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The Corner: The Two Hour Test
By Gordo Byrn
10/28/2009 |
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When most of us hear the word "test" we are immediately transported backwards to our school days. This week's article is about a test that you are guaranteed to pass!
What is amateur triathlon in the purest physiological sense?
A sub-max long-duration multisport time trial undertaken by non-elite subjects, largely over 30 years old.
From where does the majority of our sports science come from?
Maximal, short duration, single sport time trials undertaken by elite subjects, largely under 30 years old.
I highlight this point, not to detract from the benefits of a scientific-based approach to training. Rather, I think that it is important for you (or your coach) to consider how best to measure, and improve, what is most likely limiting your performance, rather than the young adults that do most the physiological studies.
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What Is Endurance?
At the end of this article you'll find a link that defines the terms that follow as well as an article that will let your translate between your preferred training zone protocol and what we use at Endurance Corner.
For endurance sport there are two physiological breakpoints that relate to your low-, and moderate-, aerobic capacity: Aerobic Threshold (the bottom of your Steady zone); and Lactate Threshold (the top of your Mod-hard zone). Using breath markers, Aerobic Threshold (AeT) is the point where you must open your mouth to continue training and Lactate Threshold (LT) is the point at which you can hear the breathing through your mouth.
As I wrote in my Training in the Fourth Dimension piece, these key markers may change over time: due to a training effect (across a season); or due to other effects (across a workout).
Probably the most common error with endurance training is training one gear up on all your sessions. A good test of this would be to train at a low Steady power/pace and close your mouth. If you immediately feel like you are going to swallow your tongue (!) then you are likely much closer to LT than the AeT.
Your muscle fibers don't care if you "can handle" training harder than AeT. In order to maximize your potential as an endurance athlete AND increase your capacity to sustain training load when it matters (4-7 weeks out from your key event)... you will need the support of your slowtwitch fibers which are best trained by sustained efforts around AeT.
Ultimately, your capacity to sustain "race pace" is best built by training your capacity to sustain power/pace at these two aerobic markers (AeT and LT).
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Setting Zones
We tend to default to benchmarks that are easy to measure - specifically, percentages of relatively short duration tests (5 to 25% of event duration). When building endurance I would encourage you to define "Steady" based on the lower of metabolic, lactate, heart rate, breathing and perceived effort markers.
When you have an athlete that "can't handle" your program - the individual likely has a personal limiter that is not being captured by the method you are using to define "Steady". These limiters become apparent through fatigue, illness and a lack of consistency.
You could tell your client (or yourself) to HTFU, or you could do something more useful and adjust the program down to the point where they can train consistently.
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The Test
There are three different levels of the test that I like to use:
A - sit for two hours at AeT power/pace
B - sit for two hours at AeT power/pace and insert 20 minutes of LT power/pace at the end of each hour
C - sit for two hours at LT power/pace
In each of the tests, quantify the following at 20 minute intervals:
• Average and max heart rate
• Average power/pace
Then compare how the averages move over the duration of the test. In a well trained, well fed, well hydrated athlete, you shouldn't see a lot of adverse movement. Adverse movement (HR up for same power/pace) is called decoupling. I've linked up a couple of excellent articles for you to understand more about decoupling.
If you are consistently decoupling across your aerobic test sets then you likely have an endurance limiter as well as a pacing limiter. You should also use the breath test to see if you might have your zones set a bit high.
Highly motivated athletes will be in a hurry to progress to the two-hour LT benchmark test. If you are like most of my new clients... odds are, you have been doing a lot of LT+ training already (and not realizing it).
Far more important is building your AeT endurance to the point that you can achieve your race duration (without decoupling) in a single day. If your race duration is longer than what you can practically achieve in a single day then your LT, and LT+, performance will NOT be indicative of your race-specific endurance.
With my 2009 focus on 70.3 racing, I didn't feel that my endurance was well established until I could achieve:
• four hours of AeT cycling (target watts) without decoupling;
• two hours of LT cycling (target watts) without decoupling;
• 80 minutes of AeT running (target pace) without decoupling; and
• 60 minutes of race pace swimming followed by an hour of AeT cycling (target watts) with less than 5% decoupling.
There is no magic protocol but I wanted to share the above to give you some guidelines on what I shoot for in my own training.
Given that most of us are at the beginning of our seasons, it's a lot easier to train smart at this time of year.
No Easy Way,
gordo
Gordo can be found over at www.EnduranceCorner.com where he coaches endurance athletes and leads cycling-focused training camps. His triathlon training plans are also available via TrainingPeaks. He recently qualified for Clearwater 70.3 in November 2010 by applying the principles he shares in this column.
[1] Endurance Corner Training Zones - http://www.endurancecorner.com/library/endurance_training_essentials/training_zones
[2] Speaking The Same Language - http://www.endurancecorner.com/library/exercise_physiology/endurance_physiology_language
[3] Assessing Your Bike Fitness - http://www.xtri.com/coaches_display.aspx?riIDReport=5896&CAT=48&xref=xx
[4] Training in the Fourth Dimension - http://www.xtri.com/coaches_display.aspx?riIDReport=5551&CAT=48&xref=xx
[5] The Science of Decoupling - http://www.endurancecorner.com/decoupling
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