SERIOUS TRAINING Part 4

The Durable Athlete

In the past two weeks of SERIOUS TRAINING I have introduced a relatively new way of training—durability. This idea has been around about five years and has gotten considerable attention from athletes, especially at the elite level, and sport scientists. And it’s starting to catch on with age groupers. At its most basic level, durability is an indicator of how well the athlete can delay the onset of fatigue to continue performing at a relatively high intensity for the duration of the event. In a long race fatigue can’t be entirely avoided. Even with duration training you’ll still feel the onset of fatigue, but it will happen later in the event allowing you to maintain a higher intensity to the finish—if everything goes right. We’ve all experienced the late race slow down, and perhaps even the final stage of fatigue—exhaustion. That’s the “wall” marathoners talk about and dread. It isn’t good enough to be fresh early in the race. It’s how well you can maintain that early freshness late in the race by delaying fatigue. Durability is a good indicator of athletic fitness.