Aerobic Base Training

Endurance Training: Easy/Moderate Training

The main characteristic of any endurance based training programme is a large training volume of which the majority of the training volume (>50%) will be devoted to the development of a strong aerobic base fitness level, involving training at an Easy/moderate training intensity (Pate and Branch, 1992; Martin and Coe, 1997). Training at this level predominantly involves the recruitment of slow twitch or type I muscle fibres. These are highly aerobic highly efficient muscle fibres. This training intensity allows for high volumes whilst placing a low level of stress on muscular structures and physiological systems (Pate and Branch, 1992). When training at this level stress hormones remain relatively low and therefore athletes can perform large volumes of training in this zone without putting themselves at a great risk of overtraining.

Physiological Adaptations to this type of training include: type I fibre development and increased; capillarisation, blood volume and number of red blood cells, intramuscular fuel storage, mitochondrial size and density, Improved aerobic energy metabolism (free fatty acid utilisation), oxidative glycolytic enzymes, Cardiac size and output, muscular capillarization - which in turn increases blood flow to the muscles, and improved muscular endurance (Martin and Coe, 1997; Neumann et al., 2000).

A high training volume may be particularly important for increasing the %VO2max that can be sustained and may lead to improvements in the economy of motion (Noakes, 1991; Jones, 1998). In recent years many western coaches have moved away from high volume training and concentrated more on High Intensity Interval Training (HIT) sessions. Before we look at HIT training it is important to consider why there is such a need to build a strong aerobic base fitness level.

Aerobic base training prepares the body for the demands of HIT sessions through all the physiological adaptations discussed above. If an athlete undertakes HIT sessions, without the development of a strong level of base fitness, they will increase their risk of injury; and because their body is not fully prepared they will gain less benefit from the HIT sessions compared to if they had undergone a good period of aerobic base training. It is also important to remember that athletes that utilize greater training volumes will be able to undergo a greater volume of hit sessions than less well prepared athletes.

Aerobic Base Training can typically be characterized into three types:

Recovery Training: Typically involving training at 60-70%HRmax and would often be utilized the day after a particularly stressful training session.
Basic Endurance Training: Involving training at 70-80%HRmax for a duration of 20-60minutes. This would generally make up the bulk of endurance training, and this type of training might be typically used 5-10times per week.
Long Endurance Training: Involving training at 70-80%HRmax but of a greater duration than basic endurance. Typically from 60minutes up to 5hours or more, depending on the sport. Long endurance training would typically be performed from 1-2 times per week.

Moderate intensity training is unlikely to lead to improvements in VO2max in highly trained athletes (Acevado and Goldfarb, 1989; Londere, 1997), but may condition and refine the recruitment of the specific muscles utilised for the activity, whilst reducing the recruitment of antagonist and/or excessive recruitment of stabilising muscles (Fallowfield and Wilkinson, 1999). Moderate intensity training plays a key role in the development of basic endurance and, therefore, should make up a major proportion of the total training volume (Neumann et al, 2000).

Research looking at training volumes of runners suggested there is no measurable cardio-respiratory improvement (VO2max) when training volume is greater than 60-90mi/wk – around 10-15hours of training a week (Costill 1986). However, the high training volumes currently employed by some endurance athletes may be important for the improvements in Economy of motion that occur over a number of years (Coyle, 1991; Fallowfield and Wilkinson, 1999; Jones, 1998). Although these high training volumes are unlikely to impact on measures of aerobic fitness like the VO2max, they do cause improvements in the functioning of individual muscle fibres and are likely to lead to improved fatigue resistance, increase the lactate threshold, and lead to improvements in the economy of motion.

References

Acevado, E.O. and Goldfarb, A.H. (1989). Increased training intensity effects on plasma lactate, ventilatory thresholds, and endurance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 21, 563-568.

Costill, D.L. (1986). Inside Running: Basics of Sports Physiology. Benchmark Press: Indinapolis, USA.

Coyle, E.F., Feltner, M.E., Kautz, S., Hamilton, M.T., Montain, S.J., Baylor, A.M., Abraham, L.D. and Petrek, G.W. (1991). Physiological and biochemical factors associated with elite endurance cycling performance. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 23, 93-107.

Fallowfield, J.L. and Wilkinson, J.L. (1999). Improving sports performance in Middle and Long-Distance Running. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons, LTD.

Jones, A.M. (1998). A five year physiological case study of an Olympic runner. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 32, 39-43.

Londeree, B.R. (1997). Effect of training on lactate/ventilatory thresholds: a meta analysis. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 29, 837-843.

Martin, D.E. and Coe, P.N. (1997). Better Training for Distance Runners (2nd edition). Human Kinetics: Champaign, IL, USA.

Neumann, G., Pfutzner, A. and Berbalk, A. (2000). Successful Endurance Training. Oxford: Meyer and Meyer Sport (UK), LTD.

Noakes, T.D. (1991). Lore of Running. Human Kinetics: Champaign, IL, USA.

Pate, R.R. and Branch, J.D. (1992). Training for endurance sport. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 24, S340-343.

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