WHY DID THE CHICKEN CROSS THE ROAD?Bob Dylan: How many roads must a chicken go down, before they call her a hen?
Re-thinking my training strategyThe idea of a "tempo run" has been around for a while but I have never incorporated it into my training program until very recently.
Tempo Runs, Interval Training, Time Trials and RacesUntil recently my
fast running was divided into three main categories:
1. Interval training. This in its many variations I have done infrequently and half heartedly, mainly because of the difficulty of doing it consistently within a fairly demanding racing program. All despite organising and supervising interval sessions for others, twice a week.
2. Time trials. Running close to race pace, but focusing on even pace rather than overcoming opponents, and generally omitting the all out finishing sprint. This I have found just as hard as racing.
3. Races. Lots of them.
One of the most important aspects of training is consistency. This is more important even than the type of training. Consistent training without much speed-work always brings more sustained benefits than inconsistent training with high-quality speed-work.
Put simply, regular long runs to build stamina, plus hilly runs, plus tempo runs, can be used as the basis of a successful training program. Add in a few easy runs, the occasional rest day, and some stop-and-smell-the-roses runs, and you have a perfect program.
Definition: A
tempo run is a sustained run at faster than usual training pace.
Before a tempo run I go through my normal warm-up and stretch routine, as if racing. Then I do one single tempo run (rather than repetitions). Twice I used the BBQ Stakes lunch time run as a tempo run. I ran at 15 or 20 secs per km slower than my flat out racing pace, trying to sustain the pace all the way to the finish. And of course followed this with a good cool-down.
Running at even pace is important. How far the run is, is not important.
During my long training runs, I would rarely duck under 5:00 per km these days. My race pace is around 4:00 per km, or more often 4:10. So a tempo run pace for me is around 4:30 per km at present.
An interesting BBQ Stakes experience was, at the slower 4:30 pace, despite feeling fatigued as usual up the hills, I was recovering my breath almost immediately down the other side of each hill, unlike races when the breathing does not recover (as people who hear my noisy gasping in races can testify to!)
I have yet to use a HRM but I will, and I expect my heart rate in a tempo run would be 90% of that of an equivalent race.
Some benefits of tempo runs:1. Physiological - In theory, in order to increase lactate threshold, it is not necessary to run faster than current threshold. Tempo runs done at a pace close to, but not exceeding, lactate threshold have been shown to be a good way of increasing lactate threshold. Or so I read.
2. Running economy - Because most of my speed-work was faster than race pace, and other training a lot slower, I never learned to run economically at race pace. While doing tempo runs I can work on form: consciously relaxing while running reasonably fast; taking short quick strides; flexing my ankles and pushing off hard with my feet; high or low knee lift; keeping my feet close to the ground as I bring them forward; etc. (“etc” is shorthand for “I am pretending I know more than this”.) So I can develop good form at speed.
3. Pace judgement – One day soon I will trot around the BBQ Stakes course and mark the kms, so I can compare my pacing from run to run, to test out my pace judgement. (Although it doesn’t hurt to do tempo runs over indeterminate distances too). My Garmin is coming in handy!
4. Self reliance - I usually run in a group, so doing occasional tempo runs alone is a good idea.
5. Tempo runs simulate racing conditions. However, like most simulations, they are not quite the same as reality. "Time trials" are more like races than tempo runs are.
6. Tempo runs are easier to manage than time trials. Whether time trials are run in low key races, or are run solo, they are more demanding so require recovery time just like races, and don’t have all the benefits of tempo runs.
Because tempo runs are more fun, easier to run, and recovery is immediate, I am a convert! This summer, I might plan to run a tempo run most Sunday mornings and see how it goes!
Q: What is your experience?
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