I think it’s purely your aerobic fitness that allows you (or us elite trail runners in general) to run relatively fast on the flat. Like faster than you would expect given the fact that you (we) hardly do any speed work. And the thing is, you can train your aerobic engine regardless of the endurance activity that you choose: whether you’re running, skiing or cycling for your metabolism it’s pretty much the same thing. My best hypothesis is that your limit is not the rate at which your engine can produce the energy (so vo2 and lactate threshold mainly) but it’s a mechanical limit that reflects in your running economy. Take away those 60h of skimo training and your running performance on the 10k would likely be a lot worse. Great work and thanks for sharing!
I''m in agreement. My curiosity is really at what point does adding aerobic volume hurt rather than help build speed and also how much speed work is necessary (given the subsequent decrease in training hours) to hit certain marks sub 30, sub 29 over 10k. Obviously different for everyone. We don't see many ultra runners (100 milers) taking real speed seriously. Yes it's terribly unspecified but if your fit your fit and the road does a good job of exposing that.
I think it’s purely your aerobic fitness that allows you (or us elite trail runners in general) to run relatively fast on the flat. Like faster than you would expect given the fact that you (we) hardly do any speed work. And the thing is, you can train your aerobic engine regardless of the endurance activity that you choose: whether you’re running, skiing or cycling for your metabolism it’s pretty much the same thing. My best hypothesis is that your limit is not the rate at which your engine can produce the energy (so vo2 and lactate threshold mainly) but it’s a mechanical limit that reflects in your running economy. Take away those 60h of skimo training and your running performance on the 10k would likely be a lot worse. Great work and thanks for sharing!
I''m in agreement. My curiosity is really at what point does adding aerobic volume hurt rather than help build speed and also how much speed work is necessary (given the subsequent decrease in training hours) to hit certain marks sub 30, sub 29 over 10k. Obviously different for everyone. We don't see many ultra runners (100 milers) taking real speed seriously. Yes it's terribly unspecified but if your fit your fit and the road does a good job of exposing that.