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Expanded Physiology of the EliteRunning Training Program
Lyle Knudson, Ed.D.
Most U.S. athletes, coaches, and physiologists believe that the primary adaptive (to training) mechanism in the
body is the cardio-respiratory system; i.e., the heart, blood circulation, lungs, and oxygen-carbon dioxide
exchange in cells. They base that on what American physiologists can study in their laboratories by putting
athletes on treadmills breathing through gas analyzers and taking blood samples.
Because of federal prohibitions on invasive testing, U.S. physiologists can not do muscle biopsies (inserting a
syringe needle into the muscles of athletes withdrawing muscle tissue) to study what is actually occurring
inside the muscle cells during and following exercise. Northern and Eastern European physiologists were able
to, and discovered years ago that the primary adaptive mechanism in the body is not the cardio-respiratory
system, but rather the neuro-endocrine-muscular system (i.e., nerves, hormones, enzymes, and muscle cells);
more specifically the stressing, recovery, and build-up of the structural and enzymatic proteins inside the cells.
The structural proteins are the building blocks of a more powerful and efficient muscle cell; the enzymatic
proteins the catalyst for combining the amino acids to produce those structural proteins; the growth hormones
getting the amino acids inside the muscle cell.
A practical analogy to the cardio-respiratory vs. neuro-endocrine-muscular system is the burning of gasoline
and expiration of exhaust vs. the size and efficiency of the engine in your car. Yes, putting higher octane fuel
in, and blowing more air in and out of, your car’s engine helps. But the size and efficiency of your engine
determines how fast your car will run over a given distance.
In fact, the cardio-respiratory system is a limiter of your ability to stress the neuro-endocrine-muscular system
in training. Your capacity to breathe oxygen in, blow carbon dioxide out, and tolerate the build-up of lactic
acid limits your ability to train as fast as you need to for maximum stress and adaptation. Therefore, we in
EliteRunning train “fast” in intervals, and train on gradual down hills when possible, to overcome those
cardio-respiratory limits.
Regarding “specificity of training” - You do not have one big muscle that moves your body; but rather many
muscles of different sizes, locations, and characteristics controlled by a complex system of nerves which
stimulate the muscle contractions. These muscles develop, and the nerves synchronize muscle contractions,
according to the specific speeds and patterns that are applied in training. Therefore, if you want to develop to
“run” at faster paces over given distances, you have to train by “running” repetitions at fast paces at shorter
distances. You have to avoid too much running at slower paces at longer distances. And you have to avoid
training at activities other than “running”. If you want to become a great swimmer you need to train by
swimming, or a great bicyclist train by cycling, etc, etc.; but if you want to be a great “runner”, you need to
train by “running”. Of course, you triathletes need to maintain a balance of training swimming, biking, and
running to develop optimally in your triathlons; but understand that each individual event will not develop
optimally.