Development of aerobic power in elite middle, long distance and marathon runners

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to investigate the methods that the Spanish coaches follow in order to improve the aerobic power of their middle, long distance and marathon runners. Twenty-six Spanish coaches took part in the present investigation. We investigated the intensity, running distances and frequency of the weekly training sessions that are used for the enhancement of aerobic power during the year training-cycle. Our results showed that a) in order for the aerobic power to improve, the range of heart beats appeared to be between 160 and 180 beats.min(-1) for the middle distances, 150 and 180 beats.min(-1) for the long distances and 140 and 170beats.min(-1) for the marathon, b) the percentage of VO2PEAK that is used for the improvement of aerobic power ranged between 77% and 94% of VO2PEAK for the middle distances, 72% and 92% of VO2PEAK for the long distances and 67% and 85% of VO2PEAK for the marathon, c) the running distances that were performed were between 1700m and 3000m for the middle distances, 1700m and 3100m for the long distances and 2400m and 3800m for the marathon. The intensity of the distances that were per-formed ranged from 83% to 89% of VO2PEAK peak for the middle distances, 76% to 85% of VO2PEAK for the long distances and 74% to 84% of VO2PEAK for the marathon and d) the frequency of the weekly training sessions in basic period was 23 sessions per week for the middle and long distances and 1-2 sessions per week for the marathon. During the special and competitive period the sessions' frequency remained the same as in the basic period except for the marathon where the frequency of the sessions tended to be less repetitive (about 1 session per week).