What is Aerobic Training?

To first understand what aerobic training is it is important to know the difference between anaerobic and aerobic training, which can make the difference when it comes to running to your potential on race day.

When you learn how to train at the appropriate level, you can change your training for the better, and by understanding what each of these terms mean, you will be able to put that into practice.

To exercise, your body needs to break down sugar and convert it to glycogen, so it can be used as energy or fuel.

When the body has an adequate supply of oxygen for this process, we call it aerobic respiration. When there is not enough oxygen, for example when you are running hard at the end of a 5k, this is called anaerobic respiration.

When you are “running aerobically”, your muscles have enough oxygen to produce all the energy they need to perform. The waste products of aerobic respiration are carbon dioxide and water. These byproducts are easily expelled through the simple act of breathing. Aerobic running is very important, helping you to become stronger and help aid recovery.

When running anaerobically, the muscles begin to break down sugar, but instead of producing just CO2 and water, they also produce excessive amounts of lactate.

Unfortunately, lactate is more difficult to reconvert back into energy and has a downside compared to exhaling out water and CO2. In the absence of oxygen, your body can’t clean up the extra hydrogen ion created by lactate and this is what causes that burning feeling in your muscles.

This table below shows the percentage of aerobic or anaerobic contribution it takes to compete at certain distances.

So why is it important to know the difference?

The faster you run, the more energy you burn – just like a car burning fuel on a motorway. During the marathon, your body needs to conserve as much fuel as possible; if you run faster than your aerobic threshold (the point at which you switch from running primarily using aerobic respiration to running anaerobically) you will burn through your fuel stores faster, and more than likely ‘hit the wall’.

If you begin to run too hard in the middle of a session or the start of a race, your body goes into an anaerobic state, producing lactate, which is hard to reverse.

Without being in the lab or having a scientist on your run, the easiest way to test whether you’re running aerobically is to perform what is called the “talk test”.

While running, try to speak to someone (or yourself if alone) out-loud. (Make sure no one is watching!) If you can get out a short paragraph without too much trouble you’re running aerobically. If you can only get out one sentence before you start grasping for breath, you’re running too hard – slow down. So many runners make the mistake of running too hard on their easy runs.