Interview with Martin McElroy

Interview with Martin McElroy Coach of GB Olympic Champion Men’s Eight 2000
From www.irow.com
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Q: How did your crew achieve peak performance on the day of the Olympic Final? -Rick from MA

A: It seemed like everything was ready for that day. The equipment was ready, the athletes were ready. We'd always prided ourselves on learning at every opportunity. Over the years we'd learned lessons about training, we'd learned lessons about technique and we'd learned lessons about the mental strength needed to perform at the highest level. For me, the challenge in the olympic environment was mainly psychological. It was about managing the whole experience. It was about doing what we knew in the olympic cauldron. Even in our first race we were still making mistakes. However after that things began to crystallise. From then on a momentum started to build. Two days before the final we did some speed work that was exceptional. We had never gone that fast before.

The day of the final was almost calm by comparison to earlier days. We were on a very early bus to the course. It was still dark as we sat on the bus. The radio was playing and then something that I'll remember for the rest of my life happened. The DJ played a track by AC/DC - 'Back in Black'. This was a heavy rock song that had pounded around the gym at Imperial College during my early coaching days. I looked around at Louis Attrill our four man and also an Imperial alumnus. He'd latched on to it as well. I'm not superstitious but that warmed me up. It just seemed that even at 6am in the morning, halfway around the world on one of the most important days of our lives things were looking good.

All our planning was for this race. The final event of the project was here and it seemed that everything was in place. I suppose that's what preparation is all about. Even four years ago we all knew exactly when and where that race was going to take place. The light would turn green at the appointed time and you were either ready or not.

Q: There was a lot of controversy involving performance-enhancing drug use at the Sydney Olympics (especially in the sport of rowing). What measures do you take to make sure your rowers remain clean? Do you think there are countries that try to cheat the system? -Michelle from VA

A: The testing was rigorous from the moment we arrived in Australia. There were times that I wondered if the athletes would have any blood left to race with! Seriously though, I don't think drug use is endemic in rowing. Rowing is not a big money sport. It's not as if thousands of dollars of prize money is riding on it. Of course individual athletes may feel the desire to cheat and that is more difficult to eliminate. The best we can do is to develop a culture where it is unacceptable, both in terms of peer pressure and through the rules of our sport.

There is a strong anti-drugs culture in sport in the UK. It's probably something to do with the british sense of fair play. There is also a tough regime of testing both in and out of season. Testers can arrive at an athlete's door any time, day or night. It would take so much effort and expense to attempt to buck the system, that I doubt any athlete would find it worthwhile in the UK. That's not to say that it couldn't happen, indeed there have been cases in other sports although they've become tangled up in the debates about contaminated supplement products. The advice from the governing body of rowing in the UK is train correctly, eat well and avoid anything that is of dubious origin. I think the drugs and supplements policy of the governing body is available on their website.

Q: As last year's top eight, I imagine there are lots of crews gunning to knock your crew off of the winner's podium. How've you prepared your crew to handle this pressure? -Roger from FL

A: We will continue to focus on what got us into that position rather than worry about the winner's podium. Keeping focused on the process rather than the outcome is what's important. If we keep working on our process, then the results will start to follow. Remember, it took us 4 years to figure it out the last time. Sure, we have the benefit of experience, but it will be a new crew with new challenges and dynamics.

Q: Is there any frustration from you or the team with the amount of press that Redgrave and the four has gotten? (After all, you guys did win gold in THE top rowing event) -John from VA

A: We always knew the attention would be on Steve and after all it was a pretty remarkable achievement. Steve deserves all the plaudits he can get! We also used the situation to our advantage. With so much attention on Steve before the games it took all the pressure away from us. The eight was very low key pre-olympics. That allowed us to focus on the job in hand. The other thing to remember is that none of the guys were doing this to be famous. They were doing this for themselves. After all, they're a young group of guys. The the thrill and excitement was about going to the olympics, and meeting the challenge. That is what it was all about. The press and media coverage were a bonus after the event. The eight's win did take the imagination of the public, but in a different way to that of the four, precisely because they were a very different group.

Q: I'd like to hear coach McElroy's thoughts on how to move your club/team up to a higher level of competition. Right now it feels like my own team is stuck in a rut, we go to all the same regattas year after year and never seem to be better than middle of the pack. We've had a few fast novice teams but they seem to either quit or fade. How would you go about infusing a team with a sense of purpose and raising their standards of quality and commitment?

A: Not matter what level your club operates at you have to strive for excellence at that level. Analyse the training that you do relative to your competitors. Are you doing a similar number of sessions. How are these distributed in terms of gym and water work. Then make sure the balance is actually right for effective training. On top of this it's worth looking at the lifestyle of your athletes. Can they cope with the demands of the programme and all the other things going on in their lives. Maybe they can do a little bit more! Maybe what they already do needs to be better led.

Treat it like any problem solving activity. Take a look at your resources and how they're utilised. Is it effective? In that analysis include yourself. Do you have all the skills necessary. Are there areas that you could upgrade your knowledge in. If you want to have the best crew at their level then you have to be the best coach at that level. It's not all about having the best equipment and the flashiest gym. What's much more important is what you know and how you apply it.

Success retains people. When people get the winning bug they want more. From my own observation this success is almost always down to the organisation and coaching within a club. I've seen it at so many different levels that I'm thoroughly convinced these are teh main factors. People competing at club level will do what they're being asked to do. They're attending because they want to do it. They just need the leadership to show them what to do. When they start to reap the rewards they enjoy it even more and the cycle starts to reinforce itself. It's the old adage "success breeds success"!

Q: The Aussies were really charging in the last 500m of the Olympic final. Rumor has it they actually hit the gate at the starting block. Do you know what really happened and does Australia have enough to catch you guys this year? -Ashley W.

A: I've heard that comment about the gate before, but could never see it on the video. Who knows? As for this year, it's a new year. After all, the americans went pretty well in '97,'98,'99. I'm sure they'll be back. I don't know what the priorities will be in other teams this year. The australians, croatians, and don't forget the italians will be there, they were not far behind either. We should also expect to see the germans rebuilding in this cycle. Realistically, there is very little amongst these crews. A single mistake racing at this level is enough to drop you to the back of the field.

Q: I was wondering what process you went through in selecting the boat and oars you used. Was there a lot of testing involved? Did you allow your athletes to participate in this decision, i.e.. their comfort factor? What were your rigging dimensions for your Olympic eight? -Holly from MA


A: As an engineer by training I never take the status quo for granted. In the past crews mainly used empacher boats and concept oars. Was this because they were the best or because everybody was scared to do anything different? I didn't know the answer to that question or even if it was the right question. What I did know was that I'd like to test the hypothesis. It also concerned me that athletes got so hung up about equipment. Very few, if any, crews are constrained by their equipment. The differences due to equipment are so small compared to the impact of how a crew rows or how fit they are. Of course if there's any potential for advantage from equipment then I'd rather have it than not...

So, in the right context I set out to see what I could find with regards to equipment. Boats tend to be evolutions of something earlier. Things get lost in the mists of time. Why is it a particular shape? Just because something else was or because some serious research has been done. If research has been done, then what tools and methodologies were used. Are they correct and up to date? When you start to ask these questions there aren't many who can answer through progressive levels of questions. With regard to boats, Vespoli can answer quite a few questions. Carl Scragg, the naval architect has taken a good look at boats. Overall, I'd be more inclined to go with this than with data that originated in the former GDR. Things have changed a lot since then. Much more powerful computational tools are available...

I've done practical testing before and found the results questionable. Quite often the faster boat is the more uncomfortable. But does there come a point where being uncomfortable inhibits the athlete? As it happens the Vespoli is very comfortable but then most heavyweight boats are. With regard to oars, we used concept smoothies in '97 and then Croker slicks after that. Although I like the idea of adjustable handles, I found the early concept version required a lot of maintenance. I spent two days at the world championships in '97 changing inserts and grips. I didn't think that was the most productive use of my time. The more we used the Crokers the more we liked them. They sat very positively in the water right from the entry. I'm not fixed in my views about oars. Athletes adapt to oar types just as they do to rigging within reason...

We rowed a number of different rigs. In the end our boat was set on a span of 83.5 cm. The oars were 375.5 cm with an inboard of 114 cm. There's nothing drastic about this rig. It might even seem a little on the light side, but then how you row has a major impact. Referring to technique, if you row effectively then a seemingly light rig will feel just as heavy as a heavier rig that's rowed ineffectively. It's important to link rigging to the way you row. I'd advise coaches to use other crews rigging data carefully. It's only part of the picture...

Oh, and I should say that we use ordinary concept oars in our pairs. We've spent periods of the year training in an emapcher eight. My message is that sure, use the best equipment for you needs if you can, but don't be dependent on it. What would happen if your boat falls off the trailer on the way to a regatta and somebody offers you the use of a perfectly good boat, but it's not what you usually use? Do you blame the boat if things don't go well? Seek to make your crews resilient. Develop a flexibility that allows you to focus on what really matters. Currently, we have a culture amongst the eights group that doesn't worry about rigging and equipment. That's not saying it's not looked at, it is, but not as a 'big' issue. I'd much prefer athletes to focus on how they use
it.

Q: Does your crew do weight training? What kind of exercises?

A: In the normal pattern of things we train with weights twice a week. During the winter if we're away on a cross training camp we might do more. The exercises are quite straight forward. Bench pulls, bench press, leg work,
core stability work. We didn't tend to do high repetitions, mostly 6-8 reps. In the end we're there to row so we want to make sure that our training is specific.

Q: Could you give some tips on determining line-ups? I'm sure it is a much different ball-game at the National level, but perhaps some of your techniques could apply to juniors as well. Also, any thoughts on switching rowers from side-to-side to maintain flexibility in your lineups?

