PREPARING FOR FALL CONDITIONING

Around this time of the year, coaches are ready to start planning their Fall Conditioning Programs. In a past Blog, I talked about developing a Training Philosophy with which to use as a guide towards the process of athlete development. Vern Gambetta’s recent Blog concerning the coaches’ role in this development makes it clear that coaches need to grow and develop the same as athletes grow and develop. Gambetta points to a model created by British coach Frank Dick, thirty years ago. In Sports Training Principles, Coach Dick outlines the process of athlete development in four steps. 1) Basic Conditioning and all that it implies 2) Basic Technical Model (of the specific event movements) 3) Appropriate Advanced Conditioning 4) Specific Advanced Technical Model I have used this model unknowingly for over two decades but what I thought was important to share is the emphasis on having no specific timeline to accomplish these steps. Once athletes master one of the steps, they proceed on their own timeline towards the mastering the next step. It is the coaches who provide the motivation to begin the movement through each of the steps towards successful accomplishment of four basic stepping-stones towards mastering their event. Another great point that is made is one that the coach’s role should change in the process. It should evolve from that of a teacher and guide to one of mentor or consultant. My philosophy of coaching has always been to teach the “event” in such a way as to develop each athlete as both an athlete and a “prospective coach”. When you look at it in this way, there can be no timeline for mastery, just a continual growth of both coach and athlete that literally has NO FINISH LINE. So, what does this have to do with preparing a Fall Conditioning Program for your athletes this September? To answer that, you must ask yourself these questions: 1) How practical is your program? Can it be done within the confines of your physical environment, available equipment and amount of time allotted to train? Can it meet the varying needs of all the individuals in your program in respect to developing the Basic Conditioning and teaching of the Basic Technical Model? 2) Does the training fit the people you are coaching or are you trying to make the athletes fit the training? Can you develop different levels of conditioning activities to challenge different levels of fitness and talent? Can you pre-test athletes in order to group them according to the fitness levels most common to your group of athletes? 3) Do you have alternate plans to address situations you might encounter? Can you spend more time teaching a beginning group while intermediate and advanced groups have specific activities that can be accomplished with the leadership of older athletes? Some very wise person wrote “What is crucial is not the technical ability, but the imagination in all of it’s applications”. As coaches, the more we study, read and educate ourselves in the scientific and technical areas of coaching, the better able we should be to “create” different ways of applying the knowledge we have. There is no “one size fits all” way to do anything. Each coach has to learn to master their own environment by applying the scientific principles of training in ways that “fit” their environment. This is the challenge; to grow as a coach in much the same manner as the athletes themselves. So, these are things to think about before sitting down and planning another Fall Conditioning Program. Do you really want to have Sprinters and Hurdlers run Cross Country? How many throwers do not compete in a Fall sport and if so, are there simple, additional things that might be beneficial for them to do that won’t interfere with their Fall Sport? What specific Bio-Motor Abilities need to be addressed in the training plans for sprinters/hurdlers and jumpers ? My next Blog will cover ways to develop specific Bio-Motor ability Circuits for Sprint/Hurdle/Jump types as well as provide examples of beginning, intermediate and advanced circuits to better meet the needs of the various fitness and talent levels of athletes specific to the high school ages.

REACTIVATING THE BLOG Now that I have finished my book; THE ART OF LONG HURDLING: A guide to racing and training for 400m Hurdles, I am ready to start posting training material on a weekly or Bi-Weekly basis. I encourage any of the coaches who have purchased my books to send training questions (as specific as possible) to me via twitter and I will do my best to post blogs related to those questions.

Energy System Training: Sprints vs. Middle & Long Distances

Feedback is definitely a great tool for refining the communicative processes. After some great feedback on my last post concerning Energy System Training guidelines, I have to NOW clarify that the recovery guidelines (except for the short 0-6 second maximum sprints) were based on lower percentages of maximum speeds as used in Middle and Long Distance Training reps.

