#123: Aerobic Capacity and the Lactic Acid Death Zone - Endurance Coach Chris Hinshaw (CrossFit Games 2023)

Are you ready to take it to the limit to win? Do you even truly know where the limit is? Have you been there, tested it,  and fought through the pain, only to make sure you could go there again. But the next time you’ll have the confidence to go there and even further? Our limit isn’t a sustainable pace, but it is a place we need to be comfortable working in. 

Endurance Coach Chris Hinshaw joined Fran Racioppi and Jessie Graff on the back of the US Army Fitness Truck at 2023 NOBULL CrossFit Games for a discussion on the lifetime of work it takes to build capacity and create the adaptations in your body needed to perform with the best. Chris is the founder of Aerobic Capacity, a 10x Ironman Competitor, and one of the world’s top endurance coaches having coached 35 CrossFit Games Champions, the US Military, and professional and olympic athletes to the podium. 

Chis and Fran nerd out on pushing the boundaries of your lactic threshold and how getting comfortable in that "death zone” must be embraced if you expect to win against the world’s best. Jessie pushes Chris on mastering the art of establishing a breathing cadence, pacing yourself effectively, and understanding how rest between intervals is just as important as the work put in during the sets. 

Learn more and read the transcript on The Jedburgh Podcast Website. Subscribe to us and follow @jedburghpodcast on all social media. Watch the full video version on YouTube. 

Highlights:

• 0:00 Welcome to the CrossFit Games and Aerobic Capacity
• 5:04 The definition of Aerobic Capacity
• 7:40 Training to lactic threshold death zone
• 13:22 The proper way to actively rest in training
• 21:07 Breathing cadence for maximum performance
• 28:08 The psychological impacts of unknown time, unknown distance
• 33:52 Tips to proper pacing

Quotes: 

• “Aerobic Capacity by definition is your VO2 max; your maximum oxygen uptake.” (5:08) 
• “Aerobic Capacity is not a sustainable pace. It’s your peak.” (7:11) 
• “That’s what fitness does. It changes you.” (8:38)
• “Think of lactic threshold as your death zone. You can go above it. But you can’t stay there.” (11:32)
• “If your stimulus is nothing, then your adaptation is nothing.” (16:44) 
• “I won’t coach an athlete that thinks they have it all figured out.” (32:20) 
• “If I have 15% of my available capacity passive because I didn’t train it, that was a mistake.” (43:02)

Chris Hinshaw’s Tips to Proper Interval Rest

• Gain control of breath
• Actively move around
• Get your head back in the game

This episode is brought to you by US Army, Wodify, Hero Coffee, GORUCK &  Compass Workforce Solutions.