Char was wrong

I feel scammed. Well, almost. It’s like everything I ever thought about muscle fatigue wasn’t true. Now I know how the people in Galileo’s day felt, realizing for the first time that the world didn’t revolve around them. So you’re telling me that the burn in my muscles isn’t a sign that I’ve reached my lactic threshold and should stop? Hogwash!

But it’s true, well at least according to the latest research out of UC Berkeley regarding lactic acid. Read the New York Times article here. Apparently lactic acid is a fuel, not a waste product, and it actually helps our muscles work longer and harder, rather than inhibiting their function. Our whole conception of muscle fatigue has been turned on its head.

My high school track and cross country coach, Char, was the first one to tell me about lactic acid, years before this most recent study was released. It’s a negative byproduct of your muscles’ exertion, she’d tell us. And since I’m a visual person, I used to picture my muscles building up a coating of the caustic stuff as I pushed my way to the top of the hill on a training run. And I used to use it as an excuse to ease up, too, thinking that I had reached that threshold. But I won’t do that anymore, that’s for sure.

Tonight, when I’m out on a run and I feel that heavy weight around my leg muscles, rather than slow my pace I’ll savor the burn. With the lactic acid fuel to work off of, it’ll be like stopping for a quick snack to keep the legs pumping. And I won’t let this about-face of medical information slow me down; it’ll just speed me up, or rather keep me pushing that mileage threshold.

But that’s what it’s all about, right? Building and revising and revisiting all that we know and making sure it all fits into the here and now. That’s what returning to this sport has been for me, at least. It’s not 1998 anymore. It’s time to learn some new tricks.