If you’re a serious runner or triathlete, I’m sure you come across articles related to base training. It appears that every year coaches want you to develop the aerobic base before starting on more intense training. And to build the aerobic base they recommend long slow distance running.
The question that is rarely addressed is how much base training you need (aside from the number of weeks or months) or even if you need a greater aerobic base. But then, in order to correctly respond to either of these questions, you have to first know the athlete’s level of mastery, the level of his or her fitness and in which aspect of their physical or technical training they are lacking, based on the previous year’s competition.
In other words, is necessary to distinguish between the different levels of athlete such as beginner, intermediate, advanced, elite, etc. The distinctions between these levels should be very precise and be based on both technical and physiological indices. It should not be based merely on number of years of participation or how well they did in one competition.
For example, I have seen many runners and triathletes who basically remain on the same level from year to year. This is based on no or very little improvement in their times in the three events. This indicates that they are basically the same from a physiological and technical point of view.
As a result, the training for such athletes should be very different from the training that should be done with athletes who show improvement from year to year and are on a higher level. The Russians proved this very convincingly and showed how the training of a low or intermediate level athlete should be very different from that of a high-level athlete.
A high-level athlete doing the training intended for a lower level athlete will not show any improvement in his performance and may even show decreases. A low or novice level athlete doing the training of a high-level athlete will likewise not show any improvement and it may even lead to injury and poorer performances.
It has also been found that high-level athletes, once they have established a strong aerobic base, do not need to train for greater improvement in the aerobic base. At this time their training should be focused more on the anaerobic systems or the extreme limits of the aerobic system leading into the aerobic/anaerobic systems.
Doing more training for a greater aerobic base when performing on the elite level usually leads to a lack of progress, especially in regard to improving the speed in running or in the triathlon. The main reason for this is that the benefits from the aerobic training are miniscule in comparison to those received from doing more training at the threshold level and above.
In general, as your level of improvement increases, the amount of training devoted to aerobic base development decreases. You no longer employ a great deal of long slow distance running but instead use faster running closer to the aerobic/anaerobic threshold. Doing this will improve your performance greatly, significantly more than would be possible by doing more aerobic base training.