Chapter 5: Base Units, Micro & Macro-Cycles

Note: To me coaching is all about stewardship, using the knowledge and experience I have gained over 40 years as a runner, and 10 years as a coach, to help others pursue their running goals.  So rather than publishing a book you have to pay for, I am publishing it here on my blog, free for all (runners and coaches alike) to read and enjoy, maybe learn something from it, or potentially have it prompt you to look at something from a slightly different viewpoint.  If any of those happen, mission accomplished. 

Now that we have covered the basics tenets of training and discussed what stress days and recovery days look like.  It is time to put that information to use and talk about how we use it to design our training cycles.  We’ll spend the next several chapters doing just that.

As our first step in that journey in this chapter we will talk about the basic building blocks of our training cycle design: base units, mico-cycles and macro-cycles so we have some common terminology and tools to work from.

Base Unit

The base unit in our training is 1 stress and recover cycle as discussed in Chapter 2.  Generally in training this is between 2 and 4 days in length made up of a stress workout day followed by 1-3 easy recovery days.  We stress the body on the first day and then allow it to recover on the subsequent days.  How many days of recovery we need depends on many factors including how long and hard the stress was, our age, fitness and all the factors discussed in the last chapter.  The fitter you are, the more running you can do on your recovery day portion of this base unit structure.

We try not to go beyond 4 days typically for a base unit because of the need to stress so many various systems on a regular basis (or some may backslide) when building our fitness. So we attack stress workouts in such a ways as they gain the adaptations we are seeking while allowing us to recover within a 1-3 easy days afterwards. If we regularly do herculean workouts and needed 5-7 days to recover we would see backsliding in fitness in the areas not worked in those herculean workouts. Instead, steady and effective win the race of building fitness.

The 3 most common base units look like this:

2 Day Base Unit:  Day 1 - stress; Day 2 - recover

3 Day Base Unit:  Day 1 - stress; Day 2 - recover; Day 3 - recover

4 Day Base Unit:  Day 1 - stress; Day 2 - recover; Day 3 - recover; Day 4 - recover

Micro-Cycle

A micro-cycle is the next larger unit in our training cycle and are a repeatable pattern of between 2 and 5 base units long.  There are a few different ways to sequence these micro-cycles depending on your time constraints and recovery needs.  The 4 micro-cycle versions I have had the most success with are as follows:

7 Day Micro-Cycle

Many runners find it most convenient for them to follow a repeatable 7 day base unit.  This can be done with either 3 stress days (for athletes who recover quickly from workouts) or with 2 stress days for those who need a little more time between workouts.  Either can be very effective.  Some runners who need to work on a 7 days micro-cycle find that they can handle more than the 2 stress days per week but that the 3 stress days is not quite sustainable.  For these runners I use a two and half (2.5) stress workout micro-cycle, where we do 2 normal stress days and one lighter stress day where the amount of work is reduced.  For example, we may do a 90 minute run with 45 minutes of it easy and 45 minutes at a brisk pace, so the workout is less stressful than normal 60-90 minute brisk pace workout.  In this type of weekly set-up 2 easy/recovery days are taken after the most stressful workout of the week and a 1 easy/recovery day after the other stress day and the half stress day.     

9 Day Micro-Cycle

Many professional runners, especially marathoners, or those runners with flexible time/job schedules, find that the 9 day micro-cycle structure is ideal with its 3 x 3 day base unit structure. It allows for 2 recovery days after each stress workout which allows the runner to handle a little more mileage on those recovery days than would be possible with just 1 recovery day.

14 Day Micro-Cycle

Many marathoners who also have a regular job/career or who are in school, find that they have a hard time doing an endurance stress workout (i.e. long run) during the work week or school week (Mon-Fri) so their micro-cycle design must allow for their long runs to be done on the weekend.  A 14 day micro-cycle works very well for this. Started on a Monday, this structure gives you 5 stress workouts on Mon., Thu., Sun., Wed. and Saturday in a 2 week period.  The Sunday and following Saturday workouts can be reserved for long runs and the other 3 workouts can be some mix of speed or stamina workouts as needed for the phase the runners is in.  This schedule does leave 1 base unit with only 1 recovery day in it (Saturday long run, Sunday easy run and Monday stress day).  The way I recommend they handle this by doing half of your normal easy day run distance or duration on that Sunday to allow for ample recovery before the Monday stress workout.  

In a micro-cycle, we move through a series of stress workout categories meant to work on a specific set of fitness needs (see Chapter 3 for more on each stress workout).

How we structure which stress workouts we do on our stress workouts day in a micro-cycle depends on what training phase we are in and will be discussed in Chapters 6-10.

