Yesterday blew. Literally. A line of rough thunder storms passed over the Appalachians last evening (who says "last evening", really!?), knocking out our power for a few hours, throwing trees all over the roads, and producing golf ball sized hail in the southern parts of the state (none near us, however). I was just getting started on dinner when the power went out -what to do?
Go to Applebee's, and drink beer. Luckily my wife got home soon after the power went out so that she could grab a shower before the water heater tank got cold. We got back around 9, and our power was on. 5,000 people here still don't have theirs back yet though - why couldn't my office building be one of them?
This morning was chilly compared to the past few days. I was starting to get used to running in 60 degree weather this week, and today it was 45. Tuesday went really well, I did a hard 4 mile tempo run and had no difficulty hitting my target (around a 7:15 pace). Today was supposed to be 1.5 mile tempo repeats. It didn't go well. After the warm up, my legs had no zap. So today became a fartlek run, and I need to adjust my schedule to a Monday-Thursday setup for my hard runs to give me more time to recover. I'm starting to feel race day creeping up again, and I don't want my progress to stall because of poor scheduling.
This week has been kind of a beat down at work, I'm hoping to get something interesting going on soon to blog about. Till then, you have to deal with posts like this.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Could Someone Get Me a Pillow Please?
I am very tired. I'd love nothing more to go close my office door, take the phone off the hook, and sleep until lunch while the world outside thinks I'm "taking a phone call".
Saturday was a banner day. I got up and ran 10 miles, my longest long run of the year. I plan to hang at about 10 miles until early summer, since 10 is enough when training for 5k races. I was still a bit sore from lifting on Thursday (squats, dead lift, leg presses). Then I caught up on some stuff around the house (damn dishes will be my undoing!). I hit the road about 2:30, headed for my parents house to help out with some stuff around their farm and hang out with my brother. As previously mentioned, my old college roommate, Jim Miller, is a UFC fighter, so we were planning to go to Applebee's to watch his fight.
But before that could happen, my parents needed some help with some roofing, and some work on the chicken coops, and some feed unloaded. My brother tore ligaments in his ankle earlier in the year, so his foot is in a cast and he's been benched for the first half of the year. Good thing I only live 2 hours away (yay, lucky me...). I busted my ass for about 4 hours (even though I'd already put in 10 miles that morning), and we got out the door just barely quick enough to make the prelim fights. It was a good event overall, the food was as good as Applebee's food can be, and the beer was cold. Somewhere along the line I've forgotten what it feels like to stay up late, and getting to bed at 1:30 doesn't sit too well with me.
Sunday, up at 7:30 to finish the last of the roofing work and a few other random tasks (one of which will get an entire paragraph in a minute), and eat a plate of breakfast that was absolutely unholy in size (4 hash browns, 5 scrambled eggs, 5 slices of bacon, and 2 big biscuits). I didn't get back on the road until 11, and once I did make it home I was too tired to actually accomplish anything else.
The aforementioned ridiculous random task can only be described as "shoveling pumpkin pie". Mom had gotten her hands on around a dozen or so leftover pumpkins after Halloween, with the intention of busting them up to feed to her chickens through the winter so that they'd get something besides the usual corn. They were sitting on a pile of hay in an old storage shed, and about 8 of them hadn't been touched since being put there. When the weather is cool, and they're kept out of the sun, I guess pumpkins can last a long time. But we've had several warm stretches so far this year, and several very wet stretches. The pumpkins had gone from round to kind of squished down ovals, with no hope of being picked up by hand. They really were like pumpkin pie surrounded by soft vegetable skin. So I had no choice but to shovel them into a wheelbarrow with a coal shovel. So if anyone ever asks you, "What do you know about West Virginia, what is it like?", you can tell them that it is a beautiful and scenic place where we shovel pumpkins for chickens.
I'm glad today was an easy run, because tomorrow will be a 4 mile tempo run, and I need at least another solid night of sleep before I can try to tackle that. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend - my buddy won his fight, my Hokies lost their game (out of the NIT in the second round), I enjoyed some food, family, and friends, and to top it all off, I shoveled some pumpkins.
