Discussion: Physical Training

My current understanding of optimum training is here.

I guess everybody is too absorbed with reading this to respond. I've only perused it, but I find it full of "good stuff". I agree with everything I've read and understood. I am very glad to see some of my rarely voiced core beliefs echoed and documented. As for the rest of it, thanks for the work, I will get thru it eventually.

I was absorbed. Excellent work Vlad. I thought I trained fairly vigorously, and now I feel like a slacker :-) I would add (from personal experience, not science), that doing hill work seems to translate into flat-surface speed, and certainly helps with O speed.

I do have some stupid questions --

I'm rarely tired after a typical O race, even if I feel I've "pushed it". Is that normal? I feel I should be tired (i,e., I'm not really pushing it after all). I'd like to feel that I gave it everything. It tells me that physical training isn't the bottleneck, but navigational speed is (i.e, I recover because I read the map and terrain too much and too slowly). Any insights?

No mention of "fast twitch" vs "slow twitch" fibers. I got the impression that it was irrelevant. Elsewere, however, I have read where you can recruit one from the other via certain types of training. Is that a myth or relevant, or somehow "factored in" in the training of your muscles to use oxygen more effeciently?

Randy's #1: I think this goes right along the lines of O-intensity being below the "max" intensity. The only chances to really give it "everything" in O are park-O races.

Randy's #2: It _is_ relevant, and all of the five primary sources I used have discussions. I had to simplify things so that the paper was readable.