Salina South Cross Country! Physiology of Cross Country Running

As a CHAMPION, you should have some understanding as to what goes on in your body while you are running and shy we do the types of workouts we schedule in the order we do them. Conditioning for long distance does not take place by accident.

Your ability as a runner depends on a number of factors but the following three play the biggest roles:

You have sufficient fuel in your body for a number of quality races back to back. The problem is being able to convert this fuel to usable energy. The energy comes from the burning of carbohydrates in the muscle tissue. This burning will take place for only a short period of time without oxygen being present in the muscle tissue. Burning glycogen when oxygen is present is called "aerobic" work. The problem for your body is to be able to supply enough oxygen to the muscle tissue for this oxidation to take place. When the heart or the circulatory system is not trained or the pace is too fast, the heart cannot keep up with the oxygen demand in the muscles (you get out of breath). When this happens, the muscles are forced to get their energy by a direct breakdown of glycogen without oxygen. This results in a waste product called "lactic acid". This lactic acid accumulates in the muscle and decreases the muscle's ability to contract or move. The muscle feels tight and it is sore the next day or until the body cleans the lactic acid out of the area. You can almost see this happen in long sprints like the 400meter runner who is out of shape or took off too fast as the start. He'll start to tie up with 100meters to run. What he did was use his leg muscles too long and too hard without oxygen in those muscles. The lactic acid in the working muscles makes them harder to move. When he get in better shape and trains his body to run with less oxygen, he will be able to race the entire distance instead of just "surviving" the race.

Correct distance conditioning will increase the "stroke volume" of the heart (that is, the amount of blood pumped through the heart per beat will be much more in distance runners than in average people). It will also increase the number of capillaries in a given muscle tissue (in other words, you'll have more veins in your muscles that will bring more oxygen to your working muscles). Your heart will be stronger, pumping more blood and oxygen-carrying white blood cells to more veins in your working muscles and brain (that's why distance runners on the whole are smarter than other athletes!). Your veins will have stronger walls and you will be able to avoid blockage (heart attacks) later in your life.

To be a successful distance runner you must be able to supply oxygen needed by your muscles during your race except for your final kick to the finish. The is "aerobic work". This the bulk of cross country training. In order to develop your heart and circulatory system to its maximum, we will stress aerobic work in various combinations of the following types of workouts:

1. Overdistance - (some call this marathon work)

This is simply covering as much mileage as possible by continuous running with little or no rest. This can be done at a continuous speed or by varying your speed (Indian File and Fartlek work are examples). This type of training increases heart and capillary size provided you stay away from carbonated drinks. Your heart rate should be around 60 or 70% of maximum. this training also allows for free blood flow getting more oxygen to the muscles. You will hear this called a "aerobic recovery" day.

2. Repetition Training -

This form of workout involves running distances at race pace or slightly slower than race pace, repeating them many times with very short rest intervals between runs or "bouts". A workout of this nature really stretches the heart muscle, increasing its capacity to handle a large blood supply. This way the heart gets more blood to the muscles per heart beat. The benefit of this workout is attained during the rest period which should never exceed 90 seconds. The purpose of repetition training is to increase aerobic efficiency thereby raising the lactate threshold in relation to the cardiovascular capacity (VO2 max). You will hear these workouts called "over- distance" or "over-over distance" workouts.

3. Interval Training - (High Lactate Training)

This is the running of various distances at race pace or slightly faster with a longer rest interval. This allows the circulatory and nervous systems to function under the strain of actual race conditions. The heart beat should drop close to 120 beats per minute. Interval training enhances a runner's ability to tolerate and produce lactic acid. While interval training does help raise the lactate threshold somewhat, it is primarily anaerobic (without oxygen present in the muscle). The duration of each bout in an interval session is typically 15 to 90 seconds or 100-600meters at a very fast pace. You will hear these workouts called "underdistance" or "under-under distance" workouts.

4. Anaerobic Threshold Training

Tempo-pace running is designed to maximize aerobic capacity and increase aerobic efficiency. Regular threshold training enables athletes to increase pace without suffering from lactic acid accumulation. The tempo runs should be done at a pace that puts the athlete at, or slightly above, the anaerobic or lactate threshold. We will usually segment the tempo run in something like six-minute bouts (6 minutes of tempo followed by 6 minutes of slow running) until it reaches the amount of time of the race.

The key to any workout or training program is the EFFORT you put into it. In order to condition yourself to your top potential, your program should be the entire year round with a specific peak time as your goal. The above is intelligent training. There are no shortcuts. If you leave one part out or use them out of order, you risk injury and up and down seasons (a great race one week followed by a bad race than maybe two good ones then a bad one or injury for seemingly no reason).

Back to Cougar Cross Country Index

Contact Coach Edwards