Most People Will Never Sprint Again After ..

Sprinting behind our clinic

... they turn 30 for the rest of their lives.

Actually, I started doing a few 200 m sprints upslope along Warna Road once a week on Wednesday mornings about a month ago. This is usually after a 5 km warm up run. I have not done any sprints like this for a long, long time.

From Twitter (or now known as X)

Coincidently, I saw this 2 days ago (above) on Twitter (or X) and the title caught my eye. 95 percent of men and women will never sprint again by the time they reach 30 years of age. 

Do you think there's any truth to that claim? 

How's my running form?

Perhaps I should address why I started sprinting again after so many years? I felt my runs were stagnating. I only run twice a week now and though I entertain no dreams of competing, I long for the moments when I feel like it is 'effortless' to run. I also want to avoid sarcopenia.

I was never a high mileage runner previously. In the past when I was still competing, track intervals really helped me improve. So I thought it was a good time to restart some sprint work.

You can definitely improve performance by swapping distance for speed (Jin et al, 2025). In the quoted study, the researchers split well trained runners into 2 groups. These runners had an average VO2 max of 67 mL/kg/min and personal best of 14:38 mins for their 5k time. 

One group did sprint interval training (SIT). They did 10x30 seconds all-out sprints with 3.5 minutes rest twice a week for 6 weeks. The traditional training group continued running long distance twice a week.

Both groups also kept up their regular endurance base training (40-60 minute runs) 4 times a week other than the above sessions.

You can probably guess the results. After 6 weeks, the SIT group outperformed the traditional group in all endurance metrics. Their time to run exhaustion (which is a key indicator of endurance) was better.

They had a 5 seconds improvement in a 3000m time trial versus no change in the traditional training group. The SIT group also had faster 100 m and 400 m times, suggesting better speed and neuromuscular efficiency.

Surprisingly, there was only slight V02 max improvement in the SIT group even though running economy improved moderately. This shows that the SIT group became more efficient runners.

Now you know that sprint intervals are not just for sprinters. This study proves that endurance runners can gain real benefits when they add speedwork 1-2 times a week. 

You definitely don't have to follow this protocol in the quoted study. I started with just faster striding upslope before even attempting to sprint. Definitely not all out sprinting. I clocked about 50 seconds each rep when I first started and it's gone down to 40 seconds during my last rep 2 days ago.

All of us should sprint from time to time to recruit muscles that we don't normally use. I would also suggest jumping as high as you can too to build your explosive power. But not both at the same time. I do the jumps on my weight training days.

For those who still race, sprint training will definitely help improve performance without adding volume. You can improve your running efficiency while also improving your kick should you need to pass other runners at the last part of the race.

Reference

Jin K, Cai M, Zhang Y et al (2025). Effects Of 6-Week Sprint Interval Training Compared To Traditional Training On The Running Performance Of Distance Runners: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Front Physio. 16: 1536287. DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1536287

Train Your Breathing Muscles To Run Faster?

Picture from Power Lung

I first learnt to train my inspiratory muscles back in 2004 when my former colleagues at Sport Singapore (previously known as Singapore Sports Council) told me about the "Power Lung". It's a simple hand held device that is really easy to use to increase lung capacity so one can improve your breathing efficiency to race faster. 

After I returned the "Power Lung" (pictured above), I tried to replicate that by breathing in and out only through a straw while watching movies with my wife hoping to get the same training effect. That's what I tried to do by just breathing in and out through a straw since it is a much smaller channel. Or recently trying to exercise with a mask on to some extent. 

My wife said I sounded like Darth Vader breathing. She threatened not to watch movies with me if I persisted. 

There are respiratory muscles that help us breathe in and out. Just like your leg muscles or any other muscles, your respiratory muscles can get tired. When they do get tired, they work less efficiently and draw oxygenated rich blood away from where they are needed like your legs. Especially when you are cycling or running. The best way to get them stronger and work more efficiently is to strength train them. 

While strength training, you work against a resistance (or weights) by lifting and lowering the weight. When you get stronger, you can increase the resistance. Similarly, to train your inspiratory muscles you can make it harder to breathe in and out. 

