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May
3
Tempo Running - Runners World
Posted under: Speed
YOUR PERFECT TEMPO
This "comfortably hard" run is the key to racing your best, at any distance. Here's how to add tempo runs to your weekly mix.
By John Hanc
Robin Roberts runs like a Kenyan. Okay, she doesn't run as fast as a Kenyan, but the 47-year-old New York City advertising executive--who trains far from Nairobi--has achieved personal records by using the same workout that has helped propel the likes of Paul Tergat and Lornah Kiplagat to greatness. The secret? A tempo run, that faster-paced workout also known as a lactate-threshold, LT, or threshold run.
Roberts--who'd dabbled in faster-paced short efforts--learned to do a proper tempo run only when she began working with a coach, Toby Tanser. In 1995, when Tanser was an elite young track runner from Sweden, he trained with the Kenyan's "A" team for seven months. They ran classic tempos--a slow 15-minute warmup, followed by at least 20 minutes at a challenging but manageable pace, then a 15-minute cooldown--as often as twice a week. "The foundation of Kenyan running is based almost exclusively on tempo training," says Tanser. "It changed my view on training."
Today, Tanser and many running experts believe that tempo runs are the single most important workout you can do to improve your speed for any race distance. "There's no beating the long run for pure endurance," says Tanser. "But tempo running is crucial to racing success because it trains your body to sustain speed over distance." So crucial, in fact, that it trumps track sessions in the longer distances. "Tempo training is more important than speedwork for the half and full marathon," says Loveland, Colorado, coach Gale Bernhardt, author of Training Plans for Multisport Athletes. "Everyone who does tempo runs diligently improves." You also have to be diligent, as Roberts discovered, about doing them correctly.
Why the Tempo Works...
Tempo running improves a crucial physiological variable for running success: our metabolic fitness. "Most runners have trained their cardiovascular system to deliver oxygen to the muscles," says exercise scientist Bill Pierce, chair of the health and exercise science department at Furman University in South Carolina, "but they haven't trained their bodies to use that oxygen once it arrives. Tempo runs do just that by teaching the body to use oxygen for metabolism more efficiently."
How? By increasing your lactate threshold (LT), or the point at which the body fatigues at a certain pace. During tempo runs, lactate and hydrogen ions--by-products of metabolism--are released into the muscles, says 2:46 marathoner Carwyn Sharp, Ph.D., an exercise scientist who works with NASA. The ions make the muscles acidic, eventually leading to fatigue. The better trained you become, the higher you push your "threshold," meaning your muscles become better at using these byproducts. The result is less-acidic muscles (that is, muscles that haven't reached their new "threshold"), so they keep on contracting, letting you run farther and faster.
...If Done Properly
But to garner this training effect, you've got to put in enough time at the right intensity--which is where Roberts went wrong. Her tempo runs, like those of many runners, were too short and too slow. "You need to get the hydrogen ions in the muscles for a sufficient length of time for the muscles to become adept at using them," says Sharp. Typically, 20 minutes is sufficient, or two to three miles if your goal is general fitness or a 5-K. Runners tackling longer distances should do longer tempo runs during their peak training weeks: four to six miles for the 10-K, six to eight for the half-marathon, and eight to 10 for 26.2.
Because Roberts was focusing on the half-marathon, Tanser built up her tempo runs to eight miles (plus warmup and cooldown) at an eight-minute-per-mile pace. "The pace was uncomfortable," she says. "But after a while I realized, 'Oh, I can maintain this for a long time.'"
That's exactly how tempo pace should feel. "It's what I call 'comfortably hard,'" says Pierce. "You know you're working, but you're not racing. At the same time, you'd be happy if you could slow down."
You'll be even happier if you make tempo running a part of your weekly training regimen, and get results that make you feel like a Kenyan--if not quite as fast.
Roberts--who'd dabbled in faster-paced short efforts--learned to do a proper tempo run only when she began working with a coach, Toby Tanser. In 1995, when Tanser was an elite young track runner from Sweden, he trained with the Kenyan's "A" team for seven months. They ran classic tempos--a slow 15-minute warmup, followed by at least 20 minutes at a challenging but manageable pace, then a 15-minute cooldown--as often as twice a week. "The foundation of Kenyan running is based almost exclusively on tempo training," says Tanser. "It changed my view on training."
