Exercise Keeps you Young ?

Could it be true that exercise keeps you young ?

One hears the stories about someone running marathons and then keeling over with a heart attack. It can be disheartening. Should I join the couch potatoes ?

A group of researchers in Germany faced with the fact that the underlying molecular mechanisms of the vasculo-protective effects of physical exercise are incompletely understood set up an exercise project to find out what happens to the Telomeres.

If there is a 'bottom line' then it is to get your V02 Max up and keep it up and the Telomeres will stay long and young!

Telomere erosion is a central component of aging. Telomeres are the 'caps' the ends of the chromosomes and they protect the chromosomes from damage but when the telomeres are themselves eroded away, the cell can no longer divide. It just dies and nothing takes its place.

 The study in Germany examined the effects of exercising on telomere biology:

• Firstly in mice 
• Secondly the effects of long-term endurance training on telomere biology in humans.

The 50-ish marathon runners had telomeres only slightly shorter than 20-ish runners but the sedentary 50 year olds had already lost 40% of the telomere length.

Telomeres made news in December 2009 when Nobel prize for Medicine was won for research on Telomeres. Watch the interview in Stockholm with the three winners: 

• Elizabeth Blackburn
• Carol Greider
• Jack Szostak

I'm not sure if the nutritional treatment to keep the telomeres at a healthy length is snake oil or not but this is an interesting one

•  watch the presentation by Dr Joseph Raffaele.

Dr Sunshine

Dr Sunshine, otherwise known as Michael Hollick, was interviewed by the New York Times Magazine this morning. I've been convinced by Dr Sunshine to increase my Vitamin D intake - now at 3,000 IUs a day, every day - but there are times when I think that I would not loan any money to Michael Hollick.

Read this interchange between Michael and the writer Deborah Solomon:

What bothers me about your research is the inflated claims you make for it. You say that one pill can prevent and treat everything from cancer to autism to depression. There has never been a medication that did all that.

I never said autism.

It’s on the cover of your book!


Read all of a punchy little interview.

Of course he was promoting his most recent book - out April 1, 2010. Probably worth reading.

Run a 10K Race in less than 1 hour

One of my big health and fitness objectives for 2010 is to run a 10K race in under an hour. It must be nearly a decade since I ran 10K at that speed. So, will my legs still do it.

10K (kilometers) is 6.2 miles.

I'm going to train mostly on a treadmill to be kind to my knees. I've blog'd frequently about my knees but they are not bad at the moment and the intention is to run 3 times a week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

So how fast do I need to be able to run ?

Running on a treadmill is about 10% faster than on the road; some say 11.5% faster.
10% faster means I need to run 10K in 54 minutes in order to run 60 minutes on the road.
11.5% faster would mean running 10K in 53 minutes 6 seconds.

So can I run the distance at 5 mins 24 seconds for every kilometer ? Translated in miles this means running every mile in 8 mins 43 seconds.

Where am I now in terms of speed?

I can run 3 miles at a speed of 8 minutes 42 seconds i.e. just inside the target speed but I need to run for twice as far at that speed ?

The PLAN

JANUARY 2010 - Build a base of stamina by running the 10K distance every week and sometimes more than once a week but at a slower pace than the target pace (fairly obviously). The idea behind long slow running distance is to build an expanded network of capillaries in the leg muscles and to increase the weight of aerobic enzymes in the leg muscles.

How did the plan workout ?

Mileage in January:
week 1 = 16 miles
week 2 = 17 1/4 miles
week 3 = 18 miles
week 4 = 19 1/2 miles

The longest run was 8 miles and the fastest 6.2 miles (10K) was 62 minutes.

FEBRUARY 2010 - Increase speed by running faster over shorter distances - each week increase speed slightly. The objective is to increase how much blood the heart pumps at each stroke and to improve tolerance to lactate in muscles and blood.

How did plan workout ? 

Ran 3.1 miles (5K) in 26 mins 48 seconds (6.9 mph and faster finish)  (on treadmill)

Ran for 8 minutes at 7.4 mph

Ran for 4 minutes at at 7.8 mph.

March 2010 - Run at February speeds but go longer trying to get to a run of 5 miles at 6.9 mph and try a 5K event i.e. run on road and see difference road to treadmill.