A: There are many views on this topic. At national level, I'd ideally like athletes to be able to row in any seat. The rhythm should be coming from the whole crew. Again at national level you'd expect the boat to feel the same no matter where you sit. This is very difficult to achieve, but is the ideal to which we aspire. As far as sides go, it is an unfortunate situation that most international athletes tend to row one side only. There are exceptions but not many. James Cracknell from our coxless four has changed sides this year to row in a pair with Matthew Pinsent. That was after 12 years of rowing starboard...

Determining line ups is a difficult matter and it's very difficult to be prescriptive. So much comes from the coaches judgement on this one. In developing athletes there are so many factors that can play a role. The more inexperienced or those with slightly less developed skills tend to sit in the middle where they feel stable and have a pattern to follow. In effect, follow is what they do, which does result in a different feel because although the visible timing might be similar, the pressure generated is slightly lagging down the boat. At international level this would be a disadvantage as loadings would be different. At a more developmental level I'd say it it was almost inevitable...

People with relatively stable technique tend to work well towards the stern of the boat, although it often helps to have a stroke who can lift the tempo a bit if necessary. I'm sure I'm not telling you anything new on this one. It's important to trust your judgement, but don't be dogmatic about it, always be prepared to change your view of athletes as their skills improve. The biggest mistake you can make is to label an athlete for a particular seat. On many occasions I've had to develop people into roles that I might not have envisioned previously. Always be prepared to be surprised!

Developing the flexibility to change sides is a tremendous asset. The earlier athletes develop this flexibility, the better. In the UK most juniors start their careers by sculling for about 3 years. Most coaches then try to keep their athletes flexible by rowing on both sides. That generation hasn't yet come to senior level, but the approach has worked well in other countries that have tried it.

*Webmaster Note...we have time for about 4 more questions*

Q: What style/technique do your rowers use to row so smooth? How do you go about making changes to their technique? -Mike from LA

A: I've worked closely with Harry Mahon, the reknown New Zealander, for the past few years. I've learned some invaluable lessons from Harry. Overall, I'd say our technique is based on simplicity. A stroke has to have reasonable effective length, the power must come on in a sustainable fashion and nothing should be done to slow the boat down.

Our sport is about taking both athlete and boat down the track in the best possible time. The athlete has a finite amount of energy to offer during the race. An effective technique tries to maximise the boat speed that can be generated over this period. Putting the spoon into the water in an effective manner is crucial. This is much more a matter of timing than speed. You see a lot of crews trying to put the spoon in faster and faster which results in a choppy, tense stroke. So, for example in this case some of the athlete's precious energy is diverted away from effective propulsion. Being a closed skill sport every element of the technique influences what follows. An aggressive, tense catch interferes with the athlete's ability to then generate an effective power curve. Problems with how the power is generated affect the release at the finish. Problems here then interfere with the ability to organise the recovery in such a way that the next stroke has the required length, whilst also allowing the boat to move forward easily...

I just started the above example by beginning at the entry. I could have started anywhere in the stroke really. Without trying to categorise out technique relative to others, I'd say we attempt to row in a natural relaxed fashion. We focus a lot on eliminating extras - if it offers nothing to the speed of the boat then why do it? The momentum of the athletes in the crew is crucial.The athletes moving back and forth along the slide can be basis of a rhythm. You can either bang off the footstretcher and pull yourself back up the slide for the next stroke, or you can spring off the stretcher just as a good basketball player would to gain maximum height and then allow the forward moving boat to bring your feet to you before springing again. Of course, the spoon must be used (timed) to harness this momentum. If the spoon is not put into the water before this change of direction then the boat is kicked backwards AND the resultant stroke is shorter as well because some of the athlete's length has been expended before propulsion can begin...

Changing technique is just the same as changing any behaviour - it ain't easy! The learning process is just as applicable here as in any aspect of life and work. The first thing is that the coach must be sure of the model or vision of how to row. It's also worth saying at this point that there are many ways to do it! if you watch international crews row, they don't all row the same. Yet all have their day at some time. Be ccareful about this. If you can't justify it to youself then you'll never sell it to your athletes. Seek to understand why you wish to row in a particular fashion. This may develop and change over time. That's ok! Then when you've got your model and can fully understand it yourself you can start to develop it in the minds of your athletes. Ultimately your athletes will have to perform under tremendous duress. They will be operating right at their limits. It's not like a kicker in football who has to do it once. The rowing athlete has to do it about 200 times with no break over the course of a race. Under this sort of pressure there can be no doubt about how its going to be done. There isn't really time to think about it...

In a racing situation the action has to be automated. It's pretty crucial then that the action is the right one. Adherence to the model is then the next challenge. In the 3 years that I worked in the lead up to Sydney, I'd say that I spent the first year developing and clarifying the model in my own mind and then the next 2 years teaching and clarifying it in the minds of the athletes. For us the whole thing was very process driven. The challenge was always the process not the outcome. Obviously the outcome was pretty important in the final race! By the end there was no doubt about how we intended to row. The athletes and cox developed a tremendous abilty to analyse their rowing...

I've often thought that the challenge for the coach in this situation is being able to stick at it. All through the long training periods it takes a lot of passion and attention to keep working on it. It's very easy to let it slip, to accept something that's less than 100%. The ultimate test has to be at the end. If you can look back and say that there was absolutely nothing more that could have been done then perhaps the other crew was just better on the day. However if your crew wasn't as fit as it should have been or couldn't hold together technically or whatever, then the coach has to start by examining himself/herself. Was what I was doing right, and had the athletes understood and assimilated it to the point where it was their natural mode of operation?

In a practical sense this means taking advantage of every possible opportunity to engender the technique necessary. Use every possible tool and common sense idea that you can find. If that doesn't work, develop some of your own! Remember, what you're trying to do is help the athlete to share your vision. the difference is that they will be in whole world of pain as they're trying to do it. There can be no room for ambiguity.

Q: I have a couple questions regarding the Olympics: How long did the eight row together prior to the Olympics. Was it the same crew from the '99 Worlds? Also, what kind of speed-work did you do the 2 weeks prior to the Olympics?

A: There were 8 of the '99 crew in the sydney crew including the cox. Through the winter the athletes trained as individuals. In the spring they went into pairs and then raced in pairs at the spring trials. From this race and the other tests like ergo tests selections were made to race in the FISA world cup regattas in the eight. Even through this period there were still some changes and only after Lucerne regatta in july was the crew finalised. It was a really tough decision to have to cut someone at this stage. We had a really good group of athletes including four guys who went on to win the coxed four at the world championships. This strength in depth was important to create a competitive training environment.

As for the spped work, we did some 500m and 1000m pieces. We also had some 250m for top speed work. Some of these would be flat out, others were at race pace. Crews at this level can generate speed quite quickly so they don't need to do large amount of speed work. Over the course of the week we wouldn't have done more than four 500m, four 1000m and a few 250m pieces.

Q: OK, last question, and as the Webmaster, I get to ask it. Aside from the countless television interviews, bundles of cash, and athletic apparel endorsements, what sort of recognition have YOU gotten from the local and international media?

A: I wish! As in many similar situations, the coach tends to take a back seat in the media attention. However just as in the case of the athletes, I wasn't doing it for media coverage. Now a few new pairs of training shoes might be a different matter! Perhaps I could endorse a coaches bicycle or something! Seriously though, all the coaches of medal winning sports at sydney were well treated by their peer groups and sports organisations. I've been to Buckingham palace and checked out the queen's pad. A bit big for my liking! I did get an award from the national coaches foundation that puts me in the coaching hall of fame alongside some great coaches from many sports in the UK. That probably means most to me. Recognition from your peers is quite special.

Martin McElroy is currently a High Performance Coach with British International Rowing. Martin coached the Great Britain men’s heavyweight eight that won the gold medal at the Sydney Olympic games. Great Britain last won the gold medal in this event in 1912.

Over the 4 year period of the Sydney Olympiad Martin developed the men’s eight team from being a crew of aspiring young athletes into a tightly knit group whose performance in Sydney excited the whole nation. Having only taken up coaching at Imperial College Boat Club in 1995 and then becoming a full time professional coach with the national team in 1997, Martin has had significant wins at every level of his coaching career.

Martin studied engineering at University College Dublin and after working as an engineering manager for a number of years including a spell working in Africa, Martin returned to university to complete a Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A.) at Imperial College in London. Having rowed himself, Martin became involved in coaching after completing his course at Imperial College.

Martin’s credits this background for much of his success as a coach. Drawing on his engineering, management, and business experience Martin is a methodical coach who develops the athletes and resources necessary to achieve excellence. Being an Irishman, the final element in Martin’s arsenal is a liberal helping of Celtic passion.

Career Highlights

International
Olympic Games 2000 Men’s Eight Gold
World Championships 1999 Men’s Eight Silver
1998 Men’s Eight 7th
1997 Men’s Eight 4th
Nations Cup 1996 Men’s 4- Gold

National
Henley Royal Regatta 1996 Grand Challenge Cup Winners
1995 Thames Challenge Cup Winners
Head of the River 2001 Men’s Eight Winners
2000 Men’s Eight Winners
1999 Men’s Eight Winners

Rowing Injuries – Identifying and Treating Musculoskeletal and Nonmusculoskeletal Conditions

Rowing Injuries – Identifying and Treating Musculoskeletal and Nonmusculoskeletal Conditions

By Kristine A. Karlson, MD.
From The Physician and Sports Medicine. Vol 28, No 4, April 2000

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In Brief: Rowing – whether on the water or with machines – is increasingly popular, and, as with any strenuous exercise, the potential for injury is high. Rowers may have common symptoms, such as low back and knee pain, or more specific sport problems such as rib stress fractures, nerve impingement, and blisters. Virtually all rowing injuries are due to overuse, and many can be traced to training errors, or equipment problems. Understanding the mechanics of rowing, the equipment, and the training procedures is essential for the physical caring of injured rowing.

