Training Secrets Of The World’s Best Endurance Coaches
In a wide range of recent international endurance-sport championships, Norwegian athletes have won more than 350 medals. That’s an impressive result for a small country, and it has happened, at least in part, because the Norwegian sports system encourages strong communication of scientific principles among coaches.
Now Norway is sharing its story with the world. In an epic new report, several well known Norwegian researchers have pulled together the strategies that worked in major sports like running, triathlon, nordic skiing, rowing and swimming.
They used an interesting model to get at this key information, following “the key informant technique in ethnographic research.” After gathering lots of preliminary data, they interviewed each coach for at least 3 hours to get the real nitty-gritty.
Below, I pull together the most important findings … with bullet points. This takes a bit longer than most summaries, but I think you’ll want to follow everything closely.
# Most training programs included 75-80 percent of all “sessions” at a Light (easy) intensity. This is equivalent to almost 90% of all “time” spent training.
# The duration of these Light sessions ranges from 30 minutes to 7 hours, and is highly sports dependent. Cyclists do loooong daily rides, because their sport doesn’t produce body “pounding” against gravity. Runners do much shorter sessions because of the pounding involved in running.
# Training programs averaged about 10-15% of sessions at a Medium intensity--tempo/threshold effort. In Norway, these are generally performed as interval workouts that include 20 to 90 minutes in the zone. Again, this is very sport dependent. The work:recovery ratio for these interval workouts is 6-4:1. In other words, 6 minutes of running is followed by a 1-minute recovery.
# Training programs included 5-10% Hard training at a high intensity--speed work. These are either interval sessions or races. The faster the workout, the lower the total distance covered. The work:recovery ratio drops from 3:1 for modestly hard sessions to 0.1:1 for very fast training. Norwegian coaches use racing as an important part of training programs, entering their athletes in 15-20 races per year.
# Also, training programs follow a “hard-easy rhythmicity,” use lactate measurements for intensity control, include few all-out sessions, and mix zones within sessions, with a preference towards passive rather than active recovery during interval training,
# There is a “prevailing notion that most Light sessions must be sufficiently easy to ensure that the subsequent Hard sessions can be conducted with sufficient quality.”
# The Norwegian approach believes it a mistake to call Light sessions “recovery” workouts for two reasons: 1) There’s no scientific evidence that Light training produces a recovery effect; and 2) Light running provides “an important stimulus for peripheral aerobic adaptations.” That is, while Light training doesn’t provide a true recovery, it does enhance your fitness. Don’t denigrate easy runs; they are important.
# Many Norwegian coaches and athletes use cross-training, but it might not be particularly valuable for elite runners. Why? Because running is so very “specific” with its fast, hard-pounding strides. Many Norwegian coaches do not believe any cross-training exercise is specific enough for runners. An interesting but little noted phenomenon: “Running is unique among endurance sports in that cadence does not and cannot be manipulated much.” Cadence changes more in training and racing of other sports.
# Half of the coaches surveyed have adopted “double threshold” training--some training days with both morning and afternoon workouts that may include relatively long amounts of threshold work. They believe threshold intervals allow for running at faster and more race-relevant speeds “without the negative consequences of HIT in terms of fatigue and recovery.”
# Norwegian coaches prescribe a wider variety of interval paces--especially slower, but also sometimes fast--than the classic intervals described in the scientific literature. These classic intervals almost always advise a speed of at least 90% and more of vo2 max speed. Norwegian coaches worry about approaches that are “nonsustainable, and are careful to keep intervals controlled, so the athlete is never “floundering” toward the end.
Conclusion: For mechanical loading reasons, different sports require different approaches. Most coaches prescribe a high percentage of Light training. “Intensive sessions (Moderate and Hard) are considered paramount for performance progression, and all sports perform considerably more M than H sessions.” Also: “Best practice interval sessions are characterized by a controlled, non-all-out approach, a high total work duration, and a slight progressive increase in intensity throughout.” As an end result, they are “less exhaustive” than much previous interval training. Also, “We observed a trend towards lower work:rest ratios with increasing intensity.” More at Research Gate with free full text.
