There Is A Method to the Madness
This is a podcast where I will be discussing all aspects of physical fitness. I am an exercise physiologist and personal trainer and owner of Maxwell's Fitness Programs for the last 25 years. My passion is health and fitness and I am excited to share my views, some stories, interviews and much more with you.
There Is A Method to the Madness
Mastering Running: Unlocking Performance with Science-Backed Strategies
Unlock the secrets to running smarter, not harder, and enhance your performance with scientifically-backed strategies. We promise to guide you through the maze of social media trends to focus on proven methods that boost aerobic capacity and improve overall fitness. Drawing from my experience as an exercise physiologist, I share insights on how to shave minutes off your running times while minimizing fatigue, all by tapping into the extensive research dedicated to the aerobic system.
Explore the fascinating intersection of genetics and training in running efficiency. Hear about my transition from bodybuilding to running, where I discovered firsthand how genetic limits influence VO2 max and cardiovascular performance. We’ll also discuss legendary athletes like Lance Armstrong and how they demonstrate the potential of targeted training to push beyond genetic predispositions. With practical advice on weight loss and stride efficiency, you’ll learn how to optimize your running economy for better results.
Gain valuable tips for smart and sustainable training, inspired by the remarkable running career of the late Reed Hughes. Learn why letting go of ego and embracing a disciplined approach can lead to lifelong enjoyment and success in running. We'll emphasize the importance of pacing—running easy 80% of the time and incorporating weekly interval training to boost performance. Whether you’re running alone or in a group, understanding the nuances of pacing can protect you from burnout and injury, keeping your passion for running alive.
Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...
Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify
Welcome to there is a Method to the Madness. My name is Rob Maxwell, I'm an exercise physiologist and a personal trainer. I own Maxwell's Fitness Programs and I've been in business since 1994. The purpose of this show is to get to the real deal of what really works and, most importantly, why things work. Hence the name the Method to the Madness. In the era of all these influencers and people on social media telling you to do silly stuff, I want to cut to the chase and tell you how to train, tell you how to exercise and help you eat right. All right, today we're going to talk about how to run better. Before I get to that, let me thank Jonathan and Lynn Gildan of the Gildan Group Realty Pros. They are committed to providing the highest level of customer service in home sales. And I tell you what give them a shout and figure out what your home is worth 3-8-6-4-5-1-26-451-2412.
Speaker 1:The other day I got a text from a former client and person who follows the show and kind of follows what I do here, and great person they're all great people, right. Who am I to say who's great and not great? But I like her, that's for sure. And she was asking me how to get her running back. She did a turkey trot 5K, wasn't overly enthusiastic about her time, I imagine, didn't come out and say it, but said something to the effect of she felt like she was hurting pretty bad not like injury wise, but just fatigue and wanted to know how she could get back to what she thought was respectable times for her. So I told her I would get right back to her and I did. I said you know what I will, and then I thought about it today. I'm like you know what? This is a great podcast actually because you know you think, well, not all the clients run, not all the people in fitness run, and that's true, but there are so many people that do, and I think this message today can apply to any form of cardio. So I want to tackle this in a little bit of a message today. So how do we run better? So the first thing we have to understand is that, sorry people, but there is a method to the madness. Like the scientists, the physiologists, the coaches the real coaches, I should say know how to improve somebody's running, we know how to improve whatever aerobic, slash, cardiorespiratory exercise that you're trying to do, whether it be better runner, better cyclist, better swimmer, better triathlete, better cross-country skier, let's say, you only go indoors better stair climber, better elliptical, whatever, like. There is a method to the madness and it is studied so intensely.
Speaker 1:I remember when I was a graduate student in exercise physiology I kind of felt like the odd man out when I first got there, because I was a strength guy. I'd come from a bodybuilding background. I lifted weights, you know I barely did any cardio. I mean, I ran a little bit when I was in college and training for my first bodybuilding show, I did the life cycle to burn body fat, but I really wasn't into cardio and it seemed like everybody in the program was. I mean, I don't remember how many they took per year in the master's program, but let's say it was like 28 or something like that and you end up having all the people in your most of your classes. You kind of start and end together for the most part and I kid you not, I think I was like one of two people that were like primarily lifters, you know. But that wasn't why I felt like the odd man out. Um, everybody was nice, we all got along great, we all had a passion for exercise.
