3 Resolutions You Should Make!

"How few there are who have courage enough to own their own faults, or resolution enough to mend them."  Benjamin Franklin

Endurance athletes tend to be a highly motivated group of people who typically don't make New Year's Resolutions.  That said, very few of us have reached the pinnacle of our athletic potential and in turn are constantly searching for that thing that will help us get to the next level.  As you sketch out your schedule and write down your goals, consider resolving to make these three things part of your plan.

Resolution #1: Commit to strength training year round.

Many endurance athletes see time spent in the gym as time wasted.  Yet strength training has tremendous benefits for the endurance athlete including increased hardiness, reduced recovery time, and improvement in strength endurance.  During the off-season make an effort to include three days a week of total body strength training.  Once your sport-specific training volume picks up, reduce that (if you'd like) to twice weekly.  The key to optimizing the benefits is doing it year round.

Resolution #2: Add a pre-workout mobility routine.

The most overlooked and underappreciated element of any fitness plan is mobility.  Perhaps because it's the easiest thing to do physically it's often skipped in favor of more vigorous activities.  The repetitive motion and impact nature of running sometimes results in issues such as IT-Band and piriformis syndrome when the associated soft-tissues are not at their optimal length and tension.  An easy way to work on correcting these length/tension issues is to discipline yourself to include mobility work prior to your more vigorous activities (ie. strength or endurance training).  

Resolution #3: Make recovery practices a priority.

The most powerful variable of any training plan is consistency.  When training units are consistently executed as planned, improvements in performance are possible.  In order for an athlete to give their full effort to a training unit they must feel recovered from the previous workout.  This recovery requires planning and execution.  The most consequential recovery practices include rejuvenating sleep, hydration, and nutrition.

A resolution without an implementation plan is simply a thought.  Begin to adopt these effective training strategies by first writing them in your training plan or journal.  And with some routine practice they'll become second nature.  

Conquering The Post-(Big) Race Blues

Having the right plan can help
to ward off those post-race blues.
Photo: bostonmagazine.com

"A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions."  Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

The post-race blues are a real thing.  And the longer the preparation time and more significant the event the more dramatic these feelings tend to be.  There is a way, however, to minimize or even prevent the phenomena.  It can be done with just three steps.

Step #1: Own It.  Learn From It.  Move On.
Race performances are almost always viewed through the narrow prism of "success" or "failure".  And often the greater the sacrifices in pursuit of these outcomes, the more pronounced the emotions.  Both pride and regret require an incredible amount of energy to maintain and ultimately neither will serve you well going forward.  The first step to beating the post-(big) race blues is owning the performance, learning lessons from the experience, and then moving on.

Own It
No matter what the outcome was or how you got there, you must take personal responsibility for what happened.  Growth is only possible if you acknowledge that it is you, and you alone, that determines your fate.  

Learn From It
If (secretly) the reason we challenge ourselves is for the number of "Likes" on our social media accounts after the event, then we potentially miss out on an incredible opportunity to achieve higher levels of performance.  What we learn from these experiences is far more significant that what we achieve from them.  Kudos, PR's, and trophy's only serve to bolster our Ego and keep us idling in place.  But if we can learn from the experience then we grow.  And with growth there is development both as an athlete and as a person.  

Move On.
This is often just as difficult for the athlete that viewed the event as a "success" as for the athlete that viewed it as a "failure".  But once the lessons are learned and cataloged, both need to tie a bow on the race and move on.  The longer an athlete commits energy to maintain the emotions of the outcome (positive or negative), the more exaggerated the eventual post-(big) race blues will be.

Step #2:  Get Back To Activity
For the same reasons the taper caused feelings of restlessness, sleeplessness, and anxiety the post-race period has the potential to do the same.  See my recent article on tapering and endocannabinoids.  The sooner you can get back to being routinely physically active the sooner you'll be able to balance brain chemistry and start to feel like yourself again.  You don't have to be running to take advantage of the mental benefits of exercise.  In the week following the race choose cross- and complimentary-training activities that limit or avoid impact.  Examples include cycling and strength training.  Keep the consistency high but the intensity and duration relatively low.  

Step #3:  Create A New "Why"
For the last six months or more, every training session had a purpose.  As athletes we crave a "why" for our efforts.  It gives the tough training sessions more value and motivates us to push through fatigue, scheduling challenges, and discomfort.  After the big race has concluded the "why" fades away in the distance.  We find ourselves struggling to find motivation to do much of anything.  The last step in conquering the post-(big) race blues is finding your next "why".  This may be your next race but it may also be your next cycle of training.  Whatever it is, finding your next focus will help set your intrinsic cause and effect mindset toward action again.

Do, Try, Skip: Foam Rolling, Group Exercise, Running Music

Do you need music to perform
at your best?
Photo: competitor RUNNING

This series is intended to provide an informative and entertaining look at common practices in endurance sports.  The views expressed here are my opinions based largely on a combination of professional experience as an exercise physiologist and personal experience as an endurance athlete.

Sports training practices change over time.  Looking back a generation (or more) some things seem preposterous now.  But in their day and time they might have been considered cutting edge.  This "Do, Try, Skip" series will look at current popular training practices and provide guidance based on science (if available) and personal experience.  Today we look at three popular training practices; foam rolling, group exercise, and listening to music while running.

