Middle distance athletics - importance of strength and endurance

Middle distance, in all its specialties, is considered an endurance sport ... where endurance can be understood as a conditional capacity or a specific expression of muscular work.

In any case, resistance always refers to ability to resist fatigue in long-lasting exercises.

Endurance in middle distance training in athletics

Resistance depends on several factors:

Efficiency of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems
Efficiency of the nervous system and of the muscular system
Strong-willed and emotional capacity

Resistance can be differentiated in various ways; the first distinction concerns the general and the special.

The GENERAL one refers to the ability to perform for a long time a sporting exercise that engages different muscle groups; it depends above all on the efficiency of the cardio-circulatory and respiratory systems and constitutes the athletic basis to be developed especially in young sportsmen; it is identified with aerobic capacity and is characterized by the balance between oxygen intake and its consumption.
SPECIAL resistance indicates the ability to endure a specific type of work with maximum commitment; special resistance is of several types:

Long-lasting endurance: skills affected: endurance and aerobic power; duration> 8 ", mostly aerobic
Medium duration endurance: mixed work: 2-8 "duration with aerobic and anaerobic lactacid
Short-term endurance: lactate endurance: 45 "" - 2 "; predominantly anaerobic lactic and requires strength and speed
Resistance to force: force extended over time; requires high LOCAL muscular endurance capacities
Speed resistance: maximal or sub-maximal intensity; almost exclusive involvement of the anaerobic lactacid mechanisms.

All forms of special endurance are present in the various middle distance specialties and their combination contributes to the achievement of maximum athletic performance.

Strength: essential component of endurance for middle distance training in athletics

In special endurance training, for a long time, the development of cardiovascular and respiratory aspects has been placed before all other abilities; however, the limit in endurance performance is above all MUSCLE. what matters is NOT so much the amount of oxygen that reaches the muscles (which is difficult to modify), but the ability of the same to be able to use it through the "cellular respiration" of the fiber cells. The goal is to engage as many muscle fibers as possible in the oxidative energy metabolism, both the slow ones (type I - S motor units) and intermediate ones (type IIA - FR motor units); these fibers adapt by increasing the VOLUME of MITOCHONDRI and the density of OXIDATIVE ENZYMES The cardiac and circulatory factors (capillarization) are however very important but NEVER limiting.
Resistance is therefore the synthesis of two phenomena: the contractile muscle force and the supply of energy; on the other hand, the coordination skills that allow the acquisition of a correct running technique and the possession of an economic gesture are also essential.

Features to train for middle distance in athletics

The middle distance runner must therefore develop ALL THE CHARACTERISTICS that allow him to face the different "ATHLETIC and METABOLIC NEEDS; in short:

Aerobic endurance: aerobic power and specific endurance, to sustain the run as long as possible but with greater speed of execution
Lactic capacity and power: to sprint as effectively as possible in the final as well as, in 800m races, to keep the running speed as high as possible
Joint mobility, flexibility and coordination: to improve the technique and make the gesture more effective and efficient
Muscle strength: especially fast and resistant, to improve speed and support fatigue more; it is therefore an essential prerequisite for any form of resistance and, as can be seen by scrutinizing speed training in athletics, is the basis the speed of execution.

Many trainers do not share the importance of strength development for endurance training, as several athletes from elite have achieved their maximum results without the aid of barbells. However, they too must admit that some specific exercises such as uphill running have as their primary objective the increase of strength itself which, in my opinion, can certainly be developed effectively by general exercises subsequently (and duly) transformed into the specific gesture. Obviously, the use of general techniques CANNOT and must not in any way replace the special and / or specific athletic gesture.
It is also logical that, in the youth categories, the training priorities are different because the objectives themselves are different; young athletes do not aim at achieving the maximum possible performance, but at conquering the qualities necessary for future athletic construction (exercises for conditional and coordinative skills).
We conclude this introduction to "middle distance training in athletics" by highlighting that, among the different disciplines (Fast middle distance: 800m, 1.500m and Extended middle distance: 3.000m, 3.000m hedges, 5.000m, 10.000m), the energy demand changes radically and with it also the energy metabolisms. In none of these it is possible to disregard the aerobic or anaerobic metabolism but, while in the 800m the anaerobic mechanisms (both alactacid and lactacid) constitute half of the performance potential, in the 1,500ml "importance of aerobic power assumes an even more important role that grows further as the distance increases; considering a 10,000m, the race speed does not differ excessively from that corresponding to the anaerobic threshold and, together with the lactacid metabolism, the ability to develop muscle strength also loses importance.
It is however possible to affirm that the element attributable to ALL the middle distance disciplines for athletics is AEROBIC POWER which, while in fast competitions facilitates the dilution of effort, for long competitions it ensures maximum execution speed.

Bibliography:

The Handbook of the Athletics Coach - First part: general information, races and walking - Study & Research Center - pag. 69-84.