Powerbreathe (@POWERbreatheUK) have released a mac app
09/05/13 10:08
As readers of this site may know, we are big fans of the POWERbreathe products, especially the K5 and the Breathe-Link software. We have got a review on the product here and Ben (@bennyFP) kept a blog going of when he used the product. The only issue with the Breathe-Link software when we reviewed the product was that we had to have a Virtual Machine installed, running windows, so that we could use the app. Now, fear not, there is a mac app availble. Its free to download and available here. The app works perfectly and looks great. It's now even easier to train with the K5 on a mac.
We haven't tried importing data from the windows version to the mac one, it might be possible but otherwise you can just go and create a new profile for yourself and starting breathing!
We haven't tried importing data from the windows version to the mac one, it might be possible but otherwise you can just go and create a new profile for yourself and starting breathing!
Minimalism
01/05/13 12:45
There are a lot of titles I could use for this article, minimalism, running form, mid-foot running,barefoot or even just a title of running! I went with minimalism because the focus of the article is going to be on shoes that are "minimal" and how you can incorporate them into running.
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More here
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More here
Garmin Fenix Review
30/04/13 12:26
Finally a review of the Garmin Fenix on the running supplement
The Garmin Fenix is the ultimate out door watch, but how will it stack up for runners. Well, our review should let you know, hopefully some more pics will follow but for now read away.
The Garmin Fenix is the ultimate out door watch, but how will it stack up for runners. Well, our review should let you know, hopefully some more pics will follow but for now read away.
Altitude....
22/02/13 10:36
This article is a first in a series that I will be doing on altitude, what it does to endurance athletes, how to take advantage of it and what it is like.
This article will cover some of the science behind altitude and some theory behind training at altitude.
Altitude
The Mexico City Olympics in 1968 were a real watershed moment for track and field. The Games were the first to use a synthetic track and drugs test athletes but, more importantly, they were held at an elevation of 2,240m (7,350 ft) above sea level, which in turn has a huge affect on performance. The endurance athletes suffered massively, whereas the events that required explosive power had a significant advantage. Bob Beamon set at Olympic Record in the Long Jump of 8.90m, a mark that stood as the World Record for 22 years and is still the Olympic record.
Athletes that were record holders in the longer distance endurance events were being beaten by runners native to high altitudes and this got scientists intrigued, who began searching for physiological explanations for these wins.
What happens at altitude?
The atmosphere that we live under is several miles deep. At sea level, the weight of all the air above it compresses the air (because air is compressible) at sea level, making it denser. The higher we go up a mountain, the less air there is above the air we are breathing, which means the air has less above it to compress it, so the air therefore becomes thinner.
The important effect of this decompression is that for a given volume of air, there are fewer molecules present. Air contains 21% oxygen, so 21% of the molecules we breathe in are oxygen ones. However, if there are less molecules present overall, there are less oxygen molecules to breathe in (although the ratios stay the same).
This means that at altitude there is less oxygen to breathe and the body needs to make changes in order to cope with this lack of oxygen.
The theory behind altitude training is that if you can get the body to become good at coping with less oxygen, then you should have an advantage when you come down to sea level.
How does the body acclimatise?
Ventilation - this term describes how well oxygen from the atmosphere diffuses into the bloodstream. At altitude, the red blood cell volume, which enables higher volumes of oxygen to reach cells during exercise, increases. This is the same affect that Erythropoietin (EPO) stimulates (the production of red blood cells). As oxygen is used to produce energy for endurance athletes, the better the body can get oxygen to the muscles during exercise the better we will be able to perform.
Whilst this is the main benefit of being at altitude, there are other benefits also such as an increase in the buffering capacity (the ability to manage the build-up of waste acid), an increases in the number of small blood vessels and changes in the microscopic structure and functions of the muscles themselves.
Is it all good?
Whilst this all sounds fantastic, there are some side affects…..
If your red blood cell count increases too much, the blood will become thick and blood flow will be sluggish. This makes it harder to pump around your body and can actually decrease the amount of oxygen getting to where you need it.
Weight loss becomes an issue at very high altitude (4,500 meters) due to dehydration and hyperventilation. The intestines also absorb food as well, so it's difficult to replenish what you have lost.
