Quoted message said:I just started running in races and ran a 1:29 Half Marathon (pretty
good for a 43 yr old) among other trail races. I've noticed that some
really fast runners have flabby or seemingly unfit bodytypes. I myself
have a sprinters type lean, muscular body.
For instance a guy who placed 2nd in a hard hilly 10 mile trail run is
a slighty flabby 52 year old with no muscle tone! How is this
possible??? He says he runs a 3:10 marathon!
How it's possible is that he's potentially a sub-3-hour marathoner who
likes to stuff his face and loathes going to the track.
Some runners think that they can eat whatever the heck they want. Oops,
not true. Running doesn't eat that many calories. If you run 50 miles
per week, that's only on the order of 5000 calories. A trucker's
breakfast at some greasy diner can load you up with 1800 calories in
one sitting.
Running is good for fat loss only when it's intense. Intense exercise
brings about endocrinological changes that tune the body toward a
leaner composition with more muscle mass.
Long, steady endurance exercise ``locks in'' adipose tissue; that fat
under your skin is unavailable during endurance exercise. The type of
exercise which mobilizes adipose fat is the intermitent, high-intensity
type. The intermittent nature of the exercise tricks the ``adipose fat
lock'' into releasing.
There is in fact a form of nervous system exhaustion from high
intensity exercise which is linked to the release of fat into the blood
stream. Free fatty acids are carried in the bloodstream bound to the
protein albumin. The neurotransmitter tryptophan is carried by the same
protein, and the liberation of these fatty acids competes for transport
with tryptophan. The tryptophan that is unable to bind to the albumin
that is occupied by fatty acids remains free, and that free tryptophan
can be readily taken up by the brain, where it turns to serotonin,
giving rise to sleepiness and lethargy! This is one reason why you can
feel like being horizontal after a hard interval training session. It's
evidence that fat was released. You also might not feel hungry; the
release of fat kind of feels to your body like you've eaten a meal.
Your tissue can't tell that it didn't come from digestion. I can't even
look at food after a hard interval session.
One more thing: growth hormone. Growth hormone is responsible for
changes in body composition toward more muscle, less fat. The release
of GH is linked to the /mental/ effort required to perform high
intensity exercise. Slow, long running does not produce that mental
effort, and so does not release GH. There is an adaptation that takes
place; as you improve in sport, you have to work harder and harder to
develop the psychological intensity that will release GH. This is one
possible reason why running newbies see early body composition
improvements which then taper off, usually well before achieving a
ripped state. When they start, going just half a mile at a moderate
pace may represent a significant psychological challenge, causing GH to
be released. A few years later, they can practically snooze through a
daily 8 mile run. Also when you're both overweight and inefficient, you
do burn a lot more calories per mile.
Quoted message said:Also, I've started training with some ultra-runners who are older
50-ish types and many are overweight and definitely do not look like
athletes.
They are probably still eating like when they were 30, haven't been on
a track in years, and have no clue what a 4-6 mile tempo run is.
In general, the runner who have great bodies, first of all, are the
ones who /care/ about having great bodies. They take fitness and body
image seriously and work on it. They study, they manipulate their
diets, they set ambitious performance goals and put together programs
to reach them, etc. They aren't running just to meet people, feel
great and whatever.
Quoted message said:How can you run serious mileage and not look fit???
Just a guess: by crawling through most of it at 8 minute per mile pace,
while regularly stuffing your face at International House of Pancakes
under the excuse of ``refueling''?