That is the rationale for training your breathing muscles by doing exercises with a "Power Lung" device that makes it harder to inhale and exhale. Numerous studies have investigated whether inspiratory muscle training can make one faster in sports like running, cycling and swimming. Especially swimming since you have limited time with your head above water which makes breathing even more difficult. 

Illidi and colleagues (2023) concluded that respiratory muscle training can improve the strength and endurance of respiratory muscles and that it can improve performance in athletes.

Picture from RJ McNichols from Twitter

Not so for nasal dilators made popular by Galen Rupp (pictured above) who used to train with Alberto Salazar. This looks like a small plaster or band-aid across the nose. Remember them? I've definitely raced in them before after getting some to try in a race goodie bag, but felt no difference.

The goal is to keep your nasal passages open and make breathing easier. They are even advertised to help snoring and sleep apnea. Plenty of research concludes that they do help you breathe better but find no benefits in heart rate, lactate, oxygen consumption and recovery.

How about nasal breathing (or just breathing in and out through your nose)? Evidence suggest breathing through your nose only generates higher levels of nitric oxide. Nitric oxide helps dilate bood vessels and potentially helps keep your airways relaxed and open. Easier said than done since it is extremely difficult to breathe through your nose during intense exercise. 

During a hard interval session or ride when my friends are trying to drop me on a climb especially, you will experience the unacceptable sensation of air hunger if you can't use both you nose and mouth to breathe. To help conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is one thing, for endurance athletes while racing and pushing their breathing systems to its limits - nah, I personally don't think so.

Canned oxygen? Maybe if you plan on climbing Everest or K2. All these and more discussed by Illidi et al (2023) referenced below. There's plenty of pseudoscience to help you breathe better in the flourishing wellness and fitness industry currently and I hope that this post helps to clear things. 

As for me, I'll stick to practicing diaphramatic breathing with a straw to strengthen my inspiratory muscles since I do not have access to a Power Lung now. Start with a bubble tea straw if you find a normal straw too difficult.

Reference

Illidi CR, Romer LM, Johnson MA et al (2023). Distinguishing Science From Pseudoscience In Commercial Respiratory Interventions: An Evidenced Basd Guide For Health And Science Professionals. Eur J Appl Physiol. 123: 1599-1625. DOI: 10.1007/s00421-023-05166-8

Run Like A Snail To Go Fast?

I recently read a story about Alex Karp. Yes, that Alex Karp, who is the founder of Palantir Technologies, a tech company that specializes in data intelligence. Karp is 55 years old, but has 7 percent body fat! At his age, that is an extremely low level of body fat. That's the body fat level Michael Phelps had when he competed at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and won 8 gold medals.

Karp is a tech billionaire though, not a young Olympic gold medalist. He says he does not *diet nor starve himself. His fitness comes from 5 hours plus of cross country ski training a week.

What can we learn from Karp's training so that we too can benefit? Karp says he spends 90 percent of the time going at the speed of a snail! Whether you are running or cross country skiing, Karp advises going at the "slowest pace a human can run for as many hours as you can afford. And then once, preferably twice, a week, you're doing speed intervals."

Karp's training is all about sheer distance, just put in the miles he says. No speed or intensity, except when doing his intervals. He started training like this when the Covid pandemic hit. He was already in reasonably good shape before. But since he had lots of time, he became very disciplined about training in that format. He saw results after 18 months, and especially huge results after 36 months. 

Karp says he learned this training regime from athletes in Norway. Norway has won the most number of Winter Olympic medals for cross country skiing. Going slowly like a snail most of the time helps build a cardio base so that it allows you to go fast when you have to. Like when doing intervals or when racing. 

This form of training is also known as low intensity steady state training (LISS), the exact opposite of high intensity interval training (HIIT). LISS is the tortoise compared to HIIT's hare. When you go for a jog/ run, long walk, bike ride where you can easily hold a conversation, you are performing LISS. For those who need a number, this is usually between 50 to 60 percent of your maximum heart rate. 

Like HIIT, LISS can also help you burn fat, build endurance and increase exercise capacity. However the time you need to spend doing it to achieve those results is typically much longer. LISS can help you recover from those high intensity workouts while supporting your larger fitness goals. Exactly like what Karp is doing. 