Foam Rolling: DO
The practice of foam rolling is something many athletes (myself included) understand to be important but few consistently perform.  Interestingly, the technique may have originated as an inexpensive way for Broadway dancers to simulate deep tissue massage on tight aching muscles.  But the practice was undoubtedly popularized by National Academy of Sports Medicine founder and physical therapist Michael A. Clark.  Referred to as self-myofascial release stretching (SMFR) in his 2002 manual Optimal Performance Training for the Performance Enhancement Specialist the technique is defined as "the process of using bio-foam rollers and/or "The Stick" to improve soft-tissue extensibility".  This type of stretching utilizes the autogenic inhibition theory to correct length and tension imbalances of the muscles.  

Self-Myofascial Release of the TFL.
From livejacked.com

Autogenic Inhibition
The key to understanding how foam rolling works lies with muscle spindles and Golgi Tendon Organs (GTO).  Muscle spindles lie in parallel with muscle fibers and sense the rate and change of muscle lengthening.  When stimulated they may cause the muscle to contract resulting in "trigger points".  This can occur during times of sudden increases in training volume or new training loads (ie. change of surface or terrain).  A chronically shortened (ie. contracted) muscle not only may cause discomfort, but it is also less effective at producing force and may affect how the other soft-tissues nearby act.  

The GTO is a proprioceptive sensory receptor organ located within the junction between the muscle and the tendon and is highly sensitive to changes in tension and the rate of tension change.  When you use your body weight on the foam roller you are placing tension on the musculotendinous junction of that muscle and stimulating the GTO.  With enough stimulation, the GTO may "turn off" the muscle spindles causing the tight muscle to relax, unwind, or "unknot".  This occurs when the neural impulses sensing tension (from the foam roller) are greater than the impulses causing muscle tension (from the tight muscles).

So when and how do you use the foam roller?
Foam rolling should be seen as a form of stretching.  Specifically as a corrective flexibility modality.  When used to correct muscle imbalances (length & tension) it is best performed in both the pre- and post-workout periods.  To obtain the optimal benefit from the technique place a tolerable amount of body weight pressure on the "tender/trigger points" of the muscle and hold for approximately 30-90 seconds.  This provides adequate time for the GTO to begin to inhibit the target/offending muscle spindles.  It's worth noting that other devices may be used to perform the technique including a lacrosse ball, medicine ball, or other handheld devices.  

IMPORTANT NOTE:  While foam rolling is generally safe, it should not be performed by persons with heart failure, kidney failure, other organ failure, bleeding disorders, or contagious skin disorders.  If you have any doubt whether or not the practice would be safe and appropriate for you, check with your physician first. *From NASM

Group Exercise: TRY
There is little doubt that to improve sport-specific performance you must spend a considerable amount of time performing that sport.  However, the cumulative effects of repetitive movements patterns can result in overuse-associated soft-tissue breakdown and subsequent forced rest.  Two common ways of reducing the frequency and potential impact of repetitive movement patterns are cross-training (ie. cycling for runners and running for cyclists) and complimentary-training practices (ie. strength & mobility training).  While these activities are unquestionably important to the sustained health and performance of an endurance athlete, there are often barriers to participation.  One common barrier is the perception of lack of mastery.  None of us want to look or feel like we don't know what we are doing.  This may be the case for an endurance athlete not familiar with either cross-training or complimentary-training activities.  Here's where friendly and supportive instructor-led group exercise classes fill an incredibly important role.  

Spinning Bikes.
From nursegail.com

Group exercise can generally be categorized in one of four ways; aerobic, strength, bodymind, and specialty.  All have potential benefit to the endurance athlete.  Let's take a look and some common examples and how they might fit into an endurance training program.



Indoor Cycling (aka. Spinning)
Type: cross-training
Category:  aerobic

While it's always better to be outside rather than inside, indoor instructor led group cycling classes offer runners a non-impact alternative to their high impact sport.  

Kickboxing
Type:  cross-training
Category: aerobic

This instructor-led group exercise format is a mix of boxing moves, martial arts, and aerobics that combine to provide a high-intensity training session and is great for cyclists as it gets them out of forward trunk/hip flexion and upright on their feet.  

Orangetheory Fitness®
Type:  cross-training & complimentary-training
Category: aerobic & strength

Led by qualified personal trainers this one hour exercise class uses heart rate to monitor high intensity interval training (aerobic & strength) giving users a targeted and effective training experience.  Because of the use of both aerobic activities (running, cycling, rowing) along with strength exercises it covers both the aerobic and strength categories. 

Yoga
Type:  complimentary-training
Category:  bodymind

The spiritual element of yoga separates it from most other instructor-led group exercise activities.  And while the bodymind benefits are translatable to all endurance athletes, it's ability to improve mobility may be it's greatest physical benefit.  

Running Music: SKIP
What's a blog without occasionally dipping your toe into a heated debate once in a while?  I am well aware that many runners use music while running to help them either escape from the drudgery or motivate them to push harder.  Both of these rationales are valid yet they don't overcome the overwhelming negatives associated with the practice.  Listening to music while running is considered a dissociative behavior.  That is to say, it's a way to disconnect from the activity.  This disconnection is both mental and physical.  But being connected to the activity provides a wealth of important and immediate feedback that helps to assure the activity is both safe and effective.

Safety
Whether on or off-road you are likely to be sharing space with other people.  These people are typically traveling by vehicle, bicycle, or on foot.  In each case there may be a need for you to yield the right of way.  When being approached from behind it is very difficult for you to be fully aware of your surroundings while listening to music.  Portable music devices today are typically quite inconspicuous and may not be noticeable to others around you.  This could lead to a dangerous scenario of an overtaking motorist (on road) or cyclist (on trail) attempting to signal their intent to you but to no avail.  

