• Home
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Training
Cape Cod Coaching
Welcome!

Observations about volume vs intensity

7/14/2014

2 Comments

 
Endurance athletes are often plagued with the question of whether or not they should add more volume...or whether they should add more intensity...in order to improve.  It's tough to generalize, but here are my feelings.

Increasing the volume of training...adding more total time training...is often the simplest and most effective road to improvement.  Trainer Andrew Read talks it about it here.  Andrew points out...and I wholeheartedly agree...that adding easy aerobic work is the first place to go to when you want to reach new levels of fitness.  

If you are a 4-hour marathoner already doing 40-50 miles of running per week, this may mean adding walking to your program...or some less taxing aerobic alternative.  It's important to be aware if running can actually be "easy" for you.  If you race 5K at 8:00 per mile...running only gets truly easy when it's 10:30-11:00 per mile...and it may be difficult to actually run at that pace.  So walking...or a combination of running and walking might be better a choice when you are adding easy aerobic work.

At some point, intensity is required in order to improve.  I can't tell you exactly when that is...but it's usually after you've built up a steady "base" of aerobic work over several years.  If you've been running/walking at a comfortable pace for an average of 7 hours per week for several years...and your improvement seems to have stalled...and you are not training too fast during those 7 hours...which is always a distinct possibility...you might benefit by ratcheting up the effort level once or twice a week.  This is where a good coach can help.

I recently read an article by Steve Magness about world class marathoner Moses Mosop's training.  You can read it here. In the article, Steve breaks down Moses' training into percentage of miles done at certain effort levels. The first thing I noticed was that over 52% of his 116 miles for the week were at what was termed "Regeneration" pace...very easy...at least 25% SLOWER than his MARATHON pace. Another 28% of his miles were at what was termed "base aerobic mileage"...12-25% SLOWER than MARATHON pace.  Another 10% was at marathon pace to ~12% slower than marathon pace.  That's 90% of the miles slower than his marathon pace....or to put it more accurately...90% of his training miles were at a pace he could hold for a little over 2 hours.

Even though you are probably not a world class marathoner...I feel like you can apply similar ratios in your own training...once you have built up several years of a strong aerobic basis.  Just ask yourself what pace you can hold for a little over 2 hours and go from there.  For many...2 hour pace is close to half marathon pace.

Here are  some additional points:
  • If you are improving just running easy, keep doing it until the improvement stops.
  • A little speed work goes a long way.  Even when you add high intensity training, it should only constitute a small percentage of your training.  
  • If you do more truly easy miles, you'll be able to handle more hard running.  Keep things in proportion.

Finally...it's my observation that increasing intensity often leads to breakthroughs...short-term breakthroughs.  Increased volume has more long-term results...but they are far more transformational...if that makes sense.

Please let me know if you have questions.
2 Comments

Use the "Dial Up" Method

7/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Endurance activities require constant self-monitoring.  Whether you realize it or not...you are always calculating how much energy you have...how far you have to go...how fast you want to go...how fast are you using the energy...and so on. Whether it be a race or a workout...you are constantly adjusting your effort based on your assessment of the status of things and the desired outcome.  It's much like a plane that is constantly correcting its trajectory as it goes along.

Here's a useful habit to develop...if you haven't done so already - Get used to "dialing up" to your optimum effort level.  That is to say...start slow and keep adjusting the dial up (faster) to find your speed.  It's so much easier than dialing "down"...going out fast and slowing down to find the best pace.  This applies in races or workouts.

When you "dial up," you let your body find the right pace.  You enter into a dialogue with your body.  It's sort of like asking your body to perform in a polite way...rather than using the heavy-handed approach of bludgeoning your body by starting too hard.

In races...you have less room for dilly-dallying. You can't dawdle around too much...especially if the race is shorter.  But if you've done a proper warm-up...you can dial up the effort during the race simply by going just slightly slower than your anticipated pace in the first 10% of the race.  Your body will tell you precisely how fast it can run.  And you will still be giving it 100% effort.

In workouts...it's easy....head out the door like a snail and go from there.  You'll eventually settle in to a pace that suits you...and it will be a lot more pleasant...and a lot faster....than it would be if you went out the door like a rocket.

It's mostly about patience...trust...and gracefully getting into the flow...while still doing your best.  All good stuff.


PS  Do these guys look like they are straining?

0 Comments

    Author

    Coach Paul

    Archives

    June 2016
    December 2015
    May 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013

    Categories

    All
    Health
    Racing
    Self Improvement
    Self-improvement
    Tips For Beginners
    Training Tips
    Video

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.