Even Super Humans Start with One Big Slow Day
I've been having fun reading NVDP's training approach (link is to his site).
I felt deep satisfaction seeing an athlete improve on a protocol that was taught to me. Fun to be part of a lineage that extends backwards, and forwards, in time.
A personal confession, there is a twinge of sadness when I read the document. Sadness because I had the passion to do the work, but lacked the courage to recover.
I will teach this to my children, and offer it to you.
Recovery is what truly scares the highly motivated.
Where does it all begin?
Skeletal muscle mass - do you have enough muscle to generate the aerobic power for your goals?
Let's be clear what I'm really talking about => self-starvation risks your ability to be an exceptional athlete.
I lift weights to have aerobic capacity for many tomorrows.
The foundation of wherever you want to take yourself is skeletal muscle mass - very important to get this message through to girls & boys.
Youngsters - ride the natural build up
Oldsters - preserve, and hopefully, build upon your current position
The value of a long slow day
I'm extremely consistent with my aerobic training.
My consistency has resulted in great health, but it has not translated to superior metabolic fitness.
Consistent, moderate aerobic exercise doesn't translate to superior metabolic fitness.
I do wish it was otherwise!
My lack of metabolic fitness doesn't impact my body composition, or my life. See my article on Low Standard Deviation Training.
Looking forward, metabolics might be a limiter.
Here's the progression:
At first, moving around all day is tough enough
Next, noodling around, at any speed, for 4-6 hours, is tough enough
Then, maybe we add some jogging, or combine with some cycling
Then, we try to keep easy, constant pressure on our long session
The first time I did 1 to 4... it took me ~5 years
Slow ramp of load.
Know where you are trying to go.
NVDP was seeking to break the world record for a 10K skate.
I'd like the option to do expeditions with my 15-18 yo son.
The concept of 5s pops up in NVDP's plan.
5 Days On, 2 Days Off
5x >5,000 kj on the bike
5 days of mind-blowing threshold sessions
The toughest expedition I can imagine can be structured as:
(5x) One Day On, One Day Off => ~5 big days in a two-week block
Thankfully, I don't need to string 5 days together, like a world champion.
All I need to do is build the capacity to do One Big Slow Day, Rest then repeat.
This was the key lesson of my 20s: the capacity to do one big slow day changed my life.
What is your goal?
Share the journey with people you love.