[shane]

I know it’s best to do aerobic training separate from any higher intensity anaerobic speed work, preferably on another day.

But, really, how much does finishing up with 10 minutes of elevated HR sprints really hurt, retard or derail the preceding hours worth investment of lower aerobic HR endurance conditioning?

Is your body just going to look at your hour of aerobic training then as a long warm-up to your higher intensity anaerobic training afterwards and then unleash mostly hormones, enzymes, etc. specific to recover & adapt then from anaerobic stress, not aerobic? Thus, negating to some degree your desired aerobic HR training conditioning effect? If so, is it inconsequential or significant?

Thanks for any insights!

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on May 21, 2018 at 6:00 pm #9998

I don’t think that there’s any issue with doing aerobic and anaerobic work on the same day. In fact, on high intensity days, I always include lower intensity as well. I’d be inclined to reverse the order that you mentioned though.

If I have any high intensity work to do, I typically do that first, when I’m fresher, in order to get the most quality out of the workout. Plus, following intensity with lower end aerobic work allows your body to reabsorb the lactate that it’s created.

In Olbrecht’s, The Science of Winning, he talks about this same thing, following high intensity work with low intensity as an add-on aerobic capacity exercise (i.e. training the body to reabsorb lactate).

[shane]

shane on May 21, 2018 at 8:02 pm #9999

Scott,

That’s great to hear.

Reading up on Maffetone Method had me thinking that during lengthy aerobic session if you significantly popped up above your aerobic threshold HR (roughly 180-age) into anaerobic, especially at the end, that you could derail your body getting the full effect of that aerobic conditioning response to that latest aerobic session.

IOW’s, if last effort was anaerobic, response would then become more so, too, even if anaerobic effort was only a fraction of time compared to much lengthier earlier aerobic.

Not so, I’m hearing you say, yes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on May 22, 2018 at 12:38 pm #10011

Shane:

The answer to your question depends on your aerobic base. If you have a significant aerobic deficit then you would probably be smart to minimize extensive hard aerobic/anaerobic work (above AnT) during the base phase. You can get some of the strength benefits by doing short sprints with long recoveries during the aerobic base period. We use hill sprints of less than 10 seconds with 2-3 min recovery as well as 10 second pick ups sprinkled throughout an easy run. These are called alactate (fueled by stored CP and ATP) efforts and do not elevate lactate levels. They will begin to condition the FT fibers for the faster speeds you want to move to when introducing HIIT later.

Doing the fast running in the last parts of a longer easier workout is commonly referred to in running training as a Progressive Distance workout. It is the most draining long distance training because you have been out for a long time and the ST fibers will be fairly glycogen depleted. This puts a bigger load on the FT fibers (so the theory goes). These are a very powerful training stimulus for those with a big aerobic base but would only be used maybe 1x/week.

There is no one size fits all. Well trained runners NEED the higher intensity training stimulus in order to increase fitness. Not so for those with ADS.

Scott