Get Faster
A great article from Peak Performance online
Increasing Your Speed as an Endurance Athlete -
Greater speed is something almost all endurance runners want - but few receive. The major problem is that most runners don't understand the physiological basis of speed and therefore don't know how to carry out the systematic training required to get faster.Remember first that there are a number of different ways to improve average race speeds.
For example, increasing VO2max (maximal aerobic capacity) improves race velocities, because as VO2max rises, one's previous race speeds will correspond with a lower percentage of VO2max, causing them to feel easier. A runner with an improved VO2max can then increase race pace to match his typical race intensity (percentage of VO2max).Because lactate-threshold velocity is tightly and predictably related to race speeds, improving lactate-threshold velocity also heightens race performances. For example, 10-K race velocity is about 2.5-per cent faster than lactate-threshold (LT) speed, so any improvement in LT will make the LT-10-K gap too narrow, forcing 10-K pacing to speed up in order to maintain the 2.5-percent spread.
Enhancing economy - in running form, running efficiency, and the ratio of the athlete's percentage of body fat to lean muscle mass - also increases average race speeds, because improved economy allows a runner to maintain a particular speed at a lower 'cost' (a smaller percentage of VO2max). As was the case with VO2max uplifts, a runner can then simply increase race pace to maintain his usual percentage of max aerobic capacity during competition. For example, as a rough rule of thumb, an athlete will increase their speed approximately 1% for each percentage of body fat lost. The reason being is that an athlete's VO2max is an expression of aerobic capacity independent of body weight and is a measure of millilitres of oxygen used per kilogram of bodyweight. Each percentage of body fat lost will roughly result in a one percent increase in measured VO2max.
Improving muscular strength can also boost race speeds. For one thing, increased strength often has a positive impact on economy, but it also increases the fatigue resistance of muscles, allowing them to sustain quality speeds for longer periods of time without becoming exhausted (thus raising average speed). Greater muscular power can also increase race speeds. Runners often confuse strength with power, forgetting that strength is simply the ability to move one's body weight a given distance. A 150-pound runner who completes the marathon in 4:20 is just as strong as the 150-pound elite competitor who finishes in 2:10, since both have moved 150 pounds a distance of 26.2 miles. However, the 2:10 athlete is by far the more powerful (and speedier) runner, since greater power is defined as moving a weight through a given distance in a shorter period of time.
Power can be increased by improving the way in which the nervous system coordinates muscular activity. As the nervous system learns to synchronize force production in those muscles which provide forward propulsion and simultaneously relax the 'antagonist' muscles which restrain limb movement, stride lengths increase and race speeds hasten. Of course, the greatest gains in power occur when the muscles become stronger at the same time as the nervous system is enhancing its coordination capacity; if the nervous system is the 'coach', it suddenly has stronger players who can respond more forcefully to appropriate instructions.
However, bear in mind that increased power may have little effect on race speeds in endurance events if the heightened power can't be sustained for extended periods of time. That's where the upgrades in VO2max, Lactate Threshold, and economy come in: Improvements in those three variables allow muscles to maintain their higher power outputs without suffering from excessive fatigue.Inside your body, a bigger heart (which raises VO2max), stronger and more powerful muscles, a more efficient nervous system (which augments economy), plus a host of changes inside muscle cells, including more mitochondria, greater concentrations of aerobic enzymes, and better lactate transporters (all of which increase Lactate Threshold) are associated with faster running. When you actually run fast, your heart works overtime, your nervous system goes on 'red alert,' the blood vessels leading to your leg muscles open full-bore, and the metabolic fires within the muscles burn with an especially bright intensity. In addition, your cardiovascular system 'fine-tunes' itself, shunting extra blood to the skin (to enhance cooling) and decreasing flow to those organs which don't help sustain speed, like the kidneys and digestive organs.
How much improvement in speed can you make? By working hard on the five key variables (VO2max, LT, economy, strength, and power), very experienced runners may improve average race speeds by 2 to 6 per cent. Less experienced runners, since they have never really done their 'speed homework', typically have more to gain: a 20-per cent rise is not unusual, and even 80-per cent uplifts are not impossible.Well-prepared 10-K runners often wonder how much speed they could generate in faster, shorter-distance races (such as 800- and 1500-metre competitions). Although the training for such events is different from 10-K and marathon preparations, one can use 'Horwill's Rule' to calculate the possibilities. The Rule says that when race distance is halved, speed should improve by about four seconds per 400 metres.Thus, you should be able to complete a 5K 16 seconds per mile faster than your 10K, a 3K around 32 seconds per mile quicker, 1500 metres 48 seconds faster, and 800 metres over a minute faster (when expressed as a pace per mile).
http://www.pponline.co.uk/
And in the case of myself, a decrease in bodyfat from 22% (203 pounds) to 10% (goal weight of 180 pounds), should make me 12% faster. Having already achieved a decrease from 203 pounds to 189 pounds I can already say that I am experiencing the benefits in terms of increase in speed. And I would have to say that Hugh is probably the witness best able to attest to that. My best 8K time has dropped from 35 plus minutes to 30:39. I attribute this to my recent weight loss. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to test-driving the all new Vince at 180 pounds...
