The 5k: A Tale of Three Energy Systems

A few years back my cousin, Adrian, invited me to do a Park Run. Park Runs are a popular event in the UK. Each weekend runners line up for a 5k race in parks all over the UK. It’s free to join in and a wonderful initiative that I hope finds its way to Red Deer someday. At the start line, Adrian said something like “I’m going to push it today, so I’ll just find you afterwards”. The clear implication being that I wouldn’t be able to keep up and he’d just have to leave me behind. Huh, we’ll see about that! What follows is an epic tale of cellular heroism. We’ll be exploring the physiological activity taking place within the muscle cells during this Battle of Titans. In order to understand performance in the 5k, we’ll need to examine the energy systems involved. The Phosphagen System The Glycolytic System The Oxidative System We're also going to learn about the physiological mechanisms of fatigue and adaptation. The blog that goes with this episode goes into far more depth and you can see all the diagrams that accompany the information. Just click here to check it out: The 5k: A Tale of Three Energy Systems Would you like your running or triathlon questions featured in a future episode? Just click here to leave me a voicemail. Music By The Passion HiFi