Skip to content

Run Performance: Muscle Oxygen Monitoring, Injury Prevention, Coaching

Kim Nedeau

Certified Corrective Exercise Specialist, Injury prevention, Running Coach

Home
Services
Contact
Videos
My Athletes
About Me

Services

A little about me and my background….

Read more Services

Contact

Get in touch…

Read more Contact

5-1-5 Clinic Dates!

(Update! This clinic is full.) Hi everyone! By popular demand, I have added another weekend 5-1-5 clinic on Sunday November 3. Appointment times are 9 AM, 10:30 AM, 12:30 PM, 2 PM and 3:30 PM. Send me a message if you would like one of the appointments: kim@kimnedeau.com. What is a 5-1-5? I am monitoring…

Read more 5-1-5 Clinic Dates!

Instagram

Something exciting has happened! I now have one athlete who trains with a single Moxy Sensor. When she came here to the gym at the end of July, her 5-1-5 results showed that she had a coordination issue (trends on the left and right were significantly different -- also interesting because it matched her injury history) and she failed to utilize oxygen. We've spent the last couple of months working on teaching her body to utilize the oxygen available in her muscles. I think it's a really fun limitation because it's so trainable and represents great potential for improvement. Fast forward to October and she now has a Moxy Sensor! In July, she could not desaturate below 67% despite a very high intensity interval. Let's take a look at her workout today. There are a few blips that we will ignore -- it's just noise. To start, a training session will always look like this: she starts at 75% saturated (this is a high starting point!) and then dips. It dips because her body has not yet responded to the demand and uses available oxygen in the muscles. Then you see over the next 10 minutes, she builds to near 90%. This is wonderful saturation and is a perfect starting point for a race or workout. She is someone who saturates easily whereas for others, it takes more work -- they might need a handful of sprints with walking in between to reach their max. Now at 6:22:00 she starts a mile time trial. She has a downward trend in saturation, which is exactly what I would expect to see at this high intensity. She desaturates all the way down to 43%. Remember that just over two months ago, she was stuck at 67%! My goal for her will be to desaturate below 20%. Now you see some up and down peaks. These are jump squats and rest. The low points are the end of the set and the peaks are her rest. I find that jump squats are a perfect exercise to teach the body to desaturate -- she has performed many of these over the past couple of months. I told her to stop the jumps when her oxygen saturation levels off from the downward trend. I did not give her a set number or duration -- this way we keep the exercise aerobic vs anaerobic and she will recovery more quickly. See comments....

A few cool things that all came together for an athlete I work with. First a little background: researchers used Moxy Sensors in a study that looked at low back injury and pain. They fatigued the diaphragm in individuals who were already shown to have ankle-steered proprioception rather than core-steered proprioception. The Moxy Sensors showed that muscle oxygen saturation and blood volume decreased in the erector spinae, a spinal stabilizer, with inspiratory fatigue in those who were reliant on ankle proprioceptors. As the blood is redirected to the diaphragm from the spinal stabilizers, core proprioception is compromised and back injury/pain can occur. A second study looked at the effects of high intensity inspiratory muscle training on core proprioception and found that after eight weeks, low back pain reduced in severity. Low intensity training had no effect. . . I have an athlete who tested positively for ankle-steered proprioception who has a history of back injury and pain. I then performed a 5-1-5 test on this athlete and he showed a pulmonary limitation. The way to treat poor core proprioception is with diaphragm strengthening. The way to decrease a pulmonary limitation is with diaphragm strengthening. It is fun to see these two aspects of what I do overlap! You can read more here: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2565/7146/files/TheDiaphragmTheOverlookedCoreMuscle.pdf?18009094848855083734 . . . . #runperformance #trainsmart #runassessment #runner #newenglandrunner #runnerscommunity #running #runhappy #instarunners #halfmarathon #marathontraining #womenrunning #coreproprioception #diaphragm

