HIT vs ET: A Scientific Review

Sometime late last week, my partner-in-running-crime Frayed Laces, asked me to review her latest running science report on the benefit of long endurance training vs short interval workouts in increasing aerobic capacity. Since I am a passionate runner, a medical scientist and somewhat of an Alberto Salazar to her Kara Goucher (okay the last one is a bit of a stretch, but work with me here people…) I will oblige her request and share with you all my scientific opinions on her piece.

For all who haven’t done so, please read my review on the physiologic differences of interval training, tempo workouts, and long runs because what is to follow will be somewhat of a continuation on that theme. First of all, let me start by saying that I agree with FL’s general assessment of the NY Time’s report. The physiologic benefit of HIT (high intensity training) vs ET (endurance training) is oversimplified in their review. On the protein level, the rise in PGC-1a seems rather short after HIT compared to ET. The peak levels (as she has shown) is indeed lower as well, even if the difference may not be statistically different. It is also impossible to extrapolate the changes in concentration of one protein level as the cause/effect of training as we know that it is sometimes not the quantitative effect but a qualitative effect on protein-protein interaction that affects muscle performance.

On the macroscopic level, I surmise that HIT/ET produces some qualitative differences on running economy that may be not measured in their simple rat/human experiments. As I explained in my initial review, I surmise that HIT is similar to going at max speed for a short time, while ET allows the oxygen delivery system to become more adapt at sustaining top efficiency for a much longer period. In the span of a 30-minute test or some other short-term measure, both parties can have similar benefits but if you extended the test and asked the subjects to bike/workout at equivalent time/effort to a marathon, I surmise that there would be a clear difference in their exercise physiology. (Maybe that’s why the study clearly state that they’ve never tested their hypotheses on runners…)

In the end, I think although there is clearly some crossover benefit, specificity training is clearly the best way to prepare for an event. Short distance runners should clearly concentrate their efforts on the track while marathon runners should stick to their consistent long runs. Clearly though, it helps for each to train in the other’s shoes every once in a while.

Thanks to F.L. for bringing forth this interesting topic for discussion!

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I spent the entire weekend packing and completely missed my long run. So instead of amassing 36 or 38 miles for the week, I got stuck at a pitiful 28 miles. Total suckiness. But at least I'm almost all packed up! Moving day is just 2 days away! Will provide some pictures of my new crib once it's a bit more presentable. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

A Day To Remember

Wow, what a day! I am happy and sad, exhiliarated and exhausted, anxious and nostalgic, and filled with a hundred emotions that I don’t quite know how to explain…

The day began with some exciting news. Now although I have mentioned this to only a select few before today, I decide to make my big announcement here because most of my close friends already know, and outside of them, my bloggy pals are my closest buddies anyway, and anyone who isn’t a close friend or doesn’t read my blog, well then, they really DON’T need to know. But, after endless hours spent with realtors, lawyers, mortage consultants, and the like over the past several months, yours truly closed on a spanking new condominium today. Wahoo! Although the process was long, and I’ve signed so many legal documents this morning that I felt as if I was signing my life away, I’m proud to say that I’m finally a new homeowner! It’s very exciting, but a bit anxiety provoking at the same time. It’s a two-bedroom condo on the top floor of a medium size building out in Queens with a balcony and a spectacular view of the Manhattan skyline. I’ll write more about the new place once I’m a bit more settled, but suffice it to say that although I’ll be moving out of the city and away from Central Park, it’s definitely an upgrade from my tiny studio on the Upper East Side where I’ve been living for more than 6 years. And in case anybody is worrying about my running, Flushing Meadow Park is less than two blocks away from my new home, which means that marathon training will continue as scheduled even after I move out of the city sometime next week.

