Friday 21 January 2011

Foundations of Running #2: Endurance

Posted by speedygeoff on Friday, January 21, 2011 with
In 2011, for the speedygeese training group, I shall be trying out a four month cycle instead of the six months or twelve months cycles we have followed in the past. We are going to devote a month at a time focusing on each of four phases. This allows for more variety: we don't want to get stuck on one training phase for months at a time. And we would like to cater for new runners who can arrive at any time during the year. These new runners will be encouraged to start off doing basic aerobic endurance work, if they so wish, until in no more than three months the group will catch up and the new runners will be in sync.

These are the four types of endurance running which comprise the phases of our four month training cycle:
  • Aerobic endurance
  • Anaerobic endurance
  • Speed endurance
  • Strength endurance
Aerobic and anaerobic are important in varying degrees depending on the distance being raced. If you specialise in a particular distance you may be interested in this table:

Distance / Event
% Aerobic
% Anaerobic
200 metres
5
95
400 metres
17
83
800 metres
34
66
1,500 metres
55
45
5,000 metres
80
20
10,000 metres
90
10
Marathon
98
2

Keep in mind however that very few members in the training group want to specialise. Also, I don't know how well the table translates to non-elite folks like us.

Our speedygeese aerobic endurance phase starts in February (and again in June and October). In future posts I will explain more and provide information about the training we do in each monthly phase of the cycle.

All running develops endurance of some kind or another. When you "go for a run", you could ask yourself, "Which type of endurance am I developing today"?

Result from the Pro-Am meet 15 January:
800m
Damian Rutledge
 2:11.12

Report from last night's track meet:
Damian
had a very good run in the 400m, about 56 seconds, which shows his 800m can improve significantly. I ran both the 3000m and the 5000m, something I "never do". So we shall see if I suffer this time! I am finding 4:20 pace comfortable, which is what I averaged in both races, but may delay by a couple of weeks any attempt to run faster. I don't want to focus on racing quite yet. And I might have to back off after tomorrow's "easy" half marathon run, we shall see.

Good luck to Bronwyn and Jodie, off to run in the Maui Oceanfront Marathon this Sunday. Actually Bronwyn is running the half marathon, and Jodie the 15k. Website: http://www.mauioceanfrontmarathon.com/.