Rowing is a port growing both at the competitive and recreational levels. There is also growing enthusiasm for recreational and competitive use of rowing machines, which extend the rowing season and make rowing available to those who have never set a boat on the water. The popularity o rowing means that primary care physicians are increasingly likely to see rowing related injuries.

Demographics
Rowers have been competing at the collegiate and club level for over 10 years. It was one of the first sports added to the modern Olympics and was a popular spectator sport, with significant wagering, in the late 1800’s. Today rowing continues at the club, elite, collegiate and high school levels. Recent changes in Title IX enforcement, requiring equal opportunity for participation by women in collegiate sports, has spurred the rapid growth of collegiate rowing for women, with a trickle down effect to the high school level. In the summer Olympics, rowing represents the second largest sport next to track and field in number of participants.

Equipment and Racing
Boat. The rowing boat, or shell, accommodates one to eight rowers, who may have either one oar (sweep rowing), or two oars (sculling). Each station has fixed shoes and a sliding seat. Oars are held in riggers, and multiple individual adjustments are possible to vary the load per stroke, height of oarlocks, and position and angle of oars.

The rowing stroke begins as the oar enters the water, in a position called the “catch”. In this position, the legs and back are maximally flexed and the arms extended. During the power phase of the stroke, the “drive” the legs extend, followed by an opening of the back to a less flexed position, and finishing with flexion of the arms, the “finish”. The oar is removed from the water and the oar blade is turned parallel to the water by rotating the oar in the fixed oarlock, a maneuvering called “feathering”. In the “recovery” phase, the body returns to the catch position, preparing to take another stroke.

Races typically are contested over 1000m to 2000m course in the spring and summer, and 3 miles in the autumn. The spring and summer races are run parallel for up to 6 boats at once, beginning from a stop, and are near maximal aerobic efforts that begin with an anaerobic start and conclude with an anaerobic sprint. Time for the 2000m races vary depending on the boat size and weather conditions but are typically in the 5.5 to 8 minute range. Autumn races are typically from a running start against the clock and are virtually all aerobic effort, typically lasting from 15 to 20 minutes.

Exercise machine. The most commonly used rowing machine, or ergometer, has a flywheel for resistance connected to a handle by a chain, with a retractable stretch cord aiding the return of the handle to the starting position. The rower sits on a movable seat with fixed shoes and pulls the handle away from the flywheel. The ergometer is used for winter training and winter “races” are held in which the times of each participant are compared. It is increasingly common to see people use the ergometer while training for another sport or for general conditioning.

Training
Rowing has both high strength and high aerobic demands, ranking amongst the most strenuous sports. (1) Rowing athletes training virtually all year round, with emphasis on distance training in the fall, weights and distance in the winter, and increasing intensity and anaerobic work in the spring and summer racing seasons. Rowing athletes are highly fit, with recorded VO2 max in the 65 to 70ml/kg/min range for elite athletes (2). Rowing favors the tall athlete with a long reach, who can cover more distance per stroke.

Rowing is a repetitive motion, non impact sport; thus, rowers are unlikely to suffer sudden and unexpected injury, but are likely to suffer overuse injuries. Like other athletes in repetitive sports, the cause of the overuse injuries can usually be traced to a training error in either volume or technique, or inappropriately sized or configured equipment.

Musculoskeletal Injuries
Low back pain. The rowing stroke puts extraordinary pressures on the low back. The back begins the stroke flexed, and during the middle of the stroke the back opens up, but remains flexed, in a motion similar to an uncompleted dead lift. Loading the back in flexion places large forces on both the back muscles and the disks. In one review (3), low back and knee injures were the two most common injuries found in collegiate rowers. In sweep rowing, the back is also twisted slightly during the stroke to achieve more reach in the catch position, which may increase the incidence of back pain (4), though this does not appear to be the case in my experience or that of several US national rowing team physicians.

Back injuries from rowing vary from low back muscle or ligamentous strain to spondolysis to lumbar disk herniation. Physicians evaluating rowers with back pain should maintain suspicion for disk herniation, the most serious of these problems. Rowers sometimes have disk herniation without the typical radiation of symptoms to the legs, perhaps because these herniations represent primarily central disk disease, which does not press on the spinal nerve roots.

Low back pain in rowers usually has insidious onset, typical for an overuse injury, but occasionally rowers may suffer acute disk herniations. A careful history will often reveal training errors, usually from increasing load or distance too rapidly, or attempting a high load drill. The physical examination is frequently unrevealing because the rower may only mildly symptomatic at rest, but a careful search for signs of radiculopathy is warranted. Low back pain, especially with extension in a younger rower, is suggestive of spondylysis, and the mechanism of injury is likely the load to the pars interarticularis from the load to the back in rowing, rather than the repetitive hyperextension mechanisms seen in other sports.

Diagnostic tests are not always indicated at the initial presentation of the rower with lower back pain, but the physician should suspect disk herniation and consider proceeding to lumbar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) if conservative treatment is unsuccessful. Young people, particularly those with pain in extension, need lain x-rays with oblique views, followed by a bone scan if negative, to rule out spondylysis.

Treatment for lower back pain in rowers is often frustrating, and many young rowing careers have ended because of persistent low back pain symptoms. A typical treatment program of low back strengthening, range of motion exercise, rest as appropriate, and modalities such as ice and external stimulation for pain control is commonly used (5). Rowing equipment can be modified to decrease the load per stroke, and technique can be altered to keep the low back straighter. Having sweep rowers change rowing sides to lean and twist in the opposite direction, unfortunately, rarely improves symptoms. Athletes with disk herniation who do not respond to treatments often have back surgery, which can also end careers. Rowers are cautioned to protect their lower backs by not making errors in training, encouraged to modify rowing technique and volume, and reminded to seek care for persistent back symptoms.

Knee pain. The rowing stroke puts the knee through its full range of motion, with a significant load exerted to the fully flexed knee at the start of the stroke. There is, therefore, a fairly high incidence of pattelofemoral knee pain in rowers. Like patellofemoral pain in other sports, this is more common in women, whose anatomy predisposes them to patellar tracking problems that are further exacerbated by the fixed position of the shoes in the rowing shell. If the shoes are spaced or twisted incorrectly for the individual’s anatomy, knee pain ay persist and worsen despite appropriate treatment. Knee pain may also be caused or exacerbated by other activities used for cross training, such as running and weight lifting.

Patellofemoral pain can be treated with specific strengthening of the vastus medialis muscle to improve patellar tracking, and by use of modalities, such as ice, in the acute phase. Bracing of the knee is difficult due to the range of motion required for the rowing stroke and this is not recommended. Modifying the position of the shoes in the boat can have a significant impact by encouraging better positioning of the knee during the rowing stroke.

Rowers may also complain of lateral knee pain, commonly due to friction of the iliotibial band passing over the lateral femoral epicondyl, that is exacerbated by the full knee compression required for the rowing stroke. Individuals with varus knees are at an increased risk for this problem. Again, changing the position of the shoes in the boat can help alleviate symptoms.

Other treatment consists of ice, stretching and other modalities as appropriate. Gradual return to rowing is usually successful.

Rib stress fracture. Stress fractures of the rib were reported infrequently in rowing prior to the introduction of a more efficient oar design in 1992, which was rapidly and widely adopted (6, 7). This new oar holds its position in the water with less slippage, and thus transmits greater force to the muscles of the arm and chest wall. Since 1992, stress fractures of the ribs have been seen at all levels, are regarded by the rowing community as common, and have been reported more commonly in the literature. (8-10)

During the rowing stroke, the serratus anterior muscle hold the scapula firmly against the chest wall while the scapula goes through its range of motion, from protraction when the stroke begins, to retraction when the blade exits the water. Researchers have proposed that overuse of the serratus anterior muscle leads to bending forces at the ribs, which can cause stress fracture, usually posteriorally in ribs 5 through 9. There is a case report (11) of a serratus anterior avulsion from rowing, attesting to the large forces exerted on and by this muscle.

The history of rib stress fracture is one of insidious onset of chest wall pain, often associated with training volume increases or training errors. Athletes often feel this initially as a strain of the intercostals muscles in the chest wall, but over time the pain begins to localize over the ribs, were a palpable bony callus may develop. If a callus is not palpable, diagnosis may be made by plain x-ray, but, in most injuries, a bone scan is necessary for adequate and complete diagnosis.

Unfortunately once the diagnosis of rib stress fracture is made, rest for 6 weeks is usually required for complete healing. There is little else that can be done in terms of physical therapy once the injury occurs; therefore, early recognition is required to save the rowing season for injured athletes. Modifying technique to decrease stress on the serratus muscle, involves decreasing the reach at the beginning of the stroke. It is also possible to modify the equipment to decrease the load per stroke. Specific protraction strengthening exercises for the serratus anterior may strengthen it enough to avoid rib stress fractures, but there is no documentation of the success of such a program.

Forearm tendonitis. Maintaining the tight grip required to hold onto the oar(s) for extended periods of time puts the forearms at risk for overuse injuries. Each rowing stroke also involves twisting the oar parallel to the water when feathering tea or in the recovery stage. This motion is carried out by extension of the wrist, further stressing the forearm.

Rowers with forearm tendonitis typically experience pain, tenderness and even crepitus of the dorsal wrist in the region of cross over between the first and third dorsal wrist compartments. On physical exam, affected athletes have pain and swelling in this region of the dorsal forearm. As with overuse injuries this problem is more common early in the outdoor rowing season when feathering the oar is still and unaccustomed activity. Feathering action at the wrist is not necessary to use a rowing ergometer.

