Breakthrough Endurance

   As promised for this week's post -- more on hill sprint training and its potential to improve running economy. Below I have included tid-bits from my review of literature. Yes, the text may be a bit redundant, especially if you read last week's post, but that is the nature of a proposal. I hope this information allows us all to further evaluate the training's potential. Chapter 2 Review of Literature Introduction ...Research has shown running economy (RE) to be a critical factor in determining distance running performance in highly trained runners.  ( J. T. Daniels, 1985 ;  Midgley et al., 2007 ;  Noakes, 1988 ;  Spurrs et al., 2003 ) .  Further, research shows running economy can be improved with traditional heavy-weight resistance training and/or plyometric training  ( Jung, 2003 ;  McCann & Higginson, 2008 ;  Midgley et al., 2007 ;  Paavolainen et al., 1999 ;  Saunders et al., 2004a ;  Saunders et al., 2006 ;  Spurrs et al., 2003 ) . Yet, no research

     Last semester I started working on a project proposal that would investigate what effect 10 weeks of uphill sprint repetition training (hill sprints) would have on running economy. This will be a two-part post. My introduction is below, followed by a few (hopefully) thought provoking comments. Next week I will be posting my review of literature. Chapter 1 Introduction Distance running performance relies upon many variables.  For trainable attributes, coaches and athletes often assume the variables of maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max), anaerobic capacity, and lactate threshold are the major determinants of an athlete’s performance.  As stated by Noakes ( 1988 ) , VO2max is so frequently discussed in lay articles that it seems most runners, swimmers, triathletes and cyclists believe that it is the most important predictor of athletic ability.  Indeed, VO2max and the other aforementioned variables are important for distance runners, but there is another critical compo