For many people a morning cup of coffee or a coke is what is required to get the motor turning for a productive day of work.  That jolt of caffeine into the blood stream is like rocket fuel that propels people into throughout the day and probably for some a 2pm cup might be just the ticket for that post lunch food coma that gets you through the final hump of the day. One thing that you might not realize is that 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, or caffeine, that blessed stimulant in coffee, chocolate and so much more, can actually help your athletic performance!  Research shows that for more endurance based sports, longer than roughly 5 minutes, improvements in performance can be seen. These performance benefits have a wide range of possibilities.  Since caffeine is a stimulant, like a great deal of drugs out there, it’s affects are hormonal, cardiovascular, muscular and also affects the central nervous system. Each individual has varying sensitivity to caffeine and research clearly shows that.  The ranges of caffeine that was proven effective varies from as low as 68mg to as much as 204mg, which either way is significantly less than a strongly brewed cup of coffee.  Much like anything else related to training you need to test this prior to event day.  Each person responds to caffeine differently and higher quantities do not always produce greater results.  Like many other stimulants it is possible to produce a tolerance to caffeine and therefore greater amounts will be required to equal the same response.  Likewise you can also suffer from the negative side affects of suddenly decreasing your total intake. How to best utilize:

• It is not the best idea to introduce caffeine into your training the day of a big race or event.
• Start with the smallest amount possible
  • Excessive amounts can cause unwanted results such as feeling jittery, anxiety or headaches
• If caffeine is a part of your normal daily intake you will need to increase the amount to receive the same results.
• If you are unable to find desirable results stop usage

Burke L, Cort M, Cox G, Crawford R, Desbrow B, Farthing L, Minehan M, Shaw N, Warnes O. Supplements and sports foods. In: Burke L, Deakin V. Clinical Sports Nutrition. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill, 2006;485–581.Desbrow B. Leveritt M. Well-trained endurance athletes’ knowledge, insight, and experience of caffeine use. Int J Sports Nutr Exerc Metab 2007;17:328–339.Sokmen B, Armstrong LE, Kraemer WJ, Casa DJ, Dias JC, Judelson DA, Maresh CM. Caffeine use in sports: considerations for the athlete. J Strength Conditioning Res 2008;22:978–986.

An article posted in sciencemag.org in early February has many researchers, athletes and massage therapists with the knowledge of how they feel or make individuals feel after a massage could actually be due to a change of tissue at the structural cellular level. This research that was performed at McMasterson University Located in Hamilton, Canada showed from a series of muscle tissue samples that athletes who received a massage after a bout of exercise showed less inflamatory cells in the musculature and a greater amount of PGC-1alpha which is known to help muscle cells build mitochondria, the power plant of the cell. Interested in reading more about how massage was shown to decrease inflammation and increase recovery?  Go here for the article or the research.

Science of Speed was in the Tallahassee Democrat Saturday the 10th as an introduction to the multisport community.  Look for future articles posted from SoS in the future to help aid you in your training, racing and nutrition.  Be sure to come by and see us!

SoS in the Tallahassee Democrat

Background: For years there have been many people telling people in the gym, for training or for general weight loss that you need to be working in your “fat burning zone.”  A great deal of the time this is more for the weight loss crowd that they have been feeding this line but unfortunately this has been a little misconstrued and has lead to a great deal of people being mis-informed about what they can or should be doing from weight loss. 

So, you might be wondering, “how did this idea get into so many peoples minds.”  Well it all comes down to one simple little graph.  This graph is known as several different names, whether you call it the “cross-over theory” or the “fat oxidation chart, it doesn’t really matter, it is the same thing.  What this simply shows is a rough estimate of where your body begins to burn a great percentage of carbohydrates in relation to fats in relationship to your VO²max.  These two fuel sources are chosen because during exercise those are the predominent fuel sources used by the body and therefore they chose to compare them.  Sounds simple, right? Study: “Determinants of fat oxidation during exercise in healthy men and women” This study was designed to determine whether the changes in fat as a fuel source associated with increases in exercise previously observed in healthy trained men would also occur in a large group of healthy trained and untrained men and women.  An incremental step test was performed by each athlete on a treadmill and was then followed by a VO²max test.

The results show, without any of the additional data recorded (dependent variales) being taken into consideration, that their Carbohydrate (CHO) oxidation was significantly higher in males than females and that the males Maximal Fat Oxidation (MFO) per kilogram of Free Fatty Mass (FFM) was lower.  In other words… men tend to burn a greater percentage of carbohydrates at a lower intensity than women 

With all of the dependent variables (variable being measured) taken into consideration they account for over 12% of the variance.  In this study they found that the cross-over happened between 48 and 53% VO²max which is comparable to previous findings (Brooks and colleagues).  Both VO²max and Self-reported physical activity (SRPAL) can increase fat oxidation by having an increased FFM.  Or… Your activity level can have a direct impact on your fat mass which alters fuel metabolism percentages.   Practical Application: This is not telling you that you need to spend all of your time in the “fat burning zone.”  It is simply stating that individuals with a higher FFM(musculature) will have a higher overall calorie expenditure with weight being equal.  The biggest thing to keep in mind, however, is just because you are burning a higher percentage of fat does not mean that you are burning a higher total number of calories.  Yes there is a sweet spot where you are burning more calories of fat but it will be different for all.  If weight loss is your ultimate goal there is one thing to remember, “Calories out is greater than Calories in,” and to burn a high number of calories you can optimize your available time by doing a higher intensity workout.   J Appl Physiol-2005-Venables-160-7

*”THE SCIENCE:” BLOGS ARE DESIGNED TO HELP KEEP ATHLETES AWARE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SCIENCE AND RESEARCH.  THE ARTICLES THAT ARE ANALYZED HERE WILL RANGE IN DATES FROM CURRENT TO SEVERAL YEARS OLD BUT ARE HERE TO GIVE YOU A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IS GOING ON IN YOUR BODY AS AN ATHLETE.  BE WARY OF WHAT YOU READ IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, NOT ALL RESEARCH IS EQUAL AND THERE ARE CERTAIN SOURCES THAT ARE CONSIDERED MORE CREDIBLE THAN OTHERS.

