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Dr. Ralph....
For an example of how to integrate track & speed & conditioning with strehgth training, you should check out Terry Francins World Class Program at Azusa Pacific University( NAIA).. I worked with him and assisted in the strength training of his track atlhletes in the weight room, and participated in the program on the track.
We never had a problem with doing both, and as a result he continues to produce the strongest fastest men and women in small school competition in the country.
You don't have to choose between strength and conditioning and speed/track work. Both can be done with excellence without sacrificing the qualitative or quantitative aspects of either program.
Unless he's moved in the past few months, Terry can be reached at the general email at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa CA.!
Chris Ramsey
Los Angeles, CA
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----- Original Message ----
From: Ralph Giarnella <ragiarn@yahoo.
To: Supertraining@
Sent: Sunday, January 20, 2008 9:48:25 AM
Subject: [Supertraining] Re: Strength Training for a 800m runner(In Season)
--- Nick Tatalias <nick.tatalias@ gmail.com> wrote:
> Ralph
>
> I'm not sure that I made myself clear in the posts,
> no-one is asking Brian
> not to do time on the track and I'm certain that his
> coach would be doing
> intervals, however I'm fairly certain that since
> Brian has worked hard
> developing strength in the off season that has
> contributed well to improved
> running, and that he should maintain that strength
> in manner that best
> relates to the use of type II muscle fibre.
I did understand that you were advocating that Brian
supplement his track work with weight lifting.
The point I was trying to make was that instead of
spending time in the gym lifting weights 1 or 2
sessions a week, that time should be spent on the
track or running hills. The energy used for weight
lifting should be used to run the hills, as Paul
suggested, or running up stadium stairs as I have seen
other athletes doing. In this way any strength gained
through running hills or stairs will be more sports
specific.
If Brian has enough energy to lift weights after a
track training session or on his recovery day then, in
my opinion, he is not training hard enough when he is
on the track or running the hills.
Many years ago (mid 1980s) there was an excellent
article in Bicycling magazine which stated that "Too
many athletes do not train hard enough on their hard
days and train too hard on their easy days".
I guess it comes down to a matter of coaching
philosophy as much as anything else.
In my opinion, the most important aspect of training
is adequate recovery between training sessions. This
point has also been emphasized in other
posts,recently, concerning training load and how much
is too much. Anything that interferes with recovery
detracts from the benefit of the previous training
session and diminishes the training intensity for the
next training session.
Professional athletes and elite amateurs (with the
luxury of sponsorship and therefore no need to do
anything other than train), have plenty of time to
rest, recover etc.
Most amateur athletes, such as Brian, have other
responsibilities, such as class, work, etc which adds
to the stress of their lives and compromises full
recovery. These other activities also limit the time
to train as well using precious energy resources. The
stress of these activities has to be added to the
overall stress of training and need to be taken into
account when designing a training program.
In the off season resistance training is a good
alternative and a good change of pace. During the
pre-season training period the intensity of training
at an individuals chosen specialty has to be
significantly higher than it will be during the
competitive season.
If your goal is to be the fastest man or woman on the
track then every effort, in my opinion, should be
spent on the track developing speed by running short
high intensity intervals or building running strength
by running hills or stairs.
> My in season programme last somewhere between 20 and
> 45 minutes. Twice or
> three times per week depending on how close to the
> race day.
I, believe that Brian stated that his first race is
March 25 if I am not mistaken. So we are still
discussing the pre-season training sessions.
Once the training season is over and the competitive
season starts it is even more important that all
energy should be geared towards the race and non
running days should be dedicated to recovery.
Resistance training on these days would, in my
opinion, hinder full recovery.
> With regards to anaerobic vrs aerobic usage, these
> are interesting, however
> I often wonder how many of the aerobic markers
> relate to the body trying to
> catch up the anaerobic expenditure of energy. In
> the 100m sprint for
> instance in a 10 second burst, who would imagine
> that aerobic systems are
> challenged at all, but 20 odd percent of bio markers
> indicate aerobic work -
> perhaps due to the body catching up with the
> anaerobic muscle performance, I
> would have thought the same for the 400, except that
> because the race goes
> on longer there is longer for the aerobic systems to
> get involved in
> processing the anaerobic work of the muscles. The
> reason I believe this is
> that in order to move the body body powerfully and
> fast the work must
> involve significant contributions from type II a & b
> muscles. Type IIb have
> very little aerobic contribution, but would load the
> systems with products
> from anaerobic energy systems. Type IIa muscle are
> much more capable of
> converting anaerobic products and using glycogen for
> restoring the ATP
> resulting in markers of apparent aerobic
> respiration. Any comments?
