The Ongoing Myth of Lactic Acid

Well, the while the triathlon season is over for me, the racing season all together has not yet come to a close.  Even so, I thought it would be a good idea to start a lot of ideas on training principles, as well as updates on my own training for next year.  In an odd way, ever since the beginning of this triathlon season back in May, I've been looking forward to the twilight of this season so I could start training for the next.  It is a funny truth that one finds out what he or she should have been working on once the season starts.  Unfortunately, the seemingly endless cycle of buildup and taper for races that occur anywhere from every weekend to every other weekend during the season make it virtually impossible to correct these discovered inadequacies.  Simply put:  You don't find out until it's too late.

First, I should preface this by saying that, since the beginnings of my endurance sports career, I have had a keen interest in physiology, exercise science and nutrition as it applies to exercise.  When the day comes that I end up going to back to school, I feel like it would take a lot for me to not pursue these courses of study as they are infinitely interesting and they would allow me to continue to play a role in these sports.

Back in early February, I was having a post-swim coffee and a read of the New York Times at Starbucks before heading off to work.  On the front of the Science section of the paper, I noticed a headline that said something to the effect of, "Scientists believe to have discovered the cause of muscle fatigue".  Naturally, I was a little mystified.  Regardless of the overall awareness of the general public towards this issue, hadn't we endurance athletes been aware that lactic acid is the cause of muscle fatigue for quite some time.  After all, any training article I have read in magazines from Triathlete or Bicycling, to legendary books such as The Cyclists Training Bible (by a certified Level 1 Cycling coach) have unanimously pointed to this as undeniable fact.

But of course, I read the article fully expecting to read, yet again, about lactic acid.  Much to my surprise, within the first paragraph or two, the article very matter-of-factly stated that lactic acid as the cause of muscle fatigue had been dismissed years ago and that it was only ever theory at best.  Needless to say, I was now glued to the article.  It went on to point out that scientists were now fairly certain that they had ascertained the cause.

Apparently calcium in muscle cells is largely responsible for their contractions.  In studies involving mice, scientists found that, after prolonged muscular repetition, a certain amount of calcium "leaks" out of cells, thereby weakening the contractions.  This seemed to make sense to me, but I was still shocked that lactic acid as the cause had been dismissed for years.

The next day, I called a good friend of mine who is a med student and avid cyclist (I rode with him on the Pitt Cycling team back in the day).  I was thinking I was about to spring some ground-breaking news on him, but when I told him about the article, he reacted by saying that, yes people have known that lactic acid is not the cause of muscle fatigue for years.  I told him the findings about calcium leaking out of cells and he said that this seemed plausible.  

So why is it then, that cycling and triathlon coaches, as well as every article I have read since still attributes muscle fatigue to lactic acid buildup?  Perhaps it is not so important because it is the training principle that it produces that is more important than the particular fact.  What I mean is, whether they are called lactic threshold intervals or calcium intervals, the overall goal remains the same:  to increase the body's ability to withstand prolonged activity without tiring.

Even so, I think it is the responsibility of these professionals to relay the most accurate information possible to the athlete and stop furthering theories that have been dismissed years ago.  Training for these sports is difficult and incredibly time-consuming and, with the presence of popular article-writing coaches syndicated across many magazines and websites, we as athletes should not have to also take out a subscriptions to sports science magazines to get to the bottom of these important issues.  

Well, that was a sufficient amount of thinking for the morning, I believe.  Time to head out for a bike/run brick.  Love to hear any comments or reactions if you have them!

Cheers.

Race Report of the Milton Harvest Festival 5k, Milton, Pa. (9/20)

I know, I know, I'm writing a race report for a small-town 5k, but it was a fun weekend so I felt compelled.  I was going home to not only spend some time with the fam, but to also be joined in the race by both of my brothers, Matt's girlfriend, my mom and step-dad.  My grandparents and dad would also be there to cheer us on so it was quite a family affair.  It was also exciting for my brother, Ryan, because it was going to be his very first running race!  He really started running quite a bit early in the summer and had been getting himself up to about five or six miles on a long run.  We were all playing up the rivalry between Matt and Ryan most of the week.

