|
TRAINING AND
COMPETING IN THE MYSTERY ZONE Gordon Sleivert, PhD, Director, Human Performance Center, School of Physical Education, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. gsleivert=AT=pooka.otago.ac.nz Sportscience News Sep-Oct 1997 http://www.sportsci.org/news/news9709/sleivert.html |
|
The topic of this panel
discussion was preparation for events lasting 1-5 minutes, a
mystery zone requiring aerobic and anaerobic power. Most
panelists agreed that: aerobic development is of primary
importance; aerobic and anaerobic fitness should be
maintained in all phases of training; a prolonged period of
anaerobic training increases the risk of overstraining;
shorter events require more resistance training, which
should emphasize development of relative strength or power
rather than muscle hypertrophy; and to taper for a
competition, maintain high-intensity training while reducing
training volume. |
800-m runner Wilson Kipketer |
Events that take between one and five minutes to complete require energy from both the aerobic and oxygen-independent (anaerobic) systems. Some coaches have described this competition range as the mystery zone, because strategies for training and competing in events within this zone are not well understood. The goal of the meeting was to provide a consensus statement about training and competing in the mystery zone, for use by US athletes, coaches, and sport scientists. The discussion covered other topics, such as the coach-scientist relationship, the use of sportscience by high performance sport, and the gap between sport and the scientist. I will restrict this report to training for events in the mystery zone. Pacing and other strategies for competition in the mystery zone were not discussed.
Energy Supply
It is now acknowledged
that energy supply for these events is approximately 50% aerobic and
50% anaerobic at the one-minute end of the spectrum. The anaerobic
contribution is a mixture of alactic energy supply and oxygen
independent glycolysis. When ATP is utilized at high rates in the
first 10-15 seconds of exercise it is primarily regenerated by the
ATP-CP system which does not generate lactate as a by-product. This
system is therefore often referred to as the "alactic system".
Simultaneously glycolysis is generating ATP and lactate is being
produced. This "lactate" system cannot supply ATP as quickly as the
alactic system but can sustain energy supply for up to 60 s, or even
a bit longer at a rate faster than the aerobic glycolytic system. As
the events get closer to five minutes, the importance of the aerobic
system increases. You must therefore train both aerobic and anaerobic
energy systems to be successful in the mystery zone.
Aerobic Training
It is well known that
aerobic zone training develops the ability of the muscles to utilize
oxygen and provide energy during exercise. The experts agree that
this type of training, also known as base training, also enhances the
"VO2 kinetics" the rate athletes recruit the
aerobic system at the start of the event. This enhancement is
important, because an increase in the rate that the aerobic system
kicks in at the start of exercise will save anaerobic capacity for
the end of the event and thereby help maintain pace or intensity.
Base training improves kinetics by increasing the density of
energy-producing mitochondria within muscle. Base training also
increases the density of capillaries, which deliver oxygen to the
muscle and remove substances that cause fatigue. The experts also
speculated that large volumes of aerobic training may develop the
ability of muscle and nerve to maintain sodium and potassium
homeostasis during exercise, another factor thought to be linked to
fatigue. But more research is required, since it was not clear
whether interval training is any less effective in modifying any of
these factors.
Anaerobic Training
High-intensity training
or anaerobic training develops the ability of muscle and blood to
buffer and tolerate high levels of lactic acid and other waste
products. The activity of key enzymes important to anaerobic energy
supply is also increased with high intensity training. The experts
all agreed that anaerobic capacity can be increased through this type
of training and that it is an integral part of preparation for
mystery zone events.
Balancing Aerobic and
Anaerobic Training
The debate continues
regarding the relative importance of developing an aerobic base prior
to inserting significant amounts of anaerobic training. All of the
coaches present agreed that base development was essential, and all
utilized large volumes of aerobic training for the majority of the
training year. How much base training is optimal? The US swim coaches
suggested 95% of training volume should be aerobic, while US cycling
scientist, Dr Ed Burke, suggested 50% of training should be aerobic
for events of one- to two-minutes duration. There was no consensus in
this area.
