I would guess they are referring to an athlete that can deal with high lactate levelels. To cope with the really high end stuff means your body and/or training is not perfect for long distance.

In order to achieve a top performance both your anaerobic and aerobic systems have to be developed to optimum levels for the type of competition you're training for.

What the statement means is that if an athlete has a strong anaerobic capacity, that can negatively affect the development of his aerobic capacity. This is common in elite athletes.

The inverse can also be true, athletes with a weak anaerobic capacity that limit the development of their aerobic capacity. This is common among AG athletes that only train LSD.

For further reading on the subject you can check Jan Olbrecht's "The Science of Winning" or you can go through the stuff on lactate.com (very incomplete but with some clues)



Paulo

---

-
"Yeah, no one likes a smartass, but we all like stars" - Thom Yorke


smartasscoach.tri-oeiras.com