Archives for endurance

General Adaptation Syndrome and Cross Country Training

In 1932, physiologist W.A. Engelhardt, for the first time introduced the definition of the training process as a physiological breakdown that serves as a specific stimulus for the subsequent adaptive recovery process.  While Engelhardt’s experiments worked with laboratory animals, injected drugs, and introduced stimuli far above what the animals were accustomed to, this idea became…

Functional Endurance Strength in Cross Country Training

Strength is one of the five primary physical components (speed, endurance, flexibility, strength, coordination) that defines athleticism.  Cross country runners, like all athletes, benefit from the improvement of all five physical components to the degree to which their particular sport demands.  Strength training must always be focused on training the movement, rather than the muscle,…

Periodizing Special Endurance 2 Workouts: Middle Distance

Periodizing Special Endurance 2 Sessions: Middle Distance Multilateral training done in planned balance is the general theme of modern middle distance training.  Much has been learned over the past couple of decades about the value of concurrently training all five of the primary physical components to achieve a better runner.  Sport scientists working with sizeable…

The Athlete Profile – Part 3

Training science, like all science, is about replication of procedure to attain the same data sets. Yet each runner is a unique person. Track coaches use sciences of physiology and psychology to develop successful athletes in hopes of replicating data from person to person and season to season. This can be difficult in part because…