Today, Tanser and many running experts believe that tempo runs are the single most important workout you can do to improve your speed for any race distance. "There's no beating the long run for pure endurance," says Tanser. "But tempo running is crucial to racing success because it trains your body to sustain speed over distance." So crucial, in fact, that it trumps track sessions in the longer distances. "Tempo training is more important than speedwork for the half and full marathon," says Loveland, Colorado, coach Gale Bernhardt, author of Training Plans for Multisport Athletes. "Everyone who does tempo runs diligently improves." You also have to be diligent, as Roberts discovered, about doing them correctly.
Why the Tempo Works...
Tempo running improves a crucial physiological variable for running success: our metabolic fitness. "Most runners have trained their cardiovascular system to deliver oxygen to the muscles," says exercise scientist Bill Pierce, chair of the health and exercise science department at Furman University in South Carolina, "but they haven't trained their bodies to use that oxygen once it arrives. Tempo runs do just that by teaching the body to use oxygen for metabolism more efficiently."
How? By increasing your lactate threshold (LT), or the point at which the body fatigues at a certain pace. During tempo runs, lactate and hydrogen ions--by-products of metabolism--are released into the muscles, says 2:46 marathoner Carwyn Sharp, Ph.D., an exercise scientist who works with NASA. The ions make the muscles acidic, eventually leading to fatigue. The better trained you become, the higher you push your "threshold," meaning your muscles become better at using these byproducts. The result is less-acidic muscles (that is, muscles that haven't reached their new "threshold"), so they keep on contracting, letting you run farther and faster.
...If Done Properly
But to garner this training effect, you've got to put in enough time at the right intensity--which is where Roberts went wrong. Her tempo runs, like those of many runners, were too short and too slow. "You need to get the hydrogen ions in the muscles for a sufficient length of time for the muscles to become adept at using them," says Sharp. Typically, 20 minutes is sufficient, or two to three miles if your goal is general fitness or a 5-K. Runners tackling longer distances should do longer tempo runs during their peak training weeks: four to six miles for the 10-K, six to eight for the half-marathon, and eight to 10 for 26.2.
Because Roberts was focusing on the half-marathon, Tanser built up her tempo runs to eight miles (plus warmup and cooldown) at an eight-minute-per-mile pace. "The pace was uncomfortable," she says. "But after a while I realized, 'Oh, I can maintain this for a long time.'"
That's exactly how tempo pace should feel. "It's what I call 'comfortably hard,'" says Pierce. "You know you're working, but you're not racing. At the same time, you'd be happy if you could slow down."
You'll be even happier if you make tempo running a part of your weekly training regimen, and get results that make you feel like a Kenyan--if not quite as fast.
UP TEMPO
A classic tempo or lactate-threshold run is a sustained, comfortably hard effort for two to four miles. The workouts below are geared toward experience levels and race goals.
GOAL: Get Started Coach Gale Bernhardt uses this four-week progression for tempo-newbies. Do a 10- to 15-minute warmup and cooldown.
Week 1: 5 x 3 minutes at tempo pace, 60-second easy jog in between each one (if you have to walk during the recovery, you're going too hard).Week 2: 5 x 4 minutes at tempo pace, 60-second easy jog recovery Week 3: 4 x 5 minutes at tempo pace, 90-second easy jog recovery Week 4: 20 minutes steady tempo pace
GOAL: 5-K to 10-K Run three easy miles, followed by two repeats of two miles at 10-K pace or one mile at 5-K pace. Recover with one mile easy between repeats. Do a two-mile easy cooldown for a total of eight or 10 miles.
GOAL: Half to Full Marathon Do this challenging long run once or twice during your training. After a warmup, run three (half-marathoners) or six (marathoners) miles at the easier end of your tempo pace range (see "The Right Rhythm," below). Jog for five minutes, then do another three or six miles. "Maintaining that comfortably hard pace for so many miles will whip you into shape for long distances," says coach Toby Tanser.
The Right Rhythm
To ensure you're doing tempo workouts at the right pace, use one of these four methods to gauge your intensity.
Recent Race: Add 30 to 40 seconds to your current 5-K pace or 15 to 20 seconds to your 10-K pace
Heart Rate: 85 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate
Perceived Exertion: An 8 on a 1-to-10 scale (a comfortable effort would be a 5; racing would be close to a 10)
Talk Test: A question like "Pace okay?" should be possible, but conversation won't be.
A classic tempo or lactate-threshold run is a sustained, comfortably hard effort for two to four miles. The workouts below are geared toward experience levels and race goals.
