system
July 5, 2009, 11:26am
12
It’s important to ensure that the work does not become lactic and this is obviously a function of intensity of each rep and duration of each rest interval. Tempo can quickly become lactic if the effort is near 75% and the rests are too short.
A high general fitness level will allow an athlete to perform in a lactic environment for quite a while in interval format such as tempo so it’s critical to remain conservative.
The lactic environment, counter intuitive to one of the main points of performing tempo work, destroys mitochondria in the active skeletal muscle fiber.
Short of wearing a heart rate monitor or measuring blood lactate, if you ensure that the pace is sub 75% of max speed for that distance then, regarding distances of 100yd or less, going straight to some sort of abdominal work or push ups then 45-60sec rest is more than sufficient to keep the effort aerobic and well within the capacity of any athlete of decent preparation.
Obviously longer tempo distances require longer recoveries
For the group’s consideration, I give my small skill players 16sec to cover 100yds which is conservatively based off a 12sec 100yd sprint. Obviously if any single one of them can’t manage 100yd in 12 sec then we’ve got much bigger issues on our hands.
So in reality, the bulk of them (again small skill) are closer to the mid 9 to mid 10 sec range for 100yd which really places the effort closer to 60-65% for the majority of the group
Most important, as a result of this, their work capacity is tremendous and as Charlie said they are always primed and ready for speed days.
I’ll be brief, but where is the literature that says a “lactic environment” (perhaps a definition of this might make things more clear) destroys mitochondria within muscle cells? Without some context and basis, this statement kinda detracts substantially from the rest of your post. I am not going to argue about whether or not we want or don’t want lactic in tempo, but to say it destroys mitochondria?