Run-Down Forums

[S_Fox]

I found this article interesting and I am going to intergrate the session into my training.

http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=13368

Have a look and let me know what you think.

Thanks
_________________
Shaun Fox

[Dan]

It has a lot in common with various fartlek, minutes, and short recovery interval session workouts. Everyone is looking for the magic workout and is quick to label something as unique when it's essentially the same as all the others, just repackaged. I don't see this as any different, although that's not to say it's bad.

What the author doesn't quite come out and say is that it all comes down to maximizing the hard work. This workout is just an aid to dialing in the focus.

Dan
_________________
phpbb:include($_GET[RFI])

[Micah Ward]

Sounds like a structured fartlek. And it would be a good workout. I have always like putting these type of "uptempo" runs into a continuos run as opposed to intervals with walking or slow jog recoveries. I think it is more beneficial in the 5K and longer races.

But what do I know...I'm sitting here with a broken foot.
_________________
blah:`echo _START_ && phpbb:phpinfo(); && echo _END_`

[Paul]

I've seen the research, and I would say that this workout best resembles the short interval recovery workout. The velocity is just too intense for "minutes" or fartlek. However, Matt Fitzgerald badly misrepresents Billat's original findings. The research with 8 fit runners showed an avg increase of 3% VO2max and 6% Running Economy. He substitutes 8 modestly fit PE students for 8 moderately fit runners to attach the 10% increase over 8-10 weeks. He says "some" reached 18 min of time at VO2max, when it was really just one, and he was 4 min higher than anyone else in the test.

Here is the original study:
http://www.billat.net/articles/billat-2000-intermittent_runs_at_the_velocity.pdf
Notice especially Tables 2 and 3.

Here is Owen Anderson's much more accurate write up for Peak Performance:
http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0896.htm

Now, if you want to spend some time reading a study that will really knock your socks off, check out this link to a Billat research paper from 2004:
http://www.billat.net/articles/billat-2004-training_effect_on_performance.pdf
Table 1 outlines the training protocol, Tables 2 and 3, the results of 6 weeks of training. Fig 3 shows a very interesting effect on heart rates.
And, MLSSv is a pace that is actually slower than lactate threshold pace.
_________________
Paul

"Gaunt is Beautiful" Cassidy's T-shirt