Endurance Athletes
Full article entitled: The New World Order for Endurance Training, By Brian MacKensie. Full article can be found in the November 2007 issue of the Crossfit Journal.
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One of the athletes tested came to us roughly eighteen months ago, tired of having a bulky body type and wanting to run a marathon. He is the owner of a big company, and time was a limiting factor. Despite his initial belief that he could not run much faster (that psyche thing), we got him a lot faster. I knew from his professional career that he could overcome obstacles and achieve success; we just needed to convince him of it. After establishing an aerobic base we commenced interval, speed, and pace training. Nothing was periodized, as that is a complete farce as far as I'm concerned. The only time we backed off was in preparation for time trials, going harder (holding faster than average paces), and races. He did strength training from the beginning. His first marathon was completed in 4:25. Five months later he did another in 4:05, on an average of 5 hours and 17 minutes of training per week. So, he achieved a 20-minute drop in time with zero injuries (he did technique training as well), while never running more than 30 miles per week.
How does all this work?
Let's take a look at what is the most non-limiting factor: VO2/aerobic/metabolic training. We established this when he ran his first 10K. If you look at runners who make the transition from 10K to marathon, there is no difference in their VO2 max levels. In other words, if they are already performing aerobically at a level where they complete a 10K, there is nothing more we can do in that realm that will improve their performance.
So where do we go from there? We push the "go" button and work on what limiting factors remain. Have you ever done a triathlon, or run a 10k (or more) and experienced not a lack of breath (cardiovascular endurance isn't the limiting factor), but a soreness in the legs or even other muscles? This is a lack of strength, stamina, and conditioning! Coach Glassman explains this in CrossFit's "third standard of fitness" when talking about the body's three metabolic pathways: "Favoring one or two [metabolic pathways] to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably the two most common faults in fitness training." Favoring one metabolic pathway (the oxidative or aerobic one trained in endurance activity, for example) could not be more wrong in principle and methodology. Having athletes doing 100+ mile bike rides three to four weeks out from the Ironman World Championships, or doing any highly oxidative training for long periods of time, makes zero sense if the athlete has already developed their ability to use oxygen effectively. The solution is to strength train and make them work at faster than normal speeds (i.e., speed training and intervals), while retaining the ability to recover.
When I talk about strength training, here's what I mean. Most of the time, we squat every week, doing sets of ten at 80 percent of max, then adding five pounds for eight reps, then adding five pounds for six reps. This usually scares the newbie endurance athletes to death, but they get over it soon because we won't train them any other way. They learn that the strength training actually speeds up recovery and lets them get back to training much sooner than they thought.
Speaking of recovery, that's the next limiting factor we have to work on with distance athletes. Most of them are training exclusively in the oxidative pathway, and highly overdoing it at that. Even if you are just training this way, would it not behoove you to have the ability to actually recover from these workouts so that you could actually benefit from them? We make each of our athletes recover to a heart rate of 120 in less than two minutes when doing intervals or hill work. If they can't recover, then the workout is done. Walk away! When they run pace work, nothing is more than a half marathon so that they have the ability to go out and actually train the next day with purpose.
Energy is the primary factor in this type of training. We have to be able to look at the individual's energy and see how much they can handle, at what speeds they can handle it, and how much weight they can move. All the while still having the ability to get up the next day and do four to eight one-kilometer repeats at a 5:00 mile pace (if this is what they can handle), and then be able to do "Helen" the next day and at PR or near-PR levels. As I stated in the beginning, much of this is about the psyche and your ability to believe you can handle more (and different) than you ever have. Don't just go out and expect a change tomorrow. This is something that will take learning and patience like anything else. Now if you are convinced you have the ability--oh, the possibilities that await you!
Full article entitled: The New World Order for Endurance Training, By Brian MacKensie. Full article can be found in the November 2007 issue of the Crossfit Journal.
...
One of the athletes tested came to us roughly eighteen months ago, tired of having a bulky body type and wanting to run a marathon. He is the owner of a big company, and time was a limiting factor. Despite his initial belief that he could not run much faster (that psyche thing), we got him a lot faster. I knew from his professional career that he could overcome obstacles and achieve success; we just needed to convince him of it. After establishing an aerobic base we commenced interval, speed, and pace training. Nothing was periodized, as that is a complete farce as far as I'm concerned. The only time we backed off was in preparation for time trials, going harder (holding faster than average paces), and races. He did strength training from the beginning. His first marathon was completed in 4:25. Five months later he did another in 4:05, on an average of 5 hours and 17 minutes of training per week. So, he achieved a 20-minute drop in time with zero injuries (he did technique training as well), while never running more than 30 miles per week.
How does all this work?
Let's take a look at what is the most non-limiting factor: VO2/aerobic/metabolic training. We established this when he ran his first 10K. If you look at runners who make the transition from 10K to marathon, there is no difference in their VO2 max levels. In other words, if they are already performing aerobically at a level where they complete a 10K, there is nothing more we can do in that realm that will improve their performance.
So where do we go from there? We push the "go" button and work on what limiting factors remain. Have you ever done a triathlon, or run a 10k (or more) and experienced not a lack of breath (cardiovascular endurance isn't the limiting factor), but a soreness in the legs or even other muscles? This is a lack of strength, stamina, and conditioning! Coach Glassman explains this in CrossFit's "third standard of fitness" when talking about the body's three metabolic pathways: "Favoring one or two [metabolic pathways] to the exclusion of the others and not recognizing the impact of excessive training in the oxidative pathway are arguably the two most common faults in fitness training." Favoring one metabolic pathway (the oxidative or aerobic one trained in endurance activity, for example) could not be more wrong in principle and methodology. Having athletes doing 100+ mile bike rides three to four weeks out from the Ironman World Championships, or doing any highly oxidative training for long periods of time, makes zero sense if the athlete has already developed their ability to use oxygen effectively. The solution is to strength train and make them work at faster than normal speeds (i.e., speed training and intervals), while retaining the ability to recover.
When I talk about strength training, here's what I mean. Most of the time, we squat every week, doing sets of ten at 80 percent of max, then adding five pounds for eight reps, then adding five pounds for six reps. This usually scares the newbie endurance athletes to death, but they get over it soon because we won't train them any other way. They learn that the strength training actually speeds up recovery and lets them get back to training much sooner than they thought.
Speaking of recovery, that's the next limiting factor we have to work on with distance athletes. Most of them are training exclusively in the oxidative pathway, and highly overdoing it at that. Even if you are just training this way, would it not behoove you to have the ability to actually recover from these workouts so that you could actually benefit from them? We make each of our athletes recover to a heart rate of 120 in less than two minutes when doing intervals or hill work. If they can't recover, then the workout is done. Walk away! When they run pace work, nothing is more than a half marathon so that they have the ability to go out and actually train the next day with purpose.
Energy is the primary factor in this type of training. We have to be able to look at the individual's energy and see how much they can handle, at what speeds they can handle it, and how much weight they can move. All the while still having the ability to get up the next day and do four to eight one-kilometer repeats at a 5:00 mile pace (if this is what they can handle), and then be able to do "Helen" the next day and at PR or near-PR levels. As I stated in the beginning, much of this is about the psyche and your ability to believe you can handle more (and different) than you ever have. Don't just go out and expect a change tomorrow. This is something that will take learning and patience like anything else. Now if you are convinced you have the ability--oh, the possibilities that await you!
Full article entitled: The New World Order for Endurance Training, By Brian MacKensie. Full article can be found in the November 2007 issue of the Crossfit Journal.