For those of you who are curious about my studies:
So I lied...This blog was not effective at holding me accountable putting my ideas regarding my summer studies down on paper/the computer screen. However, that does not mean that I have not been thinking about it a lot. In fact, I think I might have a workable project for this fall. If you have any idea what I'm talking about tell me what you think… My idea is to bring cross country runners in to be tested, preferably ones that will compete in the same races, and measure body mass and surface area, maybe do full body comp, and then test their VO2max. Then for each race calculate their pace in terms of percentage of their vVO2max. Then calculate their distance from the average percentage of vVO2max of all the participants. Then for each race do a regression of the surface area to mass ratio and their relative pace. I want to look whether the race temperature/weather and course conditions influence that regression line. The problem would be that individual variability in training adaptations throughout the season will surely confound the results. That's as far as I've gotten. Hopefully I can come up a with a way account for that without over complicating the study. Maybe looking at performance pace compared to the velocity of anaerobic threshold would be more pertinent than max oxygen consumption. I apologize for thinking out-loud, guys, I just kind of want to get a little feedback.
For those of you who have no interest or no clue what I'm talking about:
These past few weeks my life has been especially blog-worthy, but of course that usually means that I have little time or access to post. So in the interest of my time and yours I will attempt to summarize the highlights, and low lights :)
Northern Wisconsin trip:
Highlight: Running (what else?!) The combination of the northwoods, lake views, cool temps, a cleansing rain, greatly-missed company, a sprinkle of running gossip, and a delicious post-run reward were just what my training desperately needed.
Lowlight: Not triple crowning our highly contested games of Barbie, Polly Pocket (yes, both of these are in fact board games) and Apples to Apples. After Poindexter and I destroyed everyone by beating them to the prom by at least 20 minutes, I was only able to exchange gifts for party balloons fast enough to come in second, despite that fact that Kaitlin was riding a cat and I was in a fancy convertible, and as always, no one understood my humor in apples to apples.
Grinnell Iowa trip:
Highlight: Meeting Joe Vigil and learning some super helpful information about biomechanics was cool and all, but I think the highlight goes to winning a free pair of Asics. The guy next to me won so the misconceptions of probability were against me but I WON! right as I was commenting on how I never win anything.
Lowlights- discovering how cool Grinnell College is…don’t tell anyone I said that. Haha, no really Will Freeman definitely impressed me, their campus is unreal, and the running there beats just about anywhere except of course the Arb. Good thing Grinnell is Iowa and most people wouldn’t be caught dead living there ;)
Boundary Water trip:
Highlight: Swimming, a lot. Normally I have to aquajog for hours on end when I’m up there which is preferable to aqujogging anywhere else, and to not working out at all, but now I can swim! not well but I’m getting better. We stay on a lake with lots of island so I could swim between then and feel like I was making progress! And the weather and the water were wonderful!
Lowlight: Escaping to my tent the first night. While I was unsuccessfully trying to catch up on sleep, the bugs apparently transformed into brilliant galaxies of stars. My wonderful little brother thought it acceptable to notify my sister in the other tent but not his lovely tentmate.
Appleton, WI trip:
Highlight: Cuddling with my bestie and our favorite blanket the night before the beautiful bride married her perfect match. Another highlight was learning that some guys actually do talk to other guys about girls and love, and not just butts and love-making.
Lowlight: Leave it to a storybook wedding to expose those little emptinesses you work hard to forget. In a moment of weakness, slightly regretting focusing my life on sports and running instead of working on making myself attractive to boys (or more preferably men), I was jealous of my best friend, and the man who now has her full heart.
And to hopefully cover me for a couple weeks:
Expected Highlight: Goal setting- by the time I start school and coaching I will have a finalized training plan and plan for moving forward toward completing my masters degree, I’m pumped for working hard at both but need to give my excitement a little direction.
Expected Lowlight: Realizing how I have taken advantage the free time I’ve had this summer, and finally making attempts to appreciate not having overwhelming responsibility before my life explodes with activity.