Intense exercise at altitude is also harder. The reason those Olympians couldn't go hard in Mexico City was the reduction in oxygen and this issue will still hamper athletes whether they are acclimatised or not. The adaptation process doesn't happen overnight, studies aren't conclusive on this as for the optimum location, but you need at least 2 weeks at altitude to really benefit.
The other issue with altitude is the cost involved. Getting to altitude either involves doing it by travelling to a suitable location or purchasing equipment to allow you to do this. Neither of these options are cheap, and many of us have jobs which won't allow us to go off altitude training for 2 weeks.
How to train at altitude
There are 4 schools of thought as to altitude exposure techniques:
Live High - Train High
This method provides the maximum exposure to altitude. However, experts are becoming less fond of this method because there is a debate as to the amount of effect it'll have on athletes at sea level. It also means a relocation is necessary to achieve best results.
Live Low - Train High
The idea behind this concept is that you train in an environment that is low in oxygen and rest and recover in an environment that is full of oxygen. Whilst findings have shown that the technique may work, it is short of studies that prove this method makes any difference to performance at sea level. The other issue with this is that athletes can't train as hard at altitude, so training intensity drops and you may actually loose fitness!
Live High - Train Low
Your body acclimatises to altitude whilst living there, but training intensity is maintained by training at sea level. There are conflicting reports about the amount of time you need to spend at altitude to benefit from this method, but you need at to spend at least 2 weeks of at least 8 hours a day at altitude to see any benefit.
Intermittent Hypoxic Training
This is a newer method of altitude exposure and works by alternating between breathing in air that is from very high altitude for a few minutes, then breathing in air from sea level. This needs to happen for about 90 minutes a day. There are conflicting studies as to the effectiveness of Intermittent Hypoxic Training.
The next stage of this series on Altitude is to go into further detail about the ways to train at altitude and I'll be testing out some systems and discussing how they work, looking at what scientist have found out with studies, interviewing athletes that have trained at altitude and also see how the worlds best use altitude to train.
This article will cover some of the science behind altitude and some theory behind training at altitude.
Altitude
The Mexico City Olympics in 1968 were a real watershed moment for track and field. The Games were the first to use a synthetic track and drugs test athletes but, more importantly, they were held at an elevation of 2,240m (7,350 ft) above sea level, which in turn has a huge affect on performance. The endurance athletes suffered massively, whereas the events that required explosive power had a significant advantage. Bob Beamon set at Olympic Record in the Long Jump of 8.90m, a mark that stood as the World Record for 22 years and is still the Olympic record.
Athletes that were record holders in the longer distance endurance events were being beaten by runners native to high altitudes and this got scientists intrigued, who began searching for physiological explanations for these wins.
What happens at altitude?
The atmosphere that we live under is several miles deep. At sea level, the weight of all the air above it compresses the air (because air is compressible) at sea level, making it denser. The higher we go up a mountain, the less air there is above the air we are breathing, which means the air has less above it to compress it, so the air therefore becomes thinner.
The important effect of this decompression is that for a given volume of air, there are fewer molecules present. Air contains 21% oxygen, so 21% of the molecules we breathe in are oxygen ones. However, if there are less molecules present overall, there are less oxygen molecules to breathe in (although the ratios stay the same).
This means that at altitude there is less oxygen to breathe and the body needs to make changes in order to cope with this lack of oxygen.
The theory behind altitude training is that if you can get the body to become good at coping with less oxygen, then you should have an advantage when you come down to sea level.
How does the body acclimatise?
Ventilation - this term describes how well oxygen from the atmosphere diffuses into the bloodstream. At altitude, the red blood cell volume, which enables higher volumes of oxygen to reach cells during exercise, increases. This is the same affect that Erythropoietin (EPO) stimulates (the production of red blood cells). As oxygen is used to produce energy for endurance athletes, the better the body can get oxygen to the muscles during exercise the better we will be able to perform.
Whilst this is the main benefit of being at altitude, there are other benefits also such as an increase in the buffering capacity (the ability to manage the build-up of waste acid), an increases in the number of small blood vessels and changes in the microscopic structure and functions of the muscles themselves.
