Teen Physiology

Chapter 2

On May 27, 2001, Alan Webb, a high school boy from Reston, Virginia, shocked the running wo Racing in an international field at the prestigious Prefontaine Classic in Oregon, Webb ran the mil 3:53.43, beating the u. s. high school record of 3:55.3 set 36 years earlier by the legendary Jim R When you consider that a 5:00 mile is impressive for high school boys, Webb's 3:53.43 is truly astounding. One way to comprehend this achievement is to break it into 100-meter segments. A 3 mile strings together 16 consecutive 100s, averaging 14.5 seconds for each, plus another 9 mete reach 1,609 meters, which equals 1 mile. At that pace you'd cover the mile at 3:53.35, breaking A Webb's record by almost 1/10th of a second. Maybe that seems at least a little less daunting. After all, many high school boys can run 100 m in 14.5 seconds. But why can't they keep up the pace for another 1,509 meters? What processes the heart, lungs, blood, and muscles generate the energy to sustain such fast-paced running over distances? What factors cause the fatigue that 99.99 percent of all runners will experience trying break Alan Webb's record? Knowing the answers to these questions automatically taps you into a wellspring of insights and ideas for training the runner's body to generate sufficient energy and de fatigue. That's our focus in this chapter on running physiology. Before you read on, make sure tha you're well rested, because our physiology lesson guides you through an attempt at breaking the high school record for the mile run.

A Fantasy Run for the Record

"Last call for the mile run," announces the starter as the first-rate field, including you, toes the starting line. The stadium is packed, the air is filled with expectation, the track is fast, and the wea couldn't be better. It's a perfect day to set the high school record in the mile run. Again, for boys th challenge is to string together 16 nonstop 100-meter runs (plus another 9 meters) averaging 14.5 seconds for each, or 58 seconds for each 400 meters, to break the tape in 3:53.35. For girls the equivalent challenge is to average 17.1 seconds per 100 meters, or 68.4 seconds per 400. That's pace for a 4:35.14 mile, which is 1/10th of a second under the U.S. high school record set by Poll Plumer in 1982. The starting pistol fires and before you know it you're 20 meters down the track. Settling into ta pace, a wave of confidence sweeps over you because, so far at least, this is easy. Your leg musc generate powerful forces against the track that propel you upward and forward. If you can only su the same amount of force in each muscle contraction for every stride to the finish line, the record be yours. You'll rely on the competition to bring out your best effort, you'll need the crowd to spur on, and you'll have to draw on supreme determination and willpower to defy fatigue. If we reduce

task to the bare essentials, though, your body will need to produce a certain chemical compound fast enough rate for you to cross the finish line in record time. This compound is called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP.

Got ATP?

ATP molecules in muscle cells are split in a complex process to release energy that enables muscles to contract. Muscles are composed of parallel bundles of fibers, which consist of muscle Each fiber is surrounded by nerve endings and capillaries so that muscle cells receive neural inpu well as nutrients and oxygen in the blood. Muscle fibers consist of protein filaments called myosin actin. The interaction of these myofilaments is the basic mechanism of muscle contraction. A voluntary muscle contraction begins with neural signals that travel from the motor cortex in th brain to the nerve endings in muscle fibers. The neural signals trigger an intricate series of bioche events that enable myosin and actin to overlap and bind with each other. As shown in figure 2.2, a cross-bridge is formed between myosin and actin. Although many chemical substances and react are involved, a muscle contraction essentially depends on energy from ATP. Catalyzed by an enz called myosin ATPase, the splitting of ATP releases energy that causes the end, or "head," of the myosin cross-bridge to bend and generate tension against the actin myofilament. This action, call the power stroke, causes actin and myosin to slide past each other, shortening the muscle fiber. T process occurs in millions of muscle fibers within a single muscle, causing the entire muscle to contract. Contracting muscles generate force that pulls on attached tendons, which then pull on th bones to which they are attached, resulting in limb movement and, ultimately, the running stride.