I'm trying to understand what's going on with my body a little better so I can train smarter with better results.

In general, I know there are 2 muscle types. Fast twitch. Slow Twitch.

Fast seems to be more explosive, sprinting, jumping.... stepping on the gas to merge with traffic on I-5, poor mileage, good power... producing more lactic acid.

Slow twitch seems like the base that distance runners want. More efficient muslces, Hybrid cars...slowly accelerating to top speed but maintaining it forever.... produces less lactic acid.


As far as runners go. I'd consider myself above average in having the fast twitch muscles the produce lactic acid and below average for the slower more efficient muscles.

-My efficency really drops off on longer runs. (I don't just hit the wall. I hit it, an it hits me back repeatedly)
-I cramp more than anyone I know (although my dad is a close second) hydrated or not. Escpecially compared with peers of equivalent or even less equivalent conditioning.
-Testing showed I produce higher amounts of lactic acid, even at lower intensity w/in aerobic threshold compared to "avg. runners."

I've learned a lot about: Fluids, Nutrition, Electrolytes, Aerobic Threshold, Base Training, Speedwork during my training. For my situation I believe all are important but I believe they are "trumped" by my Muscle Type as managing all of these has only produced minor results.

I can do everything right in training, preparation, execution and still have my muscles cramp severely after a certain point of stress and intensity. The cramping has occurred regularly since my high school sports.

It's like I'm slowly sprinting a marathon instead of jogging quickly. I've always got my foot on the gas accelerating... I never get to ease up and 'cruise' because I'm using my sprint muscles to Jog.

Does this make sense? It's what I think is going on. Can I flip a switch so I'm using those slow twitch muscles?

TOny

Tony--

As I recall there are two types of fast-twitch muscle fibers -- something like Type 1 and Type 2. One of them (don't know which) is trainable -- that is, it can take on many of the characteristics of slow-twitch muscle fibers over the course of years of training. So over the long haul you should see this adaptation occur and it should make you a better runner.

The cramping sounds suspicious and may not be related to the fast/slow twitch topic. I could swear that I've heard that cramping in the calf muscles may be caused by a sodium or potassium deficiency. So if you haven't already done so, perhaps that might be a fruitful area to investigate.

I wondered what you meant when you commented on the sensation that you're "slowly sprinting" -- do you think it's a gait issue?

And FWIW, I don't think you are slow ... in fact, you *can't* be slow ... because you were only a few seconds behind me at Helvetia and so if you are slow then that would make me slow, too

Here's an informative link: http://www.coachr.org/fiber.htm

Eric,
The "slowly sprinting" thing was possibility of me using Anaerobic (sp?) vs Aerobic systems. Dave Harkin's analogy of BBQ. I'm still burning too much lighter fluid and not enough Charcoal.

It's not that I think I'm "slow." I believe my body is paying a much higher price. There's a sale going on and everyone is getting a discount but me. We had similar times but I didn't see you (or too many others) cramp up severely.

Until about last year. I assumed everyone had the same issues I did, but I was just a whimp, or had improper training. More and more people are telling me that what I'm experiencing is not normal for them. I'm not ruling out the whimp part. But I know this is something that's holding me back from reaching my potential.

Even if I don't run faster times it'd be great so it doesn't take a toll on the body.

Meg, thanks for the link. I will check it out.

TOny