Base Fitness is Different Than Race Fitness: Don't Be Afraid of Running a Slow Time!

Nobody likes to have a slow race. People tend to get in at least a couple hard workouts before a race, mainly because they want to be at their best when it comes to a race and feel good in the process of it. Also, having a fast race gives the ego a nice boost and people tend to attach their identity to their PR's. If a person improves their time from 4 hours to a 3:50, that person is no longer a "4 hour marathoner", but now referred to as a "3:50 marathoner." The problem with this is people don't get to learn themselves in the various phases of training (Base, Competition, or Peaking). A slow time ends up being looked upon as a failed race, or there's something wrong. I believe competitive runners will learn more about their fitness and what works best for them in terms of training if they test themselves every few week regardless of the condition they are in. Here are some things to look for while doing races in the Base and Competitive Phases of training.

BASE FITNESS (Pre Competition)

This is generally a phase of some very low intensity running. It's used to build mileage before any serious training begins. Mileage may get pretty high in this phase, but the quality will not often get you to a peak result. For me, this is the most interesting point to test yourself, because it is a true starting point of sorts which can be compared from season to season or year to year.

While racing, the runner will often feel kind of sluggish, no power up hills, and probably lack a strong finish. I think it's hard for people to swallow the fact that they will be trying hard, but will most likely not even be close to their personal best even though they may be putting in 100 miles a week. It seems like you're doing a bunch of work for nothing. If an athlete is already hitting PR's in this phase, they are probably going to have a fantastic season once some faster training gets thrown into the mix.

I prefer athletes do a race at the end of their base phase to get a nice starting point of their fitness. If 50 miles per week gets you to 'X' time for a half marathon, then some slightly more intense workouts should improve on that by a significant amount.

COMPETITION PHASE

This is where the more intense workouts begin. They should start with non-specific and work their way to specific for the goal event. I would recommend an individual test themselves every three or 4 weeks to make sure they are not overdoing things and hopefully start getting used to that uncomfortable feeling toward the end of a race.

The first race or two should feel stronger than your race in the Base phase, but will most likely not have a great finish. It may take 3 or 4 races to feel like you can push the end of the race as opposed to feeling like you want to stop. Racing takes practice. A more advanced runner may take more races to hit a peak than a beginner or novice.

It's very important to pay attention to how you feel in various stages of a race while in this phase. Not every consecutive race will be faster, but they should be pretty close in time on similar courses and in similar weather. There will be a noticeable difference in how you feel toward the end of the race at the end of the Competition Phase.

MEASURING POINTS

From season to season, it's important to look back on the time you ran at the end of your Base period. It will usually be pretty close every time. Not usually a super fast time, but it is always a good way to figure out the proper intensity to begin workouts and it's fun to watch yourself progress every few weeks. Here's a summary of what to look for in your training phases:

BASE

• Test yourself at the end of 4 to 12 weeks of building mileage. 
• Get mileage as high as possible.
• Expect a slow time. There's nothing wrong with you, it's supposed to look a little rusty.

COMPETITION

• Race Every 3rd of 4th week after the Base Phase
• Monitor the point (mile marker) in the race in which you start fatiguing
• Expect some decent improvement toward the end. 
• Realize that race fitness is different than base fitness.

PEAKING

• Expect to do only 3 races or less
• Race finishes should feel strong
• Your goal race should be your peak race

Statistics of KC Endurance Coached Athletes

I thought it would be interesting to see the types of people we are currently coaching this Fall season. I could probably break this stuff down even further, but this is all I had energy for at the moment.

