How should a natural sprinter train for distance?

[Sasha Pachev]

I have a pretty good idea of how a natural distance runner (slow-twitch dominant) should train for a sprint. High mileage still with a bit of sharpening right before the key race will produce the best results. The reason being that even when he sprints he is still relying a lot on his slow twitch fibers, so if we develop them to their full capacity he will sprint a bit faster. But what about a natural sprinter, let's say 70% fast twitch 30% slow twitch? We want to train him for distance. What is the best way for him to train?

Obviously he will need some aerobic conditioning. But then given the fact that most of his muscle fibers are fast-twitch, it would be a huge waste to leave them unused. What is the best way to train the fast-twitch fibers to make the most meaningful contribution in a distance race?

[Sirenesque]

My physiology is a little rusty, but there is a fair amount of evidence to support that fast twitch fibers can be converted to slow twitch fibers.  I think it is only type A fibers, but I am not sure.  A true sprinter can become a good distance runner, but the opposite is almost never true.  If you take that into account, the same principles of training would apply to a natural sprinter - lots of slower base building work to force adaptation mixed with an element of speed. It is an interesting topic, I will do some more reading on the latest research on muscle fiber types.

[Ted Leblow]

Some more food for thought at the link:

http://www.geocities.com/biomorrow/sprinters.html

Basically says a distance runner (pre-dominant slow twitch individual) cannot become a world class sprinter regardless of training but a sprinter (pre-dominant fast twitch individual) can become a good distance runner. It also says Rodgers was 70-80% slow twitch and Salazar was an amazing 95% slow twitch!

[Ted Leblow]

More articles on this topic:

http://www.uta-pippig.com/site/85-0-news.html?nid=988

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/endurance-muscles.html a lot of science talked here

http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/longrun/different.html Nenow vs. Salazar training methods