Cheating the Lactate game with Diet?
I'm not looking to cheat or downgrade "work works" but I'll take free gains if they are available. The current trend seems to be return on investment (ROI). It is known that if you've completed your threshold training you will not make any large gains with your FTP during your season training, but you're not stuck with your w/kg. Decrease your weight and "BAM" your w/kg just increased and now you're faster. Your running fitness seems to be stuck. How is your form or running economy? Improve your economy and now your faster without any improvement in your fitness.
Our bodies are unique and able to adapt to stress. Applying the right amount of training stress will result in postive physiologic gains, Awesome.
Q: I ask, " can we increase our performance through certain foods?
A: Yes
Q: Is there a quantitative gain available that may buffer the increase in serum (blood) acidity which may be contributing to pain and fatigue?"
A: ???
I'm aware (broad strokes) that data and theories being taught in exercise science is changing very quickly. We use to think that our muscle hurt because of lactic acid. We now understand that isn't the case. Lactic acid is actually good and is believed to be a source of energy however, it must be broken down. Ayntime glycolysis is required for energy lactate builds and increases in blood. Lactate needs oxygen or must be oxidized to form pyruvic acid to yield energy? Lactate = Pyruvic acid + Hydrogen (acid). Not positive this is completely accurate but what I focusing on is the increase in hydrogen ions in our blood that increases the acidity. This causes the burn that we feel right?
Hydrogen = Acid = Pain
So I ask again, "can or would it be beneficial through certain foods to buffer this natural increase in acid and allow me to increase my threshold?"
Comments
there are known buffering agents (ie. bicarbonate) that seem to have an effect on very short, sprinter-type durations. Otherwise, all studies at buffering lactate have shown no real change. I'm not aware of any dietary intervention that has been shown to improve performance at LT that wasn't a company-sponsored study.
Just a correction in your above statement. There is absolutely no reason why FTP cannot go up during your race prep. It is not uncommon to see gains 4-8 weeks out from the OS. And for those of us focused on Short Course plans, we expect to see continued progress on FTP.
I'd say that there are foods that will slow you down, but haven't seen anything that will make you faster for a longer distance.
For the food that slows you, the example that I've experienced on cyber monday, my company brought food in to feed us. They brought in fried chicken, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and muffins. I was hungry that day from workout that morning so I had some. It was about 4 days before I got all that out of my system, and it slowed me way down.
For a short term, there supplements that will get you going, but you have to time them correctly. Drink it too early and you're starting your interval with low blood sugar. Drink just before and you have a nice short boost.
I don't know if this stuff works or not, but I tried it for IMLou last yr and as far as I can tell had no negative effects. Did it help? I have no idea... I posted a thread about it last yr prior to the race and the comments were mixed with most believing there is no benefit. http://members.endurancenation.us/Training/TrainingForums/tabid/101/aft/6623/Default.aspx This stuff is only used for a handful of days prior to the race and only once every several months.
I think your original was looking for an everyday type of solution. I would be surprised if we could change our blood physiology all that easily though over the long haul. Otherwise, cyclists and every Olympic hopeful would be doing it for training and we'd have heard about it already.
However, I'm 100% with Mike. If you do the math and figure out how much buffering agent you need to raise your blood pH, it's grams. lots of grams. And if you've ever eaten lots of grams of bicarbonate then you will never do it again.
I like Hammer products in general, but I don't get how they get away with selling this stuff... it's patently obvious to anyone who knows any metabolism at all that your body will regulate your pH back to normal within minutes-to-hours by controlling the amount of CO2 you exhale. (and probably a few more complicated pathways)
I have been listening to an exercise physiology course from GA state recently, and the guy talked about a couple of these bicarbonates studies...one done by a friend of his on swimmers doing repeat 100s. (Yes, the bicarbonate helped measurably, but in maintaining max speed, more than in achieving a new max). But a benign statement in the paper was translated, "Virtually every swimmer, after their last/8th 100 either projectile vomited or ran to the locker room and had projectile diarrhea".
Use caution my friend.