Treatment of forearm tendonitis involves appropriate rest and technique modification. Affected athletes can try to row with their wrists as flat as possible, given their skill level. Looser grip on the oar(s) is also very important. Medical treatment involves ice, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and occasionally, local steroid injection into the tendon sheath. Tendonitis usually resolves quickly with appropriate management.

Dermatological Problems
Hands of rowers are highly susceptible to blisters from friction with the oar handle. Most rowers are reluctant to wear gloves, thinking that this decreases the ability to feel the position of the oar in the water. Rowers in northern climates do not practice outdoors year round, which can result in increased incidence of hand problems when they return to the water each spring.

Treatment and prevention of hand blisters is the object of much folklore and tradition in rowing, but not all interventions have proven benefits. Most rowers merely tolerate blisters as necessary evil that will resolve as the skin adapts. A few may get secondary infections, which often require oral antibiotic treatment. More serious infection is rare. Rowers should be cautioned to watch for secondary infection and taught how to handle calluses to avoid the formation of new blisters under large, thick calluses.

Oars are usually shared among members of rowing teams. Open blisters and hand infections are therefore a potential source of blood or body fluid exposure. Oar handles need to be cleaned regularly, especially after use by an athlete with hand wounds, to limit the spread of infection. One study (12) found an increased incidence of hand warts among members of a rowing team, suggesting that infection may spread even with intact hands.

Some rowers are particularly susceptible to blister, callus and abrasion of the buttocks. This may be worsened by sitting on an improperly fitted rowing seat, which allows chafing or pinching of the buttocks, usually at the finish position of the rowing stroke. Affected individuals are usually uncomfortable but rarely seek medical attention. This problem is usually improved by a different seat, a foam seat pad, and petroleum jelly or other dressing in the affected area. These abrasions can, though rarely, progress to a serious infection and awareness of this problem needs to be increased among rowers to decrease embarrassment in seeking appropriate care.

At the finish of the rowing stroke, the posterior lower leg contacts the metal track in which the seat rolls back and forth as the leg bend and extend. The extent of this contact is variable, depending on the width of the tracks and the height of the tracks relative to the shoes. Athletes who tend to hyperextend their knees, whose shoes are considerably lower than the tracks, or those whose knee alignment also aligns their calves with the seat tracks, can suffer a repetitive abrasion of the posterior legs, known to rowers as “track bites”. These abrasions can be quite severe, frequently scarring and occasionally infecting. Rowers should be encouraged to wear protective long socks, or circumferential tape. Smaller dressings usually do not stay in place. If possible, the equipment can be altered to diminish contact of the legs with the tracks, but this is often difficult or impossible.

Nerve Entrapment
Various nerve entrapments are seen in rowing. They range fro carpal tunnel syndrome caused by tight hand grip to numbness of the legs cased by pressure ion the sciatic nerve from a poorly fitted seat.

A ridge on the front of the seat can place direct pressure on the sciatic nerve. Leg numbness may also occur if the seta holes designed to fit the ischial tuberosities are improperly spaced for the individual, especially when women use seats designed for men that do not accommodate a wider pelvis.

Rowers with carpal tunnel syndrome often hold the handles too tightly and should modify their technique in addition to the usual treatments. Most other nerve entrapments are the result of poor equipment fir, exacerbated by the long rowing sessions. Rowers with nerve entrapment should seek the assistance of an experienced rowing coach or trainer to aid them in making equipment modifications.

Environmental Exposure
Rowing is an outdoor sport; thus, rowers should be aware of exposure and safety issues, including sun exposure augmented by reflection from the water and hypothermia augmented by wet clothing. Water exposure is not intentional, but splash when the oars enter the water frequently reaches rowers, making water quality a potential health problem as well.

Most rowing associated deaths are preventable and due to drowning or exposure. Storms causing lightning and high waves are dangerous for any small boat and should be avoided. Collisions are possible, strict attention must be paid to traffic patterns and use of lights in low light conditions. Rowing solo is not recommended. Rowers should be cautioned to dress appropriately in non cotton layers (depending on the anticipated weather conditions), avoid severe weather conditions that could be life threatening, and carry and use safety equipment such as lights whistles, and personal floatation devices (PFD’s). Caches should ensure that their launches are equipped with safety gear including PFD’s, paddles, lights, and a two way radio or cellular phone.

Key Understanding
Rowing is a popular, strenuous sport with both unique and common injures caused by overuse. Acute, sudden injury is rare. An understanding of the mechanics of the rowing stroke, the equipment, and the training practices is key to making appropriate changes to prevent and treat injury.

References
Hagerman FC: Applied physiology of rowing. Sports Med 1984;1(4):303-326
Secher NH: Physiological and biomechanical aspects of rowing: implications for training. Sports Med 1993;15(1):24-42
Boland AL, Hosea TM: Rowing and sculling and the older athlete. Clin Sports Med 1991;10(2):245-256
Stallard MC: Backache in oarsmen. Brit J Sports Med 1980;14(2-3):105-108
Thomas P: Managing rowing backs. Practitioner 1989;233(1465):105-108
Holden DL, Jackson DW: Stress fracture of the ribs in female rowers. Am J Sports Med 1985;13(5):342-348
McKenzie DC: Stress fractures of the rib in an elite oarsman. Int J Sports Med 1989;10(3):220-222
Brukner P,Khan K: Stress fracture of the neck of the seventh and eighth ribs: a case report. Clin J Sport Med 1996;6(3):204-206
Christiansen E, Kanstrup IL: Increased risk of stress fracture of the ribs in elite rowers. Scand J Med Sports 1997;7(1):49-52
Karlson KA: Rib stress fractures in elite rowers: a case series and proposed mechanism. Am J Sports Med 1998;26(4):516-519
Gaffney, KM: Avulsion injury of the serratus anterior: a case history. Clin J Sport Med 1997;7(2):134-136
Roach MC, Chretien JH: Common hand warts in athletes: association with trauma to the hand. J Am Coll Health 1995;44(3):125-126

Lactate & Thresholds for Training

Lactate & Thresholds for Training
From www.lactate.com

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What is the "anaerobic threshold"?

Before we define the "anaerobic threshold" (AT) it should be pointed out that there is no clear consensus on what this term means. This was and still is a controversial area. So when we define it, the reader should know that others may use a different definition. Many sports scientists would prefer to eliminate the term altogether. However, it is still commonly used by coaches, training books, the popular press and many sports scientists.

Originally some sports scientists thought that there was a point of exertion where the body started to use anaerobic energy heavily. This point corresponded to a sudden change in the patterns of oxygen consumption compared to carbon dioxide output as well as a rapid accumulation of lactate in the blood. Because it was a sudden change, like the passing from one physiological state to another, it was called a threshold. Because it was thought that the changes in metabolism at this point were 1) due to limited oxygen and 2) the start of using anaerobic energy, it was called anaerobic. Hence the term "anaerobic threshold" was used. It was an unfortunate choice of terms since it probably has led a lot of sports scientists, researchers and coaches down the wrong path.

"Anaerobic" is not appropriate since anaerobic energy is produced even at resting levels. As exercise gets more intense but still very much below the point that is designated as the "anaerobic threshold" anaerobic energy increases even though very little additional lactate may show up in the blood. If the athlete is well conditioned, most of the pyruvate* produced by the anaerobic system is utilized immediately for aerobic energy. In these athletes there will be little indication of increased lactate production even though the anaerobic system is being actively utilized. Also above the point that is designated as the "anaerobic threshold" there is still a steady increase in the use of aerobic energy till VO2 max. Thus, the use of the term "anaerobic threshold" is a misnomer because there is no sudden switch to anaerobic metabolism and there is a continued increase in the use of aerobic energy. Something completely different is happening at this point.

*Pyruvate is the end product of the anaerobic system called glycolysis. Glycolysis is what one is referring to nearly all the time they use the term anaerobic. Pyruvate is either immediately used for aerobic energy in the cell or converted into lactate. Very little pyruvate remains as itself which is why lactate is always the term used.

A quick history of thresholds.

In 1959 Wildor Hollman of the German Sports University in Cologne presented a paper on what he called "point of optimal ventilatory efficiency" at the Third Pan American Congress of Sports Medicine. The presentation was based on the author's hypothesis that the ventilatory and lactic acid threshold exists and how to determine each. In 1964 Wasserman and McIlroy used the term "anaerobic threshold" to describe similar phenomena and the term "threshold" became popular internationally. In the early 1970's, Alois Mader, was working with runners in East Germany and discovered that when these runners used a pace faster than the one that generated 4 mmol/l in a progressive exercise test that they quickly became exhausted. When the runners ran at a slightly slower pace they were able to continue running for an extended period of time. Mader escaped from East Germany and went to work with Hollman at the German Sports University in Cologne and popularized the 4 mmol/l lactate measurement. At the same time some researchers were using the term "maximum steady state" but had not yet connected it with lactate levels. In the late 1970 two German researchers, Kinderman and Keul started using the term maximal lactate steady state to describe the point where an athlete could not go any faster or harder without proceeding to exhaustion. Since that time the term "threshold" and "maximal lactate steady state" have become part of the training and testing lexicon. In 1981, Bertil Slodin, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and a Canadian Ph.D. student there named Ira Jacobs, used the term "onset of blood lactate accumulation" or "OBLA" to refer to effort level in runners that corresponded to the point at which blood lactate begins to increase exponentially. A blood lactate level of 4 mmol/l was associated with this point and in most instances today "OBLA" means a 4 mmol/l blood lactate concentration. All these researchers quickly realized that the lactate level at which this threshold took place varied substantially between athletes while the myth has persisted that they said the 4 mmol/l level was the actual threshold level.

What is the currently accepted use of the term "anaerobic threshold"?

