- Now as triathletes we focus a lot
on our need to run faster off the bike,
but, perhaps, we should be rethinking this.
After all, a lot of us run at some very impressive speeds
during run workouts in training,
but actually get nowhere near them come race day.
Our legs are feeling far from fresh,
in fact, they're feeling really quite fatigued
coming off the bike.
So today, I'm going to be exploring the need
to run stronger off the bike.
(logo whooshing) (logo bleeping)
(relaxed music)
Right, well, to help me explore
running stronger off the bike,
I've enlisted the help of Nick Anderson,
founder of Runningwithus,
and also a very experienced running coach
for one of our channel partners, Polar.
Now, Nick, thanks ever so much for joining us today.
I know you work with loads of runners and triathletes
out there, whole array of abilities.
What is the main difference you see
between the two different athletes?
- I think the differences are changing,
they're becoming less obvious, if I'm honest.
The triathlete is traditionally stronger
from all three events and is able to do
lots of aerobic work and maybe the injuries are less.
Runners, they hit the ground hard
and there has been this run, run, run mentality,
but we are changing in the running world
and cross-training, aqua jogging,
and we'll do some threshold running
and then this top end VO2 work
because they're training the engine in a different way.
Whereas the traffic would of course get that stimulus
within the swimming and the biking as well,
and will then need to tune in with the running.
And I think there's a danger that a triathlete
can do junk running, as well,
when they've actually got a lot of stimulus, elsewhere,
from a swimming and cycling.
- Okay, but how about this VO2 work?
'Cause I know, from experience,
I used to do a lot of track work with my local running club.
We'd run at silly speeds
and I'm not actually that sure how useful it was
for me on race day.
- Okay, so look, you go along
on a Tuesday night to the club.
You've got your Polar heart rate monitor on
and you're going to do 200s to 400s, or maybe 800s.
And it's really good and you come off the track
and you are exhausted.
You're going to be sick, and great session,
that must have been good for me.
But you were training in the zone up here,
probably in a VO2 area, above 85%, working without oxygen.
Yet, in the event you are training for,
when you jump off the bike,
you're going to be working with oxygen, aerobically,
and probably somewhere in that 75 to 85%
running economy threshold zone.
So my argument is why not get better
at working at threshold?
Strengthen the stroke volume at the heart,
use your heart rate monitor to get that absolutely right
and become more efficient and have better economy.
- Okay, so it sounds like threshold is absolute key here.
So could you explain very briefly
what threshold pace or effort is to us?
- Yeah, so threshold is the top end of your aerobic zone.
If you say your zero to 100%, everything up to about 85%
is working aerobically.
75 to 85%, the physiologists, all the data,
the research tells us,
that is the area of threshold running.
Running economy work,
where we strengthen the volume of the heart
and that is what enables you to push hard for longer,
rather than just pushing very hard
for a short period of time.
- Okay, say threshold pace is probably, likely,
what a lot of us are doing, sprint distance
and Olympic distance triathlon runs off the bike at.
How about for those longer distance triathlons,
half Ironman's and Ironman distance?
- When you go into 70.3 and kind of Ironman distances,
then really we're starting to look then
at you running in the lower end of your threshold
and probably around about 75%.
But actually, training at 75 to 85
will still give you the strength to hold the 75%
for a longer period of time.
So it's a magic zone, it works,
but get off the bike and the longer events and run
and work at the lower end of your running economy zone
and learn to hold it.
- Okay, well it sounds very useful.
So let's go and find out how you work out this magic zone.
(relaxed music)
Okay, so how do we get to this threshold effort
and the training zones from that?
- Well look, I'd argue the gold standard way
is always to come to a lab,
maybe at one of the universities near you.
Here we are today at Bath University.
And really, within the lab,
you're probably going to spend just over 100 pounds
and there you'll go on a treadmill and they will be able to
just gradually ramp up the speed, ramp up the gradient
over the tests that you do.
Measure lactate, blood lactate versus your heart rate,
where you'll be wearing a heart rate device.
And at the end of it you'll get a report
which will be your easy running, steady running,
threshold running and above,
in terms of correct training zones.
You know, you're spending three, four,
5,000 pounds or more on a bike,
I'd argue it's a really good investment
to find out what your training zones are.
Having said that, go out on the track,
do two times 800, really hard, it's a horrible session.
At the end of the second of the 800s
make sure you've recorded your heart rate
or you've looked at it and that will probably be
pretty close to your maximum heart rate.
Once you know your maximum heart rate,
why not log back into your watch?
Maybe, plug it back in
and at that point you could override
your training zones that you originally set,
'cause now you've got your training zones
based on your maximum heart rate you've created.
So on Polar Flow, you could change all of that
and it would be wonderful.
220 minus your age?
Pretty vague, I don't think it really works.
(upbeat music)
- Okay, so we've got our threshold effort,
our data, our numbers everything there.
How do we now put this into our training
and helping us run stronger off the bike?
- Well now you've got the information
I think it's really time to make this simple,
make it easy.
You're busy people, you're swimming, you're riding,
don't make this too time-consuming.
Maybe if you're going to go out and do a 45-minute run,
a 60-minute run, it starts off with something like
three by five minutes in that threshold zone.
So warm up and then just pick it up for five minutes,
three or four word answer pace,
in the zone that you know is the right zone for you.
Hold it and then jog for a couple of minutes
and then back into five minutes,
and maybe repeat that three times.
Maybe if you're more experienced, it's three by ten minutes.
And you can be clever with this.
If you are then training for Half Ironman, 70.3 and longer,
maybe you're going to include blocks of this threshold work
even within your long runs.
So you might go out into a two hour long run
and you might in the second hour of the two hour long run
do something like three times two miles
or three times twelve minutes or something at threshold,
with the recoveries in between
because you're working on that running economy
when you're tired as well.
- [Mark] Okay, and assume it's really important
that we're keeping track of that pace, our effort,
our heart rates, whatever it is?
- Yeah, so use the zones, use the training zones
that you've now discovered for yourself
or had researched for you.
And be honest and be strict, and try and create graphs.
When you look back at maybe your Polar Flow
or the other data you're looking at,
you don't see graphs where the Manhattans go up
and then they go up again, you want them to go up and hold
and then come down in a recovery, go up and hold again.
You need to be in a zone that you practice in training,
but also practice now in your races that you can hold.
And if you feel good in the latter part of the run,
on race day, of course you can squeeze it and push it on.
But if you go out too hard in training or an event day
you're going to suffer.
You're going to build too much lactate,
you're going to burn fuel too quickly
and you start to work outside
of that aerobic controlled zone.
And it is the pain locker then
and you just drag yourself home,
rather than being stronger as you go on.
- Right, well, thanks ever so much for that today Nick,
really really insightful stuff.
If you guys have enjoyed today's video
please do hit that thumbs up button
and if you'd like to see more from GTN
just click on the globe and subscribe to the channel.
- It's been great to meet you all.
If you'd like to see the Polar factory tour,
click on the button.
And if you'd like to see more about running with power,
see that by clicking just down here.