Every runner hits a plateau (or, more accurate, multiple plateaus). Be it with their 5k speed, losing weight, building endurance...whatever. It happens. Hitting a plateau requires a shake-up in training; your body has simply become too "used" to your current training regimen.
I have hit a plateau. My mid-distance times have stopped improving, and I'm consistently running just below PR-pace (6:30 PR for a 5k, 7:23 for a 10k). Though I recently came close to breaking my 10k PR, I need a shake-up in my running routine. This comes in the form of implementing (or changing) the types of running workouts you do each week. So, for example, when I first started running races, I hit my 8:30 PR plateau (which, apparently, is a common first-plateau for newbie runners). In training, all I was ever really doing is running often, and once or twice a week running as fast as I could over a 5k or 10k distance -- whatever I was training for at the time.
Then I read about interval training. I incorporated it in to my weekly regimen, and BAM! [insert Emril impression here] 5k Times plummeted all the way to 7:30, 7:15, sub-7 (which is another common plateau), and finally resting at 6:30. 10k's continuously improved as well, to the point where I ran 6 straight 10k's setting a PR, until finally hitting 7:23. Training for my half-marathon (aka adding Sunday long runs) also helped, I'd presume. This is where I stand now.
Time for another shake-up. In the coming weeks, I would be changing my regular intervals, adding fartleks, and focusing on tempo runs -- the three most common types of running workouts. So, to add to the running training section of my Interesting Articles page, I figured I'd run through each of these simple types of running workouts, explaining what each is, and how it helps with running form and fitness.
Intervals
What it is...
The first real structured workout I implemented, the interval workout is exactly how it sounds. Pick an interval. It can be an interval of any type and length: 1/2-mile intervals, 4-minute intervals, 1-mile intervals...etc etc. The goal, however, is to pick a length, and run it above threshold pace. As in...bomb the shit out of that interval (the "max effort interval"). Then, once the interval is up, you run the same length (time or distance) at recovery pace or lower (the "rest period" or "rest interval"). Sometimes the rest interval is longer than the maximum effort interval, but I like to keep it the same. Then, simply string a number of these intervals (with rests) together.
ALWAYS start and end an intervals workout at recovery pace. The opening recovery pace interval serves as a warm-up for your first hard effort, and the closing recovery pace interval serves as a cool-down to avoid muscles tightening and improving recovery. If any, the only intervals that will differ in distance from the hard efforts will be my warm-up and cool-down periods. One of my favorite intervals looks like this...
>5mi Intervals Session (1mi WU + 4x.5mi Interval w. .5 Rest bw + CD)
*1mi warm-up building from recovery pace to half-marathon pace
*1/2 mile Interval at over 5k pace
*1/2 mile Rest at recovery pace
*1/2 mile Interval at over 5k pace
*1/2 mile Rest at recovery pace
*1/2 mile Interval at over 5k pace
*1/2 mile Rest at recovery pace
*1/2 mile Interval at over 5k pace
*1/2 mile (sometimes more) cool-down at recovery pace
If my Intervals only cover 5k instead of 5mi, I'll shorten the warm-up to only a half-mile. Sometimes, if I'm feeling crazy enough, I'll increase the hard efforts to 1 mile long, leaving the rest periods at still 1/2-mile (which you're not really supposed to do, but oh well). As you improve your paces during the hard effort intervals, increase the distance.
How it helps...
Intervals are great for building what are called "fast-twitch muscles." These are the muscles primarily used during short- and middle-distance races. Not only does it help build these muscles' strength, but their endurance as well -- so you are both improving your speed as well as improving how long you can hold that speed. Beyond muscular gains, aerobic gains are a primary focus of interval sessions. Again, similar to your leg and core muscles (and without getting in to aerobic/anaerobic thresholds and what-not), you are improving the amount of oxygen that is transported to you muscles, as well as the length of time that you can hold this sustained maximum aerobic effort.
