Forum posts to 'Training tips'

Re: Long distance running

moderator — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:56:55 +0000

Hi Cabbey. Great post & question!
If I understand Hadd's method correctly, he advocates high weekly mileages, of which the majority is at heart rate <80% HR max, just below first ventilatory threshold (similar to the MAF (Dr Phil Maffetone) 180 formula). If done strictly, these days should cause little cumulative fatigue, and very few Amber traffic lights from the ithlete morning test.
On race day morning, you will naturally feel a heightened sense of anticipation & excitement, causing your resting HR to raise with adrenalin. In my own experience this does not cause a lowering of HRV enough to get an amber from the ithlete test, but I would like to hear others experience following this thread.

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Re: Long distance running

Cabbey — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 09:17:16 +0000

I've just ordered this product, and looking forward to trying it out. I currently train by HR (Hadds method), so this app will really help. Your comments are very interesting, but can I ask how will the stress of an up and coming race affect the readings. I tend to not take a morning pulse reading on race days as it is always higher due to the anticipation. Thanks

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Re: Long distance running

moderator — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:50:01 +0000

Yes, lots of training volume at or below lactate threshold (the point at which lactate levels in the blood rise above resting levels) builds aerobic capacity and your ability to utilise fat as a fuel. This latter is crucial to performance in any event over about 90 mins. I recently attended a Q&A session with Alberto Contador, where he was asked about his training volume prior to last year's win in the Tour de France - 1000km per week, ie about 35hr pw. The human body can only maintain anywhere near this kind of volume when the vast majority is aerobic (likely to be 80%+ of the total training time).
The result will be a high level of efficiency and speed whilst remaining entirely aerobic (not to mention the benefit that operating below lactate threshold does not actually hurt!). A very recent paper in the well respected European Journal of Applied Physiology has confirmed the suspected strong link between positive changes in HRV and aerobic performance during training, as assessed by maximum aerobic running speed and 10km race times.

Interval training works by providing significant stress to the body's normal state, causing stimulation of chemical / energy pathways and muscle strength development, and resulting in increases in maximum speed in your chosen sport. The timing of rest between intensive intervals is also very important, with a 1:1 ratio of work : rest being often recommended.

It is during recovery from these intense sessions that the speed improvement occurs, and here is where daily HRV monitoring also comes into play. Since HRV can monitor objectively the body's accumulated fatigue, you will see an initial dip, followed by a recovery in the daily measurement over a period of 2-3 days. It is not until recovery is complete that you will be ready for another intensive session. For many people, that will limit them to 2 interval sessions per week if done properly. The advantage of using HRV is that you can check that you as an individual are ready, rather than relying on very general recommendations that do not take your physiology and your other current life stresses into account!

More authoritative data on these subjects at http://www.sport-fitness-advisor.com/lactate-threshold.html

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Re: Long distance running

SophiaSunshine — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:04:51 +0000

Thanks again for the post - you really seem to know your stuff!

So if I summarise, Go slower and build up you speed by running at the same heart rate for longer distances. This then builds my aerobic capacity(?) and so allows me to run faster for longer? So I have a few more questions:

How does the the interval training work? This takes me from over this aerobic threshold - how does this work in complement to the above?

I have read about "Lactate threshold" - is this similar to aerobic or is it something else. How does this relate? I appreciate that its all very complicated but then how does HRV then become a single metric that measure improvement in these various factors?

thanks!

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Re: Long distance running

moderator — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:21:34 +0000

In order to achieve your personal potential, you have to train smart and you have to train a lot!

Starting with the second part - in order to train a lot (ie lots of miles / hours), you need to make sure that your body recovers between training sessions. If the training load per session is high, then it will take longer to recover (2-3 days). Physiologically, the human body was designed by evolution for gathering, ranging over 10miles per day, every day, and hunting, which involved intense, but short & infrequent bursts of activity. So we probably should not be too surprised that this turns out to be a good training strategy!

Below the lactate / ventilatory threshold, the body is operating 100% aerobically, uses fat efficiently as a fuel (up to half the total energy requirement) and generates very little cortisol (stress hormone) or damaging free radicals. As the workload increases, so does the production of these chemicals, and the body relies much more heavily on carbohydrate (glycogen) stores, which have to be replenished after training. The interesting thing about training just below your lactate threshold is that after a few weeks you become much more efficient - ie your speed or power becomes much higher at that heart rate. You can get close to knowing the HR for that threshold using the Maffetone formula of 180 - your age. Add 5 if you are already competition fit, subtract 5 if you are out of training. At first this feels too slow, but keep at it & you will see your speed increase quite soon. You will not feel tired after even quite long sessions at this rate, which means you can go again tomorrow!

For the first part - training smart includes intervals / fartlek / track sessions at all out pace, usually above anaerobic threshold, but only 1-2x pw in the 1-2 mths prior to competition. With a solid base, your top end can be added very quickly on top.

I would recommend Seiler's excellent article on Sportsci.org to review the evidence for this approach, even in recreational athletes.

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Re: Long distance running

SophiaSunshine — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:23:54 +0000

Very interesting post.

What is the underlying physiological basis for this 80:20 split?

And are you saying that doing this 80:20 will improve one's performance more than simply running 'flat out' after warm up every time you go running?

Is there anyway to upload some data to your site to see this from other people?

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Re: Long distance running

moderator — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:01:37 +0000

Training for long distance running (5k upwards) can be made up of high volumes of low intensity endurance work (or base building as it used to be called), plus judicious use of high intensity interval work. There is growing evidence that recreational and non-elite runners (ie most of us with a day job!) can benefit from adopting the same 80:20 ratio of times spent training in these two opposite zones that elite athletes do across multiple endurance sports.

This approach requires discipline, since the time spent in low intensity Zone 1 (where you can still hold a conversation) can feel 'guilt producingly easy', and the intervals at the high end of intensity (Zone 3) can feel very uncomfortable.

ithlete can help you get the most from this type of training, since the long steady runs in zone 1 should not produce dips big enough to turn amber on a daily basis, and overall, your trend line should be upwards if your training is mostly in zone 1 during the winter season.
Conversely, in the buildup to the competitive season (late winter - spring), your interval / high intensity sessions will often produce daily amber dips, but should not be so severe as to stay low for a second day and turn red. Of course you should wait until your daily value is back to normal before attempting the next high intensity session.

For more on what we can learn from successful elite athletes, I would recommend dipping into the excellent perspective article by renowned sports scientist Stephen Seiler that is linked on the Optimising my training faq http://www.myithlete.com/optimising-my-training/