Saturday was a banner day. I got up and ran 10 miles, my longest long run of the year. I plan to hang at about 10 miles until early summer, since 10 is enough when training for 5k races. I was still a bit sore from lifting on Thursday (squats, dead lift, leg presses). Then I caught up on some stuff around the house (damn dishes will be my undoing!). I hit the road about 2:30, headed for my parents house to help out with some stuff around their farm and hang out with my brother. As previously mentioned, my old college roommate, Jim Miller, is a UFC fighter, so we were planning to go to Applebee's to watch his fight.
But before that could happen, my parents needed some help with some roofing, and some work on the chicken coops, and some feed unloaded. My brother tore ligaments in his ankle earlier in the year, so his foot is in a cast and he's been benched for the first half of the year. Good thing I only live 2 hours away (yay, lucky me...). I busted my ass for about 4 hours (even though I'd already put in 10 miles that morning), and we got out the door just barely quick enough to make the prelim fights. It was a good event overall, the food was as good as Applebee's food can be, and the beer was cold. Somewhere along the line I've forgotten what it feels like to stay up late, and getting to bed at 1:30 doesn't sit too well with me.
Sunday, up at 7:30 to finish the last of the roofing work and a few other random tasks (one of which will get an entire paragraph in a minute), and eat a plate of breakfast that was absolutely unholy in size (4 hash browns, 5 scrambled eggs, 5 slices of bacon, and 2 big biscuits). I didn't get back on the road until 11, and once I did make it home I was too tired to actually accomplish anything else.
The aforementioned ridiculous random task can only be described as "shoveling pumpkin pie". Mom had gotten her hands on around a dozen or so leftover pumpkins after Halloween, with the intention of busting them up to feed to her chickens through the winter so that they'd get something besides the usual corn. They were sitting on a pile of hay in an old storage shed, and about 8 of them hadn't been touched since being put there. When the weather is cool, and they're kept out of the sun, I guess pumpkins can last a long time. But we've had several warm stretches so far this year, and several very wet stretches. The pumpkins had gone from round to kind of squished down ovals, with no hope of being picked up by hand. They really were like pumpkin pie surrounded by soft vegetable skin. So I had no choice but to shovel them into a wheelbarrow with a coal shovel. So if anyone ever asks you, "What do you know about West Virginia, what is it like?", you can tell them that it is a beautiful and scenic place where we shovel pumpkins for chickens.
I'm glad today was an easy run, because tomorrow will be a 4 mile tempo run, and I need at least another solid night of sleep before I can try to tackle that. Overall, it was a pretty good weekend - my buddy won his fight, my Hokies lost their game (out of the NIT in the second round), I enjoyed some food, family, and friends, and to top it all off, I shoveled some pumpkins.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Finally Friday
Man this week has seemed to go on forever. I even took Monday off and it has felt long. Now I'm trying to cram in some miles before it's over since I had several rest days from running to recharge. This is just a quick post, since I've been busier than usual at work this week, and I don't really fancy sitting at the computer at home when the weather is so nice (60's yesterday and probably all weekend!). Maybe spring is finally here?
Daylight savings time has taken a toll on me. I can't get my sleep schedule adjusted, and it's pitch black when I get up to run in the morning.
I'm hoping to get in a 10 mile run tomorrow morning to offset an evening out with my brother. My old college roommate is a UFC fighter, and we're going to a bar to watch his fight, have some drinks, and see some other friends of ours who are still in college but home for spring break.
You may not hear any more from me until Monday. Which won't be much different than most weekends.
Daylight savings time has taken a toll on me. I can't get my sleep schedule adjusted, and it's pitch black when I get up to run in the morning.
I'm hoping to get in a 10 mile run tomorrow morning to offset an evening out with my brother. My old college roommate is a UFC fighter, and we're going to a bar to watch his fight, have some drinks, and see some other friends of ours who are still in college but home for spring break.
You may not hear any more from me until Monday. Which won't be much different than most weekends.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Part 6: Warm Up, Cool Down, Stretching, Racing, Closing Thoughts
Warning, long post (that's what she said). I'm trying to cram it all in right here at the end (also what she said).
Before You Run
Here's another one of those places where lots of information gets tossed around, but very little actual research backs any of it up. Always stretch before you run (it keeps you from getting hurt). Never stretch a cold muscle (you'll develop micro tears). Always warm up and stretch (full range of motion allows for more relaxed running). Warm up but never stretch (static stretches destabilize your muscles). What's a runner to do?
