Decline with age

[jackarabit]

Yes this is a great threat [sic]. I'm old enuf and heartsick enuf (coronary artery stent) to know for whom the bell tolls but I'll sit in a hand anyway.

I recently put down a personal best 2k time which would do a superfit 83 yr. old proud but is lower second quartile for my age group. Should I give up moderately difficult chores like 15x3'/1'R for something like 5x3/1 which respects Friel's nominal volume ceiling for high intensity?

I consider this an arbitrary rec which doesn't take into account that I probably only reach AT heart rate after the eighth interval and reach TR rates in the final four finishing at 93-95% HRR. In addition to protracted warmup, Friel recommends gradual rates of rise of heart rate In the interval reps. I think I'm adhering to his thinking in a workout format which appears to have too much volume. Similarly, if I do 15x1 on 1R, negative split all by 1", and see an end rate of 90%HRR, I sense that I've had resort to a gradualistic approach to producing time at high intensity which arrives at Friel's HIT volume for the aged and infirm but not to a simple correspondance with the nominal volume of the workouts suggested in Friel's first article linked. Jack

[gregsmith01748]

One interesting point from some of the reading I've been doing. That the effectiveness of high intensity training is more related to the number of training sessions you do than the total work in each session. So, something like two sessions of 5x3' in a week might give better results than one session of 10x3'.

I'll look for the specific reference later, but it's making me think about how to structure my winter training.

[steveroedde]

One interesting point from some of the reading I've been doing. That the effectiveness of high intensity training is more related to the number of training sessions you do than the total work in each session. So, something like two sessions of 5x3' in a week might give better results than one session of 10x3'.

I'll look for the specific reference later, but it's making me think about how to structure my winter training.

I'd be interested in the reference Greg....cheers, Steve

[gregsmith01748]

I'm struggling to find it. The closest that I have seen in my searches is from The Science of Winning by Jan Olbrecht.

Here is an excerpt:

Muscle biopsy research has underlined the importance of the intensity as well as the duration (and thus also volume or mileage) of the training exercises for increasing the number of mitochondria (fig. 8). It was found that the peak adaptation in mitochondria content seems to occur with shorter but highly intensive training exercises. This indicates that short, intense swims are very useful to raise the number of mitochondria. Thus, not only long extensive (slow) workouts but also short, intense exercises are essential for the improvement of the aerobic energy supply process. These short intensive swims seem to affect the recruitment of mitochondria and therefore focus the training stress on this part of the biological adaptation. Long extensive workouts on the other hand, are more suitable for improving the cardiovascular system, the homeostasis and the availability of substrates, and to induce other non muscle specific adaptations.

Olbrecht, Jan (2013-12-17). The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training (Kindle Locations 609-616). F&G Partners. Kindle Edition.

He suggests that endurance training can be optimized by "spicing up" endurance sessions with some high intensity efforts.

How can we apply these scientific findings to training practice to improve the aerobic capacity? Aerobic capacity training can only provide maximum benefit if long swims of low intensity are “spiced” with a few intensive and short stimuli. These “spices”: may only be added in restricted quantity. For swimmers with mostly slow twitch muscle fibers the quantity is strongly restricted. For swimmers who have more fast twitch fibers, the quality or frequency per week of short intense bouts may be higher. The number of short intensive bouts necessary for aerobic capacity training depends primarily on the level of anaerobic capacity and muscle force (non-invasive indication = no biopsy), but will ultimately be determined by a systematic and continuous evaluation of training effects following different doses of short intensive swims must be scheduled in the beginning of a workout and be followed by a long swim of low intensity The intensity at which the long extensive swims have to be carried out can be low since even low intensity provides enough stress on the mitochondria to provoke adaptation. In other words, the swimmer does not have to swim very fast to recruit the slow twitch muscle fibers that are responsible for most of the aerobic capacity

Olbrecht, Jan (2013-12-17). The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training (Kindle Locations 621-631). F&G Partners. Kindle Edition.

I swear I read something very specific that the benefit of intense training had more to do with the number of "training units" that incorporated a high intensity component versus the duration or number of intervals in one session, but I can't find the reference now. I'll keep searching.

In terms of my own training I was thinking about adding a brief sprint workout at the end of some endurance sessions, maybe 3 or 4 1' to 2' intervals to experiment with the concept. Not sure though.