Chasing a little more summer,
Laura
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
The Science of Dehydration
This summer I have begun working on my master's thesis for my degree in exercise physiology. It has brought back fond and less than fond memories of the comps project I completed no more than a year and a half ago. Grad school sure flies by! Here is a hilariously accurate portrayal of my experience with science. http://getrealscience.com/katelyns/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/sciencerage.png
Not surprisingly to those who know me the project is progressing at a modest pace. In order to motivate my reading of the literature and to restrain myself from becoming that little face on the left side of the cartoon, I plan on blogging my findings, thoughts, questions. That said, warning to those of you who are looking for traditional scientific style writing, free of gramatical errors. This is not meant to be a review of literature or to agrue a standpoint, or to be used for any other purpose besides brainstorming questions and ideas. Please, let me know if you know of any good articles or if you have a concern or different perspective on the topics. Don't be shy. Even if it may sound like it, at this point, I have no hard stance on the issues I just want as many perspectives as possible.
My research this fall is looking at temperature regulation and running performance across a cross country season. So I want to start with a post on hydration.
A lot of the popular assumptions about temperature regulation relate to hydration. The reason for this is that in many laboratory studies conducted in warm and humid conditions, athletes who consumed fluids during the exercise had lower core temperatures and lower heart rates compared to dehydrated subjects. As a result, a general consensus confirmed by the ACSM's position stand is that proper hydration (often thought to be maintaining weight loss under at least 2% of pre-exercise weight) can prevent heat-related illness, and improve performance.
Still, there has been no solid evidence to suggest the hydration status is linked to heat-related illness. More likely, these conditions are related to a failure in the bodies ability to sense injurious temperatures and react accordingly. This failure of homeostasis is often a result of previous infections, genetic predisposition, or consciously overruling the bodies defenses against excessive heat production (pacing) and storage (ie. wearing a helmet and pads in football, or a sweat suit in the sauna to make weight in wrestling).
Like I stated earlier, many of the early studies that looked at distance races and fluid consumption revealed that the more water weight an athlete lost, the higher their core temperature and heart rate. But an aspect of these studies that has been over looked is that the top athletes were the ones with the highest core temperature following the race. There is little evidence to suggest maintaining weight throughout a competition will improve performance. In fact, in competition durations of over an hour glycogen levels noticeably deplete. Glycogen in a sense stores water in the muscles, so if you were to maintain weight throughout a marathon you would be considerably over-hydrated due to the lowered water storage capacity of depleted muscle glycogen. Realistically, maintaining weight throughout a marathon would be considerably uncomfortable and near impossible for anyone running under four hours in a moderate to warm climate. On the other hand, now that marathon running has begun to appeal to a much larger range of abilities, runners who stop at each aid station and are not "working up a sweat" could easily get themselves into trouble with hyponatremia, a condition in which excessive water intake dilutes the fluids in the body and can have disastrous health consequences.
Until relatively recently marathoners held very different attitudes about hydration. In fact, fluid consumption in the first half of a marathon would have been considered weak and a sign of poor fitness. Fluids were not recommended until the final miles because it would pull blood from the muscles to the intestines to absorb the water, hence slowing the runner's pace.
Finally, when we talk about dehydration we often confuse the real issue which is water balance. The reason heart rate is affected by fluid loss is because when we sweat the volume of our blood (more accurately plasma) decreases. This means our heart has to pump faster to maintain pressure in our blood vessels. Our core temperature rises because the loss of plasma volume and blood pressure does not allow for additional blood to flow to the skin to dissipate into the environment. (Side note: a criticism to a lot of the literature on core temperatures during different intensities of exercise in different climates are that studies are conducted in a laboratory setting in which participants perform without the usual air/wind resistance and convective heat loss.) A common counter-attack to this reduction in plasma volume includes sodium loading. A sodium gradient resulting from increased intake allows for two things, increased absorption of fluids in the intestines and increased ability to retain more water within the plasma. Carbohydrates in fluid (ie. sports drinks) can also increase fluid absorption in the intestines and at the right concentrations have definite performance enhancing ability for long duration activity, but that’s a topic for another time.