Finally, and often overlooked, the psychological gains. Anyone who has ever done interval training -- regardless of the sport -- knows that your body screams at you midway through each hard effort. Your mind wants to comply with these body signals, to the point where you are counting ever second or ever hundredth of a mile until the interval is over. Thus, regularly doing intervals in your running regimen trains your brain to toughen your way through these periods of intense physical discomfort. Where a better place to have an edge in a race than to be able to deal with physical misery of the later miles?
Fartlek
What it is...
When I first heard the name, I figured it was a joke for "a small flatulence release that adds thrust, thereby increasing pace." Then I read in to it further, and as it turns out, it's just a foreign (Swedish) word meaning "speed play."
Fartlek workouts are similar to intervals with one main distinction: there are no set intervals. Instead of picking 1/2 miles, you basically pick a landmark to use as your "finish line" for the interval. So, say, if you have a favorite route that runs about 5k, you're likely familiar with all the various landmarks that pock the route (a street lamp, a tree, a crosswalk sign, etc). Run at below threshold pace, and when you feel you have the edge, start a hard effort. As your legs fatigue mid-effort, find a landmark up the road, and sustain the best you can to the landmark. Then rest, and repeat. Again, start and end on easy efforts for warm-up and cool-downs.
How it helps...
Again, also like interval workouts, the physical benefits of fartlek sessions are essentially the same, with one exception: muscle confusion. I know it's a phrase that's often misused and misunderstood, but without a larger debate... By constantly mixing up the distances and/or times of your hard efforts, you are avoiding training your muscles for only 1/2- or 1-mile hard efforts, and avoiding training your muscles to expect recovery efforts. Basically, you're training your muscles to "be ready for anything."
Psychologically, I've always found that -- especially in the late-mile intervals during a fartlek session -- running towards a landmark helps in visualizing the finish line. Running any distance race always comes with those final moments of absolute agony as you eye the finish line off in the distance. Fartlek sessions will make those closing meters not feel so miserable (or, at least, help you toughen them out better).
Tempo
What it is...
I'm going to borrow from the Runner's World magazine article I first learned about tempo runs: Imagine an Oreo cookie. You have you two thin cookies, and sandwiched between you have the oh-so-sinful creme filling. A tempo run is like the Oreo, with the cookies being warm-up/cool-down runs, and the creme filling being a pace just at or above threshold (so you should be huffing and puffing, but still able to hold the pace for almost an hour if forced). I more imagine it like a race at somewhere between my 10k and 15k paces, but with no break between the warm-up and cool-down. The distance you run during tempo runs will up as your endurance improves, but you can pretty much choose any distance, so long as you don't over-do it (most tempos should be kept to under an hour for the "creme," and about 15-20 minute for the "cookies"). It's really the pace that is the focus of this run, though. So, for example, a common tempo run for me is my 7-mile (and I added my current paces for each):
7-mile Tempo Run
*1 mile recovery pace (9:30-8:30)
*1 mile half-marathon pace (8:30-8:00)
*4 miles 10-15k Pace (7:15-8:00)
*1 mile half-marathon pace
*1 mile recovery pace
Honestly, sometimes I'll lengthen my 2nd half-marathon pace mile to about 1.5mi, and only do a half mile at recovery pace during my 7-miler. And if I increase distance (a 15k tempo run is another favorite of mine -- about 9 miles), I increase the distances of the 1st and 2nd half-marathon pace intervals (because, technically, I'm coming out of 10k-15k pace zone for mileage anyways, and approaching half-marathon paces). I will never go beyond 15k for a tempo run. Beyond that (at least for me, for now) is a long run.
How it helps...
Improved aerobic capacity and increased lactate threshold (lactate threshold is the effort/pace at which your legs start to get that burning feeling). This is great for training in all distances, but that increased lactate threshold is especially helpful during middle-distance races. You will find the pace at which you hit lactate threshold will slowly start to fall with more tempo workouts, which means your overall finishing times for those middle-distance races will improve as well. And the final recovery-pace mile(s) will help stave off any painful muscles post-run and improve recovery times.
So that's how I best-understand these three types of running workouts. These are the ones best suited if you're looking to beat any plateau, and especially if you're looking to boost your 5k, 8k, 10k and 15k times. Now get out and run!
-tds
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