Macro-Cycle

A macro-cycle would be our next largest building block in our training programs and is made up between 2 and 5 micro-cycles.  The purpose of a macro-cycle is to focus more heavily on a certain adaptation or sub-set of fitness within our greater training phases (discussed in Chapter 6).  An example maybe using a macro-cycle to place a slightly greater focus on developing your base speed (Fast Repeats) before moving on to a macro-cycle focused more on VO2 Max development; or focusing on building gains in lactate threshold in 1 macro-cycle before levering that into aerobic threshold gains in the next macro-cycle.  We would still seek to have a general balance to our training but with a slightly greater emphasis on a sub-set of fitness in each macro-cycle.  This allows us to sequence training and link improvements in fitness between related areas.  We can leverage gains made in one area during 1 macro-cycle to gains in another area in the next macro-cycle.  We will go into more specifics on how this is done when we discuss each training phase in great detail in later chapters.


Putting It All Together

Now that we have the workouts and building blocks to work with, over the next several chapters we'll get into how we put it all together to build a successful training program.

Chapter 4 - Recovery

Note: To me coaching is all about stewardship, using the knowledge and experience I have gained over 40 years as a runner, and 10 years as a coach, to help others pursue their running goals.  So rather than publishing a book you have to pay for, I am publishing it here on my blog, free for all (runners and coaches alike) to read and enjoy, maybe learn something from it, or potentially have it prompt you to look at something from a slightly different viewpoint.  If any of those happen, mission accomplished. 

In this chapter we want to talk about the “recover” phase of the Stress & Recover Principle we discussed in Chapter 2.  

Our recovery between stress workouts includes far more than just if we run or not.  It includes factors such as what we eat and drink and when, our sleep, our daily activity outside of running, our stretching, rolling, massage and other recovery therapies we engage in.  But what runs we do does play a major factor in our recovery so let’s start there in our discussion.

Easy Runs

I define an easy run as follows:

Easy runs are runs we do in order to promote recovery from our stress workouts while maintaining or advancing our cardiovascular fitness and our body’s adaptations to running.  These runs should be kept short enough in duration and slow enough in pace that they do not significantly stress the body’s systems, while being quick enough to maintain bio-mechanical efficiency and provide cardiovascular benefit.  

Duration

The duration of an easy run can be anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes in duration depending on the fitness level of the runner and the weekly mileage level they are accustomed to.  20 minutes represents the low end as it takes 20 minutes of sustained exercise to provide the cardiovascular, enzyme and hormone benefits we are after.  90 minutes represent the upper most limit as it even for very fit runners runs over 90 minutes become significantly draining of the energy systems of the body and begin to resemble endurance stress workouts rather than easy recovery runs.

One helpful way to determine how much you should run on an easy run day is to use what I call the “5-15 rule” which says that your daily easy run mileage on a recovery day should be between 5% and 15% of your weekly mileage.  Where in that range you would fall would depend on how many recovery days you have between stress workouts.  If you only have 1 recovery day between stress workout then you would be lower in the range, probably somewhere between 5-10%.  If you have 2 or 3 easy days between stress workouts then you can be a little higher in the range at between 10-15% each day.    

For a 50 mile a week runner this means that if they only have 1 recovery day between stress workouts they would probably run between 3-5 miles that day.  But if they had 2 or 3 recovery days between stress workouts they could probably handle 6-8 miles easy each day.  

Speed

Going back to the definition of an easy run, we want to be sure to run it slow enough not to significantly stress any systems of the body so we can assure we are recovering, while being quick enough to remain bio-mechanically efficient and provide some cardiovascular benefits

Given these parameters, I have come up with 3 guidelines for us to follow to judge if we are running within the correct range on our easy days to satisfy our definition.  We should use at least 2 of the 3 guidelines on any given run.  

Feel:  our easy run pace should feel comfortable and relaxed, never pushing the pace and we should be able to easily carry on a conversation with a running partner.

Heart Rate:  our easy runs should average between 65% and 75% of maximum heart rate.  For example of your maximum heart rate is 180 beats per minute than your average heart rate on your easy run should be between 117 (65% of 180) and 135 (75% of 180) beats per minute and you should stay somewhere in that range most of the run.

Pace:  our easy run pace should roughly be between 20% and 30% slower than our lactate threshold pace.  I have pace charts later on in this book to help you determine what this pace is for use based on recent race times.  But basically we define lactate threshold as the pace you can hold for 60 minutes in an all out effort.  So if you can run 60 minutes for a 10 mile race than your lactate threshold would be 6:00 per mile.  This would put your desired easy run pace at between 7:12 (20% slower than 6:00) and 7:48 (30% slower than 6:00)  per mile.

I recommend using the feel as your primary guide on these runs and then use either heart rate or pace as a secondary sanity check to make sure you in the right general ballpark.

