L
Les Stewart
Guest
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/10/health/nutrition/10runn.html
Why Joggers Labor and Olympians Fly
By GINA KOLATA
Published: August 10, 2004
he marathon at the Olympics in Athens this month is fearsome, so grueling
that even an elite athlete is liable to feel at least a moment of
trepidation. The 26-mile, 385-yard course includes, among other body-bashing
stretches, a 13-mile hill so steep it has been described as the equivalent
of running up a five-story building every mile.
Your everyday, normal sort of runner, like me, will be breathless just
watching. But many of the Olympic runners will make it look easy.
I can run up that mountain only in my dreams, no matter how hard I work. The
difference between me and them is so great that I find myself consumed with
curiosity over exactly how much of running fast and far is innate, and how
much can be attributed to training, motivation and technique.
I wonder how those remarkable athletes got to be who they are. And I wonder
what they know, and what, if anything, people like me can learn to be more
accomplished.
I have learned a thing or two close to home. I watched as my son took off
like a gazelle when he was in middle school, uncoached and untrained, and
went on to be a high school track and cross country star, and then to run on
the varsity teams at a Division I university. He gave me tips - relax your
upper body, run on your mid-foot, raise your knees - and they helped. But I
always knew that there was a fundamental difference between him and me when
it came to running far and fast. We still run together, but all that means
is that we start out at the same place and end up at the same place. In
between, he loses me.
On the other hand, my son learned in college that there also was a
noticeable difference between him and the runners who went on to become
national champions. And it was not a matter of trying harder.
Researchers say elite distance runners share several inborn physiological
traits, including large hearts, an efficient way of moving and an ability to
keep running when they are exerting so much effort that they are panting for
breath, that make them faster than most recreational runners.
They also naturally avoid the sort of errors in technique that Dr. Robert
Fitts, an exercise physiologist and competitive runner at Marquette
University, sees in recreational athletes who run in 5- and 10-kilometer
road races.
For example, Dr. Fitts says, many recreational runners turn their feet out
to the side rather than keeping them in a straight line. That wastes energy
and slows runners down.
"Your feet should go out one in front of the other," Dr. Fitts explained.
"It is not very difficult to learn. I used to run along the line that is
painted on a track and I would concentrate on both feet hitting that line."
Stride length, Dr. Fitts said, is also important.
"If you have the proper stride length when you push off, then you get the
proper extension and flexion," he said. "If you take too short of a stride,
you look like a shuffler. If it is too long, you look like you are bouncing.
A good runner should almost be able to run with an apple on their head."
Finally, Dr. Fitts advised, many people hold their arms too high, making
their shoulder muscles work while they run. "It is better to hold your arms
along your waist, with bent elbows," he said.
He added that these are all errors that can be corrected.
"Most people don't know these things just because they start to run," he
said "Somebody has to tell you. But most people at these road races are very
inefficient. They never were taught at all."
With elite runners, the question is not so much technique but rather the
tiny physiological differences that make one smooth, relaxed, fast runner
win every race while another, who looks equally good, falls behind.
Exercise physiologists say there are three components to great running: A
high VO2 max, the volume of oxygen an athlete can consume at maximum
exertion; great running efficiency, a measurement of the energy used to run
at a particular pace; and an ability to keep going at a high level of
exertion for a long time, expressed as the percentage of VO2 max that can be
sustained during a run.
Athletes with a high VO2 max can pump large volumes of blood to their
muscles, usually because they have large and powerful hearts, said Dr. Paul
Ribisl, an exercise physiologist and a runner at Wake Forest University. The
heart of an average adult pumps about 15 liters a minute. The heart of an
elite distance runner typically pumps at least twice that amount.
VO2 max increases with training, as a person goes from physically unfit to
physically fit. But, physiologists say, even when elite runners are out of
training - when they have not run for months or longer - they have a VO2 max
substantially higher than that of a recreational runner.
Competitive runners are also efficient, exerting themselves less than those
with less talent.
Conventional wisdom says the energy required to run a mile is the same, no
matter whether you are fast or slow. But it turns out that elite runners
simply do not work as hard as the less able.
In a study of elite runners, good runners and untrained, but equally
physically fit runners, Dr. Don Morgan, an exercise physiologist and
recreational runner at Middle Tennessee State University, and his colleagues
found that the better the runners were, the less effort they exerted running
at a particular pace.
But within a group of equally good runners, there were profound differences
in efficiency. In treadmill tests, Dr. Morgan found that one runner could
end up burning 20 percent more calories than another running the same
distance at the same speed.
The inefficient runners were not necessarily those who looked more awkward
as they ran.
"Some runners in our lab don't look good when they run, but they are very
economical," Dr. Morgan said. "Others are aesthetically beautiful but are
not economical."
Exercise physiologists are focusing on ways to make runners more efficient.
They speculate that a number of factors might determine efficiency, and that
some, like the biochemistry of the runner's muscles or the structure of the
runner's body, are simply innate. But one factor, stride length, might be
amenable to change.
