Old School Classics, Slabby FAs, Spring Trails

Old School Classics, Slabby FAs, Spring Trails


Did a bit of house cleaning the other day and pulled out these old school classics. From an article by Arthur Lydiard from 1971 in "New Views of Speed Training":

"There are very many athletes in the US who train like hell. And when the season starts, they continue to train very hard. I used to train my athletes so they could race. We didn't train to train. When we started to race, we trained very lightly. The two key words are fresh and sharp. You have to be fresh and you have to be sharp is you want to race well."

I see Lydiard's words of advice here just as pertinent then as now. There are plenty of ultra and other runners out there who seem to train way too much, and come into races flat. I know I've been victim of this myself, and with the option to race all year, it is hard to distinguish between training and racing. It also depends on your goals - I know I have several for this summer, some of which can be viewed as "training" runs despite their length and difficulty. Still, the idea of incorporating some form of periodization into your training seems to be the smart way to go - if you don't, you will likely get injured, burnt out, or hit a plateau.

I've been doing track sessions now for 5 weeks, once a week. I do 4x400s and 4x800s with 400 jogs inbetween, as well as some warmups and cool downs. My time for the 400s has improved by 4 seconds and my time for the 800s has improved by 9 seconds. Small, but important gains. I don't have a running background, so I don't have any highschool or college numbers to compare my times to. I'll keep at it as much as I can over the summer and see what happens, but after 3 more sessions I'll switch up the distances to 600s and 1200s to change up the stimulus. Then, after 8 sessions I'll drop back down to the 400s and 800s and hopefully see a good improvement.

The only problem with my little speed work is that I've ramped up the vertical now that summer is approaching for my summer objectives. I've averaged 54,000' of vert per month since November, but am on track this month to hit 75,000' or so. My legs and lungs may be getting stronger, but they are also getting slower, thus the speed work once a week, plus some faster home runs. Some photos from my recent outings.

 Shots from the trails out of Pine, Colorado - miles and miles of flowy singletrack.

 Shot of the Continental Divide from a double Lookout Mountain morning.

 The "Wall" in Deer Creek - I love running the outer perimeter of this park.

The view from the top of Golden Eagle Peak, aka Bill Couch Mountain.

During my recent run out on some trails in Pine, I also had fun climbing up some slabs off in the woods. Adding slabs or some other scrambling to the run spices things up a bit and is a fun way to change up the rhythm. There are a lot of FAs waiting to be had and plenty of places to explore. I usually climb in this area in the fall when it is not so hot and the ticks are not out, but I had to get some photos for a book I'm working on. 

 This was a fun slab FA climb, following the crack/seam system - about 120' and class 4/5 climbing

I did some small stuff around this feature, but it is about 3 pitches worth of perfect climbing all waiting for some first ascents.

Working

Working


Early morning on the track. Loving the simplicity and brutality of these...

Rest Periods Between Intervals Does Not Affect Performance Adaptations

Rest Periods Between Intervals Does Not Affect Performance Adaptations

First day back running after last Saturday nights mysterious left knee strain while running hill laps on Sleeper. I could still feel the knee a bit, which prevented me from opening up my stride. However, it was only a minor ache (and also mysteriously, it has switched from the outside middle of the left knee to the lower inside of the knee), so I was able to enjoy the fantastic temps. Did 9 miles and 1,500' of gain in 1:21. Seems like the knee will be fine after another day or so, which is exciting as February is when I start "ramping" things up and "getting after it."

A new article has just been published, which is fairly interesting. I've never really thought much of the "rest period" between intervals in terms of time. I know there are many coaches and philosophies surrounding intervals, the length (both distance and time) the interval should be, and also the period of time between interval efforts. However, despite this, I've always focused on the interval itself, and just sort of doubled the interval time/length and used that as the rest period. Well, I guess the rest period time is highly contentious, with some arguing that it must be a specific time/distance based on the interval workout, while others argue it matters little. Thankfully, we now have some science to help answer this question and settle any debates. It turns out, at least based on this (one) study, that the rest period time matters little when looking at the performance adaptations one receives from interval training. Published in Experimental Physiology, the authors found that the rest period between interval efforts among 12 highly trained women did not affect the performance adaptations that resulted from the interval training, namely improvements in muscle Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase content, PCr resynthesis and VO2max. Na⁺,K⁺-ATPase is highly complex, but basically it is a sodium-potassium pump that is found in all cells and is essential for properly working cells (you can find out more here) and thus any athletic endeavor. PCr resynthesis (again, highly complex) basically acts as a high energy reserve and is crucial in any speed type of effort. Finally, VO2max is fairly well known and understood. So, it seems that all of these things benefit from interval training, but the period of rest between the intervals matters little (up to 3 minutes of rest between interval efforts; the study did not address longer rest periods). For me, the take home message is that interval or speed training is essential, but whether I need only 1 minute between efforts (feeling good that day) or 3 minutes between efforts (feeling tired that day) will not affect the overall benefits of the training session. This is good news, as it is the effort put forth during the interval, and not how you feel during the rest period, that matters. Put 100% into the interval. If you need to take a bit longer to be able to put in another 100% effort, take it. It won't negatively affect the performance adaptations, and may even positively affect them as it will allow you to give a real 100% each interval.