By popular demand, I'm adding another weekend 5-1-5 clinic day. The day is Sunday November 3. Appointment times are 9, 10:30, 12:30, 2:00 and 3:30. ****** What is a 5-1-5? I am monitoring muscle oxygen saturation and total hemoglobin during light running loads, rest, and heavy running loads. The results tell me what is limiting run performance. Can your oxygen supply keep up with your demand? Does one leg cause you to fail first (yes, I can see that!)? Do you hyperventilate when intensity increases? Weak ventilatory exchange? A good supply of oxygen but poor utilization? After the assessment, I send a summary email with recommendations to incorporate into your training that will stress and improve your limiter. These are recommendations that can be passed along to a coach. I can also determine whether you are a runner who easily maintains high saturation after a warm up or if you need to stay moving right up until the start of the race. Starting an event highly saturated can be the difference between a mediocre and excellent performance. Total appointment time is approximately 80 minutes. Total run time: 45-55 minutes starting at light loads and ending at failure. There is a one minute rest for every five minutes of running. Assessments are performed in Leverett, MA and cost $125. . . #runfast #trainsmart #athlete #runassessment #runperformance #knowyourlimits #runrunrun #runner #newenglandrunner #runforlife #perform #instarun #runnersofinstagram #womenrunning

You know what makes me a super happy joyful running coach? When I've got 20 out of 20 runners uninjured, doing the thing that they love! Sure my group of women and one man get little niggles sometimes but they've all had consistent training blocks just as important races are approaching. A few big ones on the horizon are: Spartan World Championships-Tahoe, US Mountain Running Championships, Golden Ultra, Chicago Marathon and another that is penciled in - World ElliptiGO Championships (that's for me, I'm still thinking about it!). 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️ . . . #runrunrun #lovetorun #runnersworld #runeveryday #womenrunning #runner #runmom #motherrunner #running #crosstrain #runnershigh #runningmakesmehappy #runalways #runnersofinstagram #runninggoals #runspiration #runnerscommunity

I consider Sarah a non-responder. Even though I have coached her for almost two years, I didn’t know until I performed a 5-1-5 assessment on her four months ago. She spent the last four months stressing her limiter every single week, multiple times per week. She just shaved 11 seconds off her mile time trial from one month ago. Love these success stories! Nice 5:47 this morning, Sarah! ..... #Repost @sarah.canney with @get_repost ・・・ Had my own little “f*ck yeah” moment this morning. . Mile time trial 11 seconds FASTER than last month. Laid down a solid 5:47 mile this morning running solo around the track. . After with big races + @riserunretreat the past four weekends in a row I can only attribute this to the fact that my coach @kimnedeau and I have the stress + rest ratio dialed in. . Also the changes we made in my training after my 5-1-5 assessment in April are taking full effect. . I cannot recommend the 5-1-5 Assessment with @kimnedeau enough. In fact, I’ve sent my own athletes to her because the information and feedback she provides are invaluable to me as a coach. . If you’re local (New England) and you’re looking to take your training to the next level or you have plateaued in your running, @kimnedeau is holding a 5-1-5 Assessment clinic on 9/23. . Also, this @skirtsports sports bra is 👌. Thanks @nicoledeboom for sending this on over. Made me feel fast and strong 💪. ☺️ #tracktime #trackworkout #track #runner #running #workinprogress #joyinthejourney #womensrunning #womenshealth #gettingoldergettingfaster

I felt a little silly taking the race out like this but it just felt comfortable! After a 17 year hiatus, it was back to running cross country today. The course was legit XC— grass, trail, roots and a few hills. I’m not quite as fast as I was in my last cross country race but it was both an individual and team win! 5k- 18:50. Thanks GBTC for hosting a family event. Even our dog Scout was out on the course today! #fasterasamaster . . . @wmdistanceproject #fastermaster #run #trailrunning #trails #crosscountryrunning #xc #womenrunning #raceday #runhard #readytorace #runrunrun #5k #runhappy #runnerspace #runnerslife #ilovetorun

Home
Services
Contact
Videos
My Athletes
About Me

Blog at WordPress.com.