Speaker 1:I felt like the odd man out, because it seemed like all of the research was geared towards the aerobic system, like there was so much information and down to a T, and then you would study the morphological system or the skeletal system and you get into some of the strength aspects and it was like a chapter. You're like, oh, okay, um, you know why, I don't know. I mean, I think in some way, shape or form, it's a little more simplistic the strength anatomy and physiology and everything Like we've known about hypertrophy and hyperplasia and all those things for so long. You know, maybe that's it, maybe because of the fact that, like, the cardiorespiratory system also affects cardiac rehab and things like that, so they study it a little more extensively so they can better prepare people to take care of their heart, not sure? I just know that all the research was geared towards that, and I mean I'm talking classes in environmental exercise, physiology and how it impacts the aerobic system at high altitude training and all this kind of stuff. And you're like, whoa, I mean, this is like we know. So I hope I made my point. We know, like there is so much science out there that we know how to make the aerobic system better. All right. So the first thing we have to do is follow the science.
Speaker 1:Don't follow what other people are talking about what they do on social media. Here is why there's two main reasons. One, they may not be doing all that. Number two, don't follow the blind right the blind leading the blind. They maybe are just getting it right by accident. A lot of people who run a lot or do triathlons I'll just keep this to running but a lot of people who run a lot Love to talk about the fact they run a lot and they love to post their workouts. And there's this thing, for those that don't know, called Strava. It's sort of like the social media for runners and endurance athletes, because you can follow people and see what their workouts are. So they love to post in there and they add to it. Like you can just leave it where it was and the GPS tracks you and puts add to it. Like you can just leave it where it was and the GPS tracks you and puts up your stats. But it's funny how some people will put windy ride just in case you know somebody looks at their ride and it wasn't that fast. They wanted to clarify, it was windy and there are people that even go in and change the statistics. That was hard to say. You know it gets pathetic, just like all social media, can you know? It's like you see somebody's best five minutes and you think that's how they lived their whole life. So don't follow that Again.
Speaker 1:People oftentimes aren't really doing everything they say they're doing, and just because they are, it doesn't mean that they're doing it right. I mean, with running, like everything, there is a lot of genetics. I mean I started taking up running in graduate school because I had done a bodybuilding show and it looked fun and it was kind of like it's hard to believe that back then I thought I was getting older and I was like in my late twenties. But um, you know, I was like God, I've done this for so long, thinking about bodybuilding. These guys are having fun doing these triathlons and running. I think I'll take it up, and so I did. And that's when I started doing it and I did enjoy it and I still do some of it today, especially the running portion, because I love how it makes me feel.
Speaker 1:So I did my very first 5K and it was just under 21 minutes. I mean that's pretty fast, right. I mean that's my first one, and then the very next week I shaved a minute off and I was just under. No, I'm sorry. The first one I did was just under 22 minutes. The second one I did was just under 20, just under 21. Yeah, 2055, something like that. So you know, that's pretty good for starting out. You think, oh man, that's good, right, but I'm not saying that to brag. I'm trying to make a point that maybe I don't know 10 years later than that, after 10 years of intense training and pretty injury-free running, I was able to get it to a 1937. I know my PR All runners do right. But what's funny about that is think about it Like not even three minutes in over 10 years. So that's like shows you, number one, how genetic this stuff is, and that's one of the things we learned in exercise physiology. It's very genetic.
