Slowcoach Endurance

 Training Plans to reach your Goals. Do we exercise or train? What is the difference you might say. I suggest we exercise to get, maintain or improve our level of general fitness. Whereas to train  is exercise with a specific goal or goals to be achieved within a specific time frame. This might be simply to race 5K parkrun under a specific time in the next 3 month. It might also extend to more than one goal event in season or year. However in this case it is wise to establish which is your primary goal and thereby rank the priority you put on the goals. ie you would determine an A, B and C goal. It is unreasonable to be working towards more than 3 in a season. This is not to say you don't enter a range of event types in a season but simply that your training is directed specifically to achieving your best possible performance in your priority race/s. To achieve this, it is is not sufficient to just do the same training every week an expect to perform at your best at all three...

 With 2021 disappearing over the horizon and 2022 rising in the east what should we be thinking about when planning the year ahead? Looking back on 2021 how did it go compared to what you had planned this time last year? Did you achieve your goals? Well done if you did but if things didn’t quite work out for you, what went wrong? Several studies have shown that there is a thin line between training hard enough (consistent and progressive) and training too hard leading to injury and poor health. The main factors which trip people up are: Completing your planned training Being able to complete more than 80% of your planned training weeks leads to a 7 times greater chance of achieving your goal. So you don’t need to be perfect but good is best. Staying injury free Most likely closely linked to the above is the ability to avoid injuries and therefore be able to meet that 80% target. But how best to ensure you do sufficient and effective training while avoiding getting injured? Monitori...

 Oxygen Kinetics (and the Warm up) What do we mean by "Oxygen Kinetics" ? When we start exercising from rest say in a race or a workout our muscles require energy to perform the work. The three main energy supply systems we draw upon can't all turn on to full capacity immediately as we saw in Energy Systems - Part 2 . In particular the aerobic system can take over 2 minutes to reach maximum capacity.  The following chart shows how aerobic system reacts to this initial demand for energy. from Mark Burnley and Andrew Jones 02 August 2007 Note in particular the three Intensity Domains - Moderate, Heavy and Severe. The Moderate domain is when you are exercising at an intensity or effort lower than LT1 ie up to 65-70% of your VO2max or 1500m pace; the Heavy Domain somewhere between the LT1 and LT2 (or Critical Power/Speed (about 87-90% of 10km pace); and Severe which is above LT2 and Critical Power and extends to beyond VO2 max.  It shows three different Heavy Domain intensity...

 Endurance Performance variables The main factors that determine level of performance in Endurance exercise are: VO2 max - your maximum ability to use oxygen when exercising. Or  perhaps more useful, your speed at VO2max. (v-Vo2max or sometimes called VDOT)    Lactate Threshold - the first lactate "threshold" LT1 or VT1 (first Ventilatory threshold)  Exercise Economy - Metabolic and mechanical Oxygen uptake kinetics - How reactive your aerobic system is start of exercise and efficiency during continuous exercise   Critical Power or Critical Speed - (Similar intensity to the second Lactate Threshold  LT2 or Ventilatory Threshold VT2  It is very unlikely that anyone can maximise all these factors at the same time. To improve one factor can cause one or more of the others to deteriorate. The aim of training is to try and optimise the factors to produce the best combination for the specific requirements and timing of the target event.   Why...

In  Part 1  we saw that the body uses 3 distinct but interlaced energy systems: Alactic CP  last about 4 sec (250-420  kJ/min immediate but only lasts 2-4sec) recharged during recovery   Anaerobic lactic   last between sec4  - 2 min at maximum intensity (around 300 kJ/min almost immediately but it’s availability depends on how quickly it is used)  Aerobic  main system over 2 min + (63-84 kJ/min and takes around 60 sec to 90 sec to fully activate but can last for a considerable amount of time) You can think of  the three energy systems operating how a Hybrid car engine produces power to the wheels.  The Alactic  system works like the cars electric battery which provides immediate fast energy to provide max acceleration away from stationary or a short term boost. It is recharged from the other two systems when power demand is lower. The Aerobic  system is the body’s internal combustion engine which takes care of the long dis...

 Energy systems during Exercise Part 1 Why are we interested in how our body powers our everyday movements and in particular how they respond to increasing levels of exercise? After all it just all works automatically without any thought or intervention on our part. I suggest that during our daily and night time activities (including sleeping) we just let our bodies get on with it. However when it comes to athletic training it is important to have some understanding of the way out bodies are powered so that we can plan and complete effective training strategies. The above diagram gives a representation of when running at longer and longer durations that our amount maximum speed or power  falls off as shown by the shape of the black curve. It falls off quite rapidly at first before levelling off after a few minutes. We know that we can't keep running at our  maximum 100m speed for the full distance of a 10k race for example.  Power/Duration curve from WK05 created by ...