more musings on the 10% rule

the first 5 is a real effort. Possibly the hardest 5 of the bout.
but gradually, 5 becomes 10
10 becomes 20. my timer stops at 20, so at some point, you use a counter because you might lose track of your 20’s.
So it goes for 4+ cycles of 20 without a break.
There are many so-called axioms for the athlete’s training plan. One of the more common one for runners is the 10% rule. I can’t seem to find the first use of it, but as far back as my old texts and training guides go (a *long* time ago), the rule seems to be to only increase your training volume no more than 10% in any one training week (microcycle).
Although I believe most runners have tweaked this up to a 15% in one week, it usually isn’t something that you can do more than once or twice in a training mesocycle.
So, now that resistance training is tapering off, and the morning sprints continue, the weekends are for my LSD – long (not-so-) slow distance training. For now, they are erg-bike-based until the weather improves. This week, they are 85 minutes in duration.
And I am not sure about the ‘slow’ part of that equation either. One school of thought says sprints increase leg speed, LSD increases leg-muscle glycogen storage and utilization efficiency (store more and utilize less for more). Another says ‘train slow, be slow’.
I am taking a moderate approach: my LSD are at a higher intensity than some believe should be done, plus I am adding 30 minutes of hard sprints 2 to 3 times each week. From the research presented at the NSCA Performance Seminar at UConn last June, control of the recovery from anaerobic bursts should increase endurance better than traditional aerobic training (hence the utilization of morning sprints) and the ‘LnotsoSDs’ should build the aerobic base, without training slow.
Mind you, this is nothing that outstandingly new.
The research seems to be more directed at building a foundation base within the power athlete culture. This would allow short, intense, burst-based athletes to develop faster recoveries without compromising the degree of their power outputs while also not having to run long, slow distances.
I am testing if this works in reverse: If I train with more speed-based bursts and at higher speeds for my endurance, my speed should be higher without compromising my endurance.
just by building 10% each week without losing going any slower.
sounds easy, huh?
April 5th is rapidly approaching and I can’t see the Northern Nipmuck taking any less than 3 hours. Being anything less than fully ready is fool-hardy.
Next week is 98 minutes of hard, fast work.
Time will tell.