Efficacy
Your ears provide important feedback while running.  Running economy may be improved, in part, by soft quiet foot strikes.  Listening to music while running makes it impossible to gain this valuable feedback.  Lastly, many running events either discourage or prohibit the use of headphones due to liability concerns.  If you are conditioned to listening to music in training to help you "get through the tough times", you may be at a distinct disadvantage without it during a race.  

Let me be clear, there is a difference between listening to music while running outside versus listening to music while running inside on a treadmill.  Running inside on a treadmill is drudgery and anything you can do to take your mind off of the activity is probably helpful.  Just make sure the music you've selected doesn't get you so fired up that you miss the objective of the workout (ie. easy on easy days or target effort).  

Why The Finish Line Isn't The End

A well constructed recovery plan
will help you get back to training
safely, effectively, and efficiently.

"The finish line is just the beginning of a whole new race."  ~Anonymous

Most training plans are filled will intricate details of distances and pace targets that culminate with an event.  Yet what you do in the seventy-two hours following an event of marathon distance or greater plays a large role in how safely, effectively, and efficiently you are able to return to training.  Endurance athletes tend to have busy race schedules.  It's not unusual for some to have multiple events of marathon distance or greater planned in the same calendar year.  This ambitious race schedule not only places a tremendous emphasis on preparation but also recovery.  Here are the essential elements of a post-event recovery protocol;

Immediate Post-Race
They've hung the medal around your neck, you've visited with family and friends, and now you finally have a chance to sit down.  Take a deep breath.  While the race may be over, the event still has one last critical element to execute...the recovery.  

Once a race has finished the top three immediate recovery priorities are hydration, glycogen replenishment, and tending to minor medical needs.  The most effective way to re-hydrate is with an cold isotonic solution.  The amount is generally commensurate with the length of time and type of environment to which you were exposed.  A good place to start is with 20-24 ounces of this type of fluid.  Be cautious not to over-consume before you've tended to the second priority; glycogen replenishment.  The most effective way to replenishment glycogen following a glycogen-depleting activity is to consume a beverage containing a ratio of carbohydrates and proteins tailored to your individual needs within an hour of the event.  Finally, before you leave the venue make sure to tend to minor medical needs.  Commonly these involve the skin which is not only the largest, but also the most vulnerable, organ of the body and subject to integrity issues (ie. blisters, chaffing, etc).  

Post-Race Evening
Now that you're home and showered there are five things to do before your head hits the pillow for some well earned rest.  

1.)  Respect Food Cravings
Your body has a unique ability to signal which nutrients it needs through food cravings.  This is particularly true following an exhaustive event.  Listen to these cravings and follow their lead.  

2.)  Hydrate
Although it will likely result in you getting up multiple times during the night, continue your hydration plan.  Your objective is to return your urine to a pale yellow color.  It's worth noting, clear urine may be an indication that you have over consumed and potentially have placed yourself in jeopardy of electrolyte disturbances.  Pale yellow is best. 

3.)  Eat A High Performance Meal
Item #1 notwithstanding, the majority of calories consumed should be from healthy proteins and fats.  These nutrients accelerate skeletal muscle repair and assist in the regeneration of key hormones.  As much as possible attempt to limit simple sugars (ie. high fructose corn syrup) as they may contribute to inflammation during a time in which you are attempting to reduce activity-associated inflammation.  

4.)  Boost HGH To Aid Recovery
Consuming a serving of whey protein (mixed with water) within thirty minutes of bed time may enhance human growth hormone (HGH) levels.  HGH may aid in skeletal muscle repair of which you are going to need to do.  

5.)  Get To Bed Early
Although not always practical, it is good practice to get bed an hour earlier than usual.  Physiologic recovery occurs during rest.  Multiple factors may disrupt your sleep pattern following an exhaustive bout of physical activity so it's important to realize that even though you may have a hard time falling and staying asleep, as long as you are laying down you are resting and recovering.

The Next 72 Hours
Despite how you feel when you go down stairs, you are now well on your way to safe, effective, and efficient recovery.  But it's far from over.  The next three days are incredibly important.  Here are the items to focus on;

Physical Practices
1.)  No running for one (1) day for every ten (10) miles raced.  
2.)  Perform a 10-20 minute "active recovery" walk each day.
3.)  Follow that walk with some gentle mobility exercises.
4.)  Continue to get to bed an hour early each night.  

Nutritional Practices
1.)  Increase healthy protein intake in order to provide your body with the building blocks it needs to continue with skeletal muscle restoration.
2.)  Consume healthy fats to continue assist in the regeneration of key hormones.
3.)  Continue to hydrate to a pale yellow urine.  
4.)  Continue to consume a serving of whey protein (mixed with water) thirty minutes before bed.

After the 72 hour post-event period you should be feeling well on your way to completely recovered.  While you follow the "10 Mile Rule", consider adding some non-impact "active recovery" cross-training modalities to slowly increase your activity level and to mitigate significant alterations in form (ie. becoming stale).   

A professional endurance coach can not only provide specific details with respect to the recovery protocols listed above but can also provide guidance with regard to resumption of sport-specific training.  

Optimal Performance Weight For Endurance Athletes

Using total body weight alone is
like the cover of a text book.  It
gives you some idea of what's
inside but lacks important detail.

 "Never be fooled by what you see on the outside because on the inside it's often a different story." ~Anonymous

Human performance results from a complex interaction of physical, psychological, and nutritional variables. Your "optimal performance weight" is one of those variables. Let's drill down a little deeper into the topic.

