Pick It Up With A Tempo!

Mixing it up is the best way to keep your running fresh, increase your endurance and up your speed. Hill repeats, track intervals, tempo runs, and your long runs are great ways to mix up your weekly workouts. If you're not training for a particular race, I recommend having 2 quality workouts a week. If you're training for a half- or full-marathon you can up to to three. Quality workouts are workouts (like previously mentioned) that either increase the intensity or distance. Then the rest of your weekly runs should be easy-effort runs designed for building and or maintaining your base mileage. It's best to have at least one complete rest day in the week. I usually like to have my rest day the day after my long run.

So, mixing up your weekly workouts is a great idea, but you can also mix up the type of tempo runs your running. Running the same old 4- or 5-mile tempo run can get boring week after week. In case you're new to running, a tempo run typically begins and ends with a 1-mile easy warm-up and cool-down mile. The "middle miles" are run at tempo pace (typically 30 seconds slower than your 10K or 5K  race pace). So for a 4-mile tempo run, you'll run 1-mile easy, 2-miles at tempo pace, and 1 mile easy for the cool-down. But....that's just one way to do a tempo run.

Basically, a tempo run's purpose is designed to give your body experience running fast for longer periods of time. This helps increase your speed and endurance. It's also great for pushing out your lactate threshold. That's the point at which you begin to find that "burn" in your muscles. That burn is caused when you increase your pace faster than your body is acclimated to and the body isn't able to clear out the lactate (a by product of the energy produced for muscle movement) fast enough. But, if you keep exposing yourself to faster paces over longer distances, you can actually push out the point at which you get that burn (or the lactate threshold) so hopefully you'll never experience it during a race.

Other types of tempo runs include Tempo Intervals, Race-Pace Tempo Runs and Kenyan Outbacks. Tempo intervals are very similar to fartleks (bursts of speed during a regular run). To do a Tempo Interval, simply divide your run into 10 minute intervals rotating between slow and tempo-pace intervals. So for example, if you're running a 6-miler, begin with 10-minutes at an easy conversational pace for 10-minutes. Then ramp it up to your tempo pace for 10-minutes. Continue this until you've completed your 6-miles. The last interval may actually be shorter than 10-minutes depending on your pace. Or if it's easier, don't base the Tempo Interval run on mileage. Instead, just plan on running for 60 minutes doing 6 slow/fast intervals.

Race-Pace Tempo runs are run just like a regular Tempo Run beginning with a 1-mile warm-up at the beginning and a 1-mile cool-down at the end, but instead of running the "middle miles at a pace that's 30-seconds slower than your 10K or 5K pace, run it at your actual race pace. If you're training for a 5K or 10K, then this give you a chance to ramp up your speed so your body knows what it feels like to run at the faster race pace. If you're training for a half- or full-marathon, then this lets your slow it down a bit and get a feel for what it's like to run at your endurance run race pace.

Kenyan Outbacks are similar to tempo runs, but with the second half much faster than the first. To do a Kenyan Outback, pick an out-n-back route. Run the "out" portion at a moderate pace and run the "back" portion about 30-45 seconds slower than 5K pace. This helps your body learn to "kick-it-in" or "pick-it-up" later in a race.

Mixing up your runs throughout the week not only helps keep your workouts fresher and more interesting, it also jacks up your metabolism and increases your caloric burn, keeping you fitter and leaner. It also gives your body a chance to use more than one energy-production system. Track intervals use more of the phosphagen system (the quickest and most powerful source of energy for muscle movement) and the glycolytic energy system. Tempo runs will make use of the of glycolytic system and the oxidative systems of energy  production. The long run will begin with the glycolytic system but it will mainly make use of the oxidative system. During a long run, you body can also learn to burn fat for energy production. Allowing your body to experience using all the various energy-production systems, makes you a more efficient runner.

Strong Base = Strong Marathon

Now's the best time to start preparing for your fall marathon. What's that sound? Is it the sound of jaws dropping? Yep, now is a great time to start preparing for your fall marathon. Notice I said "start preparing" not "start training." I've mentioned it in previous posts that base building is key to a successful marathon. Many a bad marathon experience can be traced back to lack of building a solid base. So before you start your marathon training in May, June, or July, take the next 3 months to work on building a strong base.
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Okay, I hear the mumbling. You're wanting more specifics. The "Whys?" Well there are a couple of "Whys." Fist of all, it's during this time that you're conditioning your body to being on the road or the trail. Just because you can run a 10-miler at race pace once doesn't mean that your body has adapted to running at that distance or pace. In fact it takes 4-6 weeks of running that 10-miler at that pace for your body to adapt to that distance at that pace. Giving your body this time to adapt as you build your mileage means you're allowing your body to gradually get acclimated to the added stress which will help prevent injury. This doesn't mean that you have to run that same 10-miler for 4-6 weeks straight. What it means is that 4-6 weeks down the road (when you may be running a 18-miler) your body has actually adapted to the 10 miles and now it's in the process of adapting to the higher miles.

Too much too soon is often the cause of many running-related injuries. A good rule of thumb for increasing weekly mileage is to increase it by no more than 10% per week (adding the extra mileage to the longest run first and shortest run last).

Secondly, base building helps your body to actually increase the amount of oxygen in your blood stream which in turn increases the number of mitochondria and capillaries you have. So why is that important? Well, everybody knows that it's important for runners to fuel themselves with carbs. In the body something called glycolysis happens which is the breakdown of carbohydrates (either glycogen that's stored in the muscles or glucose delivered in the blood). The end product of this process is something called pyruvate.

Pyruvate is what's used to resynthesize ATP (the real energy source of the body). If you've depleted your oxygen levels in the blood (or you just don't have good oxygen levels to begin with), your body will convert the pyruvate to lactate. If you haven't incorporated lactate threshold training into your plan and this occurs, then you might experience a burning sensation in the muscles and begin to slow down. Trained runners, however, can actually use the lactate as an energy source, but even that will only last for a short time.

The best method for sustained energy is for the pyruvate to be shuttled into the mitochondria where it will be converted into Acetyl-CoA which then will go through a series of reactions eventually resynthesizing ATP creating energy. This is known as the oxidative system (more specifically the Krebs Cycle). The body can also take fat through the Krebs cycle to produce energy. Actually fat makes a great fuel source because 1 gram of fat produces 9Kcals and 1 gram of carbs only produces 4Kcals. In either case, oxygen is the key factor.

Sounds really complicated, huh? Well, basically if you've fueled well with complex carbs and have good levels of oxygen in your blood, then you're gonna get that energy-making stuff where it needs to go to make more energy so you can keep going. One good way to make sure you have good oxygen levels is by increasing the number of capillaries you have. You do that simply by running more. Your body will take care of the rest.

Have you ever seen a sprinter that's a great marathoner? Probably not. A big part of the reason you don't see that crossover is because sprinters have a lot more Type 2 (force production) muscle. But another reason, is that they use a different energy system. Their bodies aren't concerned with long-term energy needs. They use the phosphagen system which provides quick energy.

So why do distance runners benefit from speed work? Great question. Well speed work helps a distance runner push their lactate threshold levels higher. It helps a distance runner's body learn to deal with lactate when it's produced. The body will more likely know what to do with it and convert it to energy instead of just making you feel sluggish and fatigued. It also just helps the body know what it feels like when/if you need to kick it up a notch during a race. So be sure to add speed work (intervals, hill work, fartleks, etc.) into your "real" training this summer.
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Take advantage of these next few months before your "real" marathon training begins to prepare your body for the hard work ahead by working on that base. You'll be glad you did.