Thoughts on this podcast episode? Mile 143: Marathon Physiology with Andy Jones, PhD
Mediocre summary of podcast:
Andy Jones was interviewed. He was very involved in the Breaking 2 project with Eliud Kipchoge. He was also very involved with (or informed on) Paula Radcliffe’s training.
From the episode:
The three key parameters for predicting marathon performance are VO2 max, running economy, and lactate threshold. VO2 max has more genetic elements and is less adaptable compared to running economy and lactate threshold. Paula Radcliffe’s VO2 max didn’t change much at all from age 18, yet she still got faster and ran the WR at age 29. She was able to improve her running economy and lactate threshold over time with consistent training. Andy Jones also discussed a fourth important marathon parameter—resistance to fatigue. He did a study where he measured cyclists’ critical power (my understanding is this is pretty much lactate threshold). He then had them cycle for two hours and measured their critical power again. The average reduction in CP was 8% but it ranged from 1% for one runner to 22% for another. This topic needs more research because it’s still unknown what causes one athlete to be more resistant to fatigue compared to another. Andy Jones had Eliud Kipchoge’s lab measurements for VO2 max, running economy, and LT. Surprisingly, Kipchoge’s numbers were on par with the other 2 athletes in the Breaking 2 Project (Tadese and Desisa). Andy theorizes that Kipchoge has better resistance to fatigue. Andy also said that Kipchoge did about 120 miles per week. Andy thinks that doing more than 120 results in diminishing returns and leads to a higher risk for injury. He mentions that anything less than 70-80 miles for the marathon is not enough to maximize your potential. Another interesting aspect of Kipchoge’s training is Kipchoge says he does workouts at an 80% perceived level of effort. Kipchoge claims he doesn’t go to his max, and he is content to tuck in behind teammates during intervals. Compared to the other two athletes in the Breaking 2 project, Kipchoge’s training combined high mileage with a good amount of quality mileage around marathon pace or faster. Tadese ran lower mileage with high intensity workouts and trained more like a 10K runner. Desisa did higher mileage than Kipchoge but less quality volume.
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