Let’s get right down to it: For the competitive endurance athlete, the number one objective of any training program is to maximize your degree of event specific fitness. This being said, effective training requires both coach and athlete to first and foremost understand the unique physiological and psychological stressors that the athlete will be subjected to during competition. Simply put, if you expect your body, and mind, to be able to perform at a specific effort, for a specific period of time on a specific course while dealing with specific environmental conditions, your training program must fully prepare you to be able tolerate this very specific set of stressors come race day! As any good coach or athlete understands, event specific, or “specialized” training, is an integral part of the annual training progression; without it, peak athletic performance will not be realized. This being said, we can count on the fact that there is one, and only one approach that every athlete must take when preparing for a given competitive event or distance, right?
Wrong.
Although specialized training is in fact a key ingredient in any successful annual training progression, we must dive deeper in order to gain a complete understanding of each athlete’s unique physiology before undertaking the exact training practices that will yield the peak performance that both coach and athlete are striving so hard for. One of the “laws” of training is that in order for training to be effective, it must be individualized. In order to completely individualize an athlete’s training, we must first understand what kind of aerobic “engine” the athlete possesses, just how strong that engine is, and what kind of fuel economy it’s capable of! Continue reading 'Introduction to Metabolic Testing & Analysis'»
As a runner, the focus of the upper-body workout should be to gain muscular endurance. So, go with lighter weights and higher repetitions. 10lbs to 15lbs dumbbells are sufficient for this workout. You can also use light or medium resistance bands or resistance tubes instead of dumbbells.
The workout consists of a 7-exercise circuit. Do each exercise (10-15 reps) one right after the other without taking a break. Once you’ve completed all 7 exercises, take a 1- to 2-minute rest; then repeat the circuit a second time. If you’re new to upper-body exercises, then begin with 10 repetitions. Each day add an additional rep until you get to 15 repetitions. Also, if upper-body exercise is new to you, begin with one cycle of the circuit for the first week. During Week 2, complete two cycles of the circuit. If you’re advanced, try three cycles of the circuit.
It’s fine to pair the upper-body circuit with the core workout on the same day. Try doing the core workout in the morning and the upper-body circuit in the evening. You can also rotate days. For example you could do the upper-body workout on M,W,F and do the core workout on T,TH,S. The great thing about circuit workouts is that they’re quick. You’ll have a strong core and upper body before you know it and you’ll start to see the benefits in your long runs too!
Photo by Chris Milliman. Courtesy of Craft Apparel.
We’ve looked at what gives you your power as a runner, and introduced Fartlek training. Let’s take a closer look at the importance of VO2 Max for the endurance athlete and talk about how you can go about preparing the body for the heavy doses of VO2 max work you’ll be laying down in the not-so-distant future.
As previously discussed in my article “The Limiting Factor” (posted Nov. 24), VO2 max represents the maximum amount of oxygen that an athlete can consume and the rate at which they can process it in order to produce energy aerobically. VO2 max is typically measured by the amount of oxygen (in milliliters), per kilogram of body weight, per minute (ml/kg/min.) that an athlete’s body can process. Simply put, the higher the athlete’s VO2 max, the more rapidly they can produce energy aerobically. For additional information on aerobic energy production, click here for a Wikipedia article that explains the chemical steps involved. Continue reading 'Train your aerobic engine'»
At Landice, we want to help you be the best YOU you can be. We’ve enlisted the help of Janda Ricci-Munn, accomplished triathlete and coach. Together, we want to offer you practical training tips to help you reach your own fitness goals. Let us journey with you. Leave us comments and updates. Tell us how you’re doing. Let us know when you’re training for a race so we can cheer you on. Stay tuned for more running tips from Janda!
In their quest for improved performance, many endurance athletes lose sight of the fact that ultimately, the limiting factor for any endurance event is just how fast you can go when you’re swimming, biking and/or running at top end speeds.
Case in point: 6 minutes per mile pace feels like a comfortable run for the athlete who can sustain well under 4 minutes per mile pace for a minute or more. For the slower athlete who tops out around 6 min. mile pace when running for about a minute though, they’ll never have a hope of keeping up with their quicker counterpart, no matter how many miles they log! Continue reading 'Springing Ahead'»
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Although specialized training is in fact a key ingredient in any successful annual training progression, we must dive deeper in order to gain a complete understanding of each athlete’s unique physiology before undertaking the exact training practices that will yield the peak performance that both coach and athlete are striving so hard for. One of the “laws” of training is that in order for training to be effective, it must be individualized. In order to completely individualize an athlete’s training, we must first understand what kind of aerobic “engine” the athlete possesses, just how strong that engine is, and what kind of fuel economy it’s capable of! Continue reading 'Introduction to Metabolic Testing & Analysis'»
