TarfHead said:One 10K under my belt but still consider myself a
newbie. The next challenge I have set for myself is to
complete a 10 mile race in 3 months time. My assumption
is that I should continue as I have done, gradually
increasing duration of my thrice-weekly runs, up to the
10 miles in August.
That will work.
Quoted message said:
Looking for other approaches a common feature of
structured training plans is the occasional speed session,
or short bursts of higher intensity, e.g. fartlek.
My question is, for someone like me whose sole goal is to
complete the course at as steady a pace as I can sustain,
does such a variation in pace and preparation yield any
benefit ?
This will work too, as would some other "comfortably
hard" or "hard"
sess-
ions.
Some
ways
of
doing
them
have
diff-
erent
bene-
fits
than
othe-
rs.
When
you
incr-
ease
effo-
rt in
a fa-
rtlek
(at
least
if
you
do
them
enou-
gh to
have
an
fect-
numb-
er of
times
depe-
nds
on
how
athl-
ete
resp-
onds
to
that
type
trai-
ning,
etc),
you
are
incr-
easi-
ng
heart
rate,
and I
beli-
eve
the
bene-
fits
are
incr-
ease
in
blood
plas-
ma
volu-
me,
numb-
er of
capi-
llar-
ies,
mito-
chon-
dria
in
order
to
proc-
ess
more
O2 at
one
time.
You
may
not
race
at
that
high-
er
inte-
nsit-
y,
but
the
card-
io
bene-
fits
will
help.
Any higher effort will provide those benefits more so than
lower efforts (at least that's my understanding) - running
or biking on hills, snowshoe running, etc. May not be going
faster but still get raised effort. Neuromuscular effects
may be different with these different activities.
Not sure how the training plans you're looking at refer to
fartleks. Some just suggest picking some landmark and
running to it at harder effort, then backing off,
alternating, etc. Others teach it by heart rate - hard up
to a certain level, then back down. I preferred to hold it
at the higher level (just below VT/LT where talking starts
to degenerate) for a while before I backed off. A benefit
of this is that you get to recognize effort level better.
Then if you ever become addicted to running hilly trails,
you've got a leg up on running hills at constant effort
(variable pace).
Fartleks could also be taken above VT/LT if you want to
increase your LT, giving you more aerobic capacity (higher
hr) in which to run your race. And they can also be used as
VO2max sessions, just depending on how hard you make the
hard part. The benefit is in the cardio improvement, whether
you run at that effort in a race or not. But true fartleks
are supposed to be "speed play", so the intention is to keep
it unstructured.
Dot
--
"Success is different things to different people" -Bernd
Heinrich in Racing the Antelope