Contact your Representative via The League of American Bicyclist

Many people that I know tend to chose a New Years Resolution that they want to stick to.  No matter what it is many people don’t make it past the first week with these resolutions and the feelings tend to make them more demoralized than they were before.  Personally I do not set a New Years resolution.  “Why?” you might ask.  I personally feel that setting one goal that is often an obscure far reaching goal that you fantasize of obtaining is only setting yourself up for failure and let down.  I personally set goals, now maybe this is my sport background or my competitive nature but I feel that this is a better way for me.  I do not set goals that are “low hanging fruit” so to speak but I set some that I know are achievable in the year’s time frame and then some that will be a challenge for me.  I have found this to be very beneficial for me for three main reasons:

1. There are multiple things that I would like to achieve so if I don’t meet one it is not a complete failure for the entire because I didn’t make it.
2. Some of them seem to be long shots when I am planning them and I might not make them but it makes me continue to strive to be my absolute best.
3. I make them defined so I know what success is.  Much like a sport and training you can leave your goals vague and then success is up to your decision where if you have a quantitative aspect to it you will be able to gauge the level of success.

So you might be wondering “What sort of thing should I do as a goal for the year?”  Here is my recommendation.  Make more than one goal, I personally chose 10, this allows for many things to strive for but gives you stepping stones to success.  Make your goals something you desperately want or desire, but more importantly be sure it is your goal and not someone else’s.  The drive must be from within, otherwise you will dread the task of getting to your goal and drastically reduce your rate of success.  So to give you an idea of what I mean here are 5 of my 2012 goals:

1. Be a better father and husband for my family: Put down the cell phone, put away the laptop and enjoy the time that I have available with them by giving them my undivided attention.
2. Win RAAM 4 man team: This is very high hanging fruit but if I am going to do something I am going to do my best to win.
3. Increase power at Threshold by 20 Watts by June: Consistent training and hard work is the only way too get there.
4. Get more consistent sleep:  Sleep no less than 6hrs and no more than 8hrs/night unless I am sick.  Bed time consistent w/in 30min of 10:30pm
5. Stay Positive: Stop negative talk and thoughts, Positive self talk and surround yourself with positive people.  Strive for a “get to” attitude versus a “have to” attitude.

So, as you look at a lot of my list you may notice that they are all fairly simple in terms of what to do but a lot of them are related around RAAM.  This is a large event for me and my teammates and I do not want to let them down so 2012 up until June is almost solely centered around the race.  After June I have other goals as well but they are on a different level.  If you have someone who can hold you accountable that you are willing to share your goals with do so.  Be sure it is someone that won’t nag you but someone to support, encourage and keep you honest.  I have set my goals as a recurring meeting in my phone for Monday mornings and I hope that I will start each week with a positive reminder of what I am striving for.  I do not know how this reminder will work but I will let you know!  Do it because you want to, not because you have to, and love every minute of it!

With so many things going on during the holiday season the first thing that always tends to go, after diet at least, is exercise.  Between all of the hustle and bustle of buying gifts, traveling, meals with family and food induced comas the exercise routine is put by the way side. Over the years I have found several things that have really helped me out and I hope will help you to keep a more normal exercise routine. 1. Set up a schedule- Yes the training schedule is import but I am talking about the schedule with your family in this instance.  This is how you will stay out of the dog house with your significant other as well as not miss out on any/many of the family activities.  It is important to have your family supporting you in this and setting it up ahead makes that easier. 2. Travel Days- Take the travel days off or easy.  These always tend to be the most stressful.  Whether you are driving with kids screaming in the back seat or dealing with the re-circulated air of an airplane take the rest of the time easy and relax.  The stress of travel always takes a toll and be sure to remember to recover! 3. Intensity over time- Trade off overall intensity for time if things are busy.  This is a good way to get a legitimate workout in and not add any stress in the family. I was able to get my first ride in this morning and it was a nice 32degrees in the dreary Kansas winter.  I can not thank my wife enough for letting me get in the saddle time today and even though it was cold and damp it was nice to get out after a long drive.  The one, and most important thing, to remember is that you aren’t getting paid to be an athlete.  So… if it comes down to it and you miss a workout or two it doesn’t result in you losing your career.  Happy Holidays and safe travels!

After chatting with many of you the number one question that was posed turned out to be, “How can this(lactate threshold testing) help me with my training and race performance?”  For many of you out there who might be asking the same question let me answer that for you as well: The lactate threshold testing is designed for two different reasons.  The first reason is to provide you with customized training ranges for your workouts.  The training ranges that are created based off of your test allow you to train more consistently and more accurately.  This increased accuracy in your training allows you to get more benefit from your structured workouts and more importantly make the most out of the limited time you have available.  Secondly testing adds consistency to your results.  Field tests can be performed to help out with training ranges, however, lab testing does one thing that field testing can not do and that is take out many of the variables.  The controlled environment of the lab allows for much more consistency between testing and gives you a more realistic measure of where your fitness actually is.  The testing also helps to reduce the overall affect that fatigue or mental fortitude (depending on the day) can have on your results by utilizing the blood samples that are taken.