Topic - The Training Year:
Base Training - Speed
Date first posted on eCommunity - 30
June 2008
In the last two postings we have been looking at off-season training
and we have suggested that skiers of all standards could benefit
from copying some of the training methods used by competitive
skiers. The two postings covered slow-paced endurance work and
strength conditioning respectively. There is a third element to
consider - speed work.
First, a health warning - you must have a reasonable base of fitness
before you do any speed training. If you are new to regular exercise
you should delay starting speed work for a few months to allow your
fitness to build up, and then shade into it very gently.
But if your fitness is already good, you can start now, in the first
place by including some bursts of speed in the over-distance
workouts that we discussed in the "endurance" posting two weeks ago.
We referred then to Rob Sleamaker's book Serious Training for
Endurance Athletes. Sleamaker says: "speed bursts are very brief, 15-
to 20-second speed releases during overdistance (OD) workouts.
Every 20 or 30 minutes during OD sessions, gradually increase your
pace until it is equal to or 10 percent faster than your fastest
race pace. The build up to this pace should take about 10 seconds.
Once attained, hold that speed for 5 to 10 seconds maximum; then
resume OD workout pace."
The idea behind this is to train your muscles and energy systems to
carry you more quickly for short periods.
There are many other variants of speed work. The most common are
intervals, fartlek and pyramids. All three are good for increasing
your basic pace, allowing you to go faster for longer periods. The
following examples use walking as the activity, but you can adapt
for jogging, cycling or other endurance activities.
INTERVAL TRAINING
In interval training, bursts of high-intensity effort are alternated
with periods of active recovery.
Short-distance interval work can be done, for example, around the
perimeter of football pitches. A simple routine would involve
walking one side of the pitch slowly, then one side at moderate
pace, then the third side slowly, and then the fourth side at
moderate pace. The number of circuits of the pitch can be increased
as your fitness develops.
To give variety to short-distance sessions - and to increase the
intensity - you can work on a pattern of reducing-recovery
intervals. Using a square field whose sides are each 150 metres
long, the sequence might now look like this:
- walk slowly round all four 150-metre sides to warm up
- do one side fast, one side slow
- do one side fast then do a shorter side, say 140-metres, slow
- do one side fast then do a still shorter side, say 130-metres, slow
- continue to reduce the recovery interval by a fixed amount each
time. (The square shape of the field will help you keep track of
progress.)
Longer-distance interval training is particularly useful for people
training for endurance events. The most straightforward way to
proceed is to find a park with one long side - at least 500 metres
long. Then simply walk along it in one direction at a slow pace,
and turn and walk back at a fast pace, repeating the sequence
several times.
FARTLEK
Interval training requires that REGULAR bursts of speed are
alternated with REGULAR recovery periods. For a less structured
alternative you can try fartlek, a Swedish word that means "speed
play" and denotes an irregular mix of work and active recovery. On a
country route you might walk slowly down the lane to the bridge,
then go more quickly up the hill to the farmhouse, then slowly along
until you reach the forest, then go really quickly to the far forest
boundary. You just make it up as you go along.
PYRAMIDS
In pyramid training you gradually increase the intensity of effort
until you reach a peak, and then gradually decrease the intensity
until you are back at your starting level. If you were to draw a
graph of this, it would be shaped like a pyramid.
For a good example take a look at Simon Waterson's book Commando
Workout (Thorsons, 2002). It describes a 30-minute routine for power
walkers or joggers. Suggesting you do it almost every day, Waterson
says that this is how commandos keep themselves aerobically fit. The
routine is unlikely to fulfill his publisher's promise of "total
fitness in 4 weeks" but it's useful for days when you want an
intensive workout. It is also a good way, if the weather is too poor
to train outdoors, to make a treadmill session interesting, which is
always something of challenge.
You start with 5 minutes at Level 3 (equivalent to gentle walking)
then progress as follows:
2.5 minutes at Level 5 (moderate intensity at which you can still
hold a full conversation)
2.5 minutes at Level 6 (breathing heavily; conversation possible but
more difficult)
2.5 minutes at Level 7 (hard work)
2.5 minutes at Level 8 (harder still)
2.5 minutes at Level 9 (almost maximum effort)
Then you descend back to Level 6 at the same rate that you ascended:
taking 2.5 minutes at each of the levels. You then warm down for 5
minutes at Level 3.
Waterson has designed the workout so that it fits into a 30-minute
slot. But you can adapt it to suit your own requirements. Personally
I prefer a 60-minute workout, with longer warm-up and warm-down
periods, so when I do this kind of training I start with 15 minutes
of low (but increasing) intensity, then move up and down the
pyramid, then finish with 15 minutes of low (and slowly decreasing)
intensity.
Speed work should form only a small part of your total training
time. During the base training phase elite athletes will devote only
about 10 per cent of their total training time to speed and interval
training. For the rest of us an even smaller amount will be
appropriate.
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