OUTSIDER COACH #9 - ALAN COUZENS PART 3

So far in this this series on Aussie but now American performance coach Alan Couzens we have covered lactate, training zones and metabolic fitness and today we look at the aerobic system in a bit more detail.

AEROBIC THRESHOLD

During a Step Test, if your aerobic threshold is 60% or less of your VO2Mmax power, then you need more aerobic work...If it's over 60% then you should introduce a little more zone 4/5 work...The aerobic threshold is the 1st rise in lactate...Estimate VO2Max power by doing a 5 and then 20 minute all out run then get the average of those runs...You can also use the Karvonen formula to estimate 60% of your VO2Max from a known resting heart rate/maximal heart rate...My max heart rate is 180 and my resting heart rate is 57bpm...The formula is ((MHR - RHR) x % intensity) + RHR so ((180 - 57) x .6) + 57 = 131bpm is 60% of my VO2Max

AEROBIC BASE

Those with a strong ability to use fat as substrate spend more time training at a low intensity/less than 70% of their threshold/pace while also tending to train with more volume...Ramping up training from 400hrs to 800hrs/yr resulted in almost 2x the fat oxidation

AEROBIC CAPACITY

For a typically fit, middle aged dude with a threshold of 5min/km then most of your training should be at 50% or less of your threshold meaning 10min/kms meaning walking and that’s how you get your volume

NASAL BREATHING

If you can nasal breath for the entire session (I do), then that's an excellent sign you're training at your aerobic threshold/1st rise in the lactate curve/max fat oxidation...You can do the most work with the less fatigue here and is the 1st deepening of the breath

This the deepening of the breathe/opening of the lungs is generally felt as a need to move more air through the body so you intuitively open the mouth to help out

The point where you want to open your mouth to get enough air in the lungs is a good proxy for aerobic threshold and it’s quite/subtle/not forced and not a competition to see how much air you can move through your nostrils

As exercise intensity increases, we move from nasal breathing to quiet mouth breathing to loud mouth breathing which is right up at your VO2Max where metabolic acidosis is starting to increase and the body’s response to it is to blow off the increasingly carbonic acid in the form of additional carbon dioxide and is visible in the relationship between total CO2 production v O2 being consumed

Ventilation makes a sharp increase but respiratory rate barely moves and in some cases will actually decrease as now the body’s urge is to breathe out deeper to rid the increasingly acidity of the blood in the muscles and this is often wrongly identified as the 1st ventilation threshold...Athletes spend too much time in this acidic/carb costly state when there is significant benefit to be had being far below it at an intensity that allows nasal breathing

Earn the right to be a loud mouth breather