Is it all good?
Whilst this all sounds fantastic, there are some side affects…..
If your red blood cell count increases too much, the blood will become thick and blood flow will be sluggish. This makes it harder to pump around your body and can actually decrease the amount of oxygen getting to where you need it.
Weight loss becomes an issue at very high altitude (4,500 meters) due to dehydration and hyperventilation. The intestines also absorb food as well, so it's difficult to replenish what you have lost.
Intense exercise at altitude is also harder. The reason those Olympians couldn't go hard in Mexico City was the reduction in oxygen and this issue will still hamper athletes whether they are acclimatised or not. The adaptation process doesn't happen overnight, studies aren't conclusive on this as for the optimum location, but you need at least 2 weeks at altitude to really benefit.
The other issue with altitude is the cost involved. Getting to altitude either involves doing it by travelling to a suitable location or purchasing equipment to allow you to do this. Neither of these options are cheap, and many of us have jobs which won't allow us to go off altitude training for 2 weeks.
How to train at altitude
There are 4 schools of thought as to altitude exposure techniques:
Live High - Train High
This method provides the maximum exposure to altitude. However, experts are becoming less fond of this method because there is a debate as to the amount of effect it'll have on athletes at sea level. It also means a relocation is necessary to achieve best results.
Live Low - Train High
The idea behind this concept is that you train in an environment that is low in oxygen and rest and recover in an environment that is full of oxygen. Whilst findings have shown that the technique may work, it is short of studies that prove this method makes any difference to performance at sea level. The other issue with this is that athletes can't train as hard at altitude, so training intensity drops and you may actually loose fitness!
Live High - Train Low
Your body acclimatises to altitude whilst living there, but training intensity is maintained by training at sea level. There are conflicting reports about the amount of time you need to spend at altitude to benefit from this method, but you need at to spend at least 2 weeks of at least 8 hours a day at altitude to see any benefit.
Intermittent Hypoxic Training
This is a newer method of altitude exposure and works by alternating between breathing in air that is from very high altitude for a few minutes, then breathing in air from sea level. This needs to happen for about 90 minutes a day. There are conflicting studies as to the effectiveness of Intermittent Hypoxic Training.
The next stage of this series on Altitude is to go into further detail about the ways to train at altitude and I'll be testing out some systems and discussing how they work, looking at what scientist have found out with studies, interviewing athletes that have trained at altitude and also see how the worlds best use altitude to train.
Review of SiS (@scienceinsport) Regot + Fruitflow Gel
20/02/13 14:49
I have previously written about Rego Rapid Recovery from SiS and how great the product is for taking after a session. Now, SiS have come out with a gel that is to be taken BEFORE training, but actually aids your recovery after the session!
When I first heard about the product I was certainly skeptical and a little bit confused. How could what I take before training have any affect on the process afterwards? When I read that it contained tomato I was sure that a con was afoot.
However, the team at Science in Sport promised me that this wasn't the case and I took ownership of a box of gels a few weeks ago and have been putting them through their paces ever since.
The Science
First, the science bit.... REGO + Fruitflow ® helps to reduce over stimulation of blood platelets, which can reduce inflammation, and thus shortening recovery time. Fruitflow ® helps maintain normal platelet aggregation which can contribute to healthy blood flow.
What does that actually mean in the real world? The better we can recover from a session, the better we can train later on in the week. If it takes you 6 days to recover from a hard session, you aren't going to get much improvement (and probably need to evaluate how hard you are working in that session!)
Don't forget, that some post-workout inflammation is good, as it is the body adapting to the training. That's why ice baths and taking ibuprofen is a bad thing to do after training. However, I can't imagine that the post-workout benefit from Fruitflow ® is significant enough to negate the training affect.
Taste
Currently the Rego + Fruitflow ® is only available in a banana & mango flavour. Even though it contains tomato extract, it's very palatable. It doesn't taste as exotic as banana & mango and, whilst I wouldn't go as far to say that it's delicious, I have no problem in taking it. It's nowhere near as viscous as their Go Gel, and that isn't that thick anyway, so in fact it's a very thin liquid to take.
