8 Stamina Building Workouts

Here are 8 great stamina building workouts that for distance runners that I wanted to share with you in this blog post. These are workouts that will help improve either your lactate threshold (LT) or your aerobic threshold (AT) and help you hold a faster pace for longer in your distance races.  

Lactate Threshold Centered Workouts

Lactate Threshold Tempo Run (LT Tempo)

Workout: Continuous run of between 24 and 30 minutes at as even a pace as possible

Pace: Lactate Threshold (LT)

Benefits: improves lactate threshold, builds efficiency at and familiarity with LT pace

Use: Used frequently in the Fundamental Phase and marathon Specific Phase, and extensively in the Specific Phase for a half marathon goal race

Example:  A continuous 27 minutes at LT pace

Lactate Threshold Progression Run (LT Progression)

Workout: Continuous run of between 24 and 30 minutes at a progression pace

Pace: Starting the run at AT pace and gradually progressing to 4-5% faster than LT pace the end of the run

Benefits: improves lactate threshold, mirrors the effort profile (increasing effort/intensity) of a race

Use: Used frequently in the Fundamental Phase and marathon Specific Phase and extensively in the Specific Phase for a half marathon goal race

Example: A continuous 27 minutes starting at AT pace and progressing to LT - 1x pace by the end

Lactate Threshold Wave Run (LT Wave)

Workout: Continuous run of between 24 to 30 minutes alternating every 2-5 minutes between 2 paces

Pace: 2-5 minute segments alternated at AT pace and LT - 1x pace

Benefits: improves lactate threshold, promotes focus and mentally staying in the moment

Use: Used frequently in the Fundamental Phase and marathon Specific Phase and extensively in the Specific Phase for a half marathon goal race

Example: A continuous 27 minutes alternating 3 minute segments at 4-5% slower than and 4-5% faster than LT pace

Lactate Threshold Repeats (LT Repeats)

Workout: Repeats of between 5 and 20 minutes, totaling between 30 and 40 minutes in total

Pace:  Lactate Threshold (LT) pace

Recovery: a very slow recovery jog of between 15% and 25% of repeat duration

Benefits: improves lactate threshold, builds efficiency at and familiarity with LT pace

Use: Used sporadically in the Fundamental Phase and Specific Phase as stamina work

Example:  3 x 12 minutes at LT pace with 2:30 jog recovery

Aerobic Threshold Centered Workouts

Aerobic Threshold Tempo Run (AT Tempo)

Workout: Continuous run of between 48 and 60 minutes at as even a pace as possible

Pace: Aerobic Threshold (AT) pace

Benefits: improves aerobic threshold, builds efficiency at and familiarity with AT pace

Use: Used sporadically in the Fundamental Phase and half marathon Specific Phase and extensively in the Specific Phase for a marathon goal race

Example: A continuous 54 minutes at AT pace

Aerobic Threshold Progression Run (AT Progression)

Workout: Continuous run of between 48 and 60 minutes done at a progression pace

Pace: Starting the run at 4-5% slower than and gradually progressing to LT pace by the end of the run

Benefits: improves aerobic threshold, mirrors the effort profile (increasing effort/intensity) of a race

Use: Used sporadically in the Fundamental Phase and half marathon Specific Phase and can be used regularly in the Specific Phase for a marathon goal race

Example: A continuous 54 minutes starting at 4-5% slower than AT pace and progressing to LT pace by the end

Aerobic Threshold Wave Run (AT Wave)

Workout: Continuous run of between 48 and 60 minutes, alternating 5-10 minutes at between 2 paces

Pace:  5-10 minutes segments alternated at 4-5% slower than AT pace and LT pace

Benefits: improves aerobic threshold, promotes focus and staying in the moment

Use: Used sporadically in the Fundamental Phase and half marathon Specific Phase and extensively in the Specific Phase for a marathon goal race

Example: A continuous 55 minutes alternating 5 minute segments in 4-5% slower than AT pace and LT pace

Aerobic Threshold Repeats (AT Repeats)

Workout: Repeats of between 10 and 40 minutes, totaling between 60 and 80 minutes in total

Pace: Aerobic Threshold (AT) pace

Recovery: a very slow recovery jog of between 10% and 20% of repeat duration

Benefits: improves aerobic threshold, builds efficiency at and familiarity with AT

Use: Used sporadically in the Fundamental Phase and Specific Phase as stamina work

Example:  3 x 24 minutes at AT pace with 3:00 jog recovery

Paces

Need help determining what your lactate threshold and aerobic threshold paces are?

Here is a quick guide:

LT Pace:  roughly the pace you can hold for 60 minutes in an all out effort (i.e. race)

AT Pace:  4 - 5% slower than LT pace.

If you are more distance oriented runners (i.e. a marathon type with high % of slow twitch muscle fibers) than you can use 4% to calculate your AT.

If you are a neutral runner (i.e. competes equally as well at 5k as you do half marathon or marathon) than you can use 4.5% to calculate your AT.

If you are a shorter distance oriented runner (i.e a 5k-10k type of runner who does better at those distance than the HM or marathon) than you can use 5% to calculate your AT.

Still need help?  Here is a link to my coaching training paces pace where i have some links to charts where you can use recent race times figure out your current LT and AT paces.

http://mprunning.com/training_paces.html 

Some Thoughts on Running Surfaces

The surface we run on, as we would expect, can effect to some degree the stresses on the body during running.  The legs change their rigidity in anticipation of the landing surface, and the timing and load of the stress of impact can change by milliseconds and millimeters depending on the surface landing on. 

Given this information my recommendations on running surfaces are 2 fold:

• Be careful about making changes quickly in the type of surfaces you run on.  If you move from training solely on one surface type to running solely on another (such as exclusively trails to exclusively pavement), you will likely experience some problems as the muscles, tendons and joints of the legs adjust to the changes in impact forces and timing.  I recommend making any changes to the mix of surfaces you run on gradually. But if you find yourself in a situation where the changes has to happen quickly (such as with travel or a move), back off on the mileage you run a little bit at first to help give your body a little help adapting to the change in stresses.  Then gradually over time you can ramp it back up to previous levels.  Remember, the body adapts best to gradual changes.     
• You need to prepare your body specifically for the surfaces you will race on. If we know that the body faces slightly different stresses on different surfaces than it makes sense that we need to do a fair amount of running on the surface we plan to race on so that our body is well adapted to that surface and ready for the stresses involved in it.  As a marathon coach, I have seen many times over the years where runners (at all levels) failed to do this and it came back to bite them on race day.  They did most of their long runs and tempo runs on trails or dirt roads and when they raced their marathon on the roads they had unexpected issues with their feet and different leg muscles or tendons.  Prepare your body specifically for the stresses it will encounter on race day.

There is no 1 best surface to run on.  Each is different and has its own benefits and drawbacks.  The best approach is to understand that and use each according to need, and availability.  We have a big diverse world in which to run, understand it, enjoy it, and explore it. 

Happy Running,

Coach Mark Hadley