Pitfalls

As a coach the 3 most common errors I see runners making on their easy runs are:

1. Running too fast.  Competitive runners are driven individuals who want to improve, and sometimes that drive can cause them to run too fast on their easy runs.  The pace does not seem physically hard to them so they can easily do it.  But the end results is that it either does not allow them to adequately recover from their stress workout in the allotted time given or they need additional time to recover and so have to an extra recovery day.  Often we see these runners sticking to their workout schedule and go into their next stress workout under recovered and thus not getting the full benefits of their last stress workout, and not being ready for the demands of the next one. As you get fitter your easy runs will get faster, but you don't get fitter by running your easy runs faster.
2. Running too slow.  A far less number of runners error on the other side of the spectrum here and run too slow on their easy runs.  They very slowly jog (what I like to call ‘slogging’) their runs at a pace that is too slow to provide any significant cardiovascular benefits and at a pace in which they are bio-mechanically inefficient.  They fail to meet our definition for easy runs because they are not getting the cardiovascular benefits desired and they are teaching their body bad bio-mechanical habits which can hurt their efficiency when do try and run quickly in workouts and races.  
3. Running too far.  Even if a runner stays within the feel, heart rate and pace guidelines given they can sabotage their recovery by trying to run too far on their easy days, often in an attempt to up their mileage.  If a runner pushes too far on an easy run, further than their fitness level is ready for, they will not recover sufficiently from their stress workout before their next stress workout and thus not get the full benefits from it.  Increases in mileage levels on easy runs needs be kept small and gradual to allow the body to adapt and absorb the increases gradually.  

Now that we have looked at the easy runs we do during our recovery phase of the Stress & Recover Principle, lets look at some other factors that play into our recovery.

Other Factors In Recovery

Cool-downs

Our recovery starts as soon as we finish our stress workout and on quality stress workouts often this means on our cool-down jog.  Finishing a quality stress workout (such as speed work or a tempo run) with an easy cool-down run can help start the recovery process by helping to remove waste products accumulated in the muscles from the workout and flush the muscles with the oxygen and nutrient rich blood they need to begin to repair themselves.

Eating & Drinking

When we eat and drink is almost as important as what we eat and drink when it comes to our recovery. There are 3 time frames we want to consider when planning our post workout nutrition.

1. The first 20 minutes post workout - it is important to start the process of rehydrating and refueling the body in the first 20 minutes after a stress workout as well as after our easy runs.  During this first 20 minutes our bodies will be the most receptive to and in need of hydration and fuel.  Liquids such as water, recovery drinks, sport drinks, and chocolate milk and foods such as sport nutrition bars, or fruits such as bananas consumed in the first 20 minutes after a workout can help the body start to replace the fluids and electrolytes lost in the workout, and the nutrients needed to start the body’s recovery process.
2. A balanced meal with within the first 2-3 hours post stress workout.  The fueling we take in during the first 20 minutes will help get the recovery started but we’ll burn through that quickly so we want to be sure to get in a good balanced and substantial meal within the first 3 hours post workout but even better within the first 2 hours.  Also during this first 2-3 hours we want to continue to work on rehydration to replace lost fluids from the workout.
3. The other 21 hours of the day.  Proper hydration and fueling is a 24 hour a day job and important to recovery.  The body will need to be kept properly hydrated and fueled in order for it to recover well.  If you fall short on either it will hurt or delay your recovery.  The best thing to do is to establish some good everyday hydration and eat habits that you can make part of your lifestyle to help ensure you have this area covered.  

Sleeping

The body and mind recovers best when we are sleeping. The body release certain hormones and chemicals when we sleep which help us recover. This fact makes your bed your the number one recovery tool you have.  Similar to eating, establishing some good sleep habits and patterns can go a long way to making sure we get enough sleep to operate at our peak. And naps (even as short as 20 minutes) can be a great way to supplement if we don't get enough at night.  An afternoon nap after a morning stress workout goes a long ways to help the recovery process.

Daily Activity

How much activity we do on a day to day basis will affect our recovery and so should be taken into account when scheduling how much recovery we need after a workout.  If we are stuck on our feet for most of the day, or in a car and unable to get out and stretch our legs regularly it can impact how quickly we recover from our workouts.  Often we do not have full control over this because of job, family and other obligations, but it is something we want to consider in planning our recovery and to mitigate conflicts to the extent we can.  If you have a desk job for example, you can get up once per hour and stretch your legs with a quick walk to the break room for some water.  Bam - stretching the legs and hydrating - 2 birds, one stone.

Stretching

We will talk about stretching in more detail in a later chapter, but keeping your muscles loose by working out any tight spots with regular stretching is important for recovery.  Besides helping loosen tight areas, regular stretching can reduce soreness and also promotes blood flow to the muscles which will enhance recovery.