The most common use of the term "anaerobic threshold" is to describe a phenomenon that takes place in all athletes - namely the maximal speed or effort that an athlete can maintain and still have no increase in lactate. At this speed or effort, lactate levels in the blood remain constant. Any increase in effort or speed above this level will cause lactate and its associated high acid levels to increase steadily. This will eventually force the athlete to slow down or stop. The time to cessation or slowing down will depend upon how far the athlete is above the maximum steady state effort, the event the athlete is competing in, the type of athlete (strength or endurance) and conditioning.

It is possible for the athlete to exceed the anaerobic threshold level by small amounts and still exercise or compete for a substantial period of time, sometimes up to 25-30 minutes. The lactate levels will gradually increase in the blood but will not stop exercise for this time. However, substantial increases above the anaerobic threshold will usually shut down the athlete very quickly, often in as little as 20-40 seconds.

Because the anaerobic threshold represents a point where the lactate in the blood reaches a maximum steady state and is an equilibrium between lactate production and lactate clearance, we like two other terms better. The first is maximum lactate steady state (MLSS or MaxLass). This emphasizes the steady state and equilibrium concepts. The second is "lactate threshold" (LT). This retains the threshold concept but puts the emphasis on "lactate" and not "anaerobic". Both of these terms describe the same point of exertion.

The following chart illustrates the concept of a maximum lactate steady state. The swimmer below is able to maintain 1.33 m/s with a constant lactate level of about 3.8 mmol/l. At 1.34 m/s the swimmer is able to continue for an extended time as lactate slowly builds up and finally stops between 20 and 25 minutes. At 1.36 m/s the swimmer stops after 15 minutes. The maximum lactate steady state lies somewhere between 1.33 m/s and 1.34 m/s. For practical purposes it is assumed that the lactate threshold or maximum lactate steady state is 1.33 m/s.

What other terms are used to express this concept?

Many have used other terms such as the individual anaerobic threshold (IAT) and the "onset of blood lactate accumulation" (OBLA). The term IAT (Individual Anaerobic Threshold) has become popular in contrast to the original assumption of many that the anaerobic threshold nearly always took place at blood lactate levels of 4 mmol/l. Several sports scientists wanted to emphasize that the anaerobic threshold or MLSS takes place at different lactate levels for different athletes and that using a fixed level of 4 mmol/l for everyone was very misleading. In fact IAT's or MLSS's range normally from 2 mmol/l to 6 mmol/ with some people outside this range. Also MLSS's vary between sports for the same individual. So triathletes cannot use a fixed lactate level to determine their MLSS for each of the sports in which they compete.

Despite all the problems with the term "anaerobic threshold" the abbreviation AT has become an accepted part of training terminology. It will probably not go away for a long while because it remains a favourite with coaches, athletes, the press and even a lot of sports scientists. However, the term "lactate threshold" or LT is now becoming more popular. This has happened in the last 5 years.

What is the mechanism behind the lactate threshold?
Below the lactate threshold most of the lactate produced is being used as fuel for aerobic energy some place in the body. It could be used very close to the muscle generating the lactate or carried by the blood stream to other muscles and be used for aerobic energy. It is also used by the heart and some is converted back to glycogen. Physiologically the body as a whole is in equilibrium between lactate production and lactate elimination. The rise in blood lactate levels above resting levels as exercise intensity increases is an indication that some muscle fibers are not able to handle all the exercise load aerobically. The excess lactate produced from these muscle fibers moves to areas of lower concentration such as the blood stream, neighboring muscle fibers and the space between the muscles. Other muscle fibers have plenty of excess capacity for aerobic energy and these fibers can use the lactate produced by the fibers with limited aerobic capacity.

When we measure the lactate in the blood stream we are observing the movement of the lactate from muscle fibers that produce the lactate to those parts of the body that can utilize it. As exercise intensity increases the body reaches a point where it cannot utilize all the lactate produced. Above this point, which we call the maximum lactate steady state (MLSS), anaerobic threshold (AT) or lactate threshold (LT), the athlete is not able to eliminate lactate at the same rate as it is produced. As a result lactate starts to accumulate rapidly. It should be noted that the rate at which lactate accumulates above the threshold varies. Generally, the slower the rate of lactate accumulation above the threshold the better the performance in long distance events. For shorter competitions such as those found in swimming, rowing, track cycling and running (events 5000 meters or under), the ability to utilize the anaerobic energy system to a high level (produce lactate quickly) is important.

How can one change the lactate threshold?

With training the lactate threshold will change primarily for three reasons; lactate utilization increases, lactate production declines or lactate clearance increases. Here's how it works:

Lactate Utilization Increases - Training can affect the utilization of lactate primarily in two different ways. However, to better understand the following discussion you should remember that lactate is produced from pyruvate and pyruvate is the end product of the anaerobic process. See the diagram below.

First, better oxygen utilization. With certain types of training there are adaptations within the muscle fiber that let it utilize more of the available oxygen. These changes within the muscle are physical as well as chemical. This higher utilization of oxygen means more of the pyruvate will be used for aerobic energy. When this happens less of the pyruvate will be converted to lactate. Often there is plenty of oxygen available in the muscle fiber but the fiber does not have the capacity to process the pyruvate aerobically. Changing this condition is one of the fundamental objectives of training. (#1 on Chart below)

Better oxygen delivery - Other types of training can bring about adaptations in the cardiovascular system, making it stronger and more efficient. This enables delivery of more oxygen to the muscles and at a faster rate. There is considerable evidence that as more oxygen is delivered to the muscles, less lactate is produced. This doesn't mean the anaerobically supplied energy decreases with improved oxygen uptake (the same amount of pyruvate is produced). It means more of the pyruvate will be used in the aerobic process and thus less will be converted to lactate. So for the same amount of anaerobically delivered energy less lactate will be found in the blood stream if the oxygen to the muscle increases. (#2 on Chart below)

One of the main adaptations that facilitates oxygen delivery is more capillaries. Another change that increases oxygen delivery is an increase in the proportion of red blood cells to plasma in the blood. The higher the percentage of red blood cells the more oxygen that can be delivered to the muscles. Some types of altitude training have an effect on the oxygen carrying ability of the blood.

Despite the better oxygen delivery, some lactate will be produced in muscles that receive plenty of oxygen because of other reasons.

Second - Pyruvate Production decreases. This happens either because adaptations cause more fat to be used or because anaerobic capacity decreases.

More use of fats, less production of pyruvate. There will be less production of pyruvate as the muscles adapt to use more fats as fuel for aerobic energy. The higher utilization of fat means there is less need for glycolysis and consequently less pyruvate is produced. Certain types of endurance training enable the body to process fats easier. (#3 on Chart below) It should be noted that this adaptation does not imply that the anaerobic process is not as strong, just that the signals that activate it are not as frequent. This is in contrast to the next situation where anaerobic capacity is actually lower.

Lower anaerobic capacity, less production of pyruvate, Some types of training actually change the anaerobic capacity. In fact some coaches and sports scientists believe this is the main reason for short term changes in the lactate threshold. When this happens the lactate threshold will automatically change because pyruvate production is changed. When the anaerobic capacity is lowered less pyruvate is produced for a given effort level. Thus, the lactate threshold will increase without any change in the ability of the body to process aerobic energy or to shuttle lactate. When the body is faced with less pyruvate being produced, less will be converted to lactate at any given effort level. Similarly, an increase in the anaerobic capacity will lower the lactate threshold without any change in the in the ability of the body to process aerobic energy or to shuttle lactate. In this case the body has to deal with more lactate. The lactate threshold is always an equilibrium between lactate production and lactate elimination. (#4 on Chart below)

It is thought that the anaerobic capacity of an athlete is innately capped. There is a maximum rate of anaerobic energy production which the athlete seems unable to exceed. However, certain types of training affect the rate at which the anaerobic system can produce energy. Are these contradictory statements? No. It seems that the anaerobic capacity can be lowered from its innate maximum by specific types of training, usually associated with endurance training. High volume low level workouts will suppress the anaerobic capacity as well as long hard workouts near the lactate threshold.

The anaerobic capacity can be brought back to its innate levels by high intensity training well above VO2 max. This will cause the lactate threshold to be lowered. This is not something an endurance athlete would want to do before an important race but swimmers, rowers, runners, speed skaters, track cyclists etc are very interested in having a high anaerobic capacity for important competitions. There have been studies of swimmers which have shown that there is no improvement in the lactate threshold late in the season as important competitions get near. Several prominent sports physiologists have then said that this shows that the lactate testing has little relevance for swimming. Nothing could be further from the truth. What is happening to swimmers is that late in the season training intensity increases substantially and this raises anaerobic capacity back to innate levels. This has the effect of lowering the lactate threshold or keeping it at about the same level. If coaches are not aware what is happening to the anaerobic system then they could prescribe the wrong training for the athletes. By the way this may be a controversial area. I say "may be" because there is not much written on it and so it hasn't been discussed much. It is definitely not considered a factor in why the lactate threshold changes by many sports scientists. However, it is consistent with what a lot of coaches observe in their training programs. Some sports scientists are starting to write more about it.

Lactate Clearance - Training helps the body becomes more efficient at removing lactate from the producing muscles and shuttling it to other parts of the body where it can be used. This eases the acid levels in the producing muscles and thus lets them operate at a higher energy level before producing the acidosis levels that slow down energy production. (#5 on Chart below)

Also training for better oxygen delivery can help the lactate shuttle as the increased capillary system will help clear the lactate out of producing muscles and into the blood stream. The same adaptation facilitates the transfer of lactate from the blood to other muscles for elimination.

