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.
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 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?
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.
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.
So does doing tempo kick your guys butt while doing it? I know I am sucking air and it is intense while doing it. I am so happy today as I was able to do 2 sets of 4 tempos today. ( 2x100+100+100+100). That is an accomplishment for me. But I do feel the need to stretch, try and get some massage and do some contrast. Thanks all
It may feel like work when you are doing it, but if you feel more fatigued the next day, then you need to either build your capacity or dial down the intensity, or both.
The low intensity general work like tempo will make you huff and puff and sweat like a pig while you’re doing it, but an hour or two later you’re fine.
In contrast, the high intensity training usually doesn’t feel like you’re working that hard because there isn’t much endurance involved, with some exceptions (i.e. SE). But a couple hours later it will start hitting you. That’s what usually gets most people in trouble. They don’t stop the high intensity work until they start to feel it. Way too late.
Summary:
Low intensity work: significant acute fatigue, little if any residual fatigue later.
High intensity work: little if any acute fatigue (ideally), significant residual fatigue for a few days.
Note: Everything is high intensity if you’re not used to it. So start easy no matter what it is.
ok, so here is another question i am having. If I do the tempos too slowly (under 60%), will I be training or making myself to run slow? Example. long slow runs slow down your top speed. Thanks all.
If you do it slow, then it will be easily handled by your slow-twitch muscles and thus shouldn’t have a negative impact on your speed.
However, if you do it too fast, then your fast twitch muscles might need to be recruited to help out and this could potentially cause fiber down-conversion over the long term.
