Run Workouts

14 June 2020

23:02

The following basic run workouts are categorized according to the five abilities: AE, MF, SS, ME and AnE.

 

By combining portions of the workouts that follow, you can create new workouts, including multi-ability workouts, to match your specific needs. Merging multiple abilities into one workout is most commonly done in the build period.

 

The MF, ME, and AnE workouts listed below should be preceded by a warm-up. You should use these three ability categories only in the main set. The more intense the main set is of the workout, the longer your warm-up should be.

 

 

Aerobic Endurance Workouts

 

AE1: Recovery

This workout is done in zone 1, preferably on a flat soft surface such as a park or golf course. The purpose is active recovery following a hard workout in the past day or so. Most triathletes will be better off swimming or cycling for recovery because of the risk for an injury resulting from running on tired legs. Novices generally recover faster by taking time off from exercise. The duration or TSS for this workout should be the lowest in a given week of training.

 

AE2: Aerobic Threshold (AeT)

A primary reason for doing this workout is to improve aerobic fitness by increasing your physical capacity for delivering and using oxygen to produce energy in muscles.

 

Use a heart rate monitor to gauge the intensity of this workout. Your AeT heart rate is approximately 30bpm below your Anaerobic threshold heart rate.

 

Following a warm-up, run at your AeT heart rate ±2 bpm on a flat to gently rolling course or indoor trainer. The length of time you spend on the AeT portion of the workout depends on the length of your target race:

• Sprint / Olympic: 30 to 45 minutes
• Half-Ironman: 1 to 1.5 hours
• Ironman: 1.5 to 2 hours

 

To find your efficiency factor (EF) for this session divide the normalised graded pace for the AeT portion by your average heart rate for the same portion.

 

Do this workout year round, initially to build and later on to maintain your AE. When you are using it to maintain do this workout about half as frequently as when you were initially building aerobic fitness.

 

AE3: Intensive Endurance

This workout develops AE while also contributing to improved ME. After a warm-up, run for 20 to 90 minutes or more  on a course with small hills while staying mostly in heart rate zone 2, but with frequent brief increases to zone 3. The purpose of the workout is to boost your body's capacity for processing oxygen to produce energy.

 

 

Muscular Force Workouts

 

MF1: Force Reps

This is a very challenging repeated-segment workout composed of 1 to 3 sets of 3 repetitions each, yielding a total of 3 to 9 reps. Warm-up well before this workout. The purpose is to build greater force by strengthening your running muscles. Avoid this workout if you are prone to foot, Achilles tendon, calf or knee injuries. If your legs are fully capable of handling the stress, you may increase the workload by wearing a weight vest equal to 5 to 10% of your body weight.

• Find a short steep hill (6 to 8%) that you can run to as a warm-up. Grass or dirt is the preferred surface. The hill should be a t least 10m from base to peak
• After warming up thoroughly, walk to the base of the hill and come to a complete stop. Then quickly run up the hill with great effort on each push-off
• Your stride length is determined by the steepness of the hill and by whether or not you are wearing a weight vest.
• Keep your head up in a neutral posture as you run up the hill. Do not look at your feet.
• Produce a total of 10 to 20 maximal-effort steps on each brief hill repeat. A "step" is a foot strike with either foot. The fewer steps you take in one ascent of the hill, the greater the effort should be.
• After each hill rep, walk slowly back down the hill and fully recover for 2 to 3 minutes. Don't run during recoveries or try to make the recoveries briefer.
• Repeat the above steps 2 more time for a total of 3 reps. If you are doing a second or third set (it's best to do 1 set the first time you do this workout), walk and run slowly for 3 to 5 minutes

This is a high-risk workout, stop the workout at the first sign of any tenderness.

