We’ve all been taught the importance of aerobic training as a means to better health and longevity; however, many sprinters feel that aerobic training (i.e. slow and long) is boring and doesn’t appear to have any practical application to sprinting. Sprints are predominantly alactic and/or glycolytic endeavors and even so, it is impossible to train an energy system in complete isolation. Therefore it may see like ignoring the aerobic system is a viable shortcut. This would be a mistake.
An athlete with a well-developed aerobic energy system has greater potential for more ATP production over a longer period, prolonging the duration of sustained higher intensity movement. Every 200 and 400m sprinter's interest should be piqued at this point. Also, athletes with adequately trained aerobic systems recovery faster, shortening recovery times between sets and sessions alike. The obvious result is increased training quality and, over time, performance.
Practical Training Implications:
The goal is to keep your heart rate in the aerobic zone for 30 minutes. For most athletes this is 130 - 160 bpm, depending on age. You can can do this in one shot or break it into sets (2 x 15-minutes, 3 x 10-minutes, ). Runs can even be sprint distances (i.e. 200m) completed at low intensities with short rests. In this instance you would run 200m at 50% effort, monitor your heart rate, and start your next rep when it reaches the low end of the zone. The latter can be especially useful in-season when a coach is trying to maintain higher levels of specificity. They can also be progressed to lactic runs in the mid-season, giving them greater versatility than runs that are long and slow. Try it out for yourself and see how it goes.
Comments