Speaker 1:Your VO2 max is very genetic. Studies show that it only improves by a maximum 30% over your lifetime 30%. So the first rule of thumb is to, wherever you are genetically, accept it. Does that mean you can't get better? Of course not. I get better by three minutes and then if you somewhat maintain that as you get older, in a way, that's a win because you're getting older and your times are staying closer to what they were at your peak. So that's, you know, that's a win. But just keep in mind it's very genetic. Your VO2 max is very genetic. If you see people out there running crazy times and they look like they shouldn't they have genetics on their side. Does that mean they don't train hard? Of course not. They are still disciplined. Nobody's out there winning 5Ks or winning their age groups without any discipline. That is not true. But they do have genetics on their side. So we do have to understand that there's a huge genetic component to VO2 max. Okay, so that's one way having a good heart and lung package.
Speaker 1:When we have a high VO2 max. What that means is you have a high stroke volume, and stroke volume means that your blood pumps. Your heart pumps a certain amount of blood per beat, all right, as your left ventricle hypertrophies and get a little bit stronger, a little bit larger not to be confused with cardiac myopathy, which is not a healthy condition, but a little bit of left ventricular hypertrophy, the left side of your heart gets a little bit stronger and can pump more blood per beat. So guess what? If it can pump more blood per beat. It does not have to beat as frequently per beat. It does not have to beat as frequently. Hence why people who are in good aerobic condition have lower resting heart rates and lower training heart rates at sub threshold intensities. All right, a lot of that is genetic, from VO2 max and then some of it is training the cardiovascular system, all right.
Speaker 1:Another way we get faster is having a good anaerobic threshold, so that is the percentage at which we can run aerobically before we go anaerobic. Now that is very trainable, all right. There's been reports that Lance Armstrong, back in his peak, his anaerobic threshold was 97% of his max VO2 and max heart rate. Think about that. That means at 95% of his maximum he is still very aerobic. That is very, very trainable. How do we train it, rob? We train that by doing threshold runs, right at it, but also very slow, easy training, so we can condition our slow twitch muscle fibers and our red blood cells to become more oxidative. All right. And then the third way, and don't worry, miss, you know who you are. I'm going to like fine tune this a little more and answer your question directly how you can improve your 5k times again or 10k times, whatever you want to do.
Speaker 1:But the third way that we get faster is called running economy, and that's when we work on our form and we work on our muscles to be more responsive. Running economy basically means that you become more efficient. A big way we do that is we lose weight. So think about it economically. If you are, let's say, you have a VO2 max of 50, which is, you know, on the high end of average, high average and you weigh 140 pounds, well, if you get to 130 pounds and you have a VO2 max of 50, technically your VO2 max will improve a little bit when you lose weight, because it's based on a weight statistic anyway. But now the same heart and lung package is carrying a smaller vessel. We call that running economy. That's like keeping the same size engine, but now decreasing the size of your car and weight. It is going to go faster, right, I mean? There's just no way that it's not so that's part of economy.
Speaker 1:The other part of economy is learning your perfect stride rate and stride length. The other part of economy is knowing what to do with your upper body, meaning not wasting energy by rotating your hips back and forth and swinging your arms too much. That's all part of running economy. So that can be improved greatly by just simply having a coach notice it or a trusted friend or trusted YouTube video where you can watch what it's supposed to look like and then do it. So many people don't know how to run and I'm serious when I say that. You know, you think well, running is running straightforward, but it's too many people like stride out way too long, which is not economical at all, because if you have a long stride rate, that's going to cause more of a braking mechanism. So every time your foot hits the ground your quads are braking and that's going to cause fatigue. Your better runners have quicker turnover without as much stride length. It's kind of like a cyclist is going to be more efficient when they have a higher cadence versus a lower cadence. So that's all part of running economy.
Speaker 1:So I'll wrap up the ex-phys part by just saying this we get faster aerobically by having a better VO2 max, highly genetic, a better anaerobic slash, lactate threshold. It's basically the same thing, very trainable and improving our running economy Very trainable. Those are the three things every person has to work on to become more aerobically fit. Now, granted, a lot of people just improve those things by accident, by running. I mean that's just true, all right, so how do we do it? First thing you got to understand is 80% of your training should be slow. Your running should be slow, and I mean slow.