 

MF2: Hilly Run

Select a course that includes several moderately steep hills with grades of about 4 to 6 percent, each taking 2 to 5 minutes to run up. Or run on a treadmill, changing the gradient to create "hills". On the uphill portions, run at a rating of perceived exertion of 7 or 8. Maintain a "proud" posture - head up and tall - while going up the hills. On the flatter portions of the course, run in pace zones 1 and 2. RPE and pace are the preferred gauges of intensity for this workout, but if you are using a heart rate monitor, stay below zone 5a on the hills. Do this workout no more than once a week. Do not do this workout if you are prone to knee, foot or lower leg injury.

 

MF3: Hill Repeats

On a steep hill with a grade of about 6 to 8 percent that takes 30 to 60 seconds to climb, do 3 to 8 repeats with 2 to 4 minutes of recovery between them. Maintain an RPE in zone 7 or 8. Heart rate my reach zone 5a by the time you are at the top of the hill later in the workout, but will be mostly in zones 3 and 4 early in the sessions. Maintain a "proud" posture - head up and tall - while going up the hills. To recover, slowly jog or walk back down the hill before starting the next rep. If you are wearing a weight vest only walk down the hill to avoid knee injuries. Stop the workout if your legs show signs of excessive stress. Do this workout no more than once a week. Do not do this workout if you are prone to knee, foot or lower leg injury.

 

 

Speed Skills Workouts

 

SS1: Strides

The purpose of this workout is to refine your running skills. Run fast down a very slight hill (grade of 1%) with a soft surface such as grass or dirt for 20 seconds (RPE of 9). Do this 4 to 8 times. Focus on one aspect of your technique on each stride. This could be, for example, cadence. Count your right footstrike for the 20 seconds with a goal of 28 to 32. A variation is to run these barefoot, but only if the grass is free of sharp objects and there are no breaks in the skin on your feet.

 

SS2: Pickups

Within an endurance run such as AE3 above, randomly insert several 20-seconds accelerations to a speed faster than 5km race pace. The primary focus should be on your technique, such as working on a flat footstrike. Other goals may be maintaining a relaxed posture or a high cadence. Recover for several minutes between these pickups by returning to zone 2 steady running.

 

 

Muscular Endurance Workouts

 

ME1: Tempo

Warm up thoroughly. Then, on a mostly flat course or on a treadmill, run at pace zone 3 (preferred) or heart rate zone 3 for an extended time without recovery. Start with about 10 to 15 minutes of zone 3 and build to 30 to 45 minutes or more by adding 5 minutes or so each week to the tempo portion of this workout. You can do this workout once or twice weekly.

 

ME2: Cruise Intervals

Warm up thoroughly before this main set. On a relatively flat course or a treadmill, complete 3 to 5 work intervals, each with a duration of 6 to 12 minutes. Build to pace zone 4 (preferred) or heart rate zone 4 on each work interval. Between intervals, recover in zone 1 by walking or jogging for one-fourth of the duration of the previous interval. A variation is to run cruise intervals on a track with 1 to 2 miles work intervals in pace zone 4. Stay relaxed with a tall posture and a quick cadence while closely monitoring your breathing.

 

ME3: Hill Cruise Intervals

This workout is the same as ME2 cruise intervals above, except it is done on a hill with a long, low gradient (2 to 4%). Maintain a tall posture and quick cadence. The recovery between intervals must be longer than ME2 because you must return to the bottom of the hill. Do this by walking and jogging slowly.

 

ME4: Crisscross Intervals

Complete at least 2 cruise-interval workouts before doing this workout, and warm up thoroughly before doing this main set. On a mostly flat course, run 10 to 20 minutes in pace zones 4 and 5a (preferred) or heart rate zone 4 and 5a. Once zone 4 is attained, gradually build to the top of zone 5a, taking 1 or 2 minutes to do so. Then gradually back off and slowly come to the bottom of zone 4, again taking 1 or 2 minutes. Continue this pattern throughout the run

 

ME5: Threshold Run

Warm up thoroughly before starting. On a mostly flat course, rune 10 to 20 minutes nonstop in pace zone 4 (preferred) or heart rate zone 4. Maintain good technique while listening to your breathing throughout. Don't attempt a threshold run until you've completed at least four of the other ME interval workouts.

