Anaerobic Training Effect

I have seen a lot of HermanB @Firstbeat posts about it, have changed some of my routines to maybe get better effect.  More recoveries instead of shooting for high HR within a set of sprints.   So instead of hoping for doing a set of 5x 40sec sprints with 40s-60sec recoveries and hoping for an escalating HR up to or above 92% max HR by the last couple reps. Changed to easier recovery and longer to get HR back down.  Didn't see much change.  If I do the sprints in isolation (almost like strides)... then a 30-40sec sprint doesn't get my HR very high, and it seems to ignore the effort to some extent.

I have exactly the opposite.  I can't seem to sluff off enough to get enough Low Aerobic.  My heart rate range is determined by auto max settings for both running (FR945) and biking (Edge 830) and always wearing a Garmin HRM Dual.

Without setting it on your own... TE, vo2max, and zones could likely be off quite a bit!!  My Auto (too low) and reality MaxHR is like 15-20 beats per minute off, i remember correctly, granted that was with my old 235, maybe 945 actually sets it?!  I thought it was just on  the age based calc still?  Easy enough to look through activites and sort by MaxHR (click the few activities with highest and verify graph/effort looks accurate, not a blip error)

Otherwise, just set a heart rate or pace goal, most people run all their runs too moderate/hard... my marathon pace is ~6:55/mi and 5k 5:45/mi... most my runs are 7:45/mi - 8:20/mi.  I try to limit HR on many of my long runs to ~<75%of max.  I allow it to drift a bit (+5) after 10+ miles for dehydration and heat.

I suggest do a new Max HF test. You current Max HF is far to high i think. somewere around 190 - 200 and that will result in these figures.

My max is set from the final strong sprint of a 5k in warm conditions just last year.   Using a HR strap and data is good.   Hit 195.  Used to hit 195 on treadmill hill sprints also years ago when in less shape (was easier to raise HR)

When using HR and anaerobic Training Effect, the algorithm is really looking for how quickly your HR increases, rather than how long or what zone it is. Firstbeat use %ofmaxHR as a key metric - how you define your zones is irrelevant. 400m efforts are probably around VO2Max or just above (so High Aerobic). So for Anaerobic TE, you need to go HARDER (and therefore shorter) than that - you are probably looking at 100/200m efforts. Also, you need to be thinking about recovering fully between intervals so that you can go truly hard in the next interval. 65/80 sounds like a VO2Max workout, and not long enough to recover fully between truly anaerobic efforts.

One other thing to consider is that extended warmups/cool downs can lead to a workout being classed as "low aerobic" (because that is where you spent most of your time), even if the focus of the intervals was anaerobic. If how it is classed is important to you, you may want to consider recording your warm-up and cool down as separate activities.

My final thought is that you should be designing your training about how to progress towards your goals. Find and follow a structured training plan appropriate for your chosen distance. Basing your training around trying to keep your watch happy is probably not the best way to get faster.

Agree on the recovery between Reps, have been trying to work on that.  

The classification of the activity as a whole isn't really a concern to me, the training load in the various intensity ranges does.  I roughly follow a 80% easy, 20% hard ... polarized training for the most part, once I am maintaining 10-15hrs of training a week...  setting aside time to really push it is tough.  So having a little reminder to get some in a couple times a month is nice.  Where as much of my other activities fall in the short easy, long easy, or strong LT/Tempo runs.  Easily load up the Low-Aerobic and Mid-Aerobic if my sessions are going as planned.  Typically with bike workouts I can get some AnaTE regularly, with a fairly similar HR profile as running, but I think that the benefit on the bike is that HR will continue to dip down to fairly low BPM (similar to first few of a run Rep set...) even after 6-8 or 10 Reps.  But still in the 2-2.8 range.  'maintaining'.

So anyone with a accurate manually set maximum HR... actually get Ana TE over 3 during a proper set of short intervals as described in Firstbeat or Garmin documentation??

My go-to run workout for anaerobic 'points' is a mixed 10 x 30s hill repeats (full walking recovery ~ 90s) which usually brings me to around 2.5 TE, then 4 x 60s efforts on the flat with recovery to zone 2.  I _think_ it's the change in the profile of the effort that triggers the extra effect.

That's normally about my limit anyway, but I get a reliable 3.0 TE.

I run with an HRM Run and a realistic known max HR.

thanks good to see what other people are doing and getting.  I am surprised you'd get just 2.5 with 10x30's, feel like my goto hill session is usually only 6-8, which I think is part of my limiter to 1.7-2.4TE.  When I do bike sprints its usually 10x which i think also helps.  

So your workout with a total of 540secof total sprint time definitely makes for a strong workout.

After I bounce back from my 50k this past weekend, I plan to jump into a little bit of a block of sprint and vo2max work, been very short of that stuff since the 50k signup and training got ramped up.  Wanna get it in so some of it can be outdoors, once it gets real cold/snowy here, hard to get it in.  Inside works...but feel like two of the perks of sprints, 'run economy' and 'form' benefits of hill sprints and strides, mostly goes away on the treadmill (or definitely on bike)

Try 800m intervals. I did these a lot. And I am getting high Anaerobic load.

Just for example, I did the following recently. My Anaerobic load was 4.0.

8x 200m, 8x 400m, 4x 800m