Physio-Equations

Through endurance training, you develop a sensitivity to your own physiology. The more time you spend training your body and mind, the better you become at recognizing signals your body provides to your control center. Through this, you learn about your physiological "equations".  While I acknowledge that individuals differ, I will share some of my physio-equations that I have learned throughout the years and how they apply to my endurance training.

(training run  to Mt. Evans Summit)

The "equation" I am referring to is the feeling or symptom you feel and the communication received through your mind. The answer to each equation differs but once you know your physio-equations, you immediately recognize which feelings or symptoms require what response. In this, you can manage your body efficiently and make it appear as if you are doing nothing to maintain your constant effort.

These physio-equations are completely foreign to those outside of endurance sports.  For 99% of the population, awareness of body signals, causation, and proper response will never be experienced.  As an endurance athlete, you will have the opportunity to know your body at a deep level and, over time, acquire a sensitivity to changes beyond the normal five senses.

Here are some examples of my physio-equations. I hope you will obtain a sense of how this directly applies to training.  Consider how symptoms reveal themselves to you in your training and spend time focusing on efficient responses that accelerate your fitness.

Physio-Equation #1:

Symptom: Shaky, weak, accelerated breathing/HR, Hungry for anything

Problem: Low glycogen, "bonk", lack of carbohydrates readily available.

Answer: Slow down, intake simple carbs like a couple GU packets, oranges, coke, honey, or glucose tablets.

A true bonk is a lack of energy stored as glycogen in your muscles and/or liver. If you start your run topped off with energy and you continually ingest carbs with your fluid, you make it very unlikely to experience a bonk.  Learning to recognize, experience, and mitigate a bonk in training is crucial to endurance development because you realize the symptom and it's proper response.  Early recognition of a bonk can allow you to fix it before it even comes on. In my training, I can recognize a bonk at it's very onset and immediately take a gel pack or something else and avoid the pitfall completely. 

The "wall" in a standard marathon is often around 22 miles and, if you know that your body stores approximately 2,500 calories of glycogen energy, you now realize why the ill-prepared marathoner experiences a very nice bonk at about mile 22!  The smartest thing, in my opinion, is to run one of your longest training runs without any food at all....just drink electrolyte fluid for 2-3 hours.  After a couple hours, the bonk will reign down on you extremely hard...only then will you take out a couple gel packets from your pack and take them with fluid.  It will take about 8-15 minutes before your body snaps back so just sit down or walk until it happens. Voila! That is the way to learn your equation. You'll never have to do it again and you'll know why, therefore supporting your effort to intake properly during training and events.

Physio-Equation #2:

Symptom: Elevated heart rate.

Problem: Generally improper pacing, dehydration, illness, or a lack of recovery from previous run. (and other stuff)

Answer: Slow down and evaluate which problem is facing you. 

 If pacing improperly, think realistically about whether you can maintain your current pace for the duration of your run. Expect a continued increase in your heart rate the further you run. This is known as "cardiac drift" and describes the increased cardiac effort required to maintain the same pace in the later half of a run versus the first half.

If you suspect dehydration, double your intake of electrolyte fluids. In training, practice this double-intake and see how many ounces you can tolerate. I can manage 20 oz at one time if I need to make up fluid loss. Beyond the 20 oz, I feel overwhelmed and have to slow pace until processing takes place.

With the onset of illness, your heart rate will reveal your body's effort to fight and stay healthy.  In my experience, you should never train through illness because it can make everything worse.  Illness, as well, often reveals the fact you are overtraining and your body is unable to maintain it's immunities.

If you are doing back-to-back long runs. Or, if you are doing a long run one day and a 'pretty long' the next day, expect your heart rate to be increased at the onset of day 2. If you know this going into it, you will be much smarter about pace. Interestingly enough, the increased heart rate on day 2 will usually drop back down and only remain increased for 30-50 minutes. I have observed this in myself and other athletes. So, it would be smart on the second long run to consider the first hour a warm up...rather than just the first 15-20 minutes like a normal day.

Physio-Equation #3:

Symptom: Muscle Soreness, stiffness, tiredness.

Problem: Dehydration, under trained, or lacking nutritional recovery.

Answer: Double fluid intake for 30-45 minutes. If training issue, slow down and train more consistently. If nutritional expected, read below.

(filtering water during long run in Estes Park,Co)

Dehydration is a sneaky bastard. Seriously, maintaining proper hydration and electrolyte balance is the most important thing you can do for your distance training. Without hydration, you wont desire food and you compound everything.  When you're dehydrated, you will experience increased muscle soreness and elevated heart rate.  You may very well think you are unfit or running too fast when, the real problem, is a lack of hydration.  On "hydration", realize I am not just referring to water, but also a range of electrolytes we need as well. The best thing is to use a processed electrolyte fluid like: GU20, Succeed Ultra, Cytomax, Hammer Heed, Spiz, or Pedialyte. (Notice I didn't mention Gatorade, Power-Aid, or anything else at 7-11? That stuff is all crap.)

Under trained muscles will be sore and if you continue to hammer on those inadequately trained muscles, you will be even more sore! So, when you're building your training plan, expect and look forward to some soreness as evidence of your small microscopic muscle tears. The growth of new muscle and your well-earned scar tissue is your reward and, eventually, your stronger muscle. Just don't try to force this adaptation faster than is biologically possible. If you do that, you'll undoubtedly create soft-tissue injuries or suffer something more serious like a stress fracture or other structural problem. Adaptation will take place and the safe, common recommendation is "10% increase in mileage per week." This is a safe suggestion and you can never go wrong with it.

On nutritional recovery, the secret to greater fitness is found.  I've written about the physiological changes that take place in the warm up and aerobic energy HR zones. Now, understand that as you finish your run, your body is primed to fuel itself in order to help you continue to run.  Only YOU know you are stopping...your body has no idea what is happening.  So, take advantage of this primed absorption upon finishing...get some protein in your body within 20 minutes of your last steps. (I believe liquid protein is faster and easier digested.) Then eat a solid meal, including quality protein, within two hours. Also, use this window to drink clear fluids and immediately start replacing your electrolyte stores. If this paragraph is news to you, I just gave you the greatest endurance gift you've ever received. This alone with advance your training and development greatly.

Conclusion:

Our bodies provide signals, in the form of feelings or symptoms, about what we need to be efficient. The only way you can understand your signals is to spend hours, days, weeks, and years training "with" your body. Work with your body as if it's a separate entity...train your body and communicate with it.  You will learn the symptoms long before you learn the answer. So, read source books, blogs, and learn from experienced athletes what they use to mitigate feelings in training. In doing so, you will advance your relationship with your developing machine...and realize you are better than you ever thought you were.

run long.

jerry