Question?

[desperate housewife]

What is the best way to increase my endurance during cardio exercise (mainly jogging)?

I hope this goes in the right section, if not, mods feel free to move it.

[S54MCoupe]

Originally Posted by desperate housewife

What is the best way to increase my endurance during cardio exercise (mainly jogging)?

I hope this goes in the right section, if not, mods feel free to move it.

Interval training might be what you're looking for... Here's an article I found that might help you out.

Intervals consist of a series efforts followed by active or passive rest usually at a pace faster than a continuous type training run. There are four things that you can alter in an interval training session. They are distance or time, rest time or distance, effort, and the number of repetitions. Each of these can be varied to tailor the interval session to a persons individual goals.

Interval sessions are also quite stressful on the body. They should be followed by a relatively easy training day and more than one of these sessions in a week should be left to the elite athletes. Also as it is quite jarring on the feet/body the softer the surface the better off you are from an injury perspective. Softer surfaces are also slower than hard surfaces so times will be affected. Races are also usually on hard surfaces such as roads so a small percentage of your intervals should mimic race conditions.

I will briefly outline the some generic types of intervals and what they best train. Many different coaches have different names for these types of sessions. I will try and use the most common names.

Stride-Outs/Form Intervals
These are fairly short intervals of between 50m and 200m whose primary aim is to improve your running efficiency. They get your body used to travelling much faster than you are going to race. The theory is that if you continually do this then some adaptations will occur which mean that running slower will be easier. They can be done at any time during a season but are common in the week leading up to a race with long rests to get your feet moving faster.

Rhythm Intervals
These are the most common form of intervals. They are run at a pace just faster than race pace with a fairly short rest between each interval. Sets above 10 repetitions are not uncommon with Rhythm Intervals. If you are training for a 10km event an example of a Rhythm interval session would be 8 x 400m with 1.5mins rest between each interval run at 5km race pace. Although intervals ranging from 400m through to 3000m can be used when training for any event, normally the longer the event you are training for the longer the length of the intervals you would do. Marathon intervals are typically 800m, 1000m, and 1500m.

Power Intervals
These are directly aimed are increasing both the strength of your muscles and your VO2max and are designed to be run near your VO2max. For these intervals you run quite fast (95%) and have a longer rest. Also there are normally less repetitions than Rhythm interval sessions. You may have as much as 5 minutes rest between each interval in a power session. I prefer these sessions early on in the lead up to a race. This is to have maximum effect on VO2max early. Later on I switch to Rhythm intervals to fine tune the Anaerobic Threshold

Hill Repeats
These intervals are vary hard and have significant effect on strength and power development within your leg muscles. Most muscles have two types of fibres: - fast twitch and slow twitch. The fast twitch are used when you run fast and to train them you can run fast, or..... research has shown that hill work strengthens them as well. Fast twitch fibres are recruited by the amount of power exerted by the muscle not its speed. Hills and intervals both require a high power output. They are also useful if your race will be on a hilly course. Different muscles are also used in hill running compared to racing on the flat. Strength is also more important in the hills. The idea is to have a series of hard uphill efforts (say 6-8) jogging/walking down the hill in between each repeat. Remember to take it easy on the downhill, the eccentric action required can cause injury

[Sportsmedjosh]

Interval training would be a great way also try to train at a specific heart rate to improve yout vo2 max.

[S54MCoupe]

Originally Posted by Sportsmedjosh

Interval training would be a great way also try to train at a specific heart rate to improve yout vo2 max.

And it's the type of workout where you KNOW you're acheiving something. Nothing is worse than your timer going off when you're still dying from your last sprint... not only is it good physical training, it trains your mind, as well.

[desperate housewife]

your advice is great.

i have heard about a 3:1 ratio in which you run for 3 min and slow down for 1 min then speed up for 3min. What do you think of that type of interval training to build endurance? How should I gradually increase my time running at a faster pace (for example, instead of doing 3:1, maybe do 5:1)?

[S54MCoupe]

Originally Posted by desperate housewife

your advice is great.

i have heard about a 3:1 ratio in which you run for 3 min and slow down for 1 min then speed up for 3min. What do you think of that type of interval training to build endurance? How should I gradually increase my time running at a faster pace (for example, instead of doing 3:1, maybe do 5:1)?

Depends.. the point of interval training (to some extent) is to build your Lactate Threshold, and if you're really going to kill yourself, short ammounts of time will seem like hours.

If you're going to do an all out sprint (and I mean all out, 120% effort, almost puking when you're done) followed by a rest, followed by a sprint, and repeat it 4 or 5 times, you're going to realize that 1-2 minutes is a LONG time. Start with a one minute sprint, followed by a 3 minute rest, and repeat 5x. See how you feel after that.

Eventualy, work up to a 1 minute sprint with only a 1 minute recovery. Build from there. You get out what you put in, so really work yourself. When you're convinced you aren't able to do another sprint, commit to TWO more sprints (And once you commit, NEVER ever allow yourself to quit) That is where you'll train your mind into realizing the body is more capable than you would imagine, and THAT is where you'll benefit the most.

Oh, and be careful with sprinting on foot, it's pretty rough on the body. Stretch!

[LoveGuinness]

oooh i like that sprinting interval training. i will try that next (maybe tomorrow)...i have the 'quitting problem' and i am working with some behavior therapy techniques to change that and improve my running/endurance

[S54MCoupe]

Originally Posted by LoveGuinness

oooh i like that sprinting interval training. i will try that next (maybe tomorrow)...i have the 'quitting problem' and i am working with some behavior therapy techniques to change that and improve my running/endurance

Overcoming the pain is the hardest thing, but when you do it, you feel like you've accomplished something. Make yourself accountable to yourself. Pressure yourself into feeling like you've let yourself down if you quit. Be dissapointed if you quit, and be proud when you don't.