Most of these thoughts reflect my reading of Tim Noakes and his former student and Johnathan Dugas, whose ideas I have considerable respect for. I believe they make strong cases against some unquestioned conventional wisdom of our understanding of exercise physiology. Alternatively, I believe their arguments can lead to misunderstanding in translation and unqualified rash changes in athletic applications. As a coach I would never encourage athletes to enter races dehydrated, however, I may question them if they consistently carry around gallon jugs of water because someone on tv said that we need at least 64 ounces of water a day (show me the research on the 64 ounces rule and then I might believe you). Excessive water intake during exercise is not going to keep you from slowing down in the heat and excessive water intake throughout the day is only going to over work your kidneys. That said yes we need water. Yes, stopping at the water fountain on a hot day is only going to make your run feel easier, but if you really want to cool your core temperature in the heat dumping water on your head will be more effective than dumping it in your stomach.
For those of you who are still with me, here are the simple practical applications I would recommend from my current understanding of hydration, thermoregulation, and fluid balance.
Not surprisingly to those who know me the project is progressing at a modest pace. In order to motivate my reading of the literature and to restrain myself from becoming that little face on the left side of the cartoon, I plan on blogging my findings, thoughts, questions. That said, warning to those of you who are looking for traditional scientific style writing, free of gramatical errors. This is not meant to be a review of literature or to agrue a standpoint, or to be used for any other purpose besides brainstorming questions and ideas. Please, let me know if you know of any good articles or if you have a concern or different perspective on the topics. Don't be shy. Even if it may sound like it, at this point, I have no hard stance on the issues I just want as many perspectives as possible.
My research this fall is looking at temperature regulation and running performance across a cross country season. So I want to start with a post on hydration.
A lot of the popular assumptions about temperature regulation relate to hydration. The reason for this is that in many laboratory studies conducted in warm and humid conditions, athletes who consumed fluids during the exercise had lower core temperatures and lower heart rates compared to dehydrated subjects. As a result, a general consensus confirmed by the ACSM's position stand is that proper hydration (often thought to be maintaining weight loss under at least 2% of pre-exercise weight) can prevent heat-related illness, and improve performance.
Still, there has been no solid evidence to suggest the hydration status is linked to heat-related illness. More likely, these conditions are related to a failure in the bodies ability to sense injurious temperatures and react accordingly. This failure of homeostasis is often a result of previous infections, genetic predisposition, or consciously overruling the bodies defenses against excessive heat production (pacing) and storage (ie. wearing a helmet and pads in football, or a sweat suit in the sauna to make weight in wrestling).
Like I stated earlier, many of the early studies that looked at distance races and fluid consumption revealed that the more water weight an athlete lost, the higher their core temperature and heart rate. But an aspect of these studies that has been over looked is that the top athletes were the ones with the highest core temperature following the race. There is little evidence to suggest maintaining weight throughout a competition will improve performance. In fact, in competition durations of over an hour glycogen levels noticeably deplete. Glycogen in a sense stores water in the muscles, so if you were to maintain weight throughout a marathon you would be considerably over-hydrated due to the lowered water storage capacity of depleted muscle glycogen. Realistically, maintaining weight throughout a marathon would be considerably uncomfortable and near impossible for anyone running under four hours in a moderate to warm climate. On the other hand, now that marathon running has begun to appeal to a much larger range of abilities, runners who stop at each aid station and are not "working up a sweat" could easily get themselves into trouble with hyponatremia, a condition in which excessive water intake dilutes the fluids in the body and can have disastrous health consequences.
Until relatively recently marathoners held very different attitudes about hydration. In fact, fluid consumption in the first half of a marathon would have been considered weak and a sign of poor fitness. Fluids were not recommended until the final miles because it would pull blood from the muscles to the intestines to absorb the water, hence slowing the runner's pace.
Finally, when we talk about dehydration we often confuse the real issue which is water balance. The reason heart rate is affected by fluid loss is because when we sweat the volume of our blood (more accurately plasma) decreases. This means our heart has to pump faster to maintain pressure in our blood vessels. Our core temperature rises because the loss of plasma volume and blood pressure does not allow for additional blood to flow to the skin to dissipate into the environment. (Side note: a criticism to a lot of the literature on core temperatures during different intensities of exercise in different climates are that studies are conducted in a laboratory setting in which participants perform without the usual air/wind resistance and convective heat loss.) A common counter-attack to this reduction in plasma volume includes sodium loading. A sodium gradient resulting from increased intake allows for two things, increased absorption of fluids in the intestines and increased ability to retain more water within the plasma. Carbohydrates in fluid (ie. sports drinks) can also increase fluid absorption in the intestines and at the right concentrations have definite performance enhancing ability for long duration activity, but that’s a topic for another time.