Optimal Performance Weight

Body weight is an incredibly sensitive topic to discuss. Various societal pressures have increased the prevalence of disordered eating and exercise behaviors in young people. Some estimates suggest there are approximately 30 million US adults struggling with an eating disorder with 95% of them between the ages of 12-25. Female athletes make up a disproportionate percentage of that group. Many endurance athletes have experienced an eating disorder before or perhaps are struggling with one now. It is for that reason that I approach this subject very cautiously and in the spirit of supportive guidance rather than with disapproving judgement.

Body weight is inextricable related to endurance performance. More specifically, body composition (lean body mass and fat mass) is linked to endurance performance. But no online "optimal performance weight" calculator can determine that for you. Your optimal performance body composition can only be determined by consistent data collection over time. Here's how it works.

Body Composition
Your total body weight alone is like the cover of a text book; it gives you some idea of what's inside but lacks important details. With respect to body composition those details include lean body mass and percent body fat. If you're interested in optimizing endurance performance you should consider measuring your body composition routinely. These periodic body composition assessments create body accountability and data points. When assessing body composition consider the following guidelines;

1.) Assess Monthly
More frequent assessment is less sensitive to actual changes in body composition and more sensitive to daily or weekly fluctuations in body water.

2.) Standardize
By creating the same testing conditions (time of day, clothing, etc) you significantly reduce the error associated with the testing conditions.

3.) Testing Considerations
When you test make sure that you haven't exercised or eaten for at least three hours prior to the assessment and always on an empty bladder and bowel (ideally).

Commercial body fat scales are now both widely available and affordable. Most use "bioelectric impedance" technology which has been around for decades and highly correlated with the gold standards for this procedure (skinfold and plethysmography).

Performance Outcomes
Once you are in the habit of collecting lean body mass and percent body fat data the next step is to correlate it to endurance performance. There are a few important things to consider. First, understand that body composition naturally fluctuates throughout the year and/or training cycle. Differences in eating and activity patterns during the winter months and off-seasons tend to result in natural and acceptable increases in percent body fat during these times. Secondly, we must always account for the effects of aging on both performance and body composition. That is to say, you should keep your comparison of body composition and performance to the last 3-5 years. Anything beyond that becomes an unreasonable and unrealistic comparison and sets you up for discouragement and resultant demotivation. Lastly, standardize the correlation by choosing an event or workouts that is both relevant and repeatable.

My Experience

The last four years of body fat and Orchard Cross
results clearly shows that for me; leaner is faster.

This graph is the last four years of my percent body fat and cyclocross performance. The body composition data was collected on a Tanita body fat scale once a month (I've actually been collecting the data monthly for over a decade). The performance data is from a local cyclocross race (Orchard Cross) that I've done for a number of consecutive years and represents the finish points in my Category 4/5 40+ race. For those not familiar with cyclocross, the lower the finish points the better the performance relative to the rest of the field. There are a few important things to note from the graph. The first is that you can clearly see seasonal fluctuations in percent body fat with the winter months generally representing the higher percent body fat values. Secondly, there appears to be a direct correlation to my percent body fat and my Orchard Cross results. In other words, the lower my percent body fat, the better the performance result (in lower points) at that specific race. While this really isn't a surprise, it's very helpful for me to see it in black and white (and red). This graph clearly demonstrates that my 50 year old optimal performance body composition is around 10% body fat. And just as importantly, I know exactly the dedication it takes to reach this level.

Please remember that this value is highly individualized. Your optimal performance body composition is uniquely yours and you must collect adequate amounts of data to determine that value.

Spring Cleaning Tips For Endurance Athletes

"The best way to find out what we really need is to get rid of what we don't."  -Marie Kondo

Spring cleaning is the common practice of giving your home and property a thorough tidying at the end of Winter.  It's also a great time to identify and correct minor, seasonal problems that could end up causing more significant issues, frustration, and expenses down the road.  While this is the perfect time to dust the furniture, it's also a great time to metaphorically "dust" your training program.  Here are the Top 5 Spring Cleaning Tips For Endurance Athletes.

#1:  Stop Trying
It's been said that "trying is lying".  When our response to a challenge is "to try" we create an outcome vagueness that gives us an excuse for coming up short.  Subconsciously we have already determined that we won't make it, and when we don't it really won't be our fault.  The "trying" mindset focuses critical attention on unknown factors that potentially prevent you from attaining your goal.  Don't "try", rather intend to commit yourself fully to the challenge by engaging the process with effort.  Effort is something that is applied, not tried.1

#2:  Slow Down
One of the most common mistake endurance athletes make is performing their "active recovery" training units too hard.  Training intensity may be monitored using heart rate, pace, or power.  Active recovery units are designed to add sport-specific training volume and enhance maximum lactate steady-state by increasing Type 1 skeletal muscle fiber function without the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal stress.  For optimal benefit these training units should be performed at less than 85% of threshold heart rate, pace, or power.  

#3:  Tighten Up
Strength training is critical to performance for endurance athletes.  It's fairly easy to get to the gym during the long cold dark winter months but as the daylight hours lengthen and the weather warms up we tend to commit ourselves less to the practice.  It's reasonable to reduce the volume of training in the gym as the amount of sport-specific activities increase, just make sure you are still performing a total body routine at least twice a week.  If on the other hand you haven't been to the gym in months, now is a great time to commit yourself once again.

