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Base training backlash
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Blood and muscle lactate levels return to normal levels within 30-60 minutes. This is the accepted science as it stands. If you can dig out something by an IAAF coach that contradicts that then either it is old stuff or that coach needs to go on a refresher course.
It may be that the damage caused by a change in pH takes more than a day to recover - I'm not arguing that one either way because I don't know - I suspect it is possible. In other words for all practical purposes it may not change the implications for the runner - but if you want to be scientific about things you may as well get it right
Basically I want three different types of sessions:
1. MP - 1/2MP pace session where I will not cross the lactate turn-point.
2. Long intervals / tempo runs where I will spend most of my time above the lactate turnpoint, but recover for long enough after each interval to dip back down below.
3. Short intervals where I spend most of my time below the LT but keep crossing slightly above it by mixing short intervals with long recoveries.
I am just not sure what mix of intensity and work I need to achieve the last two successfully, or how I can work this out...
to find your aerobic threshold you need blood tests while running faster and faster on a treadmill
speak to your local uni sports science department, or if not i have some details somewhere
Had a quick scout around on the net, nearest place to me looks to be Roehampton (which isn't that near). I guess I get to play human pincushion while pushing myself harder and harder ... sounds like lots of fun!!
Hope this helps save you from being a multiple stabbing victim!
As an addition to Ceals thoughts on HRM's, in the first few weeks of base training I was very dependant on my HRM as I wanted to surge a head all the.
I now hardly look at it as I can judge when I am pushing too hard.
A thought of my own. Many of the people with a down on base training are long time runners and hence probably have a very good aerobic base anyway. For beginners or returners who don't have that base, base training offers an acheivable way of getting to the high weekly mileage's needed for the longer distance races.
It has also reminded me that running can actually enjoyable and I return from my runs energised rather than shattered.
I reckon I've racked up the miles too quickly and am feeling a bit fatigued this week. Will ease off for a few days then build up more gradually.
But it's great. I now know why I'm running or not running, not just doing it because it's what I do.
To be getting maximum benefits from your training you SHOULD be feeling slightly fatigued all the time, except when you taper or take some recovery time after a big race. Having read about several top runners, they all tended to say that most of the time they just didn't want to get out of bed because they were so shattered and that they wouldn't have been able to it if it hadn't been for their coach/partner/etc forcing them. I'm not suggesting that most of us would want to take things that far, but you get my point.
So I think the "just lots of easy running" base training is probably fair enough for new-comers who are just starting out with running, or those that just want to enjoy their running and aren't that bothered about racing. But for those looking to get the fastest times possible then I think it is essential to train pretty close to the edge.
Or should I train on? I would have in the past but I'm more conscious now of not wanting to chuck away 6 weeks work for the sake of one more run.
If it's back to normal then I think I'll do the Hadd test again seeing as the club is meeting at the track tomorrow for a change.
yes, my HR has been difficult to control cos im recovering from a marathon
My aim is to get into the habit of daily running, with a longer run at weekends, and to try to take it gently
i dont need anHRM to tell me when my HR is 160, i know how i feel then
Breathing shifts from 3:3 (three steps per inbreath, three steps per outbreath) to 3:2.
I must re-inforce the wise words of ceal, JJ and Walkman (no co-incidence that these are all "mature" runners?).
All the science, physiology and gadgetry currently available is no substitute to developing the skill of listening to your own body.
I suspect that many of the passionately-argued methods on these threads are the result of individuals finding what suits them, then becoming evangelical about spreading the "good news" to others.
I think I posted somewhere before, that yes, before people start doing speedwork, they need to build up a base of fitness, but linking it so closely to many months of HRM watching is, to my mind, a fad. Running is meant to be enjoyable. I think many new runners would simply find the base training routine so boring that they will go off and do some other sport.
I know what I would always choose.
To be free.
Free to enjoy a rest day to because I have worked hard, very hard the previous day.
It's interesting to note that in in his 1978 biography Brendan Foster reproduced some entries from his training diaries. It makes make boring, yet eye opening reading. It basically amounted to this:
Monday-Sat: am 10miles steady, pm 10miles steady
Sunday am 20miles steady.
Week after week, month after month.
Foster mentions how boring he sometimes found this training but added that it was vital to prepare a base before embarking on speed work. He also added that this is what all his contemporaries did and of course Foster, Bedford, Stewart, Simmons, Rose, McLeod etc all ran much quicker than any of our current crop of top guys.
