The CrossFit Journal posted a video clip of CrossFit Endurance coach Brian MacKenzie lecturing on the burning sensation felt by athletes during workouts that tends to slow them down.  Many of us equate this pain to the build up of lactic acid (or lactate), but recent research has shown that lactate actually slows the acidosis process (the build up of acid in our cells) and is actually part of a previously undiscovered metabolic pathway that helps fuel our anaerobic activity.  According to Coach MacKenzie, the tingling or burning sensation we feel during exercise is actually caused by the accumulation of potassium in the tissue and that lactate actually helps alleviate that soreness.  Sodium ions are pumped out of cells while potassium is pumped in via the sodium-potassium pump.  The diagram below provides a summary of the process:

What’s interesting is that the sodium-potassium pump becomes more and more efficient as more force is applied…just another benefit of including strength training into our programming.  This also helps explain why many CrossFit Endurance athletes are seeing tremendous results by using CrossFit and shorter, more intense running/swimming/biking/rowing sessions vice traditional training programs.

You may be wondering then what causes soreness over the few days that follow intense workout sessions.  It’s not potassium which only causes that sensation during a workout, but rather the inflammation resulting from the break down of our tissue (just another reason to focus on strength training and minimizing inflammation via the Paleo diet and fish oil supplementation…I’m just saying).

REMINDER: There is no 10AM class today because of the NLI Competition taking place at the Orange County Fairgrounds. The max capacity for 9AM class has been bumped up to 15 athletes, so please sign in if you plan on showing, or you may not have a slot.

For those interested in coming down to Costa Mesa and supporting Jake, Holley, Brian, and I at the NLI CrossFit competition, here are the projected workout times for two of the three workouts.

Holley (Heat 5)-Cleaning Crew at 8:33am and Cyclebel at 1:12pm
Jake & Brian (Heat 10)-Cleaning Crew at 9:33am and Cyclebel at 2:42pm
Sean (Heat 15)-Cleaning Crew at 10:33am and Cyclebel at 4:12pm

The third workout times will vary but will likely take place between the two workouts listed above. Event details can be found here. Once on site, find the Intrepid pop-up tent in the tent city area, and come chill with everyone between WODs.

WOD 11.12.11

In Teams of 2, complete 3 Rounds:
One partner performs
50 Double Unders
20 Situps
while the other performs
8 Pullups
Hill Run
Switch stations when both of you are done and continue switching in that manner until you both finish 3 full rounds