Marathon World Record holder Eliud Kipchoge schedules 400m repeats into his training at least once every month – sometimes running workouts such as 25-30 x 400m repeats in 62-64 seconds with 30-60seconds rest. The 400-meter distance was ideal, Ryun said, because “it’s short enough that you can run pretty fast, but you can recover and do it again and again.” Here’s how to harness the power of repetition in your own training. Then there was Jim Ryun, the last American to hold the mile world record, who did the same workout in high school in the 1960s (also completing as many as 40 repeats). Before the 1952 Games, he upped it to 40 x 400 daily. Legendary runner Emil Zatopek of the Czech Republic, who won the 5,000, 10,000, and marathon at the 1952 Olympics, reportedly ran 20 x 400 with 200-meter recovery every day before the 1948 Olympics, with hard 200-meter repeats before and after. This type of workout has a long and colorful pedigree. read more 400m Repeats – “The Ultimate Workout” The rate of work, power output or running pace that an individual can maintain aerobically is determined largely by their VO2max.

In trained individuals it has been shown that during a maximal effort the switch to predominantly aerobic energy systems occurs somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds into exercise as by this point we have “run out” of anaerobic fuel. As anaerobic energy production is only possible for a very short period of time, our bodies will always try to meet the energy demands aerobically.

Any exercise will require energy production from both aerobic and anaerobic systems however their relative contribution is determined by the duration and intensity of the effort. In order to walk, run or move at all, our body needs to produce energy we can either produce this energy without oxygen (anaerobic) or with oxygen (aerobic). Additionally VO2max becomes especially useful once we consider its impact on athletic performance. So why does all this science matter and what does it mean for you? First of all, VO2max is the strongest independent predictor of future life expectancy so everyone out there should be at the very least slightly interested in their own value, athlete or not.

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