AT can mean a lot of things. Let me run through them.

AntTib -- Anterior Tibialis -- Flex your foot upwards with your hand on the outside of the top of your shin. Your AntTib is the muscle that is under your hand.

ATen -- Achilles Tendon -- Back of your leg just above your heel. When your foot rocks side to side or if you calf muscles are tight, this important tendon can get overloaded. Fortunately, it is easy to correct. Happy to report that our chronic sufferers are all on the mend with new pedals.

LT -- Incorrectly called anaerobic threshold. Always talk about LT, don't talk about anaerobic threshold. Confusing, especially as I will be speaking about AeT in the months to come.

AeT -- Aerobic Threshold -- our topic for today.

Aerobic Threshold

Technical definition is the first material increase in lactate levels under training load (2 mmol/L -- I think). My bet is that this level of intensity is variable according to athlete fitness. A highly trained endurance athlete is going to have a very good pace at this intensity. Scott tells me that Mark Allen could absolutely punish other pros at a conversational pace (for him). This is an example of a high degree of fitness at aerobic threshold. The Swedes are another example -- they talk about easy pace -- it is easy for them because they have such huge aerobic horsepower. Even some 'fast' athletes have this for a limiter -- true endurance elites -- marathoners, top IMers, distance swimmers -- have phenomenal aerobic threshold endurance.

At the other end, are athletes that have very little pace range -- in other words they can only go slow, or fast (and when going fast they need extensive recoveries -- even 60 mins of Zn 3 can destroy them). This is where most of us start when we are new to a sport or endurance training -- think about when you started running or swimming. Once you have a range of different swim, bike and run gears -- I believe -- that this is a sign of improving aerobic fitness.

Low heart rate, good pace/power, normal to high RPE -- this is a sign of fitness.

I am going to be studying this concept more.

For more information, pick up a copy of John Hellemans training intensity handbook. The handbook explains the aerobic and lactate threshold in detail, how to find your own individual training intensity zones and the reasoning behind it. Available from Active Health QE 2 for US$20 which includes postage.
John Hellemans
Active Health QE2
PO Box 27145
Christchurch
New Zealand
ph 03-3836290
fax 03-3836280
email, info@activehealth.co.nz

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The Importance of Steady

Steady pace is, roughly, Zn 2 for most of us. My experience/theory is that aerobic threshold is going to lie somewhere in Zn 2 for the majority of athletes. I believe that it is where you sense your breathing change, but you do not experience the lactate burning (associated with threshold) or breathlessness (associated with mod-hard & tempo). I believe that these physiological tips are a good sign of where your AeT lies. I will be going into the lab to test my theories on myself.

In Joe Friel's Bibles, he talks about the superiority of Zn 2 over Zn 3 for base endurance training -- I believe that this is what we are talking about here. Endurance adaptations in trained athletes happen best at AeT. When we do lots of volume at higher intensities, we tend to generate higher fatigue relative to the aerobic adaptations. It comes back to Scott's point about "how we want to make ourselves tired" and is the core of why you shouldn't do much high lactate work. That "Steady Ride" that I prescribe to my athletes is the core of every Ironman's training.

Now, you need to be quite fit to handle a lot of steady. It sounds easy but heading out and riding three or four hours on AeT is one of the toughest sessions that you can do. That is why it is recommended only the strongest athletes. Most of us will need to start with lots of Zn 1 (easy to steady pace).

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Steady in the Pool

Where does steady lie in the pool? Based on my training, it probably lies around T(1)+ 5s to 10s per 100 pace. I know that I can swim about T(1)+7s quite comfortably for a long time -- after about an hour, it would get tougher.

As a reminder, the short intervals and high lactate work that many American masters coaches (and athletes) prefer is most likely sub-optimal for developing your endurance at AeT. I have made my greatest gains in swimming from focusing on threshold and sub-threshold endurance and strength work. Moderate amounts of faster work is beneficial, but you rarely want to be generating very high levels of lactate.

For those of you who are 60 min IM swimmers or slower -- I would say very rarely. Why? Because technique is near impossible for a novice swimmer to hold under high lactate levels (be honest with yourself!). Absolutely perfect swimming at steady to mod-hard intensities is best. Until you are sub-1:15 -- absolutely perfect easy paced swimming with moderate amounts of steady would be the way to go.

