Manipulating Training Load and Understanding Intensity, by Endurance Corner coach Gordon Byrn

This article is the fourth part in a series published by Endurance Corner. Learn more about intensity and training load by clicking on the following links to read part one, part two, and part three.

Yesterday I received a question from an athlete that is a great summary of the way we often view intensity:

Do you recommend staying under 150 for HR in the last month or picking it up a bit and doing more short, faster stuff?

It is a good question that I have often asked myself. Many athletes view intensity as a binary variable -- either I am blasting myself, or, I am training 'aerobically'. I'd encourage you to look beyond how "hard" you are going and consider the training DOSE that you are giving yourself, both across your week as well as in your race simulation workouts.

As I learned from Joe Friel, your training load is a function of frequency, duration and intensity. When you are considering "going faster," ask yourself a few questions first:

• What is the race pacing strategy that will have the greatest probability of the best possible result? In other words, where do you need to go faster? More importantly, what is limiting your capacity to go faster in these segments of the race? Most athletes have the fitness to run considerably faster than they demonstrate in their races.


• What are the work rates implied by your best strategy?


• What is the total work required by your best strategy?

Also remember that high heart rate does not, necessarily, mean high work rate. I am sure that many of us will see that in August with our power meters!

In non-drafting triathlon, you will find that a race strategy that favors the run will have the best risk-return profile. It is far easier to cope with 'race discomfort' when you are running well.

The purpose of your general preparation is to create the fitness to tolerate the total work for your event. As well, the better your tolerance for work, the greater "work rate" training you will be able to handle (work rate being the capacity to sustain race-specific power/pace over time.)

We often forget about the fourth dimension with our training: recovery time. Even within a fixed training intensity, say 250 watts on the bike for 40 minutes, short rests can materially change the stress of the session -- consider, 10x4 min at 250w on 20s recoveries versus 40 minutes continuous. Learning to use strategic rest breaks within your races, as well as your race simulation workouts, can enable you to get much more from your fitness.

Now that we are well into the race season (at least in the Northern Hemisphere), it is natural to consider if a shift towards work-rate training is appropriate. In my last article (Part Three below), I offered benchmarks to use against your Core Volume (similar to CTL). Have an honest look at those benchmarks and ask yourself if you are limited by total work required or the work-rate required. With nearly all of the athletes that I coach the capacity for total work constrains performance.

I am primarily a middle-, and long-distance triathlon coach, so you would expect the duration to dominate the pace. However, I would encourage you to explore your athlete's mean/max profiles for "gaps" in their aerobic range. Quite often, filling a low- or moderate-intensity gap can result in much better top-end stamina.

So to answer the athlete that wrote me: first build the capacity to handle the work required for your event, then focus on the capacity to handle periods of that are 5-10% higher (in terms of power/pace).

When you lift intensity, do it with a plan and specific to your optimal race strategy.

See you at the races,
Gordo

You can read more from Gordo over at www.EnduranceCorner.com.