GOAL: Get Started Coach Gale Bernhardt uses this four-week progression for tempo-newbies. Do a 10- to 15-minute warmup and cooldown.
Week 1: 5 x 3 minutes at tempo pace, 60-second easy jog in between each one (if you have to walk during the recovery, you're going too hard).Week 2: 5 x 4 minutes at tempo pace, 60-second easy jog recovery Week 3: 4 x 5 minutes at tempo pace, 90-second easy jog recovery Week 4: 20 minutes steady tempo pace
GOAL: 5-K to 10-K Run three easy miles, followed by two repeats of two miles at 10-K pace or one mile at 5-K pace. Recover with one mile easy between repeats. Do a two-mile easy cooldown for a total of eight or 10 miles.
GOAL: Half to Full Marathon Do this challenging long run once or twice during your training. After a warmup, run three (half-marathoners) or six (marathoners) miles at the easier end of your tempo pace range (see "The Right Rhythm," below). Jog for five minutes, then do another three or six miles. "Maintaining that comfortably hard pace for so many miles will whip you into shape for long distances," says coach Toby Tanser.
The Right Rhythm
To ensure you're doing tempo workouts at the right pace, use one of these four methods to gauge your intensity.
Recent Race: Add 30 to 40 seconds to your current 5-K pace or 15 to 20 seconds to your 10-K pace
Heart Rate: 85 to 90 percent of your maximum heart rate
Perceived Exertion: An 8 on a 1-to-10 scale (a comfortable effort would be a 5; racing would be close to a 10)
Talk Test: A question like "Pace okay?" should be possible, but conversation won't be.
May
3
How Many Miles Should I Run - The New York Times
Posted under: Recovery
Basic Training; Modern Marathoners Have Fewer Miles on Them
By JOHN HANC
Published: May 31, 2007
So you want to run a marathon?
During the first running boom three decades ago, aspirants embarked upon a six-day regimen of arduous runs hellbent on crossing the finish line in the fastest time possible. Hollow cheeks, hobbled feet and an overuse injury or two were badges of honor for the mostly middle-class men who tackled the 26.2-mile challenge. Their icon was Frank Shorter, a Yale-educated lawyer whose victory in the 1972 Olympic marathon ignited the mass running movement.
Things have changed.
Today's marathoner is less likely to have been motivated by an Olympian than by Oprah. Her slow-but-steady completion of the 1994 Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., is considered the start of the second marathon boom, one that has dwarfed the first, and is far more democratic in nature. Ms. Winfrey was one of 277,000 marathon finishers nationwide in 1994; last year 410,000 runners crossed the line, according to Running USA, a nonprofit organization in Ventura, Calif., that keeps track of participatory running.
The marathon has become an ''everyman's Everest,'' said Amby Burfoot, the executive editor of Runner's World magazine.
Men, women, fledglings and fossils, of varying girth, are marathoners these days -- in part because of the proliferation of training programs that make it, if not easier, at least less time-consuming to prepare.
During his training for the Boston Marathon, which he won in 1968, Mr. Burfoot ran twice a day, seven days a week. Emil Zatopek, the great Czech runner who won the 1952 Olympic marathon (along with two other gold medals in the same Games), prepared by running mountain trails near his home in Moravia while carrying his wife, Dana, on his back.
Contemporary marathon programs require neither twice-a-day workouts nor spouse-hauling. Indeed, the new watchwords of marathon training are moderation and specificity. Gone -- for beginners, at least -- are the six days a week of running routinely recommended in the 1970s. Absent, in most programs, are even consecutive days of running.
Today, some popular schedules involve as little as three days a week of pounding the pavement. ''It's gone from being excessive training for what many would consider to be an excessive event to a very trimmed-down, less-is-more approach,'' said Toby Tanser, a marathon coach in Manhattan and the author of ''The Essential Guide to Running the New York City Marathon.''
One of the leading less-is-more programs for running the marathon involves walking. It was developed by Jeff Galloway, a 1972 Olympian who believes that regularly timed walking intervals increase the likelihood of covering the 26.2 miles. In 2006, it worked for 18,000 Gallowalkers (as his followers are dismissively called by some old-school runners) who ran-walked their way to a marathon finish.
At least half of last year's marathoners used a minimal-mileage training plan, said Ryan Lamppa, a spokesman for Running USA.
