He will if he don’t have good running mechanics. And a lot don’t
This is a very interesting question and something I never really thought about. I always wear spikes for my tempo and just assumed that I was to run on my toes, however on reflection it always feels weird going on my toes when running sub-max ( as well as putting alot of stress on the achilles and ankle, no wonder my ankles are always killing me after tempo!).
Seeing that tempo is a low intensity activity it may make sense to keep it as low intensity as possible by running with a full foot contact and wearing sneakers.
Thanks guys and I am listening. I am about to go out and do some tempos right now. I ask because i have run them feeling more flat and rolling. I also feel like opening up my stride when running this way. But if i were to run more on the balls of me feet, i feel like i am slow sprint mode, if that makes sense. I seem to be picking up some speed and it feels like a relaxed and flowing sprint. Dont get me wrong, I feel it after either way. I will report back. In the meantime. any thoughts on my discription? Thanks one and all.
RB34 is right. If you are running barefoot, you will not be able to land heel first without pain. As you run faster the touchdown will typically move more to the forefoot. Note that there is no problem with ball-heel-ball. You just don’t want to be jamming your heel into the ground.
Also, don’t forget to flex your toes!
Where you been?
Re-reading Speed Trap 
Are you still training?
Wouldn’t a runner lose a lot of power running heel-toe?.
Speaking of the calves.
A muscle is able to produce greater forces and uses predictable energy levels when it maintains constant (isometric) tension. It uses energy faster when shortening (concentric) and slower when stretching (eccentric). Muscle uses more energy when stretch-shortening than when doing the same amount of work isometrically.
I’m getting that isometric vibe all over again.
I would want too replicate in training how it should be done in competition.
Couple of notes:
From the GPP video- The woman doing tempo is on the ball of her feet but she also looks to be going closer to 75%.
From the Peaking video- The guy in that video is going slower, closer to 60%, and is heel-toeing.
From Kevin Tyler lecture notes- Don’t run tempo on the balls of your feet, it screws things up and tightens the achilles. Heel-toe, heel toe.
From Pfaff lecture- The body naturally heel-toes at lower speeds. Does sprint drills heel-toe because at walking/jogging speeds the body wants to land on the heel.
Taking all that into account I teach athletes to do whatever feels natural and easiest. I tell them it’s ok to heel-toe and not to force themselves to run on their toes. Forcing sprint mechanics when they aren’t sprinting is only going to cause trouble.
Note: When I say heel-toe it’s still light and smooth and not the stomping ugliness of a heavy recreational runner in the local 5K fun run.
Just run at a relaxed pace. Like sprinting, for tempo I just think of stepping down when I run, the difference being you’re stepping down from lower height and not as hard. The arm swing will control most of that. The rest should sort itself out. It’s recovery work, don’t obsess over it.
quick question: how important is it to maintain tempo in season? i no its really important in gpp for fitness, but while in meet season (for like a high school) if one has naturally low bf and such can it be dropped altogether?
Tempo is the core of general fitness training, so it is important to maintain that general fitness throughout, regardless of bodyfat. In addition, tempo facilitates recovery from high intensity work better than passive rest, and the increased capillary density in the muscles developed and maintained by tempo work directly facilitates faster nerve conduction through improved heating of the muscles.
In the first in depth conversation I had with Charlie he complained about how hard it is to convince people of the value of tempo work. Most people attempt to find reasons not to do it.
so how would you structure inseason tempo? do it days after meets maybe a bit lower volume than you would run out of season?
You should be able to keep the volume of tempo pretty constant throughout the season. Just keep the intensity low.
so ive heard that to prepare for a l-s one should do like 4000m+ tempo like 3 times a week, would it be necessary to keep such a high volume of tempo? or would dropping down to like 2000-3000m be fine?
Yea going to be doing that too as soon as I get my other laptop up and running.
Hey, so I was more conscious of being natural so to speak and I did find that I landed more flat rolling the balls of the feet. Maybe I was trying to go too fast before or confusing technique with full out sprints or whatever. Also, how do tempos relate to increased or stablilizing speed. Is it a neurological pattern or fiber firing up? Thanks in advance all.
question: Why can’t tempo be done after a speed workout? Is tempo basically just conditioning?
Tempo has little to do with speed development. It serves two main functions: 1) to develop general fitness, and 2) to act as active recovery from the speed work. The gentle rhythmic action of the tempo work helps flush the muscles.
You could conceivably do a little tempo after speed work as a cool down I guess. But if you’re trying to get everything in on the same day it’s going to produce some problems. One is that you will have an uneven distribution of work over the week. Even with the reduced CNS demands, doing a full volume of tempo after speed work is a lot to do on one day, and then doing nothing the next day would represent a rather large swing in workload from day to day. Because of that it is also unlikely you would be able to perform the full volume of tempo consistently. Alternating high and low intensity day to day, rather than all on one day and nothing the next, provides a more even distribution and variation of work for the body over time.
A second problem relates to the recovery effects of tempo. If you watch The Jane Project video, Charlie mentions that recovery methods are more effective if you apply them during the upswing of the recovery cycle rather than trying to reduce the downswing. This naturally implies that as a recovery method, tempo will have a greater benefit the next day when the body begins to recover from the previous day’s speed work.
Is that the question you were asking?