An odd thing about running is that many runners believe that the best way to optimize aerobic capacity (VO2max) is to run lots of miles. However, the scientific study which detected the greatest improvement ever recorded in VO2max in well trained runners actually linked an upswing in intense training and a decrease in mileage with the big jump in VO2max. BEST TRAINING FOR MAXIMIZING AEROBIC CAPACITY

The study of interest, completed by Timothy Smith, Lars McNaughton, and Kylie Marshall of the University of Tasmania in Australia and Kingston University in the United Kingdom, shook up the training of five experienced runners (1). These harriers were fit (average VO2max was 61.5 ml O2 kg-1min-1), and they were utilizing a variety of different training techniques prior to the onset of research, including long-slow distance work, speed work, tempo training, over speed efforts, and weight training. All five were primarily middle distance runners, and their average age was 23.

Before the investigation began, each runner completed three VO2max tests, which also were used to determine V max (the minimal running velocity which caused a runner to hit maximal aerobic capacity, or VO2max). These exams were completed on a Quinton treadmill. The initial treadmill speed was set at 10 kilometers per hour for two minutes, jumped to 12 kilometers per hour for one minute, and moved up to 14 kilometers for an additional minute. After that, the velocity increased by one kilometer per hour each minute until exhaustion was reached. Oxygen consumption was carefully measured during this incremental test, and VO2max was assumed to have been reached when a runner met at least two of the following three criterias: volitional exhaustion, a heart rate within five beats per minute of predicted max heart rate (using the familiar formulas of 220 - age), and an increase in running speed with no further increase in oxygen consumption. Vmax was defined as the slowest running speed (from the tests) which produced an oxygen-consumption rate equal to V)2max.

To make things interesting, each runner also completed a 3-K time trial and three Tmax tests. Tmax is simply the length of time a runner can keep going at Vmax, and each Tmax test was preceded by a 15-minute warm-up consisting of five minutes of running at 60 percent of Vmax. The treadmill velocity was then set at 18 kilometers per hour (lower than Vmax for each runner), the runner mounted the treadmill quickly, and the treadmill was up-regulated to Vmax within 10 seconds. Each runner then tried to hang on as long as possible, with verbal encouragement provided by the investigators. BEST TRAINING FOR MAXIMIZING AEROBIC CAPACITY

After all this testing, the runners were probably happy to embark on the four-week training program developed by Smith, McNaughton, and Marshall. This 28-day plan focused on two very intense sessions each week; within each workout, all six intervals were completed right at Vmax, a fairly scalding interval intensity. A notable aspect of this training was that the durations of the work intervals were set at anywhere from 60 percent of Tmax to 75 percent of Tmax! That's unusual: Traditionally, with Vmax training (also known as vVo2max training), runners set their work interval lengths at about 20 to 50 percent of Tmax and do not move above 15 minutes of total running at Vmax per workout.

Let's say, for example, that a runner's Vmax corresponds with a pace of 90 seconds per 400 meters (4.44 meters per seconds) and that his/her T max is six minutes. Obviously, 50 percent of six minutes is three minutes. Ordinarily, a "stringent" Vmax session for this runner would then be 5 work intervals with a duration of 50 percent of Tmax, i.e., X 800 in three minutes each, for a total dose of 15 minutes of Vmax running.

If we put this same runner on Smith-McNaughton-Marshall plan, however, things would get much rougher. In the fourth week of S-M2 plan, for example, one workout involved 6 work intervals at Vmax with durations of 75 percent of Tmax. For our hypothetical runner from the last paragraph, this would mean stepping up from 5 X 800 in three minutes each to 6 X 1200 in 4:30 each, with all 1200s completed right at Vmax. That would entail 27 minutes total of Vmax running Red-hot!!

Basically, the runners completed two similar sessions each week, with the rest of their work consisting of "recovery runs". This simple - but very challenging - approach to training produced major gains in performance and fitness. For example, at the end of the four-week period average 3-K time improved from 616.6 to 599.6 seconds. Mean speed in the 3K ascended from 4.9 meters per second to 5.1 meters per second, about a 4-percent upgrade.

To learn more about how BEST TRAINING FOR MAXIMIZING AEROBIC CAPACITY (the full article can be read by purchasing VOL. 23-2 of Running Research News) and many more running related topics, simply click-on the Back Issues link, and select the volume and issues number, from the drop-down menu. A subscription to RUNNING RESEARCH NEWS is another way to receive valuable information about running.

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