Well I've studied it, told it to people, even written about it, but it just seems to be too counter intuitive for most folks to believe that short duration high intensity training, resistance and/or otherwise, can lead to improved cardiovascular economy and performance. Okay, I get it, I must just be crazy. Well luckily for you all, and my argument, I guess I really am crazy. How crazy?
Two days ago I set out with my father, Steve, to do something pretty cool, that you can really only do in one place: the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. We parked our car in a town along Interstate 70 called Idaho Springs, elevation 7,526ft. We unracked our road bikes, and after wolfing down our official biking fuel, a Salted Nut Roll, set off towards our destination. That destination lay 28 miles, and 6600 feet of elevation away, at the top of Mt. Evans, elevation14,130ft.
So we headed out, and with a few short breaks for fuel and breathtaking pictures, made the top of one of Colorado's 54 "14ers" in a hair under 4 hours. Okay, so well done, not the first people to do it. Not even the only people that day. What's the big deal you ask? Why (besides the obvious) does this make me crazy? This is the type of ride that many cyclists plan as the grand finale for their entire season, if they even desire to attempt it at all. They train all spring and summer long, logging hundreds and thousands of miles, preparing to climb a skyscraper on their bikes. So how many hours did I log? How many months did I train? How many miles did I have on my bike before I decided to give it a go? It was my Fourth time on my bike, with maybe 150 miles on the road. Now it's generally considered unrealistic for a 215 pound man to ride his bike up a mountain of that magnitude in the first place, not to mention having hardly trained at all. So how the hell did it happen?!
Well while I've not been training on my bike this year, that's not too say I haven't been training. In fact not even a week before this ride I hit a personal record on my Olympic Snatch. I've been training my ass off. I've been training my strength, power, endurance, stamina, coordination, accuracy, and mental fortitude as I always have. And I can count on two hands the number of those Conditioning sessions that lasted longer than 25-30 minutes. You see, when you train your body at a very high intensity it has no choice but to improve the function of All of its energy systems just to keep you conscious. And that absolutely includes your Aerobic or Cardiorespiratory systems. And to be honest these systems are pushed to much higher limits during a High Intensity session than they ever will during a nice Saturday run or ride or row or whatever your endurance method of choice. Whenever you stress a system more than it's used to, your body will adapt in order to be able to better handle that level of stress, should you experience it again. That's a fundamental principle of training used in any sport or discipline. Beyond that it's how we humans have adapted to survive this long.
Long story short, train your body to its limits. All of them. Cram some short duration high intensity stimulus down your throat and then Stop and let your body rest and recover, and you'll be surprised how well it works when you're just headed out for some weekend excursion. Or perhaps if you decide to ride your bike up a Fucking mountain... Yeah okay, you're right, I Am Crazy ;D
