What’s the difference and how do we know which one works best for us?
Which is really better? Sometimes turning the looking glass around can help – which is best suited to my goal and my needs. Both offer valid outputs, and can be mixed to help overall performance.
From a pure science view, high intensity works the fast twitch muscles and steady state works the slow twitch.
Ironically this can be considered a simplification, but its science though?
It is, with a few exceptions we typically want to increase (or at least maintain) distance and do it faster.
Think park run, 10k’s, half marathons all the way up to ultra’s.
Even if we keep the distance the same, we still need to cover that distance whilst increasing speed. So our endurance must maintain with the speed increase.
So how do we turn the looking glass around?
By understanding what suits our goal, what do we need to complete our goal.
Running a long distance? – focus on endurance first, to complete we must first finish.
Running for a PR – focus on speed, we already cover the distance how do we create additional power to shorten the time taken.
Let’s get down into it, increasing distance, We’ve previous cover how the 10% rule can lead to some exceptional large numbers! gradually increasing our distance in small incremental steps will allow our pace to (largely) remain the same, the critical part here is small and incremental, if we have larger jumps we will have to sacrifice pace for distance, our bodies like time to adapt to change.
When is steady state good?
Keeping fit and healthy – we don’t always need to increase distance or speed, used as part of a workout, steady state offers a great way of getting our steps in (or revolutions for our two wheeled friends) helping keep our help healthly.
Distance building, when we are starting out or building up, steady state allows us to gently introduce distance loads to our bodies. I always like to add in here that everyone can benefit from this! – marathon (26.2) to Ultra (26.2+) same rules apply.
Different disciplines, steady state allows us to experience other modes, this could be rowing, swimming, cycle etc, this is because we aren’t going hammer down.
Feel the need for speed?
Crushing PR’s – if we are already covering the distance, adding speed is the next step, intervals and hills work well to increase speed over the course.
Improve oxygen consumption , increases your muscles ability to use oxygen, the more efficient they the better power delivery we can expect.
We can also mix the two to a certain extent, again we have to look at what is the primary focus, take working to a 10km run. We would want to get the km’s under our belt, we could also add some speed work in to help keep the pace up. It also offers a variation to our training from a distance point of view.
Typically we would like to mix a bit of both in, whether that’s weekly or bi-weekly.
Want to explore the best options for you? Chat to one of the team here at SF info@spikefitness.co.uk or 07597215652.