Ed McNeely

Before you get too far into this running season take a look back at last season. Did you get everything out of it you hoped for? If not why not? For many people the answer is simple, they failed to walk that fine line between optimal training and overtraining; either under or overtraining. For most people getting the volume of training right is the first step.

Training volume is the amount of work that is performed. Many coaches and endurance athletes use the number of meters or kilometers covered as the measure of training volume. While this is an acceptable measure it does not always give the full picture of training. For example if athlete A does a 20 km workout in 90 minutes and athlete B covers the same 20 km in 60 minutes they are not doing the same workout and won’t get the same training effect even though the volume as measured by distance is the same. Time is a better measure of training volume as it is allows athletes of varying level to be compared on an equal level.

Annual training volume has a direct effect on performance. For many athletes work, school, and family commitments influence their training volume, limiting them to four or five hours of training per week. As in almost every sport you get out of training what you put in, your training goals and time commitment need to be compatible; expecting to win an Olympic medal by training six hours per week is unrealistic as is winning a national championship on three hours per week of training. Table 1 shows the desired training volume by competitive level. In order to continue to improve within your competition level or move to a higher level you must increase training volume from year to year. Even at the elite level there has been a steady increase in total training volume over the past 30 years, increasing from and average of 924 hours per year in the 1970’s to 1128 hours per year in the late 1990’s, a 20% increase.

Increasing training volume must be done gradually, rapid increases in training volume can quickly lead to overtraining and injuries; this is very common when an athlete makes the jump from one competitive level to another without having planned for the transition the previous year. As a rule of thumb annual increases in training volume should not exceed 5-10% of the previous years volume.

Table 1. Training volume by competitive level

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PEAK Centre staff have the highest certifications available in Canada for Sport Science. With their combined experience and education, PEAK Centre is at the forefront of practical Sport Science application.

Ed McNeely – Peak Centre for Human Performance

Heart rate is an easily measurable physiological variable that is often used to gauge the intensity of a training session. Under the right conditions heart rates can be a useful tool  but there are too many athletes that have developed a dependence on their heart rate monitor with little understanding of how to use it effectively.

The ability to use heart rate to monitor the intensity of a training session developed from the fact that there is a linear relationship between oxygen consumption and heart rate. While this is valuable information,  it has also lead to two problem areas. First, the relationship starts to break down at around 85% of VO2 max. Since many types of intervals and most speed work are done at or above this intensity heart rate alone cannot be used to monitor this type of work. Second, even though there is a relationship between exercise intensity and heart rate this relationship is different for different exercises i.e. heart rates for running will not be the same as heart rates for rowing for any given intensity. In fact, in cycling heart rates change with different body position on the bike. Some research indicates that heart rates on the road can be as much as 10 beats higher than riding indoors on a trainer for the same oxygen consumption. This brings us to our first rule of heart rate monitoring. Heart rates are specific to the activity you are doing .

Heart rate is influenced by many variables. Duration of training, emotional stress, clothing, heat, dehydration, overtraining, loss of sleep, decreased blood volume, altitude, and detraining. During long duration steady state training sessions the heat produced by the body can increase heart rate by as much as 20 beats/ minute. If you were to slow down to try to keep your heart rate the same, you would change the training effect for the muscles. This leads us to heart rate rule number two: During steady state training the speed or power output should remain relatively constant throughout the session regardless of increases in heart rate.

Training in a hot environment can increase heart rate by up to 13 beats/min. Emotional stress at work or the stress of exams at schools tends to increase heart rate during training. In addition, these types of stress decrease quality of sleep which further increases heart rate. Rule number three: When training in hot weather or during periods of high stress use feelings of fatigue and comfort as a training guide rather than heart rate.

Heart rate is an individual response as is maximum heart rate, varying as much as 20-30 bpm between people of the same fitness level. Comparing heart rates to other people is unnecessary and often unwise. Training programs should not be based on general heart rate guidelines rather they should be based on individual responses. A training heart rate of 150 bpm may elicit very different adaptations for different people. Rule 4: Don’t compare heart rates to others.

Because heart rate is an individual response, heart rate values need to be determined in relation to other physiological variables. There are three common physiological markers for aerobic training: Aerobic threshold, anaerobic threshold and VO₂ max. Training programs are normally designed to change these physiological points. To prescribe meaningful heart rate ranges these points have to be identified. This can be done through lactate testing or through an oxygen consumption test. If these points are not determined the heart rate prescriptions are purely guess work. Rule 5: Heart rate ranges should be determined from other physiological data.

Heart rate is a tool for training. Like all tools it has limitation and should be used for a specific job at a specific time. Speed, pace or power output are influenced by fewer factors than heart rate and may prove to be better indicators of training intensity. If you are going to use heart rate to monitor your intensity follow the guidelines outlined here and remember that heart rate is just a response to internal and external stimuli it should not be the main controlling factor for your training.

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PEAK Centre staff have the highest certifications available in Canada for Sport Science. With their combined experience and education, PEAK Centre is at the forefront of practical Sport Science application.

Even small improvements in performance often take hours of training, hours which for the recreationally competitive athlete are often difficult to find when they have to juggle family life, work and training. One of the most overlooked adjuncts to training that has continually shown performance benefits is intermittent hypoxic training. Intermittent hypoxic training (IHT) makes use of a machine that decreases the amount of oxygen that you breathe, simulating altitude. IHT training has been shown to increase power at both anaerobic threshold and VO2 max by 4-6% in as little as three weeks with daily use of IHT for an hour at a time. This is about the equivalent of six months or more of improvements from actual training for most age group athletes. The real advantage to IHT training is that it is a passive form of training, you sit there attached to the machine and breathe while reading, watching TV or responding to e-mail.

How Does it Work?

Hypoxia, a decrease in the oxygen content of the air you are breathing stimulates the release of erythropoietin, the hormone responsible for producing red blood cell. With repeated exposure you will gradually increase the total number of circulating red cells and the oxygen carrying capacity of your blood.

Many people mistakenly believe that the use of hematocrit, the cell component of blood, levels are a good indicator of whether the IHT is working or not. If you were to take hematocrit measures every day while using IHT you would likely see an increase in hematocrit for a short time and then a gradual decrease back to normal levels as blood volume increases. If you only take a hematocrit reading at the beginning, middle and end of the IHT program you are unlikely to see any changes.

The human body likes to maintain hematocrit within a relatively narrow range, normal variations in hematocrit are typically less than 4% over the course of a year. One of the primary adaptations to aerobic training is an increase in blood volume, resulting in a decrease in hematocrit levels, reducing blood viscosity and resistance to blood flow, and improving cardiac output. There is a strong positive correlation between blood volume and endurance performance but contrary to what many athletes believe there is a negative correlation between hematocrit and performance. In other words high hematocrit levels actually decrease aerobic capacity. A lower hematocrit keeps blood viscosity lower and improves blood flow rate which improves oxygen transportation and transfer of oxygen to the muscles.

Given the amount of time and effort that you put into your training, the investment in IHT training is well worth the possibility of doubling the amount of improvement most people typically see in a year.

References

Thirup, P. (2003). Hematocrit: Within subject and seasonal variation. Sports Medicine. 33(3) pp 231-243.

El syaed, M., Ali, N., and El sayed -Ali, Z. (2005).  Haemorohlogy in exercise and training. Sports Medicine. 35(8) pp 649-670.

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PEAK Centre staff have the highest certifications available in Canada for Sport Science. With their combined experience and education, PEAK Centre is at the forefront of practical Sport Science application.