Rolling & Massage

The use of various rollers, massage balls or self or professional massage can be very helpful to loosen tight muscles, work out muscle soreness and promote recovery.  But it is important to note this must be done in moderation.  Too aggressive massages or rolling can break down the muscles fibers some and that can actually require additional recovery time rather than less recovery time.  This may be desired and helpful in the case of injury but is not wanted or needed in the normal course of training.  If an injury is not present keep rolling and massage to a light maintenance level to aid with recovery.    

Other Recovery Therapies

Other recovery therapies can also be helpful to speed along recovery and get you ready for that next stress workout.  A couple common examples include:

1. Ice baths - taking an ice bath can aid the recovery process and help rejuvenate the legs.  Especially in warm weather ice baths are used by many runners after stress workouts to help jump start the recovery process.  Scientists still are not universally convinces of its merits, but it has been a tried and true method used by runners for decades.  
2. Warm Epsom salt bath - similar to ice baths warm Epsom salt baths have been used by runners for decades to help relieve tight and sore muscles, increase circulation and aid the recovery process.  Many runners use ice baths during the warm weather months and warm Epsom salt baths in the colder months with good effect.  

While we naturally think of and focus on our easy runs when we plan our recovery, make sure you consider the other factors discussed in this chapter to help you get the most out of your recovery and keep your training on track.  

Chapter 3 - Stress Workouts

Note: To me coaching is all about stewardship, using the knowledge and experience I have gained over 40 years as a runner, and 10 years as a coach, to help others pursue their running goals.  So rather than publishing a book you have to pay for, I am publishing it here on my blog, free for all (runners and coaches alike) to read and enjoy, maybe learn something from it, or potentially have it prompt you to look at something from a slightly different viewpoint.  If any of those happen, mission accomplished. 

Sorry for the delay in publishing Chapter 3 - I moved to the Coos Bay/North Bend area in Oregon at the beginning of October and it threw me a little behind on the blog/book editing.

Chapter 3 - Stress Workouts

As stated in Chapter 2:  Stress workouts are running workouts in which we significantly stress a system or systems of the body in order to produce a targeted adaptation so as to improve certain aspects of our running fitness.  It’s not enough just to work hard, we need to work hard in such a way as to get a desired adaptation or the hard work does not provide the specific fitness bump we are after.

In this chapter we will discuss 21 most common stress workouts I utilize in training distance runners.  These stress workouts can be broken up into 3 main categories: Speed, Stamina and Endurance, plus a category for some race specific workouts we may add in as our goal race approaches.  Workouts in each category elicit the desired adaptations in our body to effectively increase our fitness in that area (speed, stamina or endurance).

For each workout we will give an example of the pace range that 3 example runners would do that workout at.  

Example Runner A:   24:00 for 5k and 1:51:00 Half Marathon

Example Runner B:   20:00 for 5k and 1:32:30 Half Marathon

Example Runner C:   16:00 for 5k and 1:14:00 Half Marathon

A more thorough listing of appropriate training paces for each can be found by using the pace charts I will publish later in this book and will post on the MPR website (mprunning.com) at the conclusion of posting the book on this blog.

Speed Workouts

Fast Repeats

Main Physical Benefits:  improve stride power, running economy and improves the bodies familiarity with faster paces and effort profiles.

Main Mental Benefits:  to toughen the mind to high effort periods of running, improving our focus in a high intensity environment, and makes other paces seem easier (more manageable) by comparison

Workout:  Repeats of between :30 and 2:00, totaling between 15 and 20 minutes

Recovery:  slow recovery jog of 100% of repeat duration (minimum 1 minute)

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  hard, quick, aggressive rhythm but never straining.

Pace:  roughly the pace you can hold for 6-9 minutes in an all-out effort

Tip:  these can get intense so ease into these over first few repeats shorting for your targeted speed range by the 3-4 repeat and it the workout will often go smoother.  

Example:  18 x 1:00 w 1:00 jog recovery

Runner A:  7:03 - 7:07 per mile pace

Runner B:  5:55 – 5:59 per mile pace

Runner C:  4:48 - 4:51 per mile pace

VO2 Max Repeats

Main Physical Benefits:  The main physical purpose of VO2 Max Repeats is to improve the amount of oxygen the body can deliver to the muscle cells (used to produce energy) by stressing the maximum of the heart, lungs and circulatory system (your VO2 Max).   

Main Mentally Benefits:  The mental purpose of VO2 Max Repeats to toughen the mind to higher effort periods of running, improving our focus in a higher intensity environment, and make other paces seem easier (more manageable) by comparison.