Speaker 1:It's funny when you watch these people on Strava or Facebook or wherever they post their workouts and, look, you ask for it if you're posting it. I mean, look, the bottom line is nobody gives a shit about your run. I mean, they really, really don't. They might tell you they do and they might give you likes and congratulations, but just so you know, behind your back, if you're putting your workout online, they're laughing at you. Somebody is 90% of people are so if you're putting it out there, you're opening up towards criticism Because, hey, that's just what we humans do. They're going to say that it was an easy run and then you're going to look at their 5K pace and see that it was maybe a minute slower per mile than their 5K pace. I hate to break it to you. That is not an easy run. An easy run is easy. It's very low heart rate.
Speaker 1:What most runners do when they train is they train in what we call no man's land and that is just around or lower than their threshold, meaning they're somewhat comfortable, which your threshold is going to be comfortable and especially runners are used to being able to be uncomfortable for a while, so it's going to be somewhat comfortable and they do it for long periods of time. It's called no man's land, and so it's not hard enough to really push that anaerobic threshold, and definitely not their VO2 max, which needs to be at about 95% to show improvements. And it's too hard to increase the slow twitch muscle fibers, which is key. What runners really want is greater capillary density in their slow twitch muscle fibers. So what that means is you want the blood cells, the red blood cells in the muscles, to become more oxidative in the muscles. So unless you're very, very aerobic, those muscle cells are not going to become conditioned to handle more oxygen, so you never train them, okay.
Speaker 1:So, like me, I'm more of a fast twitch muscle fiber guy. So we're either more fast or more slow twitch, or somewhere in between Again, very, very genetic. So when I was younger in college, I played rugby. Why? Because I could sprint, I could lift heavier weights, I'm leaner, but I'm definitely more fast twitch than slow twitch. So I already have fast twitch muscle fibers, which are not what we call oxidative. They don't respond to oxygen very well. They're what we call glycolytic. They handle anaerobic training very, very well.
Speaker 1:So for me to go out and do more intervals would be silly. I'm already good at that. Naturally, you want to do some, but you don't want to do a lot. For me, especially, I want to train my cells, the ones that can be trained, which are my type 2a muscle fibers, my intermediate muscle fibers trained, which are my type 2a muscle fibers, my intermediate muscle fibers. I want to train them to be more oxidative. To do that, 80% or more of my training needs to be slow. And I mean slow Now for me and I'm going to speak for me because this might help you like at one time, as I said, I was running those 19 minute 5K case.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm not running those anymore. So for me, the ego can get in the way, because I'll say man, run this pace. I've never run this slow in my life for an easy day. And what would be like a race pace for me now would have been an easy run 20 years ago. So the ego says man, you should be doing this. And the ego is the kiss of death, man, the ego is what gets in the way. So if I really want to improve my aerobic system because really that's what all this is about right, shouldn't this all be about just getting better for ourselves and keeping ourselves healthy and not overtraining and beating up our joints? Well, for me to do that, I'm going to have to tell the ego to shut the you-know-what up and train at a very easy pace that's super comfortable. My heart rate should be moderate tops, my breathing should be non-labored and I should be able to talk be non-labored and I should be able to talk, and my pace per mile should be somewhere around two minutes slower than my 5k pace.
Speaker 1:Okay, so, first piece of advice well, I already gave you one piece of advice. The first piece, let's remember, was ignore people on social media. Remember, when they're posting that stuff, a lot of it is genetic and it doesn't mean what they're doing is making them better. The people who are running like only a minute or slow, faster than their threshold pace, all the time are not getting better. I promise you that they are staying the same and I've known these people, a lot of people following them, since Facebook has been around. What is that? 15, 16 years now and they have not gotten better.