To quote Lydiard..'For best results, you should exercise between 70% and 100% of your maximum aerobic effort. This, therefore, is not long slow distance. This is running at a good effort and finishing each run feeling pleasantly tired. You will certainly benefit from running slower, but it will take much longer than if you ran at a good aerobic pace.'
If I understand that quote correctly, that is hardly running slower than your normal pace. I do not find this training method either boring or monotonous, indeed I am enjoying it immensely.
I have a long term aim, to get as close as possible to 3 hours at the FLM, current PB 3:10. I have never tried this high mileage build 6 months before the event so I thought I would give it a try. I have been BT for 7 weeks now at 50+ mpw and I can already see results. My long steady runs used to be done at about 7:30 to 7:45 pace, now I am doing them at 7:00 to 7:15 pace without any extra effort.
Believe me, when the time comes to hit the accelerator pedal I will do it, I can't wait. Hills, tempo runs, track runs, fartlek, they will all be done when the time is right. When I run the races that matter between Jan-April that will be the time to judge. It strikes me that those of us who are doing BT cannot offer much of a defence against the doubters because we will not see the fruits of our labours for a few months yet. Have patience (like us!).
Come early 2004, if I start knocking chunks off my currently respectable crop of PB's I want to see a few slices of humble pie distributed. If I have got this all wrong and my times are disappointing then it will be me who ate all the pies!
I have seen BT described as a bandwagon and a fad. There have been many of these on the forums in the last couple of years, at least this one is actually related to training!
And well done on all your achievements. Keep up the good work!
Base training is NOT just about hours and hours of crawling along at a snail's pace waiting for some miracle moment when you'll suddenly shatter all your long-standing PBs. That's what I thought when I first started it and that's probably why I was bored and disillusioned. Pantman has advocated a period devoted to ONLY running at or below maximum aerobic heart rate (which does tend to equate to slow for most of us, at least initially) mainly for those who have either just started out or who have never trained this way before as a means of slowly building mileage so that when 'real' base training is commenced the body is ready and prepared for it.
Generally, base training does involve (initially at least) a slowing of one's "normal" pace. But over time, "normal" pace can be achieved at a lower heart rate. The advantage of this is that you can keep going further and longer, but for no extra effort. For distance running this is invaluable.
The goal of 'real' base training as I see it is, over time, to gradually edge up one's LT by training at paces below and close to LT. By moving your LT, you can run 'harder'(i.e. at higher heart rates) for longer periods before lactic acid starts to accumulate in the muscles. This means you can run at a much faster pace than you could run at previously, and for a lot longer, before you start to go lactic. Which makes for a better race performance.
All the 'quality' sessions do come in to the training, but not immediately. The best analogy I found was Hadd's toothpaste tube description. Before base training, many runners have probably squeezed as much out of themselves as they think is possible. BUT they have all the time been squeezing from the middle of the tube. Base training allows you to return to the bottom of the tube and to squeeze ALL of the toothpaste out of it - i.e. to maximise potential you may never have discovered otherwise.
The problem with BT is that initially it's tough. Believe me, I've given up several times and I've only been dabbling in it for three weeks. I've had a huge problem leaving my ego at home and not being too proud to walk up hills to keep my HR down if I have to. In short, I've cared too much about what other people may think when they see me plodding along. Eventually, after three weeks of sporadically base training I finally saw some improvement last night. And, more to the point, after struggling with myself for the last three weeks I have finally learned not to worry about how long my runs are taking, and whether or not I have to walk. Last night, for the first time since starting base training, I didn't think about any of these things - and I ENJOYED my run. AND I feel fresh enough to do another hour tonight!
I believe it's up to the individual how they wish to train and there is nothing to say that any one way is better than another.
I don't want to run BT as it is advocated on this site, but in my own way my training always consists of base work for which I then add the speed.
For instance the first few weeks of marathon training for me is normally all steady paced runs building up the distance and then for 4-6 weeks after doing a marathon most of my runs are at a nice steady pace. None are done really hard (unless I race) until I feel my base mileage of about 40 miles a week feels easy.
I don't need to use a hr monitor to know I'm doing a slow recovery run, but choose to do so now and again just to see what it's at for a particualr type of run.
Anyway, all this means is that I prefer to do my own kind of base building and there is nothing to say that it's any less effective than running slow all the time.
Btw I find it quite easy to keep my hr low (at the 146bpm that is supposed to be my BT rate) and can see how it could stay low while increasing pace, but I'm happy at the moment with how I run and what I'm achieving. When I stop making improvements, I may then choose to try a different way of training ,which could well be BT or maybe something else.