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Mon Feb 19, 2007 6:34 am

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Location: Maine

I am a master level (52F) sprinter. My training is primarily speed work, weight lifting, technique drills, plyos etc. My races are going well and I'm lowering my times.

My question is about aerobic fitness from a health perspective. My cholesterol is getting too high and my body fat has risen since I stopped doing any distance running.

I am told I shouldn't do any distance running as it will work against my sprint trianing. Yet I feel I need to do some aerobic work. What is a good aerobic conditioning exercise that would not compromise my sprint training?



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Thu Feb 22, 2007 10:25 pm

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[quote="KimW"] Yet I feel I need to do some aerobic work. What is a good aerobic conditioning exercise that would not compromise my sprint training?[/quote]

I was faced with the same issue when I converted from cycling to sprinting. I found that any significant aerobic training cut into my recovery, strength and speed. I finally had to reduce carbs and fats and increase protein intake to stay lean. It's alot of work, but it works for me.



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Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:53 pm

 
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right on, Kakuryu, too often we look at the fat loss equation from the
"expenditure" side and not often enough from the "input" side. If you
want to be a good sprinter, cardio won't get you there. Just look at
the top "elite" sprinters.... I'm sure they didn't build those muscular
physiques by going for long relaxing runs to burn calories.

KimW...stick to the sprinting (try intervals) and continue your weight
lifting and as Kakuryu suggests, tweak you diet to cut fat.



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Sat Feb 24, 2007 4:27 pm

 
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Location: Maine

I do intervals.

In fact I do:
Monday = Speed, weight lifting
Tuesday = Intervals, circuits, med ball
Wednesday = Mobility exercises, plyos
Thursday = Accelerations/Starts, weight lifting
Friday = Intervals, circuits
Sat and Sun are rest days.

I feel that I work out quite a lot. And I never do "long relaxing runs" (although miss them once in a while on beautiful fall days).

I will try to do better on my eating I guess. Hmmm.



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Mon Feb 26, 2007 8:09 am

 
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Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:20 am
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Location: rochester, n.y. area

This is an impressively balanced workout routine, Kim. Congratulations to you and your coaches for some great planning. In light of the volume you appear to be doing, I'm surprised that you're experience a gain in body fat and not just lean muscle mass. It causes me to ask a couple of questions, too. The first is, how much distance running were you doing in the past and have you increased or held steady your sprint training volume since stopping the distance running?
Bill Pontius
m56 hurdles



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Mon Feb 26, 2007 3:52 pm

 
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Location: Maine

You may have nailed it. I used to run moderately high mileage.. well... in the 30-40-50/week depending on upcoming races. I used to regularly run 2 hours or so on Saturday.

Although my workouts now are pretty intense I think they are not close to as many hours during the week. I think this may be where the issue comes from.

My coach is a strength/conditioning coach for a college women's track team so he does know what he's doing. But not sure how much what works for 20 year olds works for 52 year olds!

I may try to extend the duration of my workouts once or twice a week on an easier day. Do you think is what's going on? I hadn't thought of it that way.



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Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:12 pm

 
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Location: rochester, n.y. area

Well, you've certainly asked your body to adjust to very different set of stimuli. I would suspect that your total caloric output is reduced. A modest suggestion to partially offset would be to slightly increase your warmup and warmdown distances each day. That might add a mile to mile and a half without impacting your strength. Another suggestion might be to examine whether your intensity on some days could be upped a bit further with correspondingly decreased intensity on others. Changing the stimulation may change your metabolic response in the right direction. Although your coach is the best person to consult on this, decreasing rest time between sets and exercises further--at least on some days--may kick the metabolism up as your body seeks to compensate.
Best of luck!
Bill



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Wed Feb 28, 2007 6:24 pm

 
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KimW - my advice to you is to do what you feel most comfortable with. Although athletes need to push themselves out of the 'comfort zone' to approach their potential, we should also keep in mind that athletics should be good for mind, body, and soul. If you miss running long on an autumn afternoon - make like a pair of nikes and just do it. In 2000, I began coaching high school cross country although I have been a sprinter all my life. I ran the workouts with the kids (whichever ones I could hang with) and even ran a marathon that fall (3:33). Beginning in late November, I transition to track and sprint training. During the 2001 year, I ran 6.4h for 55m, 11.22a for 100, 22.80a for 200, 53.5h for 400 and long jumped 6.48m. Those marks are anywhere from 90-98% of the performances of the previous 4 years. I know science says "to run fast you must train fast" and I agree. I train fast for track season when it is track season (December through August). Use your off season to get your share of LSD if that is what you are missing. That being said, I also agree with the suggestions of making your warm-up/cool-down longer and maximizing your diet to get the optimal metabolism. Just my 2 cents, take it or leave it.

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BLL



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Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:35 pm

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Location: NW Oregon

Being a middle distance runner, 400, 800, 1500, I have found that speed play on my longer runs helps when I am in racing shape ( I will run races through my mind when I am doing this), also if you can find a long hilly course to run on, and push the hills, this can really help both your aroebic and anarobic fitness.
Try to focus on the minutes that you run, not the mileage, since you are trying to keep your heart beat up for a certain amount of time.
You would only need one long run during the week, with a couple of mid range distance runs, a couple of speed work outs, and make sure you get a lot of rest.

You can also do a longer speed work out than you are use to doing.
I recommend doing latters, with the 2nd half being negative splits.
ie.
100 - 200 - 400 - 600 - 400 - 200 - 100
run the last 400, 200 and 100 faster that the first ones.



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