Most of these thoughts reflect my reading of Tim Noakes and his former student and Johnathan Dugas, whose ideas I have considerable respect for. I believe they make strong cases against some unquestioned conventional wisdom of our understanding of exercise physiology. Alternatively, I believe their arguments can lead to misunderstanding in translation and unqualified rash changes in athletic applications. As a coach I would never encourage athletes to enter races dehydrated, however, I may question them if they consistently carry around gallon jugs of water because someone on tv said that we need at least 64 ounces of water a day (show me the research on the 64 ounces rule and then I might believe you). Excessive water intake during exercise is not going to keep you from slowing down in the heat and excessive water intake throughout the day is only going to over work your kidneys. That said yes we need water. Yes, stopping at the water fountain on a hot day is only going to make your run feel easier, but if you really want to cool your core temperature in the heat dumping water on your head will be more effective than dumping it in your stomach.
For those of you who are still with me, here are the simple practical applications I would recommend from my current understanding of hydration, thermoregulation, and fluid balance.
1. On really hot sweaty days, either consume sports drinks in place of water since they are specially formulated to be optimally absorbed and mimic the composition of sweat, or add sodium to your diet if you don’t already.
2. Don’t force yourself to drink water because it’s supposed to be healthy, remember to consider your thirst and drink when thirsty. Alternatively, don’t ignore your thirst, or get to busy to drink. Carrying a water bottle is good because it reminds you when you are thirsty, but it is not necessary to get in a habit of drinking just because it is there.
3. From the weight control stand point pay attention to the caloric value of the fluids you drink throughout the day, you can drink a lot of calories without ever feeling full. This is good if you're training really hard and cannot keep up with your calories, on the other hand of course if it becomes a habit in the offseason it’s probably going to get harder to balance your caloric intake with energy expenditure.
4. If you are not working up a sweat, you shouldn’t be overly concerned about hydration.
5. Hydration during competition should be a balance of maintaining plasma volume, limiting intestinal discomfort, not carrying excessive weight, and improving your perception of exertion.
6. Following competition it may take awhile to return to pre-competition weight due to the lag in glycogen resynthesis, however, if you, like me, are a urine color detective you can attest to the importance of rehydrating in the hours following a hard effort.
7. Not a hard and fast rule but I still love it: urine should look like lemonaid not apple juice
If you are still loking for more here are some great recent blogs on the topic:
http://sweatscience.com/pre-drinking-to-hyperhydrate-and-other-heat-related-research/
Chasing a degree : )
Laura
Chasing a degree : )
Laura
Monday, July 18, 2011
Soccer talk
Disclaimer: If you did not watch the Women's World Cup you thoroughly missed out and this post may not make much sense to you... then again it may not make sense if you did watch the games so I guess read on if you so desire.
In the wake of yesterdays heartbreaker, I want to talk about something at the very core of sporting experience; winning and losing.
Anyone seen the movie Miracle? (if not, again you're thoroughly missing out)
Great moments... are born from great opportunity. And that's what you have here, tonight, boys. That's what you've earned here tonight. One game. If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we skate with them. Tonight, we stay with them. And we shut them down because we can! Tonight, WE are the greatest hockey team in the world. You were born to be hockey players. Every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time. Their time is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have. Screw 'em. This is your time. Now go out there and take it.
I totally love this aspect of sport, this idea that as an underdog you can rise up and meet a challenge. However, yesterday Japan did not "go out there an take it." In fact, subjectively, they really didn't earn the win. In a way the US women, and karma or whatever outside powers you believe influence sport outcomes gave it to them. That's not to say the US didn't want it. I got the sense that the USA team wanted it more (I'm probably bias) eventually leading to their psychological demise. Bad luck messes with confidence, as apposed to injustice (like in the Brazil game) which makes you fight. Having nothing to lose is one of the best ways to bring out a “winning spirit,” but having everything thing to lose is terrifying. What is so crazy about soccer is you don't have to be the more talented team, or the more cohesive team, or the more supported team, or the team with the bigger heart. The ball simply has to somehow get in the opponents net more times than it gets in your own. Obviously, it doesn't hurt to have the advantage of skill and possession, urgency and desire, but in the end there are thousands of confounding circumstances that lead to an outcome. That's the game, that's life.