They advise to take it 1.5 to 3 hours before exercise, however, I train in the morning so getting up at 4 to take a gel was not an option, so I had the gel an hour before my session and didn't have any adverse stomach reactions; if anything it helped a bit to have something in my stomach (I usually train without any food).
Post session, any difference?
It's really difficult to say whether the gel had any affect on my recovery, because it's a bit of a subjective thing. I didn't feel significantly better after the session, but equally I felt no worse than I do usually. That doesn't mean much as it's one man's opinion. I think it made me feel mentally better, knowing I had started the recovery process before the session and you can never discount any placebo affect, because no matter how small the difference it's making, any positive difference has got to good.
Buying the gels
One gel retails for £2.39, a pack of 6 will set you back £11.99, whilst 30 will cost £56.99.
Whilst the gels aren't cheap, as a runner the most I would use during a week would be four, but more likely twice (before the long run and before my long threshold session), as those are my two big sessions. I still took Rego Rapid Recovery afterwards, because the Rego+Fruitflow ® should be seen as a compliment to the main Rego, not a replacement.
Any good?
Would I recommend the gels? I would certainly give them a go and see what you think. I will certainly be using them before my bigger sessions, because as one stallion loving supermarket says "every little helps"!
The Rego+Fruitflow ® is available from the SiS website. Use the special Full Potential discount code FPRUN2012 for 20% off at checkout.
When I first heard about the product I was certainly skeptical and a little bit confused. How could what I take before training have any affect on the process afterwards? When I read that it contained tomato I was sure that a con was afoot.
However, the team at Science in Sport promised me that this wasn't the case and I took ownership of a box of gels a few weeks ago and have been putting them through their paces ever since.
The Science
First, the science bit.... REGO + Fruitflow ® helps to reduce over stimulation of blood platelets, which can reduce inflammation, and thus shortening recovery time. Fruitflow ® helps maintain normal platelet aggregation which can contribute to healthy blood flow.
What does that actually mean in the real world? The better we can recover from a session, the better we can train later on in the week. If it takes you 6 days to recover from a hard session, you aren't going to get much improvement (and probably need to evaluate how hard you are working in that session!)
Don't forget, that some post-workout inflammation is good, as it is the body adapting to the training. That's why ice baths and taking ibuprofen is a bad thing to do after training. However, I can't imagine that the post-workout benefit from Fruitflow ® is significant enough to negate the training affect.
Taste
Currently the Rego + Fruitflow ® is only available in a banana & mango flavour. Even though it contains tomato extract, it's very palatable. It doesn't taste as exotic as banana & mango and, whilst I wouldn't go as far to say that it's delicious, I have no problem in taking it. It's nowhere near as viscous as their Go Gel, and that isn't that thick anyway, so in fact it's a very thin liquid to take.
They advise to take it 1.5 to 3 hours before exercise, however, I train in the morning so getting up at 4 to take a gel was not an option, so I had the gel an hour before my session and didn't have any adverse stomach reactions; if anything it helped a bit to have something in my stomach (I usually train without any food).
Post session, any difference?
It's really difficult to say whether the gel had any affect on my recovery, because it's a bit of a subjective thing. I didn't feel significantly better after the session, but equally I felt no worse than I do usually. That doesn't mean much as it's one man's opinion. I think it made me feel mentally better, knowing I had started the recovery process before the session and you can never discount any placebo affect, because no matter how small the difference it's making, any positive difference has got to good.
Buying the gels
One gel retails for £2.39, a pack of 6 will set you back £11.99, whilst 30 will cost £56.99.
Whilst the gels aren't cheap, as a runner the most I would use during a week would be four, but more likely twice (before the long run and before my long threshold session), as those are my two big sessions. I still took Rego Rapid Recovery afterwards, because the Rego+Fruitflow ® should be seen as a compliment to the main Rego, not a replacement.
Any good?
Would I recommend the gels? I would certainly give them a go and see what you think. I will certainly be using them before my bigger sessions, because as one stallion loving supermarket says "every little helps"!
The Rego+Fruitflow ® is available from the SiS website. Use the special Full Potential discount code FPRUN2012 for 20% off at checkout.