Originally Posted by
shmy333
Now I have 5-6 hour of trainings each week. But I’m facing the same problem: can’t keep same HR in aerobic workouts.
... Everything was fine for 40 minutes: HR zone 2, same power. But in the last 20 min HR goes to zone 4. What’s wrong with me?
Look into "VO2 Max" type training. Good benefits, if done well.
Improving Your Max VO2 @ Runner's World.
How to Increase Aerobic Fitness @ Live Strong.
An Update of Rowing Physiology (PDF doc) @ U.S. Rowing.
Effect of High-Intensity Interval Training on Cardiovascular Function, V̇o2max, and Muscular Force @ The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.
Back in the day, I did a lot of distance running. More than half our running was longer, somewhat-slower distance. Gave us a good "base" of aerobic endurance. However, for increasing our overall O2 intake, and for improving how long we could sustain higher-effort activity, it was vital to incorporate hard interval training as well.
On harder such runs, we'd often do hard 20-30 second sprints followed by a short recovery period (of ~1-2mins, tops). Occasionally, we'd do periodic max-effort 10 second sprints on such runs, followed by whatever recovery was needed. Done consistently across mid-distance runs, over the course of a few months, it could significantly improve our overall high-output ability. Increased oxygen uptake, decreased recovery times, improved overall times at that distance, etc. Can duplicate the concept in swimming, rowing, cycling.
Another variation: negative-split runs. Take a 5mi run (or row or ride), for example. Warm up, then start the run. Hit a given pace for the first mile. For the next mile, drop 10-20 seconds for the pace. For the mile after that, go another 10-20 seconds faster still. And so on. Continue until you're completely wiped, and can't improve any more. That run's done. But you'll find you've pushed your O2 and heart rate levels far beyond a typical run (ride, row). With sufficient rest, such training cycles done over months can yield noticeable gains.
Takes a lot of extra energy, to hit such performance goals in training, of course. Ensure your nutrition's up to par. Lots of good building blocks, vitamins, minerals. Ensure you're having sufficient complex carbs prior to such workouts, including during workouts if the duration is going to exceed your body's energy reserves. (ie, For runs <45mins, I rarely found I needed extra food, but with harder runs over an hour it was useful to eat a greater amount of protein/carbs prior to the run as well as a bit during. Vital on anything at the half-marathon or greater distance+effort.)
Be mindful of recovery and rest, too. If you're doing such training daily, you're simply going to keep depleting your reserves and won't be effectively rebuilding and repairing. The higher-intensity interval regimen is something we could do 2-3 times per week, in a week of ~10x training sessions. Done hard, it'd take 2-3 days of recovery before we'd be ready to do something like it again. With a good base of longer, slower distances, over time this helped us get faster, run cooler, with lower overall heart rate during harder efforts. But the recovery and rest times were key to rebuilding stronger.
I've duplicated this method in competitive swimming, in running. These days, I do it with rowing training in the gym, to a lesser degree on the treadmill. Though, for me, cycling today is an exclusively non-competitive, non-training type activity. The higher-intensity stuff comes on the rower and treadmill, these days.