Multi pace

Trying to get ready for 800, 1500, and 3000.  Went back into my training logs.  I used a lot of multi-pace training back in 2000-2005 when I was running track races.

A lot of what I do now has bits and pieces  of that training in it, but for the next 5 weeks, I'll be using quite a bit of just multi-pace or similar 5 pace theory.  So we'll mostly be working at these 5 paces for most workouts.  There will still be some hills, and tempo stuff, but the core of next 5 weeks is to focus on 3000 meter pace and on both sides of it. 

800
1500
3000
5000
10000

I am running 800 at nationals, but not really focused on it and doing it because it's on last day after 3000, and 1500.  I could easily use a five pace theory like

400
800
1500
3000
5000

But after this short indoor track season it's straight into 10-k training,  so going with first 5 paces.

These workouts are pretty simple.  Not as creative as most of the workouts I normally do,  but for track racing, they work.

I'm kind of interested in adding some of my creative workouts around a base of 5 pace workouts.  Should be fun.

So some of these workouts.  30-90 seconds rest.

800 pace workout, 8x200 meters.

1500 pace workout, 8-10x400 meters.

3000 pace workout,  7-8x800 meters.

5000 pace workout, 4x1-mile.

10000 pace workout, 3x2-mile.

Like I said, pretty simple and basic.  Another thing frank horwill had athletes do is what is called a lactate response run.  Essentially it's 4-miles as evenly as you can run.  I always find when I was at a plateau, one of these runs would get me higher.

I took this from one of Frank's articles to help explain.

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So what's a 'lactate-response run'?

I've mentioned that session 2 with improved fitness will become a lactate-response run. Many athletes are mystified by this term. If a person goes for a jog, the amount of lactate circulating around the body will be negligible and the activity can continue for a very long time. If, however, the individual ran 800 metres full out, the body would be saturated in lactic acid, for no other middle-distance event produces so much saturation. This is why the great Olaf Astrand suggests that all runners should race 800m regularly because they will be better able to cope with lesser amounts of lactate accumulated in longer and slower races.

In a lactate-response run we do not want the former (jogging), nor do we desire the latter (800m speed). We require a point in our running speed just below the level where lactic acid begins to accumulate rapidly which we can maintain for four miles (6.5km). Now this cannot be our best 5km speed, nor is it our best 10km speed, for it will be too slow. It is between the two. When we get bogged down for some time with the same VO2 max figure, it is the lactate-response run that will improve our fitness further with less likelihood of injury doing faster work on the track.

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I kind of turned my buffering 4x1600/200 nonstop into my version of the above.  It makes it 4.5 miles, but you essentially run even 1600s with 200s fast.  This is more a variable pace workout then a true  lactate response run,  but it works well for racing.  Plus with my thalassemia minor, my buffering system is super efficient and allows me to do this kind of workout.

But I imagine I could probably run a 4 mile LR run a bit quicker than the 1600 parts of my buffering workout.

More later