Don’t Ever (Never, Ever!) Do This One Thing
All runners know that there are certain basic rules of training adaptation that must be followed. These are often summed up as “The Terrible Toos”: Don’t do too much, too soon, too fast.
In all likelihood, it is the too-frequent violation of the “Too” rules that causes many running injuries. Sure, we love to blame our shoes, and hard surfaces, and lack-of stretching, and foot strike … and anything else we can think to blame when we get injuries.
But there’s little evidence to support all our excuses, and quite a bit that points a finger at “training mistakes.”
Alan Couzens, a physiologist and endurance coach, has a knack for taking training rules and summarizing them in the simplest, most succinct way. That’s what he does here in constructing “one of the wisest little tidbits I ever heard.” It came from the coach of successful Olympians.
The rule? “NEVER increase volume and intensity at the same time.” Couzens adds: “This is an incredibly powerful strategy to keep the athlete focused.” That could be another rule: Focus on one thing at a time.
As a runner, you can gradually increase distance, or gradually increase speed work. “Never both,” says Couzens.
I’d be tempted to go a little farther. It’s probably a good idea, at least initially, to reduce either distance or speed while you are increasing the other. More at X/Alan Couzens.
Do Male Endurance Athletes Have Damaged Sperm?
Many decades ago, I began hearing anecdotal reports that male marathon runners fathered more girls than boys. I’m not sure this has ever been deeply researched,, but apparently there’s some evidence from the soccer world. One study found 57% female births to 43 % male, and the ratio was even higher during times of more intense training.
Of course, there have been many reports that those hard, narrow bicycle seats are not the greatest invention for male sexual response. Now we’ve got a larger look at these questions from a systematic review that investigated “The Effect of Endurance Exercise on Semen Quality.”
Don’t worry, guys. You’re going to be okay.
From 13 studies including 280 male subjects, researchers concluded that there’s “limited evidence” regarding “endurance exercise and male fertility.” Also, While “endurance exercise can have a negative effect on semen quality,” this rarely results in “a clinically relevant impact on male fertility.”
For the most part, “endurance sports alone do not seem to critically disrupt spermatogenesis.” Problems are most likely to develop among those who begin hard training with low normal sperm quality, and/or those who do high volume or high intensity training.
Conclusion: “Sperm concentration and motility” are the most important qualities with regard to pregnancy rates, and these generally “remained above World Health Organization defined thresholds” in endurance athletes.” More at Sports Medicine Open with free, full text.
Best Ways To Continue Exercising After Knee Replacement
Knee replacements happen. According to some data, up to 8% of adult Americans will eventually seek the surgery, known as “knee arthroplasty.”
Knee replacements happen to athletes and non-athletes alike. Many experts now believe that a sedentary lifestyle combined with obesity is a greater threat to knee health than normal inline exercise like walking and running.
Still, knee replacements happen because so many are living with chronic pain and limited mobility. After surgery, the smartest and most motivated seek a return to activities they know will provide optimal health and fitness--moderate aerobic exercise.
A new report has investigated which activities (sports) are most likely to prove successful post-knee-replacement, and which will prove difficult. The researchers managed to gather self-reports from more than 1000 subjects who had undergone knee replacements.
The good news: “Return to sport is feasible with high satisfaction.” However, activities requiring full-body-weight support (like running) “demonstrated the least favorable participation rate changes.”
Conclusion: “Swimming and cycling represent manageable postoperative activities with high return-rates, while runners and joggers face increased difficulty returning to equal or better activity levels. Patients should receive individualized, sports-specific counseling regarding their expected postoperative course based on their goals of treatment.” More at Archives of Orthopedic & Trauma Surgery.
All Body Types Can Be Healthy. But Careful About Your Weight
When I look around me at road races these days, I see many body types quite different from the old days when we were all lean, mean, and fast. This is a good thing.
We know this is a good thing, because much research has supported the idea that “fat but fit” individuals are significantly healthier than fat and unfit. The latest looked at more than 160,000 middle-aged Japanese adults who were followed for almost 6 years. During that time, fat but fit subjects (over BMI 25.0) had roughly the same stroke, heart attack, and mortality risk as thinner but fit subjects.
