Supertraining

--- Susan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

> My name is Susan, I'm 43 years old, and this week is
> my 12th week in a gym.
> Ever. I'm a marathon kayaker and in order to get
> ready for races I've always
> just gone out and paddled. I never set foot in a gym
> in my entire life until
> 12 weeks ago. Now I have a kayak coach who has me on
> a periodization weight
> training training program and I've been totally
> surprised at how much I'm
> enjoying it. Please keep in mind that I don't
> totally understand
> "periodization," I just follow her directions and I
> trust her implicitly and
> do exactly what she says. The results are already
> paying off, I've already
> won two races (last week and the week before) and I
> credit the extra
> strength I've gained from weight training for my
> wins.
> 
> I'm now in the "max strength" cycle of
> periodization. (I started with
> "anatomical adaptation" then moved to "hypertrophy"
> and now am in "max
> strength.") The ultimate goal is for me to complete
> a 70 mile race on
> Memorial Day.
> 
> My "rest interval" between sets is a full 2 1/2
> minutes (it was 2 1/2
> minutes for hypertrophy too, but 30 seconds to 1
> minute during anatomical
> adaptation). I got talking to one of the personal
> trainers at the gym I go
> to and he said I didn't need to wait that long
> between sets, and he was very
> insistent about it. I'm not about to change anything
> that my coach has me
> doing, I totally believe in her, and the results are
> already showing, but it
> got me thinking about rest intervals and their
> meaning.
> 
> My question is: Can you help me understand the "rest
> interval" between sets,
> and what the different lengths of time mean? What
> does 2 1/2 minutes between
> sets mean versus 1 minute between sets? I do not
> understand the mechanics of
> the rest interval and what a longer versus shorter
> rest interval does for
> the body. Any help in understanding rest intervals
> is appreciated!
> 
> Thank you,
> Susan Williams 
> Just west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
>
http://pennkayaker.com/wiki/members/members.asp?db=MemberPages&o=Lady%20Justice


*****
First of all good luck on your goal to complete a 70
mile kayak race. I would be interested in knowing what
is the longest race you have undertaken up to now and
how long do you anticipate it  will take you cover the
70 miles?

 I would also be interested to know if this race is on
a lake or is it on a river or ocean water?

There have been quite a few very good postings on this
topic by others over the last several days and I think
that the best advice is to follow the advice and
instructions of your coach.  Especially since as you
stated in your post that you trust her implicitly and
the advice she has given you to date has led to
improvement.  The person you should be asking for
advice on intervals should be first and foremost your
coach.  While you trust her implicitly you should
never be afraid to ask the question “Why am I doing
this and how will this help me?”  A good coach will be
able answer your questions  completely and should not
be offended.

As an endurance athlete you should know that there are
many different types of intervals that can be done to
improve your performance.  

For the endurance athlete the most important focus of
your training has to be a strong base of endurance- ie
long rides (cyclist) long  runs or long hours on the
water for kayakers and rowers.  

It appears that you have already put in the required
work in your previous training.  In your new found
zeal to build strength you should not abandon the long
hours on the water especially if you hope to complete
and compete in a 70 mile race which I imagine will
take you more than just a few hours. 

After building a strong endurance base intervals are
the best way of improving your VO2 max, threshold
power and overall speed. 

It is very important that you understand the various
types of intervals and the effect they each have on 
improving your competitiveness. 
 
Unfortunately postings on a forum such as this are far
too short to do the subject justice and you might want
seek out some literature on the various forms of
intervals.   Whether you are cycling, running,
swimming, kayaking or rowing the basic principles of
intervals applies across all of these various
disciplines.

As I stated above there many types of intervals and
each type of interval calls for different recovery
times depending on what your goals are and which
energy systems you are trying to develop.
  
I have done some recreational kayaking and little
competitive rowing and a great deal of competitive
cycling.  


The basic training principles  for marathon kayaking
are probably closer to bicycle racing than they are
for rowing, since most rowing competitions last less
than 10 - 20 minutes.

I will describe several types of intervals to
illustrate what I mean.

I will start with what in cycling is known as sprint
intervals, some will call it anaerobic  capacity
intervals.

Prior to this I had never heard of intervals with
regards to weight lifting but certainly a set of reps
could be considered an interval and the time between
sets the recovery time.

