Workout of the Week - TempoFit

This is the finale of our ladder series of workouts and it’s JUICY one!!

Legs, Lungs & Lactate Ladder Pt.4

Terrain: Undulating terrain for a fartlek session or flat, measurable pathway for accurate GPS readings.

The idea with a ladder session like this is that you set the tone with shorter, sharper reps at the start—focusing on good technique—before moving into the steady state tempo run in the middle to get some energy system adaptation in there. Then we finish off with that quality again, this time a little fatigued.

Keep the 30-second efforts at about mile pace or a little slower, the 1-minute efforts at 3k pace or slower and the 2-minutes at 5k pace or slower. Keep the jog recoveries very light to make sure you can get through the workout in one piece!

This workout tests and strengthens legs, lungs and lactate. We want to really dial in the legs with great technique in the 30-second efforts at the start and then really test out your ability to run well when fatigued for the final 30-second efforts.

The lactate threshold gets some attention in the middle, before finishing short and fast again.

You could run this session as a pure fartlek run by going off-road and not worrying about exact paces, but do it all by feel. Or you could keep it on a flat measurable pathway so you have better feedback from watch on how fast you’re moving.

Head over to the TempoFit.org Race and Pace Calculator at tempofit.org to work out your paces.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:

By Hayden Shearman

Part of why running has taken off in the last 50-odd years is that we are the first generation in human history who haven’t needed to move to stay alive.

In this week’s podcast I share five reasons why running is such an important tool for humans to stay active, healthy and happy in a world where we can get most things done sitting down.

This week’s ladder session is a really tasty sandwich with short, fast reps as the bread and a juicy tempo run as the middle. Be sure to give this workout a go!

Legs, Lungs & Lactate Ladder Pt.3

Terrain: Undulating terrain for a fartlek session or flat, measurable pathway for accurate GPS readings.

The idea with a ladder session like this is that you set the tone with shorter, sharper reps at the start—focusing on good technique—before moving into the steady state tempo run in the middle to get some energy system adaptation in there. Then we finish off with that quality again, this time a little fatigued.

Except for the 10-minute tempo run, all the reps for this workout are quick (somewhere between mile pace and 3k race pace i.e. 5- to 10-minute race pace) so be sure to make the most of the 2-minute recoveries.

This workout tests and strengthens legs, lungs and lactate. We want to really dial in the legs with great technique in the 30-second efforts at the start and then really test out your ability to run well when fatigued for the final 30-second efforts.

The lactate threshold gets some attention in the middle, before finishing short and fast again.

You could run this session as a pure fartlek run by going off-road and not worrying about exact paces, but do it all by feel. Or you could keep it on a flat measurable pathway so you have better feedback from watch on how fast you’re moving.

Be sure to keep the 2-minute jog recoveries light.

Head over to the Race and Pace Calculator at tempofit.org to work out your paces.

I absolutely love the balance of this workout with a good amount of faster stuff to refine technique and a big old block of grindy 10k paced work in the middle to keep the session honest. 

Legs, Lungs & Lactate Ladder Pt.2

Terrain: Undulating terrain for a fartlek session or flat, measurable pathway for accurate GPS readings.

The idea with a ladder session like this is that you set the tone with shorter, sharper reps at the start—focusing on good technique—before moving into more intensity and grind in the middle. And finally finishing off with that quality again, this time fatigued.

Make the shortest reps about mile pace/effort and all the others 10 race pace/effort (no faster this week because of the volume of work you’ve got to get through.

This workout tests and strengthens legs, lungs and lactate. There’s 24 minutes of work in here, so it’s a good solid session!

We want to really dial in the legs with great technique in the 30-second efforts at the start and then really test out your ability to run well when fatigued for the final 30-second efforts.

The lungs get a great workout in the middle stages and we also test your body’s ability to flush out the fatigue by only having relatively short 1-minute jogs.

You could run this session as a pure fartlek run by going off-road and not worrying about exact paces, but do it all by feel. Or you could keep it on a flat measurable pathway so you have better feedback from watch on how fast you’re moving.

Be sure to keep the 1-minute jog recoveries VERY light.

Head over to the Race and Pace Calculator at tempofit.org to work out your paces.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:

By Hayden Shearman

We all have goals and plans with running. Whether that’s to run a certain distance or time or qualify for a certain event. But the truth is that more often than not things get in the way of those plans.  

Injuries, weather, illness, blisters, life stress, health issues, and even just not feeling on your game—all these things can act as spanners being thrown into the works of our running plans. And these spanners can be disheartening at best and downright depressing most of the time.

So, what can we do as runners to combat attack on our well laid plans?

In the podcast I lay out a planning procedure that I call Deep Plans that layers up our goals and strategies. So instead of having a binary, one-dimensional plan with a result fail or succeed, we create foundations to those plans.

For example, my plan might be to qualify for the Boston Marathon. But the underlying plan behind this is to be the best runner I can be right now. And the underlying plan behind that is I want to be fit and active. And behind this plan is a goal to be healthy and happy. And behind this a goal to refine my character.

So, you can see that when layer up your goals, if something happens like an injury or weather event of Covid race cancellation, you’ve got another layer to that plan that you can fall back on and remain successful. For example, if the race gets cancelled, I can do a solo time trial and therefore still achieve the goal of being as good a runner as possible right now. And if I get injured, I can still remain active and fit through deep water running, walking, cycling or going to the gym.

For more, be sure to listen to the TempoFit Workout of the Week podcast for this week.

This week is the finale of our series on broken tempo runs where this week we get through 36 minutes of solid work—all designed to make your body a fatigue-flushing machine! 