I think that their is a major flaw in the above
statements.
I think it is important here to review some points
about energy production in muscle fibers, as I
understand it. And please excuse me if I am being
redundant but I think that it is important that I do
this to make my point.
All muscle fibers, (I,IIA,IIB,) produce some energy
anaerobically.
- The first step in energy production is called
alactic anaerobic energy production.
This involves PCR and ATP which are present at the
initiation of an activity. There is ATP in small
amounts available in the muscle fiber and this allows
the initiation of muscle contraction. As this is
depleted the PCR regenerates the ATP. This occurs in
all muscle fibers (I,IIA,IIB,) . There is no Pyruvic
acid produced nor is there lactate production.
There is generally enough to PCR to last about 5-7
seconds.
All muscle fibers (I,IIA,IIB) go through this step.
- The next step in energy production is the use of
glucose to maintain the supply of ATP. This is, as
you know, the glycolytic pathway.
This also begins at the initiation of activity but it
takes a little longer than the alactic energy
production. (one reason for warming up before an
activity).
During this phase, as was discussed in an earlier
post, the end result is ATP plus either pyruvic acid
or lactate.
All muscle fibers (I,IIA,IIB) also go through this
step.
-The next step is where we apparently we differ in our
understanding of the energy producing process.
This is known as the fork in the road. In the presence
of adequate O2 pyruvate is produced and this enters
the Krebs cycle located in the mitochondria.
In the absence of adequate O2 lactate is produced.
Lactate cannot be utilized in any muscle cell unless
it is re-converted to Pyruvate and becomes part of the
Krebs cycle.
In order to further metabolize Lactate it must either
be re formulated into glucose via the Cori cycle or it
must be re-formulated into Pyruvate and enter the
Krebs cycle.
Muscle cells do not have the necessary mechanism to
run the Cori cycle. There are other tissues that can
do this and the primary organ is the liver.
It is important to note at this point that even in
"anaerobic conditions" the muscle cells do have a
small amount of stored Oxygen attached to myoglobin.
This allows for some aerobic chemical reactions even
in the face of relative "anaerobic conditions".
As stated previously IIB fibers only have enough
mitochondria to maintain the fiber at rest. For this
reason IIB fibers are for practical reason incapable
of utilizing lactate for energy. The lactate in these
fibers must exit the fiber and enter the blood steam
(how else would you account or the rising blood
lactate levels during high intensity work?).
With appropriate training stimulus IIB fibers become
IIA fibers. What distinguishes the two fiber types is
mitochondrial density. IIA fibers have many
mitochondria and IIB have minimal mitochondria.
IIA fibers are in fact aerobic fibers. They have the
same ability to produce energy aerobically as do Type
I fibers.
What then distinguishes Type I fiber from IIA is their
innervation (slow twitch vs fast twitch) and
mitochondrial density. Type I have considerably more
mitochondria than do IIA.
So both I and IIA fibers can utilize lactate in the
mitochondria for energy production.
The best way, in my opinion, to increase the IIA
fiber's mitochondrial density is through high
intensity interval training on the track.
As pointed out by Jamie's post in OL and Power lifters
have a preponderance of type II fibers are IIA with very
few IIB. I suspect this occurs with many years of
long intense workouts. (see Seiler's Time Course of
Training adaptations
http://home. hia.no/~stephens /timecors. htm ).
However I believe that specificity of training is
extremely important. That was why I stated that Brian
needs to turn his lifting strength into running
strength.
> I agree that intervals are good, some good studies
> on that
> topic were just recently posted. I'm still convinced
> that appropriate time in the gym is
> important. If Brian is going to run the 400m hurdle
> later this year, I'm
> not sure that he should drop to much explosion from
> his work out and
> continue with speed work. If the 800m indoor season
> is part of development
> for that race, then the whole season needs to be
> kept in balance.
In my opinion the best way for Brian to maintain his
explosiveness would be to do a lot of 30 meter
starting intervals from the blocks. Specificity in
training is extremely important.
I would also imagine that if Brian's main goal is to
win the 400 m events he would also include training
for the 400 m event while running the indoor season.
If I understood Brian's reason for running the 800 m
was to increase his endurance (more mitochondria) so
that he would have a better kick at the end of his 400
m event. If I am correct, then Brian needs to improve
his lactate training and not necessarily his strength.
> Best Regards
> Nick Tatalias
> Johannesburg
Nick I enjoy this dialogue and am looking forward to
your comments.
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