Aerobic Base Training = Going Slower
to Get Faster
That's right! Building a successful
base by training at a slower, aerobic pace, will actually help your overall
endurance sport performance - Jamii
North, NORTH FITNESS
Your Direction to
Health and Fitness
One
of the hardest concepts for an athlete to understand and implement is base
training. It is counterintuitive to run or bike slowly in order to gain
performance later in the season. It is also very difficult to take a step back
from the intense training you were doing a few weeks ago, and bring the speed
and pace way down. But if you have the discipline to train aerobically for a
period of time, when everyone else is still hammering away, it will pay you great
dividends down the road.
First
and foremost you need to take a break from your sport of choice if you haven’t
already. I prescribe a 3-4 week transition phase at the end of each season and
immediately follow it with base training. Transition is a time to rest and
recover both physically and mentally. We do not take total time off because the
fitness loss takes too long to make up. Instead I give my athletes maximum
flexibility with their training, plenty of rest, and tell them to leave the
heart rate monitor at home. This gives them a few weeks to refocus before we
begin structured base training. You cannot train hard year round without taking
regular periods of reduced volume and intensity. If you attempt to you will in
all likelihood find yourself burned out, over trained, and perhaps injured. You
will also find your performance degrading rather than improving. Most athletes
build base in the fall and winter when there are not a lot of races.
Physiology of base
training
There
are two basic energy systems you use when training; anaerobic and aerobic.
Unfortunately, you cannot build both your aerobic and anaerobic systems at the
same time with great success. The idea behind base training is to train your
aerobic energy system specifically and solely. Why is this important? The more
work you perform aerobically, or in the presence of oxygen, the more efficient
you are. Prolonged aerobic training produces muscular adaptations that improves
oxygen transport to the muscles, reduces the rate of lactate production,
improves the rate of lactate removal, and increases energy production and
utilization which all occur slowly.
Fat
being the primary fuel source for the aerobic energy system, over the course of a
base period your body learns to more readily break down and utilize fat as an
energy source. As an added bonus this adaptation helps post exercise fat
metabolism as well. This is an important factor, especially for long distance
athletes. The fat we have in our bodies could provide enough energy to perform
long distance events back to back, whereas muscle glycogen depletion can occur
in as little as one hour. The less muscle glycogen you utilize, the more
efficient you are. Contrary to the aerobic system, the anaerobic system
consumes carbohydrate rapidly and the byproduct is lactic acid. This system is used up in a relatively short
amount of time, but allows for very high intensity bursts.
Other
adaptations of aerobic training include increased stroke volume of the heart,
capillary density, and mitochondrial density. Stroke volume increase simply
means that your heart pumps more blood per beat. Mitochondria are structures
within muscle cells that produce energy from fat and carbohydrate oxidation. Regular
endurance training has been shown to double the concentration of these
structures. By increasing capillary density we can effectively transport more
blood to the working muscles. The process of building capillaries occurs
gradually. Because high stress training breaks down capillaries, base training
is best for allowing the slow growth of capillaries.
Base progression
There
should be progression during base season as with any other training period. I
normally prescribe 12-16 weeks of base training every year. This will vary with
athlete's fitness level, and the type of event they will be peaking for. Over
the course of base I progress from the low end of the aerobic energy system and
gradually proceed in steps to the high end. The heart rate zones I use fall
into the 75-90% range of lactate threshold or 65-85% of max heart rate. I also
incorporate specific strength training at an aerobic level. This entails
different types of high cadence cycling and slow hill running or even walking.
These work outs also increase in volume throughout base. Base training is an
excellent time to work on form and economy as well. As intensities increase
later in the season it is harder for the athlete to concentrate on form. By
establishing good economy habits early in the season the athlete will carry
them forward. It also important to keep the athlete's mind moving with drills
and technique work when they are training at low intensity to keep boredom at
bay. Base training does not mean you will never move fast. Run strides, foot
speed drills, and fast pedal work will all be integrated but for short bursts
and few repetitions. Towards the end of base I start power work but use brief
durations and full recovery between efforts.
How does this
transfer into performance gain?
Let
me give you a hypothetical example. Suppose athlete Susie runs a 7 min. mile at
lactate threshold. Her fastest aerobic pace, or aerobic threshold, is an 8 min.
mile. We start off Susie's base training at the low end aerobic zones at which she
runs a 9 min. mile pace. Over the course of her 12 week base program the above
mentioned adaptations occur. At the end of the base season she now runs a 7:30
min. mile- aerobically. This is the base for Susie to build on for the rest of
her season. Improving on the previous season is now more obtainable with proper
training. If Susie's race is an Iron Man in which the aerobic energy system is
used predominantly this improvement in aerobic speed is crucial.
Now the hard part?
The
hard part of base training is having the discipline to train at these low
intensities. It may mean running very slowly or even walking. It may mean
separating from your training group in order to pursue your individual goals.
It also means avoiding the contest of egos that group training often turns
into. If you can find a training partner with similar goals and fitness level
you may be able to train with them, but more often than not what I see is a
base work gone awry when taking part on group rides and runs. Even spending
short amounts of time above your aerobic zone degrades the work out.
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| Ride slow and you too can enjoy the GREAT views! |
The
area between the top of the aerobic threshold and anaerobic threshold is
somewhat of a no man’s land of fitness. It is a mix of aerobic and anaerobic
states. For the amount of effort the athlete puts forth, not a whole lot of
fitness is produced. It does not train the aerobic or anaerobic energy system
to a high degree. This area does have its place in training; it is just not in
base season. Unfortunately this area is where I find a lot of athletes spending
the majority of their seasons, which seriously slows their aerobic development.
The athletes heart rate shoots up to this zone with little power or speed being
produced when it gets there.
Another issue is having accurate zones. I regularly
performance test my athletes in order to ensure their zones are correct and to
confirm their training. After performing many of these tests, and comparing
them to race data, I get a very clear estimate of lactate threshold. I use a
percentage of LTHR to determine individual zones. I also recommend validation
through clinical testing (yes an actual blood draw, though expensive is very
informative). I have witnessed athletes using zones that are several years old, assuming fitness has improved over this time their zones would no longer be
accurate and they
may have spent an entire base season training the wrong energy system.
You
have to let your anaerobic system atrophy during base in order to have a
sustainable level of fitness to now work at the higher intensities. This means
you will lose some of your anaerobic endurance and the ability to sustain speed
near lactate threshold. Expect to lose some top end coming out of base, but
this is what you are going to spend the rest of your season working on. It
often takes several seasons to see the result of sound base training if you are
a novice athlete. Be patient, it is a process that is slow and cannot be
rushed, but the sooner you get started the faster you will be amazed at your
results.
Now get out there are start riding slowly!