The purpose of this interval is to produce the maximum
power over a very short period of time (30 seconds- to
3 minutes).  This is mostly an anaerobic type power
and the purpose is to develop type IIa and II b muscle
fibers.  This is also the type of interval most used
by  sprinters in many different sports as well certain
extent weight lifters and power lifters.



To get the most out of this type of interval the
athlete needs to be well rested before undertaking the
workout,  properly warmed up before starting.

I would imagine that in weight lifting this would be a
set of heavy weights but low reps with full recovery.

If you were to try this in your kayak you try all out
fast paddling for about 1-2 minutes or until your
breathing becomes a hard and your arms are about to
fall off. 
   



To get the most out this type of interval you need to
at a full effort for as long as you can hold it.   

Before you attempt the next interval you need to be
fully recovered.  This means your breathing has to
return to normal and your heart almost back to its
resting rate.


It is difficult to determine an exact amount of time
since the time required for full recovery will vary
from athlete to athlete. 

The amount of time required for recovery will depend
on the fitness of the athlete.   The more experienced
and fit athlete, one who has been doing this type of
interval for a long time, will recover rather quickly
whereas the less fit, or beginner, may take a
significantly longer tie to fully recover.  The higher
the intensity the longer the recovery will be.  


The next type of interval is called by some the VO2
max- interval. 

 The effort is not quite as intense as the first
interval but the effort is close below your max- and
sustained for a much longer time (3-10 minutes).  It
is important to pace your effort so that you can at
that effort for a longer period of time.

Less than  full recovery is needed for this type of
interval.  You would let your   breathing slow down to
a comfortable rate and your heart rate has slowed
considerably but not to the resting rate.  At this
point you would then start another interval.  You
should pace your effort so that you can perform 3-6 of
these intervals during a training session.

This type of interval will not increase you maximum
strength and is less likely to cause hypertrophy but
it will help work at a high intensity for a longer
period of time.  This workout will enhance your type
IIa as well as type I fibers.

In weight lifting I would imagine that this type of
training would involve weights light enough to allow
10-12 reps / set and allow you to perform 4-6 sets per
training session.


The third type of interval is called by some the
threshold interval.   In this type of interval your
effort is a little less than the VO2 max- interval but
the interval effort should be pace to allow you to
train at this level for  10-15 minutes or more with a
very short recovery between intervals.  Just enough to
catch your breath. Your HR will drop to perhaps 75% of
max.   

I don’t think that there is really an equivalent type
of workout in weight lifting nor is their a need for
this type of workout for weight lifters.

These are just 3 basic  types of intervals but there
are many more depending on what you goals of training
are.  

Mike Caviston who designed the Wolverine program for
rowers describes 4 different levels of workout with 3
different types of intervals for each level.

Chris Carmichael of cycling coaching fame describes at
least 7 different types of intervals.

Andrew Coogan in his book training and racing with a
power meter descries 7 different levels of training.

Joe Friel in his book The Triathletes Bible describes
7 different training zones for swimming, running and
cycling.  I am not aware of any training books for
kayakers but I am sure that there must be some out
there.   The principles of training outlined by the
above mentioned Coaches should apply equally well for
the sport of kayaking.

I am sure that other readers can come up with
different types of intervals.

Weight lifters have long known that too much aerobic
work will decrease their maximum strength.  The flip
side of that is  “too much strength work will decrease
your endurance and aerobic capacity”.  

Many years ago I attended a coach’s training forum
presented by he Olympic cycling coach Walter B ( as he
was known-long Polish name which I dare not try to
spell).  He made a statement which impressed me and
taught me a lot about endurance training.  He said
that has you increase your speed training your
endurance will increase and as you increase your
endurance your speed will decrease.  You need to find
the proper balance to meet your goals.  

If you are training for short races you need more
speed and less endurance and for longer races you less
speed and more endurance.

It is important that the time and energy spent in the
gym does not take away from the work you need to do in
order to be able to complete a 70 mile kayak race.  

An endeavor of that type is 90+% endurance- in which
the slow twitch or type I fibers are the most
important muscle fibers.  I am not sure how much
sprinting is involved at the end of a 70 mile race.

Weight lifting develops mostly fast twitch or type IIa
and type IIb fibers which are great for sprinting. 



Good Luck 
Ralph Giarnella MD 
Southington Ct USA