of the body, to have less eccentric damage. Hence, why running economy continues to improve over the years, (e.g Paula Radcliffe - see Running Economy post) as the total distance ran increases.

So, is it possible to do specific training to improve running economy, or do you just have to be patient and wait for it to slowly improve over the years?

One easy way to improve running economy is to simply loose weight, as the lighter one is the more efficient they are. The location of the mass is also very important. Ideally you want to have light legs especially the lower legs and feet. My size 7 feet are therefore an advantage, which I further utilise by always racing (including UTMB) in lightweight road shoes, rather that heavier trail shoes!

With regards to trying to change one's running technique, I haven't read much on this, there are a few articles on the 'Pose' technique of running, and there is lots of current interest in 'Newton' running shoes, or the barefoot running sock type shoes. When I get some time, I'll do some reading and get back to this aspect.

In relation to actual training, there has been some research that suggsts strength training via heavy-weight training or plyometric training may improve running economy. But to summarise from Saunders et al (2004) little is known on how to train to improve running economy, with there being relatively few documented interventions, that manipulate physiological or biomechanical variables, that have shown to improve running economy in distance runners.

Interestingly, shortly after reading that strength training may be beneficial at improving running economy, I was on William Sichel's website, as I followed his progress during his absolutely awesome 1000 mile race in Athens and discovered that he includes loads of strength training within his ultra training. On this webpage link, http://www.williamsichel.co.uk/training.php I encourage you to take a look at his training that includes: running carrying extra load in a weight vest or dragging a weighted sled. He also does plyometrics and "spends a lot of time in the weight room using extremely heavy weights"!

So do I do any specific strength training - weight training/plyometics? NO, and that is a definite NO!

Although, I am quite a competitive person, and I love racing. At the 'end of the day', I am a runner, and I love running. Yes, I may perform better if I did some specific strength training, but the race result isn't the motivation for my running. Yes, it is satisfying and rewarding to finish near the front end of the field, and I always aim to run as hard and as fast as I can, BUT as I signed off in one of my previous posts, and to sign off from this post:

"It's journeys that bring us happiness, not the destination." The journey of run training, not weight training!

Well, I seem to have gone off the topic a bit there! I can see what the topic for my next post will be: "Motivation: Why are you doing this?"

Until my next post. Enjoy the running, racing and everything else that brings you happiness,

Stuart