Conclusion: “Obesity, when accompanied by a healthy metabolic profile, did not increase the risk of cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality.” We should encourage all family and friends, regardless of their weight or body type, to do more healthy exercise. The payoff is clear, and significant. More at International J of Obesity.
That said, without exercise, a higher BMI is linked to dramatically higher rates of unhealthy cardiovascular measurements. In this study, that meant increased odds (by 532%) of higher arterial stiffness, and worse left ventricular performance (by 704%).
No body measurement is perfect--BMI has many critics because it is a very crude tool that basically divides height by weight. Another measure, called Body Roundness Index (BRI), places more emphasis on waist circumference. Which might move it closer to a good assessment for health outcomes.
A new paper evaluated BRI trends among 33,000 adult Americans over the last 20 years. It found that BRI is increasing, and that all-cause mortality is higher among those above the middle than those in the middle. (The very thin also faced higher risks than those in the middle.) More at JAMA Network Open with free full text.
What Sports Drink To Use. Or Make Your Own At Home
When I first began running road races and the Boston Marathon in the 1960s, we didn’t have drink tables. Race organizers just let us “wilt” out there on the steamy roads as we became more and more dehydrated with each passing mile.
Then came water, then Gatorade, then drinks with glucose and fructose, then maltodextrin and now something called cyclic dextrin or cluster dextrin. At the same time, we’re urged to consume as many carb-calories per hour as possible while not getting stomach sick from all that sweet stuff.
It’s a tricky balancing act, and the drink that works best for your training partner might be the worst one for you. That’s because we’re all so different in how we sweat, and how we
react to fluid replacement.
If you want to know more about all these issues, here’s a great journalistic-but-scientific summary of the topic. The article, provocatively titled “Sugar Wars,” covers everything from Red Bull and the approach used by Olympic triathlon champ Gwen Jorgensen to the physiologic challenge of absorbing sugar waters without stomach/GI distress.
An additional, almost insoluble problem: How are we supposed to know if our sports supplements actually contain what they claim? This question caused a major ruckus recently when it was shown that one mega-carb drink named “Awesomesauce” wasn’t quite so awesome as claimed. In fact, an independent chemical analysis showed it had less than 40% of the carb calories noted on its promotions and packaging.
No wonder some runners prefer to make their own sports drinks at home. Here are 5 simple at-home recipes that include the most recommended carbohydrate amount by volume (6 to 9 percent). More at Marathon Handbook.
What!!?? Slow/Moderate Running Speeds Produce The Most Soccer Goals
So far as I know, soccer is the world’s most popular sport with the rowdiest fans and huge TV audiences. That makes it fascinating to read almost any exercise research that applies to “the beautiful game.”
This paper is even more interesting than most because it implies that a good distance runner should make a good soccer player. Maybe you have a chance of making it to the next World Cup Final. How’s that? What about sprinters?
Here’s the deal: A group of Polish researchers measured the amount of running that team members did in the 5 minutes before a goal was scored. As you know, there are few goals scored in most soccer matches. So any measure that links to goal-scoring is super important.
Result: In the key 5-minute pre-goal time period, the team that did the most running was mostly likely to score. Teams that ran less were more likely to give up a goal. Okay, that seems reasonable so far.
But here’s the surprise: High-speed and “sprint” running were not associated with goal-scoring. The goals followed “the volume of medium- and low-intensity running efforts.” Rather like the running you do when training for a half-marathon or marathon.
Conclusion: “The significant difference between teams scoring and conceding a goal lies in the distance covered during low-to-moderate intensity running.” This seems counterintuitive and is different from some other soccer research that favored high-speed running and scoring. But it could mean that goal-scoring is related to “organized movement of the entire team.” More at Nature Scientific Reports with free full text.
SHORT STUFF You Don’t Want To Miss
GREAT QUOTES Make Great Training Partners
“I need solitude. I need space. I need air. I need the empty fields around me; and my legs pounding along roads; and sleep; and animal existence.”
--Virginia Woolf
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading. See you again next week. Amby