For many of us who exercise and train, our hard sessions are not usually not hard enough and our easy (or recovery) sessions are not easy enough. This is why some athletes use a heart rate monitor (HRM) to train. This ensures that you know the correct intensities. Ben Pulham from Coached Fitness has been advocating training with a HRM for a long time. BUT, you have to really adhere to the readings, otherwise it will not be effective. With Singapore's climate, you really have to go a lot slower.

Yes HIIT can be super effective, but also incredibly stressful on the body. Do it too often and you'll increase your risk of overtraining and injury which will hinder your progress and shortchange your results. 

Alex Karp says it took him at least 18 months before he saw results. Can you be that patient? You have to, if you want results. If HIIT is a calorie scorcher, then LISS is a slow simmer where calories are still burned even if you don't emerge from your workouts drenched in sweat. 

Research also shows that those who engage in low intensity exercise are more likely to stick to their plan compared to those who attempt to accomplish the same goals in half the time with HIIT (Forster et al, 2015). The subjects found HIIT "less enjoyable".

Then, there's also the engagement factor. For some people, running, walking, cycling or swimming for a few minutes can feel endless. Me? I love the long, slow runs and rides.

Reference

Forster C, Farland CV, Guidotti F et al (2015). zthe Effects Of High Intensity Interval Training Vs Steady State Training In Aerobic And Aerobic Capacity. J Sp Sci Med. 14(4): 747-755. PMID: 26664271

*The biggest adjustment Karp made was dropping added sugar in his diet. He used to eat lots of chocolate, and had sugar in his coffee and tea. However, on special occasions and if he's traveling and finds a really nice Danish, he will eat it.

Running Faster May Not Cause Shin Splints

Frequent site of shin pain/ stress fracture

We runners have always been told to train and don't strain. Running too fast, too often, can be a sure recipe for injury. That's why we always have an easy day for recovery after a hard session, to reduce our risk of injury. No runner wants to hear that they have a stress fracture or a small crack in their bones caused by overuse.

We think that when we run faster, we put more strain and load through our muscles and bones. So chances of a muscular or bone stress injury should be higher when we run faster.  We all assume that running slower (or slowly) causes less strain on our legs than running fast.

According to newly published research, fast paced running does not put any more pressure on your tibial (shin bone) which is a common area for shin splints and stress fractures than slow easy runs.

Runners in that study were asked to run at their own selected pace of slow, moderate and fast (but not all out). Reflective sensors were attached to their hips, knees and feet while they ran over force plates that measured impact (load) with each step.

I was really surprised to read that the slow paced runs (and not the fast runs) resulted in the most strain. Running at 'normal' or moderate pace for these runners caused less cumulative load than running the same distance at fast and slower speed.

The authors concluded that running fast does not necessarily cause more load on your tibial (shin bone) than slow running. Well, no excuse not run intervals once a week then if you're training for a race.

However, it may be too early to use this information to change our training habits as fatigue definitely does affect load when we run. Personally, I do feel I need an easy day of training to recover after a hard bike, run or weights session. Even when I was competing, it's usually 2 hard days of training back to back with a easy day (or total rest day) after. That way you won't have to worry about getting injured. Until an an accident strikes ......

Reference

Hunter J, Garcia GK, Shim JK et al (2019). Fast Running Does Not Contribute More Cumulative Load Than Slow Running. Med Sci Sp Ex. 51(6): 1178-1185. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000001888

Overdoing HIIT Sessions Can Affect Your Health

Picture from The Pit. HIIT or just *circuit training?

Many of my *patients tell me they are doing HIIT classes now. If you interested about your fitness and have been exercising regularly, you will definitely know what HIIT stands for. High intensity, interval training.

When I was a teenage runner, those intervals we did certainly did not have such a fancy name like HIIT. You run 15 intervals or repetitions of 400m with a one minute rest in between or the coach will say run 6 x 1km going every 5 minutes (meaning if you run your kilometer in 3:50 min, you get 1:10 min rest before starting again).

I've written how HIIT can be beneficial and how it can even reduce growth in cancer cells. Since HIIT is a super time efficient method for improving aerobic fitness and other health outcomes and metabolic conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure. 

One such outcome is increasing our cell mitochondria (power generators in our cells) in our muscles. With more mitochondria in our cells, we become stronger. 