At first thought, individual sports like running give you a sense that you are in control of outcomes. Your fitness can be directly reflected in race outcomes. But, the longer we are around the sport we realize races and training going as planned is the exception not the rule. We have breakthroughs when we least expect them and heartbreaks when we can least afford them. Our sport is arguably just as frustratingly unpredictable as any other. But that's why we get up in the morning, that's why we compete. If the favorites always won, the polls were always right on, and races went solely to those with the talent and superior training why would we ever step up to line? Predictability is something coaches and athletes strive to understand but at the end of the day, what we like to refer to as "luck" is what keeps us coming back. Even though the chances that things come together at the right time and the right place are much more rare then the chances something falls apart, we can't help but believe that it can and will happen for us, if not today than next time.
Chasing my one in ten, my "tonight"
Laura
Friday, July 8, 2011
Gone Country
"Yeah, that came out a little country
But every word was right on the money"
But every word was right on the money"
Blake Sheldon, Honey Bee
Country music. It's like an olive, you either love and embrace it or are repulsed by it. While I understand the repulsion (trust me, the song Courtesy of the Red White and Blue makes me sick to my stomach), there is an honesy and truth to many of the songs that intrigues me. A friend once told me her favorite music was country music because it was so much like real life. I admit my life isn't all beer, mud, and tractors. Still, I tend to agree with her setiment, country music for me at least seems so genuine. You don't have to call alabama home to be "singing sweet home alabama all summer long." So tis the season. The sun is shining, the water is glistening, and I'm kicking up dust on the trails with my ipod blaring the country.
Some of my favorite country song lines:
She has future plans and dreams at night
When they tell her life is hard she says that's alright
When they tell her life is hard she says that's alright
-Faith Hill, She's a Wild One
We call them fools
Who have to dance within the flame
Who chance the sorrow and the shame
That always come with getting burned
-Garth Brooks, Standing Outside the Fire
Who have to dance within the flame
Who chance the sorrow and the shame
That always come with getting burned
-Garth Brooks, Standing Outside the Fire
I wanna walk and not run, I wanna skip and not fall
I wanna look at the horizon and not see a building standing tall
I wanna be the only one for miles and miles
Except for maybe you and your simple smile
I wanna be the only one for miles and miles
Except for maybe you and your simple smile
-Dixie Chicks, Cowboy Take Me Away
We're getting stronger now, found things they never found
They might be bigger but we're faster and never scared
They might be bigger but we're faster and never scared
You can walk away and say we don't need this
But there's something in your eyes says we can beat this
-Taylor Swift, Change
But there's something in your eyes says we can beat this
-Taylor Swift, Change
So how do you wait for heaven
And who has that much time
And how do you keep your feet on the ground
When you know that you were born
You were born to fly
And who has that much time
And how do you keep your feet on the ground
When you know that you were born
You were born to fly
-Sara Evans- Born to Fly
There's a time to listen, a time to talk
And you might have to crawl even after you walk
Had sure things blow up in my face
Seen the longshot, win the race
Been knocked down by the slamming door
Picked myself up and came back for more
-John Michael Montgomery, Life's a Dance
And my latest fav:
And you might have to crawl even after you walk
Had sure things blow up in my face
Seen the longshot, win the race
Been knocked down by the slamming door
Picked myself up and came back for more
-John Michael Montgomery, Life's a Dance
And my latest fav:
Till next time, y'all keep on chasing summer
Thursday, June 16, 2011
'Tri'ing it, not buying it
This may be news to some of you but I made my debut in the triathlon late last summer. Since my mileage was extremely limited due to injury I spent some time in the lake teaching myself (not all that successfully) to swim, and on the sidewalks with a commuter bike. Naturally, my dad was appalled by this type of triathlon training (when in my mind it really wasn't meant to be triathlon training but a mental health prescription until I was literally back on my feet) and so he arranged for me to borrow a wetsuit and bike and signed me up for a low key triathlon in August. I finished the half mile swim and the bike and run of course without looking too much like a newbie (minus a little blood trying to unclip my pedals and the cup of Gatorade I dumped on my head) again mostly because my dad was on top of things. So, since then, I've been using the excuse of not have a good bike to train on or access to a pool in the winter (which isn't exactly true) to justify my running focus. That is, up until yesterday.
