Thresholds & Capacities--Definitions Please (jtupper, Tinman, Joe Rubio, anyone?)

that guy wrote:

Okay--so a lot of people (like me) seem to be confused about the different paces associated with the following terms.

Anaerobic Threshold
Aerobic Threshold
Lactate Threshold
Aerobic Capacity
Anaerobic Capacity

I was hoping to get some clariification here...possibly from jtupper or Tinman or Joe Rubio, or from any of their devoted fans.

What are these paces? How are they determined? And if anyone is feeling particularly prolific, how important are they to 5K-10K performance?

It seems to be a muddled area of discussion here, so I am seeking some lucidity.

Thanks.

Lucidity I'm not sure I can get done, but maybe I can help out a bit.

I'd go with what Tinman wrote for the definitions. He says it much better than I would.

What helps me is knowing not so much the definitions, but how you use them in everyday workouts. I'll add to the definitions by providing the % range each represents and how we use it in our workout structure here. The main difference is I use the terms from the Coe/Martin book as the basis of the terms because most athletes and coaches have it and is widely accepted as a reliable book, so it’s a more universal way to talk the same language. Obviously for further detailed info, go there. I borrow the term aerobic conditioning to signify a range of paces, aerobic threshold is the fastest pace within the aerobic conditioning range and I use the term anaerobic conditioning for the range of paces that includes lactate threshold with lactate threshold being the fastest of the anaerobic conditioning paces.

Aerobic Conditioning: 55-75% vVO2max
Anaerobic Conditioning: 75-90% vVO2max
Aerobic Capacity: 90-100% vVO2max
Anaerobic Capacity: 100%+ vVO2max

Kind of important to know what the heck vVO2max is so you can use the above for your own benefit. This is a notation for velocity at VO2max. VO2max by itself tells little really of anything we can use in real life training, the velocity or speed you can run for a particular period of time on the other hand is pretty useful for setting up workout paces. There are several tests to determine vVO2max. A widely used and reliable test is the Balkke (sp) Test. You have someone lace up the spikes and run as far as they can, as fast as they can for 15 min, you convert the distance covered to a velocity (ie 400m pace for 15 min) and there's your vVO2max. Since most of the decent males and very good female athletes are right around 15 min or so for a 5k, we generally use a 5k time from the recent past to set that individual's vVO2max. What if you run 14 flat or 18 flat 5k? Not a big deal really for what we're doing. We just want a velocity for roughly 15 min of hard running, most will run faster in a 5k race, so we use that. Now some say it should 3k pace and not 5k pace since some tests last for 10 minutes. I've found though that 3k pace appears to me too fast if used for too long. It just kills people who are running 10-11 min pace for 2 mile or better. To accommodate all this I go with 5k pace as the vVO2max for the majority of the year since I'm liberal in every aspect of my life except workout paces, where I am like Ronnie Regan, ultra conservative until the final few weeks where I throw out that idea and instead want to push the envelope, so during the final month or so of the season we use the faster 3k pace as our vVO2max. Also, I'll use 3k pace as vVO2max for a 400/800 runners most of the year since their 5k's usually stink and using that to set paces is really letting them off the hook.

So there ya go, run 5k race, figure out your 400 split and that's your vVO2max for now. Based on the above, here’s the workouts:

Aerobic Conditioning: 55-75% vVO2max
-Easier runs from 20-120 min.
-The above 15 min athlete would be running 6:25-8:40 pace here, pretty easy running for the most part, hardly heroic.

Anaerobic Conditioning: 75-90% vVO2max
-Steady state/tempo runs such as a long run at a few ticxks slower than MP all the way to lactate threshold. This is the running the Kenyans and most other top runners do a lot of, also the paces I imagine Lydiard had in mind during his base period.
-The above 15 flat athlete would be running between 5:20-6:40 pace to address this energy system’s development. We use the following as a rough guideline for length of a continuous steady state/tempo/strong effort run at particular %:
90%: 20-30 min
85%: 30-40 min
80%: 40-50 min
75%: 50-60 min

I've got a newsletter from the MITCA outlining the Colorado program and they are showing long runs (20% weekly mileage) and mid week long runs (15% weekly mileage) are performed at 85% vVO2max each week, which is moving. It's roughly marathon race pace. We slow it down a few notches from what they're doing. Remember on the above chart any pace within 75-90% vVO2max is developing the system, so if the 15 flat kid does a weekend long run finishing the last hour at roughly 6:15 pace, runs 10 in the hills hammering home the last 6 miles from 5:40-5:50 pace, does his Thurs 12 miler with the last 45 min at 6 flat pace, a Saturday 4 mile "tempo" run at 5:20 pace, he/she has touched that system 4 times that week. It's not just the "tempo" run that is developing the system, it's any run with any portion of it from 1-2 miles up to 10 or more at 75-90% vVO2max, so in the “base” period we are looking to do a variety of runs within this 75-90% to address development of anaerobic conditioning. That's our goal then of the true base period, to develop anaerobic conditioning to a very high level for that athlete.

Aerobic Capacity: 90-100% vVO2max
-This is stuff at roughly 5k, 10k and tempo pace for most athletes, for our top athletes at the end of the year, we'll throw 3k pace into this category too. We usually keep the reps at 400, 800 and 1k at the longest for stuff at 5k-10k pace, occasionally we'll do mile reps, maybe 2k's but not that often. A tough thing for many to learn is that this system’s development starts at 90% which is "tempo" pace, so early on in the season you want to do reps at tempo pace, maybe a second or two per 400 faster than "tempo" pace and work down Most think this is too easy when in reality it’s a standard progression.
-Paces for the 15 flat kid here are 5:20-4:48 pace

Anaerobic Capacity: 100%+ vVO2max
-This is stuff at 3k pace or faster.
-For the 15 flat kid, it's reps at better than 4:48 pace. We usually go no longer than 800m here and then only for a few weeks at the end of the season. Most of the work is in the 200-400m rep range.

The above are rough estimates and ranges of efforts. They aren't written in stone, Anthony Perkins won't visit you in your shower if you run faster or slower. They serve 2 functions really. Teach young runners the proper intensity and effort and they tend to slow down the better runners which if you know better runners, they can usually benefit from not killing themselves every day. Most just plain over-bake themselves which following the guidelines above tends to alleviate.

Hope that helps. Done with the lunch break, back to working on the catalog.

Joe