While there is research out there, few people read it, and fewer actually believe/follow it. Most simply go on doing what they've always done - this is how I do it, it hasn't caused me any problems so far, why change? Well it turns out, at least according to the latest research, that this is exactly correct. The latest studies have shown no positive correlation between stretching or not stretching and injury prevention. What they did find, however, is a higher incidence of injury among runners who suddenly started or stopped stretching as part of their warm up. Most experts (by "most", I mean all that I've ever read) that a low intensity warm up before activity is beneficial. It turns out that the rest doesn't matter, as long as you're consistent, and you take it slowly if you decide to make changes.
So what is a low intensity warm up? To warm up for any activity, you should do that activity - but slower and gentler. Your warm up really is about warming up - increasing your body temperature makes your blood and other fluids runnier (see what I did there, using that word?), easier for your body to move around. It bumps your heart rate up to something between resting and working out, so that there is less of a jolt to all of the systems which rely on your heart (which would be all of them) when you start the actual run. It gets you moving before you actually run, so you can asses any little aches and pains and try to figure out where they came from.
The warm up is a great example of how everyone who runs is different. Just like a training schedule, what works best for one person doesn't for another. Some people need long warm up. Some need additional drills to help with their running form. Some want a combination of fast and slow running as part of their warm up. I personally like about a mile jog as a warm up, with 3 or 4 sections of about 50 or 60 yards at around race pace performed late in the mile. The best way to determine what you need is to experiment - start with a long warm up, and systematically change things until you find what works best for you.
Racing
You've done all of the hard work, now the reward, the fun stuff, racing. How does one go about this? Some of it is obvious - get a good night's sleep, pack your bag the night before, plan way ahead, time your eating and drinking to correspond with what your body needs. But some of it requires experience and judgment. You're in shape to run X pace, should you start out at that pace, a little faster/slower, go out hard to get a good spot, go slow to avoid the early rabbits...?
I wish I could tell you to always run your race, ignoring what everyone else is doing. The fastest races are run by an even pace the whole way - but things happen. You get nervous, or you get boxed in, you feel better or worse during certain miles, etc. Sometimes you want to run on your own, sometimes it is easier to run on someone else's shoulder. The point to all of this is that you shouldn't go into a race with a plan - you should go in with 2 or 3 plans, and be prepared to scrap them all if the need arises. Try to run your pace, but at regular intervals, evaluate how things are going. How are you feeling? Are you on pace, fast, or slow? In contention to maybe get an award at the end? After each evaluation, decide whether to stick to your guns, or try something else. This is how I approach the first 95% of the race. It takes experience to be good at the racing part of running.
The last 5% of the race is the kick. That mad sprint to burn off all you have left, hopefully grabbing a few spots along the way and sneaking a few extra seconds off the clock. How does one do this? With guts, and with confidence. You can do speed work to make sure you're fast. You can condition hard to be in great shape. None of that matters if you don't know in your heart that you can press forward, and have the strength and guts to do so. Make Usain Bolt run 4900m with me, and we'll see who can run 100m faster.
Now you're done, walking towards a water station after crossing the line. How did you do? It doesn't matter right now, that's how you did. The time to evaluate a race isn't right after it, when you're exhausted, out of balance, struggling just to stay on your feet. Always give it a day, step back from the actual run before making judgments about the results. Like anything else in life, treat failure to reach your goals as an opportunity to learn and grow, and success as a step towards something bigger (and of course, a reason to grab a beer and celebrate).
Winding Down
Back to our scenario - post run, you're exhausted, full of one or more emotions that are likely at an unreasonable level, you're resisting the urge to compare your time to your target time. Or, you've just finished a grueling workout, you're tired, stinky, hungry and thirsty, what should you be doing? More running, that's what. Your cool down is almost as important as your warm up. It allows your heart to slow down over a longer time period - giving your blood flow more time to remove wastes from your muscles (aided by the contractions of the muscles themselves). By now you should notice a pattern here: everything should be gradual, even things as simple as starting and stopping a run.
After your run is a great time to stretch. Besides just feeling good, it helps with your cool down by aiding blood flow, and is a good opportunity to work on your flexibility since the muscles are already warmed up.