Yesterday I ran out of excuses. The lake is warm and I (more accurately my spoiling parents) invested in a more than sufficient bike. I surely have the quads for the bike, and the heart for the run, and I can always pick races where the swim doesn't matter (because let's face it I was not born a fish). So what's the hold up?
I like to think of myself as an open-minded, versatile athlete, but deep down I'm a runner. I love other sports, soccer and nordic are definitely a part of me and there are days when I wish I had played basketball and volleyball, and ultimate ( I don't know why but softball never appealed to me), but I've learned that time and energy are limiting and priorities must be made to get the things you want the most. The triathlon scares me because it reminds me of those sacrifices and it makes me question what is most important. The thing about running that makes it unique from an other sport is that anyone can do it anywhere at anytime. If you're creative enough you can find a way to get a run in, free of cost, all you need is your willing self. There are no special outfits, no special equipment, or special facilities, even the special shoes are optional. As soon as you start introducing all these special additions, for me at least, it begins to lose that element of pure competition; one man's talent and effort directly against another's. In nordic skiing, races are won and lost based on the affordability of wax and wax technicians. In soccer you pay to play with and against the best players and to have the best coaching. Balls are not all that expensive, but tell that to kids in Africa spending hours sewing together banana leaves to kick around. Triathlons take this to the next level. Have you seen the helmets they wear? Anyone know what just the pedals of a racing bike cost? I realize that some economic performance enhancement is possible in running but compared to any other sport it's a matter of God-given gifts, hard work, and motivation.
All that aside, I'm at the point in my athletic career when I need a new challenge. I miss the technical aspect of learning to nordic ski and hurdle barriers. Never say never, but it's fair to say without a sizable head start, I won't ever be the first one out of the water but that means there is a workable margin for improvement. And, for the time being, those arrow-bars and pedal clips will surely continue to expose me as an amateur. At the moment I'm kind of in a "let's see what happens" experimental stage of running anyway, so I figure now is as good of a time as ever...yeah, so I guess it's official. I, Laura Roach, am a triathlete with a fancy new bike to seal the deal.
One last concern; for some reason it seems as if the connections between the triathlon world and running world are few and far between. Anyone know the reason behind this? Being in the running world all my life, I feel a bit out of place at a triathlon, as if there is a some major competition between single sport athletes and multi-sport athletes. Maybe it's just me. Hopefully, everyone (including myself) can look beyond my running bias, because I'm sick of being a traitor and having to commit my loyalties.
Bringing my chase to the water and the road,
Laura
Yesterday I ran out of excuses. The lake is warm and I (more accurately my spoiling parents) invested in a more than sufficient bike. I surely have the quads for the bike, and the heart for the run, and I can always pick races where the swim doesn't matter (because let's face it I was not born a fish). So what's the hold up?
I like to think of myself as an open-minded, versatile athlete, but deep down I'm a runner. I love other sports, soccer and nordic are definitely a part of me and there are days when I wish I had played basketball and volleyball, and ultimate ( I don't know why but softball never appealed to me), but I've learned that time and energy are limiting and priorities must be made to get the things you want the most. The triathlon scares me because it reminds me of those sacrifices and it makes me question what is most important. The thing about running that makes it unique from an other sport is that anyone can do it anywhere at anytime. If you're creative enough you can find a way to get a run in, free of cost, all you need is your willing self. There are no special outfits, no special equipment, or special facilities, even the special shoes are optional. As soon as you start introducing all these special additions, for me at least, it begins to lose that element of pure competition; one man's talent and effort directly against another's. In nordic skiing, races are won and lost based on the affordability of wax and wax technicians. In soccer you pay to play with and against the best players and to have the best coaching. Balls are not all that expensive, but tell that to kids in Africa spending hours sewing together banana leaves to kick around. Triathlons take this to the next level. Have you seen the helmets they wear? Anyone know what just the pedals of a racing bike cost? I realize that some economic performance enhancement is possible in running but compared to any other sport it's a matter of God-given gifts, hard work, and motivation.
