Breaking the Wall

Wouldn't "explosive power" correlate well to anaerobic and V02Max conditioning? Seems like those would be need to close well in a 5K or 10K, perhaps half marathon too.

There are a number of aspects involved in being able to close strong. The muscle fiber needs to be structurally intact, there has to be enough fuel, and the nervous system has to cooperate. I believe the explosive power training improves the nervous system aspect, which is critical for a runner who is aerobically developed. He can bring in plenty of oxygen to run aerobically at very high intensities, but the nervous system may get tired of firing so hard for so long.

The way explosive training can overcome it - when high force production is required even for a very brief period of time, the fibers have to learn to fire more in sync, they cannot slouch around anymore, they become more obedient. Even though we think of explosive training in terms of fast twitch fibers and anaerobic energy mechanism, if 80% of your muscle is made of slow-twitch fibers, and you are trying to produce maximum force you will learn how to recruit your slow twitch fibers efficiently because they will due to their sheer number have to contribute a lion's share of the force. Since it is more of a matter of skill than fitness, you need to do it for a very short period of time, as soon as you stop doing it right you need to stop, and try again when you are ready.

There is also a fitness aspect involved. When a fiber is hypertrophied each contraction produces more power. Thus to run the same pace you need to hit fewer motor units per second. If the nervous system is getting fatigued, this could be helpful.

From the above, it sounds like the solution is simple - weight training or hills. But it is not that simple. Improper weight training can cause a motor unit firing coordination discord, so you become very good at one particular weight lifting exercise but not any better at running. To get an idea of this discord - try running sub-5:00 pace immediately after riding a bike for 5 miles up hill. Running uphill can overload the nervous system so the number of motor units per second it can fire goes down. So your individual fibers get stronger, but you are running slower.

It is a tricky balance game. All I can say after struggling to understand this for the last 24 years is that God made this all and man has no chance of figuring out how to use it unless he humbles himself and asks of God.

I don't have the attention span to read all that, so I'll just assume that you agree with me.

I have read some articles in the most recent version of Running Times as well as some online articles about "explosive" training for distance runners and pylometrics. The drills that have been described are similar to what you are doing and they had some interesting scientific evidence to support it. It sounds like you are really on to something.

Thanks for the welcome on my blog. I'm very impressed with your running abilities. Good luck with your goals as well!

Hope this doesn't scare off any other guys! I'm embarrassed :) I just didn't want to run alone. You're funny Sasha!