tinman wrote:
Johny O:
Excellent summary you created! Cheers!
I particularly like point number 5. This point some folks really need to pay attention to. The frequent scenario for folks who have the "wt training" mentality is that resting is essential for progress. Running distances is not the same as wt training. Resting is often not needed. I'd say 10% of time when a person is really tired they need to take a day off. The rest of the time they just need to go for a slow run; slower by far than normal is some circumstances. Jack Daniels metioned that, but not in those exact words, in one of the articles he wrote for either Runner's World or the Gatorade Sports Science Institute. He indirectly said that running at a recovery pace was often a better way to recover than resting. I don't think he said it directly because (I am guessing) he didn't want idiots to go out and run a bunch of distance at too fast a pace and get injured, then blame him.
I will yell at the top of my lungs if necessary that slow running has its place in the training scheme. Even Mr. Lydiard spoke of running slowly every morning for recovery. Jumbo Elliot, famed Villanova coach of old, talked about unwise runners who had raced not doing a morning run and showing up for a workout the next afternoon unable to keep up with the others because they had not sufficienly recovered. Do you see where I am heading? How about Bill Bowerman insisting that his runners get to be by 10pm so that they would be rested enough to get their behinds out of bed for a slow morning run or swim.
Mileage generally does not need to be reduced when persons are tired or have run fast training or racing. Instead, slowing down the pace and doing sufficient endurance mileage is "the way" to go.
I will suggest also, Johny O, that you can add one more to your list of reality maxims for distance runners: You compromise your racing performance always when your stamina is low (threshold region). Renato supported my frequent assertion by posting about elite 800m runners who did not run threshold work and had sup-par perfomances by world levels one season and then corrected their mistakes by including more aerobic endurance and stamina work during their in-season training, not just off-season training. Stamina is your best friend, whether you are an 800m runner or marathoner; matters not.
I want people to consider the statement above once more. Any training you do put together intelligently that promotes or supports your region of stamina will help you run closer to your potential. What is the stamina region by my defintion? Marathon pace to 10k pace. I typically refer to the stamina zone as the maximum pace you can hold for a 1 to 3 hour race. I think any training in that zone is very helpful. That zone ranges from about 85% to 75% of max VO2. 75% of max VO2 is the minimal intensity at which fast oxidate glycolytic fibers are inintiated according to Bengt Saltin, et al. The fast oxidate population of fibers for most runners is in the range or 2-40%, so their aerobic development is very critical to overall perfomance.
Must close, gotta eat turkey.
tinman I hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving,
respectfully I cant agree that 75% of VO2 max is the minimal intensity at which fast twitch oxidative fibres are activated.
surely it changes from run to run according to fatigue levels?
so, another question for you.
is there some residual lactate over and above normal resting lactate levels (1mmol) in the muscles, the morning after a hard race?