I once again took the train into Harrisburg and hooked up with my brother, Matt, who lives there.  I didn't get much sleep the night before and couldn't sleep very well on the train so I decided to forgo the run I had planned on Friday evening because I could hardly stay awake.  In the back of my head, I was thinking that this would be a good thing because the race was the next morning.  I know, it was only a 5k, but I still wanted to do as well as I could and I felt that running on Friday would not have had a purpose aside from just throwing in some junk miles.  The 2007 edition of the Harvest Festival 5k was my very first running race and I managed an 18:24, good for a ninth place finish.  After having run an opening 5k leg in a duathlon in May in about 17:30, I was thinking maybe I could come close to tickling the 17:00 mark.

We drove into town on Saturday morning and hung around for a good hour before the race.  Before we knew it, we were lining up at the start line.  I had thought that it would have been cool for all of us to line up together at the front to start the race, which seemed like a good idea until the race director announced that, "if you're not planning on running under six-minute miles, you probably shouldn't be at the front."  That pretty much left me standing up there alone and everyone else randomly scattered throughout the crowd behind me.

The air horn sounded and I jumped off the front right away.  I was trying to be conservative and not spend myself in the first mile like I did last year.  While this might have worked somewhat, it still did not stop me from jumping out quite quickly.  After about a half-mile of leading the race, the eventual winner (with a time of 15:39) blew past me and was putting road between us at an alarming rate.  The second mile seemed to drag on endlessly and was very mentally difficult to try to hand onto my pace.  A little over half way through the race, another runner crept up to me.  I tried to hitch myself onto him and ran shoulder to shoulder with him for about a quarter of a mile before I couldn't hack it anymore.  He began to slowly inch away from me.

Rounding the corner into the last half mile, I got a bit of a second wind, especially because I saw that fourth place was not so far behind me.  I made two or three hard surges that successfully discouraged further chase from him.  I hit the line with a good five seconds in hand over him with a final time of 17:52.  I was a little disappointed at this time, as it was way off my mark, but I think I realized that it's more difficult to run on a course that's pan flat (like this one) as opposed to one that rolls a bit.  Either way, I guess a 32 second improvement over a year isn't so bad for such a short race.  I fully realize that, had I shown up at a 5k that had drawn some talent and posted that time, I would have easily been ejected from the top 10.  But I won't complain about getting another podium finish.

After I had finished, the race for second in the family was heating up.  Matt and Ryan had been running together for pretty much the entire race.  Matt even admitted afterwards that, if not for Ryan pushing the pace, he probably wouldn't have run so quickly.  Ryan hung on until about the last hundred yards when Matt dropped the hammer and opened up a winning margin of fifteen seconds.  They finished 21:15 and 21:30 respectively.  I was impressed.

The rest of the day was pretty hectic with family pictures being taken from 2-4, followed by another run in the evening, dinner and bowling.  I hit the road again Sunday morning and put in five miles to bring the weekly total up to 40.  Flash forward to 8:30 and my arrival back in Pittsburgh for some wine and fake chicken salad with Kayla.

This post would be over normally, but there has been a change in my late season plans.  I will be running the Pittsburgh Great Race 10k this weekend, but the Steamtown marathon is out of the picture.  The original plan was for my dad to come out to Scranton for some awesome race support, but that's gone out the window.  So instead, it looks like the Harrisburg Marathon will take its place at the beginning of November.  I think this is a more favorable option because its a much shorter trip for everyone involved and it gives me just that little extra time to prepare.

Well, thanks for tuning in!  Check back soon.

Things Gained (and Lost) From the Portage Lakes Olympic Triathlon

Thing Gained #1:  Look how huge my quad is in this pic...

Moving on

No, but seriously, There are definitely a few little nuggets of experience that I gained from the Portage Lakes Triathlon that could pay off in a big way in the future.

The first of these stemming from the fact that this was my last triathlon of the season.  What better way to fuel the long, cold winter months  of training (often indoors) than to have quite a significant PR at the distance as my last racing memory?  That was rhetorical; no answer needed.

