Anaerobic workout period

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i've had a lot of the same kind of questions.

i THINK we're talking about full workouts as being anaerobic. you need some time to transition to the faster paces before getting into a full anaerobic workouts- what we think of as traditional interval workouts e.g. 12x400m(200m jog). i think you can start to mix in some "anaerobic pace" work a little further out than 6-8 weeks, maybe 10-12 weeks, but be conservative. i mix them into a generally aerobic workout- like

2x1k @8k-10k pace(200m jog), 5x200m @1500m pace(200m jog), 1k (200m), 5x200m (200m), 2x1k (200m). . . .

stuff like that. it helps you adjust to the quicker paces, but you're never getting in over your head in the workout. no need to devote a whole workout to 200s or 400s at that point.

i still wouldn't want to do a full anaerobic workout more than once a week during the anaerobic phase. even the 1500m relies mostly on the aerobic system. and you're probably racing more frequently during this period and most races count as anaerobic workouts to me. . . . of course it depends on the distance. and just cause it's an anaerobic phase doesn't mean you cut out the AT and LT workouts. . . .

at least that's my take on it. good questions and i'd be interested to hear what other folk have to say. . . .

you really shouldnt classify a particular "period" as aerobic or anaerobic... there should continually be a respectable balance of each throughout a training cycle. For example, during a microcycle with a power emphasis, I will use a low intensity-higher repetition circuit as a recovery modality. During a General Preparation Period, the use of 200's or 400's is recommended... runs of 60-70% are quite common.

Hope this answers your ques.

An anaerobic power workout OR a race once in a ~10days with maintenance base work and that´s your "anaerobic period". I bet you don´t believe that this is what is enough, but I recommend to try it.

figuring it out wrote:

From everything I'm reading, anaerobic improvement is limited to a finite amount of time. It seems that you can only reap the benefits of anaerobic training for 6-8 weeks, then you start to get into diminishing returns.

So, for this 6-8 week period, what would make a period anaerobic? Does this mean a certain percentage of your workouts are anaerobic or does it mean a certain percentage of each workout is anaerobic?

If I was in the middle of an aerobic training period, but once a week did a few 200's or 400's at an anaerobic pace, does that put me into an anaerobic period?

Thanks for any help.

What it means is that people don't actually know the difference between aerobic and anaerobic.

When they talk about 'anearobic' training, they are refering to running that makes you breathe hard, they think that breathing very hard means you have 'gone anaerobic' which is nonsense.