Weekly Digest: Mastering Any Skill and Achieving Faster Marathon Times
#1: Advise for learning anything in the world, How to run faster marathon
Hola, welcome to the Weekly Digest, a curated collection of my weekly learning from books, articles, videos, etc. Here, you’ll discover insights that I absorb, interpret, and summarize. Join me on this learning journey!
Location: Slave To the Grind, Bronxville, NY 10708. Cloudy, 8°C
1. Advise for learning anything in the world
Upon leaving school, we’re left to navigate learning on our own, juggling motivation, goal-setting, self-assessment, and time management. Whether honing career skills or pursuing personal interests, we seek guidance for effective learning strategies. With time constraint and reduced focus as we age, I start putting more attention to this topic. After encountering various videos on efficient learning methods, I’ve distilled three key points for effective learning.
1.Quantity over quality at initial stage
Youtube: Advice for machine learning beginners | Andrej Karpathy and Lex Fridman
During the podcast, Andrej emphasizes the importance of quantity during the initial stages of expertise. He stresses the significance of spending over 10,000 hours dedicated to a skill. Though Lex raises concerns about investing time in the wrong directions, Andrej sees these efforts as valuable learning experiences that toughen one’s abilities. Through numerous endeavors that don’t materialize, he gains insights into what works and what doesn’t. Developing a daily habit is key to achieving this quantity, which brings to the second crucial takeaway — how to keep the consistency.
2.How to keep the consistency
Youtube: How to become 37.78 times better at anything | Atomic Habits summary (by James Clear)
Although Andrej doesn’t specifically discuss maintaining consistency, a well-received book, “Atomic Habit,” provides insights on establishing systems to form habits. From various tips offered, three stand out as crucial lessons derived from personal failures, which I’ve summarized as the CO2 method:
- Chain Rule: Disrupting the continuity is the beginning of a bad habit. When short on time, consider reducing workload rather than skipping altogether.
- Obvious Rule: Make desired habits conspicuous. For instance, if aiming to run regularly, lay out running gear before bedtime; for guitar practice, take out your guitar from the closet.
- 2-Minutes Rule: When resisting a task, commit to at least 2 minutes. This technique helps combat procrastination.
3.Streaks: A Habit-Building Tactic
Youtube: How to Make Learning as Addictive as Social Media | Luis Von Ahn | TED
The concept of streak is the extension of Chain rule. In the TED talk, Luis points out how Duolingo, a leading language-learning platform, is modeled similarly to social media giants like TikTok and Instagram. Through the talk, he specifically mention that streak is an effective strategy to keep users engaged and dedicated to the app.
In addition, a Duolingo product manager’s article titled “ The habit-building research behind your Duolingo streak” emphasize the effectiveness of streak for both new and experienced learners. New learners feel accomplished by extending their streaks, while experienced ones are motivated by avoiding loss.
Moreover, splitting the learning goals into smaller, easier tasks and gamifying the learning roadmap are crucial in maintaining users interest.
2. How to run faster marathon
To add some spice to my life, I signed up for a half marathon on December 8th, 2023, giving myself roughly 50 days to prepare for the race. Despite maintaining a consistent exercise routine, gearing up for the race feels like venturing into unfamiliar territory where every second counts. With limited time to prepare for the race, I made a 7 week -plan to help me achieve the goal.
My goal is to finish the 21.09 km race in under 1 hour and 30 minutes (4:15/km on average). I found help from a book called the “Hanson Marathon Method” to guide my training plan. Interestingly, beyond organizing my daily training schedule, I gained unexpected insights into a bunch of cool stuff such as the mechanisms of a runner’s body. From this wealth of knowledges, I encapsulate the essence of my training plan in three key points
1. Easy Run / Zone 2
Scientific study indicates that controlling the heart rate in zone2, for me it is roughly between 140 and 155 bpm, runner can gain the maximum benefits on three things:
1. Increased Fat Utilization
During moderate-intensity exercise, the body primarily uses fat as a fuel source. Zone 2 training encourages the body to become more efficient at utilizing fats for energy production.
What if I run faster than zone 2?
There’s a concept called the aerobic threshold, where the body uses 50% fat and 50% carbohydrates. When you exceed this threshold, the body starts relying more on carbohydrates, reducing the emphasis on training for fat-burning efficiency.
2. The number of Capillary, Myoglobin, and Mitochondria
As we run, energy becomes essential for muscle movement and performance. Capillaries, Myoglobin, and Mitochondria play pivotal roles in facilitating energy production. Here we employ a factory analogy to illustrate the connection among these elements
- Capillaries as Pipelines: Capillaries are responsible for delivering raw materials (oxygen and nutrients) to different workstations (muscle cells) where production takes place.
- Myoglobin as Warehouses: Myoglobin is the warehouses within the factory. It stores the raw materials (oxygen) close to where they are needed (muscle cells) for production.
