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.
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.
What
to do now that it’s February, races start next month and I haven’t done my base
training?
If you haven’t just skipped
the past few paragraphs then you would know my answer is postpone your race
season start and get that base training in!
However I also understand that for some of you being on a team means you
will have to perform when you are not finished with base training. This is fine but remind your teammates and
team manager that you are not in peak condition and that you will only be able
to perform to a lesser degree than you finished the previous season at. If they still need you out there early season
here is what you should do.
Get into the gym and begin
lifting, the sooner the better. It's
generally a good idea to do at least two months of steady miles with resistance
training in the gym before progressing to that specialisation phase of your
race training. In the gym, or at your
home gym, functional strength exercises are going to be your friend. What does
this mean? Simply, stay away from any gym machine. Focus on free weights using
them in a dynamic whole body exercise that challenges your whole body
neurologically. The reason for this is simple: cycling involves large groups of
muscles working together to produce stability and lots of power. Muscle
isolating exercise (leg press, leg extension etc.) build bulk and disconnect
groups of muscles from each other robbing you of power. For a quick review of
the specific functional exercises that you can use stop into La Dolce Velo bike
shop ask for Jamii and tell her the secret phrase (base training) and you will
not only get your free exercise review but also a free 30 minute consultation
to review your goals.
When riding, base training you can throw in a very
limited amount of high intensity efforts (above LTHR) to keep you fresh. These
efforts should be very brief (1-2 mins), done at a higher cadence 100-140rpm
and very limited (only a few a week). The reason for limiting these high
intensity efforts is that they undo some of the effects of base training by
destroying the high number of intricate and complex vascular capillaries that
you are working so hard to build up in your base training. Another technique you can focus on is
spin-ups where you rev out your cadence to your maximum for a minute at a time.
Some sprinters can top out at around 200 rpm but for a roadie if you can spin
up to 160 rpm for one minute you are doing very well. Again, limit the time and frequency. Spin-up
are great for building leg speed and peddling technique and are less damaging
to your vascular capillaries network than the high intensity efforts. Both
exercises will help keep your legs "fresh" as pure base riding will
blunt your speed as you build your aerobic capacity. Remember though that you
are to focus primarily on building your base.
A base training plan includes at least one day each
week for an extra extended long endurance ride where you ride for several hours.
This continues to build on the endurance development that you are doing through
the week. Very often, these long rides are done in a group setting. Be careful
with the group setting as they can turn into group races, with people racing
for the town sign, or the next hill top or overpass. I encourage you to keep the group riding as
part of your training, but be aware of the pace and if it is above your
training level drop off the pack and do your own workout. You will be stronger
in the end to take it slow.
Now get out there and start
slowly!