Gender

Women - 68.5%

Men - 31.5%

Ages

Women

• Ages 15-30 - 16.2%
• Ages 31-40 - 29.7%
• Ages 41-50 - 48.6%
• Ages 51-60 - 5.5%

Men

• Ages 15-30 - 17.6%
• Ages 31-40 - 41.2%
• Ages 41-50 - 23.5%
• Ages 51-60 - 17.7%

5k PR's

Women

• 16:00 to 19:00 - 5%
• 19:01 to 22:00 - 8%
• 22:01 to 25:00 - 40.5%
• 25:01 to 28:00 - 13.5%
• 28:01 to 31:00 - 18.9%
• 31:01 to 40:00 - 14.1%

Men

• 15:01 to 18:00 - 23.5%
• 18:01 to 21:00 - 11.8%
• 21:01 to 24:00 - 29.4%
• 24:01 to 27:00 - 5.8%
• 27:01 to 30:00 - 0%
• 30:01 to 40:00 - 29.5%

Measuring Devices for Fitness Testing are Expensive and Relatively Useless For the Competitive Runner

I ran across some equipment for VO2 Max testing and blood lactate testing kits the other day, which I thought would be interesting to use for my athletes. What coach wouldn't want some really neat testing gear for their runners? I could regularly know exactly where their fitness is with this stuff. Well, lucky for me I happened to look at the price tag of it: VO2 Max testing equipment is right around $6,000 and a device used for blood lactate monitoring is around $230 or more. The obvious thought that came to mind was, is it worth it?

There are a lot of places that do fitness testing on people using this equipment. Hospitals use it for cardiac and pulmonary patients, universities use it for learning purposes mostly, and maybe some athlete testing and research. Sometimes a health club will offer it at an additional cost to their members. A lot of top endurance athletes get it tested on a regular basis, and it has even become a bragging point for Tour de France cyclists that can get theirs around 90 mL/kg. Knowing your VO2 max seems like an important number, but other than patient testing at a hospital, why does being able to know your numbers matter at all when it comes to sports?

Plug in Performances to Find Training Paces, Don't Pay For It!

The VO2 testing equipment basically just measures expired gases during incremental exercise. Once you know your maximal oxygen intake (expressed mL/kg.m), what good does it do for an athlete that can test themselves during a 5k pretty much every weekend? Some may argue that it will help a person train right at their maximal oxygen uptake during intervals or their lactate threshold on a tempo run and get the most effective workouts. I thought about it, and luckily I can plug in race performances in the McMillan or Daniel's Running Calculators and get extremely close to the paces a person should be training at. They already did the math for us competitive people that are looking to improve! That's reason enough to not spend $6,000.

Specific Training Produces Specific Results

Another thought that crossed my mind was the Law of Specificity. To be better at activity, one must perform that activity. If you are training to run a 5k in 20 minutes, piece together workouts that are at 20 minute 5k pace until you can string them together in one race. Training at 5k pace is slower than VO2 Max pace, but it is specific and has been proven to improve performance in well trained runners (link), so again it is basically worthless to know that you have a VO2 max of 60.

Furthermore, if a runner is training for a cross country race, paces often don't matter and the runner will have to train by feel. Hills, mud, grass, and weather will slow the athlete to the point that training specifically at your VO2 max pace will be too taxing. Taking lactate readings every few intervals is somewhat silly too, because who wants their finger pricked every 5 to 10 minutes? The same thing can be accomplished with a heart rate monitor. The heart rate should hover around 85% of max and no finger pricks needed.

Exercise Testing is a $$$ Maker

Thirdly, I see the exercise testing a lot of places as a business opportunity for them. I've seen a lot of places charge clients $75 to $200 per test just to know some numbers. I think if someone is that interested in knowing they have raised their lactate threshold over 12 weeks of training, that's fine, but I'm confident their weekend race performances wouldn't be any worse if they didn't know at all. I think people should further realize that charging that much for a fitness test is often to make up for the cost of the equipment and hopefully be a profit generator. Time over a distance seems to be a perfectly good measurement to me and I don't have to pay for it unless it's just a race fee.

Conclusions

After looking at this stuff, I still think it's neat equipment to have, but have come to the conclusion that if your race performances are improving, workouts are getting easier, and you generally feel good about your fitness, there's no need to get any kind of VO2 Max testing or lactate testing done. Performance improves with progressively specific workouts and you don't have to pay for it.