Every Session Has to have a Purpose - System 4

I have been developing 'System 4' for the past  three years, and after successfully using the system to help four age-group athletes progress to elite status in 2007, as well as the success of the Arch 2 Arc it is time to apply the system to a new challenge.

There are many articles in relation to the correct volume / intensity ratio an athlete should observe and at which times of year they should apply this training.  The biggest set back our home grown athletes face in the UK is the fact that our coaches are not brave enough to try new innovative ideas as they are scared that they will fail along with their athletes.

After following a project held in Austria, I was excited to hear that conducting anaerobic (sprint) training at the start of the winter could bring fantastic results the following summer.  Although the athletes threshold fitness would at first suffer due to the heightening of the anaerobic capacity, the athlete would be able to train for longer and harder after this phase as he would be accustomed to the presence of lactate acid.

I have always been one to continue (even in small amounts) speed work over the winter.  When I say speed, I mean faster than race speed.  So for a marathon runner, I would ensure that they continue to train at 5 and 10K speed during the winter.

Peter Coe, father to the infamous Sebastian Coe (ex world record holder for 800m) once said, "If speed is the game, we should never get too far away from it".
System 4 is all about training at 4 different PACES, whilst observing training zones prescribed both from field and laboratory tests.  Any coach worth his salt would know that heart rate alone isn't worth the watch it is written on.  Training at a prescribed pace, neurologically trains the muscle fibres to contract at the pace that athlete needs them to contact at.  It is common sense to think that if he wishes to run a marathon at 6min / mile pace, he needs to do alot of training at that pace.  If the athlete goes for his long runs at a slower pace, and also includes speed work into his program, when it comes to race day, how is the body going to able to run at a pace that it had never trained at?

As well as training at race pace, we also need to train below and above race pace.  So why do we train faster than race pace?  To simplify things, take two 1500m swimmers.  Each are rivals wishing to win the race.  Swimmer A can swim 750 m in 10mins.  Swimmer B can swim 750m in 11mins.  If both swimmers reach 750m in 11mins 30sec, who would feel fresher?  It is for this reason that we need to train faster than race pace and to develop power in certain circumstances.

We also need to ensure that we train to our race duration and beyond.  For example, a 25 mile bike TT athlete who finishes his race in 52mins would not want to go out every Sunday for a 52min bike at race pace, or he will be racing each weekend.  By training slower, it enables him to build aerobic endurance by extending his training duration.

Conducting field and laboratory tests on athletes reveal their weakness and strengths.  These will either be anaerobic or anaerobic weakness.  Depending on the results from these tests, athlete's current / past performances and race distances planned for the coming season, the 4th session will be prescribed at an even faster or slower pace to transform this weakness into a strength.

For example, I train a female elite triathlete who wishes to run 3hrs 20mins at the end of her Ironman for the marathon. Her predicted time for a marathon alone would be 2hrs 54mins.  In a 2-week cycle I would prescribe the following training:

Session 1:  Run at 6:38 pace (marathon pace) building to 18 miles
Session 2: Run at 7:48 pace (Ironman pace) building to 3hrs 20mins
Session 3 10K Pace interval session

As this athlete's weakness is her aerobic threshold:

Session 4: 5K Pace interval session.

The session above would be separated by short runs of 35mins at 7:48 pace (Ironman Pace).  You can see here that EVERY session has a purpose.  Neurologically, it's perfect.  Every session is teaching her to run a speed that she needs and that she can remember.  The same system can be applied to cycling, swimming, indeed - all sports.

The questions are: What are the intervals?  What are the recoveries?  When do we start this type of training?  The answers to these stay with my athletes and I.  But to prove how good the system is, how does this sound?........

On 29th March 2008, there is a 78.6 mile race along the Jurassic Coast in Dorset.  The course has to be completed in 24hrs.  Last year, only 5 of the 20 competitors finished.  I have ran over this area before and it is nothing short of a serious fell race.  Without exaggerating, you have to climb certain parts of the course.

Since August 2007, I have been for 4 runs, 5 swims and 2 bikes.  The race is only 7-weeks away.  I know that some people have trained for 12-months for this race.  I am that confident in this system, that making sure that every run I do in the next 7-weeks follows the system, will ensure that I finish the event within the 24hrs.  As all training has to be neurological, the type of terrain (trails, hills etc) will have to be Incorporated into the programme. 

Basically, I have only 7 long run training days before the event.  The traditional method of training would be starting to think about tapering by now.  By extracting all TRASH MILEAGE from my programme, I  will be able to considerably reduce the time needed to prepare myself for the race.