Sometime within the first half hour after a race or hard workout, you need to eat something. It should have a combination of complex and simple carbs, as well as protein, so that your body can begin the process of recovery. Several studies have pointed to low-fat chocolate milk as a recovery drink, since it has what you need. If the thought of drinking milk after running in the summer sun turns your stomach sour, a sports drink and half peanut butter sandwich would do nicely as well.
Closing Thoughts
The first thing that comes to mind is, thank you God that this is over. I really expected that I'd have a better time preaching my running philosophy and detailing the minutiae of the different workouts I believe in. And while this started out great, I feel like it took a turn for the boring real effing quick.
I'll sum things up with two statements. The first is that my philosophy of running and training is essentially a holistic approach that mixes and matches different workouts to improve the individual parts of the whole. Everything in your body is connected, so while the workouts I've discussed seem very specific in their intent, the cumulative effect makes the program work for improvement. A complete program makes a complete runner.
The second statement speaks to my knowledge and intent. Most of what I've learned as a runner comes from experience, experimentation, and a very healthy helping of reading. I absolutely won't recommend anything I haven't personally tried. I may not always understand everything behind the scenes of what I'm doing, and I may not even agree entirely with some of the information I give. But before I tell anyone anything, I evaluate the potential that my advice could have for getting someone hurt, and I always err on the side of safety, even if it means holding something back that could potentially make someone a better runner until it is better understood. Like a doctor, I endeavor to do no harm.
There you have it, my training philosophy (more or less). Anything I've missed will hopefully come up in my future posts about my running. On the training front, I managed my weekend long run (another 8 miles) for the 3rd straight weekend. Now that I'm in the rhythm for this, I feel much more "on track" with my training. I took the past 3 days off as a little mini-recharge, to give my legs a full break before heading into my next tempo phase next week. With about 6 weeks to go, I am feeling much more confident about how much I can accomplish before my first race of the year. Take it easy (again, that is what she said).
Before You Run
Here's another one of those places where lots of information gets tossed around, but very little actual research backs any of it up. Always stretch before you run (it keeps you from getting hurt). Never stretch a cold muscle (you'll develop micro tears). Always warm up and stretch (full range of motion allows for more relaxed running). Warm up but never stretch (static stretches destabilize your muscles). What's a runner to do?
While there is research out there, few people read it, and fewer actually believe/follow it. Most simply go on doing what they've always done - this is how I do it, it hasn't caused me any problems so far, why change? Well it turns out, at least according to the latest research, that this is exactly correct. The latest studies have shown no positive correlation between stretching or not stretching and injury prevention. What they did find, however, is a higher incidence of injury among runners who suddenly started or stopped stretching as part of their warm up. Most experts (by "most", I mean all that I've ever read) that a low intensity warm up before activity is beneficial. It turns out that the rest doesn't matter, as long as you're consistent, and you take it slowly if you decide to make changes.
So what is a low intensity warm up? To warm up for any activity, you should do that activity - but slower and gentler. Your warm up really is about warming up - increasing your body temperature makes your blood and other fluids runnier (see what I did there, using that word?), easier for your body to move around. It bumps your heart rate up to something between resting and working out, so that there is less of a jolt to all of the systems which rely on your heart (which would be all of them) when you start the actual run. It gets you moving before you actually run, so you can asses any little aches and pains and try to figure out where they came from.
The warm up is a great example of how everyone who runs is different. Just like a training schedule, what works best for one person doesn't for another. Some people need long warm up. Some need additional drills to help with their running form. Some want a combination of fast and slow running as part of their warm up. I personally like about a mile jog as a warm up, with 3 or 4 sections of about 50 or 60 yards at around race pace performed late in the mile. The best way to determine what you need is to experiment - start with a long warm up, and systematically change things until you find what works best for you.
Racing
You've done all of the hard work, now the reward, the fun stuff, racing. How does one go about this? Some of it is obvious - get a good night's sleep, pack your bag the night before, plan way ahead, time your eating and drinking to correspond with what your body needs. But some of it requires experience and judgment. You're in shape to run X pace, should you start out at that pace, a little faster/slower, go out hard to get a good spot, go slow to avoid the early rabbits...?