Speaking of marathon training, I arrived back home in the late afternoon and decided to head to the park for an easy tempo run. Since I’m in base building mode and not racing anymore, I figured it’d be good to reacquaint my legs to doing tempo runs in the middle of the week again. During the racing season the past two months, I had skipped out on way too many of these because I figured my weekend races would substitute for speed training and my time would be better spent running midweek long runs at a slower pace. Just to get back into the swing, I gave myself an easy task of running just 4 tempo miles under 6:32 pace after a warmup loop around the reservoir. Maybe it was because of the great weather today (75 degrees with 70% humidity and a cool late afternoon breeze), maybe it was because of the great news from the morning, but I had a truly glorious tempo run in the park today. My mile splits for each of the four miles was 6:14, 6:16, 6:14, and 6:16 and I ended my tempo run running my best four mile time (25:22; 6:15 average) ever outside of a race. The weird thing was that during the last half mile coming down the home stretch, I told myself NOT to push hard, but just keep the pace as steady as possible. Wow! Considering my 5 mile race pace four days ago was 6:14, busting out a 4 mile tempo run one second slower (without even trying so hard) was quite unexpected. Just for reference, my previous best for 4 mile tempo run on the same course was 25:50(or 6:21 average pace) during marathon training last year. Needless to say, I’m tickled by the prospect of what pace I could actually sustain for 4 miles when I am at the peak of training…

Finally, feeling generally happy but a bit tired after my run, I came home to the shocking news that one of music’s biggest icons, Michael Jackson, had inexplicably suffered cardiac arrest and passed away. Wow. Although I know he was a bit psychologically unstable towards the end of his career and had been accused of some nasty things, the fact remains that he was a brilliant singer/performer and for a period of time while I was growing up, was the biggest pop star in the music industry. I am saddened by the news because I feel as if he never really got the respect he deserved. He was so many things to so many people all around the world that I don’t think the world today can truly appreciate the significance of his contributions back in the day. C’mon, Thriller, Moonwalk, Billie Jean…they are so iconic and typified music and culture in the late 80’s. I can’t help feel that with his passing, a bit of my youth also died with him today. R.I.P. MJ, you will be missed!

Base Building

With the conclusion of the Father’s Day race this past weekend, I officially close the chapter on my running life titled the 2009 Spring Racing series. That’s right, from now until middle of August, there’ll be no more racing for these tired legs. Although the results of six races in the past two months were rather meager by my standards, with only 2 PR’s scored during that span, I had a blast trying to milk whatever speed and fitness I had gained as part of Boston Marathon training for as long as I could. But now that I realize with each passing race that I can no longer tap into that running well, I must regroup, refocus and move on to the next marathon training cycle.

As I’m crunching numbers and comparing notes on different marathon plans, I’m giving myself two weeks to build a 16-week training program for the NYC Marathon on November 1. For these two weeks, I’ll be running 30-35 miles at a comfortable pace as part of base building. But to be honest, even while I was racing during the past month, I’ve been scheduling my workouts during the week as if I was already in base building mode anyways. The basic weekly structure for me during this base building phase has been 2 easy/recovery runs of 6 miles during the week, one mid-week longish run (10-12) and a long run or race during the weekend. To my credit, I have been pretty diligent with the midweek longish run over the past month even as my weekend plans have been all driven all of wack by my races. Looking back at my log, for the last four weeks, I have done every single midweek run of 9.5-12 miles, keeping an average pace of 7:13-7:15 for each one of them. Since one of the goals for the new training plan is to run more weekly mileage, I’m hoping this midweek longish run will be the new wrinkle that will help get me to my goal. The only trouble for me is trying to keep a slower pace as I’m running them. I find it extremely difficult not doing tempo pace for the last 2-3 miles when I’m tired and just want the run to end. I know that’s not exactly the right attitude to have but I’m seriously trying to work on that.

Another thing that I’m trying to be more diligent with during base training, is to be consistent with stretching after runs and doing slow recovery jogs after speed workouts. Instead of stopping right after I’m done, I’m forcing myself to jog a good half mile or a mile cooldown to allow my heart rate and muscles to equilibrate back to a normal state. I’ve found I’m able to recover quicker and have less residual soreness when running the next day.

Oh, and one more thing that I’m incorporating into my daily life in honor of base-building: more sleep! God knows we all need a bit more of that no matter what stage of training we’re in.