Are You Ready for Your Next Race?
Cardiovascular Conditioning for Competition!
To be able to perform well as an endurance athlete, you need high maximal aerobic power – more commonly known as VO2 Max. This is defined as the maximal capacity of the body to utilise oxygen at a cellular level. This ability is primarily related to the efficiency of the heart and circulatory system to transport oxygen to the working muscles and the ability of these muscles to extract the oxygen and use it to provide energy. There are additions factors that that can affect endurance performance and these include:
§ A high lactate threshold
§ Efficient exercise economy (technique/mechanical efficiency)
§ A high ability to use fat as a fuel
§ A high percentage of Type 1 fibres (slow-twitch, oxidative fibres)
Terms… Shlerms! Some explanations…
A High Lactate Threshold:
This means that you are able to maintain energy production at the highest percentage of your VO2 Max without the accumulation of lactic acid in the muscle or blood. When clearance rates match production rates, you have what is called maximal lactate steady state. However, if your intensity increases beyond this point, then lactic acid starts to accumulate and you probably won’t be able to hold that intensity for much longer. This is commonly referred to as O.B.L.A. (Onset of Blood Lactate Accumulation). If you want to improve your aerobic capacity, then it is important that you conduct some of your training sessions at elevated levels of blood and muscle lactate in order to train the body to deal with these higher levels of lactate.
Exercise Economy:
Basically, this means that if your technique is good, you spend less energy maintaining a specific speed. For example, researchers have found that the best sprinters have the best sprinting technique: They have slightly shorter strides, but greater stride frequency; they maximise the backward velocity of the lead leg and plant the foot directly under the centre of gravity to generate propulsive ground reaction forces as early as possible.
In cyclists, an inefficient aerodynamic body positioning or a gain in body mass/size can result in less exercise economy. In swimming, exercise economy becomes dramatically noticeable if technique is poor. This is one of the reasons why so many triathletes opt to go for swimming stroke correction as part of their IronMan preparation.
Using Fat as a Primary Energy Source:
With chronic cardiovascular training (that is training over several months), your body becomes more efficient at using bodyfat as an energy source, thereby prolonging glycogen stores (energy stored in the muscle). This means you can compete for longer at higher intensity before you fatigue.
Slow Oxidative Type 1 Fibres:
These muscle fibres are generally efficient and fatigue resistant and have a high capacity for aerobic energy supply. You also have Type 11 fibres which are capable of rapid force/power development. The proportion of Type 1 to Type 11 fibres is genetically determined, however, with long-term endurance training, there is a transition of fibre types within each subtype: That is , a transition from Type 1c to Type 1; and from Type 11x (formerly called Type 11b) to Type 11c. So although your “strength” fibres are still strong, they become more oxidative and fatigue resistant.
So what does this mean for your cardio training?
In order for your body to become more efficient in all of the above areas, a well-balanced programme should cover the following 5 variables - commonly referred to as F.I.T.T.
1. Frequency
2. Intensity
3. Time (Duration)
4. Type (Mode).
5. Progression
Frequency:
The number of sessions per week. Frequency depends primarily on how fit/unfit you are together with the interaction between intensity and duration: Higher intensity and longer duration warrants less frequent training sessions to enable sufficient recovery. This is important to avoid overtraining, staleness, injury or illness. Too little training, on the other hand, will not improve fitness. Studies have shown that you need to train MORE than twice a week to improve VO2 Max, but you also need to include one recovery day in each week of training.
Intensity:
Intensity training improves cardiovascular and respiratory function and it improves oxygen delivery to the working muscles. Intensity interacts with duration: The higher the intensity, the shorter the duration. High-intensity training – such as the Tabata sprints that we discussed last time, is done in just 4 minutes! Monitoring your heart rate is one of the easiest and most practical ways of checking your intensity simply because a linear relationship exists between heart rate and oxygen consumption.
I like to use the Karvonen method to calculate heart rate:
The formula is as follows:
220 Minus Age, minus Resting Heart Rate (RHR), multiply by the percentage you need to work at, and then add the RHR back in:
That is,
(220-Age) - RHR x ____% + RHR
(Note: Estimating heart-rate training formulas based on age may entail some inaccuracies as studies have shown that age counts for 75% of the variability of the heart rate)
Time: (Duration)
This variable interacts with intensity: The longer the duration, the lower the intensity. Conversely the higher the intensity, the lower the duration – due to OBLA (Onset of Blood Lactate Accumulation) which will contribute to fatigue and a (rapid) decline in performance.
Type: (Mode)
This may sound obvious, but you need to train the specific activity for competition: In other words, it’s no good running 21km if you’re a 100 m sprinter; nor is it useful to emphasise freestyle swimming in your training if you’re a butterfly specialist.
Progression:
Your body will only change when you give it reason enough to, so you need to keep on challenging it by manipulating any of the above variables for further adaptation to occur. Generally, any one of these variables should not be increased by more than 10% each week to avoid overtraining.
So how should you train?
There are different types of cardiovascular training - all of which can be employed in endurance race preparation:
A SIMPLE summary!
1. LSD (Long Slow Distance)
2. Pace or Tempo Training
3. Interval Training
4. Repetition Training
5. Fartlek
Long Slow Distance:
Frequency: 1-2 times per week
Intensity: About 70% of VO2Max
Time (Distance): Race distance or longer: At least 30-120 minutes or longer
Pace or Tempo Training:
Frequency: 1-2 times per week
Intensity: At lactate threshold or at race pace or slightly above.
Interval Training:
Frequency: 1-2 times per week
Intensity: Close to VO2 Max
Time: 3-5 minutes (work: rest ratio of 1:1)
Note: Interval training places a lot of stress on the body and should only be attempted when a solid aerobic base has been established through LSD training.
Repetition Training:
Frequency: 1 x week
Intensity: Above VO2 Max
Time: 30-90 seconds ((work: rest ratio of 1:5)
Note: A longer rest period is required because of the intensity of Repetition training.
Fartlek:
Frequency: 1 x week
Intensity: A combination of LSD, Pace and Interval Training
Time: 20-60 minutes.
So there you have it! A summary of cardiovascular preparation for your next major endurance event.
If you’re starting out, remember to consult your doctor before embarking on any exercise programme.
And remember that you can’t out-perform a poor diet and poor hydration!
Good nutrition and adequate hydration with up-to-date, researched formulas is key for optimal performance.
Click here for the Suggested Supplement Schedule for the 94.7
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|