Bioenergetics, Training and Performance in Distance Running

There has always been great interest from the scientific community on identifying training strategies to improve performance in long distance races. Most of the studies have focused on elite athletes, although amateur runners represent the majority of participants in endurance events. The need to study strategies for amateur athletes stems from their limited technical skills and the lack of time available for training compared to elite athletes. The purpose of the first study was to evaluate the effect of flywheel strength training and high intensity training protocols on RE and strength parameters in a group of recreational runners. Twenty-nine recreational runners were recruited to take part in the study and were randomly assigned to flywheel strength training (FST; n = 9; 44.5±6.0yrs; V’O2max 48.8±5.2 ml min-1 kg-1), high intensity training (HIT; n = 9; 42.2±8.6yrs; V’O2max 50.3±3.7ml min-1 kg-1) or low intensity training (LIT; n = 11; 45.4±8.0yrs; V’O2max 50.2±6.8ml min-1 kg-1) groups. Before and after 8 weeks of an experimental period, maximal oxygen uptake (V’O2max), ventilatory thresholds (VT), maximal dynamic force (1RM) and anthropometric data were evaluated. The FST group showed significant increases (p < 0.05) in 1RM and RE. No differences were found in the other groups. Anthropometric data were unchanged after the training period. The results of this study indicate that in recreational runners, flywheel strength training seems able to obtain improvements in RE and neuromuscular adaptation. In the second study, the aim was to compare the effects of different training distribution on changes in limiting factors and performance. The main difference between training model is the distribution of time spent in different HR zone, 77/3/20 % and 40/50/10 % of total training time for Polarized Endurance Training (PET) and Focused Endurance Training (FET). Training program included four training sessions per week for PET and 3 for FET. Thirty-eight recreational runners were recruited to take part in the study. They were randomly assigned to PET (n = 19; 43.2±8.4yrs; V’O2max 52.9±8.1 ml min-1 kg-1) and FET (n=19; 39.4±8.5yrs; V’O2max 53.4±8.3 ml min-1 kg-1) for an 8-week period. The training plans was designed to reach a similar score for both total TRIMP accumulated over 8 weeks (2492 ± 72.1 TRIMPs) and mean TRIMP accumulated each week (311 ± 9). Before and after training periods all the subjects performed laboratory incremental test to exhaustion to individualized V’O2max, ventilatory threshold and intensity hr zone based on it, field performance test on 2km and 21km and muscle function tests 1RM, Squat jump (SJ) and Counter Movement Jump (CMJ). The total training time in 8 weeks was 29.8 ± 3.07 hours and 24.8 ± 1.96 for PET and FET group respectively, and no significant differences was found between groups in any investigated variable. Significant improvement from pre-to post training were observed in speed at V’O2max (vV’O2max), speed at VT2, speed at VT1 and RE for both groups. The results of this study are not able to define which approach is preferable with recreational runners in terms of intensity distribution. The strategies evaluated in this thesis show that the "recreational runners" model is able to provide data that meet research need and to respond to the training with adaptations similar to those recorded for elite athletes. Moreover, these strategies wants to represent for coaches and athlete alternative practices to the common training methods and ideas for future studies.