Raising your Threshold
With the onset of the New Year, many of us runners take the opportunity to set new goals. For many, the goals are to run faster in races, set some new personal bests, and/or qualify for the Boston Marathon. Others may have more modest goals, such as remaining injury-free or just having fun running. Whatever your goals may be, the principles of effort-based training can help you.
One recurring problem runners have is an inability to set realistic goals. When we set unrealistic goals, we open the door to injury because we push our bodies too hard. The result is disappointment because of the predictable injury that results from overtraining.
The key to running fast is your anaerobic threshold (AT), also known as your lactate threshold. Your AT pretty much defines what you as a runner can do. Your AT pace is your race pace in a fast 15K or 10-mile race. It is in the range of 80 to 85 percent of your maximum heart rate (MHR). A 10K race can be run at 12 to 20 seconds per mile faster than your AT pace. Marathons can be run at 40 to 60 seconds per mile slower than your AT pace. Easy recovery days should be run at 1:30 to 2:00 minutes per mile slower than AT pace.
Once you have figured out your AT pace, you will have a good idea of how fast your race times should be. The obvious question is, how do I raise my AT so that I can get faster? Coaches Roy Benson and Jack Daniels both advocate two or three runs per week at or slightly above AT pace. Owen Anderson, publisher of Running Research News, is another advocate of AT or AT+ running. On the basis of my discussions with Roy and Owen, I feel it is safe to say that AT is probably the most effective way to increase your speed or just to stay in shape. Running at AT is much more important than running hard intervals on the track. It is also a pleasant fact that AT runs feel great.
You might want to combine several kinds of AT workouts in your weekly schedule. On Tuesday, run three one-mile intervals at AT pace interspersed with a 400-meter jog. On Thursday, run six to eight hill repeats on a 200- to 300-meter hill. On Saturday, run 15 to 20 minutes nonstop at AT pace. On Sundays, do your long runs at 60 to 75 percent of MHR or one-and-a-half to two minutes per mile slower than AT pace. On other days, do easy runs (60 to 70 percent of MHR) or take a day off.
My personal experience, and that of my runners, is that the only way that you can do these kinds of AT runs is to run very very slowly on your easy days. When you do your long Sunday run at, say, only 30 to 45 seconds slower than AT pace, you are running hard enough so that you may be too tired to have a good workout on Tuesday but not hard enough to raise your AT. Basically, that hard Sunday run has done you very little good and in some cases may even have set back your training.
One problem with this advice is that you may not know what your AT pace is. Factors such as fatigue and stress may cause your AT pace to be different on different days. My runners solve this problem by using a heart monitor on their AT runs. A monitor takes the guesswork out of figuring your pace. The heart monitor can also keep you from running too hard on your easy days.
So give AT running a try. I strongly recommend the use of a heart monitor. The MCRRC Low-Key Coaching Program can help you learn to use the heart monitor and perhaps lower your race times.
Coach West is a licensed coach, affiliated with MCRRC, and available to coach motivated adult runners. A portion of his coaching fees for MCRRC members is returned to MCRRC. For further information about personal coaching opportunities, contact Coach West at kirtwest@comcast.net.
