Training Terminology - by Peter Chan

Training terminology and calculating your optimum pace.

Leading up to the year end I have based the schedules on 10km work. Simply, this is a good general basis for long distance endurance running. As we move into the new year we can adjust eg for those doing Marathons, Halves and Tens. Then after the first quarter of the year we should start to bias towards 5km work to sharpen up.

Components:
In the spreadsheets to be supplied you will see certain terms. These will be familiar to a lot of you but here is an explanation anyhow.
Please take time to read these paragraphs because you will need to understand the terms as they relate to the intensity of the relevant sessions and you will need to work out optimum pacing for your own particular sessions.

1) Lactate threshold (L/T) – The point just before the production of lactate in the muscles outweighs the bodies ability to transport oxygen to those muscles and take away the waste products. …. In short you have got to get used to running in oxygen debt and maintaining a high work rate. I am not scientific enough to work with Heart Rates and they can be a bit hit and miss so I prefer to estimate the L/T pace as somewhere between the 10 mile and half marathon pace. However it is my belief that you should attempt to overload during training so I aim for a ‘target’ of around 10 to 15 secs/mile slower than 10k pace for LT workouts. SO if on my Schedules you see L/T you know what pace they should be run at. These sessions tend to be longer efforts with short recoveries or can take the form of continuous runs up to 6 miles at or around the 10mile to half marathon pace…. Eg for a 40 min 10k runner a typical session would be 5 x 1 mile at 6.37s/mile with 2 min jog recovery. OR warm up then 5 mile tempo run in 33 mins.
Most distance runners over 10k will run a majority of their efforts at LT pace

2) VO2 max – Ouch!! These ones hurt … and how... In the words of YODA “Gasp you will”… VO2 max is a pace around your best 5k … but again I aim for a target to overload the body so try to run these at 10secs/ mile faster than 5k pace eg if you are a 20min 5k runner this is 6.27/ mile try and run your efforts at around 6.15s. These type of efforts are from 200m to maximum 800m so for our 20 min 5k runner this would be 94 secs/400m 47secs/200m…. Eg.. 12 x 400m in 94 secs 1.5 min recovery

Ideal 5k to 10k training is a good balance between VO2 max and LT

3) Endurance- There is a myth that it does not matter what pace you do your long runs as long as you get the minutes on the road in…. I would love this to be true as I’d quite happily toddle along at walking pace for hours. There is of course an optimum pace for doing your long runs (1hr 15mins plus). This is around 1 to 2 mins slower than your 10k pace depending on how you’re feeling, weather, workload etc. Eg for a 37.40 10k runner (6 min/mile) that equates to long runs at 7 to 8 mins per mile (7.30s nominal) and easy (recovery runs) at 7.30 to 8.30 mpm
Marathon runners will ideally include 2 off long runs per week eg a 10 and a 16 in early stages of build up and a 13 and a 22 at peak (7 weeks before event)

4) Easy runs (recovery runs) - For easy runs I also add another 30 secs so 1 min 30 to 2 min 30 secs slower than 10k pace. Eg for a 37.40 10k runner (6 min/mile) that equates to easy runs of 7.30 to 8.30 min/mile
I have never done any sprint work but I know the very elite do this to train themselves for a fast finish … I take the view that if you are strong you can sort out the business way before the last 400m…. It may be worth though incorporating some short efforts (sprints) at the end of some sessions, but please be wary of injury when doing any fast explosive work like this.
Workload - Varies per individual and above when I said you have got to overload during training it sort of goes against the “train don’t strain” philosophy. I have tried it all ways in the last years and one thing I have come to realise …. It is not the hard work that makes you fitter it is the rest and recovery you get after it. For a period after hard training you are below par and very susceptible to injury, there is still micro damage to muscle tissue and soreness to muscles and joints. If you go out grit your teeth and batter yourself again and again and ignore it … then the next stop is the Physio bench. Ensure you get enough recovery not necessarily sat on the sofa but a reduction in intensity (using the pacing estimates provided above) after hard days of VO2/LT or Endurance training.
Coping with discomfort and blanking out pain and negativity are all part and parcel of distance running but hammering muscles, joints and ligaments into injury is counter productive … so the cycle should be:

Train - Overload – Recover…. Train – Overload - Recover

Peter Chan A&T RR