Workout:  Repeats of between 2:00 and 5:00, totaling between 20 and 28 minutes

Recovery:  slow recovery jog of 75% of repeat duration (3 minute max)

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  strong, hard but controlled rhythm

Pace:  roughly the pace you can hold for 12-18 minutes in an all-out effort

Tip:  start conservative and make your first repeat your slowest and last repeat your fastest

Example:  8 x 3:00 w 2:15 jog recovery

Runner A:  7:25 - 7:30 per mile pace

Runner B:  6:14 - 6:18 per mile pace

Runner C:  5:03 - 5:06 per mile pace

Groove Repeats

Main Physical Benefits:  The main physical purpose of Groove Repeats is to improve the body’s adaptations to running in a higher lactate environment (lactate tolerance and shedding abilities) and running at a high percentage of maximum heart rate for extended periods of time

 

Main Metal Benefits:  The mental purpose of Groove Repeats to toughen the mind to harder periods of running for extended periods, improving our focus in a higher intensity environment, and make other paces seem easier (more manageable) by comparison.

Workout:  Repeats of between 4:00 and 8:00, totaling between 28 and 36 minutes

Recovery:  slow recovery jog of 50% of repeat duration (3:00 max)

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  quick, hard, groove; pressing but sustainable for moderate durations

Pace:  roughly the pace you can hold for 30-40 minutes in an all-out effort

Tip:  start conservative and make your first repeat your slowest and last repeat your fastest. As the workout name suggests, work to find a good “groove” to your rhythm, something that is hard but manageable for a while.

Example:  6 x 5:00 w 2:30 jog recovery

Runner A:  7:47 - 7:52 per mile pace

Runner B:  6:32 - 6:36 per mile pace

Runner C:  5:18 - 5:21 per mile pace

Hill Repeats

Main Physical Benefits:  improves stride power and running economy and improves the bodies familiarity higher intensity efforts.

Main Mental Benefits:  to toughen the mind to high effort periods of running, improving our focus in a high intensity environment, and make flat running seem easier (more manageable) by comparison

Workout:  Repeats of between :30 and 2:00, totaling between 15 and 20 minutes

Hill:  Moderate hill of 4-6% incline

Recovery:  slow recovery jog down the hill

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  Hard, quick, aggressive rhythm

Pace:  will depend on incline of hill – approx. Groove to LT pace

Tip:  break the workout into 3-4 segments (example 12x repeats broken into 3 x 4 repeat segments) with the pace getting just a little quicker each segment (so start conservative)

Example:  12 x 1:30 w jog down recovery

Variation:  do these on a treadmill with 100% of repeat duration jog at 0% incline for recovery

Stamina Workouts

Lactate Threshold Tempo

Main Physical Benefits:  improves lactate threshold and efficiency at dissipating lactate, ability to run at a quick pace for extended periods of time

Main Mental Benefits:  to help the mind get comfortable with being uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for long, hard efforts.  

Workout:  Continuous run of between 24 and 30 minutes

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  strong, smooth rhythm; pressing but sustainable for extended periods

Pace:  roughly the pace you can hold for 60-70 minutes in an all-out effort

Tip:  start on the conservative side of your goal range (or even a bit slower), if having a good day you can do a slight negative splits, if not having as good a day you can keep it even on the slow end of your range. If you find you have a hard time getting going on these, add in a 90 second tempo section into your warm-up to get the aerobic enzymes stirred up.

Example:  27 minute tempo run

Runner A:  8:09 - 8:14 per mile pace

Runner B:  6:51 - 6:55 per mile pace

Runner C:  5:33 - 5:36 per mile pace

Lactate Threshold Repeats

Main Physical Benefits:  improves lactate threshold and efficiency at dissipating lactate, ability to run at a quick pace for extended periods of time

Main Mental Benefits:  to help the mind get comfortable with being uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for long, hard efforts.  

Workout:  Repeats of between 5:00 and 20:00, totaling between 30 and 40 minutes

Recovery:  slow recovery jog of between 20% of repeat duration (3:00 max)

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  strong, smooth rhythm; pressing but sustainable for extended periods

Pace:  roughly the pace you can hold for 60-70 minutes in an all-out effort

Tip:  start on the conservative side in your first repeat, if having a good day you can do a slight negative splits and run the other repeats a little quicker, if not having as good a day you can keep it even on the slower end of your range. If you find you have a hard time getting going on these, add in a 90 second tempo section into your warm-up to get the aerobic enzymes stirred up.

Example:  3 x 12:00 w 2:20 jog recovery

Runner A:  8:09 - 8:14 per mile pace

Runner B:  6:51 - 6:55 per mile pace

Runner C:  5:33 - 5:36 per mile pace

Lactate Threshold Progression Tempo

Main Physical Benefits:  improves lactate threshold and efficiency at dissipating lactate, ability to run at a quick pace for extended periods of time.

Main Mental Benefits:  to help the mind get comfortable with being uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for long, hard efforts.  This workout mirror the effort profile of a race a bit more than a even tempo does, so helps you mentally prepare for higher intensity efforts late in the run/race.

