training

  One of the most significant changes in training to come out of the
  sports science world recently is the reduction of “junk miles”.  Junk
  miles are those long slow miles thought to be the only way to build
  endurance. 

  Long, slow miles are important for someone new to endurance sports. 
  Athletes who have been training for a few years don’t need to put in
  huge amounts of junks miles unless training for ultra distances.  Take
  for example cycling. If your longest race is a hundred miles, your long
  training ride need only be 60 miles.  It’s a good idea to do a 100 miles
  ride occasionally during your training season to see how your body
  reacts, but there is no reason to do it every weekend. 

It is far more beneficial to focus on the quality and intensity of your workouts rather than the duration.  One longer endurance workout a week is all you need.  The others should focus on intensity and recovery. 

Endurance
The one long endurance workout you do must be done at an easy pace.  Do not add sprints or power workouts to your endurance session.  This session is to build endurance with duration; adding intensity will only wear you out and limit the benefit of the endurance workout. 

Intensity
The fastest way to increase performance is to add periodized intervals and adequate recovery to you training schedule.  Intervals are used to raise your lactate threshold, increase speed and wattage output, and raise your VO2max to it’s maximum limit. 

The type of intervals you do, the duration of the interval and recovery periods are different for each individual.  You will benefit by adding generic type intervals to your schedule. In order to experience big gains in your performance and get the most out of the time you have to workout, go to
our coaching section for a custom training program designed around
your schedule, goals, weaknesses and races. 

Recovery
When you add intervals to your schedule, recovery becomes an even more important component.  Your body needs more time to repair muscle and eliminate metabolic waste.  Recovery can be active recovery or rest, depending on your fitness level.  Active recovery is participating in your sport at 60-65% effort.  This increases circulation, eliminates waste material, circulates nutrients and relaxes sore muscles. 

Stretching
As we age, our muscles, ligaments and tendons loose their elasticity.  The repetitive nature of endurance sports creates muscular imbalances and tightens ligaments and tendons in certain areas, causing skeletal imbalances.  It is vital you stretch all essential muscles, ligaments and tendons in order to prevent related pain from such imbalances. 

If you do not participate in a contact sport, gymnastics or a sport that requires your soft tissue to be hyper extended, there is no benefit in stretching before your workout.  In fact, stretching before a workout without adequately warming up damages muscle tissue.  Always warm up for at least 10 minutes before doing any kind of hard workout and then stretch after the session. 

Strength Training
An important part of endurance training is using resistance to strengthen muscles.  Whether it be weights, circuit training or other forms of resistance, it’s essential for maintaining muscle strength and tone, especially in the off season.  Contact our coaching staff for our circuit exercises designed to build strength and explosive power without adding bulk.