About 20 percent of the competitive runners that Dr. Morgan and his
colleagues tested were overstriding, or taking steps too large for maximum
efficiency. None were taking steps that were too small. The researchers set
out to train the overstriders to take shorter steps.
For three weeks, five times a week, the athletes ran on treadmills at the
physiology lab, their pace set by the beat of a metronome. That rhythm
forced the runners to shorten their strides, and, as a consequence, they ran
about 3 percent faster.
"For someone like me, it wouldn't make any difference," Dr. Morgan said.
"But for an elite runner, that small percentage change could mean a big
deal."
The third characteristic that elite runners have, but that can also improve
with training, is an ability to continue running for long times at a high
level of exertion, the so-called anerobic threshold. That pace, said Dr.
David Martin, an exercise physiologist at Georgia State University, is "when
the conversation stops and the work begins." If you can carry on a
conversation while you are running, he said, you have not reached it.
For runners to increase the amount of time they can run at their anerobic
threshold, they have to run at that level in training, exercise
physiologists say.
"Good American runners do train at an anerobic threshold pace," Dr. Martin
said. "But sometimes these runners, they're little studs. They get out there
running, but, they say: 'This feels so easy. I know the coach said 10 miles
at anerobic threshold, but I'll just pick up the pace.' Then they are
overtraining."
The result, he said, is poor performance.
While a high VO2 max, great efficiency and an ability to run long distances
at the anerobic threshold are common in elite distance runners, few excel at
all three.
Dr. Morgan and Dr. Jack Daniels at the State University of New York at
Cortland, for example, studied elite runners who were equally fast. Some
would have a high VO2 max, but lower economy than their peers, or vice
versa.
As for the rest of the population, improvement is possible, but no amount of
training can turn a person who is not gifted into an elite athlete. This
became clear to one researcher, Dr. Robert R. Wolfe, when, in graduate
school, he began running with Brook Thomas, a friend who had come in fourth
in the Olympic trials.
Dr. Wolfe, now the director of the metabolism branch at the University of
Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, had run competitively in college. But
running with his friend, he always lagged behind.
At one point, Mr. Thomas was injured, and he did not run for five months.
When he was ready to return to running, he called Dr. Wolfe and suggested
they run together.
They set off at a fast clip, with Mr. Thomas setting a five-and-a-half
minute-per-mile pace.
"I was just dying, trying to keep up," Dr. Wolfe recalled.
He accosted Mr. Thomas. How could it be that after all those months away
from running, he could cruise along at such a speed, with no apparent
effort? Mr. Thomas replied that he had always been able to run at that pace.
"That was a watershed for me," Dr. Wolfe said. "That's when I realized that
no matter how hard I train, I will never get to that level."
Why Joggers Labor and Olympians Fly
By GINA KOLATA
Published: August 10, 2004
he marathon at the Olympics in Athens this month is fearsome, so grueling
that even an elite athlete is liable to feel at least a moment of
trepidation. The 26-mile, 385-yard course includes, among other body-bashing
stretches, a 13-mile hill so steep it has been described as the equivalent
of running up a five-story building every mile.
Your everyday, normal sort of runner, like me, will be breathless just
watching. But many of the Olympic runners will make it look easy.
I can run up that mountain only in my dreams, no matter how hard I work. The
difference between me and them is so great that I find myself consumed with
curiosity over exactly how much of running fast and far is innate, and how
much can be attributed to training, motivation and technique.
I wonder how those remarkable athletes got to be who they are. And I wonder
what they know, and what, if anything, people like me can learn to be more
accomplished.
I have learned a thing or two close to home. I watched as my son took off
like a gazelle when he was in middle school, uncoached and untrained, and
went on to be a high school track and cross country star, and then to run on
the varsity teams at a Division I university. He gave me tips - relax your
upper body, run on your mid-foot, raise your knees - and they helped. But I
always knew that there was a fundamental difference between him and me when
it came to running far and fast. We still run together, but all that means
is that we start out at the same place and end up at the same place. In
between, he loses me.
On the other hand, my son learned in college that there also was a
noticeable difference between him and the runners who went on to become
national champions. And it was not a matter of trying harder.
Researchers say elite distance runners share several inborn physiological
traits, including large hearts, an efficient way of moving and an ability to
keep running when they are exerting so much effort that they are panting for
breath, that make them faster than most recreational runners.
They also naturally avoid the sort of errors in technique that Dr. Robert
Fitts, an exercise physiologist and competitive runner at Marquette
University, sees in recreational athletes who run in 5- and 10-kilometer
road races.
For example, Dr. Fitts says, many recreational runners turn their feet out
to the side rather than keeping them in a straight line. That wastes energy
and slows runners down.
"Your feet should go out one in front of the other," Dr. Fitts explained.
"It is not very difficult to learn. I used to run along the line that is
painted on a track and I would concentrate on both feet hitting that line."
Stride length, Dr. Fitts said, is also important.
"If you have the proper stride length when you push off, then you get the
proper extension and flexion," he said. "If you take too short of a stride,
you look like a shuffler. If it is too long, you look like you are bouncing.
A good runner should almost be able to run with an apple on their head."
