GO2 Team

Summer movie season is upon us, and one of the surprising stars isn’t the man of steel, a mutant, or a religious code breaker but an ex vice-president. Lacking x-ray vision or a long hair cut Al Gore is armed only with PowerPoint slides and the luxury of science to discuss global energy and the impact on the environment. Without delving too much into politics, I want to do the same for running. Let me pull the slides.

Aerobic Anaerobic

C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ → C₆H₁₂O₆ →

6CO₂ + 6H₂O 2C₃H₆O₃ (lactic acid)

2830 kJ 120kJ

Slide 1

We can categorize energy systems by the fuels they burn. In the case of cars we will all one day decide between gas and ethanol. For ourselves, we can convert sugars either directly into lactic acid or instead, in a longer process, combine it with oxygen to get carbon dioxide and water.

If the secret of a sustainable environment is developing renewable energy sources on a global scale, then the secret of endurance sports is to optimize sustainable energy at a personal level. We need a cruiser gear.

Lactic Acid	Runner with too much Lactic Acid

Slide 2

To get there we need to train at the point along our various effort levels called the anaerobic threshold, the boundary below which we use aerobic metabolism and above which we use the unsustainable anaerobic. It is the maximal aerobic effort level, the best payoff in terms of bang for buck.

The more you train at a particular metabolism, the more you adapt your body to it, and the more efficient it becomes. If you race every run you will develop a great racing gear (the Tasmanian Devil was anaerobic), and while that is fantastic for chasing after rabbits with Brooklyn accents, you will run out of sugars about mile 18. You will wish that you had spent more time developing your aerobic capacity.

While there are a slew of tests that can measure your anaerobic threshold (AT) with a great deal of accuracy, the simplest way is to find the pace where you can be slightly conversational. If you have enough oxygen to speak, then your body isn’t forcing to steal all of it for metabolism (as long as you don’t talk too much).

It is not to say that we never want to use the faster gears when we train – in order to go far we will need all available energy process – but it works out to about at most 10% of the time or as a more conveniently way of thinking about it, one workout a week. The best time to save this is the for the Wednesday evening speed/hills run.

For the rest of the time when we run, talk to your teammates. Discuss the high home prices or the summer beach novels. Share your knowledge of cheap restaurants and favorite places to run.

This team comes from such wonderful places - from Michigan and Texas; from grape lands of Napa and Lodi – and those are just your mentors. Talk about careers. Talk about high school loves. But breathe. Support you local aerobic system. Oxygen is your friend.

And occasionally on a windier trail, maybe on a sunrise buddy run or a lazy mentor run through a park, take a deeper gasp when you realize the beauty of the Bay Area environment.

Click to see Presido loop map.