physiology - Running Writings

Training intensity and capillary growth: Do you believe all the studies, or just a few?

August 16, 2023August 16, 2023

Color microscope image of muscle fibers and capillaries

Recently I’ve been diving back into the world of exercise physiology research, especially as it relates to running performance. I got behind on following ex phys in grad school (too busy following biomechanics!), so it’s been a few years since I’ve caught up on the latest research.

This weekend I was reading about capillarization: the growth of new, tiny blood vessels–capillaries–that run between and around individual muscle fibers. Capillaries are super important for aerobic performance, since they’re the place where oxygen diffuses out of red blood cells and into muscle fibers.

Review and summary of Marathon Training - A Scientific Approach by Renato Canova

July 9, 2023June 19, 2023

Photo of the book Marathon Training - A Scientific Approach by Renato Canova and Enrico Arcelli

How do the best marathon runners in the world train? While you might catch a workout or two on Instagram or hear rumors about epic training weeks on message boards, there’s precious little information on the systematic approaches that elite coaches use with top marathon runners–and even less information on the science that backs up these approaches for designing marathon training programs.

One exception to this general rule has been the Italian coach Renato Canova, arguably the greatest living running coach and the topic of several of my previous posts on Running Writings. Canova freely discusses his training philosophy and posts example workouts or even full training schedules for the athletes he has worked with, which include Olympic and World Championships medallists.

In 1999, Canova even co-authored a book on the science of marathon training—however, there’s a bit of a catch: this book was printed through the IAAF (now World Athletics), not a traditional publishing company or printing press. As a result, Canova’s book is extraordinarily rare. I had heard of this book probably a decade ago, but in the intervening years I couldn't find any substantive information on its contents. Until now.

Elite Marathoning with Renato Canova: The Training of Moses Mosop and Abel Kirui

July 6, 2023June 30, 2012

Renato Canova-coached athlete Moses Mosop winning the Chicago Marathon

Renato Canova is a widely-renown coach of some of the most elite middle and long-distance athletes in the world. His runners routinely medal at World Championship and Olympic races and place highly at major marathons.

Unlike many other elite coaches, Renato Canova has no reservations about sharing his training philosophy and the workouts of his athletes. 2011 was a banner year for Canova, as several of his runners won medals at the 2011 world championships, including Abel Kirui, a young runner who won his second marathon World Championship.

Additionally, Moses Mosop, a long-time Canova runner with sub-27 10k credentials, made his debut marathon in an earthshaking 2:03:06 for second place at the Boston Marathon, then later smashed the 25k and 30k world records at the Prefontaine Classic meet in Eugene, Oregon.