Elizabeth Koch Continues her goal to get to the Boston Marathon.

For those who don’t Elizabeth Koch, she is the creator and a core foundation of the Crossfit Springfield Endurance program.  She has had several travels following her family around and has obtained a momentous achievement by running a 3:38:33 marathon time.  This time was  a Personal Record and will assist her in the application to hopefully qualify her for the 2019 Boston Marathon.  This has been a lifetime goal for Elizabeth.  Shout out and congrats from the CFE family at Crossfit Springfield.

HERO WOD THURSDAY

Thanks to those who came out last week to join us for the HERO WOD SMYKOWSKI.  It was a great turnout and thanks to those athletes who come out to our HERO WODs on the third Thursday of the Month.  Please join us next month as we will be joining in on the Memorial Day Murph.

What is Aerobic Capacity?

As CrossFitters, we all know and understand the concept of ‘constantly varied’, and have come to embrace it in our daily training. We understand that in CrossFit, we specialize in not specializing…and we aspire to become well-rounded and conditioned athletes by way of this philosophy.

At CrossFit Endurance, we aim to bridge your ability to perform at your maximum potential–on and off the gym floor. Your intent focus on PR’ing your lifts on the gym floor involves attention to detail–mechanics, technique, and drills. The same can be said on the back lot, where the same attention to detail vastly improves your capacity to run (and WOD) harder and smarter! Combining your weekly CrossFit WODs with weekly CrossFit Endurance programming maximizes your potential in both realms.

Determining Your Sustainable Pace

We’re aiming to get away from a couple of things here. First, the athlete that claims, ” I only have one pace.” Second, the athlete that comes out to run (awesome), but with no discernable goal or ballpark idea as to the pace they are capable of achieving and/or maintaining in any given workout (less awesome). We need to know a couple of things about ourselves–what is the maximal amount of oxygen we can bring in through the atmosphere and push through our muscles (VO2 Max), and what percentage of that becomes our sustainable pace? In other words, how close can we come–and stay–to the “red line” before we cross it?

The answer is, of course, different for each of us. We as coaches, however, are challenged to find for each of you just exactly what it is you need to increase your overall aerobic capacity. You should think about this, too! Consider this:  at what point during a 15-minute metcon, or a one-mile run, do you “give up?” Do you barrel out guns a-blazin’ and by the 3/4 mark, are envisioning your certain demise? Are you a “pacemaster?” Do you start out maybe a bit slower than others, but do so in knowing that you will still be going strong in the end? Do you do that to a fault, and end up with a slower time than you’re likely capable of because you held back for fear you’d red-line too soon? Or at all? Are you afraid of the red line?? Be honest! The red line is a frightful place! That’s no joke! So again, we need to figure out where your quitting point is–be it mental or physical, or both. We need to figure out how to obliterate that quitting point. The variation in workouts we’re throwing your way in this cycle are already beginning to reveal some of that in many of you.

Some people underestimate the taxing nature of the work they will do in a metcon, chipper, or endurance WOD…before they get to the part they’re “good at.” When they come to that place, and don’t do as well as they’d expected to do–they feel as though they’ve failed. When, in fact, they simply underestimated the work that would come prior, and failed to pace in such a way that would keep them prepared to accomplish the work ahead.

For example…Chris Hinshaw discussed the ‘Triple Three’ workout at the CrossFit Games in a recent podcast. If you remember, even the Fittest Man on Earth ended up walking during the run portion of that workout! He explained that many of the athletes failed to consider the amount of work they’d do prior to the run, then errantly expected to match their known performance on a 3-mile run. They went all out from ‘3-2-1 GO’ and found that left them ill-equipped for the run. He mentioned a similar thought process in relation to the ‘Muscle-Up Biathlon.’ He explained that the run was intended to be a recovery pace, not a sprint. What happened? Suddenly, athletes who are super efficient and strong in the muscle-up department, are failing reps due to fatigue–spent aerobic capacity.

We can fix this in a variety of ways. First, we program workouts that address that “quitting point”, by tasking you with aggressive goals paired with small amounts of rest, right at the point you’d be focused on quitting–rather than kicking a$$. We will make you kick a$$! Ha! For example, here’s a workout Hinshaw might program to challenge the athlete that gives up at the 3/4 way mark of any given workout…

1 x 800, 1 x 800, 5 x 200 (aggressive, with small amounts of rest in between), 1 x 800

He creates a stimulus at your weak point, to make it a strength instead.

How do I fix the fact that I’m reluctant to embrace my sustainable pace?