Perhaps the biggest boost came when I learned how much I can really throw it down on the bike and not be any worse off for it for the rest of the race.  I was obviously a bit upset that this was going to be my last race and it was only the beginning of September.  I wanted more than anything to go out with a bang.  The last thing I wanted was to leave anything out on the course - any part of it.  So I absolutely drilled it on the bike and once again had the very satisfying feeling of passing a few hand fulls of people and not getting passed by anyone.  My slower than average swim time may have been the culprit in allowing that to happen, but in comparison with the swim times of others, it was not so bad.  In the past, a sort of half-iron mentality has prevented me from leaving everything on the bike course, so it was nice to finally see what I really need to do to keep myself at the front of the race. 

It was also valuable to reap the benefits of a revamped nutrition plan that led to finally having confirmation that I can indeed run a sub-40 minute 10k somewhere outside the theoretical plane.  I believe I was only two minutes behind the winner (a professional) in my run split.

I know that the end of the year has not even really begun to wind down, but I'm excited at the energy that I will be carrying into the off-season.  For sure, the 2009 season will be an extremely crucial one in my development as a triathlete and I should get a much better sense of exactly how realistic my goals are.  Judging from how this year has gone, I would say that it seems pretty favorable, but I still have to settle for nothing less than putting everything I have into becoming a better athlete to have a chance.

Having the knowledge that this is now the distance I must concentrate on will let me further specifically tailor my training to it.  That's about it for last impressions following the last triathlon of the year, but before I forget...

Things lost in the Portage Lakes Olympic Triathlon:  Another toe nail has fallen off.

Cheers!

Race Report of the Portage Lakes Olympic Triathlon, Akron, Oh. (9/7)

Sigh, last triathlon of the season.  I drove the 2+ hours out to Portage Lakes (just south of Akron) at about four thirty in the morning.  Sadly, the race was minus my cheering section (Kayla) and I really could have used her navigation skills getting there.  I spent a bit of time getting lost and cut it quite close getting there on time.

The drive was rather boring and transition set-up and pre-race were uneventful.  These are pluses though because having an eventful pre-race would probably mean that something had gone wrong.  I've been to three HFP racing events this year and have to commend their organization.  Every one of them have gone off without a hitch and they are the most enthusiastic people.  Even without anyone to watch me at the race, I still felt like I had them cheering for me.  They seem to be proud of everyone who makes it across the line; pros and back-of-the-packers alike.  I even saw the director of the Greater Cleveland Triathlon there, who I can only assume was trying to learn how a real race is organized.

The swim started pretty normally and I felt great on the first of two laps.  However, for about the last three or four hundred meters, the fact that I had not been in the pool since Tuesday had started to take effect and I really had to drag myself through the water.  At the end of the swim, I had no idea as there was no clock, but I felt as though I had posted a slow swim time.  Checking out the race results online confirmed my suspicions, listing a swim time of over 23 minutes.  I am led to believe that the swim course was a little long because the winner of the race, a legitimate pro triathlete, only pulled off a 20 minute swim.

Because of a few little rises and the traffic coming out of transition from other races, it took about a mile and a half to really get my cycling legs under me.  After that, I was absolutely flying for the rest of the course.  There were a few decent hills and the course was rolling, but there were good downhills leading into these climbs, giving a good deal of speed to use on the way up.  Once again, I had no idea of how much time had elapsed by the end of the bike, but results show that I biked a 1:01!  It was one of my goals this season to get a 40k under an hour, and while this didn't happen, I'm pretty pleased with this particular bike split.  Because I've been having such a hard time with cramping on the run, I knew I had to change my nutrition strategy on the bike.  I probably would not have tried to alter it for this race otherwise, but I had run out of Accelerade a few weeks prior and had not yet gotten a new supply of it.  I knew I had to:  get more electrolytes in me because I am quite a salty sweater, and stop putting calories in my stomach after about two-thirds of the way through the bike so they wouldn't be sitting there for the run.  My usual plan is to have Accelerade up front in my aero-drink and take one gel about half-way through the bike.  For this race, I just used Nuun up front (this electrolyte drink has no calories) and took two gels pretty early on.  I wasn't sure what the outcome would be until I...

