Principles of Aerobic and Anaerobic Running

To keep from exceeding your optimal running intensity and speeds during your basic running training, you need to understand the basic principles of aerobic and anaerobic running. And be sure to build a base of running before you move to advanced training. Be careful not to overdo it or over-train as this will cause injury and mental fatigue.


Aerobic running means that you are running at lower intensity levels and your heart rate does not exceed 160 beats per minute. Running this way allows you to run for longer periods of time without producing large amounts of lactic acid or hydrogen ions.

Lactic acid is a byproduct of exercise. It is what causes the burning sensations in your muscles when you work hard. We all build lactic acid even if we exercise just a small amount; but as your intensity goes up, your heart rate rises and you produce more lactic acid. At some point, you produce so much lactic acid that your body cannot remove it as fast as you produce it, and this has a negative effect on your exercise.


Hydrogen ions are the waste elements produced during anaerobic running. They attach themselves to your muscles as you exercise. These hydrogen ions cause tightness that you feel in your muscles as you on faster. Sometimes this is called "locking up". Everyone who has ever raced has either felt it or seen it.

There is a fine line that determines the difference between the aerobic and anaerobic running. While this line varies for individuals, it is somewhere between 165 and 175 heart beats per minute. As you run at rates that causes your heart to beat more than 170 times per minute, your breakdown of energy becomes anaerobic.

Regardless of your running pace, any type of running will combine both aerobic and anaerobic breakdown of energy. For example, someone running a marathon will probably run 98 percent aerobic and 2 percent anaerobic. Someone running a 100-meter race may be running 98 percent anaerobic and 2 percent aerobic.

Anaerobic training can help you improve your running times. When doing this type of training, be sure to warm up and cool down properly as anaerobic training requires very large muscular output and produces metabolism waste that needs to be removed at the end of a workout. Anaerobic training will allow you to run at greater efficiency and improve your muscular performance.


Understanding the basics of how this works will give you a better idea of how to plan your workouts.