What is 'Conditioning' for Race Training?

This Is How To Get Conditioned For Your Race!

 

You’ve heard the term strength & conditioning.

The strength part if obvious, but what about conditioning?

Conditioning simply means the process of becoming accustomed to a certain demand or circumstance.

So in this instance, getting ‘used’ to the demands of a race.

When we talk about conditioning we are generally talking about sessions that replicate into performance.

When training for a race, these might be the sessions that are considered more cardio than resistance-based, since racing is a cardiovascular dominant activity.

If you are racing in a Hyrox or a Marathon, conditioning sessions should make up the main bulk of your training week, as this is where PB’s are won!

These are the main 3 types of conditioning sessions:

THRESHOLD SESSIONS

This is where you will perform a session at your anaerobic threshold. This is when your body transitions from producing energy aerobically (with oxygen) to without it (by using stored glycogen). Anaerobic metabolism also produces lactic acid as a by-product, creating that horrible feeling! So these are the sessions that you can perform for a moderate amount of time (30-45 minutes) before it starts to get really grim.

These sessions will ultimately improve your ability to dissipate lactic acid and also reuse it as energy, helping with those parts in the race where it gets pretty tough!

HIGH INTENSITY INTERVAL SESSIONS

Otherwise known at HIIT, this is max efforts inter-spliced with periods of rest. This is all applying max power repeatedly with short breaks to recover the energy systems slightly but not completely. Work and rest periods can be anywhere between 30 seconds - 1 minute, but any longer and you won’t be working hard enough!

These sessions will improve recovery rate during a race (think about that run after the sleds in Hyrox!) and reduce lingering fatigue that occurs.

STEADY STATE AEROBIC SESSIONS

The boring session! This is about holding a steady pace for a continuous amount of time (45 minutes +). These sessions should not be hard at all, and should be performed at a pace you could hold a conversation for.

This is where your fitness ‘base’ is built, and your ability to perform for long periods of time without tiring too much.

So how could this all look in your training week?

It will ultimately come down to your specific race and your goals, but I’ll give an example for Hyrox and a Marathon:

HYROX

Monday - Threshold Session

Tuesday - High Intensity Interval Session

Wednesday - Steady State Aerobic Session

Thursday - Strength Session

Friday - Threshold Session

Saturday - High Intensity Interval Session

Sunday - Rest Day

MARATHON

Monday - Steady State Aerobic Session

Tuesday - Threshold Session

Wednesday - Steady State Aerobic Session

Thursday - Strength Session

Friday - High Intensity Interval Session

Saturday - Steady State Aerobic Session

Sunday - Rest Day

As you can see, Hyrox will require more sessions at a higher intensity due to the demands and Marathons require my steady state sessions due to the length.

This is conditioning!