Welcome to All Hours
Welcome to All Hours, the bi-weekly After Hours Athletics blog. Here, I’ll break down the physiology, psychology, and philosophy that is foundational to running. I’ll also include a series of guest blogs from impactful people in the running and endurance sport community. I hope you find the All Hours blog to be insightful and can apply what is shared to your training and life. This blog aims to spark conversation between runners, coaches, and other members of the endurance sport community—so feel free to continue the conversations I start here and reach out if there’s any topics you’d like to hear about specifically.
I also offer an exclusive newsletter for After Hours members on a bi-weekly basis. Below is an exclusive preview of one of our first newsletters so you can get an idea of the sort of stuff we will be discussing in both the All Hours blogs, and the newsletter. I’d love to get your feedback on this, so email owen@afterhoursathletics.com to continue the conversation.
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Welcome back to our second iteration of the After Hours Exclusive! Here, I write about something I come across that I think can add value to athletes, coaches, and more. Today's topic is a blend of psychology, physiology, and philosophy, and centers around Nils van der Poel's Training Manifesto. This thing is long, but I have run across very few things that are more worth the read. Nils van der Poel is the world record holder in the 5,000m/10,000m speed skate from Sweden. Take your time and parse through this manifesto as your time allows, you won't be disappointed. Below however, I'll highlight some of my favorite parts:
"You become good at whatever it is that you train"
This may seem painstakingly obvious, but I think it's important to remind ourselves of the principle of specificity that states exactly this. Training is not a "one size fits all" paradigm, and it should vary based on the demands of your event, or goal. When I write training, I work backwards from exactly this point; the demands of the event. Now there are certainly times in the year where specificity needs to be emphasized, but you can maintain specific adaptation year round by touching on the intensities required for your event or goals.
"If you need to stretch then go ahead and bend over. But do not fool yourself; do not drop hours from the essential sessions in order to perform something that sounds cool or is easy."
The take home here is to spend the most time possible in areas where you can get the most bang for your buck. We often can get too wrapped up in "marginal gains" (thanks Team Sky), and we forget about the main thing. I listened to a podcast that asked the two best triathlete's in the world what they do for "recovery," and they said "eating and sleeping." No massage, cryotherapy, or anything more. That doesn't mean there isn't a place for these tools, but if implementing these tools into your training is going to take away from the main thing, they aren't worth it.
5-2 Training Rhythm
Van der Poel outlines how he follows a 5 days on, 2 days off training paradigm. This allows for a huge block of stimulus, followed by a large block of rest and adaptation. Many may look at this and think that 5 days of high intensity and high volume is a recipe for disaster, but may overlook how hugely beneficial a two day window of adaptation can be. After all, we get better when we are resting and thus adapting, not when we're working hard. You need both of course, it's a push and a pull, and I'm not saying everyone needs to follow a 5-2 rhythm, but chunking stress with subsequent chunked rest may be something we start to see more of. I know that the NAU track/cross country program does this with a typical Friday workout, followed by a Saturday long run, and then only short easy runs, or off days until the next workout on Tuesday. NVDP emphasizes both the physical and psychological benefits of this 5-2 cadence, and page 7 has too many good quotes to include here, I suggest you go read it!
Training Structure (Aerobic season, threshold season, specific season)
NVDP breaks his training down into three distinct seasons, each with a very particular focus. They follow classical periodization schematics starting from low end aerobic work, and working through the intensities until race specific intensities are hit. For NVDP, 10k/5k intensity is above lactate threshold, so the training block follows a nice progression of increasing intensity (for different events, it may not always be this way).