I wish I could tell you to always run your race, ignoring what everyone else is doing. The fastest races are run by an even pace the whole way - but things happen. You get nervous, or you get boxed in, you feel better or worse during certain miles, etc. Sometimes you want to run on your own, sometimes it is easier to run on someone else's shoulder. The point to all of this is that you shouldn't go into a race with a plan - you should go in with 2 or 3 plans, and be prepared to scrap them all if the need arises. Try to run your pace, but at regular intervals, evaluate how things are going. How are you feeling? Are you on pace, fast, or slow? In contention to maybe get an award at the end? After each evaluation, decide whether to stick to your guns, or try something else. This is how I approach the first 95% of the race. It takes experience to be good at the racing part of running.
The last 5% of the race is the kick. That mad sprint to burn off all you have left, hopefully grabbing a few spots along the way and sneaking a few extra seconds off the clock. How does one do this? With guts, and with confidence. You can do speed work to make sure you're fast. You can condition hard to be in great shape. None of that matters if you don't know in your heart that you can press forward, and have the strength and guts to do so. Make Usain Bolt run 4900m with me, and we'll see who can run 100m faster.
Now you're done, walking towards a water station after crossing the line. How did you do? It doesn't matter right now, that's how you did. The time to evaluate a race isn't right after it, when you're exhausted, out of balance, struggling just to stay on your feet. Always give it a day, step back from the actual run before making judgments about the results. Like anything else in life, treat failure to reach your goals as an opportunity to learn and grow, and success as a step towards something bigger (and of course, a reason to grab a beer and celebrate).
Winding Down
Back to our scenario - post run, you're exhausted, full of one or more emotions that are likely at an unreasonable level, you're resisting the urge to compare your time to your target time. Or, you've just finished a grueling workout, you're tired, stinky, hungry and thirsty, what should you be doing? More running, that's what. Your cool down is almost as important as your warm up. It allows your heart to slow down over a longer time period - giving your blood flow more time to remove wastes from your muscles (aided by the contractions of the muscles themselves). By now you should notice a pattern here: everything should be gradual, even things as simple as starting and stopping a run.
After your run is a great time to stretch. Besides just feeling good, it helps with your cool down by aiding blood flow, and is a good opportunity to work on your flexibility since the muscles are already warmed up.
Sometime within the first half hour after a race or hard workout, you need to eat something. It should have a combination of complex and simple carbs, as well as protein, so that your body can begin the process of recovery. Several studies have pointed to low-fat chocolate milk as a recovery drink, since it has what you need. If the thought of drinking milk after running in the summer sun turns your stomach sour, a sports drink and half peanut butter sandwich would do nicely as well.
Closing Thoughts
The first thing that comes to mind is, thank you God that this is over. I really expected that I'd have a better time preaching my running philosophy and detailing the minutiae of the different workouts I believe in. And while this started out great, I feel like it took a turn for the boring real effing quick.
I'll sum things up with two statements. The first is that my philosophy of running and training is essentially a holistic approach that mixes and matches different workouts to improve the individual parts of the whole. Everything in your body is connected, so while the workouts I've discussed seem very specific in their intent, the cumulative effect makes the program work for improvement. A complete program makes a complete runner.
The second statement speaks to my knowledge and intent. Most of what I've learned as a runner comes from experience, experimentation, and a very healthy helping of reading. I absolutely won't recommend anything I haven't personally tried. I may not always understand everything behind the scenes of what I'm doing, and I may not even agree entirely with some of the information I give. But before I tell anyone anything, I evaluate the potential that my advice could have for getting someone hurt, and I always err on the side of safety, even if it means holding something back that could potentially make someone a better runner until it is better understood. Like a doctor, I endeavor to do no harm.
There you have it, my training philosophy (more or less). Anything I've missed will hopefully come up in my future posts about my running. On the training front, I managed my weekend long run (another 8 miles) for the 3rd straight weekend. Now that I'm in the rhythm for this, I feel much more "on track" with my training. I took the past 3 days off as a little mini-recharge, to give my legs a full break before heading into my next tempo phase next week. With about 6 weeks to go, I am feeling much more confident about how much I can accomplish before my first race of the year. Take it easy (again, that is what she said).
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Part 5: Interval Running and "Speed" Work
What's in a Name
So many people will tell you they're going to do some speed work, then go on to describe an interval workout. I think I'm learning not to begrudge people the little shorthand means that they use to describe their running, even if their mislabeling is misleading. When I discuss these topics, I will reserve the term "speed work" for workouts that focus on raw speed - how fast you can go at your absolute top speed, full-out sprinting. Interval workouts are not speed workouts for me.
