VDOT and Mixing in Speed Work Weekly

A friend of mine who has no idea how fast her natural speed is, was asking me about my speed workouts.  I do not know if I have any great speed workouts, but I am a huge believer in using Jack Daniel’s VDOT pace tables to determine what pace I should be doing Tempo, Interval, and Repetition training.  If you are an aspiring and serious runner, I would buy his book (“Jack Daniels’ Running Formula”).  This calculator will help you set your paces based on your best recent races.  I try to use 10K, 15K, or ½ marathons to do the assessment rather than my 5K times.  The VDOT pace calculator linked here and below is great. http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html
Here is my VDOT lookup table: http://marathonquest.blogspot.com/2008_02_01_archive.html
On the track you can do intervals as ladders, a series of 400’s or 800’s or whatever you like.  I have trouble doing mine solo.  When I do intervals, I do ½ the interval distance at an easy jog for recovery.  On reps, I need 3-4 min for recovery at a minimum so I can hit the rep hard and fresh. Per, Mr. Daniels, I like to do one day of speed work for VO Max development and one day of tempo work for lactate threshold training each

 

 

Running into the Wind

So, you are doing a tempo run on a windy day.  I did Monday.  It was hard.  In fact it was so hard I decided to turn this run into an easy run.  Why was it so hard?  I got a physics lesson that morning and today I watched a physics lecture that clarified my lesson.  The formula for air resistance is ½ A d v² (the area [that’s you] times the density of the air [heavy, wet or sea level greater than dry mountains] times the velocity squared [the sum of the wind and your speed].  

So what?   So, if you run twice as fast or the wind is twice as strong, the force of the air resistance is 4 times as powerful.  Put another way and 8:30 pace is about 7 mph and you are essentially running into a 7 mph wind, but you don’t really think about it.  This is normal on a calm day.  When you run a hard tempo at 6:40 you are going 9 mph and it is into a 5 mph wind, you are fighting 4 times the normal force of your easy run.  If you are running into a 9 mph wind it is 4 times your normal tempo resistance.  If it is really windy, say 18 mph winds, you can do the math.

Next time you find yourself fighting 20 mph winds, stop looking at your pace and focus on your effort.  Save the time trials for another day.

Flexibility for Runners - Pavel's Techniques

Flexibility is a key to increasing your stride length and therefore your running economy.  A trainer at a local gym told me about Pavel Tsatsouline’s book “Relax into Stretch” - http://www.dragondoor.com/b14.html.  As runners, we need hip flexor flexibility and hamstring flexibility.  

I found the book very interesting and different than any stretching book I have seen.  Now I know why my trainer friend called it the best flexibility book he had ever read.  The techniques are working for me.  Tsatsouline has some great exercises for both your hip flexors and hamstrings.  The key to it is what he calls “Forced Relaxation”

Forced Relaxation Technique of Pavel Tsatsouline

• Stretch as far as comfortably possible and contract the muscles you are about to stretch with one to two thirds of your maximum effort.
• Tension should increase gradually and reach its peak by the third or fourth second. Don’t contract the stretched muscles explosively!
• Hold steady, unwavering tension. If you were holding a real weight with the target muscle, the weight would stay put rather than bob up and down.
• Don’t hold your breath, breathe shallow.
• Hold the tension until it becomes unbearable, then release it with a sigh of relief—don’t let the breath get ‘caught’ in your chest as is common for a very stressed out person; let go! — and immediately increase the stretch.
• Understand that ‘immediately’ means ‘without delay’ rather than ‘with quick movement’!
• The duration of the contraction may vary from five seconds to five minutes. Find your sweet spot through trial and error. Start with thirty to sixty second contractions. If you have the mental fortitude, keep the tension until your muscles start quivering and finally collapse in exhaustion, unable to contract any longer.
• Use your head (duh!)

The PDF is out there in a number of spots.  If you are serious about the subject, you might want to buy the DVD.  Here’s a summary of a key technique taken from the book: