Gordo and I went and purchased a new Apple Macbook for him to take on the road this winter. I was playing around with some of its features and took this picture of myself. I would have found something more interesting, but the screen has a camera on it and I was an easy target. Anyway, we now have a mobile Endurance Corner recording studio and we will continue to add podcasts to the EC radio site while Gordo is away.
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My colleague, Alan Couzens just finished writing a blog on the inefficiencies of shorter field tests in prescribing training zones for athletes. Alan and I discuss this sort of thing quite often at the EC office. The thing these shorter tests don't take into account is an athletes ability or inability to metabolically maintain the given pace for a prolonged period of time.
Since the addition of our Parvo Medics metabolic cart, we can now not only accurately prescribe training zones, but we can also look at an athletes substrate utilization in each zone. The Parvo system, is the same system used by NASA, The Olympic Training Center, Duke, Harvard, The Cooper Institute, and many other accredited Universities. I mention the cart because in the world of metabolic testing, all things aren't created equally and you pay for accuracy.
At Endurance Corner, we have been very interested in substrate utilization as a limiter in ultra endurance athletes. My interest in this piece is to bring some thought to the matter as it pertains to training. Diet, genetics, and some other things that I probably don't even know about, also contribute to this metabolic process.
You've most likely seen this before, athletes that can really rip a Half Ironman, but seem to struggle with an Ironman. There could be a number of factors that could cause this, but the most likely cause is poor substrate utilization, mainly fat. In order for this athlete to maintain their desired pace, they must draw energy from fat. If not, this athlete's detonation is a matter of mathematics. It is not a case of this athlete not being fast, but more that the pace at which they want to race, burns through more carbohydrate than the body can absorb. This athlete simply runs out of energy.
Our sample size is nowhere near large enough at this point to state this as "fact". However, there has been a very common trend in the successful endurance athletes that we have tested. The trait that these athletes share is the ability to burn fat throughout a broader range of intensity zones (EZ, Steady, Mod-Hard, and into Hard). The above graph illustrates my point. As intensity increases, there is a greater total energy cost, but this athlete continues to use a good amount of fat for fuel.
Now, compare the illustration of the efficient athlete to that of a less efficient athlete. The fat burning begins to diminish once the athlete crosses into their steady zone. This doesn't automatically mean that the less efficient athlete can't be successful at the Ironman distance. It just means that there is less room for error and that this athlete needs to be dialed into their efforts and nutritional strategy. Race simulation workouts and Big Day Training are a must for this athlete.How does one enhance their ability to burn more fat? I'm not entirely sure, but my guess is the ability to train. One of the most common characteristics of successful ultra endurance athletes is the years of consistent volume in training. I would even feel comfortable saying this for the short-course guys that successfully make the jump to Ironman. It's not like these guys have been sitting around on the couch for the past couple years, decided to race Ironman, and then "poof."
Here is a quote that I really like. It has been getting thrown around a lot lately, but it is worthy of a mention.
"It takes 10 years or 10,000 training hours to make an overnight success."
Why can't we all put in the volume allowing us to "train?" As you can see from the illustrations above, if the less efficient athlete spent the majority of their time training in the zones prescribed by the leading literature, they would be flat on their backs.
I'm not saying that these leading experts are wrong. I'm just stating that it must be tailored to the individual and without the ability to test the athlete, we'd be coaching blind. Sure, we would eventually figure it out, but not until the athlete had totally whipped themselves.
Athletes that spend too much time training above their optimal fat burning zones wind up making themselves more tired rather than more fit. They will operate in a manner that depletes their system, making it a struggle to increase their aerobic volume.
I believe that any sort of training over time will allow an athlete to become more efficient at the process of burning more fat, but the athlete must train at an intensity that allows them to be able to consistently train.
Mat
