Written by: Chris Lundstrom
Posted: Thursday, 27 March 2008
Go fast. Go slow. Go
long. Go short. Knowing when to push yourself and when to back off can drive
you crazy. If you think too hard about it, training can seem really
complicated. And as exercise science learns more about human performance,
sports terminology grows increasingly complex. However, what science uncovers
often supports many tried-and-true training practices.
These five workouts are
great examples of that. Coaches and athletes knew they worked. Now science can
tell us why. Appropriate for athletes in any sport, these five workouts are
time-tested, scientifically validated, and remarkably simple.
Workout: Go Long
Duration: 90+ minutes
Intensity: Easy and
comfortable
Description: Do your
thing for a long time, preferably with friends and/or training partners.
Duration depends on the activity, your fitness level and motivation. Challenge
yourself to work up to 2 or 3 hours.
Rationale: Long
continuous workouts are one of the most effective ways of building aerobic
capacity. Lots of wonderful things happen at the cellular level, making us more
efficient.
Prescription: Once a
week, year-round.
Workout: Hour of Power
Duration: 60 minutes
Intensity: 80-85% of
maximum heart rate
Description: This is a
high quality aerobic effort lasting an hour. Pace yourself such that you are
never straining, but go hard enough that the effort becomes difficult toward
the end.
Rationale: The heart is
a muscle. Working it steadily stimulates it to get stronger.
Prescription: Once a
week, year-round.
Workout: On the Edge
Duration: 3x10 minutes
with 2-3 minute recovery
Intensity: Lactate
threshold pace or comfortably hard
Description: Find the
edge between aerobic (breathing comfortably) and anaerobic (gasping for air)
and hold to that fine line. Work at a steady rate, trying not to slack off in the
middle and never picking up the pace at the end.
Rationale: Lactate
threshold workouts are a very effective way of improving aerobic conditioning.
Improving your threshold allows you to go faster without going into oxygen
debt. Threshold workouts done properly sidestep many of the pitfalls of hard
training such as muscular soreness, increased injury risk and overall fatigue.
Prescription: Once a
week, year-round. Keep it fresh by changing up the structure of the workout,
always getting 20-40 minutes “in the zone” with short breaks built in.
Workout: Oxygen Debt Pay
Off
Duration: 8x3 minutes
hard with 2 minutes recovery
Intensity: 95%
Description: Go hard
enough so that you finish each repetition gasping for air. By the end, you will
still be breathing heavily at the end of the 2-minute recovery.
Rationale: It may not
sound like the most enjoyable workout, but being fit is fun, and working out
under oxygen deprivation makes you fit. You will quickly boost your VO2 max,
making your body more effective at utilizing oxygen. Efforts that previously
felt difficult may begin to feel like a stroll in the park.
Prescription: Once a
week for 6 weeks, followed by a minimum of 6 weeks without this type of high
intensity effort, which will allow the body to recover. Use your 6-week
sessions to prepare you for your favorite events.
Workout: To the Max
Duration: 10x10 seconds
with 3 minutes recovery
Intensity: 100%
Description: Very short
burst of maximal intensity exercise, with full recovery in between bursts. Use
heavy resistance (such as a steep hill) to make this more effective and
challenging.
Rationale: Type IIB
muscle fibers, which are responsible for strength and power, can be trained
only through maximal efforts. Increases in strength and power allow us to do
things we did not previously think possible. Plus, this makes the lower
intensity efforts that much easier.
Prescription: Once every
1-2 weeks, year-round.
Chris Lundstrom, M.Ed.,
is a two-time Olympic trials marathon qualifier and a Team USA Minnesota athlete.
He teaches in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota and
coaches cross-country, Nordic skiing, and track and field at St. Paul Como High
School.
It’s a really cool concept. We pick one day – Sunday, August 31 – and find out how many people around the world can lace up their running shoes and put in a whole bunch of miles. 
