Lactate Threshold: How to Find Your Limits, Then Exceed Them
When talking about speed workouts, we’ll often mention different race paces — speeds that you can sustain over a 5K, 10K, half marathon, and so on. What we’re really talking about is your lactate threshold, and as you get deeper into running, it becomes more important to understand. And no, it’s not how much milk you can drink! Your lactate threshold is the intensity level of a workout that is difficult but sustainable, and there are a ton of benefits to understanding where that level is for you. The lactate threshold is based on the main antagonist to high intensity running — lactic acid. For most people, lactic acid is the sour part of sour milk products, but for us runners, it’s a byproduct from the breakdown of carbohydrates. While it’s produced during most kinds of exercise, runners will find it most apparent during higher-intensity workouts because the acid builds up…
Hill Repeats: The Thin Line Between Love and Hate
A road runner’s worst enemy and a trail runner’s best friend, hill repeats embody Daft Punk’s 2001 smash hit, “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger”. Harder because you might be a road runner and have gravity working against you. Better because you might be a trail runner and have gravity working against you. Faster because what comes up must come down. And most importantly, stronger because that’s what you become when you do hill repeats! Hill repeats are as much a strength workout as a speed workout. They not only break down the muscle fibers in your legs to make them stronger, but they put nearly all the muscles in your legs to work. It’s as if you rolled squats, lunges, and calf raises all into one workout while also getting your heart rate up in small spurts. Hill repeats also promote better running form, as it gets you lifting up your…
The Tempo Run: The Key to Race Success
If you’ve heard anything about race training or speed workouts, you’ve probably heard the term ‘tempo run’ thrown around — and for good reason. Among all the workouts we’ve discussed so far, tempo runs are probably the most beneficial speed workout you can add to your regimen. Don’t take these workouts lightly and throw them into your schedule all willy nilly, because tempo runs are often some of the hardest workouts you can do! As White Goodman tells Average Joe’s Gym’s dodgeball team, “best bring your bib, ‘cause it’s gonna get messy.” In a tempo run, your pace should be just a bit slower than your goal race pace. During a tempo run, you’ll be picking up the pace for a more sustained distance or time, as opposed to the shorter, faster intervals you do in fartlek training or pyramid workouts. That pace will be somewhere between goal race pace and…
The Pyramid Workout: A Pyramid Scheme Where Everyone Wins
Over 4,000 years ago, when the Ancient Egyptians were designing their dream burial sites, they came across another sort of blueprint — a plan for a speed workout to train for long distance running. Long before Pheidippides’ famed run from Marathon to Athens, the Ancient Egyptians discovered that they could make the most progress and build the most strength by starting with short speed intervals, gradually increasing to longer intervals, and then finishing with shorter intervals that mirrored the first half of the workout. They called it the pyramid workout. After looking at unstructured Fartlek training, we’ll turn to this more focused workout — one that is best done on a track or predetermined loop. Structured speed workouts like the pyramid workout are similar to Fartlek training in that they involve alternating between slow and fast running. However, while warm-up, cooldown, and rest periods are still just as important in running…
Swedish Speed Play: Get Faster Using Fartlek Training
Not just for Ikea lovers or the faint of heart, Fartlek training is one of the most commonly used workouts in running — and one of the most beginner-friendly! Swedish for ‘speed play’, Fartlek training refers to any type of run or workout in which you alternate periods of faster running with periods of slower running. They’re a great introduction to speed workouts, mostly because each runner gets to decide for herself how hard to push. There’s no need for GPS devices or tracks to measure how far you’ve gone, either — Fartlek training can be as simple as dashing to the next tree down the road! While training can be structured with pre-determined time or distance intervals, Fartlek training is often done based on feel. All you need to know is this — mix in bursts of faster, more intense running with stretches of slower-paced, relaxed running. You have the…
How to Run Faster: An Introduction to Speed Workouts
You’ve been running steadily and consistently and are now looking to take the next step forward in your training. You’re Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi is whispering in your ear that you need to head to Dagobah to train with Yoda. You’ve gotten as far as you can in your base building phase and are ready to get a bit faster. Well, here’s how to run faster — you start to incorporate speed workouts into your training schedule! Speed workout is an umbrella term for all the different types of strength building and faster paced exercises that should, if done correctly, make you faster. They often consist of shorter, quicker runs, also called intervals, broken up by small periods of slower running or rest. The key is to run these intervals much faster than your normal runs, often even faster than your goal race pace (if you’re doing any kind…