Physiology of Workouts

Physiology of Workouts

(R) Repeat:

REPEAT RUNS are at CURRENT mile race-pace (or so). Complete recoveries in-between. These workouts allow runners to run at a high intensity, but the rests are long enough that lactic acid never accumulates, and breathing and heart rate both return to normal.

The purpose is to develop running mechanics, form, strength, and power. They also give the legs a good workload which contributes to overall longevity. It is extremely important that you remain relaxed while completing workouts at this pace. Doing so helps develop relaxation while still putting forth considerable effort. You should start a few seconds slow, build up to mile or 2-mile race-pace, and stop right when you think you only have one or two more good efforts left in you. If you’re pushing hard through repeat workouts, then you miss out on the benefit this workout supplies. There is a time and place for harder efforts, this is not one.

(I) or V02-max:

These INTESITY runs are at current 5K race-pace (and not goal). The rests in-between are just shorter in duration than the intervals. So a 3-minute interval would be followed by 2-2:30 of easy jogging.

These workouts target the highest level of oxygen that your body can process. These are the ones that leave you breathing very heavily. The short rests provide a psychological benefit from the stress of the workout as well as give you an opportunity to catch your breath. But if you completely catch your breath between intervals, then you miss out on theVO2-max development. Running faster than current 5K pace stimulates anaerobic stress and fails to develop your VO2-max. Anaerobic workouts accumulate high levels of lactic acid and take considerably longer to recover from. This means that faster is not better. If your pace is too easy, take shorter breaks. Ideally these workouts total 5K or higher of volume. Races are good indicators of how quickly they should be run.
(LT) or Lactate Threshold

These are popularly called tempo runs. On the shorter end, this should be a pace you could run continuously for an hour (Usually from 10K to Half Marathon Pace). On the longer end this should be approximately marathon pace. Short/fast tempos should be around 20 minutes. Longer tempos can be 40-60 minutes, with an adjusted pace.

The purpose of these workouts is to improve the efficiency with which your blood can remove lactate from your muscles. You achieve this by running right at (or just slower than) the rate at which you begin to accumulate lactic acid.

Running these workouts too quickly turns them into VO2-max workouts, and you get winded pretty quickly, and fail to develop the targeted physiological development.

(MP) or Marathon Pace workouts

A marathon pace workout is one where you practicing running at your goal marathon pace. For those hoping to simply finish, this should be a relaxed run at a comfortable pace. It might even be a bit slower than your normal everyday running pace. For more competitive runners, this will only be a bit slower than your LT pace. Regardless of how fast you might be running this workout, the goal is to spend time running at the pace you will be using to complete 26.2 miles, but doing so in a relaxed, comfortable effort. The difficulty of a MP workout is focus, and not necessarily its physiological demand. MP run should be somewhere between 40 minutes at 80 minutes. Once again, it takes focus and patience to keep a steady pace going for such a duration, and doing so will pay off on race day.