Speaker 1:The key is getting better. Sure, they're quote, fast, unquote. That's because probably genetic and look, they do it. But it doesn't mean what they're doing is making them better. I've seen people who don't win 5Ks Get greatly better through the years. People just aren't paying attention to them, but I've watched them progress so much from just following sensible workout programs. And again, the key is to be like my hero who passed away a few years ago, reed Hughes, who is running into his late 80s. That's the key. If you run no man's land all the time, you are not going to be running into your 80s because your joints are going to be beat up. If you run smart and easy 80% of the time, hopefully you will All right. So that's the second part Run easy. 80% of your training should be easy. Again, I gave you the descriptor About two minutes slower than your 5K pace, lower, not going to give you an exact range. Lower controlled heart rate, non-labored breathing where you can have a conversation 80% of the time. All right.
Speaker 1:Now, one day a week, push it a little bit harder, but don't go out and do no man's land. Perhaps do some intervals where you run two minutes just slightly faster than your 5k pace and two-minute jog. Do that maybe I don't want to tell you how many times because I don't know anybody's really current training, but let's say you haven't been doing that at all. Then only do that three times and then the next week add a fourth interval to it. It doesn't have to be a lot. That's the key with quality training it doesn't have to be a lot. So one day a week and that's your third tip one day a week do some harder intervals. Then all the rest of the days, like, let's say you have the time and you love to run, okay, so you run five days a week, that's fine. Four of those five days a week should be at a nice easy pace.
Speaker 1:If you're doing 5Ks, you don't really need to go nuts on a long day. Not necessary. It could be longer than you typically run, and probably will be because you're running slower, but it doesn't have to be long long. The key is easy, all right. Always finish the run feeling like you could add a mile if somebody asked you to. If you can't, you have definitely gone too hard, all right.
Speaker 1:So I could go on all day about this because, just like the research and exercise physiology, I have studied it extensively and, as you can tell, I like talking about this. I like trying to help people get better at this. I have seen people overtrain through the years and I just shake my head and then I watch a lot of the people that I've worked with get better and better and not overtrain and go out and do pretty well and then the other side of it is, you'll enjoy it. I mean running and let's just say power walking. This applies to anything. I mean, if you're at a comfortable pace, it is so good for your mind to just wander and meditate on what's around you, focus on your breathing. I mean you don't have to hate every step, like this morning.
Speaker 1:This morning is Tuesday, today is Tuesday, so I did a moderately longer run for me this morning it was 48 minutes at a nice comfortable pace. It was cold out when I left, you know, but it was just. I kind of ran all around my neighborhood and then ran up through Lowe's and Target because I live near there, ran around the back, came around just listening to a podcast and then podcast ran out and then I just kind of focused on my scenery, which was dark. Personally I don't like running in the dark a whole lot, but it made me focus more. But then the last half of the run I just focused like on my breathing and let my mind wander, like it is so good for body, mind and spirit.
Speaker 1:So please understand everybody out there. 80 to 90% of your running should be easy, and I mean easy. Let the egos go. If people want to run with you but they keep pushing the pace because they turn training into a race, like so many people do, don't train with them. That's why well, there's a lot of reasons I work with people all day long, so a lot of times I want to be alone, but I definitely don't train with them. That's why, well, there's a lot of reasons I work with people all day long, so a lot of times I want to be alone, but I definitely don't like training with a lot of people for that reason. I mean I know what I need to do for me, so I'm not going to get out there and tempt my ego to keep up and I don't want to sit there and continue to tell a person to slow down or whatever. So, if that's a problem, train alone. I mean so many running and cycling groups have no concept of pace and they're all out beating the tar out of each other. And then you know next thing, you know they're injured or not racing anymore, not doing five Ks anymore because they burned out either mentally or physically or both, and it's just. That's just not a healthy environment.
Speaker 1:So hope this helps. I can. I probably. I wouldn't say I gave you more questions than answers, but if I did, that's okay too, because we can pick it up from there. All right, speaking of picking it up, you don't have to pick up your garage door anymore. Nope, we have great garage door openers, great motors, great garage doors, great service, and it's all provided by Overhead Door of Daytona Beach. Jeff was just working out a few minutes ago. Let me tell you, quality people, and when you have quality people, you're going to have a quality company. Give them a shout at overheaddoordaytonacom. Be well people.