Buffering - The muscles can be trained to buffer some of the acid accumulating in the producing muscles. The hydrogen ions causing the problems with contraction are neutralized and this allows even more lactate to be produced before there are problems with contraction. However, it probably does not affect the threshold since it does not slow down lactate production. Buffering enables the athlete to compete for a longer time at effort levels above the threshold. Little is written about how to train this buffering capacity though it is thought to take intense workouts to increase the buffering capacity of the muscles. Coaches often prescribe intense workouts called "lactate tolerance" sets to do two things; 1) get the athletes accustomed to the pain that accompanies high acidosis and 2) increase the buffering ability of the producing muscles. (#6 on Chart below)

Detraining - Lower training levels or stopping training altogether can reverse a lot of these processes and this will also affect the lactate threshold.



How does one train to change the threshold in all these different ways?

This is an interesting question since we haven't seen anyone address it completely. There is a lot of advice on how to change the threshold but none approaches it on the basis of changing six different processes. Also one type of exercise may work on more than one of the six processes. For example, whatever causes capillaries to increase will reduce the production of lactate but will also help the lactate shuttle. Also different types of training may be necessary to effectively change a process. To lower the anaerobic capacity may require a combination of intense workouts near the lactate threshold plus long slow training. Obviously what will work for the regional level athlete may not work for the athlete preparing for Olympic trials since highly trained athletes may have maxed out on several different adaptations. Also what may work for enhancing one of these factors may hinder another since often training exercises are not surgically precise.

The closest we have seen anyone answer this question is the book by Jan Olbrecht which looks at training exercises based on how they will change specific aspects of conditioning. It is a book on swimming but provides a template or schema for developing training exercises that are appropriate for any endurance sport. Also Olbrecht's book emphasizes that these adaptations have to be timed in a precise sequence. Some take several months and even years while others can be done in a few weeks once some of the other adaptations have taken place. Olbrecht works with swimmers, triathletes, runners, rowers and soccer teams. His athletes won 28 medals at the Athen's Olympics.

Are there other thresholds?

There is the point at which the baseline lactate rate starts to rise. (A baseline level is the amount of lactate generated at a slow pace used for recovery or warm-up. See the chart below.) Some have called this the "aerobic threshold." This particular point has some meaning because it represents an effort level at which the lactate in the blood starts to rise. Some have suggested that this point is the effort level at which the body starts to recruit fast twitch fibers. Fast twitch fibers generally produce more lactate than slow twitch fibers. However, this point responds to training just as the lactate threshold does so what is going on in the body at this point is probably a combination of things, one of which may be a recruitment of new fiber types. But it is too simplistic to describe this point as the point where fast twitch fibers are first recruited.

If you want to get really confused, some sports scientists have identified a third threshold which they identify as the effort level that generates 1.0 mmol/l of lactate above the baseline. Some have called this pace or effort the "lactate threshold". However, we use "lactate threshold" to mean the maximum lactate steady state and we will just refer to this third threshold as 1.0 mmol/l above baseline. This lactate level is approximately the lactate level that a marathoner maintains during a race and is definitely below the MLSS for most athletes.


You will notice on the chart above that we did not indicate the lactate threshold. That is because there is no clear point on the curve that can be identified with this effort level. The other two effort levels are more easily identified which is one of the reasons they are popular. However, they require that several lactate readings be taken in order to clearly identify the baseline and where it starts to rise.

Different training programs use these different levels. Coaches and athletes should know what each means in case they hear them used. However, the biological processes at the lactate threshold, the point 1.0 mmol/l above baseline and the point at which lactate starts to rise may be quite different metabolically from athlete to athlete. We identified 6 processes that affect the lactate threshold. It is unlikely that two athletes with the same lactate threshold have identical physiological profiles. In other words if you compared two athletes at each of these thresholds you may find very different processes going on within the athletes even if the effort levels at the threshold are similar. For example, two athletes at the lactate threshold may be using the aerobic and anaerobic systems quite differently.

The coach is trying to maximize the energy produced for these two athletes during a competition and not necessarily manipulate a particular threshold. Thus, the coach tries to find the optimal balance between aerobic capacity and anaerobic capacity depending upon how the competition will unfold and the current conditioning level of the athletes.

Are these thresholds important?

This is an interesting question. Since there is a lot written about them it must be for a reason. Also we spent a lot of time above discussing how to train to change the lactate threshold. We have just mentioned that the pace that is 1.0 mmol above the baseline lactate readings corresponds roughly to the pace that a marathon is run at. Hence it is very useful for distance runners to know this point and judge their progress by how much this point is changing with training. A well trained athlete can run, bike, swim or row for several hours at this pace and not slow down. Ironman triathletes and road cyclists also compete at a pace close to this level or just below it.

While knowing the lactate threshold is important for competition, knowing the threshold exactly may have less relevance for training despite our long discussion above. Above the lactate threshold there will be an accumulation of acid in many of the working muscles because production is outstripping clearance and this is extremely relevant during many types of competition. However, during training it is not as important to know or act on the lactate threshold pace or effort even though much of training has the objective to change it. First, there is nothing special, biological or metabolic, happening at the lactate threshold or at any other threshold. There is no new fiber group being recruited or transition to something different (even though the term "threshold' is used the processes are all continuous). The important thing that happens above the threshold is that the increasing acidosis will shut down the muscles in a short time. Thus the total volume of possible exercise will be less. Also, frequent efforts at levels above threshold may damage the muscle cell structure and end up lowering aerobic capacity instead of increasing it.

For the "more is better" school the lactate threshold represents the highest effort level that the athlete can maintain for a long time. Thus, prescribing workouts at this level will provide the most difficult stimulus the body can handle for an extended period of time. This approach has some problems. Namely,
- working out at the lactate threshold will not recruit all the fibers in the muscles used for a sport and thus not train every muscle that will be needed in competition. The percentage of fibers recruited at the lactate threshold will vary a lot between athletes. One athlete who has a LT at 70% of VO2 max will not use as many fibers at LT as the athlete who has an LT at 93% of VO2 max. As we mentioned above what happens at LT may not be the same for each athlete. Thus, coaches have to design workouts for each athlete based on each conditioning profile. Even two marathoners who have the same LT pace may have very different conditioning profiles. The two may have very different anaerobic capacities and should train differently because of this.

One way to train all the fibers is to do interval training at high intensities near VO2 max. This way the athlete whose LT is 70% of VO2 max can train all the fibers.

- Too frequent extended workouts at the LT is a formula for over-training if used too frequently. What is too frequently? This is a murky area. But a runner who completes a marathon will usually do so at a pace that is lower than the lactate threshold. This runner often needs several weeks to recover fully because of muscle damage. Very few would prescribe a marathon as a workout. However, some coaches/training advisers recommend frequent LT workouts and intervals above threshold. These workouts accumulate substantial mileage during a week and often come close to subjecting the body to the same volume and intensity as a marathon. Even if spaced out every 2-3 days such workouts and competitions done too frequently will break down rather than build up aerobic endurance. If the purpose or training is to break down cellular processes and then give them time to rebuild to a higher level, it is hard to see how continual high intensity workouts will allow the rebuilding process.

Is measuring these thresholds necessary?

The answer is NO! Some very successful coaches have questioned the value of finding the lactate threshold. They don't claim it doesn't exist or that it isn't a good predictor of endurance. They say it is not necessary to measure it to prescribe good training. Their positions have been stated above but to summarize them:

The lactate threshold is difficult to measure and takes too much training time to find it. There is a much a simpler approach, also using lactate testing, that works just as well.

There is no proven benefit to train at the threshold versus training at several different levels. In fact given that there are a multitude of adaptations an athlete desires it is important not to be pre-occupied with training at the threshold.

The threshold will mean different things to different athletes and they are not always obvious. For example, a well conditioned top endurance athlete will have a lactate threshold at an extremely high effort level. This effort at threshold will be very stressful on the aerobic system since the athlete may be close to VO2 max at this point. Because the aerobic system is highly developed for this athlete, it will be using most of the pyruvate produced by the anaerobic system. There will be little lactate in the blood till the anaerobic system is highly engaged. Thus, at threshold the elite athlete is utilizing not only the aerobic system at a high percentage of max but also the anaerobic system at very high levels. Both systems are under high stress.

For regional athletes who compete in local endurance events and have a much lower aerobic capacity there may not be too much demand on their aerobic system at the lactate threshold. They will not be very close to VO2 max at LT and it is highly unlikely that they will stress their aerobic system at threshold as much as the elite athlete will. Also it doesn't take much activation of the anaerobic system to produce the lactate that will be in the blood at threshold. Hence the regional level athlete is not nearly under the same stress as the elite level athlete at threshold. This sounds counterintuitive to most people but is easily understood once you realize what causes the threshold.

This point of view has evolved from the experiences of many sports scientists from the University of Cologne.

How long can an athlete exercise at these thresholds?

This will obviously vary by athlete depending on training level, types of recent workouts, muscle composition, diets, tolerance for discomfort, the environment and other factors. The pace just below 1.0 mmol above baseline can be sustained for hours. The athlete is burning a high percentage of fat at this pace and there is enough fat in us for hours of exercise (even those athletes with low body fat). A lot of training for long distance endurance athletes is aimed at training the muscles to burn more fat.

Most athletes can usually train at the lactate threshold (LT or MLSS) for about 60 minutes continuously. Some can train up to 90 minutes. The limiting factor is fuel for energy (glycogen) and this will depend mainly on recent workouts and diet. When the athlete runs very low on glycogen the muscles cannot sustain the LT pace or effort and will slow down. It will be 36-72 hours before glycogen stores are fully replenished. Let us illustrate the importance of glycogen with two ice hockey games. A couple of years ago, four teams were competing for the NCAA hockey Championship. The semifinals were on Friday and the finals were just a day later on Saturday for financial reasons. Hockey doesn't attract much of a television audience so most money generated by a championship is through attendance. People will not wait around a few extra days for a championship game. Well, one of the semi-final games finished in regulation with a winner while the other went to three sudden death overtimes of 20 minutes each. If you've ever watched a good hockey game you know it is the most intense sport on the planet. During a sudden death playoff game there is only one gear and it is all out. The teams that played the three overtime game were using as much anaerobic energy and glycogen as possible. During the finals, one day later, the team that won in regulation walked over the team that played three overtimes. One commentator said they must have had a let down psychologically after the dramatic overtime win. Nonsense! They didn't have any glycogen to fuel the high intensity efforts needed for hockey.