Interval Running
So what are intervals? Intervals are repeated efforts at faster than race pace, with some sort of rest between. The objective of interval work is to repeatedly exceed the anaerobic threshold, allowing your body to recover enough between each effort so that you can put in a substantial distance at a faster pace than you could running continuously. During each interval, metabolic waste will accumulate faster than your body can eliminate it - if you just kept going, your body would force you to slow down. Then you back off during the recovery period, allowing your body to catch up on the waste removal. This teaches your body to deal with high levels of wastes more efficiently, and conditions the muscle cells to operate for longer periods of time anaerobically. What does this mean to you and your running? It means the ability to run at a faster pace than before, for longer.
As I said in Part 4, I do these in blocks, just like my tempo runs. They are an intense workout, and you can only do them a couple of times per week at most - may people will only do one workout like this per week. A person can only sustain the work load of intervals for a month or two at most before they need to switch things up.
The bread and butter interval workout for middle-to-long distance runners are 400m repeats (1/4 mile repeats). The mistake that many runners (especially our misguided high school cross country athletes) make is to set a pace for interval workouts that is absolute murder. They try to give their best 400m on ever rep, and so their times steadily get slower as the workout progresses, or they have to do a shorter, less effective workout. I prefer to do intervals at a pace which is 20-30 seconds/mile faster than race pace - really anywhere from 5-10 seconds per 1/4 mile faster than my 5k pace works for me. While it is uncomfortably fast, the discomfort only lasts for a few minutes, and it isn't so fast that I burn out early in the workout - I like to do 10-15 intervals for a workout, anything less feels lazy, anything more is just ridiculous, even when training for longer races. I used to hate intervals, because we always did them too fast, and our recovery was too stationary, making my legs feel heavy at the start of the next interval. My recovery is a combined walk/jog for 200m, always trying to jog the last 20 or 30 seconds of it to loosen my legs back out. My recovery goal is to get my heart rate back down to 140 beats per minute, which takes about 90 seconds or so for me. When I'm in good shape, I like to hit this workout twice a week, when I'm just getting back into things, I only do one hard workout per week. While they may sound tailored more to shorter distances, intervals benefit marathoners too. There will always be times when your body needs to sneak past the anaerobic threshold, even for a short distance like climbing a hill. Spending a little time working on your body's ability to efficiently deal with this makes those efforts easier to recover from during the big race.
Speed Work
Speed, you're either blessed with it or you aren't, right? Well yes and no. While your genetics do play a huge part, it is probably unlikely that many of us are at our full potential when it comes to sprinting. And it doesn't matter greatly to us longer runners - the kick is only the last 2% of a 5k, right? Which is why I really only give speed work about 2% of my time. If you can force yourself to sprint at the end of your race with no thought to the consequences (mainly, how it is going to feel when you cross the line), you'll probably out kick most people anyway.
Speed work requires much high intensity effort. Sprinting is almost entirely anaerobic, and is more about strength and explosiveness than conditioning your muscle cells to do certain things. I might do one or two speed workouts all year - some 100m repeats, with long recovery between maybe. Good enough.
My own interval work continues to go well. I didn't want to run today, but forced myself to, and ended up with a pretty good workout. My heart rate is still recovering quickly, and my legs are dealing with the intervals better each time. This tells me that next week I'll be doing longer interval workouts (probably 15x400m), and then it's on to a tempo block. I mention this just to highlight the importance of listening to your body and your results, and using what they tell you to adapt your schedule so that you get the most out of it. And your life won't be complete unless you hear about the sandwich that I just ate for lunch - peanut butter with chocolate and caramel syrup and marshmallows. The 2nd best sandwich I've ever eaten (I'll leave you writhing in suspense about my favorite until a later date when I need something to post about).
I also wanted to highlight this week's edition of Running with the Kenyans (the index of articles can be found here, with a new post each Tuesday). They call the workout they are doing a fartlek, but the rigid schedule, the length of the hard runs, and the shortness of the easy recoveries, this all screams INTERVAL to me.
