Racers Run Fast for Chocolate!

Huge congrats to the Hot Chocolate 5K Finishers: Stacey, Gena, Debbie, Michelle, Heather and Lance! Way to challenge yourself and put all your hard training to the test. Did you save any chocolate for us?

Speaking of races, here's another one coming right up. Added bonus: right up the road in Lake Elsinore, 10K and 5K option, and only $20 if we register as a team before April 1. Who's in?

http://www.kathyloperevents.com/lakeelsinore/

Good luck to the runners who are participating in the Ghiradelli Hot Chocolate 5K at Balboa Park on Sunday - Stacey, Michelle, Gena, Debbie Ashkar, Heather, and Lance!

Outstanding information that correlates with the type of training we have been doing via CFE at CFTS. Please read below. Also, please note that Angela will be taking over for me tonight for the Friday WOD, as we are celebrating little Murph's 4th birthday. The 1000 meter repeats will be done to the road and back, as before. You will run 3-4 of them depending on whether your times are remaining steady. You should push for a 5K race pace with a surge in the last 200 of each. Good luck!

Can sprinting improve your aerobic conditioning? Absolutely. Although not exactly common knowledge, in-the-know endurance athletes have been enjoying the benefits of sprint training as a substitute for some of their distance work. And you'll find that sprint work is part of the foundational training of a growing number of champion endurance athletes, especially those following the Crossfit Endurance program.

But is there any scientific foundation for the use of sprints to improve endurance? Again, absolutely. In 1993, scientists studied the percentage of energy pathway contributions during repeated maximal effort sprints. They theorized that although your phosphagen pathway might be responsible for a huge energy contribution on the first sprint, by the later sprints it would seem plausible that other pathways were making increasingly greater contributions. To briefly review: the phosphagen pathway is the responsible for quick, explosive strength over the first few seconds of a movement, while the glycolytic pathway contributes to the next couple of minutes worth of energy, and finally the oxidative pathway takes over for events lasting anywhere from several minutes to several hours.

But what about repeated sprint efforts? Would we see an increasingly greater contribution from the glycolytic pathway, even though the amount of work performed is a short sprint, firmly in the phosphagen's domain?

To test this theory, a group of subjects were tasked with six seconds of sprinting followed by 30 seconds of rest, for ten repeated efforts (a 1:5 work ratio). Any athlete who's run a set of suicides or repeated sprint intervals will attest to the fact that oxygen consumption clearly increases between the first and last sprint - which intuitively means that the body must be shifting from the use of one energy system (anaerobic) to another (aerobic). If we consider the types of conditioning work done at all levels of sport, we find that repeated sprints are a staple of every coach from Pee-wee Football to professional rugby, and every level and sport in between.

This effect can be seen with traditional weight training as well, when we use shorter rest periods between sets, leading to increased oxygen consumption (breathing heavier) and a stress on our oxidative (aerobic) system. So although it's uncommon to think of sprints as a form of aerobic conditioning, there are numerous practical examples of them being used as such.

So what happened between the first and tenth sprint?

What the researchers found was that there was a significantly reduced contribution from the anaerobic energy pathway on the final sprint as compared to the first one. Although they didn't measure the exact contributions of every energy pathway independently, they produced enough data to imply that as the sprinting session progressed, there was a trend towards a decrease in the phosphagen and glycolytic pathways, signifying a likely increase in the percentage of energy being derived from oxidative metabolism.

This data can't be interpreted as a good reason for endurance athletes to ditch all of their long efforts and focus on sprinting instead, but it does give those athletes a good reason to start working in some sprints to their routine.

You'll also note that these charts are given as percentages, not absolute values; although one may talk about "shifting" from one energy contributor to another, the analogy of shifting gears is not apt. We don't shift energy pathways like a car shifting from first (phosphagen) to second (glycolytic); either completely in one gear or another. Instead, the human body is constantly altering the ratio between one energy system to another, and sometimes back, in a fluid series of shifting contributions. So if you're looking to get some of the benefits of aerobic training without putting in endless miles on the road, maybe a set of 10 x 6s sprints is the workout you've been looking for.
_______________________________________

Striding into Week 7!

Why is Pose running the answer? Lots of reasons: less injury, efficiency in stride, less energy expended, faster times! Let's review some of what we've already learned through drills, workouts and my preaching. So a friend asks you about this CFE stuff and how do you answer? What is the Pose running method and what are it's key points?

THE BASICS

* Lean machine: At all times, angle your body forward to the point where you feel you're about to fall. Do not bend at the waist. To go faster, lean more.