 

 

Anaerobic Endurance Workouts

 

AnE1: Group Run

This is an unstructured workout. After a thorough warm-up, run fast with other triathletes of similar ability. Gradually increase speed until you are running in pace or heart rate zones 4 and 5a (pace preferred) with periodic surges or hill climbs in which you achieve in zone 5b. This may be on mixed terrain, especially something similar to what you anticipate for your short-course race. The duration of the fast portion may vary based on your race goals and current level of fitness.

 

AnE2: VO2max Intervals

After a long warm-up, move to a mostly flat course, or treadmill, or track. Do several work intervals with a duration of 30 seconds to 4 minutes, each in pace zone 5b. Recover after each with easy jogging and walking in zone 1 for as long as the previous interval. As your fitness improves, reduce the recovery time by half. Start with about 5 minutes of total interval time within a workout (e.g. 10x30 seconds) and gradually, over several sessions, build to about 15 minutes in a session (5x3 minutes).

 

AnE3: Hills Intervals

Find a relatively steep (grade 6 to 8%) hill that takes 2 to 3 minutes to run up. Following a thorough warm-up, do 5 to 7 climbs at a perceived exertion of 9 for a total of 10 to 15 minutes of total workout climbing time (e.g. 7x2minutes or 5x3minutes). Recover by slowly jogging and walking down the hill, then start a new interval when you reach the base. This is a very hard workout that is best done only once in a week and followed by at least 48 hours of recovery. Complete at least 2 AnE2 and 2 MF workouts before doing this one.

 

 

Test Workouts

 

T1: Aerobic Threshold (AeT) Test

This test of your aerobic fitness is best done after 3 to 5 days of greatly reduced training to allow rest and recovery. Follow the instruction for workout AE2 above. While you may also be doing the AE2 workout during a "normal", non-recovery training week, your results after a short rest-and-recovery break from hard training are a better indicator of your progress because fatigue is unlikely to be a mitigating factor. As with the AE2 workout above, following the session, divide your NGP for AeT portion by your average heart rate for the same portion to determine your current EF. As your aerobic fitness improves over time, your EF value will trend upward. During a period of greatly reduced training, such as at the end of the season, you should expect your EF to declined steadily, indicating a loss of aerobic fitness. This test should be done year-round at least every 6 to 8 weeks. If possible, use the same course and keep the same conditions (shoes, warm-up, time of day, meals, etc.) from one test to the next.

 

T2: Functional Threshold Test

The purpose of this test is to determine your functional threshold pace (FTPa) and functional threshold heart rate (FTHR) for running in order to set your training zones. Do this test following 3 to 5 days of active rest and recovery. A road course should be relatively flat for this test, or do it on a track (preferred). Use the same course every time. Run as if you are in a race that lasts for 20 minutes. Hold back slightly in the first 5 minutes. Every 5 minutes, decide whether you should go slightly faster or more slowly for the next 5 minutes. Cool down afterward with an easy jogging and walking.

 

T3: Functional Aerobic Capacity Test

Use this test to determine your functional aerobic capacity (VO2max) pace. This test is best done following a reduced training for 3 to 5 days. Warm up thoroughly and then run a steady, all-out effort for 5 minutes. Your NGP from a road test or the actual pace from a track-based test for the 5-minute test portion is a good predictor of your pace at aerobic capacity. This test may be done in place of a costly clinic test of VO2max.

 

T4: VO2max Estimation Time Trial

The following test may be sued as a predictor of your VO2max in place of a costly clinic test. After a thorough 10 to 20 minutes warm-up, complete a 1.5-mile maximum effort time trial on a track or a flat and precisely measured road course. Record the time for the time trial in your training diary to compare with future time trials. In addition to time, record your average and peak heart rates. Keep the conditions the same from one time trial to the next. You can estimate your VO2max from your time in this 1.5-mile time trial as shown in the following table: