Timing Is Everything: All About Tempo Runs

Improving your lactate threshold is pretty straightforward: You train at or slightly above your lactate threshold. In the training schedule, I call this speed your LT (lactate threshold) pace. Training at your LT pace pushes back the point at which lactate accumulates, allowing you to maintain a faster pace for these mid-range races. How do you know what this pace is for you? If you already race in 15K to half-marathons, your race pace for those races is your LT pace. If you haven’t raced much, you can still approximate what your LT pace is. If you’ve run a 10K, your LT pace will be about 20 seconds slower per mile than your 10K race pace. If you’ve only run a 5K, your LT pace is probably around 30 seconds slower per mile than your 5K race pace is, but you should go run a 10K first anyway before trying to race a 15K to half-marathon.
Regardless of what pace you choose to shoot for, keep this guideline in mind: Your effort during LT workouts should feel “comfortably hard.” You should feel as though you’re working at a high level that you can sustain. If you were to increase your pace by 10 seconds or more per mile, you would have to slow within a few minutes.
It’s important to run as close to the right pace for as much of your LT workouts as possible. Remember what I told you in the last chapter about training to improve your VO2 max:
The biggest gains come from doing the workout in that small window where you’re most stressing the systems that you want to improve.
When you do LT workouts, you’ll probably think in the first mile that you should be going faster. After all, you’re not all that much out of breath. Stick to your pace. The point of the workout is to run it all at your LT pace. That’s different than starting out too fast, and then slowing in the second half of your LT workout. In that case, you might average the right pace for the whole workout, but never run any part of it at the right intensity. That kind of workout won’t improve your LT as much.
The classic workout to improve your lactate threshold is the tempo run, a continuous run of 20 to 40 minutes at LT pace. An example of a tempo run workout is a two-mile warm-up, a four-mile run at your LT pace, and a short cool-down jog. You can also do LT intervals. In these workouts, you do two or three intervals of a fairly long distance at LT pace, jog easily for 25 to 50 percent of the duration of the interval, and then repeat the sequence. For example, after warming up, you would run two miles at your LT pace, jog for five minutes, run two miles at your LT pace, and then do a cool-down jog.
In the training schedule, I start you with LT intervals to get you used to the workouts and to help you learn what your LT pace feels like. Once you’re familiar with your LT pace, I have you do tempo runs. Tempo runs are better because you become more accustomed to concentrating for an extended period while you’re running hard. This kind of training helps you mentally in your races.
At first, you should do LT workouts on the track or other accurately measured courses so that you have a way of checking your pace. After a few LT workouts you should have a feel for the pace. Studies have shown that most runners can accurately produce that “comfortably hard” level of effort on their own once they have learned it. This frees you to do your LT workouts on the roads or trails. Doing a five-mile tempo run on the track can get pretty boring, after all. Doing some of your LT workouts away from the track is an especially good idea if you’ll be running a hilly race because you’ll be more used to running LT pace over a variety of terrain.
Not many runners know about these workouts. They think that to run a faster halfmarathon, they should work on their speed, so they run 800-meter intervals. This type of workout does make them faster, but it doesn’t do much for their ability to sustain a pretty hard pace for more than an hour.
Those who do talk about doing tempo training throw around the words pretty haphazardly. They’ll say they’re doing an “uptempo run,” when all they mean is that they’re going to go a little harder than usual for a few miles in the middle of a run. Or they’ll go out and run a hard 10 miles and say that’s their tempo run for the week. They can call it whatever they want, but these aren’t really tempo runs. Unlike you, they don’t know why they should do these 20- to 40-minute runs at a precise pace.
Because those were workouts that I think all runners should do some version of. LT workouts are only necessary if you’re going to be doing races of 15K or longer.

Understanding The Marathon

I told you before about how your body can usually store only enough glycogen to fuel about 20 miles of running. And yet marathons are 26.2 miles long. What gives? The legend of the origin of the marathon goes like this: In 490 B.C., a Greek messenger named Pheidippides ran the 24 miles from the Plains of Marathon to Athens to announce that despite great odds, the Athenian army had defeated the invading Persians. Upon reaching Athens, Pheidippides said, “Rejoice. We conquer!” collapsed, and died. When the modern Olympics began in Athens in 1896, organizers included a 24-mile race from Marathon to Athens to honor this great moment in Greek history. Did this really happen? No one knows for sure, but the general consensus is that like any good story from antiquity, there’s some embellishment stirred in to the truth so well that it’s hard to separate the two, and it’s more fun not to bother anyway. There was a Greek messenger of the time named Pheidippides, but no contemporary record of him producing such a great deathbed quote exists. Nonetheless, the legend has its own resonance. At the 20-mile mark of his first marathon, Frank Shorter turned to a runner next to him and said, “Why couldn’t have Pheidippides have died at 20 miles?” The long race caught on after the 1896 Olympics. The first Boston Marathon was held the next year. Early marathons weren’t standardized—they were 24 or 25 miles, depending on how long a course turned out to be. Early in this century, the starting line of a marathon in England was moved back so that the Queen could watch from Windsor Castle. The resulting distance was 26 miles, 385 yards, or 26.2 miles, which is now the official distance for a marathon.

Is Marathon Really Necessary?

The marathon is one of the greatest challenges in sports. That’s why so many runners are drawn to it. Run a marathon, and you know that you’ve really accomplished something. Some runners think that they have to run a marathon to become a “real runner.” They think that no one will think they’re legitimate runners otherwise. That’s not true. No one is less of a runner for not running a marathon. I don’t race marathons any more, but someone must still think I’m OK because I got to write this book. One of the most revered figures in American running, Steve Prefontaine, never ran a marathon. And if how far you run in a race determines your worthiness as a runner, then shouldn’t we all be aiming for 50-milers, 100-milers, or even the six-day races that a few runners do? Training for and running a marathon takes a lot of work. When the going gets tough, you’re going to come face to face with your soul, and you’re going to ask, “Why am I doing this?” Before doing a marathon, you should be able to answer that question with your own reasons, not someone else’s standards.

Jogging Tips: Safe Tips

Losing weight and staying in shape are both reasons why men and women jog. Those that play a sport on a regular basis uncover that jogging is a great way to stay in shape and maintain their endurance as much as a competitive level. Jogging can also be therapeutic and some that do it only for that extremely reason. No matter what your purpose, you must always think of safe jogging tips if you go out for a run. You can never be too safe. Should you go with your children, or with friends or spouse, teach them what you know about staying safe as properly.

The first safe jogging tips you need to consider are wherever and whenever you are planning to jog. The in which is essential as not all places are safe. Numerous like to jog close to their own neighborhood, which is fine, but if you jog on the street you may get hit by a vehicle that may not see you coming, specifically in case you jog at night or in the early morning hours. Usually be alert, keep music turned down so which you can hear everything all around you, and wear bright, reflective clothing of some type so that you simply can be easily spotted. It can be harder for vehicle drivers to see you than you think.

Safe jogging tips also include finding somewhere else to jog should you don't live in which you really feel safe right after dark. In most cases, no one is planning to bother you just mainly because you are operating, but you may get inside the middle of something by mistake. It's like getting inside wrong place at the wrong time. See if you possibly can go in another direction once you commence out on your jog, or if you can find some indoor locations where you possibly can run. Some communities open up gyms and other large areas for joggers to hold them safe when jogging outside may well not be the very best idea.

The weather is some thing else to consider if you take into account safe jogging tips. You might consider that you just are warm sufficient whilst running to go out in shorts and a tee shirt when it is only twenty degrees out, but you could be making a big mistake. Your system heat will be high from running, but you still have to do anything to cover exposed skin. No matter how warm you feel, exposed skin even though jogging can get chapped and even frost bitten in case you are not careful. Uncover somewhere inside to jog in cold weather or come across light clothing to cover your entire physique prior to you venture out.

Lastly, consider your physical properly getting. It is possible to not stay safe and fit in case you are planning to hurt yourself whilst jogging. Nearly anyone can jog, but those with lots of weight to lose that have been sitting all over for two years aren't likely to get really far when they commence out. Safe jogging tips would suggest that you just see a doctor just before you start off jogging following a period of inactivity. You may even desire to begin out walking, then power walking, and then working short distances to work your way up to jogging to ensure your physique adjusts well.