All that aside, I'm at the point in my athletic career when I need a new challenge. I miss the technical aspect of learning to nordic ski and hurdle barriers. Never say never, but it's fair to say without a sizable head start, I won't ever be the first one out of the water but that means there is a workable margin for improvement. And, for the time being, those arrow-bars and pedal clips will surely continue to expose me as an amateur. At the moment I'm kind of in a "let's see what happens" experimental stage of running anyway, so I figure now is as good of a time as ever...yeah, so I guess it's official. I, Laura Roach, am a triathlete with a fancy new bike to seal the deal.
One last concern; for some reason it seems as if the connections between the triathlon world and running world are few and far between. Anyone know the reason behind this? Being in the running world all my life, I feel a bit out of place at a triathlon, as if there is a some major competition between single sport athletes and multi-sport athletes. Maybe it's just me. Hopefully, everyone (including myself) can look beyond my running bias, because I'm sick of being a traitor and having to commit my loyalties.
Bringing my chase to the water and the road,
Laura
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Acclimating
As biology major we were always reminded that adaptations are based in heredity and occur over generations due to natural selection. If we are going to be technical, humans haven't noticeably adapted in a very long time. In kinesiology we use the word adapt all the time to describe the bodies ability to change itself to become more suitable for the environment in which it is performing. What we really are referring to is acclimation. This is something humans especially athletes are doing all the time; we are exposing ourselves to environmental stress in order to 'practice' surviving and ultimately thriving despite this novel stimulus. The goal is for harsh conditions to become the new normal and the old normal to become the new easy. If you have grown up in Minnesota you get this. 30 degrees on Halloween is worthy of snowsuits, but 30 degrees in middle of January is without a doubt t-shirt skiing weather. Maybe it's just me but sometimes I forget the principle still applies early on in the summer. I have been on a few runs the last couple weeks in which I have for no clear reason felt like I was 60 years old, 50 pounds overweight, and running for the first time in my life...okay maybe I exaggerate but the point is acclimation takes some time and it's not easy. Running in heat and humidity places a different demand on water balance, circulation, respiration, perspiration, and all metabolic processes. In addition, our central nervous system fatigues in response to increases in core body temperature to prevent us from working our bodies into a heat injury. The temperature threshold at which we fatigue is much lower after training in cool weather compared to after acclimating to a warm climate. We acclimate weather just as we acclimate to hill running, or high mileage, or taking icebaths, or doing pushups. Acclimation is definition of all things training. It's what makes us tough peripherally and centrally, physically and mentally.
I'm working on a class assignment on the Making of East African Distance runners. What is it about their environment that molds these people into incredible talents? Straight from Paul Tergat, "it's really hard work simple as that, there is nothing magic." Here is a great video on Kenyan training, also try searching chasingkimbia, and Iten running. I may write more on the subject later, but my point is that athletes need to be stress innoculated, a term used in the book On Combat by Dave Grossman. Our best races or training sessions often seem easy. This is not because what we do it is easy, it's just because comfort and effort are relative, just as 30 degrees F means nothing out of context.
Here is the kicker, though, environments are not static and climates (usually) can't be controlled. I haven't looked it up but something tells me that Iten trained runners haven't taken home too many titles in the Antarctic marathon. Rapid change is the greatest stress of all. As stated in the wise philosophy of Grey's Anatomy ; ) "Change. We don't like it. We fear it, but we can't stop it from coming. We either adapt to change or we get left behind. It hurts to grow, anybody who tells you it doesn't is lying, but here's the truth sometimes the more things change the more they stay the same. And sometimes, oh, sometimes change is good. Sometimes change is everything."
So with that, I'll be chasing flexibility,
Laura
I'm working on a class assignment on the Making of East African Distance runners. What is it about their environment that molds these people into incredible talents? Straight from Paul Tergat, "it's really hard work simple as that, there is nothing magic." Here is a great video on Kenyan training, also try searching chasingkimbia, and Iten running. I may write more on the subject later, but my point is that athletes need to be stress innoculated, a term used in the book On Combat by Dave Grossman. Our best races or training sessions often seem easy. This is not because what we do it is easy, it's just because comfort and effort are relative, just as 30 degrees F means nothing out of context.
