Sisson again Questions Endurance Training
Over at Slowtwitch, Mark Sisson has another article which is critical of endurance training. This one is a little more detailed with supporting evidence and a lot rings true to me. However, the one point he makes about low aerobic activity building capillaries is a bit ambiguous. Does he mean the opposite is contrary? That above low aerobic will destroy capillaries? If that is true than endurance athletes would have poor capillary networks and this is clearly not the case.
But the question of diet as advocated by the typical endurance athlete is highly questionable. Check out Art Devany's article on this. The analogy with nitrous oxide and combustion engines (which he makes at the end) is a very good one I think. It is much better to use high glycemic loading real food for recovery only. Things like yams, potatoes, and avocados. But these should be used sparingly and only within the half hour right after a hard event, not all the time as the people in Art's article are doing (minus the pasta and other processed foods).
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Interesting
These are a couple of interesting articles. But I only wonder what the difference is between cycling and running. Both of these articles reference runners but not much on cycling. Cycling is a much less high impact sport as opposed to running. (Well for most, I on the other hand... I've seen plenty of impacts : )
I find it intersting they're views on food intake. I agree about the carb loading, but yet do it sometimes myself. But I'm much younger and have a super fast metabolizim. So are you saying avocados are not all they're made up to be?
Avacados Good
No Avacados are good stuff. I don't remember the glycemic load exactly but probably not as high as potatoes or yams. I like to eat them for breakfast before I commute. They have a fair amount of calories for their weight compared to other fruits and vegetables.
Avacados yo
And it just so happens they're in season right now too.
Had some really awesome guacamole for dinner... Yeah...
Thanks
Mark,
Thanks for responding! I am very interested in your suggestions and I do read your blog regularly as well as Art's. I was introduced to paleolithic nutrition via Cordain's books. I have largely gotten off of grains although I still have weak moments.
For everyone else, Mark's Daily Apple is the name of the blog. Some very stimulating stuff there. ArtDevany's blog is another one that frequently discusses similar themes.
Bobber, thanks for posting
Bobber, thanks for posting the link to my article at slowtwitch. As for your question about capillaries, my point was that low-level aerobic activity is best at promoting capillary growth. Yes, all exercise will generate some level of response, but some forms of exercise generate specific responses better than others. That's why we do different levels of training at different times - to maximize those adaptations, without overtraining or breaking down. High level aerobic and even anaerobic stuff does the better job of raising lactate threshold, aerobic efficiency, etc. The reason so many programs favor low level aerobic activity early in the season is to build the "plumbing" system, so when you get to the hard stuff, you've maximized capillary perfusion (and probably fat-mobilization) to point where the next benefits come from doing harder work.
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