If you think back over your swimming careers, then you will find that you have made the greatest gains when you were very consistent and followed the above guidelines.

T(1) pace is average pace per 100 for a 1000m TT -- T(2) pace would likely prove to be slightly faster than AeT for most of us. If the bottom falls out of your pace when you do a T(2) test then that would be a sign that your AeT endurance is weak (same thing when you pace plummets from 5K to 10K to 21.1K running races).

Swim Cords

Q -- Swim cords: What type of speed and rep should I be doing the drills. Currently, I do them slowly, 1x25, just like the weight protocol

A -- Slowly with a focus on the negative component of the exercise is best -- you want to be doing three sets of half pulls and forward rotations (each). Reps should be to fatigue -- once you can do 3x30 on 45s RI for each of these two exercises then you can add in full pulls. A nice way to add full pulls is to alternate a half pull rep with a full pull rep (call that one cycle). Forward rotations stay the same.

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Nutrition Plug

I had my blood tested recently. Full thread is here: http://www.coachgordo.com/cgi-bin/config.pl?read=24335

Basics, since switching to the method of eating that I recommend. My recovery is faster, my good cholesterol is up and my bad cholesterol is down. Note that my current diet has a much higher fat content than my previous 'athlete' diet (no fat, high GI, high processed). There is increasing research supporting the Key Three.

The following percentages are valid only for males. Females should not focus on body fat percentages -- you won't be able to avoid comparing yourself to men and you are not men. If you want some data then get your skin folds measured (less emotive, tougher to compare with your pals).

Q -- Do you count calories daily? (Im 5'9" 150 ~7% body fat up from 141 lbs/4% in May...ended up injured; don't know if too low of a weight was a factor) I'm racing faster in general, but trying to be body conscious and not let myself turn into a pig. Not quite sure what ideal weight/body fat % is. When on strict paleo, do you use bars/gels on long workouts?

A -- I neither weigh myself nor count calories. I use a mirror and how I feel -- if I feel tired or start to look too cut then I bump up my food intake. If you were truly 4% (via hydrostatic weighing) then you were clearly too light. Once you are under 10%, you need to be very careful. Once you are 8% or under, I doubt that there is any benefit from going lighter except for an A race. I find that I train best in the high single figures, but that it HIGHLY personal based on my body structure.

I think body weight and percentage body fat completely miss the issue. What matters is the quality of your overall nutrition and whether it enables you to recover fast and have quality training.

1 -- Eliminate processed foods
2 -- Starch and sugar only during and after training
3 -- Majority of nutrition from lean protein, veggies and fruit

I eat bars and gels during longer workouts -- I would prefer not to but I have found that it is essential if I want to avoid getting too lean. I train 30-35 hours per week. I am sure that if I was 20 or under I could go 100% unprocessed, except for my longest rides. Of course, my years of endurance training mean that I am quite efficient at using fat as a fuel source. I also do very little anaerobic work.

Molina on Weight

G -- Dude, a lot of my athletes seem to be weight obsessed. What do you think?

S -- You have to admit that it is an important component to endurance success, particularly running. However I think that there is more to it than that that. So many athletes have one goal in life -- to get as lean as possible. If that was it then they'd just have a scale at the start line. If we could only put an extra kilo on our quads, now that would be some useful weight.

Get Strong
Build Aerobic Fitness
Eat Right
Set PBs

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Nutrition Q&A

Question

Should I be looking for anything in particular when shopping for fish oil -- just a bottle of "fish oil" or is it "omega 3"?

Answer

You want something that is high in Omega 3s.

1g of fresh fish oil contains 180mg EPA

120mg DHA sourced from cold water salmon and mackerel

That's mine -- I recommend that you take 2-3g per day. I take 2g because I eat so much fish.

Some of the questions below take us into the fine-detail of ideal nutrition. Until you have mastered the Key Three then you are best served by focusing on the areas where you will get the most gains. In life, many of us (including me!) make things more complicated than they need to be. Focus on the Key Three and you'll get most of the benefit from your nutrition strategy. That said, I want to share some specific Q&A with you.

Question

So, if possible, try to avoid legumes yes? Or is this not a big deal?

Answer

Best to avoid, however, given what I have read of your food logs, this is not where your largest gains will come from.

Question

Salt - Cordain says to limit, from what I've seen/gotten the impression of, we don't really care so much...

