The Long Game…

If you have been in my heats recently, you probably are tired of me telling you about keeping efforts repeatable!  If your efforts, splits or attempts aren't repeatable… it's not aerobic.  Coaches that use terms like "keep it aerobic", but give you AMRAPs @ 100% effort are just making you tired, and forcing you to suffer instead of maximally training the aerobic (or anaerobic glycolytic) pathway.

Whether you're training for competition or health & longevity, you can benefit from adopting a "long game" mentality.  Improving and building upon your aerobic threshold will ramify out to other facets of your fitness… like strength, stamina, muscular endurance… and dare I say, it will improve your confidence!?!

Before I share some personal rowing data… let's address the first step of the training process, which is to identify some goals.  If you scroll through this blog, you'll find the post with 7 questions regarding personal priorities… starting there is great!  I find most of the time during a consultation, an athlete will establish a goal, but after getting a better perspective of personal priorities that goal changes or doesn't seem as important as just being fit, healthy and happy! 

One of the really cool parts of my job is having time to experiment with different techniques and templates… and I put myself through different training scenarios to measure adaptation and decide how to tweak things for private clients or group classes.

Something that has been working is a 10 week aerobic power template… 10 repeats at a set workload, where rest goes from positive to 1:1 to negative over 10 weeks.  The results always amaze me… not sure why, because I know it works… but when you have to repeat 10 sets of work at 30sec rest, it seems impossible… but when you finish, it didn't seem that bad!

So what I have been experimenting with is the idea of increasing aerobic power over time… a very long game!  I have bounced back and forth from 400m & 600m rowing repeats… 90sec Assault Bike repeats, and combinations of the two, with 400m sprints added to the mix.  I have felt the best when sticking to one single modality, as opposed to couplets or triplets… but that's just what works for me!

Here you will see the results of week 10 of a template achieved in December 2016.  The workload was 10 x 400m @ 1:55 pace… week 1 was 2:00 rest b/t sets.  I subtracted 10sec per week from the rest, ending at 30sec rest in week 10.  As you can see… the efforts were repeatable, even at minimal rest.  Total time was ~20:00… which is a great time domain to train in regard to being good at stuff like CrossFit.  

The next picture on the right is the end result of a 8 week template from April 2017, consisting of 10 x 600m @ 1:55 pace… week 1 was 2:10 rest b/t sets.  I subtracted 10sec per week from the rest, ending at 1:00 rest in week 8.  Again, repeatable efforts… but this one was a lot harder physically and mentally.  Total time was 33:00… which takes you into that long game training space!  At this point in my training, I was dialed into "feeling" a 1:55 pace, and I was almost perfect for all 10 sets!

The next two pics are from my logbook… 

I am currently in another 10 week template, but working at a 1:52 pace.  The goal is to see if there is truly adaptation over time, and if we can indeed increase aerobic power as we age.  This is the 8th week of a 10 week template.  I have two weeks to go, and have no idea if I will be able to hold on!!  The goal of this post is to prove that the long game works!  We can adapt, get stronger and increase power… but we need to be patient and be ok with putting in the time and doing the stuff that sucks… like 10 weeks of repeats working towards negative rest! 

Work-recover… x 10!  Hopefully you can see how this relates to any given WOD, regardless of format and time domain. 

Don't lose sight of obvious items here… the paces I am rowing, running and Assault Biking are based on my personal time trials… and my efforts and results vary based on my diet, sleep, stress and training workload.  The idea of training at 80% effort over time, leads to 85% effort over time, which leads to 90% effort over time… and so on.  This is, in a sense (and in my opinion), broadening my aerobic capacity, and allowing me to work at a higher percentage of effort longer, before entering into my lactate threshold and eventually hitting the point of no return!  I know that 1:55 is a repeatable pace for me now, based on my body of work… so when I get rowing in a WOD, or I get into a testing scenario… I know what that pace "feels like"… it's valuable information, and an awesome tool to have in my toolbox!

Suffering is very different than training… and not every workout should be a threshold workout taking you to your point of no return.  By adopting a long game approach, we will be better suited to handle testing scenarios, and our bodies/minds will be prepared to adapt to maneuvering through the suffering.

I wanted to share this with you, because it's important!  Sometimes you need to see data to wrap your head around an idea or concept!  

My long game approach has me working towards a goal that is 4 years away!  There are some mini goals on the map… but being fit enough to compete at 50 is something I am striving for… 

What's your long game goal… and what are the signs that you are moving towards that goal??  Please feel free to share in the comments!!

 

Thanks for listening, and thanks for sharing!