Does AI Training Actually Work?
Spartan Beast Prep (Ep 8)
Hey everyone and welcome to another running article!
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First, I want to apologize. This article took a lot longer to get out than I expected. It’s been a busy summer as always and coordinating doing the Base Test again was difficult.
But we got it done!
Which means the time is here. If you have stuck around since the beginning of this Spartan Beast series, then you know at the beginning of this series we did the Base Test.
If you haven’t read that article, here it is:
So…now we have put in weeks of training under the guidance of AI, and we have placed top 10 in our age group in the Spartan Beast. Now is the time to see what the Base Test reveals. Did AI improve my performance, make me worse, or somewhere in between?
The results are pretty interesting so let’s jump in!
Results
Before I share the results (which of course, you might have already scrolled to see them before coming back up here to read), let’s go over what the Base Test is again.
We break the test into 2 pieces: Running and Strength.
Running
The running test has 2 pieces to it. The first is a standard 1 mile time trial on the track. This will test my anaerobic and my high end aerobic running systems. In other words, it tests my high end speed, my stride length, and my turnover on a flat track.
The second running test is climbing Celo Knob, the trail I trained on a lot during this prep. The rules are simple for this test, I start the watch at the base of the trail and turn it off when I hit the ridge line of Celo Knob. It’s roughly 4.3 miles and a little over 3,000ft in elevation gain.
Strength
The strength component of the Base Test comprises of 1 test with 4 exercises. The rules are simple: complete each exercise in this exact order with exactly 3 minutes of rest in between each exercise.
This keeps everything standardized and in control from the first time we completed this to the second time.
As a reminder, those exercises are as follows:
Max dead hang
Max pull-ups in one set
Once you let go of the bar, you are done. Chin over the bar counts as a rep, full lock out at the bottom.
Max push-ups in 2 minutes
Max monkey bar rungs in 1 minute
The Results
Alright…enough waiting…here are the results:
Before
1 mile: 5:53
Celo Knob: 1:15:00
Dead hang: 1:15
Max pull-ups: 16
Max Push-ups: 102
Max Monkey Bar Rungs: 13
After
1 mile: 6:04
Celo Knob: 1:14:00
Dead hang: 1:31
Max Pull-ups: 21
Max Push-ups: 105
Max Monkey Bar Rungs: 16
Takeaway
I said earlier that the results were interesting, but let me explain why I think they are expected.
If you are questioning your math, yes, I improved in every test except the 1 mile time trial. That is the only test that went down.
I’ll break them down by category.
Running
I’ll start with the more interesting one, which is that my 1 mile time trial went down. Or…technicaly it went up. But the progress declined.
Why?
Well, I think it’s actually expected and part of why I wanted to test it. See, the Spartan Beast was a trail mountain race. So I was training more vertical running, trail running, and tempo type sessions.
A tempo session is one where I try to hold a higher heart rate for an extended period of time.
None of these really translate to an all out mile. Holding a higher heart rate certainly helps, but honestly, your heart rate probably takes a solid lap to get higher during an all out mile and then you only have a few minutes to hold it.
When you train on hills and especially steep technical terrain, you have a shortened stride and slower pace.
These also don’t translate to a flat and fast mile on a track.
So all in all, the fact that my all out mile slipped by 11 seconds isn’t a terrible thing. I think it’s expected because I didn’t really train for an all out mile at all. But it also means my all out mile fitness didn’t decline that much.
Next, Celo Knob…I improved by 1 whole minute. Now, if I had improved by a whole 1 minute in the 1 mile time trial that is a huge celebration. But when it comes to a 1+ hour trail run, I’ll be honest, it was a bit disappointing.
There is one thing I noticed, however. This time when I ran up Celo Knob compared to last, it felt a lot easier. When I noticed I could see the top and was at the final push I thought I had at least another mile left, but I was actually at the finish.
As such, I do think that means I could see a major improvement in my fitness and my high end aerobic system. I think it means maybe I could have pushed a bit harder and actually seen a more drastic change in that time.
