Archive for the 'Running' Category

When to introduce “Speed Play”?

admin September 19th, 2007

A new triathlete asks:

When I look at my training plan it seems that Fartliks are sprints in a foundation run, and Lactate thresholds are sprints in a race tempo run?

I run 12 min. miles, I don’t have a tempo run yet. And I’m not very fast on sprints. What does any of this mean for me? What should I be shooting for?

and, what is VOmax something or other?

Fartlik is a Swedish word for “speed play”.

In practice, it just refers to random short increases in pace during an otherwise moderately slow run. THere is no specific speed or pace associated with it. They do not have to be sprints.

I am also a slow runner and remember the feeling of having only “one speed”. Fartleks or pickups or strides are a nice way to increase your pace briefly (even 10-20 seconds will feel like a lot at first) to introduce your body to the idea of a faster pace.

You should only begin to add these if you have been consistently running at least 3 times a week for a month or so for 30+ minutes at a time. That’s not a hard rule, but just a suggestion. Then you can start adding in short fartleks during a run, say 4-6 total for 10-20 seconds. Don’t do it more than once a week for the first 4 weeks, and then re-evaluate things.

Lacate threshold and VO2 max workouts are based on your specific physiology and are much more specific than a “sprint during a tempo run”. It sounds like you don’t quite need to worry about those yet, but educating your self about physiology and fitness will benefit you in your overall training.

Here is a great article from Running Planet that explains several types of running drills that you can integrate into your base training period.

Heart Rate Management for a Beginner?

admin July 15th, 2007

I ran today 1/2 mile and then took my HR. It was 154. I then walked for five minutes at a normal pace and HR was 120. I again walked 5 minutes at a normal pace and it was 115. I then ran another 1/2 mile and it was 151.

So if I’m trying to increase both speed and distance how should I work this? Should I run a bit harder in an attempt to get my HR closer to my max?

You are better off to run by perceived exertion than by heart rate at this point. The tables in the article you link to are adequate for the general description of training at different intensities. But HR zones using formulas have too much error to be useful to the majority of people. You might be someone who falls into the correct zone by usign teh formula, but you won’t know until after you’ve done some training that’s not going well.

Bottom line is to run at a pace where conversation is easy, this accomplishes the tasks described in the page you linked to described here:

“Most effective for overall cardiovascular fitness. Increases your cardio-respitory capacity: that is, the your ability to transport oxygenated blood to the muscle cells and carbon dioxide away from the cells. Also effective for increasing overall muscle strength.”

You don’t need to take your HR to figure out if you are in the right zone if you follow the “conversation” guideline in the first paragraph. There are also percieved exertion tables where you assign a number to your effort. I prefer the 6-20 scale, but there are also 1-10 scales in use that others find simpler.

Don’t get me wrong, I am a big advocate of HR training. But I hate to see people get too caught up in numbers especially when starting off witha formula based plan and without a good understanding of the benefits that you get from training at different intensities.

Too many people think that in order to have quick improvement, you have to go hard. Quite the contraray. From what you describe as your exercise background, slow and stead for several months is the way to go in order to get yoru body acclimated ot exercise, get your cardiovascular system used ot the idea of working harder and to avoid early injury.

I firmly believe that the single most important factor in lifelong improvement is consistancy. If you have to take 1-2 weeks off every few months due to nagging injuries, or if you start out too hard and too fast and develop smaller injuries that you try to train through, you are really sabataging your potential for development.

Joe Friel advocates for an easy Zone 1/2 endurance based approach for up to 2 full years before beginning anything more intense. Many folks on this board hvae stories of amazing improvements in pace as well as comfort by doing nothign but LSD (long slow distance).