Endurance Training

[fhg43]

I wanted to start a new thread here as we have lots of endurance discussion going on over on the sports board.

Currently I am doing lots of long steady rides to prepare for another season of bike racing and a few long triathlons (including an Ironman). I am doing two 4hr rides during the week and two 6hr rides on the weekends. I am a firm believer in having a big huge base for racing and training. It might seem like a lot of endurance riding, but it really pays off. Whenever I've had a poor season it is because I haven't trained enough during the off season. After the first of the year I focus on anaerobic intervals before any racing starts. I do this since once racing starts its really hard to do a hard VO2 max/anaerobic workout. If I were just doing triathlons or MTB races, I wouldn't worry about it, but throw in road and crit races and I can rcae every weekend. Road/crit racing is often intense enough that it is easily counts for a workout.

Since my first big tri is in April I'll probably swim more as it gets closer. Currently I go to the pool one night a week after riding and get in the water for about :45. I'm running one day a week too and that'll increase as the tris get closer. I'm really working hard on my riding though as it takes the most to maintain. After seeing how Larsen killed on the bike this season; I think that will be a good weapon. I can have a crappy swim and still aspire to place top 10 in local regional tris.

MTB racing is pretty straight forward. I just keep training on the road and ride offroad once a week to maintain skills. Some of the big races come around I'll ride offroad more, but you really get more training benefit from training on the road.

So what are the rest of you guys doing?

FHG

 

[Speedo Racer]

Good luck with your training! A word of caution...have you done a 2 1/2 mile swim before? You may want to up the frequency of your swimming just a bit, if it is at all possible, or maybe try swimming non-stop for an hour or so... Anything after that first mile and a half just isn't fun anymore.

As for me, I'm getting back into the swing of things after a 2 year break. I was doing quite a bit of swim coaching, which was eating up most of my free time, but have moved back into training for a triathlon next November. When weather permits, I commute to work on my bike (10 miles each way), then do longer rides on the weekends, and have been working hard on decreasing times in that area, which is unfortunately my weakest link. My goal is to have a quick bike leg and still have the juice to keep around 5 minute miles on the run. (it is an Olympic distance). I have been hitting the gym hard now that the rain has started, doing some intense leg sets. I have a nice 5 mile trek along a creek that I use for running, which I try to keep at about 3-4 x/week. I'm not too focused on swim training improvements, as I've always been a swimmer and use that leg as pretty much a warm up.

I am currently planning a trip to Tijuana in an effort to help improve my bike leg If all goes well, I should be training like an animal in the Spring.

 

[Jacob Creutzfeldt]

Anaerobic Endurance

I am experimenting with a method to increase the duration I can produce near maximum output using short distance sprint intervals. I am going to a measured track and sprinting all out for as long a distance I can tolerate and marking the distance, then taking a thirty second recovery pace run and doing another sprint for distance, then another thirty second recovery run and another sprint. I can track the results by adding the three sprinting distances and comparing it to previous workouts. I think it needs fine tuning, such as the length of recovery, repetitions of sprints, and frequency of workouts, but the objective use of time and distance should make for accurate record keeping.

The variable factor I am having the most difficult time standardizing is the recovery run. As I get fitter, my recovery pace will probably get faster. Perhaps I should use the total distance covered in the workout as a guage of progress, not the sprint distance. Or alternatively use a set heart rate to determine the time of the next sprint. Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[fhg43]

Jacob Creutzfeldt wrote:
I am experimenting with a method to increase the duration I can produce near maximum output using short distance sprint intervals. I am going to a measured track and sprinting all out for as long a distance I can tolerate and marking the distance, then taking a thirty second recovery pace run and doing another sprint for distance, then another thirty second recovery run and another sprint. I can track the results by adding the three sprinting distances and comparing it to previous workouts. I think it needs fine tuning, such as the length of recovery, repetitions of sprints, and frequency of workouts, but the objective use of time and distance should make for accurate record keeping.

The variable factor I am having the most difficult time standardizing is the recovery run. As I get fitter, my recovery pace will probably get faster. Perhaps I should use the total distance covered in the workout as a guage of progress, not the sprint distance. Or alternatively use a set heart rate to determine the time of the next sprint. Any feedback is appreciated.

This is a good workout. I'd probably do this once or twice a week tops. And I'd lengthen the recovery intervals to 5 minutes. I reccommend both of these changes so you can produce a maximum effort for each sprint. For anaerobic interval training to be effective you need to be able to produce a near maximal effort each time. Once you cannot reproduce a near maximal effort you should stop the workout as you aren't training the anaerobic system anymore.

Your system of tracking improvement sounds good. I might incorporate a test workout once every 3-4 weeks. Start out by picking a distance and timing a maximum effort. As time for that distance drops you can judge improvement-faster times mean improved performance. Or perform a maximum effort on a track and see what distance you can hold that effort. Greater distance means improved performance. I'd do one of these tests once every 3 weeks instead of the anaerobic interval workout. Make sure to standardize the workout so you can compare performances.

FHG

 

[Jacob Creutzfeldt]

I am trying to create a state where I do not completely recover to tax my muscular and cardiovascular system's ability to perform at a maximum intensity for an extended period of time reguardless of the energy system I use. This seems to be the type of 'endurance' I need for wrestling. Matches run at a 2 minute period followed by two one minute periods with little rest between periods. Right now I am working on technique so running matches would help endurance, but limit my technique work.

These workouts are 'toilet huggers'. When done, I am nauseous and need to lie still for half an hour or I'll puke.

Maybe I should add two more sprints to the workout. I never know when I may go into double overtime.