Ask The Experts
Training sessions and the Training Guide
Frank Birch: I'm 46 and have been a runner for some 30 years. I've been using a Concept 2 at my local gym for 6/7 months now and have been working on building a solid foundation for the next 5 months of pre-competition, and competition training a la the Concept 2 training manual. I feel slightly bemused at the way "example" training sessions are presented in the manual. Repetition, distance and number are specified as are target strokes per minute. Are you able to give some type of guidance as to what type of speed sessions during the pre-competition and competition periods should be conducted? For example, what would the difference be between a 3 x 6 mins session during pre-competition and a 4 x 6 mins session during competition? Obviously the former would be slower with shorter recovery than the latter but are you able to give any additional advice in this area, perhaps relative to your expected race pace?
Terry O'Neill: Glad to here you are finding both the machine and the training guide useful even if I need to clarify the training examples. In the Training Guide we have identified 5 different training bands. We also explain what benefits you can expect from each band. The bands are determined by how much lactic acid the exercise elicits. Because you are unable to determine the level of lactate unless you are in a test environment we have given two other indicators as to the intensity of the training. The first is the heart rate which is the most reliable after actually measuring the lactate in the blood but does require a heart rate monitor. The second is strokes per minute which has a greater degree of error but requires no additional equipment. From the start of a training programme the changes are from high quantity at a low intensity to low quantity at a high intensity. You may find that some sessions that appear in the preparation period also appear in the pre-competition period and that sessions in the pre-competition period will appear in the competition period. As we move on we do not want to lose the benefits from the sessions we have carried out earlier and so they are revisited but hopefully if the programme is working the quality of the work will be better. So in answer to your specific question, what would be the difference between 3 x 6 mins in the pre-comp. period compared to 4 x 6 mins in the competition period, it would be in the metres covered in that time.
Back to Answers