Similarly, an athlete that does an extended workout at LT or higher will be unable to complete a similar workout until the body's glycogen is replaced, often several days. Not every athlete is the same on this. But just because an athlete can do a long LT workout it may not necessarily be a good thing to do. Some coaches caution that training sessions at the lactate threshold for a prolonged time can be very counter productive.

Should an athlete train at levels higher than LT?

Certainly. The real question is how much training above the LT should an athlete do and at what level. This is a very controversial area. There are studies that show high intensity training provides excellent results and there are studies that show that lower levels produce the best results. There is research that shows that the best aerobic training is workouts near VO2 max but that you can not do too many of them. A lot of what gets published is based on research studies done by academics and is based on 8-12 weeks of training because that is when academics have students to use as subjects. Basing long term training objectives on this type of information is risky.

One coach said that if you are in a hurry, then you will have to include a lot of high intensity workouts. There is no other way to train muscle fibers that don't get recruited till high intensity efforts.

Another coach who took a different tack said that you are "training to train". Early season workouts are mostly below threshold so that the athlete will develop the base to do more intense workouts later in the season or in later years. He described training like a ladder. You have to train at the first rung before you can attempt the second step. As you move up the ladder your body is better able to handle the highly intense training that will eventually come. This obviously will depend on the sport, the amount of time available for training and the timing of important competitions.

Before leaving this question we refer the reader back to the diagram above which illustrates the various factors affecting the anaerobic threshold. There are so many different factors which affect performance (and the diagram doesn't cover them all) it is irresponsible for someone to say this is his or her "favorite workout" in the sense that this is what will condition the athlete better. These may make good magazine articles but they don't make good sense in training.

No workout, no matter what the intensity or the distance, can hope to train more than one or two of the factors affecting performance. Successful training is the culmination of a variety of different types of training. There are so many adaptations that training must provoke and each of these adaptations needs a different intensity and duration. Giving the training a different intensity is like putting an address on a letter. If you only put one or two addresses on the letter it will only go to one or two places. By using only a couple of different intensities in training only a couple of different adaptations will happen.

The purpose of testing and other assessment procedures (competition results and success in training) is to tell the coach and athlete what adaptations are necessary for further improvement. Then the athlete's "favorite workout" will be the one that provokes the adaptation to realize this improvement and not what is a popular workout.

What type of tests are done to find the lactate threshold?

There are several types of tests to measure the lactate an athlete produces. These tests are often referred to as protocols. The most common type of test is what is called a graded exercise test. It has several other names such as a step test or a progressive exercise test. An example of such a test is the chart above of a runner on a treadmill. Essentially this test is a series of exercises at progressively higher intensities.

The athlete will ride a bike on a track or an ergometer, swim several laps in a pool, run on a tread mill or a track, row on an ergometer or complete some other form of steady state exercise. They will start at a low level of effort. After completing the first stage, the coach or sports scientist will take a blood lactate reading as well as other measures such as heart rate, perceived effort, or measures of oxygen consumption if they have the specialized equipment. (These tests are best done in the field because transferring results from a laboratory setting to the practice environment sometimes introduces unpredictable differences.)

After the first step or stage is completed, the athlete completes a second step at a higher effort level. The athlete then completes additional steps as determined by the coach or person supervising the tests. This procedure is described in more detail in the Lactate Tutorial. The athletes usually complete the test by attempting a level of exercise that will cause them to reach exhaustion but this is not necessary and may actually be counter productive. At every step and at exhaustion, a lactate reading and other measures are taken.

The measurements taken are lactate readings which can be easily done with a portable lactate analyzer; heart rates which many athletes and coaches measure with a heart rate monitor; and perceived exertion which the athlete estimates. Usually, a coach or a trained assistant with a little practice takes the measurements while the athlete is performing the exercise. We know of experienced athletes who have conducted these tests by themselves on a track or an ergometer. However, most athletes have trouble taking their own lactate readings when they are substantially above threshold.

From this testing a coach can estimate the lactate threshold. We emphasize the word "estimate". This type of testing will narrow down the LT range and experienced coaches will be able to come very close to it by knowing the athlete and seeing the shape of the curve. Coaches should do a confirmation test of the LT to be sure. This is just a steady state workout at the estimated LT and is best done in a field setting. The coach will take a couple of lactate readings during the workout to confirm that the athlete is really at threshold.

Principles of Training Revisited

Principles of Training Revisited
By Stephen Sieler
From MAPP http://home.hia.no/~stephens/
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I think if you have been in the exercise game for any time at all, you know a lot about the "principles of training". But, I still want to explore this topic a little bit as a prelude to additional training articles that will follow. I will discuss four training principles. Depending on what your read, there are others. This is especially true if you happen to read "Muscle and Fitness". But, I think these main concepts are fundamental to understanding exercise induced adaptation, and encompass most everything else.

1. The Overload Principle

The Cells are Sensitive
We are biological organisms composed of an interdependent assortment of billions of individual cells. It has been said that "every cell in our body is psychological". This may sound crazy, but in a sense it is true. Every cell is in some form or another sensitive to certain forms of stress, and capable of initiating a specific response.

Training is a cyclical process of tearing down and building up
Part of understanding this overload principle is knowing that the adaptations we are trying to stimulate require synthesis of new biological material. This process takes time! Even as you sit reading, your body is constantly in a state of deterioration and repair. Some cells, like red blood cells are dying out completely at the rate of 2-3 milllion every second, and being replaced just as fast! Others, like muscle cells, hang around much longer, but are constantly repairing themselves from within. When we train, we do additional, specific damage to some cells, and use up cellular resources (fuel, water, and salts are 3 examples). When you walk off the track or get out of the pool after a workout, you are WEAKER, not stronger. How much weaker depends on the severity of the exercise stress. The cells always seek to maintain homeostasis, or the status quo, so the cellular and systemic stress of exercise elicits not just a repair to former levels, but an adjustment, or build-up, of the stressed system that serves to minimize the future impact of the stressor. For example, the depletion of muscle glycogen to low levels by a lengthy exercise session triggers a rebound increase in glycogen storage level. Another example, getting hot and bothered during a run on the first hot Summer day initiates a process of adaptation whereby we, within 10 days or so of repeated heat exposures, turn on sweating faster, more intensely, and voer a bigger skin surface area, but lose less salt (which means our eyes stop burning when we get that more dilute sweat in them. This GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME was described by Hans Selye, and expanded by Yakovlev. If the stress is too small in either intensity or duration, little or no adaptation growth is stimulated. On the other hand, if the stress is too severe, "growth" is delayed or even prevented.

Maintaining homeostasis in the face of chronic stress means increasing the synthesis of specific proteins (mitochondrial enzymes for example) that enable the cell to respond to future demands with less disruption. The optimal training program would be one that maximally stimulated these positive adaptations, while minimizing the cellular and systemic stress thrown at the body in order to trigger the changes. Very hard training does damage and sometimes threatens our health by transiently lowering our resistance to infection. Not to mention the fact that it can stress our time schedules and relationships. Put in real world training terms, the doubled edged sword nature of the body's response to training suggests that we should try to organize training (frequency, intensity and duration) in such a way that we minimize the negative stress effects while still achieving the physiolgoical adaptations desired. This program would then incorporate the appropriate recovery time; 1) long enough to allow the synthetic processes time to occur, while 2) not so long that reversion back towards the previous cellular state could begin. Finally. our overall training program would have to recognize that some cellular adaptations have a faster response time than others. For example, plasma volume increases dramatically within a week of hard training, while capillary growth occurs slowly years of training. This knowledge will impact the relative amount of training we dedicate to achieving specific adaptations.

Thresholds and Diminishing Returns
If we put this Overload Principle into action, we are talking about regular exercise. When we train, we choose some specific intensity and duration of effort (or sometimes IT chooses us!). Then we repeat these efforts with some specific frequency. Add in the mode(s) of exercise and you have the 4 variables of a training program. Since even the most untrained body has a built reserve capacity to handle a substantial degree of stress, there is a minimum threshold for intensity and duration of stress that must be exceeded before additional adaptations are triggered. This is the minimum training threshold. For example, in untrained people starting an exercise program, we don't see significant improvements in exercise capacity unless the training intensity exceeds 50% of their maximal oxygen consumption, but this intensity isn't too difficult to achieve. If you have been doing nothing, almost anything helps. However, the threshold level (in terms of the combination of intensity and duration of exercise) for further adaptation increases as we become more fit. In elite young and older athletes, the threshold for a positive training response may exceed 80% of VO2 max. So does this mean that every training session should be above this intensity? No, this is an important lesson to learn, usually discovered after repeated injuries, overtraining, and staleness. Exercise at below the higher training threshold can be important for maintaining existing adaptations while allowing recovery processes to occur. What we are faced with as we continue training is a diminishing return on our training investment. The better adapted we are to exercise, the more difficult it is to induce further positive changes. Emerging from this fact is the use of periodization of training, a common training term these days. At the elite level the diminishing returns on training investment are clearly evident as athletes train 3-4 hours per day in order to be 1% faster than if they trained 1.5 hours per day. And they gamble this 1% improvement against the greatly increased risk that they will become injured or sick due to the extra training load. So, we each have to decide how important that last 1% is to us.

