day 13 - studying hill reps, tempo and interval runs
I’ve read/watched and studied these:
Following are some transcripts I did on the most relevant parts.
on hill repeats #
hill repeats (…) is all about building the muscles in your legs with exaggerated proper running form.
the idea though is to not be all hunched over. (…) it’s about really driving the legs, exaggerated knee drive, exaggerated knee lifts, exaggerated arm swing, working out those kinks and form a mechanics as you go up the hill. (…)
this is definitely pretty tiring to do. hill repeats are never easy but that’s why you make big gains of them. it’s speed training in disguise (…)
we like to do repeats starting with shorter repeats. you can almost do hill sprints, repeats in the 30 s range to 1 min hill repeats. but then also building up over a period of weeks and months to longer repeats. (…)
(…) looking at grades about in the 5% to 10% or even steeper grade, depending on what you have available and what your target race is - if you’re targeting the mountain race you usually want steeper grades if you’re more of a road runner maybe you go for more that 5 to 8% type of grade. (…)
the key is always to run with good form so you’re not too tired that you’re breaking down and then complete the duration of the workout whether it’s 10 x 2 min reps, 10 x 1 min reps or 6 x 3 min reps. (…)
a lot of times we’ll run up (…) this hill working on good form, getting our heart rate up pretty high then we’ll take a long rest, we’ll slowly jog back down to recover, maybe walk around a bit at the bottom so the rest time is a lot longer than the actual high-intensity run time. maybe you’re running hard for 1 min up these hills but you slowly jog down catch your breath you’re resting for 3 minutes in between each rep so you could really not develop too much lactate. you could run with good form and you could do 10 repetitions or 8 repetitions to really build that neuromuscular coordination that efficiency and that running form.
on tempo running #
This is the effort level just outside your comfort zone - you can hear your breathing, but you’re not gasping for air. If you can talk easily, you’re not in the tempo zone, and if you can’t talk at all, you’re above the zone. It should be at an effort somewhere in the middle, a “comfortably hard” effort that allows you to talk in broken words and hold that effort for at least 20 minutes. Pace is not really an effective means for running a tempo workout, as there are many variables that can affect pace including heat, wind, fatigue, and terrain.
on intervals #
Intervals are short, intense efforts followed by equal or slightly longer recovery time. (…) For example, after a warmup, run 2 minutes at a hard effort, followed by 2 to 3 minutes of easy jogging or walking to catch your breath. The interval should be performed at an effort in which you’re in the red (think: reaching hard for air, unable to hold a conversation, and counting the seconds until you can stop). It should be a controlled, fast effort followed by a truly easy jog.
…my analysis #
Not sure if my tempo session was really that tempo. I may have to push a little bit harder. :D
Maybe a better setting for practicing hill repeats is Monsanto. Anyway, looking back to the last session, its segments and their steepness grade, I guess I can make it work if I do repeats using the Rua Mina Grande climb segment.
Haven’t yet tried any interval run.
Attempted to perform these routines in the afternoon.