I ran what Greg McMillan calls a sub-threshold tempo run this evening upon returning from work. A sub-threshold run is run done slower than lactate threshold pace because some Kiwi runner says that tempo runs done too early in the season (i.e. early base building) cause a runner to peak too early and for times to plateau over the season.
My tempo run pace is 6:32/mile and I really didn't feel like running that fast tonight because it has been a month or so since I have done so. We had a nice night in the 60s with a nice 20mph wind coming out of the south and about 68% humidity. I decided to shoot for 6:50 pace over the course of three miles.
I warmed up with an easy mile at 8:07 and felt pretty relaxed and fluid. I stretched out for a minute or two and took off. I hit mile one in a very relaxed 6:48.47 and decided to keep the gas pedal where it was. At the 1.5 mark I was on pace to run right about 20:30 but turned due north a block later and had the aforementioned 20 mph wind to my back for close to a kilometer. I hit mile two in 6:46.72 (13:35.19) and still felt pretty good. With about a half mile to go I turned off the bike trail and surged onto the road heading east and going slightly downhill. I surged for a good 30 strides to get back up to speed after making a hairpin turn and coasted up a "hill" with about 600 meters to go. I closed out my run with a 6:45.56 third mile finishing with a total time of 20:20.75. I caught my breath for two minutes and cooled down with a mile in 8:12.
I got home and sat at the kitchen table watching my son eat. As I sat there I remarked to my wife that I think half the job of being a good father is being present in your child's life. I went on to remark that a good chunk of the other half is being happy about being there. She told me that she's thinks I'm a good father. That was a much better compliment than her telling me that I had a cute butt.
Yesterday afternoon was pretty warm and after I finished cleaning the garage Kim kicked Nathan out of the kitchen in shoes and a hoodie so she could make dinner. He and I walked around our rather large back yard (210 feet from one side to the other) and we waved at people in cars, played in mud and watched the starlings fly around the back yard and into the bird house the neighbors built for them next door. Every time the starlings would get to fluttering he would point and exclaim, "Oooo, whoa!" I asked him if he thought the birds were neat and he said, "Bird? Whoa!" His sense of wonder is quite beautiful to behold and I hold his excitement very close to my heart. I marvel at the fascination he holds for the things that I find terribly mundane and it makes me think back to when magic was real, animals could talk and my father was the strongest man in the world.
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6 comments:
Your first paragraph got me thinking... I should really do some reading about the physiological basis for "peaking." I understand it from a performance perspective, but I don't really know what it means. You know a lot more about this stuff than I do- can you provide any info?
The way I understand it is that a training program over the course of a year follows four cycles that each focus on a different aspect of running. Base building is the first phase which is all easy running. "Hill" running if you're going by the Lydiard method which is still longer miles but with hill repetitions thrown in for good measure. Still an easy phase but with an added bit of speed and strength. In Daniels method, the one I follow, the hill running phase is a mixture of shorter reps (none longer than 800) at slightly slower than mile race pace and tempo runs of about 30 minutes (roughly 10k pace)and cruise intervals at the same pace. Phase three is the roughest phase as it makes your intervals longer (600 meters to 1200) at what is pretty close to 5k pace and still keeping 30 minute tempo runs/cruise intervals. Phase four is a sharpening phase, mileage decreases and the intervals become faster and shorter (mostly 200-400) at slightly slower than mile pace and shorter tempos/fartleks.
At the end, as evidenced by my 19:02 5k at the PPR, you have built an impressive aerobic base and taught your body to become more efficient in the way it uses its fuel by running right on the edge of lactate threshold as well as keeping a spring in your step with very minimal anaerobic running.
A lot of stuff I've read say that monitoring your heart rate is a better indicator of whether you're running at lactate threshold, aerobic or anaerobic but I found that HR is so contingent on heat, relative humidity, terrain and a number of other factors. I agree that there is merit to HR training because it worked for me last year. In retrospect HR training taught me to pay too much attention to my monitor and not to my body.
I guess to answer your question, "peaking" is what happens when you back off from the harder phase three running and let your body assimilate the changes you've wrought through rest. As I was "peaking" for the PPR I wanted to burn every practice when I was on the track. I knew I could run faster than the 4x400 at 85 seconds that the practice called for but that would be counter-productive.
I think the reason I never put together an all-state cross country season in high school was because I ran 60-70 mile weeks all summer but the minute cc season started we went down to 30-40 mile weeks with two speed sessions and a race every week. There was no third phase as we went from base building and "hill" running straight into taper mode. I could go on and on if I wanted to.
I guess I'm still stumped about what it means in physiological terms. It's just the scientist in me insisting on a mechanism.
During the harder phases of training (phase three) you're revving the cardiovascular engine and pounding the legs with the longer intervals and tempo runs. During the taper phase you're decreasing the length and intensity of your workload and allowing your body to recover. Since you've spent about twelve weeks pounding the crap out of yourself and teaching your muscles to use their glycogen stores more efficiently by running at and slightly below your lactate threshold when you let your body repair the damage done and replenish glycogen stores you're both refueled, stronger and get better gas mileage.
I know that was a huge run-on sentence.
Does that make any more sense?
Yeah, I am familiar with those explanations. In so much as "peaking" is simply the point in between recovery and declining fitness, I get it, and in so much as training is increasing oxygen delivery and glycogen stores, I get that too.
However, the language of "peaking" and especially the language of "peaking early" often are used in a way that implies cyclical mechanisms, and I've often been a bit skeptical of that.
Anyway, thanks for your responses. Mostly, I think I'm just wanting a molecular biology type explanation to an exercise physiology problem.
I don't know much about molecular biology unfortunately. Mitochondria make energy so maybe you get more of them as you're building up and . . . etc. I'd have to read a little more.
I think I'd rather plateau toward the end of the season than peak. Peaking brings to mind being at the top and then drastically falling down a cliff. . . and splattering.
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