Above The Anaerobic Threshold

by Knut
(Bergen-Norway)

Should I worry when going "aboce the anaerobic threshold" when training with the 100 day plan ?

"Hey Marius.

You talk about anaerobic threshold in chapter 2, section 3.

I am following your sub 2.45 plan, towards my main goal to London Marathon in April 2010, at the moment in week 2.Most of the hard session are around the AT or in E4. My question is, how hard can you allow our self to push this limit? or go over it?

In your blog, you talk about "Cardiac drift" If you run on treadmill inside, should you always count in some extra 3-5 beats, or is this only when the room is extra hot and moisture?

Let me try to explain, I have the tendency to go over this limit too often in E4 session in the 100 day marathon plan.

Session 1, week 2, sub 2.45, you have 3x4 min, I felt fine that day, so I took 4x4 instead, I ended up with going over my At, and stopped on 179 Bpm, with and average bpm on 159.I have already done this session twice already in the former, sub 3 hour plan, first time I had, 175bpm and avr 156, second time 177bpm and avr 157, and no, 179bpm with avr 159bpm, the speed on mill is from 14km/t to 16km/t, with running rec at 12km/t

I have tested my AT acid threshold, and is around 172 Bpm, and max HR is 190.

So, am I overdoing all my E4 session?
I have read in you blog, it is best to train the smartest way, not the hardest, but where is this line? Should I stop on my AT, from now, or is it ok to push the limit, and go over at the end of each session, with 3-5 bpm?

regards, Knut"

Answer: I'll turn this into a general advice and it an important one :

In my own training I did over 5000 lactate acid tests, which means small tests of capillary blood from your finger in order to determine exactly how hard one is running.

Based on that it made me realize an important thing : the daily "form" you feel varies. A great deal. So does heart rate in regards to intensity at a given pace (some days you have 160 and a high lactate acid, other 170 is that exact same level) and general effort.

In the 100 day marathon plan you see the guide to where you should run that as a whole will help you reach better marathon results. It gives you averages on the way that though those 100 days will level out (some days you go abit above, other below - but you come out in total where you want)

There is no need to worry, the individual sessions - with their length and recovery is composed so that most of the time you'll come out of them in a positive note.

So instead of looking at a few heart rate beats here and there, you want to focus on the big picture - which is the periodization, how the sessions are composed and the approximate paces in relation to eachother.

Meaning in terms of intensity, that the Effort 3 is not as hard as Effort 4 and will on a given day be between 78 and 92 % of your maximum heart rate- most days between 80 and 87 %... and if you in that session have a mix between Effort 3 and Effort 4 - just make sure that there is a variation between these paces. And you will be fine.

Having said that, when you do your Effort 4 sessions, do try and hold a bit back - there is no need to push yourself "over the edge" for optimal results. If you are able to "run another interval if I have to" then you have probably not over-run these. This is a good test to ask yourself.

Wish you all the best,

Marius

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