Breakthrough Endurance

I'm looking forward to the USATF Level 2 Youth Specialization Clinic this week! To all my coaches as a youth -- thank you for sharing the wonderful world of athletics with me.

You've probably seen the ridiculous claims on supplements packaging before. Stuff like, "Improves Endurance 45%" or "Accelerates Recovery!" I've been training and racing for the better part of 12 years. I've seen a lot of garbage, even used it myself when I was younger. But now, I take a multivitamin and an iron supplement -- that's it. Of course, I might consume carbohydrate before, during, and after exercise. And I occasionally use whey protein with a carbohydrate source for a quick and easy recovery shake. I also enjoy a good cup of coffee. But while supplement companies keep trying to pump you full of their dishonesty and products, I urge you to take the time to evaluate their claims and the research as a whole. The first source I use when I consider a supplement is the Australian Institute of Sport's website. Here  you can find their fact sheets on popular supplements as well as their classifications. You'll notice all the Group A su

Abtract here. Beta-alanine is an interesting one. More on it later...

I got an email last week with a link to this article from the NSCA's Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. It caught my attention because I've done "concurrent training" in the past and I'm currently tinkering in the weight room 2-3x a week while running and cycling. Further, it seems as though resistance training for runners is a hot topic as of late. In my post from March on concurrent training, I essentially concluded that through a number of possible mechanisms, same session strength and endurance training may limit the adaptations that you would get from resistance training alone or in a separate session. For example, if you go for a 2 hour long run then completing plyometrics or a weight workout -- you may not get the benefits from that second workout to the same extent as you would if you had separated those workouts. Cellular signaling, fatigue/overtraining, decreased glycogen conten t may all be part of the reason. Think about it -- how many