So I’ll take it as a win!
Strength
The strength test was what I hoped too! My dead hang went up 15 seconds, which I think I’m the most excited about. And it makes me want to keep practicing!
The pull-ups also went up by a significant amount, along with the monkey bar rungs.
All of these aren’t that surprising because of how much I trained grip strength and pull-up strength. It’s just encouraging to know it worked!
The push-ups were a little interesting, though. They went up by 3, which really isn’t that much. I went into this training block hoping to build upper body endurance so that I could continue doing these obstacles without tiring out.
My thought was that push-ups would be a good test for this because I wasn’t going to be training a lot of pushing strength. That’s not really a component of obstacle course races. But doing max push-ups in 2 minutes really is a true test of muscular endurance. There isn’t time to recover so it’s just a matter of how far can I push with minimal recovery.
Only improving by 3 push-ups could mean that I did increase muscular endurance, but maybe it just didn’t shine through in push-ups. OR maybe it means I didn’t improve in muscular endurance as much as I wanted. Who is to say?
However, seeing how the race itself went, I never felt like my arms were ready to give out. Therefore, I do think I saw an increase in this factor, it just so happens to play out with the max push-up challenge to be an increase by 3, where I was hoping it would increase a lot more. But perhaps if I was training for push-up endurance it would have gone up a lot more.
So all in all, we’ll call it a win!
What’s Next?
This challenge has made me realize a lot of things and I’m really excited to share some of my future goals!
The biggest thing this showed me is that training can be pretty specific.
There are times to train and focus in on certain aspects like trails or flat track. Or push-ups vs pull-ups. Getting a good mix is important, but sometimes having a period of intense focus can go a long way in unlocking a new level of fitness.
I can’t help but wonder if the same thing is true in all aspects of our life.
If you begin to see memory slipping, it’s good to practice memorizing little things all the time. Like when we get 2-factor authentication text messages…those little 6 digit codes they send you to login to different websites.
But sometimes it’s even more helpful to have a period of time dedicated to intense memorization. I did that a few months ago trying to memorize large chunks of the Bible. I practiced every single day over and over.
Now I have those memorized and go over them weekly. And I have seen my memory get better in other areas like those 6 digit little codes.
Now getting back to fitness, they usually say getting fit is much harder than staying fit. I can see the same thing in my Scripture memory. Memorizing these chunks of the Bible took a while, but maintaining the memory only requires reciting it once a week.
So if you have a New Year’s resolution that didn’t quite make it through July, maybe give this a try. Instead of casually adding it into your daily habits as a small thing, add it in as a temporary large thing. Make it an important prioritized part of your day. Once you have the notable growth in that area, perhaps when you ease back, you’ll be surprised how much growth sticks around.
Or maybe I’m crazy, who’s to say!
But as for what’s next for me, this challenge has made me think of one big one I want to dedicate a training block to: top end speed.
My 1 mile time trial slipped and I’d like to work on that specifically. Now, I won’t be doing that quite yet, but over the winter I want to have a dedicated block to building that kind of top-end speed.
Then after the winter I’ll be training up for my very first Ultra Marathon! Details coming soon.
After that Ultra, I’ll be putting that top-end speed to the test with some Summer 5K’s, which I’ll be able to get Taylor and our brand new baby boy (crazy he’ll be 6 months by then) in on too!
Then in case I hadn’t planned far enough out, after that, we’ll be primed and ready to attempt breaking 2:55 in the marathon again!
BUT…speaking of marathons…before we even get into the winter, we have Fall Marathon season approaching!
And this season will be epic! I will attempt to run 2 marathons in one season for the first time, and my first race is at the end of August. And it’s quite an interesting race, so stay tuned!
SO…if anything resonates with you or you just want to jump on the journey of me breaking 2:55 in the marathon, definitely like, subscribe, and maybe subscribe on YouTube too! It helps the channel out tremendously!
Until next time, run with joy!