2. The Principle of Specificity

I think it is safe to say that the media and shoe makers have combined to confuse many young and older athletes about the Principle of Specificity. Nike, and all the folks who sell exercise equipment would like you to believe that "Cross-training" is a key to peak performance. The concept sells more sports shoes and exercise machines, but is it true? Well, no. Any sport you pursue places highly specific demands on your body in at least two major ways. First, the exercise will have a very specific pattern of joint and muscle coordination. For a rower, there is absolutely no substitute for rowing. Ditto for swimming. Even when we try to duplicate the basic movement of a sports skill with strength training exercises, the transfer of increased strength to the actual sports movement is often small or absent. In the worst case this type of training can detract from performance of the real skill due to disruption of technique. Second, the exercise will place high metabolic demands on a very specific group of muscles. For example, running and cross-country skiing appear to involve many of the same muscles, used in a similar movement pattern. Yet, several research studies have demonstrated that there is NO relationship between VO2 max measured by treadmill running and VO2 max measured by cross-country skiing in a group of elite-trained skiers. In contrast, there is a strong relationship between on-snow skiing and performance on a skiing specific test such as the douple poling test.

A high endurance capacity in a specific sport requires both 1) high oxygen delivery (cardiac output) and 2) high local blood flow and mitochondrial density in the precise muscles used. The only way to optimally develop the second component of endurance is to train those exact muscles by doing your sport!

Is there ever a place for cross training?
The answer to that question is definitely yes! BUT, we need to understand as athletes what the limited purpose and value of the alternate exercise modes are. For example, I work with some world class speedskaters from Holland on training issues and physiological testing. After a couple of years of observations, it is clear to me that they just cannot skate every day, at least not in a good competitiev skating position. The stress on the legs is just too great. So, in order to achieve the training volumes that we think are necessary for success at that level, the skaters also do a lot of cycling, even during times in the year when ice is available. Our choice of cross-training is an effort to combine the needs for highly specific loading with the need of these elite level athletes to traing high volumes (20 hours per week or more during the preparation period). Take note though that during the racing season, essentially all hard training is performed on the ice, with low intensity and recovery workouts performed on the bicycle. So even when we use cross-train, we are keep our eyes on the real goal. Or, take me, a 40 year old masters rower for example. During the Spring and Summer back in Austin, Texas , 90% of my endurance training was performed on the water, rowing. However, in the late Fall and Winter (non-competitve period), I rowed less on the water than I could have (No ice in Austin), probably half as much. Why? Mostly because I was mentally tired of rowing, but also because of weather and time constraints. Sometimes I would row on the indoor machine, by no means a perfect substitute for the technique of rowing, but a good simulation for developing basic rowing endurance. But to be honest, on most days, I hate being on that machine for more than about 45 minutes. Embracing the expression "the mind needs rest, but the body needs work", I would often mix in running or cycling on an ergometer with my rowing to increase my total aerobic exercise volume without growing mentally stale. A little bit of cross-training helped maintain my general aerobic base, while allowing me to mentally recharge my batteries in anticipation of another cycle of intense training on the water with my rowing partners.

Another reason to "cross-train" is to avoid injury and maintain muscular balance DURING a period of intense sport specific training. One of the keys to success in sport is staying healthy over the long haul. Weight training by itself will almost certainly do nothing for a runner's 10k time, but if weight training maintains muscular balance in her abdominal wall and low back, preventing injury, then it is contributing to her becoming a faster runner. Why? Because it keeps her running! And, cycling isn't running. But if cycling takes the pressure off tired knees and hips on a recovery steady-state day, then it will probably make the next running workout better. Cross training should always be limited to those activities that allow us to do our event-specific training workouts with greater enthusiasm and intensity, or less risk of injury. It is a cautiously administered supplement, not a substitute!

3. The Reversibility Principle

If people were as economical as their bodies, we would not have problems with personal debt and excess world waste production. The human body is nothing if not thrifty! The iron and protein in those millions of blood cells that die each day is almost completely re-used to build new blood cells! The body does not build proteins it doesn't need (except maybe those that make up the Appendix?), and it doesn't retain proteins that are no longer needed! For the athlete, the unfortunate consquence of this thriftiness is the rapid reversibility of training adaptations if training is stopped. In general, I think it is fair to say that those adaptations that occur fastest when we start training fade away fastest when we stop training. So, a week in bed with the flu will result in a substantial loss in blood plasma volume, but little change in mitochondrial enzyme concentration, and essential no change in capillary density. Once over the virus, a couple of good traiing bouts will have blood volume back up to normal levels, and cardiac function back to normal as a result. However, take 3 months completely off from your training routine due to a big project at work and you will lose a lot of the adaptive foundation gained over the previous year of regular workouts. If you were highly fit before the break, it may take 6 months to come all the way back. What is clear is that training adapatations are always transient and dependent on chronic stress to the system. However, it does seem that people who have been really fit, and take a break, often seem to be able to return to high fitness levels FASTER then those who have not been highly trained before. Whether this is a function of good genetics for training responsiveness, a certain "muscle memory" in the brain or muscle cells of the detrained athlete, or just past knowledge of how to train is unclear, but it does seem to be real.

4. The Principle of Individual Differences

Last but not least on the list of Training Principles is the Principle of Individual Differences.
We All Start Somewhere....different
It is usually practical to describe physical characteristics based on some AVERAGE. On average, American men (no offense to my international readers) are currently 5' 9" (1.75 m) tall and about 180 pounds (82kg). But, walk down a busy street and you will see that there is considerable variability! It shouldn't be too surprising that there is also a lot of variability in our internal charactersitics. Heart size, muscle mass, bone diameter, fiber type composition, position of mucle attachments on bone, fat distribution pattern, joint flexibility, etc., all vary from individual to individual. Two examples: On average, a 25 year old untrained man will have a maximal oxygen consumption of 45 ml/min/kg. However, there are completely untrained people that have walked into a lab, got on a treadmill and had a VO2 max of 70 ml/min/kg. I tested a fellow exactly like this myself once. I was teaching a class and he "volunteered" to perform a cycling max test. I predicted his max for the class based on his exercise history (little if any). Imaging my surprise as he kept cycling and his VO2 kept climbing and climbing as I progressively increased the workload on the bike! He didn't bother to tell me his sister had rowed in the Olympics until after the test! There are equally "healthy" untrained young men whose max is only 35 ml/min/kg. That's a 2X difference in aerobic capacity before they do their first workout! This is a physiological gap will not be closed, no matter how hard the "less endowed" fellow trains. If the high VO2 guy trains very hard, he might reach 80 ml/kg/min, a 14% increase. The low VO2 guy can train equally hard and possibly reach 50 ml/kg/min, a larger 42% increase. The gap can narrow (to 60% here), but it will not go away. Genetics place limitations on our body.

Example number two: On average, the fiber type distribution in the thigh muscles of a male (or female) is roughly 50% slow and 50% fast fibers. However, in a study by Simoneau et al, 1989, muscle biopsies from the vastus lateralis (outside thigh) of 418 males and females revealed a range of from 15% slow fibers to 85% slow fibers in different people. Coefficients of variation approached 30%. Again we see that there is considerable genetic variation in a variable that has significant impact on performance. So, we each have to focus on approaching the outer boundaries of OUR OWN physical potential.

Different Strokes for Different Folks
At the Laval University in Canada, the University of Texas at Austin, and three other Universities in the United States, a major collaborative project was undertaken to determine the role of genetic variability associated with individual responses to an identical training program. Fittingly, this project was called the Heritage Study. Millions of dollars were spent to quantify and understand the genetic foundations of a phenomenom that athletes already know full well. We all respond differently to a training program. What this major study clearly demonstrated was that not only is our physiological "starting point" highly individual, but our training response is also highly variable. In this study, there were some subjects who essentially did not show ANY adaptation to a very well-controlled training program (measured for example as an increase in VO2 max), while others increased as much as 40% when doing the exact same training. Some athletes can do next to nothing 3 months then train like a madman, sweat, and spew chunks for three weeks and be in racing shape (ok, maybe too graphic). Others are "hard gainers" that seem to lose everything if they miss 2 weeks of training. Some people tolerate and even thrive on, a high volume of training to reach peak fitness. Others cannot tolerate the same workload, but reach similar performance levels if they intersperse more rest days. We each have a unique psychological makeup. We have different strengths and "weaknesses" within our physiological performance machine that should influence training plan design, and we have different hormonal and immune reactivity that will influence the level of stress we can tolerate and improve under. In the field of exercise physiology, we have learned a great deal about physiological adaptations and the general methods of training that conform to known physiology. This is very valuable information for the athlete to understand whether 24 or 64 (Of course I am biased on that score). But, remember, ANY exact training program that you copy from me or someone else is destined to be, at best an approximation of what will work best for you, and at worst, a total failure.

The Bottom Line
Ok, you love your sport and are motivated to improve, but with so many possible training methods and "experts", What can you do? Well, here is what I think.
First, understand what training does to your body Learn the physiology of the sport (hopefully the MAPP will help). Know how your engine works. This will help you critically evaluate the disparate training ideas that are thrown your way.

Next, examine and learn the biomechanical principles that must be obeyed for performance success. How do you maximize the efficiency of transfer of your engine power to performance velocity? There is no endurance sport that does not place a premium on good technique. Finally, keep a record of what you do! Use a notebook and pencil, or a fancy computer program, but make yourself accountable to both the training you do in pursuit of your performance goals, and the results. If you do this, eventually you will have arrived at your own personal prescription for success, built from solid general principles, but fine tuned to your personal characteristics. "Success" will vary for each of you in absolute terms; completing a 10k, a new personal best, a city championship, or maybe a world veteran's record! But it all feels the same to the person who establishes the goal, develops a plan, and works diligently to achieve it!