By Scott Christensen
Scott Christensen is a physiology teacher and head track and field and cross country coach at Stillwater High School in Minnesota. During his tenure as coach, Stillwater has won 13 state titles. Ben Blankenship, eighth in the 1,500 meters at the 2016 Olympic Games, ran for Stillwater. Christensen has been a USATF Lead Endurance Instructor for Levels 1, 2, and 3 since 1996.
The 5K, whether raced on the track or cross-country course, is heavily dependent on robust aerobic development. Although there is a significant anaerobic contribution to racing 5K, the aerobic energy system contributes the bulk of the energy needed to run the distance at full effort.
Aerobic Power (VO2max) and vVO2max
Aerobic power (VO2max) is the maximum volume of oxygen consumed per minute. It has been known for a long time that VO2max is vital to a distance runner’s success. A related, but different, variable is the speed of a runner when running at VO2max, which is referred to as the “velocity of VO2max” (vVO2max) or “VO2max pace.” vVO2max, even more so than the VO2max itself, is crucial to 5K success (Ingham al., 2008). Improvement of vVO2max over a season translates to a faster 5K race time.
Training schemes designed to improve aerobic power in runners were first described by the Soviet Union in the 1970s and soon after leaked to Western coaches. Besides the Eastern Bloc countries, one of the athletics organizations to quickly pick up on the concept was the British Milers Club in the early 1980s. Frank Horwill and, later, Peter Coe, were two of the coaches who understood the value in improving aerobic power through repeated sessions of work performed at vVO2max. Meanwhile, in the United States, prominent scientists and coaches, including David Costill, David Martin, Joe Vigil, and Jack Daniels, were training 5K runners with aerobic power workouts and documenting their progress. These pioneers shaped many modern-day training protocols, chiefly addressing improvement in vVO2max and its impact on 5K performance.
The most reliable vVO2max test for distance runners is a 1.5-mile (8-12 minutes) effort to exhaustion (Vigil & Allden, 2015). However, with a large team of athletes, a two-mile time trial may be more customary among the athletes and more manageable for the coach. When running in high environmental heat or altitude, or with novice, pre-pubertal, and masters runners, a one-mile race or time trial may yield a more accurate determination of vVO2max.
As fitness improves, a runner’s velocity at every distance should improve because aerobic races are all linked to vVO2max improvement. For example, at the start of the season, an athlete may run 11:00 for 3,200 meters (5:30/mile pace). Given a pace difference of about 15 seconds per mile between 3,200 and 5K, the projected time for a 5K race is 17:49 (5:45/mile pace). As the season progresses, so does the athlete’s development. Later, the athlete may run 10:36 for 3,200 meters (5:18/mile pace), with a projected 5K time of 17:12 (5:33/mile). It is highly advantageous in training 5K runners to develop vVO2max to its greatest extent throughout all the training periods, once the runner has reached puberty.
Aerobic power (VO2max) is itself highly trainable in 5K runners, if given the proper range, dose, and frequency of training. Seiler (2010) has reported up to a 20% improvement in VO2max over 25 weeks of training from a sedentary condition. However, even in less time, gains can be made. On a cellular level, studies have shown the number of mitochondria (the part of the muscle where aerobic metabolism takes place) in Type I muscle fibers to increase by 2.5 times after just 14 weeks of training in sedentary individuals, as well as significant mitochondrial increases in Type IIa fibers. Along with an increase in mitochondria is an increase in aerobic enzymes, which together improve aerobic function.
Aerobic power sessions should be done once every week during the season and once every third week during the general preparation period, which includes summer for high school runners. vVO2max training sessions can be either continuous efforts or interval-style in design. Adaptations to the workload are most effective if the athlete runs close to his or her current vVO2max. Jack Daniels recommends an updated test every three weeks with either a quantitative field test or a race that is comparable to the athlete’s vVO2max. Since this speed improves as fitness improves during the season, it is a value that must be closely monitored for each athlete.
Aerobic Power Performed as Continuous Efforts
A continuous run at vVO2max can serve two purposes: it can be used as an updated aerobic power field test, or it can be implemented as the main training session for the current week. The single, continuous effort should not exceed 3,200 meters in length. If the training theme for the day is to update the vVO2max field test, then it should be treated as a 2-mile time trial at full effort among teammates. To supplement the workout, a medium-length continuous effort at a gentle, conversational pace could be added after the hard effort.
Aerobic Power Performed as Interval-Style Efforts
An interval-style aerobic power workout allows for more than 3,200 meters of total volume to be done for the training session. The work can vary from many reps at 400 meters to just a few reps of 1,200 to 1,600 meters. The more reps, the more recovery intervals, which again must be closely monitored with a work-to-rest ratio of 1:1 to ensure a proper stimulus. Joe Vigil advises that the most common total volume for a vVO2max session ranges from 3,000 to 8,000 meters, performed as repeated efforts of usually two to five minutes. Aerobic power sessions typically require a 48-hour recovery, so, for the next day, plan a recovery run. A few example training sessions can be found in Table 1. For variety, a fartlek could be substituted for the standard design. However, this would be recommended for more advanced 5K runners, as it involves them monitoring their own higher-effort spurts and keeping close track of their easier running during recovery.
Since vVO2max varies between individuals, the recovery intervals become problematic in a large and diverse training group. With clever administration and monitoring of the group, these problems can be minimized. For example, assign a vVO2max session to your faster group one day and the lower-performance group the next day to keep the recovery intervals honest, use two coaches and start groups at slightly different times of the session so the runners do not overlap, or have the athletes run the reps for a specific amount of time (2-5 minutes) rather than by distance so that everyone on the team starts and finishes each rep at the same time.
References
Casado, A., Hanley, B., Santos-Concejero, J., and Ruiz-Pérez, L.M. World-class long-distance running performances are best predicted by volume of easy runs and deliberate practice of short-interval and tempo runs. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 35(9):2525-2531, 2021.
Daniels, J. Daniels’ Running Formula. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 74-76, 1998.
Ingham, S.A., Whyte, G.P., Pedlar, C., Bailey, D.M., Dunman, M., and Nevill, A.M. Determinants of 800-m and 1500-m running performance using allometric models. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 40(2):345-350, 2008.
Martin, D. and Coe, P. Better Training for Distance Runners. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 167-252, 1997.
Seiler, S. What is best practice for training intensity and duration distribution in endurance athletes? International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 37(5):276-291, 2010.
Stöggl, T.L. and Sperlich, B. The training intensity distribution among well-trained and elite endurance athletes. Frontiers in Physiology, 6:295, 2015.
Vigil, J. and Allden, A. Endurance running and walking. USATF Track and Field Coaching Essentials. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 119-139, 2015.
