Category: Training
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Should I Use Heart Rate or Pace for Running?
Both! I always cringe when I use the term ‘it depends’, but that’s the sports scientist in me. Zone 1 – Zone 3 = Heart Rate. Zones 1 to 3 are the only steady-state zones, which means your physiology can reach a relative balance of supply and demand. We can rely on heart rate to…
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Analysing A Marathon Training Session in TrainingPeaks
The five pillars of quick analysis was designed by myself by Dr Matt Miller in our Sports Science Masterclass. It provides a quick and effective way to analyse training sessions. 1. What was prescribed? 1 km warm-up power zone 1 19 km in power zone 2 5 km in power zone 3 (marathon power output)…
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Rest is Best
“Am I giving up on myself too easy? Am I being soft? Should I just do it?” The other day I was stuffed. It was a Tuesday evening, and I didn’t want to run, but I NEEDED to run because I’m in the middle of dedicated marathon training. To get motivated, I drove out to…
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A Deeper Look at Running Cadence
A scientific paper published at the end of 2018 presented some rather interesting data from the first field-based experiment of running cadence. The study looked at data from 20 athletes from the top 25 finishers at the 2016 100 km Running World Championships in Los Alcazares, Spain. Running cadence or stride frequency (SF) refers to…
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Finding My Threshold – Maximal Lactate Steady State Test.
Lactate is a commonly used term in endurance training, and generally, we use the term lactate when referring to “threshold” training or super hard efforts. Measuring the lactate concentration in our blood can give us insight into how physically demanding a task is. The lactate concentration in our blood acts as a proxy for the…
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How I Prescribe a Running Workout – Running Science
There are several factors I take into consideration when I’m prescribing a workout. What’s the goal? Who’s it for? What event are they doing? How does it fit into their plan? Is it too hard? For example, 10x 2km @ 90% threshold pace with 2min recovery no more than 60% threshold, Is a big session,…
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Running Power. Why you need to get on board with the future of running
Spending $200usd on a piece of kit that isn’t shoes and isn’t a watch is an outrageous proposition to any runner. In fact, I recall being ridiculed for buying a GPS watch (Garmin 405) in 2010! Over the last decade, runners have accepted GPS devices and understood their true value – uploading to Strava and…
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Successful Training Plan
6 Steps to a Successful Training Plan Do you get to the end of an event and feel somewhat unsatisfied, like you could have prepared better or you didn’t meet your pre-race expectations? This happens all of the time because athletes are forever overestimating their abilities and underestimating the demands of their event. I like…
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Can I Run-Walk a Sub 2:40 Marathon?
The run-walk method is nothing new to running, and a lot of its notoriety can be credited to legendary running coach Jeff Galloway. However, I struggled to find not only the scientific reasoning behind the run-walk method but also any data on runners going under 3 hours using this method. Personally, I have successfully used…
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Are You Avoiding Your Hard Workouts?
If you’re always trying to complete a certain amount of training each week, you could be doing more harm than good. If you identify with any of these thoughts, read on. “I’m too tired to do an interval session today; I’ll do an hour easy instead.” “I just need to make sure I run at…