When we talk about improving endurance, we want to increase your aerobic capacity, in other words, the ability to maintain a moderate to low intensity exercise for a longer period of time.
To understand better this topic, we must break down aerobic capacity in 3 components:
Maximal Oxygen Uptake (VO2max): the maximal volume of oxygen your body can absorb and use in order to produce enough energy to the exercise.
Lactate Threshold: the point at which your body starts to accumulate more lactate than it can absorb. Excess of lactate in your blood will lead to muscle fatigue, slowing you down.
Running Economy: the energy demanded from your body to maintain a steady consumption of O2 at aerobic capacity. It means the amount of energy your body needs to keep that specific pace. The better your running economy is less energy your body needs to run at that pace.
Improving these 3 components is essential to achieve a better endurance. The question now is, how do I improve each one of them?
There are different ways to achieve that. We know, for example, that long distance running can improve your endurance. But my commitment here is to show you the most effective way to achieve a higher performance at same time decreasing the risk of injuring yourself. If you recall from my previous posts, we know that running is not the most effective way to achieve that.
So, here is my advice:
Vo2 Max and Lactate Threshold can be improved together through high-intensity interval training.
Running Economy can be improved by strength and power training (i.e.: weightlifting, plyometrics, ballistic exercises). Although, there is something important to be said here. The rest time in between exercises is very important and a quality over quantity approach seems to be more effective for runners.
Moreover, from my experience, I’ve seen runners just adding strength exercises to their running programs without decreasing the running volume. It seems to be a mistake, as research shows that high training volumes can eventually decrease your performance. The recommendation is to reduce around 37% of your aerobic training and add the strength training program.
Within the next few days, I will post a video with some exercises that you can incorporate to your running program.
If you have any questions, additions, or experiences to share feel free to do so. I am looking forward to hearing from you!
MD Coach
(BA Ph.Ed, Certified Running Coach)