42
votes
Why does one person have lots of stamina and another doesn't?
Your answer lies in your own question:
I'm a bit of a couch potato with a sedentary job, who normally gets out of breath walking up a few flights of stairs.
Recently I saw an article on TV about an ...
- 22.5k
36
votes
Why does one person have lots of stamina and another doesn't?
If you are really interested in the biology behind fitness then I'd suggest reading Dr. Jack Daniel's "Daniel's Running Formula". I'll paraphrase a few of the points you would read there.
The goal ...
- 461
16
votes
Why does one person have lots of stamina and another doesn't?
Cardiovascular endurance and general conditioning.
Simply put, the body will adapt to whatever your regular activities are. The fuel that you provide your body with also plays a part, but your ...
- 4,412
12
votes
Why does one person have lots of stamina and another doesn't?
I'm curious to know what makes him (and the walkers I saw) "fit" - where does his stamina comes from? He was stick thin like me, so I guess muscles don't play a huge role in it. I can only assume it's ...
- 880
7
votes
Accepted
What does it mean to bonk or hit the wall?
What does it mean to bonk or hit the wall during a run or a bike ride?
In endurance sports such as cycling and running, "hitting the wall" or the "bonk" is a condition of sudden ...
- 6,972
6
votes
Accepted
After a successful 3 month training, what could it be that made my legs refuse to finish a marathon?
I think your question is extremely broad, but there are some commonalities to this situation that are applicable across a wide range of endurance events, so I will hit the high points of the things ...
- 22.5k
5
votes
Accepted
Is it bad to run on a (relatively) full stomach?
There are no known physiological reasons that drinking water before running is bad.
Some people can't handle water juggling around in their stomach while they're running. It can cause a lot of ...
- 7,814
5
votes
Stop sweating - viable physical goal?
I don't believe that "stop sweating" is a good goal simply because, as it stands, it isn't a SMART goal.
You can absolutely train to reduce fat, lower your resting heart rate, and get better and ...
- 4,538
5
votes
Accepted
Do races increase or hinder physical ability?
All physical activity generates some level of fatigue.
In "Physiological Basis of Fatigue", Evans and Lambert give us a definition of fatigue (that is used throughout exercise science, ...
- 3,786
4
votes
Accepted
Steady state interval vs high intensity interval for running endurance
Most of my answer is already contained in this answer, although the questions are not really duplicates.
A couple things that I will reiterate:
The biggest mistake that the vast majority of runners ...
- 22.5k
4
votes
Is it helpful in losing weight when running with jackets on in summer
No.
There is a history of athletes training in sweat suits for weight loss, and in some very limited capacities it makes sense. As a fighter, you want to be as big and strong as possible for your ...
- 14.8k
4
votes
Accepted
How and why should I use walking breaks for running long distances?
You have to build economy in the tecnique of run.
This means you want to increase your speed as much as you can but without going above the 4 mmol threshold of lactic acid in the blood.
For the ...
- 1,003
4
votes
How to run long distances safely in the sun?
Sun screen lasts for two hours. Spritzing more on at the two-hour mark (or simply setting up your run to be back at your car at the two hour mark and taking a quick break to reapply if you're not ...
- 9,109
4
votes
Is it bad to run on a (relatively) full stomach?
It's not bad for you but it's not optimal either.
It's not bad for you to drink this much and go workout instantly after, but it takes some time for your body to actually absorb all of the water and ...
- 4,151
4
votes
Accepted
Can I finish a marathon without finishing training?
Yes, I think that if you can run a 1/2 marathon, you should be able to at least complete a marathon.
The method that I am going to suggest is called the Galloway Run/Walk program. There is a good PDF ...
- 22.5k
4
votes
Stop sweating - viable physical goal?
This might not be the answer to the question you've actually asked, but there's too much to put in a comment, so I'm going to risk the downvotes.
Your question suggests that you believe the sweating ...
- 4,733
4
votes
Accepted
Muscle spasms in legs during long distance running
First, there are two things that you note in your comments that are the most likely culprits. The race being hillier than your training area is the first indicator, as hill running is an entirely ...
- 22.5k
3
votes
How can you determine each running heart rate zone using data from your runs or from specifically designed workouts?
As Julii alludes to, "zones" are pretty much arbitrary, as you are burning fat as a fuel in all zones, just the percentage to which it contributes to the whole is different for different ...
- 22.5k
3
votes
Accepted
How can you determine each running heart rate zone using data from your runs or from specifically designed workouts?
There is a rule of thumb that anything below 80%HRMax is working within the aerobic zone, whereas above you are heading towards threshold and anaerobic zones (being able to sustain these harder ...
- 499
3
votes
long run pace not stable
Thats normal for me and I think in general its true. Heart rate is really a measure of effort though limited and dependent on many internal and external factors. Note that HR shouldnt necessarily be ...
- 1,558
3
votes
Accepted
Benefits of speedwork during Marathon-training
What speed work can do is make the slower paces easier to maintain at a great distance. So let's say your current LSD pace is 12 min/mi. You can currently run a half marathon at 11 min/mi. If you did ...
- 7,814
3
votes
How do I lose muscle and fat in my thighs?
Despite what you may hear or read there is no way (except for surgery) to reduce fat in a specific area of the body.
No amount of crunches will remove belly fat.
On the other hand lowering your ...
- 451
3
votes
Why do elite cyclists seem to have higher VO2 max tham elite marathon runners?
I'm not positive about the premise here. There are certainly cases of runners having cyclist like VO2 levels.
Also, cyclists are way more testing conscious. The fact of the matter is elite cycling ...
- 1,667
3
votes
RunDisney: Inappropriate Corral Management
He even started at the beginning of C, and still passed an obese man walking the marathon. And several other slow runners. How did they get there?
Fairly often, people who did not register for the ...
- 1,801
3
votes
RunDisney: Inappropriate Corral Management
RunDisney events suffer from balloon lady fear. Nobody wants to get dropped off of the back to get swept up by the "Bus Of Fail". So people cheat in many different ways. A common way is to ...
- 31
3
votes
How fast should my base runs be?
In short, no, you should not be pushing yourself hard (at all) on your non-workout days. You should ideally strive for an 80/20 balance, in that 80% of your miles are easy, and 20% are hard (i.e. ...
- 499
3
votes
Why does one person have lots of stamina and another doesn't?
I once saw a Nova documentary -- Marathon Challenge -- in which they trained a group of "average people" to run the Boston marathon, in 40 weeks.
One of the characteristics which they ...
- 153
3
votes
Is there an "optimum level" of HR for conditioning benefit?
By conditioning I assume that you are talking about VO2 max which is approximated nicely by the Cooper test.
Interval training is the best way to increase your Cooper score.
Here is my heart rate as a ...
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