Since most readers of this Blog have read my book (or, at least have a copy), suffice it to say that the Energy System Charts with volumes, velocities and rest guidelines that appear in it, are for Sprint Training.

Once Sprinters/Hurdlers leave Extensive Tempo Training (75% or < Intensity), they move to Intensive Tempo (76% to 94% Intensity), Speed Endurance (7”-15” at 95-100% Intensity), Specific Endurance (Specific End. I =15”-40” and Specific End. II = 40-60” at 95-100% Intensity) and Special Endurance (Split Runs lasting over 7 seconds each).

Middle and Long Distance Training involves repetition speeds that are based on Onset of Blood Lactate, Lactate Threshold and MaxVo2 Values. When they do “real” speed work, such as Speed Endurance work like 4 x 150 meters at maximum effort or Flying 60’s at Maximum Velocity, they need much more rest than when doing 150-200 reps at 1500 pace.

Recoveries used for the Sprint Training energy system zones of Intensive Tempo, Speed Endurance, Special Endurance I and II, and Specific Endurance are as follows:

SPEED ENDURANCE (7-15” @ 95-100%) = Full (1-2 min/second of activity).
SPECIAL ENDURANCE I & II (15”-40+” @ 95-100%) = Full (0.5-1.5min per second of activity).
SPECIFIC ENDURANCE (Split runs over 7” each @ 95-100%) = Incomplete
It is important to note that Specific Endurance involves Split runs with incomplete rest between the two runs. An example would be sprinting a 200 at race speed, 45” -1’ rest then sprint 100 meters at race speed. This can be repeated 1-2 time with high level athletes with FULL rest between each Split run.

Another term that needs to be clarified is that of intensity. Sprint training intensity can be evaluated in relation to “absolute intensity” and “relative intensity”.

“Absolute intensity” involves intensity in relation to absolute human performance. This would involve maximum velocities reached for 100 meters “always” being at a higher “absolute intensity” level than the intensities reached for 400 meters. Velocities in the 100 meter race will always be higher than those achieved in the 400 meters, even though the 400 is a much more demanding race.

“Relative Intensity” relates to the individual’s personal best or “potential” performance over any distance. When using “relative intensity”, coaches design workouts where 100% Intensity is relative to the individual athlete’s personal best or “potential” best in the various race distances.

Determining individual “relative intensities” can be done by dividing the athlete’s 100% or potential performance time for an event by the percentage you want them to run a specific distance. For example, an athlete with a 200 meter best of 22.00 would run 200 reps at 90% of 22.00(24.44), or 80% of 22.00(27.50) if the plan was for Intensive Tempo 200’s. If the plan called for Special Endurance (95-100%), the target time for the 200 or 2 x 200 w/Full Rest, would be 22.0-23.2 seconds! Thus, the intensity of the workout is dictated by the type of training desired for the specific phase of the Training Year AND each athlete’s personal best times.

While on the subject of Energy System Training, I feel it is important to cover some of the adaptations that take place in Short Sprint (0-10 seconds) Work. Using workouts comprised of 20m to 100m (starting with 20m and working up to 30, 40, 50, 60 and so on) sprints 2-3 times per week can result in 25-50% increases in ATP/CP stores.

Studies also show that 6-8 weeks of short sprint training result in an increase in enzyme activity allowing for the break down and reconstruction of ATP. This enhanced enzyme activity allows for ATP to be broken down faster and energy released quicker in addition to increasing levels of both ATP and CP which are the energy sources of maximum speed/power efforts lasting less than 7”.

The next post will struggle to explain Lactic Acid and Lactate in relation to developing Speed Endurance and Special Endurance in Sprinters and also why improving Onset of Lactate or V4 values for Middle Distance and Distance Runners should be one of the emphases in designing Distance Training plans.

Check out the new Website

Just a quick post to let you know that the highly recommended Speed Endurance Website now has a partner Website that emphasizes all aspects of Power and Speed training with emphasis on Power/Strength areas and Olympic Lifts, Specific Sports Strength, etc. There is a link to access it on this Blog Page in the left hand column under Video Clips/ Web Pages. The URL is listed below. The amount of free information on those two sites is invaluable to those of us who continue the education and learning process. Enjoy!!

http://www.strengthpowerspeed.com/

Energy System Training Methods: What do we want to accomplish?

