Aug 8, 2007 10:10 pm US/Central
Marathon Training Tips Week 11
by Megan Mawicke
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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CARA running coach Bill Leach has 38 years of experience.
CBS
A big question this week – Is speed training and speed-work important in training for first-time marathoners? Chicago Area Runner's Association (CARA) running coach Bill Leach, who has 38 years of running experience, helped explain how to go about speed training properly.
"It is, but only if it's done appropriately. We want to tell beginners to do it in much smaller doses…much less frequently than the more experienced marathoner, but there is value in it and evidence that supports that," Leach said. "We also know that speed-work can increase the risk of injury and that's what we don't want to do. Let me just say that we know based on the best coaches in the world that there are two kinds of speed-work that bring the greatest value for marathoners. One of them that most people have seen is like repeat 200 meters… or it can be a three times one mile. That's a pretty routine workout. But, when I've talked to coaches at the Olympic level they without failing will talk about the value of tempo run or lactate threshold runs."
Leach explained lactate threshold runs: "They're called LTs. They're runs after a warm-up that last from 20 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes. It feels like if you do these that if you went any faster you couldn't keep going. You get warmed up and you rise to that level and you hold that level for that 20 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes duration. What you're really doing is you're really challenging the body's capacity to operate the body to higher levels of lactic acid and that's that culprit that hurts and makes our running uncomfortable. If you're going to run well, you're going to have to get to that level of discomfort and ride it for awhile and so rehearsing it in the form of LT runs probably one time a week for beginners and up to two times a week for the more experienced marathoners is going to make an enormous difference in performance. You are just not going to get much in return in less than 20 minutes."
When asked what the benefits of LTs are, especially for first-time marathoners, Leach said: "It'll do two things – it'll increase their tolerance of lactate acid. They're using more oxygen than they're taking in. The other thing it'll do is, LT runs are not very comfortable. Learning to stay in there when it's not comfortable is a big part of the success and preparation. We're not just training the body, we're training the mind. "
Asked about doing bursts and sprinting, and if that is only for more experienced marathoners, Leach said, "I think it's a great thing to add repeats of 100 meters or 400 meters. It can't hurt. They're not to be done all out…just simply at a pace that is faster than they have been running, but something to bring faster tempo. It's a contrast in training.. It feels better. It may not feel better at that moment, but so mix it up."
Week 11:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 4 easy miles
Wednesday: 8 miles
Thursday: 4 miles
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 16 miles
Sunday: Cross training
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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