Will do - thanks Charlie
during a VO2max test, a peak lactate value is observed 3-5min post -depending upon fitness and individual; given that a 5K race is run at VO2max pace (and i can see the difference between a 5K and a VO2max test in terms of lactate peaks), i wouldn’t say that a PEAK lactate value is a limiting factor; it’s more the total body fatigue that you have to deal with; you may not have a particular peak in a specific point of the race, but you’ll sure have to learn to work throughout the race with a consistent feeling of overall stress; back-to-back quality days/sessions will help you on that (i.e., a hard-hard-easy pattern);
howerver, you would expect an elite runner to maintain his VO2max for 10-15min and therefore, complete the race whithin this time; for the less fortunate of us, however, who can maintain a similar pace for less (e.g., 3-4K), a more sharp increase in lactate might be expected towards the end -depending, of course, on pace previously maintained; if you’ve hit the race hard, it might come earlier; if you are more conservative, a “discomfort” judged by lactate levels might never come…
hope it helps!
Thanks much, Nikolouski, means much to hear that from yer mouth. Reading the Journal of Applied Physiology is more painful than gettin your toenails drilled.
From personal experience, in journals of this kind you won’t fine what you might be looking for, i.e., practical, or necessarily, up to date training info; even in training studies, you have to copromise to some extent to fit it in, i.e., it’s not a real world situation; books, specific articles and sites like this one are much more informative in this respect…
journals ARE good though for the theoretical part; boring sometimes, but you have to compromise and combine the two…
works for me, at least
There is is theory by one of the graet East German exercise physiologists that the best way to get fit in the shortest amount of time possible is to run over distances of 100m, 200m and 600m at speeds of 3s, 6s and 18s, respectively, slower than your best time for the distance.
The idea is to run 100m on day 1, 200m on day 2, 600m day 3, then repeat the cycle again follwed by one day rest. The aim of the session is to run as many reps of the distance as possible in the required time so long as the pulse recovers to 120bpm within 90sec of recovery - ie when the pulse doesn’t recover within 90secs, stop the session.
I think this schedule would be ideal for a six week GPP, then the principles can be used for tempo sessions during SPP and competition phases.
Note this fits with te definition of 75% of best time or slower for a top athlete, though it might require some adjustment for slower runners, and would stay as an aerobic session.
I assume this is based on track runs with the need for the 3/6/18 time ‘cushion’ extended if runs taken to grass, heavy trainers etc.
+3/+6/+18 based on given conditions, as per what what Charlie describes with tempo runs?
Yes, it is critical to keep the work aerobic and not to cross over into lactic work
Just a note for anyone who doen’t have that much experience with Tempo work…the cross over into lactic work can be different depending on the athletes areobic condition and power/speed capacity. For myself, tempo always made me stiff and sore even though I was doing it at the same pace as the other athletes in my group. In this case I was very out of shape and the intensity of my tempo was not relative to my ability for areobic work.
i’m on a hard week in terms of accel/speed and the easier, more relaxed the tempo runs -with shorter distances preferred- the better recovery i get and the fresher i am for the next speed session
it really helps recovery/CNS; better slower (safe), than faster (sorry)