After receiving a few emails from coaching friends, I have become “more aware” of the problems coaches and athletes have in determining what methods to use for training the various energy systems (aerobic, anaerobic, anaerobic-glycolytic, anaerobic/aerobic). What makes this problem really hard to explain is that regardless of the events (sprints, hurdles, middle distance, distance), there is extensive evidence pointing to the need to train a VARIETY of energy systems according to the specific needs of the event and individual athlete.

For instance, sprinters who race 100 and 200 require a greater emphasis on training the Phosphagen (ATP-CP) energy system whereas the 400 meter sprinter would require a greater emphasis on the Glycolytic (especially Fast Glycolysis-Phosphagen) energy system. However, it is extremely important that both employ percentages of training the Phosphagen (ATP-CP) AND Glycolytic (Fast Glycolytic) systems.

Taking this up the event ladder, 800 meter runners would want to invest some training time in both Phosphagen and Fast Glycolytic areas but emphasize Fast Glycolytic + Oxidative systems training.

1500 runners would emphasize more Fast Glycolytic + Oxidative training while mixing in small amounts of Fast Glycolysis work and medium to high amounts of Oxidative work.

So, how do coaches without a Exercise Physiology background wrap their heads around applying the proper Energy System Training for their individual athletes?

Since Time and Intensity determine what energy system will be the primary energy source, it would be helpful to list the Systems with the specific durations and intensities of efforts unique to each Energy System.

Five Energy System Training Zones are shown below and linked to the intensity and time of efforts relative to repetitions used in each Energy System Training Zone.

1 Phosphagen System 0-6” (sec) Maximum Speed/Power
2 Phosphagen+F.Glycolosis 6-30”(sec) 90- 95% Mx Speed/Power
3 Fast Glycolosis 30”>2’ (min) 75-90% Mx Speed/Power
4 F.Glycolosis+Oxidative 2’-3’ 30-75% Mx Speed/Power
5 Oxidative > 3’ 20-35% Mx Speed/Power

Using the above as a means to determine workouts that would target each specific energy system for training can be a useful tool if used with the proper recovery times. Proper recovery times for each training zone are shown below.
LISTED AFTER EACH ENERGY SYSTEM IS THE AMOUNT OF TIME UTLIZED IN THE REPETITION, FOLLOWED BY THE WORK TO REST RATIO.

1 Phosphagen (efforts of 0>10 seconds) 1:12---1:20
2 Phos.+F.Glycolysis 15”-30” 1:3---1:5
3 F.Glycolysis 30”-60” 1:4---1:6
4 F.Glycolysis+Oxid. 60”>3’ 1:3---1:4
5 Oxidative >3’ 1:1-1:3

Without getting into the long distance training areas of Max Vo2 percentages, LT (Lactate Threshold) or OBL/V4 (Onset of Blood Lactate), it would suffice to say that from 100 to 800 meters there needs to be a certain percentage of training in the first Four Energy System Zones that occurs throughout the training year.

Obviously, the percentages of training in each zone would be based on event, time of year, training age of the athlete and specific body type of the athlete.

It is the attention paid to all these types of details that allows coaches to become true artists in drawing a training plan for their athletes. In the next post I will try and get to the sensitive area of explaining the adaptations that take place when proper training in the first three zones is applied and the what role Lactic Acid really plays in the training adaptation process.

Using Test Results to Design Training Plans

After completing the Strength Testing (third) and Power/Speed/Special Endurance Testing (week 4) weeks of our Third Mesocycle (Four Week Block) of Fall Training, an analysis of results will highlight areas of needed emphasis for the Fourth Mesocycle.