Answer

Best to avoid, however, given what I have read of your food logs, this is not where your largest gains will come from.

      G Supplemental Note -- Over the last two years, I have reduced my sodium intake with zero impact on my race performance. Many athletes place themselves on a high sodium diet and, quite often, this is not required. A minority of athletes will have a requirement to supplement their electrolytes during training. I am not convinced that we need to supplement our diets with sodium. Specifically, if you are eating any processed foods then you are unlikely to be running short on sodium.
      However, I am starting to believe that many of us in the endurance arena are over doing it with sodium, specifically, vis-a-vis cramping prevention. In my experience, dehydration and muscular fatigue cause camping well before electrolytes (in most athletes). Given Dr. Cordain's work on the implications of a high sodium diet for long term health, I believe that sodium supplementation should be approached cautiously.
      Personally, the only race where I would supplement sodium would be a tropical Ironman. You should note that there are some clear examples of athletes that seem to have supplementation as a mission critical issue -- Chris Legh springs to mind. Of course, he is also known for taking it out fairly hard (and that can impair hydration just as much as an electrolyte imbalance).
      See Noakes, Lore of Running for more on this topic.

Question

I didn't see where Cordain mention much about the GI of foods (except to avoid Corn, Tubers, etc)... a Gordo touch?

Answer

I actually haven't read the book. I really should. My recommendations are based on my own experience, extensive conversations with Joe and watching the results of my athletes. I assume Cordain says limit starches and sugars? If yes, then we are talking about the same thing. You'll notice that the Key Three is silent on GI.

      G Supplemental Note -- Joe is going to be sharing some detailed articles with me and I will be reviewing these to improve my technical knowledge. Dr. Cordain has a new website at http://www.thepaleodiet.com/ . The website contains various articles and information on his views.

Question

Soy products - I don't recall you mentioning anything good/bad about tofu, soy milk or such... Cordain doesn't like... thoughts?

Answer

Best to avoid, however, given what I have read of your food logs, this is not where your largest gains will come from. Given the volume of foods that we eat, I think that moderate amounts of soy are OK.

      G Supplemental Note -- Personally, I eat a small amount of soy (relative to the huge amount of protein that I eat) -- for some reason, many folks seem to get emotive on this subject. Watch the fat content and as well as the fact that many soy products have significant amounts of added sugar (soy milk is a big one for this).

Question

Yogurt - ok in moderation under the G plan?

Answer

Until you at your desired weight then I would eliminate nearly all dairy and substitute other protein sources. Reading your logs, I believe that this is a biggie for you. You should reduce dairy in your diet. Eliminate if you can, you will notice a material increase in your metabolism in 10-16 days. You'll drop weight and be quite pleased.

      G Supplemental Note -- Turns out that this athlete had greatly reduced dairy and had not noticed the metabolic increase that I experience. Perhaps this is personal to me or do to another dietary or training factor.

Question

And finally one that just wasn't relevant to Cordain at all... so I know that ~48 hours out from an IM you start taking in additional carbs, in the form of rice or pasta... when else is this appropriate?

Answer

Never -- stay on my nutrition tips as much as possible throughout the year.

      G Supplemental Note -- Before IMC this year, I used moderate GI carobs rather than high GI (rice/pasta). Worked quite well for me.

Question

I ask because I wasn't sure if I should 'go off' Paleo for any of my other races - 10 mile running races, 1/2 marathons, sprint tris, 1/2 IMs, swims - is there some rule to follow?

Answer

Yes, use starch and sugar only during and after training. You may find that you need a moderate GI CHO source before your long runs and key BTs, that's a personal thing and requires judgement. Until you are at desired weight, best to use starches and sugars only during and after training.

Question

Also, regardless of distance, how does Paleo and race day breakfast work together?

Answer

A Race breakfast is whatever you think works best. I think protein and mod GI CHO works best -- your call. Go with what you think works best.

Question

I don't think eating my (now) usual 3 to 5 pieces of fruit and then going and running 10 miles would be all that, umm, efficient... do I go to cereals?

Answer

I think you should avoid processed cereals at all costs. I would use hot cereals that contain unprocessed grains. Easy to steady pace 10 miles can be done on full paleo for you, you might need to start the sports drink earlier than usual but you shouldn't need to carb up before training at this time of year. Before a race, go with what you think is best.
      Avoid processed foods at all costs.