WRONG
Doing Speedwork Without First Running Enough Aerobic Mileage
While speedwork improves your performance faster than simply running lots of kilometres, any short-term success occurs to the detriment of your long-term development. You can develop speed from aerobic strength, but you cannot develop aerobic strength from speed.
RIGHT
Before Picking Up the Pace, Have a Solid Aerobic Base
Aerobic running develops many physiological and biochemical traits needed for good endurance. It increases the number of red blood cells and the amount of hemoglobin contained within them, giving your blood vessels a greater oxygen-carrying capability. It also increases muscle capillary volume, providing more oxygen to your muscles. And it increases mitochondrial volume and the number of aerobic enzymes, allowing for a greater use of oxygen.
The more you attend to these qualities, the more you will ultimately get from your subsequent speedwork. Since recovery is an aerobic process, being more aerobically fit enables you to recover faster during the recovery intervals of your interval workouts and between workouts. Slowly and systematically increase your running volume from month to month and year to year.
WRONG
Not Eating After a Workout
Between running on your lunch hour and picking up the kids from their after-school activities, it’s easy to not eat after a workout. But not refueling after you run is possibly the single worst thing you can do to thwart your recovery. Delaying carbohydrate ingestion for just two hours after a workout can significantly reduce the rate at which muscle glycogen is synthesized and stored.
RIGHT
Refuel Immediately, Maximize Your Recovery
Refueling after you run is important for the replenishment of fuel stores and the repair of cellular damage. In regard to fuel, carbohydrate is the most important nutrient to replenish after you run. Endurance is strongly influenced by the amount of pre-exercise muscle glycogen and that intense endurance exercise decreases muscle glycogen content. To maximize the rate of glycogen synthesis, consume 1.0 to 1.5 grams of simple carbohydrate (sugar, preferably glucose) per kilogram of body weight within 30 minutes after your run and every two hours for four to six hours. It would be even better if you can eat or drink more often, since a more frequent ingestion of smaller amounts of carbohydrate better maintains blood glucose levels. Regarding reparation of cellular damage, consume 20 to 30 grams of complete protein (those which contain all essential amino acids) after you run.
If you want to get the most from your training and racing, it’s time to make some changes. So do your workouts at the right speeds, run negative splits, preface speedwork with more aerobic work, and drink chocolate milk after your long runs. By fixing these running errors, not only will you be rewarded with new personal bests, you’ll have some memorable things to say to impress your running friends with!
Pacing Guidelines
- Recovery and Long Runs: 1:00 to 1:15 per kilometre slower than 5K race pace;
65 to 75 percent max heart rate - Lactate Threshold (Tempo) Runs: About 6 to 9 seconds per kilometre slower than 5K race pace (or about 10K race pace) for slower, recreational runners (75 to 80 percent max heart rate); about 15 to 18 seconds per kilometre slower than 5K race pace (or about 9 to 12 seconds per kilometre slower than 10K race pace) for competitive and trained runners (85 to 90 percent max heart rate). The pace should feel comfortably hard.
- VO2max Intervals: VO2max pace: About 2K race pace for slower, recreational runners; about 3K race pace for competitive and trained runners; reaching 95 to 100 percent max heart rate by the end of each rep
- Anaerobic Capacity Intervals: 800- to 1,500-metre race pace
Jason Karp, PhD
Run-Fit, LLC
Jason Karp, PhD, is the owner of Run-Fit, LLC, 011 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year, and creator of the REVO2LUTION RUNNING certification. He has more than 200 published articles in international running, coaching, and fitness magazines, is the author of six books, including The Inner Runner, and speaks around the world. For training programs and autographed copies of his books, go to http://run-fit.com