''The expectation has changed,'' said Bill Pierce, the chairman of the health and exercise science department at Furman University in Greenville, S.C., and the creator of a popular three-day-a-week program. ''It's O.K. now to walk. It's O.K. to finish over five hours. People have a completely different approach to the marathon.''
Those people do not include the Kenyans, Ethiopians and other elite athletes from around the world who will be running in and perhaps winning the ING New York City Marathon on Nov. 4. The best will not be following a less-is-more approach.
''This type of program is designed to get you to complete, not compete in, the marathon,'' said Dr. William Roberts, the medical director of the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Dr. Roberts endorses minimalist approaches. ''They offer a lower risk for injury,'' he said.
Whether covering as little as 15 miles a week or as many as 100, the primary goal of all marathon programs is the same: to build your endurance to the point where you can cover 26.2 miles. Hence, the common denominator of every program is the weekly or every-other-week ''long run'' -- a slow-paced run that starts at whatever distance you can now complete and, over months, grows longer.
''The long run teaches the body how to deliver and utilize oxygen more efficiently,'' said Carwyn Sharp, an exercise scientist with Wyle Laboratories, which conducts research on behalf of NASA.
As the runs lengthen, the body adapts by creating more blood vessels to transport oxygen-rich blood to working muscles; by manufacturing more energy-producing mitochondria; and by more efficiently repairing the microscopic tears to muscle fibers that result from the extended effort.
The long run is the one element, experts agree, that cannot be red-penciled out of a marathon program. But how long is long?
Here, experts disagree. Many say 20 miles is sufficient. Others, like Mr. Galloway, recommend conquering at least the full marathon distance in training. Still, whatever the distance of the longest long run, novices can't go from zero to 26 miles overnight, which is why most plans are at least 12 weeks long, and some last up to 30 weeks. What's more, most coaches and exercise physiologists recommend against even starting a marathon program until you have regularly run shorter distances for a couple of years.
Most programs also include at least one day of shorter but faster-paced running to improve efficiency; hill work not only to build leg strength, but also to prepare for steep elevation; and plenty of rest to allow the body to recover and rebuild.
For many people, finding the time to train may be harder than actually training. Gordon Bakoulis, who competed in the United States Olympic Trials marathon four times, and now works for the New York Road Runners, the New York marathon's organizers, says she has noticed a pattern among those who drop out before the race.
''It's not that they failed in the training,'' Ms. Bakoulis said. ''It's just that they couldn't manage the logistics. There were too many early-morning meetings at work, too many Saturday-morning soccer games. You can't fake marathon training, especially the long runs.''
But you can be reasonably certain that if you reach the starting line in one piece, you'll finish: In last year's New York City Marathon, 38,368 runners started and 37,869 finished -- a 99 percent completion rate. Other major marathons, including the Marine Corps and Chicago's, have similarly high finisher percentages -- and it's been that way for most of the last decade.
What does that say about the various marathon training programs?
''It says that they all work,'' Ms. Bakoulis said.
Basic Training looks at the latest thinking about conditioning for recreational sports.
Don't Be So Quick to Hit the Road, One Program Says
Basic Training looks at the latest thinking about conditioning for recreational sports.
Don't Be So Quick to Hit the Road, One Program Says
MOST pared-down marathon programs promise only to get you to the finish line in one piece.
The First program claims you will get faster, too.
The catch?
''It's a 'run less,' not a 'train less' program,'' said Bill Pierce, one of its creators and an exercise scientist at Furman University in Greenville, S.C. ''First'' stands for the Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training.
The streamlined regimen requires three workouts that many coaches say are essential to marathon success: a long run, a medium-distance run at a faster pace, and a speed session on the track.
But two or three days of cross-training -- be it in the pool or on a bike -- is also key to speed, proponents say. The thinking is that minimizing mileage reduces injuries, while participants receive the maximum physiological benefits of the plan's strenuous speed-oriented running.
The First regimen is the subject of a new book, ''Run Less, Run Faster,'' by Mr. Pierce and two colleagues.
Some coaches argue that biking for an hour is no substitute for time on your feet. ''The key to running the marathon is feeling comfortable on your legs for four or five hours,'' said Toby Tanser, a Manhattan running coach. ''It takes the body a long time to get used to that. I don't think that cross-training prepares you for it.''
Still, the idea that minimal running might be rewarded with a personal best attracts followers. One letter to Mr. Pierce reads as if he had told the student he can do half the reading and still earn an A in the course: ''Thank you for showing me that 100 to 120 miles a week is not required to reach my running goals!'' JOHN HANC