Quit being stubborn. Look at the big picture! The fact is, if you continue to seek out and find that juuuust below red-line, lactate threshold and dance all around it–under/over/right at–you’re gonna increase your capacity to do EVERYTHING. The ultimate goal, is that you will increase your speed at VO2 Max. That is what we’re trying to help you do, and that is why we’ve introduced you to this methodology.

How do I know what I need to work on?

Here’s something else super science-y and cool! Consider your recently-tested 400m and 1600m PRs. Elite runners will typically grow 6% slower for every doubling of the distance that they run. So between 400 to 800 and 800 to 1 mile–6%. A well-rounded CrossFitter, who is clearly not a “specialist” (as intended by Mr. Glassman), should ideally grow around 20% slower for every doubling of the distance that they run.

When Chris Hinshaw began training Rich Froning, his PRs for the same distances were 60 seconds and 6:00–each respectable times in their own right. However, the percentage slowed between those distances was 28%–less than ideal. What this meant, was that Rich’s weakness was in his ability to efficiently use oxygen over the longer distance–in other words, his aerobic capacity needed work.

Now just for fun, I thought I’d see where my own times fell. My 400m and 1600m PRs are 1:40 and 8:18, respectively. That works out to be a 13% percentage change. For me, this means I’m actually doing pretty well where consumption and efficient use of oxygen are concerned! But? If I map it out–it means my mile PR should be around 7:14. So what do I need?? More strength, speed and power. Rich has strength, speed, and power all day long (and most of the next day). His need was for work at aerobic threshold. I need to be stronger in the gym, to be faster on the back lot. I already guessed that–but now its science, sooo…

Where do you stand?? Here’s how to figure it out.

Runner’s Pace <<Use this hyperlink:)

Enter your 400m pace, hit ‘calc’, then scroll down to look at your 1-mile RIEGAL projection.

Then, divide your 1600m RIEGAL projection time (in seconds) by your actual 1600m PR time (in seconds).

Then, take 1 minus (this number) to equal your percentage ratio.

For example:  my actual 1600m time 8:18 (498 seconds) works out to a RIEGAL 1600m projection of 7:14 (434 seconds).

Therefore: 434/498 = 0.87

Finally: 1 – 0.87 = 0.128 or 13% (my percentage value)

Isn’t that exciting??? #goalzzz

Short Interval Monday 5:30 pm

Goldilocks

Workout Description:

12 Rounds

Run 200m at One Mile PR pace, then immediately run 200m at 1.5 x that pace.  This is one of the original CFE benchmark WODS.

Workout Details:

Run to the 400m turnaround for your 200m fast interval. You will run your 200m recovery jog back to the start line.   Your goal is to hit your PR paces and on the all intervals to include the recovery intervals.

Your Pace:

Your fast interval will be at your Mile PR pace.   Your recovery rate will be your fast interval 200m pace times 1.5.  If your PR pace is :45 seconds then your recovery pace will be :45×1.5=1:28.  Please attempt to hit your recovery pace at the prescribed rate or at least 1-2 seconds apart.

Your Score:

This will be for total time.

Methodology:

Aerobic Threshold

Total Distance:

4800 meters=2.983 miles

Long Interval Thursday 5:30 pm

Backhand (Hinshaw)

 Workout Description:

P1.
2x
500m @ fast pace
500m @ easy pace
400m @ fast pace
400m @ easy pace
300m @ fast pace
300m @ easy pace
Rest 3:00
THEN
P2.
4x100m sprint
w/ full recovery between each effort

Workout Details:

After performing a warm-up of 15-20 min that includes: 800m jog (alternating 100 forward, 100 backward), mobility work targeting any areas of tightness, dynamics, drills and acceleration sprints, begin the prescribed workout.

Run 500m at a fast pace (see pacing instructions below), then slow to an easy conversational pace for 500m. Repeat this pattern again for 400m (400m fast, 400m easy) and 300m (300m fast, 300m easy). Rest 3:00 between each set. There is no additional rest between each interval. You need to focus on finding a pace during your easy paced runs that will allow you to recover from the previous fast interval as best as possible while still moving.

After you have completed the 2nd round of P1 and rested 3:00 beginning P2. Sprint 100m at or faster than your 400m PR pace. Take a full recovery between each effort to attempt to match or beat your previous time. A full recovery after a 100m sprint would be somewhere between :60-:90 sec.

Spend at least 5 min walking the track to cool down and slowly bring your HR down to a recovery level.

Your Score:

This wod is for total time for Part 1 only.

Please note your 100m sprint times in the comments for Part 2.

Methodology:

Lactate Threshold

Total Meters:

5200m=3.2 miles