For whatever reason, I can't get myself interested in the physiology of training. I want to, but my eyes just glaze over. Fail. I just run what the plan says (well, more or less), and when not on a plan do something based on that. And I don't have enough experience or success to know what really works.
Anyway, as most of you know I've primarily done Hansons, which doesn't have traditional tempos. Just MP runs and strength intervals at MP-10. The latter is the closest they come to tempo, but much slower. I never really liked those because I felt they should've been faster. Now I'm doing Pfitz which has more traditional tempos - workouts with 4-7 continuous miles at ~LT pace. I was pretty nervous because when I've tried that pace in something like 3x2mi intervals, it was pretty hard. So did not look forward to cutting out the recoveries. But so far, not as bad as expected. And I feel (mentally at least) like I am getting a really a good workout at that pace.
Still not sure precisely what my LT pace should be; the last two I've done were 5 miles that got progressively faster from ~7:35 down to ~7:10. But does not feel like the effort is changing much throughout. I don't know if this is typical, or what my deal is. We'll see how they go when it gets up to 7.
Bottom line - all physiology aside, so far I am glad I changed plans, mainly to get some variety. Which is the spice of life, as well as running.
Dave
Are we there, yet?
How do you judge that you're not getting benefits from them? What is a high end aerobic run?
How do you judge that you're not getting benefits from them?
What is a high end aerobic run?
Race times are my primary measure of what benefit I'm getting. Pacing within a race is a secondary consideration.
A high end aerobic run is just that, slower than LT pace so lactate is not accumulating rapidly, which usually puts the pace at the fast end of easy and long run pace ranges generated by running calculators.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
I really struggle with a straight tempo run. Mentally mostly. It seems like as I have gotten faster, all workouts are harder. I used to like tempo runs once upon a time.. Races help me push myself more. I have wondered if I should race short distances more.
I really struggle with a straight tempo run. Mentally mostly.
It seems like as I have gotten faster, all workouts are harder. I used to like tempo runs once upon a time.. Races help me push myself more. I have wondered if I should race short distances more.
Do you get Running Times? There is an article on page 64 of the November/December 2015 issue, where Caitlin Smith talks about struggling during threshold intervals. The solution was to move the workouts to the belt, begin the session on a steep incline and at a slower pace (although still at threshold effort), then gradually decrease the incline percentage while increasing pace.
Great article. Thanks for posting.
Just read it. Very interesting.