So many people will tell you they're going to do some speed work, then go on to describe an interval workout. I think I'm learning not to begrudge people the little shorthand means that they use to describe their running, even if their mislabeling is misleading. When I discuss these topics, I will reserve the term "speed work" for workouts that focus on raw speed - how fast you can go at your absolute top speed, full-out sprinting. Interval workouts are not speed workouts for me.
Interval Running
So what are intervals? Intervals are repeated efforts at faster than race pace, with some sort of rest between. The objective of interval work is to repeatedly exceed the anaerobic threshold, allowing your body to recover enough between each effort so that you can put in a substantial distance at a faster pace than you could running continuously. During each interval, metabolic waste will accumulate faster than your body can eliminate it - if you just kept going, your body would force you to slow down. Then you back off during the recovery period, allowing your body to catch up on the waste removal. This teaches your body to deal with high levels of wastes more efficiently, and conditions the muscle cells to operate for longer periods of time anaerobically. What does this mean to you and your running? It means the ability to run at a faster pace than before, for longer.
As I said in Part 4, I do these in blocks, just like my tempo runs. They are an intense workout, and you can only do them a couple of times per week at most - may people will only do one workout like this per week. A person can only sustain the work load of intervals for a month or two at most before they need to switch things up.
The bread and butter interval workout for middle-to-long distance runners are 400m repeats (1/4 mile repeats). The mistake that many runners (especially our misguided high school cross country athletes) make is to set a pace for interval workouts that is absolute murder. They try to give their best 400m on ever rep, and so their times steadily get slower as the workout progresses, or they have to do a shorter, less effective workout. I prefer to do intervals at a pace which is 20-30 seconds/mile faster than race pace - really anywhere from 5-10 seconds per 1/4 mile faster than my 5k pace works for me. While it is uncomfortably fast, the discomfort only lasts for a few minutes, and it isn't so fast that I burn out early in the workout - I like to do 10-15 intervals for a workout, anything less feels lazy, anything more is just ridiculous, even when training for longer races. I used to hate intervals, because we always did them too fast, and our recovery was too stationary, making my legs feel heavy at the start of the next interval. My recovery is a combined walk/jog for 200m, always trying to jog the last 20 or 30 seconds of it to loosen my legs back out. My recovery goal is to get my heart rate back down to 140 beats per minute, which takes about 90 seconds or so for me. When I'm in good shape, I like to hit this workout twice a week, when I'm just getting back into things, I only do one hard workout per week. While they may sound tailored more to shorter distances, intervals benefit marathoners too. There will always be times when your body needs to sneak past the anaerobic threshold, even for a short distance like climbing a hill. Spending a little time working on your body's ability to efficiently deal with this makes those efforts easier to recover from during the big race.
Speed Work
Speed, you're either blessed with it or you aren't, right? Well yes and no. While your genetics do play a huge part, it is probably unlikely that many of us are at our full potential when it comes to sprinting. And it doesn't matter greatly to us longer runners - the kick is only the last 2% of a 5k, right? Which is why I really only give speed work about 2% of my time. If you can force yourself to sprint at the end of your race with no thought to the consequences (mainly, how it is going to feel when you cross the line), you'll probably out kick most people anyway.
Speed work requires much high intensity effort. Sprinting is almost entirely anaerobic, and is more about strength and explosiveness than conditioning your muscle cells to do certain things. I might do one or two speed workouts all year - some 100m repeats, with long recovery between maybe. Good enough.
My own interval work continues to go well. I didn't want to run today, but forced myself to, and ended up with a pretty good workout. My heart rate is still recovering quickly, and my legs are dealing with the intervals better each time. This tells me that next week I'll be doing longer interval workouts (probably 15x400m), and then it's on to a tempo block. I mention this just to highlight the importance of listening to your body and your results, and using what they tell you to adapt your schedule so that you get the most out of it. And your life won't be complete unless you hear about the sandwich that I just ate for lunch - peanut butter with chocolate and caramel syrup and marshmallows. The 2nd best sandwich I've ever eaten (I'll leave you writhing in suspense about my favorite until a later date when I need something to post about).
I also wanted to highlight this week's edition of Running with the Kenyans (the index of articles can be found here, with a new post each Tuesday). They call the workout they are doing a fartlek, but the rigid schedule, the length of the hard runs, and the shortness of the easy recoveries, this all screams INTERVAL to me.
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