Here is the kicker, though, environments are not static and climates (usually) can't be controlled. I haven't looked it up but something tells me that Iten trained runners haven't taken home too many titles in the Antarctic marathon. Rapid change is the greatest stress of all. As stated in the wise philosophy of Grey's Anatomy ; ) "Change. We don't like it. We fear it, but we can't stop it from coming. We either adapt to change or we get left behind. It hurts to grow, anybody who tells you it doesn't is lying, but here's the truth sometimes the more things change the more they stay the same. And sometimes, oh, sometimes change is good. Sometimes change is everything."
So with that, I'll be chasing flexibility,
Laura
Friday, May 6, 2011
Growth
Last week, we planted some vegetable plants in a seed starter for our small garden in our backyard. Like a little kid learning about plants, photosynthesis, and growth I've been curiously observing their daily growth. The tomatoes came almost instantly, then the basil, and now the peppers are just breaking the surface. I'm not sure exactly what about it I find extraordinarily fascinating, but plants generally amaze me. They take energy from the sun and convert it into growth for themselves and for all living things. What I find even more marveling is that growth is more than about how fast and how much a plant can produce. Depending on the environment different growth patterns are optimal. The first seed to sprout is not always the one which grows to produce the healthiest fruit. Similarly, the tallest stalk may not have the structural integrity to hold heavy leaves. The plants that grow the biggest may or may not be more successful, again, depending on the context of what it means to be successful and the predictability of the environment in which it grows. Natural selection is about trade-offs. Late springs or short growing seasons will favor smaller more fruitful plants, however, given the time to develop a large surface area for converting energy from the sun, plants will have more resources, catch up with and even surpass the smaller plants, and produce more or more fit offspring for longer. Depending on the context patience may or may not pay off.
Of course, for me, the connection between these plants and athletic arena is impossible to ignore. In reality "citius, altius, fortius" doesn't always classify the best growth for plants or for athletes. Early specialization has been described as nothing short of a death sentence for young talent, and personally I don’t disagree. However, just like with the plants it depends on the environment and the context of the sport and the individual in question. For example, for young women in certain sports their prime is before they hit puberty. In my opinion these sports are detrimental to the emotional and physical health of these athletes in the long run, but if success is defined as Olympic teams and medals there is no denying that some athletes need, like the tomato plants, to break the surface first.
In the context of young male athletes there is no better example of genetic variation than looking at high-school boys between sophomore and junior year. We don’t add lean muscle mass until we are stopped growing, so boys still growing at this time are often written off as the losers of the genetic lottery and spend their days either desperately trying to put on weight in the weight room (unsuccessfully until their bones are done growing) or are turned off to sports prematurely. Look at the same guys in college and they have now traded places with the studs from middle school and high-school. As much as it would suck to be that second-string varsity in high school, I would definitely rather be him than try to be the basketball center whom at 6 ft as sophomore never grows another inch and by senior year is outgrown in height and muscle by any college recruit.
It is much the same in the context of running. Guys and girls are really on the same physiological playing field until puberty hits. I consider myself lucky to have hit puberty much earlier than most good high school runners. During my lightest “boyish” years in 7th and 8th grade, I was too shy and innocent to really know my potential. The hindrances of my maturation were disguised by my developing work-ethic and experience. Most other girls were not so lucky, the dreadful effects of womb making came slightly later after they experienced the effortless success that comes along with running against women with chests, hips, and, god-forbid, estrogen. Estrogen is the enemy of acute prosperity, but the friend of chronic posterity. Estrogen alone explains the abundance of dominant middle-schoolers in high-school cross country that dwindle into barely more than a dozen at the state championships as seniors. Of course the opposite occurs on the boy’s side, as testosterone is nothing but advantageous to performance.
I want, however, to make clear my appreciation for estrogen. True it is counter-productive to all of my performance outcome goals in running, but it is essential to helping me develop and grow as a runner and as a woman. Besides preventing stress fractures and allowing me the option to one day make babies, it has grounded me and taught me humility, consistency, and longevity. Maybe I have self-selected these values because my individual nature requires them to survive in my particular environment and had I been born with different gifts and in a different environment these values would not do me nearly as much good. Maybe, like the plants we use what we have to get to where we need to be. Maybe that is the definition of healthy growth, and maybe it is what fascinates me as I intently watch my seedlings grow.
Growing for the long chase,
Laura
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