Mixing Training Types
There was agreement
that too much base training can be detrimental, and it seems to be
important to train other energy systems simultaneously with the
aerobic system. As an example, Olympic gold medalist Dr Peter Snell
pointed out that in his best world record year he maintained his
speed training during four months of base training immediately after
the European track season. The US swim coach even suggested that the
alactic energy system could be trained every day. It was agreed that
alactic training should occur early in a workout and that other
anaerobic training should not be intermingled with aerobic training
within a single session. The experts also pointed out that frequent
anaerobic lactic acid training may lead to exhaustion and even
overstraining as a result of the muscle damage from the acidity or
other metabolic waste products. Twice a week was suggested as a
guideline for training the lactate system, but many coaches and
trainers use much higher frequencies. For example, the Australian
track cycling team often inserts twice-a-day anaerobic track workouts
on two consecutive days within anaerobic training cycles, and
reportedly obtain good results. The optimal training frequency for
training the lactic acid system is therefore not clear, but everyone
agreed that prolonged periods of anaerobic training is hazardous to
the health of the athlete and put many athletes at risk of
overstraining.
The maintenance of aerobic fitness during anaerobic training was also identified as being a critical factor in the mystery zone. At least several aerobic workouts should be inserted each week during periods of anaerobic training emphasis. We also know that interval-type anaerobic training provides some maintenance of aerobic function, so there is no need to get carried away with aerobic maintenance training.
The issue of how to structure training was not discussed: it appeared to be assumed that everybody periodizes their training. In my opinion, the evidence that periodization is the best way to structure training is purely anecdotal. Sebastian Coeâs father and coach, Peter Coe, along with sports scientist David Martin, have suggested that part of Coeâs middle distance success story was due to his "multi-paced" training strategy. With this strategy, each of the components important to competition was trained all year round, the rationale being that athletes should never lose touch with any of the important performance factors. Greater emphasis was placed on base work during the preparation phase and speed work during the pre-competition and competition phases, but no training mode was ever abandoned. As with traditional periodized training, there is scant scientific evidence to support Coe's method. Coaches must decide for themselves which approach best meets their athletes' needs. Until there is more evidence, I feel that a balance is the safest bet.
Strength Training in the
Mystery Zone
The role of strength
training for mystery-zone events was only briefly discussed. Support
was expressed by most scientists and coaches for a role of strength
training in the short duration events. In particular it was
emphasized that strength training for this event range should be more
event specific than the standard hypertrophy-based training. That is,
training should be aimed at developing muscular power and/or relative
strength.. The American swim coach suggested that strength training
should be prescribed to match race strategy and was more important
for swimmers with long verses short distances per stroke. Dr Ed Burke
pointed out that plyometric training was useful only in cycling for
events up to one kilometer distance (about one minute). Robert
Vaughan reiterated this point from an athletics perspective, stating
that the importance of strength training diminished on the track as
race distance increased. This may be true, but resistance training
should not be dismissed as worthless for the longer events, as recent
evidence from both Finland and the US suggests that strength training
can improve performance in races up to 10 km in well trained runners.
The possible importance of strength training as a method of injury
prevention should also not be overlooked.
Tapering and Peaking for the
Mystery Zone
Is peaking different
for the mystery zone? It was generally agreed that most athletes
competing in the mystery zone have to peak less frequently than
endurance athletes. It was also agreed that you can maintain a peak
for longer when training for shorter anaerobic events, for example
the track 400 meters, versus longer aerobic events. Both the coach
and athlete must balance regeneration with maintenance, because many
factors that improve with training are lost quickly. The US rowing
coach outlined a typical taper for his athletes. Most of their
tapering involves three weeks of high intensity training, decreasing
volume by up to 40%, with intensity set at 95% to 105% of race pace.
Many variations of taper are utilized for peaking in the mystery
zone, and no consensus was reached between any of the experts.
Conclusions
As you have probably
decided by now, training and competing in the mystery zone is a
mystery zone in itself. The experts can't agree on the best
strategies. I hope this article stimulates you to think about your
own training strategies for the mystery zone and helps you compare
your training philosophies with those of other coaches and sport
scientists.