...Got to the run.  In a word, I felt fantastic.  I clicked off the first mile in about 6:10.  I wasn't sure if I'd be able to run this fast for the entire 10k, but it was the last race of the season and I wanted to leave it all out there.  Nearly the entire second mile of the two-lap run course was a steady uphill drag.  It wasn't a bad grade, but it was enough that I could absolutely let myself go when running back down the other way.  I got to the turn around to start the second lap and my watch showed a little over twenty minutes.  I was a little bit put-off at this time because I felt like I had been running so much faster.  The run wound down and I stopped my watch at just over 40 minutes.  I've really wanted a sub-40 all season, but I guess I'll have to be happy with this.  Thanks to the wonders of my GPS watch (read previous post), I learned that the run was 6.43 miles as opposed to the standard 6.2 miles.  Does this mean I could have firmly planted myself in the 38th minute for the run had it been standard distance?  I sure hope so and am pretty happy at the thought.  All in all, my run split amounted to 6:19/mile.

My cumulative time was a 2:07 that I was very happy to take and very happy on which to end my season.  Although, I can't help but speculate on what my time would have been had I been able to couple my PR bike and run splits with one of my sub-20 minutes swims and a run course a quarter-mile shorter.  Maybe somewhere between 2:02 or 2:03?  Now, that would be phenomenal for my second season!  

Thanks for reading and keep and eye out for reports of the trio of running races that will finish out my season.  Cheers!

The Wonders of Technology: Part 1 of an undeclared amount

So I finally took the plunge and joined the rest of the technologically affluent athletic community (well, the intelligent athletic community anyway, i.e. most things that don't involve balls or pads) and got a GPS watch!  Mostly to be used for running, but maybe a bit of cycling as well just to have fun with the elevation profile so I don't have to plot my route on mapmyride.com anymore.  Previous to this, I had just been wearing a normal watch.  I never felt the need to progress any further than this until I ran a marathon that did not have pace groups.  Perhaps the only upside to this stone age approach is that it was the only thing still giving me the opportunity to use math on a semi-daily basis ("I need to be running 6:37 miles and it's mile 17 so the elapsed time should read what?  Eh, I give up, I'm tired").  Besides, studies have shown that your brain uses an incredible percentage of energy stores to operate so why give it any more to do that it needs and rob my body of those precious calories?  I prefer to have something else do the thinking for me so I can plod along mindlessly, thanks very much.

But back to the wonders of the Garmin 205.  I bought it for $150, which a steal considering that its MSRP is about $100 more than that.  I would have sprung for the model with an HRM, but I feel that it's an unnecessary distraction for people who have nothing better to do than over-analyze every single one of their workouts.  Secondly, one would benefit far more from actually listening to and getting to know one's own body instead of just looking at a number and having no feeling to associate it with.  

Cool thing number 1:  It tells me exactly what pace I'm running in that moment!  This is phenomenal and it feels so great not having to get to a mile marker to find out how fast I'm running.  However, Pittsburgh it surprisingly tall building and tree-lined and that often messes with the satellite reception.  Occasionally I'll be running 10:00/mile pace, only to follow it up with a super-human (well, super-me, anyway) 4:28/mile pace.  But I can overlook this minor flaw.  It's not as if I'm staring at my watch the entire time I'm running anyway, and if I am, I have other problems to deal with first.

Cool thing B:  It allows me to easily track how far I've run for the session.  This is also another thing that is obviously impossible to do without such a unit, unless of course I would drive the route ahead of time in the car that I don't own.

Cool thing iii:  It comes with a program (that runs on Macs, too!) on which you can upload all of your running data from the watch.  From here, you can take a look at the elevation profile and, since it's a GPS, the exact route that you ran.  My only gripe about this is that the maps that the program uses do not show every street around so, unless you're on a main road, you can't really tell exactly where you went.  But it's pretty awesome because you can match up different parameters.  For example, you can compare the elevation with your pace to see if you really ended up slowing down during a sustained climb or how much you sped up on downhills.

There are many other bonuses about it, but I'm running out of different ways to number/letter things.  I can't wait to use this in a marathon (or really any race for that matter) and view all the stats from it.

For those of you keeping up with my schedule, I'm quite positive I'm going for Steamtown.  I've had a few great long runs and can feel myself working up to where I want to be.  That race is only about five weeks away or so.  If I can crank out 40-45 mile weeks for two of those, I'll feel pretty ready.  Stay tuned for the upcoming last tri of the season and my shorter running races leading up to Steamtown.  Cheers!