Question:What it ultimately boils down to is specificity? Simply put, if you
don't do long runs in training, a 20 miler will feel really difficult
even if you only do it really slowly.
Answer:
It isn't aimed at the fat burning mechanism, it just takes a lot of miles to
train right for the marathon, and very few of us can do all our ,iles at race
pace, so we slow down to be abl;e to do the long runs.
Not necessarily. Those numbers assume that you're reasonably well
adapted. It also assumes that you exclusively use aerobic metabolism
to burn that glycogen. Once you start using anaerobic metabolism, cellular
level adaptions play a role. Metabolism becomes a more complicated,
multi stage process, where the initial breakdown of the glucose molecule
does not release all available energy. The better the cellular adaptions,
the more heavily you can use anaerobic metabolism without rapid lactic acid
accumulation.
Wrong again. 100 calories per mile is about right for a 137lb runner. If
you're heavier than that, you will burn more than that.
That's a fantastic idea, and most advanced marathon training programs do
include speedwork. But you can't have it both ways -- you've got to do
short-and-fast training for speed, and long-and-slow training for endurance.
Attempt to do long-and-fast training, and you will burn out very quickly.
A fast marathon runner will use glucose as the predominant fuel regardless.
This is wildly simple-minded. If you do a brief hard run or time trial
ride, you can use up most of your glycogen in a very short time.
Example: My brother is a competitive mtn biker. He told me he had a 5k
time trial coming up, and afterward he and his training partner were doing a
60 mile ride. I advised him against it. He did the trial (uphill at 7500'
elevation) in 11 minutes. He massaged his legs, had something to eat,
rested up a bit, then he went out for his road ride, and had *nothing* in
his legs. Where did his mythical 2 hour supply of glycogen go? He ran
through most of it in 11 minutes. He turned around after a few miles.
On the other end of the scale, if you slow down, you can run well for far
longer than 25 miles. Scott Jurek broke the Western States 100 mile course
record in 15:35, averaging about 9:20 per mile, a time faster than 2:1x
marathoners have been able to manage.
Today I ran a tough 35 mile mountain race, in a bit under 6 hours, average
heart rate 145, temps 90+ at the finish, and still had some zip at the end.
If I'd averaged a heart rate of 150+, I'd have hit the wall, and struggled
in. I passed 10 people in the last 15 miles who were reduced to a survival
shuffle or a walk--because they'd run too fast. We all drank lots of sports
drink and ate during the race.
So, sure, if you run enough miles per week, you can find the magic pace at
which you can run strong for the full 26.2 miles, but the challenge in
marathon training is to raise that pace to it's maximum. And part of that
training is building up your ability to burn fat. 90 minute runs (which
stimulate the creation of more and bigger mitochondria), and longer runs of
3 - 4 hours, where you deplete a lot of your glycogen both stimulate fat
burning . Speed work and Lactate Threshold runs increase the speed you can
run without going anerobic, and improve turnover and efficiency. The more
irons in the fire you have, the faster you'll go.
Eating energy bars and goos will not make you run your marathon that much
faster, especially if you're well trained. Optimal marathon pace in a well
trained runner (80-85% of maximum output) is so hard that you can't digest
much of anything beyond diluted liquids.
In ultras, which are run at a lower % of maximum output, food is more
important.
Sheer nonsense.Bonking is almost always caused by bad pacing. You will
always bonk if you run distance X too fast, regardless of what you eat or
drink.Try this experiment. Go out 10% too fast in a marathon. Eat and
drink all the energy food you want. You will still end up shuffling or
walking at the half.
That's not how it works. You deplete your local stores of muscle glycogen (much
less than 2000 calories) and you don't get all the energy out of those
glycogen stores until you finish processing all the lactic acid that
accumulates (not until after the workout is done)
Glycogen consumption increases exponentially as you approach maximum output.
I've read that you increase glycogen consumption by a factor of 10 or more
as you go anerobic.
This is why smart hill runners avoid leg burn like the plague -- 5 minutes
of hard burn could use up 50 minutes of aerobic running glycogen.
