Intensity-Time Relationship (By Luis Garcia Del Moral)

For this reason, and others such as experience or knowledge of the work methodology, it is rare for an elite athlete of cross-country disciplines to make big mistakes in choosing the intensity of the training, since, when performing large volumes of training Any excess in it will be paid immediately, after a few days or weeks.

However, in amateur athletes, it is an error that we find much more frequently than it might seem, it is difficult to detect it by oneself.

Since in the latter the total volume of work is relatively low, the consequences of training at excessive intensities (including the one described of not being able to keep up), will take longer to appear, and sometimes will manifest themselves in a a way that does not allow us to easily relate it to the original cause (eg a fibrillar rupture or a contracture, diffuse or not so diffuse joint pain, fatigue or insomnia problems, or even more worrying manifestations such as extrasystoles, tachycardias or responses of inadequate blood pressure).

Y What are these reasons that do not allow us to train faster?

In the case of proportionally very high intensities, the main factor will be the excessive formation of lactic acid at the muscle level, with the appearance of what is called a metabolic acidosis (decrease in pH, especially within the cell, with loss of fluids), which will produce cellular alterations, which will cause a macroscopic (muscle) level increased tone and fatigue, being in these circumstances more vulnerable to injury.

If the intensity of the training is excessively high, but not so high, the alterations will occur more slowly and will also be much more difficult to relate.

The rationale is progressive decrease in carbohydrate stores(glucose-glycogen) since we go permanently (too long) to “carbohydrate rhythm”, Which is why they are emptied in excess, and not giving the body time to fully recover them.

We might reason that it can become a weight loss strategy. Since, by causing the emptying of carbohydrate stores (this also applies to diets low in carbohydrates), and going to a "carbohydrate intensity", we force our body to use fat as a source of energy.

ERROR

As the intensity of the exercise increases, the use of fat as an energy source is stopped and carbohydrates are used to a greater extent. It could be defined as a problem of extraction costs: I need more energy and faster and despite the fact that fats offer many more calories per unit of weight than carbohydrates, they cost more to metabolize, which is why they are no longer used. What if there are no carbohydrates? Well, the basic problem remains the same (“extraction costs"), So the body uses the" first cousin "of carbohydrates from a metabolic point of view, which are PROTEINS! With which, what is achieved is "Eat" our own muscles. Of course, you lose weight, but not fat.