POINT of CRITICAL DROP-OFF (Volume)

To me that’s exactly a good reason to possibly avoid short rests ,85%-90% range Special Endurance sessions!

This question from Pioneer and Charlie’s reply from older thread "Speed Reserve " might clarify what I meant,and offer new food for thought and discussion:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pioneer
Charlie, does complete recovery early season for special endurance increase as the season progresses due to intensification/ greater outputs by the athlete in the same way that the pure speed work is? Example: 2 x 300 early on with 25 minutes rest might need to be 2 x 300 with 30 minutes rest later in the season. Is this example a possible scenario for achieving high level performances?

Yes, recovery must expand as performance rises in order to repeat the quality of the first rep

Elsewhere in the Archives -thread titled: Anatoli Bondarchuk (Training Concepts) :

Originally Posted by Charlie Francis
2: "Specialized exercises must be completed, especially for top athletes" What does this mean? If there is a drop in performance of highly technical or intensive activity at any point, it should be stopped- finished or not!

Why to start off thinking of drop offs based choices when there are still so many variables we can manipulate in order to actually avoid drop offs as much as possible?

of course
but if you take the example of KK, we have session with 6 x 200 m @ 85- 87%, 2’ r.i.
I think this session isn’t SpEnd but SE (specific for 400s dash)

Problem is (IMHO) the nature of the session and not the dropping itself.

Nobody is saying to work to a drop-off. The point of monitoring critical threshold is to avoid drop-off’s, even if you don’t complete a normal training load. If performance suffers for whatever reason, you stop. Whether that reason is too much frequency, incomplete recovery, CNS/muscular fatigue, or just the coaches gut feeling that quality has dropped in the training session. The point is to avoid drop-off’s, but if they occur the coach or athlete has to know to stop. Never sacrifice intensity for volume.

Sp. End., Special End., if desired performance/pace drops, what’s the point.

KitKat could clarify this, but if the 6 need to be 4 x 200s -but at the right second-half pace- why not? Even if you are mistaken and you’ve overestimated the pace -session, etc.

You may not be ready for a specific session -depending on your background as well- but this is no reason to sacrifice quality.

BTW, I think we all agree and say the same thing about the appropriate relationship between quality and volume. Pakewi’s post is a good reminder though!

Exactly the point!

Be careful how you define a performance drop. What you describe could be construed as a single, split session. If you ran a max effort 300 would it be exactly even or would you expect the last 100 to be slower than the first or second?

Sorry, but I am not sure I am getting your point.

I can see a drop in the last 100 m in your example, but if KitKat’s session (i.e., 6 x 200 m, 2 min rests, continuously) is designed with specific times in mind, i.e., those of the 2nd 200 m of a 400 m race and the athlete starts missing it for whatever reason, is there a point in doing the last two 200s slower and slower? I would stop the session, instead of “trying” to break him/her. I suppose, you can allow a time-margin, but I wouldn’t finish the session just because it’s on paper.

Am I wrong on this?

i woud say what nik write in his last post

The trick is to assign what the athlete is ready for. Generally, you try to follow the pattern that each time you repeat the same session, results will be higher than before in the season, if not ever. If yu suspect that cannot be done, don’t assign it. This is also part of the process of psychological preparation of your athlete.

I just wanted to say that I think that what Charlie wrote above has MUCH MORE impact on athletes than what coaches imagine.

That’s very true, Charlie, of course! And a great booster for the athlete, too!

Of course, experience in this aspect plays a crucial role! Otherwise, better under- vs. over-load and play it safe for the athlete’s sake! At least, or rather most importantly, quality will be there…