Workout:  Continuous run of between 24 and 30 minutes at a gradually increasing intensity

Feel:  starts at a comfortably quick rhythm and gradually increases in intensity until running at a hard, aggressive pressing pace by the end

Pace:  starting at roughly 4-5% slower than and finishing 3-4% faster than Lactate Threshold pace (pace you can hold 60-70 minutes in an all out effort)

Tip:  Use this workout to practice staying as relaxed as you can as the speed and effort increases, running relaxed while running quickly is a something that needs practice and this workout is a great place to practice that as it starts relaxed but gets pretty intense in the last third of the workout.

Example:  27 minute progression tempo run

Runner A:  8:36 - 7:52 per mile pace

Runner B:  7:14 - 6:36 per mile pace

Runner C:  5:52 - 5:21 per mile pace

Lactate Threshold Wave Tempo

Main Physical Benefits:  improves lactate threshold and efficiency at dissipating lactate, ability to run at a quick pace for extended periods of time

Main Mental Benefits:  to help the mind get comfortable with being uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for long, hard efforts.  Helps practice staying in the moment and executing 1 segment at a time.

Workout:  Continuous run of between 24 and 30 minutes alternating between 2 intensities every 2-5 minutes

Feel:  alternating every 2-5 minutes between a comfortably quick rhythm and hard aggressive rhythm

Pace:  Alternating segments between Aerobic Threshold (4-5% slower than LT) and Groove (4-5% quicker than LT) paces

Tip:  may be helpful to do this workout on a track or treadmill the first couple of times you do it to help with the pacing.  Focus on staying in the moment and executing 1 segments at a time. with smooth transitions. Most find it helpful to think of this workout as a long tempo run pace with some surges thrown in, rather than as repeats with a quicker recovery pace (help keep you from slowing down too much on the slower segments).

Example:  27 minute progression tempo run

Runner A:  8:36 - 7:52 per mile pace

Runner B:  7:14 - 6:36 per mile pace

Runner C:  5:52 - 5:21 per mile pace

Aerobic Threshold Tempo

Main Benefits:  Long Stamina - improves aerobic threshold and efficiency at using energy sources, ability to run at a quick pace for extended periods of time.

Main Mental Benefits:  to help the mind get comfortable with being uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for longer, hard efforts.  

Workout:  Continuous run of between 48 to 60 minutes

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  comfortably quick rhythm; strong but smooth and controlled

Pace:  roughly the pace you can hold for 120 minutes in an all out effort or 4-5% slower than Lactate Threshold pace.

Tip:  start on the conservative side of your goal range (or even a bit slower), if having a good day you can do a slight negative splits, if not having as good a day you can keep it even on the slow end of your range. If you find you have a hard time getting going on these, add in a 90 second tempo section into your warm-up to get the aerobic enzymes stirred up.

Example:  54 minute tempo run

Runner A:  8:31 - 8:36 per mile pace

Runner B:  7:09 - 7:14 per mile pace

Runner C:  5:48 - 5:52 mile pace

Aerobic Threshold Repeats

Main Benefits:  Long Stamina - improves aerobic threshold and efficiency at using energy sources, ability to run at a quick pace for extended periods of time

Main Mental Benefits:  to help the mind get comfortable with being uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for long, hard efforts.  

Workout:  Repeats of between 10:00 and 40:00, totaling between 60 and 80 minutes

Recovery:  slow recovery jog of between 15% of repeat duration (3:00 max)

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  comfortably quick rhythm; strong but smooth and controlled

Pace:  roughly the pace you can hold for 120 minutes in an all out effort or 4-5% slower than LT tempo pace

Tip:  start on the conservative side in your first repeat, if having a good day you can do a slight negative splits and run the other repeats a little quicker, if not having as good a day you can keep it even on the slower end of your range. If you find you have a hard time getting going on these, add in a 90 second tempo section into your warm-up to get the aerobic enzymes stirred up.

Example:  3 x 25:00 w 3:00 jog recovery

Runner A:  8:31 - 8:36 per mile pace

Runner B:  7:09 - 7:14 per mile pace

Runner C:  5:48 - 5:52 mile pace

Aerobic Threshold Progression Tempo

Main Benefits:  Long Stamina - improves aerobic threshold and efficiency at using energy sources, ability to run at a quick pace for extended periods of time

Main Mental Benefits:  to help the mind get comfortable with being uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for long, hard efforts.  

Workout:  Continuous run of between 48 and 60 minutes at a gradually increasing intensity

Feel:  starts at a brisk, moderate intensity and gradually increases in intensity until running at a strong, pressing but sustainable intensity by the end

Pace:  starting at roughly 4-5% slower than and finishing 3-4% faster than Aerobic Threshold Pace (pace you can hold for 120 minutes in an all out effort or 4-5% slower than LT pace)

Tip:  Use this workout to practice staying as relaxed as you can as the speed and effort increases, running relaxed while running quickly is a something that needs practice and this workout is a great place to practice that as it starts relaxed but gets pretty intense in the last third of the workout.