Increasing Your Speed as an Endurance Athlete -
Greater speed is something almost all endurance runners want - but few receive. The major problem is that most runners don't understand the physiological basis of speed and therefore don't know how to carry out the systematic training required to get faster.Remember first that there are a number of different ways to improve average race speeds.
For example, increasing VO2max (maximal aerobic capacity) improves race velocities, because as VO2max rises, one's previous race speeds will correspond with a lower percentage of VO2max, causing them to feel easier. A runner with an improved VO2max can then increase race pace to match his typical race intensity (percentage of VO2max).Because lactate-threshold velocity is tightly and predictably related to race speeds, improving lactate-threshold velocity also heightens race performances. For example, 10-K race velocity is about 2.5-per cent faster than lactate-threshold (LT) speed, so any improvement in LT will make the LT-10-K gap too narrow, forcing 10-K pacing to speed up in order to maintain the 2.5-percent spread.
Enhancing economy - in running form, running efficiency, and the ratio of the athlete's percentage of body fat to lean muscle mass - also increases average race speeds, because improved economy allows a runner to maintain a particular speed at a lower 'cost' (a smaller percentage of VO2max). As was the case with VO2max uplifts, a runner can then simply increase race pace to maintain his usual percentage of max aerobic capacity during competition. For example, as a rough rule of thumb, an athlete will increase their speed approximately 1% for each percentage of body fat lost. The reason being is that an athlete's VO2max is an expression of aerobic capacity independent of body weight and is a measure of millilitres of oxygen used per kilogram of bodyweight. Each percentage of body fat lost will roughly result in a one percent increase in measured VO2max.
Improving muscular strength can also boost race speeds. For one thing, increased strength often has a positive impact on economy, but it also increases the fatigue resistance of muscles, allowing them to sustain quality speeds for longer periods of time without becoming exhausted (thus raising average speed). Greater muscular power can also increase race speeds. Runners often confuse strength with power, forgetting that strength is simply the ability to move one's body weight a given distance. A 150-pound runner who completes the marathon in 4:20 is just as strong as the 150-pound elite competitor who finishes in 2:10, since both have moved 150 pounds a distance of 26.2 miles. However, the 2:10 athlete is by far the more powerful (and speedier) runner, since greater power is defined as moving a weight through a given distance in a shorter period of time.
Power can be increased by improving the way in which the nervous system coordinates muscular activity. As the nervous system learns to synchronize force production in those muscles which provide forward propulsion and simultaneously relax the 'antagonist' muscles which restrain limb movement, stride lengths increase and race speeds hasten. Of course, the greatest gains in power occur when the muscles become stronger at the same time as the nervous system is enhancing its coordination capacity; if the nervous system is the 'coach', it suddenly has stronger players who can respond more forcefully to appropriate instructions.
However, bear in mind that increased power may have little effect on race speeds in endurance events if the heightened power can't be sustained for extended periods of time. That's where the upgrades in VO2max, Lactate Threshold, and economy come in: Improvements in those three variables allow muscles to maintain their higher power outputs without suffering from excessive fatigue.Inside your body, a bigger heart (which raises VO2max), stronger and more powerful muscles, a more efficient nervous system (which augments economy), plus a host of changes inside muscle cells, including more mitochondria, greater concentrations of aerobic enzymes, and better lactate transporters (all of which increase Lactate Threshold) are associated with faster running. When you actually run fast, your heart works overtime, your nervous system goes on 'red alert,' the blood vessels leading to your leg muscles open full-bore, and the metabolic fires within the muscles burn with an especially bright intensity. In addition, your cardiovascular system 'fine-tunes' itself, shunting extra blood to the skin (to enhance cooling) and decreasing flow to those organs which don't help sustain speed, like the kidneys and digestive organs.
How much improvement in speed can you make? By working hard on the five key variables (VO2max, LT, economy, strength, and power), very experienced runners may improve average race speeds by 2 to 6 per cent. Less experienced runners, since they have never really done their 'speed homework', typically have more to gain: a 20-per cent rise is not unusual, and even 80-per cent uplifts are not impossible.Well-prepared 10-K runners often wonder how much speed they could generate in faster, shorter-distance races (such as 800- and 1500-metre competitions). Although the training for such events is different from 10-K and marathon preparations, one can use 'Horwill's Rule' to calculate the possibilities. The Rule says that when race distance is halved, speed should improve by about four seconds per 400 metres.Thus, you should be able to complete a 5K 16 seconds per mile faster than your 10K, a 3K around 32 seconds per mile quicker, 1500 metres 48 seconds faster, and 800 metres over a minute faster (when expressed as a pace per mile).
http://www.pponline.co.uk/
And in the case of myself, a decrease in bodyfat from 22% (203 pounds) to 10% (goal weight of 180 pounds), should make me 12% faster. Having already achieved a decrease from 203 pounds to 189 pounds I can already say that I am experiencing the benefits in terms of increase in speed. And I would have to say that Hugh is probably the witness best able to attest to that. My best 8K time has dropped from 35 plus minutes to 30:39. I attribute this to my recent weight loss. I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to test-driving the all new Vince at 180 pounds...
posted by Vince Hemingson at 11:22 PM
1 Comments:
Interestingly, I just found out that this piece by Friedman was the single most forwarded article by e-mail from the New York Times!
Who loves ya, Baby!
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