Before you think more HIIT is better, a recent small study showed that people who tried to do 5 HIIT sessions in a week ended up with sudden and severe declines in their mitochondria function, along with blood sugar dysfunction. 

When the subjects decreased their HIIT sessions, their metabolic condition started to improve but did not disappear, hinting that the benefits of extremely strenuous exercise may still depend on how much we do and how we allow ourselves to rest and recover.

The researchers first tested the subjects in their lab for the current fitness levels and metabolic health, which included blood sugar levels throughout the day. In the first week, 2 sessions of HIIT were performed, 5 reps of 4 minute long bike intervals on a stationary bike with 3 mins rest in between. The subjects pedaled as hard as they could while their power output was tracked. Their leg muscles were biopsied while a 24 hour blood sugar control was investigated.

In week 2, they did 3HIIT sessions while increasing some of their intervals to 8 minutes. During week 3, they did 5 HIIT sessions with a mix of 4 and 8 minute intervals of all out cycling. Week 4 allowed for some recovery and they subjects and the amount and intensity of exercises were halved. All the tests were repeated weekly.

The findings showed the subjects getting stronger by week 2. They were pedaling harder and getting fitter, better daily blood sugar control and more mitochondria in the cells. These mitochondria were also more efficient, producing greater energy compared to baseline.

However, by week 3, the subjects were not able to generate more power, their muscle biopsies showed that their mitochondria were only producing 60 percent of the energy of week 2. Blood sugar control levels were spiking and dipping throughout the day.

After allowing for recovery in week 4, the following week showed the mitochondria producing more energy, but still 25 percent less than week 2. Blood sugar levels stabilized too, but again not to the same extent as week 2. The subjects could however ride with the same or even greater vigor as with week 2.

The researchers did not find out what exactly caused the decline in results (glucose intolerance and insulin secretion)  that occurred after week 3. It may be the combination of total biochemical changes that weakened the mitochondria which in turn disrupted the blood sugar control levels. 

This study was done on normal healthy subjects and not athletes nor people with metabolic conditions such as diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood pressure. The latter group attempting such training must get the go ahead from your medical professional. For those of us who just want to be healthier, don't do HIIT sessions excessively since previous studies and formal recommendations suggest 3 intense sessions in a week as maximum. Otherwise, injuries may come knocking on your doors too. 

The researchers managed to assess blood glucose profiles in world class endurance athletes and found that they, too had impaired glucose control when compared with a matched control group. So for athletes who want to be stronger, faster quicker, do allow ample time for recovery between training sessions.

Reference

Flockhart M, Nilsson LC, Tais S et al (2021). Excessive Exercise Training Causes Mitochondrial Functional Impairment And Decreases Glucose Tolerance In Healthy Volunteers. Cell Metab. DOI: 10.1016/jcmet.2021.02.017

*Most of these 'HIIT' sessions my patients go to are in fact just fancy names for circuit training. You have say 8 stations where you do sit ups, jumping jacks, box jumps etc for 30 secs, rest and move on to the next station. One can do 2-4 'circuits' of these 8 stations. I guess going to a HIIT session sounds nicer than going for circuit training. That's probably how gyms sell these classes.

The research describes HIIT training as run 15 intervals or repetitions of 400m with a one minute rest in between or perhaps run 6 x 1km going every 5 minutes (meaning if you run your kilometer in 3:50 min, you get 1:10 min rest before starting again). Or you could be cyling 4 mins at a certain intensity/ wattage and repeat that 4-8 times. 

Does Lactic Acid Affect Your Appetite?

One of our blog's more popular post was regarding lactic acid or lactate. For our new readers, that post came about after a massage therapist asked me if lactic acid in our bodies can form 'crystals' in our muscles with too much running.

A few of his patients who run had gone to this particular massage place and was told by a massage therapist there that 'crystals' left there by the lactic acid/ lactate will affect their running if the 'crystals' are not removed by sports massage.

Yes, lactic acid/ lactate is produced as a by product during intense exercise, but it starts to clear or leave your body once you slow down and especially when you stop your exercise. You do not need help to get rid of it. It certainly won't form 'crystals' in your muscles!

What lactic acid/ lactate does according to recent research is that it can blunt your appetite by altering your appetite hormones (Vanderheyden et al, 2020).