Example:  54 minute progression tempo run

Runner A:  8:53 - 8:14 per mile pace

Runner B:  7:29 - 6:55 per mile pace

Runner C:  6:05 - 5:36 per mile pace

Aerobic Threshold Wave Tempo

Main Benefits:  Long Stamina - improves aerobic threshold and efficiency at using energy sources, ability to run at a quick pace for extended periods of time

Main Mental Benefits:  to help the mind get comfortable with being uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for long, hard efforts.  Helps practice staying in the moment and executing 1 segment at a time.

Workout:  Continuous run of between 48 and 60 minutes alternating between 2 intensities every 5-10 minutes

Feel:  alternates every 5-10 minutes between a brisk moderate intensity and a strong, pressing but sustainable intensity

Pace:  alternating between Brisk Pace and Lactate Threshold Pace

Tip:  may be helpful to do this workout on a well marked course or treadmill the first couple of times you do it to help with the pacing.  Focus on staying in the moment and executing 1 segments at a time. with smooth transitions. Most find it helpful to think of this workout as a brisk pace run with some surges thrown in, rather than as repeats with a quicker recovery pace (help keep you from slowing down too much on the slower segments).

Example:  54 minute wave tempo run with 6 minute segments

Runner A:  8:53 - 8:14 per mile pace

Runner B:  7:29 - 6:55 per mile pace

Runner C:  6:05 - 5:36 per mile pace

Brisk Pace Run

Main Benefits:  improves the body's efficiency at using energy sources, hardens the body to longer durations at moderate intensities.  Good opportunity to practice longer race fueling.

Main Mental Benefits:  great practice running smooth and relaxed at slightly faster paces. It helps the mind get comfortable with being moderately uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for long, hard efforts.  

Workout:  Continuous run of between 60 to 100 minutes, easing into Brisk pace over the first 10 minutes.

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  brisk, moderate intensity; smooth and sustainable

Pace:  roughly 4-5% slower than Aerobic Threshold pace (slightly slower than Marathon Pace for a sub 3 hour marathoner, near MP for a 3-4 hour marathoner and slightly quicker than MP for a 4+ hour marathoner)

Tip:  see how relaxed and smooth you run a this pace range.  Rather than trying to run faster try and see how easy you can make it feel.  For marathoner this is a great workout to practice a aid station in to get the body use to absorbing fuel (fluids or gel) while at a slightly quicker pace.

Example:  80 minute brisk pace run

Runner A:  8:48 - 8:53 per mile pace

Runner B:  7:23 - 7:28 per mile pace

Runner C:  5:59 - 6:03 per mile pace

Endurance Workouts

Moderate Rhythm Long Run

Main Benefits:  Endurance - improves glycogen storage capacity, improves energy usage efficiency, advances cardiovascular adaptations, hardens body to extended periods of running

Main Mental Benefits:  to mentally callous ourselves for long duration efforts.  To get used to running for multiple hours.  To get familiar with running on lower energy and higher fatigue levels.

Workout:  Continuous runs of between 90 and 200 minutes

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  comfortably and relaxed but never lagging (moderate rhythm)

Pace:  roughly 12-15% slower than Aerobic Threshold pace

Tip:  be careful on the length of these, do not exceed 25-30% of weekly mileage on a weekly basis.  Some lower mileage marathoners may need to go beyond that percentage on occasion but don’t do it every week or it will increase the risk of over-use injuries.  Good idea for marathoners to do these on as similar a course to their goal marathon course as possible.  Fine to start these slower than goal pace range and ease into it over the first few miles.

Example:  150 minute moderate rhythm long run

Runner A:  9:26 - 9:37 per mile pace

Runner B:  7:55 - 8:05 per mile pace

Runner C:  6:25 - 6:33 mile pace

Fueling: 3-6 oz of fluids once every 20-30 minutes and sports nutrition once every 60 minutes if desired/needed. (in normal conditions)

Steady State Long Run

Main Benefits:  Endurance-Stamina - improves energy usage efficiency at quicker paces, improves glycogen storage capacity, advances cardiovascular adaptations, hardens body to extended efforts at a slightly higher intensity.

Main Mental Benefits:  great practice running smooth and relaxed at slightly quicker paces. It helps the mind get comfortable with being moderately uncomfortable for extended periods of time.  To mentally callous ourselves for long, somewhat harder efforts.  

