What is the workout?
This workout is super simple yet super effective: after a 10-15 minute warmup (starting real easy and gradually increasing the effort) you run for an hour at aerobic threshold effort. When possible, do it on a course with rolling hills. Finish it off with an easy cooldown of 5 minutes to a mile. So what's aerobic threshold? In my running lexicon, it's a moderate-intensity, high-end aerobic effort; in terms of pace, it ends up being slightly slower than marathon pace but slightly faster than normal run pace. For me, depending on the day, my pace will average somewhere between 5:30 and 5:50 per mile. That said, notice that I described the workout as "an hour at aerobic threshold effort." Like with other WOTW installments, I feel that effort is way more important than pace. Some days you'll feel good and naturally go faster, some days you'll feel rough and have to grind it out a little more. Some courses will be a little flatter and faster, some courses will be a little hillier and slower. Aim for something within your pace range, but don't tie yourself to some arbitrary pace goal.
Why should you do it?
Much like the progression run, this workout gives you a huge bang for your buck. Because every racing distance more than a half mile is mostly aerobic, it makes sense that runners should develop their aerobic capabilities first and foremost. Unfortunately, most runners are underdeveloped aerobically...they can either run really easy or really hard, and they don't do much in between those two effort levels. A threshold run like this is hard enough to be challenging, but not so hard to be a killer. You develop your high-end aerobic capabilities, but (if you do it right) you don't build up any lactic acid or other negative side effects; basically, a workout like this is fairly easy to recover from -- it builds you up without tearing you apart like some other higher-intensity workouts. This is the model of a consistency workout: doing it once doesn't do much for you, but if you do it over and over, week after week, you'll see huge gains in fitness.
When should you do it?
This is a classic base-building session. Lydiard used this on a weekly basis with his athletes during their base phase (sometimes they even did it twice a week) (and no, the Lydiard base phase isn't all 'long slow distance'...but that's a topic for another post). During your pre-season or pre-competition phase (or in the months when you're building mileage and a long way from your goal race), make this a weekly part of your schedule. Start with a 20 or 30 minute threshold session, and then increase by 5-10 minutes every week. This workout also has more limited use during your competition season. For a lot people, as they start to do more and more high-intensity work, they eventually feel beat up and worn down. A timely placed aerobic threshold session can break up the staleness of high-intensity, essentially hitting "reset" on your physiological and psychological state and allowing you to delve back into high-intensity work with a refreshed body and mind.
This workout is super simple yet super effective: after a 10-15 minute warmup (starting real easy and gradually increasing the effort) you run for an hour at aerobic threshold effort. When possible, do it on a course with rolling hills. Finish it off with an easy cooldown of 5 minutes to a mile. So what's aerobic threshold? In my running lexicon, it's a moderate-intensity, high-end aerobic effort; in terms of pace, it ends up being slightly slower than marathon pace but slightly faster than normal run pace. For me, depending on the day, my pace will average somewhere between 5:30 and 5:50 per mile. That said, notice that I described the workout as "an hour at aerobic threshold effort." Like with other WOTW installments, I feel that effort is way more important than pace. Some days you'll feel good and naturally go faster, some days you'll feel rough and have to grind it out a little more. Some courses will be a little flatter and faster, some courses will be a little hillier and slower. Aim for something within your pace range, but don't tie yourself to some arbitrary pace goal.
Why should you do it?
Much like the progression run, this workout gives you a huge bang for your buck. Because every racing distance more than a half mile is mostly aerobic, it makes sense that runners should develop their aerobic capabilities first and foremost. Unfortunately, most runners are underdeveloped aerobically...they can either run really easy or really hard, and they don't do much in between those two effort levels. A threshold run like this is hard enough to be challenging, but not so hard to be a killer. You develop your high-end aerobic capabilities, but (if you do it right) you don't build up any lactic acid or other negative side effects; basically, a workout like this is fairly easy to recover from -- it builds you up without tearing you apart like some other higher-intensity workouts. This is the model of a consistency workout: doing it once doesn't do much for you, but if you do it over and over, week after week, you'll see huge gains in fitness.
When should you do it?
This is a classic base-building session. Lydiard used this on a weekly basis with his athletes during their base phase (sometimes they even did it twice a week) (and no, the Lydiard base phase isn't all 'long slow distance'...but that's a topic for another post). During your pre-season or pre-competition phase (or in the months when you're building mileage and a long way from your goal race), make this a weekly part of your schedule. Start with a 20 or 30 minute threshold session, and then increase by 5-10 minutes every week. This workout also has more limited use during your competition season. For a lot people, as they start to do more and more high-intensity work, they eventually feel beat up and worn down. A timely placed aerobic threshold session can break up the staleness of high-intensity, essentially hitting "reset" on your physiological and psychological state and allowing you to delve back into high-intensity work with a refreshed body and mind.
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