What the researchers in the study did was to have volunteers do an interval workout of 10 x 1 min really hard with 1 min recovery on an exercise bike. They repeated this protocol twice at the same intensity on separate days at least a week apart. For the first time, the participants were given a dose of baking soda and the other time a dose of salt as a placebo.

Baking soda (or sodium bicarbonate) helps to partially counteract rising acidity in your bloodstream during intense exercise (to prevent you from accumulating too much lactic acid in your bloodstream). It is often used as a legitimate and legal performance enhancing drug by some runners (especially middle distance) and track cyclists.

Please note that consuming baking soda can be associated with stomach distress although there was no apparent difference in this particular study.

This allowed the researchers to compare lactate levels in the subjects' bloodstream during and after the 10 x 1 minute intervals since baking soda will decrease lactate levels.

The researchers found that the response of the subjects' appetite hormones were lower when there was more lactic acid/ lactate in the bloodstream.

Ghrelin (which measure hunger levels were lower meaning less hunger) and two appetite suppressing hormones, *GLP-1 and PYY were higher meaning less hunger were indeed different in the two groups during and 90 minutes after the intense exercise.

Previously, when I use to compete and still did really intense training, I definitely do recall that I do not feel like eating after the workout ends. I usually only felt like drinking an ice cold Coke. Well, those were the days .....

What I'm actually wondering is whether changes in our appetite hormones can affect our eating patterns on a long term basis and thus affect weight for serious endurance athletes. If you're training reasonably hard, surely weight isn't gonna be something you worry about.

To conclude, you do not need to flush lactate (lactic acid) out from your body after intense exercise, it starts to dissipate once you stop exercising. Nor do you want to take too much baking soda in a race if you're trying to lower your lactate levels as it can give you stomach distress especially if you haven't tried it in training.


Reference

Vanderheyden LWN, McKie GL et al (2020). Greater Lactate Accumulation Following An Acute Bout Of High Intensity Exercise In Males Suppresses Acylated Ghrelin And Appetite Post Exercise. J App Physiol. DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00081.2020.

*GLP -1 glucagon like peptide-1

*PYY - active peptide tyrosine-tyrosine

How Much HIIT Is Beneficial?

Picture by Irving Henson from The PIT

A young lady I spoke to in the clinic today told me she has been attending HIIT (or high intensity interval training) sessions recently and gotten injured. (HIIT involves alternating very intense bouts of exercise with low intensity recovery exercise. It can be done in the gym with weights or on the bike or running set times or distances).

Being on the slightly plump side, she was tempted by the many benefits promised by the trainer conducting the HIIT sessions and the fact that she could lose weight and become stronger quickly whilst spending little time training.

Sounds too good to be true?

Considerable evidence definitely exists to support a role for low volume HIIT as a potent and super time efficient training method for inducing both central (cardiovascular) and peripheral (skeletal muscle) adaptations that are linked to improved health outcomes (see references below).

HIIT is designed to briefly strain your body to its limits. And these short bursts of very intense exercise lead to beneficial physiological changes similar to those much longer duration workouts. How much or how little do you need is still debated.

Leading interval training researcher Professor Martin Gibala found that 30 seconds worth of sprint intervals (four to six repeats of all out efforts three times a week) in young active but trained males produced just as good results as endurance training (subjects rode continuously for 40-60 mins five times a week). This is also known as the Wingate Test. The subjects generally hated the process though.

I clearly remember doing this while I was a young physiotherapy student in our Exercise Physiology lessons. It's extremely demanding and may not be safe, tolerable or appealing for some individuals. Definitely not for the faint-hearted.

With a less taxing program in which subjects did 60 seconds interval (or HIIT) training at 90 % effort (10 reps), the subjects found it more bearable although they had to do more repetitions (10x) to get the same benefits as the 30 seconds all out effort (Gibala et al, 2012).

Here's another workout that may be more palatable. Dr Gibala studied a group of obese/ overweight group of men and women on a program of 20 seconds of all out intervals followed by a recovery of two minutes.

They started with a 2 minute warm up on a stationary bike, followed by 3 x 20 seconds of all out sprints with two minutes recovery followed by a three minute cool down. A grand total of three minutes of intense work per week within a total training time of 30 minutes. Results were very encouraging as he subjects become fitter and improved their health (their VO2 max increased by 12%).