- Aerobic Season
In the aerobic season, the focus is on volume and building a huge base of aerobic fitness. NVDP was doing huge amounts of easy aerobic volume during this block, upwards of 30 hours per week, and 6-7 hours per day (as a mix of running, biking, and cross country skiing). As NVDP puts it, there are a couple benefits to the aerobic season. One being that a 10,000m skate is partly aerobic, but it’s also important for being able to help with recovery, so that more anaerobic sessions can be done later on in the training program. These hours during the aerobic season were spent at a very low intensity. He would only venture into higher intensities if he “ was longing for an interval set, I sometimes went for a little threshold during the Aerobic season, but usually I would just clock the hours.” This is an interesting thing to consider that even an athlete at this caliber is observing the importance of letting his body dictate some training, and feeling the feelings of training. Being super specific with training at certain points of the year may be counterproductive, and the fluidity seen here is an important lesson. He also explains how laid back this “season” was; where the goal was simply to get as many hours as possible. He would eat more or less whatever he wanted, as long as it was enough. He would go on trips with friends, and “lived more freely outside of training.” I think this is hugely important to have a block or part of your own season that you can approach in a more relaxed manner. We can’t always be “on” and even if you are taking a two week break following a season, having a couple months of training that you can approach in a very chill manner can be huge for sustaining mental and physical energy throughout a long season.
- Threshold Season
Threshold season for NVDP had less overall volume (25 hr/week), but a focus on volume at threshold. He makes a point to say, “ It was important not to start off too hard so I always made a smooth transition from only going aerobic to reaching high levels of weekly threshold hours.” This highlights a key training principle that everything needs to be a gradual progression to allow for the body to adapt and handle the load being put on it. He explains how he typically kept these sessions, especially early in the weeks, at an easier threshold (under 4mmol) to allow for more volume to be accumulated at threshold. But he also points out that training right at 4mmol (his threshold), that he didn’t have to do as many hours, and it was at least as effective as training more at sub 4mmol. I’m not here to say either one is better, and neither is NVDP, but it shows how there are always multiple ways to get to a similar outcome. We just need to make sure we understand why we’re doing what we’re doing. NVDP continues to outline the importance of listening to his body during training saying if his power dropped more than 3% on these threshold sessions, he would often stop the session and take two days off. He says that he “trained so hard that he was comfortable giving his body rest when it asked for it.” I think this is something that is particularly lost in distance running, especially with the ease of access and focus on numbers in training. Working more synergistically with the body and letting your own feelings dictate some of where training is going is an art, and hugely important.
- Specific Season
The specific season followed the threshold season and started three weeks prior to NVDP’s racing season. This was of course eased into as well, blending some specific work into the last week or two of threshold season to allow for a smooth transition. Interestingly, NVDP completely stopped threshold training in order to “free up energy” for specific work. The shift in training focus is drastic, and is interesting to note as many distance runners will keep some “maintenance” threshold work in even during the specific block. Again, I’m not here to say which is “right,” but to point out differences in training paradigms. He also points out how his easy volume got even easier during the specific season. This intensity on easy volume work steadily dropped as the high end of intensity being touched increased. As runners, we must take our easy days easier the harder we are working out. NVDP would also never complete these sessions at lower speeds than competition speed because 1, the mechanics and technique would differ slightly, and 2, it would waste energy that could be spent hitting more time at specific intensities. The thing that jumps out to me about his specific season is how specific it really is. He goes into quite a bit of detail regarding the specific period especially, so I urge you to check it out yourself!
- Aerobic Season 2.0
This season was a shortened version of NVDP’s initial aerobic season that occurred after his first block of training. This season allowed for a refresh of low end aerobic stimulus, which also gave room for supercompensation and adaptation to occur. This block lasted a few weeks before going back into another specific season, but NVDP claims was the key to sustaining mental and physical momentum throughout the season. He points out how it “killed any top shape” that was obtained during the initial specific season, and more specifically “allowed hormones to settle to more salutary levels and the danger of overtraining after a supercompensation is avoided.” The importance of this refresh of aerobic work and deload in specific work “can not be emphasized enough” according to NVDP. This can often be fit in between racing blocks and can allow an athlete to absorb some training while simultaneously getting a refresh on their aerobic adaptations they worked so hard for in the aerobic season.
I encourage all of you to read this training manifesto yourself as NVDP dives into a lot more detail, and includes his day to day training schedule for you to analyze. I think the greatest insights from this piece are about the psychology and philosophy of NVDP, and I think we can all learn from his approach to the work. As always, I would love to hear what you think, and what conclusions you drew from this fantastic piece.