Week in Review, Running Helps Sleep, and More on Altitude Training

Week in Review, Running Helps Sleep, and More on Altitude Training

Monday: 2 hours cross-country. Skied up Elk Creek and then along the water board road. Snow was thin, but manageable. Nice day of cross-training.

Tuesday: Telemark skiing at the resort. Nothing is open, so mostly just doing laps, practicing switch and playing in the park.

Wednesday: Longish run - 2:17, 1,300' gain, 15 miles. Givelo/Creekside/Fools Creek/Creekside/Northwest/back. Felt great all the way until about 1:45, then started to get tired and my pace slowed. First longish run in some time.

Thursday: More tele skiing at the resort.

Friday: Off - 6 hours walking and standing.

Saturday: 6 hours walking and standing. Interval/fartlek workout at night. 5x:30, 12x1:00-1:30. Really starting to enjoy these speed workouts. I run them at night, which makes them pretty fun. 8 miles, :58 minutes.

Sunday: 6 hours walking and standing. Mellow run with ~8 miles, 1,200' gain, :56 minutes.

A fun week, with some good cross-training mixed in. There is no snow, so it has been hard to mix in the cross-country, but on the other hand, running has still been good. However, the trails still have snow, especially the higher ones, so it has been a challenge to run anything that is longer then 5ish miles (without making it an out-and-back). We really need snow, as the drought conditions continue to get worse. However, the sunsets continue to be spectacular every night (see below).

Two new studies have been published. The first is some good news about running in general, and specifically running in adolescents. The study looked at whether daily running in the morning helps adolescents and their sleep patterns. Turns out it does. In the group of kids that did daily running, within 3 weeks the authors found that slow-wave sleep increased while sleep onset latency decreased. Slow-wave sleep is critical in the developing brain, as this is the time when the body recovers from the days activities, but also when short-term memories are consolidated into long-term memories. That is, the actual final process in learning takes place during slow-wave sleep. So in young kids, fostering components that help with slow-wave sleep helps them learn, as everything they "learned" during the day must be consolidated from the day's short-term memory into the longer-term memory.

The other study looked at the benefits of altitude training. Although there have been many studies on this, and the science on altitude training is still out, there are some results that point to its benefits if done correctly. The most recent study looked at whether a pre-season altitude camp would improve time-trial performance and haemoglobin mass in elite athletes. After 19 days, the authors found that most players gained benefits, and that after four weeks of returning to a lower altitude, benefits still persisted.

Weekend And Night Running

Weekend and Night Running

Friday: Off - 6 hours walking and standing

Saturday: 6 hours walking and standing. Interval workout at night. Started my first speed training this week. Since there is no track in the valley, I basically did fartleks on the St. Louis road in the dark. Started with a 10 minute warmup, then 4 x :30 seconds sprint, 10 x 1:00-1:30 sprints, then 3 mile cool down. Total of around 8 miles in 56:29. I wanted to do 4x30, 4x1:00, and 4x2:00 but since it was dark out I couldn't really time myself so I went on perceived time, which ended up being more between 1:00 and 1:30 with a couple near 2:00. Really enjoyed the workout, and plan on doing a speed workout once a week since I obviously need it. Ran the entire thing in stealth mode, except for the last 3 mile cool down which was on the Northwest trail.

Sunday: 6 hours walking and standing. Another night run, this time up Zoom, then along the waterboard road to Elk Creek and back down. ~8.5 miles, 1,400' gain, 58:16. Lots of snow on Zoom, with no tracks, so it was a fun slog run up. Once on the waterboard road, the running was smoother, but everything is snow covered, which slowed things down some. Felt surprisingly good after 3 days of standing and walking and last nights workout. Trying to figure out a good long run for this winter, which will be hard because of the snow...

Really enjoy running at night. An entirely different experience, which lots more "mystery" in the run. I wear a Tikka headlamp, but try and run as much in stealth mode as possible for skills development.

 Just a bit of light at the start of the run, enough for stealth mode.

Only a sliver of a moon for light by the end - it gets real dark out in the valley at night!

Recovery and Interval Training

Recovery and Interval Training

Slow recovery from Sunday's race. Since I don't do much speed training/running, the race really made me sore. I have plenty of energy, but my legs don't want to do much more then a shuffle.

Monday: Recovery run up Elk Creek. 5 miles, 500' - 45 minutes.

Tuesday: More recover running around on animal trails off of D2. ~6 miles, 1,000' - 1:08.

Sunday's race showed me that I need to do some speed work. Interestingly, a new study was published recently that makes the same argument. Entitled "Running Interval Training and Estimated Plasma Volume Variation" the study looked at whether interval training increased plasma volume in runners. After 7 weeks of training, doing intervals three times per week, those that did do intervals had a significant increase in plasma volume. This increase in plasma volume the authors believe contributed to the observed increase of aerobic fitness (maximal aerobic power and maximal aerobic speed) among those runners who did intervals, versus those that maintained their regular training. So, speed work - interval training - leads to an increase of aerobic fitness. This is well known already in terms of lactate threshold, but here is more evidence (in terms of increased plasma volume) in support of adding interval training to your running. After Sunday's race, I clearly need to do this. I just need to figure out a fun way to do so - perhaps fartleks of some kind? There is no track up here in the valley, and I don't think I could get myself to consistently do workouts if there was. However, there are plenty of miles of trails, so adding in a once a week fartlek training (instead of just hills), may be beneficial.