And if you find even 20 seconds of all out effort too difficult, there's the 30-20-10 workout which "only" requires 10 seconds of sprinting.

My take? Clearly, despite its many benefits, HIIT is not suitable for everyone, especially if you're just starting on an exercise program. As I've written before, we live in an instantaneous society now where we want results at the snap of a finger. Train don't strain is still important, or you risk a visit to your physiotherapist or doctor soon.


References

Burgomaster KA, Howarth KR et al (2008). Similar Metabolic Adaptations During Exercise After Low Volume Sprint Interval And Traditional Endurance Training in Humans. J Physiol. 586(1): 151-160.

Gibala MJ, Little JP et al (2012). Physiological adaptations To Low-volume, High-intensity Interval Training In Health And Disease. J Physiol. 590(5): 1077-1084. DOI: 10.1113/physiol.2011.224725

Gillen JB, Percival ME et al (2014). Three Minutes of All-out Intermittent Exercise Per Week Increases Skeletal Muscle Oxidative Capacity And Improves Cardiometabolic Health. PlosONe. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0111489.

Bike Intervals Can Help You Run Faster

Our training machines

Looks like you gotta spend some time riding furiously on your (stationary) bike if you wanna run faster. All you need is 15 minutes to spare.

A recent study showed that with the right kind of high intensity training on a stationary bike, you can run faster.

The researchers tested runners on a treadmill with a 3 km time trial and split them into four groups. Three groups trained on a stationary bike for two weeks in addition to their regular running routine while a control group just maintained their regular running routine.

The runners did six interval sessions on the stationary bikes in all. Each runner completed six 10-seconds all out efforts. Each group varied the amount of rest between intervals. Rest ranged between 30 seconds to 80 seconds to two minutes rest for the runners. Including warm up and cool down, the session took less than fifteen minutes.

The results showed that the group with the shortest period of rest had the best results. The 30 seconds rest group ran about three percent (or about 25 seconds) faster!

Both the 80 seconds and two minute rest groups did not have any significant improvement in the 3 km time trial. There was no change in the control group.

The researchers attributed the improvement in performance to the elevated heart rate in the 30 second rest group. The short rest prevented the runners from recovering fully making each successive interval more difficult. Their muscles had to adapt faster to the increased load which helped them run faster in the subsequent time trial.

The authors recommend this workout as cross training to avoid injuries. Since stationary cycling also reduced training volume, it is a time efficient way of training as well. Runners who are injured can use this to maintain their fitness while recuperating.

When the weather does not permit you to run outside, you can still ride.

Reference

Kavaliauskas M et al (2015). High-intensity Cycling Training: The Effect Of Work-to-rest Intervals On Running Performance Measures. J Str Cond Research. 29(8): 2229-2236. DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000868.

Pedaling furiously while it was raining outside

My wife pedaling furiously 5 weeks after giving birth

Too Many Intervals Too Soon

Have you got an important race coming? And you're a little behind in your training, not quite in the shape you wished you hope to be and am tempted to really ramp up your training?

Well, the result from the following study will suggest you hold your horses.

A group of Norwegian researchers investigated the training response/ adaptations in 21 runners of completing 24 high intensity interval (HIIT) sessions over three or eight weeks. Both groups did no running after the last HIIT session.

In the first group, the runners did the hard 24 HIIT sessions over an eight week period. After doing 8 of the interval sessions, their VO2 max improved 2.3%. After 16 sessions, VO2 max improved 7.1%, At the end of eight weeks, their VO2 max improved a whopping 10.7% ( after resting 4 days).

For the 2nd group of runners, when the same 24 HIIT sessions were cramped into three weeks, their fitness actually declined during the three weeks and they only improved after almost two weeks (12 days to be exact) of no running. Even then, their improvement was 6.1% VO2 max, less than the first group.

Clearly, the results show that when training intensity  is too high, the runners cannot adapt to the training.

Just for those of you curious runners, their HIIT intervals were 4 x 4 min hard at 90-95 % VO2 max done running uphill on a treadmill with 3 min recovery.

