Here is an interesting article from active.com, Why Too Much Running is Bad for Your Health.

Phidippides ran too much, then died.

According to the article, the hearts of “chronic runners,” have more coronary plaque build up than sedentary people.  Based on a 30 year study 52,000 people, they found that runners have a lower risk of death overall, but that the benefits of running decrease after a certain amount; more is not better.  The “sweet spot” seems to be five - 19 miles per week, at six to seven miles per hour, spread over three to four sessions per week.

The article goes on to explain that much of the ill effects of long distance running has to do with the way the body processes free radicals released during strenuous exercise.  It seems that the body can naturally deal with a certain amount of oxidative stress, but too much will cause problems.  The fact that the problems seen in chronic runners are similar to the problems related to obesity is not surprising since both promote systemic inflammation.  The article expands on this a little by suggesting that people don’t run for more than about an hour per session, and suggests performing shorter, higher intensity exercise like sprints.

Of course, if you asked a CrossFitter, we could have told you that short, high intensity exercise is both more healthy for you and provides better results than running for hours at a time.  It’s nice to see a similar view coming from outside the CrossFit community, though.

I know we have quite a few distance runners in The Cave.  What do you think about this article?

Specified Wattage Output

The other day Rich L. brought Dr. Justin Mager in to establish his VO2 Max. We all know Rich likes to run tests. He likes all the gear. He likes to try new things to see if it will help him improve. He is the most thorough N=1 tester in the gym. I’m a data geek myself so this is all great. We can look at different parameters and learn all we can about these tests and processes. We’ll utilize what is helpful and toss out what is not.

VO2 max is a measurement of your body’s maximal oxygen uptake. It is the gold standard test for endurance athletes because there is a correlation between VO2 max and performance in endurance events. Higher caliber athletes have higher VO2 maxes.

There isn’t a lot of evidence to support that training specifically to increase VO2 max is a good training strategy for endurance events. Even the testing can give pretty broad numbers depending on how it is administered. Take Rich’s numbers as an example. He first tested using a controlled wattage method. He was told to row at a given wattage for short durations increasing wattage by a fixed amount. In theory at some point he would reach maximal oxygen uptake when he increases wattage, but O2 uptake does not increase. Using this test he reached a VO2 max of  38 ml/kg/min at a heart rate of 166 bpm with anaerobic threshold at of 31 ml O2/kg/min. The second test was to completed a 2K Row pacing for best time. In this test he recorded a VO2 max of 46.2 ml/kg/min at a heart rate of 169 with an anaerobic threshold of 40.7 ml O2/kg/min.  A difference of  roughly 22%.  Using the aggregate metrics of the system used for testing the first test put Rich in the “good” category of individuals his age, and the second test put him in the “superior” category (well above the top mark in the bell curve). This data is a very small sample set and we’d need to run more tests over time to get accurate markers for Rich’s true O2 uptake.

Rich had a much harder time maintaining the wattage test. It was difficult for him to maintain an arbitrary pace. He experienced muscular shutdown at a much lower output than with the 2K row. This is another problem with the VO2 max tests. To truly test the physiological limits of O2 uptake it must be done testing performing an activity you are fairly proficient at so that your lack of experience with given constraints does not negatively impact the test rather than the true limiting factor being physiological.

The question is how useful is this data? Can we use this data to improve Rich’s training protocol. It is possible this data could give us a method of determining Rich’s maximal sustainable work output. He could wear a heart rate meter and run workouts keeping it just below that threshold. In theory this is a pace he can sustain for a very long time. If he trained this way for a while he could develop a very good feel for where that line is which could help him in competitions. Most athletes that test themselves regularly develop a good intuitive feel for where this line is anyway. It is also very variant as this trait can adapt and change fairly rapidly.

Let us know if you have interest in running VO2 max tests. We can arrange to have the tools at the facility periodically and run people through the tests.

Interesting notes. Measurment of O2 in ml would be impacted by ambient pressure. This could account for differences in performance at different altitudes. Lower pressure would increase the measurement given the same quantity of O2 actually involved in reactive processes, however O2 uptake at lower pressures is slower. A measurement of O2 by mass would give an exact reactive process, but may not correlate to actual work output as well as other factors would have marked impacts on these numbers.