* S-shaped body form: Run with your back straight and your knees slightly bent at all times, including at impact. You should run at a height two or three inches shorter than your normal standing height.

* Short stride: Your foot should land under your body, not ahead of it. Remember that "distal" (far from body) equals weak, poor leverage, while close to core equals strength and good balance.

* Land on forefoot, not heel: Initially contact the ground only on the ball of the foot. Landing on the heel transmits maximum shock and has a momentum-killing "braking" effect

* Fast cadence: Minimum leg turnover should be 180 to 190 strides per minute. Increase as you get fitter and want to go faster. Remember: The longer the foot's on the ground, the more momentum you lose.

* Pull, not push: This is the hardest-to-master part of the pose technique. After the foot strike, pull the heel straight up in the direction of the butt by contracting the hamstring. It should go up like a rubber band. Fight the urge to push off from the toes as you normally do, instead using the quads and calves.

* Flick it: Don't yank the foot up; flick it up just enough to get it off the ground an inch or so. It will continue upward on its own; the faster you're running, the higher it goes.

* Free fall: Once airborne, don't reach with your stride. You're in flight, carried along by your center of mass. The foot will travel in a natural arc, then drop like a plumb line without any muscle activity.

Let's keep moving forward together!

This week's fun:

WED: 3 rounds of (20sec on/60sec off, 20sec on/50sec off, 20sec on/40sec off, 20sec on/30sec off, 20sec on/20sec off, 20sec on/10sec off). 2 min between rounds.

FRI: 3 x (200m + 400m + 600m) Work:Rest 1:1. Rest the exact time it takes to complete each interval in a set.

SUN: 3 x 1-mile repeats at Birdsall Park Loop. Rest 3-4 min between miles.

Race Time

Nearly 6 weeks of CFE complete...let's put all that hard work to the test! Here are two great options for races...some of you are already signed up. I love the enthusiasm. The first one benefits autistic children of military families and for the next two days is only $17 to sign up!

http://www.spreebird.com/deal/act-today-san-diego-20120206

The second one (which is actually right around the corner) entices you with chocolate at the finish line (of course 85% Dark, paleo friendly type).

http://www.hotchocolate15k.com/sandiego/

Thanks, Michelle, for finding this one and getting everyone excited about it! There is a 5K and 15K option, but the Ghiradelli chocolate at the finish line is not optional. Hey, everything in moderation, right?

Good job to the Friday night crew who made it in for 800's. I got hit hard with the flu this week and last night was still feeling rough so Murph took over the class for me. Thanks for remaining flexible for this. Feeling better already (I hope!).

Drills, drills and more drills...

I know it's a drag sometimes to go through the motions with drills, but these are the fundamentals that will change the way we run and make us faster and more efficient. Your POSE form is already looking better with each week. We will generally always begin each CFE WOD with drill work so I can, yes, drill it into your head exactly what pose running looks and feels like. That being said, check out this video, we'll be implementing these drills this week!

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_AF_BmackRunning-thre_PRE.mov

Whoo-hoo! Here are this week's WODs.

WED: 8 x 200 m w/2 min rest

FRI: 3-4 x 800m w/min recovery

SUN: 5K Time Trial at box

Friday Night Lights with CFE!

We will be meeting at Birdsall Park (across from Great Oak HS track) for our mile repeats. There is a one-mile loop under the lights. Can you think of a better way to spend your Friday night? Check out attached map below and please park in the lot at the corner off of Deer Hollow and Pechanga Parkway. See you there at 6:30 tonight!

http://www.temeculavalleyshootout.com/Birdsall_Park_Directions.pdf

32380 Deer Hollow Way

Temecula, CA 92590

Running into Week 5!

Five weeks in and already I am seeing some great improvement in our POSE form and our speed. Great job to everyone for remaining committed to the program and for your great efforts. It's an awesome thing to see people's dedication translate into quicker turnover on the track and faster time in WODs. Keep it up! More fun work ahead of us. Please check out this week's WODs and this great video which touches on some of the fundamentals we worked on at Sunday's hill WOD at Morgan Hill.

Wed:

Tunnel WOD:

100, 200, 400, 800-800*, 400, 200, 100

*(2nd 800 for advanced runners only)

90 sec-2 min recovery

Friday:

2-3 x 1 mile repeats at 5K race pace

Sunday:

Tabata CFE!

Tabata Run

Tabata Plank

Tabata Air Squats

Tabata Sit-ups

Tabata Run

CFE attacks the hills!------------->

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFitJournal_AF_CFE_Hills_PRE.mov