Well, we live in an instantaneous society now where we want results at the snap of a finger. With running though, it pays to be dedicated, disciplined and patient.

Reference

Hatle H, Stobakk PK, Molmen HE et al (2014). Effect Of 24 Sessions Of High Intensity Aerobic Interval Training Carried Out At Either High Or Moderate Frequency, A Randomized Trial. PLoS ONE ((2): e88375. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0088375.


*Picture of 2013 National Schools Track and Field meet 800m A Division Girls final  by richseow from flikr

30-20-10

In case your are wondering, no, this particular blog post is not about what happened on 30th October, 2010. The 30-20-10 refers to a new workout suggested by researchers in a recently published article in the Journal of Applied Physiology.

Experienced runners who follow the workout improved their 5 km timings by 4 % in just 7 weeks while doing the 30-20-10 workout three times a week. Other than improving their performance, their blood pressure & LDL cholesterol also decreased. Their 1500 m times improved by 6%, whilst decreasing weekly mileage by a whopping 54%.

Interested now? Well, here's their workout. After a warm up of about 1.2 km, the runners studied jogged 30 sec, ran their normal training pace 20 sec and sprinted 10 seconds. They repeated this cycle another 4 times, running one continuous five minute repeat. This was followed by a 2 minute jog and then repeating the five minute workout three more times. The runners in the study did no cool down. All in all, they ran about 9 miles a week (or about 14.4 km in a week).

The control group runners continued their normal training and of course showed no improvement after 7 weeks.

What's the main difference between the 2 groups? The control group did not spend any time running close to the maximum heart rate whereas the 30-20-10 group spent about 40 % at or near their maximum heart rate.

The researchers concluded that the intense 10 second speed intervals have a major impact on performance.

No GPS, no heart rate monitor needed, just run by feel. Hope this helps you in your training.


Reference

Gunnarsson TP and  Bangsbo J (2012). The 10-20-30 Training Concept Improves Performance and Health Profile in Moderately Trained Runners. J App Physiol 113(1) : 16-24.

* Picture by RS @ 2012 National Schools B Division 800m girls final

What's The Best Way To Do An Interval Workout

As you've read in this week's Sweet 16 Marathon training plans, wanting to run  faster almost always mean having to do interval training. And all of the research published on interval training have pointed to increased fitness and running faster running times.

That doesn't mean you can run intervals 4 to 5 times a week though coz' that will be like taking an express train to over training and injury occurring. So here's the catch with interval training, it looks like it's purely a science - do the work and improvement follows correct? Well, it's actually just as much an art according to this research paper from Australian researchers I chanced upon recently. 

Instead of following a fixed formula like waiting until your heart rate (HR) drops to a certain number before your next interval or resting as long as the time taken for your previous interval ran, the researchers suggested that listening to your body might be the best way after all. They coined the termed "teleoanticipation" or what they say is perceived readiness to run your next interval.

Here's what the researchers asked a group of competitive runners do during a standard interval session of 5 x 1 km at 90% of their tested all out 1 km time. For recovery, the runners A) waited for their HR to return to 130 beats; B) rest as long as their interval time - about 3:18 min; C) rest until they "felt" they can run at 90% effort.

When they followed their HR, the runners did not recover enough, and they slowed dramatically on the last three repeats. Methods B and C had similar outcomes with one highly interesting difference - when the runners were recovering by "feel", the runners chose shorter recoveries than those assigned by method B. That is, they were able to maintain their times in the 1km repeats, but in less total workout time. This probably means that the C workouts were  more efficient (or productive) than the B workouts. As you see, interval training can be more of an art than a science.

The researchers suggested that this way of running intervals should not replace all other training principles that you have used previously but to keep this in mind while considering the whole training process. 

Personally I guess this is a good and practical way of training as it may mean you do not need to shell out extra money to get a HR monitor. This also gives athletes a systematic approach to train at their own pace (especially in a group setting) given that they will need to rely on their own pacing during a race so this makes good sense to practice pacing in training as well.

Reference 

Edwards AM, Bentley MB et al (2010). Self-pacing In Interval Training: A Teleoanticipatory Approach. Psychophysiology. 28 June Epub. DOI: 1111/j. 1469-8986.2020.01034.x

* Picture by R Seow