I tend to get tired after a couple of games. I'm interested in the intervals, but wonder if repeating the interval sessions after a rest period would show more benefit for me, as it is more like our sport (a set of intervals being like 1 game).The first thought I had was that if you do the intervals to exhaustion, you probably aren't going to get much from the second set of intervals. So the question becomes, is it better to do a set of intervals at a lower intensity, so that you can do subsequent intervals and maintain a high level (ie, not speedwalking the intervals). I didn't have the answer right off, I wanted to do some digging.
It seems perfectly logical that the longer you workout, the more gains (particularly aerobic) you'll see. In fact, the whole idea of the Tabata Intervals is a bit counter-intuitive. I get to train for very little time (5 minutes excluding warmup and cooldown) and I get better results than running for an hour (or whatever).
First question, how do you measure fitness, specifically the kind of fitness we're trying to develop for Ultimate? First, we can break it down to aerobic and anaerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness allows us to run at a moderate pace for a long time, anaerobic fitness allows us to run very fast (or jump). Anaerobic fitness, as I am describing it now, does not allow us to run faster, it simply allows us to run as fast as we can for a longer period. Ultimate relies on both of these systems. I need to be able to run fast as long as possible (anaerobic), but I'd like to use my aerobic system as much as possible because it's far more efficient than my anaerobic system.
Ok, that's great, but how do you actually quantify aerobic or anaerobic fitness. Aerobic fitness is almost universally described as an individual's VO2 max. Basically how much oxygen you're able to get into your bloodstream. Anaerobic fitness is much harder to quantify, Dr. Tabata apparentally is one of the first to use the particular method he used, it's a little too complicated to try and describe here (but you can read about it in this summary). Other factors that go into aerobic and anaerobic health are how efficiently your muscles are able to use oxygen (to perform aerobically), and how quickly your muscles are able to recover from working anaerobically.
That's all great, but what does it mean? Well, looking at a summary of Dr. Tabata's study give us some interesting information. Tabata had two exercise groups. One did the intervals I've mentioned before, where you're going all out for 20 seconds and resting for 10. The other group went all out for 30 seconds, and rested for 2 minutes. What he found was that the 20/10 intervals maxed out the aerobic and anaerobic systems while the 30/2min intervals were not able to provide the same intensity. So, even though you're actually doing more work in the 30/2min intervals, you get a 'better' aerobic and anaerobic workout in the 20/10 intervals. It appears to be all about the rest. Check out this quote supposedly from Dr. Tabata that I found here:
Dr. Tabata told Dick Winett in a personal communication:"The rate of increase in VO2max [14% in only 6 weeks] is one of the highest ever reported in exercise science." What’s more, anaerobic capacity increased by a whopping 28%.However, we know that VO2 max isn't everything. Even if we throw out the whole concern that 20/10 intervals don't train the fast twitch explosiveness we want to get faster and jump higher, there are still aerobic and anaerobic fitness demands that aren't measured by VO2. Specifically, it appears from the Tabata study that the 30/2min intervals do a better job of improving the rate your muscles recover from working anaerobically, a very important factor for Ultimate in my opinion. The 30/2min intervals also show greater improvements in the maximum amount of power you're able to generate (the running fast and jumping thing). That's why, the program I've developed for SPSU this year has bi-weekly speed work where we are sprinting all out, but have 2-4 minutes of rest in between. This should help us keep improving our speed, and help improve our recovery.
In summary, Erin C. from Atlanta:
It appears you are best rewarded by going all out and having short rest periods. I hypothesize that if your rest period between sets of intervals is long enough for you to maintain a very high level of intensity, that you would see further improvements. Dr. Tabata had his subjects do the intervals 6 days a week. I would think it would be better to have a day off in between for your muscles to recover, but you could possibly do one in the morning and one in the afternoon, with a day off in between. I have found no data to back that up though, it's just a hypothesis.
So although it seems illogical, you're actually training your endurance more by doing the short intervals with short rest, and training your power more by doing short intervals with long rest. Long intervals come in last with just working your aerobic system.
Ultimately, my suggestion would be to do the Tabata Intervals 3-6 times a week. Throw in some speedwork once or twice every couple of weeks (possibly more as you're looking to peak), and lay off the long distances.
For an alternate viewpoint, you should check out SERIOUS Training for Endurance Atheletes which stresses a lot of longer distance running, particularly in the offseason. Personally, I worry about losing my speed with that kind of workout, but what's right for you depends on what your goals are.
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