Track Night Banter
By
David Holt
of
David Holt
Track Night Speedwork 5 k or 15 k pace running The track
session is not the important part, it's what comes before and after
that REALLY matters.
First the warmup. I know
you old fashioned runners think the warmup is to get the muscles...well...warmed
up--relaxed, and ready for some significantly speedy
running. The real purpose of those 20 minutes or more of easy running however is
the peer review. You ask what training your friends have been
doing the last week; how their weekend race went. Add in the
sleeping routine of the new baby; the double shift worked; and the
boss is away this week syndrome so I'm lucky to be here at all factor...
and you come up with tonight's session--which is (of course) part
of an overall plan.
"I want
to work on anaerobic threshold," says Harold. "Aerobic capacity is
my weakness," says Mike. "I'd rather do lactate thresh? old," says
Terry. Fortunately, the
two thresholds mean the same thing, so setting the pace
at 15 kilometer or ten mile race pace they opt for 1200s with a
minute recovery.
As this
writer has control over who's in the essay, it happens the aerobic
capacity increase aspiring individual's 10 kilometer PR is about
two minutes slower than most of the others. He can run just two
laps with the group and take a longer rest while they do a third lap.
He has his session nicely set at about 5 k pace--the speed which will
improve his aerobic capacity. A slower runner might do the first
and last lap of the 1200 at faster than 5,000 pace to work on his
form. The 5
hours sleep a night new parent, double shift and 70 hour weekers might
do 1,000s to give themselves a physical or mental break, yet
they are also likely to be inspired to do the whole session.
With endorphins
at full flow, the second fun part commences...the cooldown. Ostensibly
to allow
the muscles to cool off (they stay virtually the same temperature),
the blood flow during these couple of miles does decrease muscle
aches and get rid of wastes. But the real
purpose is to discuss the next run.
Teaming up for the weekend long
one, perhaps a run in the mountains--and maybe a discussion about
next week. s track session. 16 x
400 is a definite possibility, says Mike, with short recover? ies. The
1500 specialists are happy, anything under 600 makes them smile;
they will do fast 200s on Monday with long recoveries. The 10 k guys eyes glint because they will keep the short recovery honest
by putting it on a beeper; they will do three minute hill repeats
or bounding in deep sand on Monday.
The half-marathon
specialist will complement the 400s with 2,000 meter
efforts or a 25 minute tempo run depending on whether his
long, long run partner or his medium long run partner is available
at the weekend.
Next week,
if history repeats, half the group will do the entire 16 reps.
One will do 8 x 400 a few seconds slower than the group, then 300s
(he'll miss the first bend) with the group. One or two will
end up doing extra reps faster than the average of the 16. If we're feeling generous, we'll wait those extra minutes to let
them join us for the
warm-down.
All in all, a fairly typical bunch of 32-35 minute 10 k
runners who are able to train together once or twice a week, usually at
the same pace, but frequently for different distances and always
working disparate energy systems, while helping each other through the
bad patches.
P.S. I suggested the warm-down was the second fun part,
implying the session itself is not enjoyable. While most of us go
through some degree of discomfort because we're running further
at a certain speed than the body is able to do comfortably, we
enjoy the session too.
The first few reps won't be overly challenging or uncomfortable.
Even the last few will only be hard from about half way. In order
to get to the difficult--and the satisfying ones--towards the end, we
must toil through the middle reps. Pace judgment, running at your
pace is the key to getting through the session with a smile in your
quads. Hanging with a group which is faster than you, then running
the second lap five seconds slower is a recipe for unhappy muscles.