Finally, Dr. Fitts advised, many people hold their arms too high, making
their shoulder muscles work while they run. "It is better to hold your arms
along your waist, with bent elbows," he said.
He added that these are all errors that can be corrected.
"Most people don't know these things just because they start to run," he
said "Somebody has to tell you. But most people at these road races are very
inefficient. They never were taught at all."
With elite runners, the question is not so much technique but rather the
tiny physiological differences that make one smooth, relaxed, fast runner
win every race while another, who looks equally good, falls behind.
Exercise physiologists say there are three components to great running: A
high VO2 max, the volume of oxygen an athlete can consume at maximum
exertion; great running efficiency, a measurement of the energy used to run
at a particular pace; and an ability to keep going at a high level of
exertion for a long time, expressed as the percentage of VO2 max that can be
sustained during a run.
Athletes with a high VO2 max can pump large volumes of blood to their
muscles, usually because they have large and powerful hearts, said Dr. Paul
Ribisl, an exercise physiologist and a runner at Wake Forest University. The
heart of an average adult pumps about 15 liters a minute. The heart of an
elite distance runner typically pumps at least twice that amount.
VO2 max increases with training, as a person goes from physically unfit to
physically fit. But, physiologists say, even when elite runners are out of
training - when they have not run for months or longer - they have a VO2 max
substantially higher than that of a recreational runner.
Competitive runners are also efficient, exerting themselves less than those
with less talent.
Conventional wisdom says the energy required to run a mile is the same, no
matter whether you are fast or slow. But it turns out that elite runners
simply do not work as hard as the less able.
In a study of elite runners, good runners and untrained, but equally
physically fit runners, Dr. Don Morgan, an exercise physiologist and
recreational runner at Middle Tennessee State University, and his colleagues
found that the better the runners were, the less effort they exerted running
at a particular pace.
But within a group of equally good runners, there were profound differences
in efficiency. In treadmill tests, Dr. Morgan found that one runner could
end up burning 20 percent more calories than another running the same
distance at the same speed.
The inefficient runners were not necessarily those who looked more awkward
as they ran.
"Some runners in our lab don't look good when they run, but they are very
economical," Dr. Morgan said. "Others are aesthetically beautiful but are
not economical."
Exercise physiologists are focusing on ways to make runners more efficient.
They speculate that a number of factors might determine efficiency, and that
some, like the biochemistry of the runner's muscles or the structure of the
runner's body, are simply innate. But one factor, stride length, might be
amenable to change.
About 20 percent of the competitive runners that Dr. Morgan and his
colleagues tested were overstriding, or taking steps too large for maximum
efficiency. None were taking steps that were too small. The researchers set
out to train the overstriders to take shorter steps.
For three weeks, five times a week, the athletes ran on treadmills at the
physiology lab, their pace set by the beat of a metronome. That rhythm
forced the runners to shorten their strides, and, as a consequence, they ran
about 3 percent faster.
"For someone like me, it wouldn't make any difference," Dr. Morgan said.
"But for an elite runner, that small percentage change could mean a big
deal."
The third characteristic that elite runners have, but that can also improve
with training, is an ability to continue running for long times at a high
level of exertion, the so-called anerobic threshold. That pace, said Dr.
David Martin, an exercise physiologist at Georgia State University, is "when
the conversation stops and the work begins." If you can carry on a
conversation while you are running, he said, you have not reached it.
For runners to increase the amount of time they can run at their anerobic
threshold, they have to run at that level in training, exercise
physiologists say.
"Good American runners do train at an anerobic threshold pace," Dr. Martin
said. "But sometimes these runners, they're little studs. They get out there
running, but, they say: 'This feels so easy. I know the coach said 10 miles
at anerobic threshold, but I'll just pick up the pace.' Then they are
overtraining."
The result, he said, is poor performance.
While a high VO2 max, great efficiency and an ability to run long distances
at the anerobic threshold are common in elite distance runners, few excel at
all three.
Dr. Morgan and Dr. Jack Daniels at the State University of New York at
Cortland, for example, studied elite runners who were equally fast. Some
would have a high VO2 max, but lower economy than their peers, or vice
versa.
As for the rest of the population, improvement is possible, but no amount of
training can turn a person who is not gifted into an elite athlete. This
became clear to one researcher, Dr. Robert R. Wolfe, when, in graduate
school, he began running with Brook Thomas, a friend who had come in fourth
in the Olympic trials.
Dr. Wolfe, now the director of the metabolism branch at the University of
Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, had run competitively in college. But
running with his friend, he always lagged behind.
At one point, Mr. Thomas was injured, and he did not run for five months.
When he was ready to return to running, he called Dr. Wolfe and suggested
they run together.
They set off at a fast clip, with Mr. Thomas setting a five-and-a-half
minute-per-mile pace.
"I was just dying, trying to keep up," Dr. Wolfe recalled.
He accosted Mr. Thomas. How could it be that after all those months away
from running, he could cruise along at such a speed, with no apparent
effort? Mr. Thomas replied that he had always been able to run at that pace.
"That was a watershed for me," Dr. Wolfe said. "That's when I realized that
no matter how hard I train, I will never get to that level."