The ability to produce energy is the key to run longer distances. Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) is the principal energy substrate for human muscle but the muscle can only store enough ATP for a second or two of activity. Hence, the speed at which you can run and continue to run depends on your ability to replenish ATP in your active muscles.

Your body can produce energy for running in a variety of ways. The three key pathways of energy release are:

1. The adenosine triphosphate-phosphocreatine (ATP-PCr) energy pathway replaces ATP very rapidly and is predominant in very short duration, high-power events such as sprinting.

2. The lactic acid or anaerobic glycolysis energy pathway involves the rapid breakdown of muscle glycogen (glycolysis) under conditions when oxygen supply is limited (anaerobic) and is the predominant energy pathway in more prolonged sprints.

3. The oxygen energy pathway involves the aerobic metabolism of carbohydrate (aerobic glycolysis) or fat (aerobic lipolysis), producing substantial quantities of ATP but at a slower rate than the other two pathways and is predominant in more prolonged aerobic endurance events. In running these events are often referred to as middle and long distance events.

Running involves all three energy pathways at the same time, but marathon running depends primarily on the oxygen energy pathway (3), whose optimal functioning during a marathon is dependent on multiple body systems. In general, the following three physiological variables are good predictors of marathon success:

Maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) represents the ability of the cardiovascular system to deliver and the neuromuscular system to utilize oxygen during running. In simple terms, VO2max is a measure of the amount of oxygen that the body is able to extract from each lungful of air inhaled during the exercise. The lactate threshold (LT), often referred to as the anaerobic threshold (AT), represents the level of running intensity at which energy production becomes increasingly anaerobic, leading to lactate accumulation in the blood and predisposition to fatigue.

Running economy refers to the ability of the neuromuscular and cardiovascular-respiratory systems to maximize oxygen efficiency, obtaining the highest running speed for the amount of oxygen used. Improvement in any of these components will enhance your running ability and marathon running performance. However, marathons are normally run at a pace just below the lactate threshold, so improving your running economy, which is an increase in speed at a given oxygen uptake, may be the key element.

Through proper scientific training you will be able to optimize your running potential. As one geneticist has noted, nature deals the cards, but you play them.

Train with Team Asha to be all that you can be.

Team Asha training program will improve aerobic capacity (VO2max), improve the lactate threshold and improve running economy by lowering the energy demand of running.