#4:  Cut Back
Every endurance athlete has an optimal performance-based body weight.  Very few of us are at that weight at the beginning of Spring.  Too little time spent outdoors in the wintertime may result in a relative Vitamin D deficiency.  This can often lead to seasonal disturbances in mood.  These seasonal mood disturbances may cause us to seek out comfort foods like sweets and alcohol in an effort to balance brain chemistry.  The result is that we are often a few pounds from that optimal performance-based weight.  An excellent first step toward that goal is to cut back on two sources of empty calories including sweets and alcohol.  While eliminating them may be unrealistic for many endurance athletes, cutting back by avoiding during the week saves significant calories and often leads to positive changes in body composition.  

#5:  Find Balance...Again
Our love of endurance sports is one way we define ourselves.  Yet sometimes it becomes painfully obvious that our training and racing doesn't happen in a vacuum.  The stark reality is that our training and racing happens in the context of the rest of our lives.  Our very busy lives.  In this age of social media-based training communities it's easy to caught up in what everyone else is doing.  This often leads to us feeling insecure about the amount of training we are doing and causes us to overextend ourselves.  When the delicate balance of training and "life" is upset, our training is often sacrificed.  Now is a great time to sit down and sketch out a training plan that fits your life, rather than your life fitting your training plan.  When endurance athletes have it the other way around, it's only a matter of time that this "house of cards" comes crashing down.  

1 The Rock Warrior's Way by Arno Ilgner

Supraventicular Tachycardia & Endurance Athletes

Endurance athletes live longer
than non-athletes but are at
greater risk of heart abnormalities.
Photo from VeloNews.

"Follow your heart but take your brain with you." ~Anonymous
In the field of exercise science there is a concept known as The Exercise Paradox and it suggests that if you survive enough repeated bouts of exercise you'll likely outlive those who never exercise. While that sounds dramatic, the facts are that as exercise intensity increases so does the risk of bad things happening. And almost all of those things involve the heart. But the flip side is the adoption of exercise a lifestyle behavior significantly reduces the risk of hypokinetic early mortality-related diseases like heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and certain site specific cancers. Recent evidence suggests that masters endurance athletes with a long history of training may be at increased risk of heart-related rhythm abnormalities including one called supraventricular tachycardia. And as luck would have it, I recently discovered I too have experienced it.

In a previous career I spent nearly 25 years as a clinical exercise physiologist and had the good fortune to supervise over a million person-hours of ECG-monitored exercise. It's fair to say this particular topic is in my wheelhouse. I also was witness to countless episodes of this phenomena in the patients I supervised.

Heart Rate Monitoring

Many endurance athletes collect heart rate data during training. The consumer version of the technology has become quite advanced, accurate, and much more commonplace in the last 20 years. The most popular versions include wireless chest strap and wrist-based monitors. Although my personal bias is toward the chest-strap technology, recent comparative reviews have shown that both technologies are reasonably well correlated if the manufacturers instructions are followed. For nearly all of us who add the technology and data to our training plans, the motivation is to add important detail with respect to cumulative training stress across all modalities. But the benefits should also include the possibility of uncovering one of the more common and perhaps most elusive heart rhythm disturbances in endurance athletes; supraventricular tachycardia.

Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT): What You Need To Know

Supraventricular tachycardia occurs when faulty electrical connections in the upper chambers of the heart (ie. atria, "supraventricular", or above the ventricles) trigger and sustain an abnormal rhythm. When this happens, the heart rate accelerates (ie. tachycardia) too quickly and doesn't allow enough time for the heart to fill before it contracts again potentially impacting it's performance.(1)

This heart rhythm abnormality is one of the more common found in endurance athletes and is generally categorized as a "tachyarrhythmia" (ie. fast abnormal heart rate).  It often manifests itself as a sudden unpredictable accelerated heart rate (150-200 beats/minutes) that is inconsistent with the amount of exercise performed, is sustained for a number of minutes, and often resolves spontaneously.  Endurance athletes are largely desensitized to the feeling of high heart rates, so it may go unnoticed (ie. without symptoms).  However, some individuals are symptomatic while it is happening describing symptoms such as a fluttering in the chest, abnormal shortness of breath, dizziness, or unusual exercise-associated anxiety.  These symptoms and this abnormal rhythm may last for minutes or days and should result in a visit to your healthcare provider.  If you experience these symptoms associated with a sudden onset of accelerated heart rate inconsistent with the amount of activity performed you may be able to "break" the arrhythmia by using the valsalva maneuver.  Sit down and expire forcefully against a closed glottis for a few seconds.  This "bearing down" can momentarily alter the electrical pathways in the heart and resolve the arrhythmia.

Practical Application: How It's Uncovered

If the abnormal heart rhythm goes unnoticed it may not be until the post-activity review of the training data that the unusual accelerated heart rate is discovered. If endurance athletes notice this unusual accelerated heart rate the first thing that must be ruled out is a malfunction in the heart rate monitor itself. While home-based heart rate monitoring technology is robust, it is not without error. Generally speaking, if you notice sudden brief "spikes" in heart rate lasting only a few seconds it can be assumed that it is an equipment error. However, if these accelerated heart rates are sustained for minutes within a training session with an otherwise normally functioning device, then there should be suspicion that an actual arrhythmia has occurred.

My Recent Experience With SVT

Diagram 1:  The first indication that something
unusual had occurred was during the
post-activity review of heart rate data.

