For the last 7 or so weeks I've been using a program developed by US Strength Coach Sam Portland to improve my anaerobic threshold.
I posted a video about a few weeks ago:
It was originally a 4 week program but because of my back injury it has actually taken me 7 weeks to complete as I had a full week off training pretty then I repeated week 1 to get back into it before doing the final week last Thursday.
The original test was a 6min run that I did pre-program where I managed a pretty piss-weak 1170m with a meters per second score of 3.25m/s.
The original plan was to do the 9 sets of 20secs per set, equaling 3mins total per set which I did in a shuttle style for week 1 but from week 2 onwards, I simply went up and down at my own pace some sets were completed in less than 3mins.
I'm not a huge continuous runner, more a repeat sprint type, so each season I need to top this fitness quality up with a concentrated block during the season where hopefully it doesn't affect me Saturdays too much.
Using heart rate recovery as well as m/s as my progressional markers, I recorded my heart rates immediately after each set, then at the 1 and 2min points before going again at the 3min rest mark.
On the last set I took heart rate readings immediately after the set and then at the 1, 2, 3, ,4 and 5min marks.
On week 1 I only took heart rates after the final set of the session.
Here are my m/s readings for each session:
Week 1 I covered 1170m in 360secs for 3.25m/s
Week 2 I covered 1755m in 532secs for 3.3m/s
Week 3 I covered 2340m in 687secs for 3.41m/s
Week 4 I covered 1107m in 360secs for 3.10m/s (comeback session from lower back injury that kept me unable to train at all for 8 - 9 days!)
Week 5 I covered 2925m in 878secs for 3.33m/s
I was definitely covering more ground each week I did this program, I could sense that without any data.
My actual best time covering the 585m set was 2mins46secs which I managed for the last set on week 3 but I couldn't break that on week 5 unfortunately after the lay off.
For that best time though I did employ a tip from running coach Steve Magness (I think it was but don't quote me) that suggested to alternate short and long stride periods for distance runs. As short strides requires less energy to perform you can keep fatigue at bay if you interchange with periods of long stride. I remember doing something like 2 lengths short stride, 2 length long stride or something like that but whatever I did, I somehow managed to get my best time on the last set of the day when I was already rooted so there's definitely something in it.
My heart rates taken immediately following each set was:
Week 1 - 180 (only taken after set 2 though)
Week 2 - 168, 162, 180
Week 3 - 168, 180, 186, 174
Week 4 - 186, 180 (comeback from injury week)
Week 5 - 174, 186, 198, 192, 198
As you can see week blew me up and improvement can be seen in weeks 2 and 3. Week 4 was the comeback to running session where I looked like a baby giraffe learning to walk more than anything but week 5 was very hard also after the extended lay off.
You can also se that each set was harder for me then the previous in most cases and another win for the short/long stride thing is that my heart rate actually decreased from the previous set (186 v 174) even though I was more fatigued and ran a faster time on that last set.
My heart rates taken at the 1min recovery mark following each set was:
Week 1 - 150 (only taken after set 2 though)
Week 2 - 150, 150, 156
Week 3 - 144, 150, 150, 150
Week 4 - 150, 138 (comeback from injury week)
Week 5 - 156, 156, 162, 168, 162
Pretty consistent across the board for the 1min post recovery rates hitting the high 140's and the low 150's for the moat part which is a 25 - 35 heart beat drop which is not bad, but not great either.
Bare in mind I'll never go for 3mins straight in a game of football as a deep forward.
I might re-test my 6min run tomorrow weather permitting to see how it stacks up but this is very effective program in my book and very easy to set and do.
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