Get Fit Faster!

Forget about those aged theories that long, slow training is needed to reach top form. There’s a new paradigm: Shorter, more intense efforts will give you more benefits, whether you’re an elite athlete or a weekend warrior. But in order to work out safely and effectively, you’ll need a little more information. How hard should these workouts be? How often can they be done and still ensure recovery? Do they work for people just starting an endurance activity or is high intensity training reserved for the elite?

How Hard is Hard?
Most people do their endurance-sports workouts at a fairly casual pace. Their heart rates rarely top 80% of max (about 6 to 7 on a Rate of Perceived Exertion scale of 1 to 10). That’s fine—there’s nothing wrong with a mind-clearing run or ride at a pace that’s enjoyable. But there are two key intensities for eliciting improvement:

The first is to hover just below, at, or slightly above what physiologists call the lactate threshold (LT). Without getting into the specifics, it’s a pace you can sustain for 30 minutes or so—but just barely. Go any harder and you’ll gasp, pant, and slow down.
The second key level of intensity consists of harder but shorter efforts (at an RPE of about 9) that elicit lactate buildup in your muscles. This will help your body “learn” to clear the lactate effectively. In a future column, we’ll look at simple ways to pinpoint your unique LT.

A Week in Review

Last week we looked at different ways to measure intensity of training, including heart monitors, power measurers for cycling (like the eTune PowerTap) and subjective methods like RPE or Ratings of Perceived Exertion.

How Often Should I Push Myself?
Intense training is dangerous—it’s harder to recover from intense training, and so the danger of overtraining increases. Also, it’s easy to get burned out mentally because hard training is, well, hard. To avoid these lamentable circumstances, even most elite athletes don’t do intense endurance workouts more than three times a week. For many people twice or even once per week works better. You’ll have to experiment to find your “sweet spot.” On other days, strength train or go easily at a heart rate of only 60 to 75% of max.

What if I’m not a Serious Athlete?
Even a raw beginner can use intense training to get better rapidly. Of course, if you’re new to an activity, you don’t want to launch immediately into flat-out running or cycling. The trick is to vary your intensity, doing most of the workout at a gradual pace but periodically increasing the intensity for short periods. Here’s an example: I ride my bike most of the year and supplement cycling with hiking and weight training. In the winter I sometimes add running. My cardiovascular system is ready for hard ten-milers at 80 to 90% of my max heart rate—but my legs aren’t. They’re used to the smooth, compliant pedaling motion, not being pounded on hard cement or blacktop roads.

If I ran long distances right away, I’d be sore for days. So I alternate walking about 100 yards with another 100 yards of running at a brisk but controlled pace. Each time out, I increase the distance I run and decrease the walking portion. This approach is much better than running a half mile on the first day, then slowly increasing to a mile, then a mile and a half, all at a slow pace. My legs seem to adjust more rapidly when I vary the pace. More importantly, and this is the key point, I’m traveling faster when I run, leading to greater fitness right from the start.

Here Are a Few Workouts To Help You Get Started

Conquer the time crunch
Suppose that you don’t have much time for your workout. In that case you’re better off going harder to take maximum advantage of those precious minutes. Here’s the basic pattern: Start with a ten minute warm up of progressively harder effort until you’re sweating lightly and your breathing is steady. Then increase the pace for several minutes. If you use a heart monitor, aim for a heart rate of about 85 to 90% of max. Pay attention to how your body feels.

Your breathing should be controlled and vigorous but you shouldn’t be panting or gasping. However, you should feel that if you pick up the pace one more notch, you’ll begin to pant, and conversation with a training partner would be impossible. When you’ve hit this threshold, hold it for a minute or two and then back off to a more comfortable pace to recover. Repeat these accelerations several times, go easy for five minutes, and you’re done—a great workout in about 30 minutes.

Gear Watch

Extran Thirstquencher
If you’ve followed pro cycling in recent years, you’ve probably noticed riders swigging greedily from small green foil packages in hot races. No, they’re not drinking fruit juice from some school kid’s lunch. Nearly 80% of the ’99 Tour de France riders relied on Extran, a sports drink made by the Dutch company Nutricia. Now Extran is available in the U.S. I tried Extran in the 111 mile El Tour de Tucson in November ’99 and found that it lives up to the hype. It’s tasty without being too cloying during hard effort and mixes easily. It comes in lemon or Orange flavors in a 1.25 pound can that makes 13 quarts of liquid. $20. http://www.extranUSA.com

Boost your cruising speed on the bike.
After a 15 to 20-minute warm-up, increase speed until you approach your LT. Hold it for ten minutes, then shift to an easy gear and spin lightly for five minutes. You shouldn’t be able to feel pressure on the pedals during this recovery period. Build up to two and then three repeats of the ten-minute harder effort.
Hills are the runner’s friend
Find a hill that takes about three minutes to climb. It shouldn’t be so steep that your running stride is shortened excessively. Warm up with 15 minutes of easy jogging then do about three ascents of the hill with gentle running back down to recover. Again, aim for an intensity during the climb of an RPE of 8 to 9.

It’s all in Your Perceptions: How to Use Ratings of Perceived Exertion

It’s easy to use Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) to monitor how hard you’re working. On a scale of one to ten, one is no activity at all (you’re horizontal on the couch) while ten is flat-out, as hard as you can go. Five is moderate activity like a fast walk. Six is experienced as brisk effort. At seven, you begin to breathe steadily and rhythmically. At eight your breathing intensifies and when you’re gasping and unable to carry on a conversation, you’ve reached nine. With a little practice, you’ll be able to stay in a given RPE zone as you work out.

Intense walking isn’t an oxymoron
Walkers can benefit from more intense training also. Simply walk faster up hills on your route. Swing your arms, increase the turnover time of your stride and push off briskly with your toes. Alternate fast walking with slower ambling throughout your walk.
Take it indoors
On rainy days, or just when it’s more convenient, take any of these inside. Run on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike. The same principles of exertion and intensity apply to any indoor aerobic equipment like rowers, stair climbers and steppers.