As "luck" would have it, this is exactly what happened to me during a recent fat bike ride. At nearly 50 years of age I have had the good health and fortune to have trained as an endurance athlete consistently for the past 30+ years. And working in the field of cardiology as a clinical exercise physiologist during much of that time, I have had a number of advanced diagnostic procedures performed including a 12-lead ECG, echocardiogram, and maximum graded exercise test. All had been interpreted as within normal limits. So although I understand the cardiovascular pathophysiology of long-term exposure to high volumes of endurance exercise, I was nonetheless taken off guard when I reviewed the heart rate response from a recent ride. Nearly halfway through a typical fat bike ride with better than average conditions following a fairly strenuous but not unusual climb (for me), I noticed my heart rate failed to drop on the easy downhill coast. You can see from the shaded area in Diagram 1 that not only did my heart rate fail to drop when I started back downhill, it actually accelerated above my average climbing heart rate (150 b/min vs. 180 b/min). Because my heart rate display was hidden under the sleeve of my jacket I was completely unaware during the activity that anything was out of the ordinary. The abnormally elevated heart rate spontaneously resolved after approximately 10 minutes. While there is absolutely no way to tell exactly what this abnormal heart rate was, the sudden onset, the rate, and spontaneous resolution are all highly suggestive of supraventricular tachycardia.

Diagram 2:  Two exact rides with one demonstrating
a suspiciously sudden elevated heart rate.

This frank episode had me wondering if it had happened before so I took a little closer look at some recent training data and low and behold I found another asymptomatic occurrence. This time on my hard tail single-speed bike and on pavement. And luckily I had another exact ride (route and equipment) for comparison. Diagram 2 is a comparative study of two exact rides on different days but on the same bike. The above heart rate data shows my "normal" heart rate response to this level of challenge. My heart rate increases during the climb and then decreases during the descent. This is very typical in cycling. However, the bottom heart rate data shows a failure of my heart rate to drop following the second ascent and subsequent descent. Although a little slower than my "episode" on the fat bike, this shaded area represents an average heart rate in the 160's and is consistent with SVT and because it occurred during a descent makes it suspicious.

Take Home Message

It's important to note that the diagnosis of SVT cannot be made by analyzing heart rate data solely although it is often the first indication the arrhythmia has occurred. You should become suspicious if when analyzing your heart rate data in the post-activity period you notice a sudden increase in heart rate (150-200 beats/min) that is inconsistent with the effort performed. If accompanied by the symptoms previously described and if it's a new phenomena to you, it's wise to contact your healthcare provider for follow-up. This follow-up will almost certainly include a physical exam and should include a 12-lead ECG. The paroxysmal nature of this arrhythmia makes it very difficult to document with electrocardiography. Many endurance athletes report having to wear an "event recorder" for multiple days including during exercise but without "uncovering" the arrhythmia. This often leads physicians to "speculate" what is actually happening. If however the arrhythmia is documented with an ECG and it has become performance-limiting, cardiologists may decide to either ablate (ie. destroy) the small cluster of cells in the atria causing the problem or slow the electrical conduction of the heart with a medication in the class known as beta blockers.

While this abnormal heart rhythm does not necessarily portend serious medical consequences in otherwise healthy hearts, it is worth noting and should always be followed up with a visit to your healthcare provider to rule out occult causes or other more serious tachyarrhythmias like ventricular tachycardia if you are symptomatic.

1 Mayo Clinic

Training Interference: Kicking It Down The Road

If you can't get in today's workout
should you kick it down the road?

"Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow?"  ~Anonymous

The variable of interference is an integral part of every endurance training plan.  In every day practice the concept helps to answer the question, "If I miss today's training unit should I push it to tomorrow?".  The answer is almost always "perhaps", but let's look at why.

In the programming of endurance sports training, interference implies that one training unit has the potential to impact another training unit.  The magnitude of this interaction almost always is directly related to the time proximity of the two training units.  That is to say, the closer the training units are stacked together with respect to time, the greater the potential for them to interact.  When training programs are designed, this relationship between training units is fairly precisely orchestrated.

For simplicity let's categorize interference three ways; maximal, potential, and minimal. An example of all three is depicted in the training log below.

Maximal Interference
When performed on the same day, two training units have great potential to interfere with each other.  The type, duration, and intensity of the training unit will determine the amount of time needed for recovery (complete or incomplete) and therefore the magnitude of interference exerted on the subsequent training unit.  In this example, a running-specific hill workout precedes a mobility/strength training unit.  Because this training cycle represents a specific preparation phase for an upcoming event (within 4-8 weeks), running is given priority over mobility and strength development.  When two training units are scheduled and performed on the same day it can be assumed that the first training unit will maximally interfere with the subsequent training unit.  Sometimes there is an attempt to avoid this interaction (as in the case of scheduling the running unit first), and sometimes the interaction is used purposefully (as in the case of pre-fatiguing the sport-specific soft-tissues with "doubles").

Potential Interference

A common program design philosophy includes microcycle variability.  This is seen as following "hard" days with "easy" days to give the body's adaptive mechanisms a chance to do their work.  When multiple hard efforts are scheduled in sequence, not only is there less time for important training adaptations to occur, but the risk of overreaching is considerably higher.  In the example above, Thursday's steady-state workout is scheduled forty-eight hours prior to Saturday's long run.  This design is described as "potential interference" in so much as there is likely to be some carried fatigue from Thursday without compromising Saturday's training unit.  This carried fatigue is both purposeful and potentially important with regard to sport-specific performance.  In other words, marathon and ultramarathon sports have both a strength endurance and metabolic endurance component.  Performing Saturday's long run on some carried fatigue helps to prepare the athlete for the physical and energetic demands later in races.

