what are these principles and do coaches share them at all?
what are these principles and do coaches share them at all?
lather, rinse, repeat.
It's pretty much the same in distance running.
Build a base, fine tune, taper,
save your racing for race day.
Same principles of all training:
1. Overload: You must stress to muscle to a point where it has not been stressed before in order to overload the muscle. IE: If you continue to run 400m repeats in :70 seconds you will get smaller and smaller gains in fitness each time. The are many countless ways to increase the stress placed on the muscle.
2. Supercompensation: Once you place a stress on the muscle and overload it it will "supercompensate" so that the stress is easier to deal with next time. You only supercompensate when you have sufficient rest. Therein lies a balance between rest and maintenance. You can not and should not do too many hard efforts in a row because you place too many overload stresses on the muscle and so the muscle cannot adapt to the stress. You get fitter in the time BETWEEN hard workouts, not the hard workouts themselves.
3. Specificity: Your muscles will adapt specifically to the stress you put upon it. If you run a lot of hill repeats you may become really good at running up hill...but maybe not so great at running on the flats. If you run 400s in :60 it won't exactly help you run a 10k at 5:00 pace.
As far as #3 goes...keep in mind you not only have to get in shape for the race at hand, but you also have to simply "get in shape". You also have to prepare for different segments of the race and not just the even race pace. Specifically prepare for the demands of your race....not just the pace of your race.
Alan