Last weekend we did an adventure race that took us the better part of 5 hours. In my eyes, that would constitute an endurance event, would you agree?

So what training should I do for an endurance event?

• 20km on the bike 2 – 3 times per week
• 5 – 10km run 2 – 3 times per week

I can honestly tell you that this is not what I did and if i did, my joints would not like me and I would be very bored.

So, here’s what I did do.

• My CrossFit workout of the day which generally lasts between 10 – 20 mins as listed on www.crossfitkensington.com.au
• Cycle 2km’s to and from work at full pace every weekday

And that’s it! You don’t need to train for hours on end to be able to perform for hours on end. That is the point of CrossFit, it will get you fit for any type of fitness that you require.

You need to build a strong aerobic system, you need to build a strong anaerobic system and you need to build endurance and stamina into your muscles. Once you have that, you can sprint off a start line for 600m at full pace, run for 4km’s, get on a bike and cycle 7km’s, run 4km’s, cycle 6km’s, kayak 3km’s, run 1km, kayak 1km, swim 300m, run 1km, cycle 2km, run 3km, cycle 5km and feel really good when you have finished because you are fit enough to handle any of that.

Do I think endurance training is good? No. I think it is bad on your joints, time consuming, boring and completely unnecessary.

Now, ask me how much running I did to be able to handle to 13km’s or so of running in this race? Well I said I did a 10 – 20 min workout a day, so I guess that would be up to 5km’s a day?

The longest run I did was 1 x 800m run. I did a handful of 200m runs and a few 400m runs over the course of the month leading up to the race. I did those runs at full pace and I did weights to build stamina and endurance into my legs

So, ask me again if I think endurance training is necessary?

CrossFit is the only necessary type of training!

Have you ever looked like this after 12 mins of training? Or does it take you 60 mins to not get even close to this much fatigue? Work harder and smarter in less time and get better results!

Check out our workout of the day – www.crossfitkensington.com.au

Tags: crossfit training

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 at 2:22 pm and is filed under CrossFit, adventure racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.