- Mitochondria as Machinery: Mitochondria can be thought of as the machinery or assembly lines that use the raw materials (oxygen and nutrients) delivered by the capillaries and stored by myoglobin to produce the final product (ATP for muscle contraction and function).
3. Reduced risk on injury
To train consistently, it is important to run slow and easy enough to minimize the cumulative fatigue and allow your body to recover. Otherwise, pushing too hard increase the risk of injury during higher-intensity workouts in the future.
When reviewing the training program recommended in the book, I was surprised by the significant portion (70–80% of weekly mileage) allocated to easy runs. Moreover, the suggested pace was slower than what I typically considered an easy pace. However, upon acquiring a Garmin watch to monitor heart rate, everything became clearer. My previous easy runs often exceeded 165 bpm, offering minimal additional benefits compared to a slower pace, except for the sense of achievement when looking at the stats on Strava. I’m currently adjusting my approach to maintain an easy run pace under 8:30/mile, understanding that it demands patience and adaptation.
2. Lactate Threshold
In the past, when basketball and gym workouts were my go-to exercises, I used to blame my muscle soreness for lactate. But this book expanded my knowledge, showing how lactate impacts a runner’s performance. For example, the muscle soreness isn’t primarily caused by the lactate but rather by minor damage or strain to the muscles as lactate concentration typically decreases to the baseline 30–60 minutes after the exercise.
What is lactate
Lactate production occurs during both aerobic and anaerobic exercise. In aerobic conditions, when oxygen supply is adequate, muscles break down glucose for energy through a process called glycolysis. Lactate is formed as an intermediate product during glycolysis. To be clearer, when you run under slower and more comfortable pace, your body can efficiently clear and utilize lactate as a fuel source, preventing its accumulation.
LT 1(aka aerobic threshold) is when you start producing lactate. For me, it is around 155–160 bpm, or bottom of zone 3.
LT 2 (aka anaerobic threshold) is when you start production more lactate than you can clear. There is no longer a linear curve on pace to blood lactate, it takes more of a J-curve. For me, it is around 170–175 bpm, or middle of zone 4.
What can I benefit from lactate threshold training
Exercising at a pace close to your lactate threshold teach your body become more effective at handling lactate during higher-intensity activities over longer durations. This is particularly beneficial for endurance sports like mid — long distance running and cycling. As you continue this training for about a month, you’ll feel less tired at the same pace because your body has adapted, resulting in lower lactate concentrations compared to a month earlier.
Myth: Lactate doesn’t make you fatigue, it is H+ !!!
It’s actually not the lactate alone causes fatigue but the increase in hydrogen ions (H+) that accompanies lactate production, contributing to a decrease in muscle pH, which plays a bigger role in muscle fatigue.
When the body breaks down glucose for energy, lactate and hydrogen ions are produced. The accumulation of hydrogen ions drops muscles’ pH, creating acidic environment in your blood. This acidic environment interferes with muscle contractions and enzyme activity, contributing to muscle fatigue and a decrease in performance during intense exercise.
3. VO2 Max
VO2 refers to the maximum volume of oxygen an individual can use during intense exercise. Higher VO2 max levels often correlate with better cardiovascular health, endurance, and overall fitness. This capacity can be enhanced through rigorous interval training, like sets of 12 x 400m or 25 x 200m with brief intervals in between. Such workouts fortify the heart, enabling it to pump blood rich in oxygen, helping runners to acquire fuel more quickly. Although VO2 Max it is usually more important for mid-short distance runner, it is still a significant indicator when you need to accelerate at the last kilometer during the race.
In my humble opinion, VO2 Max holds the least significance comparing to long-distance runs and lactate threshold training, as these have a more pronounced impact on endurance sports such as marathon.
Output
There’re two primary reasons motivating me to kickstart a running training program.
Firstly, since September, my project as software engineer contractor ended and the client had chosen not to enter another contract. Starting from then, the market outlook has been bleak, and I’ve been unable to secure any job opportunities. Despite investing considerable time in self-improvement, there’re no single interview opportunity. With so much time on hand, I need to find something I am good at to get away with self-doubt. Running becomes the top choices due to its minimal requirement for equipment and finances.
Secondly, when I saw one of my friend consistently breaking his own running personal record, it hits me. I used to be faster than him two years back and now my record is just completely dominated. I can’t accept the staleness of my performance, and so decide to register a race, determined to show that I am still a strong runner. It’s about my choice to push myself or not, and this time, I am all in.
That’s all for now. I hope you’ve gained some insights here. Please share your thoughts below — whether it’s something that caught your interest or a recommendation. I’m eager to learn and welcome your input.
Take care,
SL
Notes
When composing the article, I’m also commit myself to enhancing my English writing skills. ChatGPT serves as an excellent teacher that can not only identifying my grammar errors but also rephrasing sentences with brevity and sophistication. Therefore, I jotted down what I’ve learned during the drafting process. Hopefully, I can utilize these insight in upcoming episodes.