Minimal Interference

Lastly, there are times in which training units are scheduled to minimally interact with each other as in the case of these Saturday long runs.  Although often this more a function of time availability, it does end up serving an important design benefit.  Training units of two hours in duration or longer, place significant stress loads on the body.  This includes the structural components (ie. musculoskeletal system), bio energetic systems (ie. glycogen and fat), and immune system.  The ability to successfully complete these long training units is vital to sport-specific performance.  Therefore while some carried fatigue is beneficial (as in the potential interference example above), an excessive amount of carried fatigue not only potentially compromising the successful completion of the training unit, but is also significantly increases the risk of soft-tissue injuries and illness.

In summary, because most weekly training schedules often use all three forms of interference, be careful when you "kick a training unit down the road" by moving it to the next day.  

Gym Etiquette: The Golden Rules

If there's one place our self absorbed
culture doesn't belong, it's at the gym.

"In my case, self-absorption is completely justified.  I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention."  -Jay Dratler

In the natural order of things, important life lessons are passed down from generation to generation.  This paradigm, for it to function, assumes two things; great teachers and great listeners.  Sadly our society is littered with examples of the absence of both.  Take for instance the concept of selflessness.  Those great listeners who had great teachers learned at a very early age to have a greater concern for the needs and wishes of others than for their own.  And while that concept is foreign to many, at the very least we should strive to have an equal concern for the needs and wishes of others.  Yet our society today encourages selfishness in the guise of self-absorption.  This is no more evident than at our modern high volume low dollar gyms.  

I consider myself incredibly fortunate to have been taught the lessons of selflessness by great teachers.  In this case, my parents.  As a young person this broader lesson was specifically practiced in the one place that used to demand it...the weight room.  Thirty-five years ago the weight room that I visited was a different place; dark, dirty, loud, intimidating, and no nonsense.  It was, in fact, all of the things that today's fitness facilities are not.  But what it lacked in polish it more than accounted for with a very simple set of rules.  These rules, by their essence, promoted the life lesson of selflessness.  Modern gym members could make the experience better for everyone by following these simple rules created by the tank top clad lunks of my past.

Rule #1:  Never Obstruct A Mirror
In a weight room, mirrors have a number of uses.  One of them is monitoring exercise technique by providing immediate feedback to body positioning.  This is especially true in a "free weight" area where dumbbells are often combined with adjustable benches to perform specific exercises.  The open chain nature of these exercises makes the constant monitoring of the movement (by watching in the mirror) important to both safety and efficacy.  When you are in the free weight area make sure to pay particular attention to others around you and avoid, at all cost, walking or standing in front of their mirror while they are performing an exercise.  This sometimes means you may need to wait 10-20 seconds or walk an extra 10-20 steps so as not to interrupt the person actively performing an exercise.

Rule #2:  Don't Sit On The Equipment Between Sets
Most fitness facilities have selectorized strength equipment (ie. strength machines) that attempt to target certain muscle groups.  These strength machines are generally organized to be done in a circuit where the user performs one set and then moves to the next machine.  However, certain strength training routines require multiple sets of a particular exercise with very specific rest intervals between sets.  In that case it is proper to perform a set of the exercise and then stand up from the machine to allow someone who is waiting to perform their set while you rest.  This is particularly true if you are using a unique piece of equipment (ie. the only one of it's kind in the facility).  

Rule #3:  Take What You Need And Leave The Rest
It is only physically possible to use one set of dumbbells or one piece of equipment at a time.  Yet in the ultimate act of selfishness, some gym goers cache multiple sets of dumbbells and take residence on multiple pieces of equipment at one time.  Interestingly this tends to be the more "advanced" user who should be setting an example rather than perpetuating the character flaw.  Be considerate of others and use only one set of dumbbells or one piece of equipment at a time.

Finally, there is one additional rule that my father could not have imaged to teach back in the summer of 1983;

Rule #4:  Leave Your Phone At Home
Today's "smart phone" has become a great distraction.  The gym isn't the place to look at cat memes or post selfies sitting on the equipment (see above).  The gym is unique in that it really only has one assumed purpose...for working out.  Anything outside of that simply distracts from that objective, wastes time, and potentially reduces the benefit.  You'll get a better workout, waste less time, and potentially impact others less if you just leave your phone at home.  

Do, Try, Skip: Mobility Exercises, Pickle Juice, Ice Baths

Pickle juice contains a
chemical compound that just
may reduce cramps.

This series is intended to provide an informative and entertaining look at common practices in endurance sports.  The views expressed here are my opinions based largely on a combination of professional experience as an exercise physiologist and personal experience as an endurance athlete.

Sports training practices change over time.  Looking back a generation (or more) some things seem preposterous now.  But in their day and time they might have been considered cutting edge.  This "Do, Try, Skip" series will look at current popular training practices and provide guidance based on science (if available) and personal experience.  Today we look at three popular training practices; mobility exercises, pickle juice, and ice baths.

Mobility Exercises: DO
Endurance athletes spend a tremendous amount of time performing repetitive movements as they train for their sport(s).  And while the specificity of training principle states that to be a "better" runner you must run (or cyclist you must cycle), focusing all your attention on these movement patterns can create muscle imbalances that often lead to overuse injuries and time away from training.

Mobility is the ability to move quickly and easily.  It's clearly an important attribute to sport performance.  When we spend adequate amounts of time participating in our sports we develop specific adaptations that improve performance.  Unfortunately, these sport-specific movements (running or cycling) involve relatively limited range of motion in a handful of the articulating joints.  Over time the soft-tissues that support or move the joints can become shortened and dysfunctional.  These imbalances can cause a cascade of problems not the least of which is improper positioning of the joint capsules which may result in a reduced ability to generate force.  And for an endurance athlete this means one or both of two things; 1.) reduced sport performance and 2.) increased risk of injuries.