Workout:  Continuous runs of between 75 and 150 minutes

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits

Feel:  steady state effort, somewhat comfortable but with some sustainable intensity added

Pace:  roughly 8-10% slower than Aerobic Threshold pace

Tip:  great workout for marathoners to practice race fueling to experiment and zero in what will work best for you in the race.  Start a bit conservative and ease into the run over the first mile or two.  Practice staying as relaxed and smooth as possible on this run, especially as you get tired later in the run.  Make sure you keep good posture when getting tired and don’t “sit” or slouch with fatigue.  

Example:  120 minute steady state long run

Runner A:  9:07 - 9:15 per mile pace

Runner B:  7:39 - 7:46 per mile pace

Runner C:  6:12 - 6:18 mile pace

Tempo Long Run

Main Benefits:  Endurance-Stamina - improves energy usage efficiency at faster paces while in lower or partially depleted glycogen state, improves glycogen storage capacity, advances cardiovascular adaptations, hardens body and mind to running at quicker paces while tired/depleted

Main Mental Benefits:   practice running smooth and relaxed at quicker paces while somewhat depleted or fatigued.  To mentally callous ourselves for running quickly for extended periods while tired.  Build confidence in our ability to still run quick while fatigued.

Workout:  Continuous runs of between 75 and 150 minutes with the first 20-40% at an easy pace, the middle 40-60% at comfortably quick rhythm, and the last 20-40% at a recovery pace

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits within each segment

Feel:  the first and last segment at a comfortable and relaxed pace with the middle segment at a comfortably quick rhythm

Pace:  the first segment at Easy pace, the middle section at either AT or Brisk pace, and the last segment at a Easy pace.

Tip:  this is a great workout to stress both stamina and endurance as well as harden the mind, but it’s tough.  Start a bit conservative on the tempo and ease into it, then try and hold it nice and steady and settle into a good rhythm.  Don’t worry about pace on the last easy segment (may start as a slow jog), just get in the time/distance and reap the benefits of endurance building.

Example:  120 minute tempo long run with first 30 minutes at an easy pace, the middle 60 minutes at Brisk Pace, and the last 30 minutes at a easy pace (or slower)

Runner A:   9:59-10:43,  8:31-8:53,  9:59-10:43

Runner B:   8:23-9:00,  7:09-7:28, 8:23-9:00

Runner C:   6:48-7:18,  5:48-6:03,  6:48-7:18

Fast Finish Long Run

Main Benefits:  Endurance-Stamina - improves energy usage efficiency at faster paces while in lower or partially depleted glycogen state, improves glycogen storage capacity, advances cardiovascular adaptations, hardens body to running at quicker paces while tired/depleted

Main Mental Benefits:   practice running smooth and relaxed at quicker paces while somewhat depleted or fatigued.  To mentally callous ourselves for running quickly for extended periods while tired.  Build confidence in our ability to still run quick while fatigued.

Workout:  Continuous runs of between 75 and 150 minutes with the first 60-80% at an easy pace and the last 20-40% of the run at a comfortably quick, strong but controlled intensity

Pacing:  even to slightly negative splits within each segment

Feel:  the first segment at a comfortable and relaxed pace with the last segment at a comfortably quick rhythm

Pace:  the first segment at easy pace, the last segment at either AT and Brisk paces (depending on duration)

Tip:  it can be hard to get going at first on the up-tempo closing segment and that is normal, the body is lower on glycogen and not used to running faster in that state (so we are teaching it). Ease into it and be patient and find your rhythm.  Often you’ll feel better 10-20 minutes this finishing segment then you did the first few minutes, so stay patient and stay with it.

Example:  120 minutes run with first 80 minutes at an easy pace, the last 40 minutes at Aerobic Threshold pace

Runner A:   9:59-10:43,  8:31-8:36

Runner B:   8:23-9:00,  7:09-7:14

Runner C:   6:48-7:18,  5:48-5:54

Race Specific Workouts

These are race specific workouts done to prepare the runner for a certain specific aspect of the goal race.  They can be different in many ways than the other stress workouts listed above, depending on the specific demands of a given goal race and the particular strength or weakness of the individual runners.

Race specific workouts can include:

Race Simulation Run:  a run of 40-60% of goal race distance done at goal race pace and done simulating as much of the goal race conditions (course, time, meals, fueling, etc.) as possible. This type of run serves as a type of dress rehearsal for the goal race but can be significantly taxing and may require an extra recovery day afterwards.  

Tactic Specific Workout:  this is a workout done to simulate an anticipated or planned race tactic such as a mid race surge or sprint finish.  

Course Specific Workout:  this is a workout done to simulate the course you will be racing on by mimicking the layout of the race course in as many respects as possible.

Goal Pace Run:  this is a workout done at goal race pace (which doesn’t always overlap with the workouts listed earlier), usually broken into 3-5 segments with short recovery jogs between the segments, this workout is done in order to increase the runners familiarity with and feel of a goal race pace.

When To Use Each

As we get in later chapters on training cycle design, we’ll talk more about when to use each type of workout.