Top Endurance

Moderate-work, moderate-duration workouts (aerobic workouts) are the simplest to execute. For most sports, athletes complete these workouts by simply exercising (e.g., riding or running) for anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes at aerobic intensity. The first 5 to 10 minutes and the last 5 to 10 minutes of these workouts should be used to warm up and cool down. For the warm-up, the athlete builds from easy to aerobic intensity; the athlete does the reverse for the cool-down.

Aerobic workouts are a conservative way to improve endurance. These workouts will boost the endurance of a relative beginner in endurance sport. Aerobic workouts are also effective in the early stages of the training year for most athletes. If an athlete is showing signs of heading toward underrecovery syndrome (i.e., consistent fatigue, poor workouts, reduced appetite, moodiness), performing some aerobic workouts instead of interval workouts will help the athlete maintain balance between workout stress and recovery. For most athletes, a good blend of interval workouts and aerobic workouts is the best complement to long workouts.

Designing training programs is both a science and an art. The science is the easy part. The art is the part that develops with experience. Beginner athletes and coaches need to keep in mind that each athlete is an individual and will react slightly differently when performing a given workout. Many variables may affect how an athlete responds to a training program. Three factors that should be taken into account are the athlete’s years of training, current stress levels, and chronological age.

Experience and research have shown that an athlete who has trained consistently will be able to withstand a greater level of training than an athlete who is just starting a training program. The more experienced athlete will usually be able to perform a greater amount of work without incurring negative side effects such as overtraining or inadequate recovery. The more experienced athlete will also be able to handle a greater amount of intensity than the novice athlete. Athletes must avoid falling into the “more is better” strategy of intensity training. The majority of training (as much as 100 percent for the beginning athlete) should be aerobic in nature; even the most experienced athletes should be doing 10 to 15 percent of their work at high intensity. If too much high-intensity work is performed, the athlete will not have adequate recovery. Many athletes—both novice and experienced—make the mistake of training too hard during the low-intensity workouts, which inhibits their ability to go as hard as they should for the higher-intensity work.

Many novice athletes and coaches forget that stress levels hamper an athlete’s ability to recover from training. Family, job, and relationships are all potential stressors, as is an athlete’s living situation, such as living with a noisy roommate. An athlete or coach needs to be realistic about everything that may affect training. The athlete who is starting a new job, is recently married, or has just moved across the country may respond to training differently than the young and single individual who has no responsibilities other than working and training for competition. The best training programs follow the science of periodized planning, but the athlete or coach should recognize that a plan may need to be adapted or changed depending on how the athlete responds.

Older athletes sometimes require additional rest or recovery in order to achieve the optimal training effect. Older athletes are more likely to have limitations due to previous injuries, aging factors (such as arthritis), disc degeneration, and decreased strength. This doesn’t mean that older athletes are unable to compete at high levels. It simply means that younger athletes may have a faster rate of recovery and a greater rate of improvement from training.