Adding mobility exercises to your training routine can help to improve soft-tissue and joint dysfunction caused by overused and shortened locomotion muscles.  Do this routine daily to improve mobility and sport performance.  Video courtesy of Kim Nedeau.  Check out her informative video series for endurance athletes.  

Pickle Juice: TRY
Every endurance athlete has had the experience of performance-limiting excruciating muscle cramps during a race.  And interestingly enough these sometimes happen in the context of cool weather and adequate hydration tactics.  In 2011, during my last attempt at the infamously brutal 7 Sisters Trail Race (Amherst, MA) on a cool and overcast day less than four miles from the finish I experienced a double quad cramp the likes that I had never before and not since ever felt.  It was so intense that I came to a complete stop and with legs that failed to bend at the knee fell over to the ground.  At the same time I was trying to fix the problem I was also quickly taking inventory of the possible causes.  The weather was perfect for a May trail race and I had been hydrating and eating like a champ.  This particular trail race, with it's unrelenting ups & downs, can be brutal on the quads.  In my effort to run a sub 2:30 I had hammered the first half attacking the descents with reckless abandon and fury.  All of that eccentric "braking" action during the downhills eventually took it's toll on the way back.

Research into the causes of cramps have recently led scientists to determine that the nervous system is one common and likely cause.  Alpha motor neurons are nerves located in the brain stem and spinal cord.  These nerves direct the skeletal muscles by telling them when to contract.  But when muscles fatigue the activity of these alpha motor neurons increases and stimulates the muscles to maintain a sustained contraction (ie. muscle cramp).  Skeletal muscle fatigue is a complex and multi-faceted event that may involve one or all of the following variables; repetitive muscle contraction, increased exercise intensity, increase exercise duration, environmental conditions (heat/humidity), and lack of training.  It is also suspected that repetitively contracting a skeletal muscle in a shorten state may also lead to increased alpha motor neuron activity.  Not surprisingly, during running the hamstrings, quads, and calves all contract in a shortened state.  These muscles tend to be the most common ones to cramp for this reason.  It's therefore not terribly surprising that my quads cramped after running the first half of 7 Sisters (particularly the descents) much harder than my training had warranted.      

So with some knowledge of why muscle cramps happen, the most important question then is what do I do to fix them?  Pickle juice has recently emerged on the ultra running scene as a somewhat mythical potion.  Athletes have retold stories of how it magically made their cramps disappear but how it works may surprise you.  While it's true that pickle juice is high in electrolytes, once consumed it may take up to 30 minutes for it to empty from the stomach and affect electrolyte levels at the site of muscle cramp.  This fact seems to belie that it works almost immediately.  Evidence now suggests that the feeling that you experience at the back of your throat when you drink this noxious pickle juice may be the secret to it's effectiveness.  

It appears that the chemicals in pickle juice (as well as in chili's, mint, cinnamon, ginger, & mustard) may very well be stimulating what are known as transient receptor channels (TRPs).  These excitable cells in the back of our throats convert chemical messages into electrical signals that help to control a number of sensations like pain, taste, hot, cold, and pressure.  These channels are activated by the chemicals in pickle juice and have the effect of reducing the activity of the alpha motor neurons and therefore relieving the cramp.

While the research is very promising and still evolving, the anecdotal evidence supports giving pickle juice (and similar products) a try.  Ideally it's best to prevent muscle cramps in the first place, but if you find yourself with a hyper-locked double quad cramp and someone offers you a shot of pickle juice...try it.

Ice Baths:  SKIP
We've all been tempted, mostly by peer pressure, to slip into a tub of icy water following a grueling race with the promise of accelerated recovery and reduced muscle soreness.  And despite as much folklore as the practice has received, it's benefits were actually questioned nearly a dozen years ago.  Subsequently there have been competing viewpoints on the subject with both camps (ice baths good vs. ice bath phony) digging in their heels.  

A number of systematic reviews of the literature have been done without a clear consensus on the impact of cold water immersion in endurance athletes resulting in the intended anti-inflammatory response.  In addition, many sports scientists are split on the theory of inflammation with some suggesting it's the root of muscle damage and therefore must be controlled while others suggesting that it is an integral part of the healing process and must be allowed to occur.   

Adding to the confusion are the professional athlete and ice bath advocates like Mo Farah, Ryan Lochte, and Lebron James who all purportedly use the practice.  It's completely conceivable that these and other followers feel a positive difference when they use ice baths.  These and other professional athletes are looking for any tiny advantage they can get as the margins for success are razor thin at that level.  Assuming there aren't any physical risks, if it turns out that the effects of cold water immersion are only placebo (ie. in their minds) then it may still be an advantageous.  

For the endurance athlete tempted to slip into that icy tub for the first time with the hopes that their recovery will be enhanced consider that the practice is not only incredibly uncomfortable, but the until the scientific community can come to a consensus it's best to skip it.

References;
1.  Mobility - Moving Beyond The Buzzword, by Jim Shepherd
2.  6 Exercises For Maximum Mobility, Outside Magazine
3.  Does Pickle Juice Relieve Muscle Cramps?, The Cooper Institute
4.  Holy Cramp!  The Science of Exercise-Associated Cramping
5.  A Recovery Ice Bath Isn't (Always) Such a Great Idea, Outside Magazine