Strength Tests showed the following improvements in the Squat Maximums: 21.3%, 20.4%, 9.6%, 13.8%, 18%, 37%, 9.2%, 13.6%, 20.4% 29.3% and 17.5% for the 11 athletes who tested in all 3 Mesocycles. It should be noted that the three lowest percentage of increase values belonged to athletes who began in the program last Spring and lifted over the Summer. Deadlift improvements were as follows: 64.2%, 53.7%, NC, 8.9%, 19.9%, 28.9% 29.7%, 26.1%, 15.4%, 15.6% and 25.3%. Deadlift improvements seemed to be much greater than Squat improvements when looking only at the numbers but it should be noted that most athletes had no experience in executing the Clean Deadlift and emphasis on technique in the first Two Mesocycles yeilded impressive results. As with the Squat numbers, the lowest percentages of improvement were those of athletes who had been lifting over the Summer and already established good lifting technique.

Power/Speed and Special Endurance Testing showed maintenance of Maximum Velocity (as measured by flying 30 and 20m tests) with big gains in Special Endurance (as measured by 325m T.T.). Improvements ranged from 4.13 seconds (from Mesocycle One to Mesocycle Three) to 0.11 seconds with an average improvement of 2.11 seconds. The 0.11 second improvement represents an athlete who missed the all of the Second Mesocycle of training.

The Maximum Velocity and Special Endurance Tests validated the emphasis on Endurance Training and lower emphasis on Maximum Velocity.

In addition, the Multi-Jump and Multi-Throw training volume increases and attention to technique resulted in big increases in 5Double Leg Bound, Overhead Backwards MB Toss, Between the Legs Forward MB Toss Tests.

Care must be taken to look at testing results in relation to the athletes tested. In many cases there were special circumstances that dictated lower than expected improvements. Some athletes had recent illnesses or absences while some athletes are present on only 3 of the 4 days per week of training. Knowing the circumstances helps the coach to better asses what should be the areas of emphasis for the next Mesocycle of training.

Testing is not easy to implement but certainly plays a major role in helping coaches indentify areas of concern to target for the next training block. Also, the type of athletes plays an even larger role. For example, most of the athletes I work with are more 400/400h and Jumper types and five of them are Throwers. It is necessary to individualize drills, exercises, etc. that target explosive strength, speed, elastic strength, power and endurance according to the specific events of the athletes.

In the next post I will explain background information on Specific Energy System training methods to employ for sprinters of all types.

Fall Training Test Results for Special Endurance

The Chart below shows results for our 325m T.T. Testing, which was done in our Test Weeks #4 and #8. Training during this segment was centered on MW sessions involving short sprints of 20-40m, Tuesday sessions involving Extensive Tempo work of 100, 150 and 200 meter reps (75-80% of 200 bests) with session totals progressing from 1200 to 1800m, and Thursday sessions of Extensive Tempo work of 250, 300, 350 and 400 reps (75%-80% of 400 bests) with session totals progressing up to 2400m. Rests were 1:3, Work: Rest ratios.

325m T.T.
Wk.4 Test Wk.8 Test

46.81 45.40
46.33 44.43
45.28 DNT
43.46 41.43
Sick 47.07
42.90 41.43
44.05 42.54
44.61 Knee Inj.(Basketball)

The results for those who did both tests showed improvements of 1.41, 1.90, 2.03, 1.47 and 1.51 seconds for the 325 Time Trial #2.

Weeks 9-12 will involve a gradual shift from Extensive Tempo at 75-80% to Intensive Tempo at 80-90% with increases in Work to Rest Ratios. For example, the Mesocycle Two /Tuesday type workout of 2x4x200 at 75% w/1.5’ & 3’ would gradually evolve to 4 x 200 @ 85% w/ 4’-5’. Short Sprint work on MW would progress from 20-40m reps to 40- 60m reps while Thursday Endurance work would progress to 300-350m reps at 80-85% of 400m goal times w/1:3-1:5 work rest ratios.

The emphasis of the program is utilizing the Short to Long Sprint work while integrating both short and long Extensive Tempo to allow for energy system training between 20” and 80” at speeds between 75% of 200 goal times and 75-80% of 400 goal times.