Time Under Tension Pt.3

Terrain: Flat, measurable pathway.

A broken tempo run is a good way to get more time at threshold because the short jog recoveries allow a touch of freshness to come back into the lungs, legs and noggin—meaning you can get through more total work than you otherwise might.

And, remember, your lactate threshold is your one-hour race pace and sits right on that border between steady-state and high-intensity running.

We want our bodies to get really good at flushing out fatigue on the run. Lactate threshold training is one of the best ways to do this as it sits right on that fence between energy systems.

36 minutes of work plus the recovery jogs and warm ups and warm downs make this session significant in terms of time and distance. So be sure to factor that in when planning your week by treating it like a medium long run and spacing out other big miles in the week away from this session.

Head to the Race and Pace Calculator at tempofit.org to calculate your pace for this session.

You’ll also want some terrain that allows you to measure your splits accurately so fine somewhere flat and GPS-friendly.

Keep the recoveries as light jogs or even slow to a walk if you haven’t done much endurance training recently.

Continuing our series on broken tempo runs, this week we add 25% more time to the session—ramping up your opportunity to get stronger and go faster for longer.

WHAT?

Time Under Tension Pt.2
3x 10mins @ Lactate Threshold Pace (your 1-hour race pace)
2-3mins jog recovery
Terrain: Flat, measurable pathway.

A broken tempo run is a good way to get more time at threshold because the short jog recoveries allow a touch of freshness to come back into the lungs, legs and noggin.

And, remember, your lactate threshold is that pace where you move from a predominantly aerobic, fat-burning zone to have an increased reliance on other energy systems—particularly lactate.

WHY?

We want our bodies to get really good at flushing out fatigue on the run. Lactate threshold training is one of the best ways to do this as it sits right on that fence between energy systems.

HOW?

The 25% ramp up in total work is significant, so be prepared for nailing the pacing and dialling up the intensity a notch or two.

Head to the Race and Pace Calculator at tempofit.org to calculate your pace for this session.

You’ll also want some terrain that allows you to measure your splits accurately so fine somewhere flat and GPS-friendly.

Keep the recoveries as light jogs or even slow to a walk if you haven’t done much endurance training recently. The 2-3 minute window allows a bit more time for a more significant receipt between sets if you need it.

With the New Year comes a new series of workouts where we’re taking the traditional tempo run and breaking it into segments to allow for more time at threshold to develop that ability to go faster for longer.

WHAT?

Time Under Tension Pt.1

3x 8mins @ Lactate Threshold Pace (your 1-hour race pace)

Terrain: Flat, measurable pathway.

A broken tempo run is a good way to get more time at threshold because the short jog recoveries allow a touch of freshness to come back into the lungs, legs and noggin.

And, remember, your lactate threshold is that pace where you move from a predominantly aerobic, fat-burning zone to have an increased reliance on other energy systems—particularly lactate.

WHY?

We want our bodies to get really good at flushing out fatigue on the run. Lactate threshold training is one of the best ways to do this as it sits right on that fence between fat-burning and glycogen-burning.

HOW?

Threshold running can feel uncomfortable and niggly, so it’s important to have you paces dialled in. So, head to the Race and Pace Calculator at tempofit.org to calculate your pace for this session.

You’ll also want some terrain that allows you to measure your splits accurately so fine somewhere flat and GPS-friendly.

Keep the recoveries as light jogs or even slow to a walk if you haven’t done much endurance training recently.

Happy New Year! To celebrate 2022, we’re doing a workout this week perfectly suited for the occasion with two 20-minute tempo runs and then a final 2-minute blast off: 20-20-2!

The 20-20-2

Terrain: Flat, measurable pathway or trail.

Think of this session like a cake: two big juicy slabs of cake with the tempo runs, all topped off with some tasty icing in the form of a 2-minute speedy interval to close.

If you’d like a speedier session, you could swap the second 20-minute tempo run for 5x 2-minute intervals at 5k-to-3k race pace (with 2-minute recovery jobs).

This workout has a significant endurance focus and actually gets harder the faster your half marathon time is. So, we’re trying to bank away a good solid session to start the year.

The fast 2-minute effort at the end is a great way of training both body and mind to close hard.

Because of the length of the session, it pays to treat this workout like your medium-long run (or even long run) for the week. And you’ll also want to make sure you have some easy days before and after the session to make sure you can nail the workout and recover well.

It’s the holidays and the final workout of the year, so why not do the most brutal fitness challenge from the year all over again!!?? If it’s your second time doing this session, can you beat your previous time? If it’s your first time, how close can you get to your 5k PB?

Holidays Special

5 non-stop sets of:

Terrain: Flat, measurable pathway or running track

This workout challenge combines running and calisthenics for the ultimate holiday fitness test/Christmas-pudding-burner.

You’ll complete 5k of running in total, so see how close to your 5k best you can get.

Strength work, even if it doesn’t involve weights, is often over-looked by runners. It’s a great way to build power, stability, coordination and overall athleticism—which should all improve your running in the long run (excuse the pun!).

A challenge like this is perfect when we find ourselves in a time where races are being cancelled (for our southern hemisphere audiences) and it’s still a way off before the arrival of spring races (for our northern hemisphere audiences).

Even though you’re pushing yourself hard, be sure that you dial in good technique with the exercises. Also think about what sections you might like to focus on and really crush them (like the burpees) in order to use another section like the squats or running to go a little easier to boost recovery.

Last week we did a 4-3-2-1 fartlek; this week it’s 5-4-3-2-1 twice over. So a little more endurance and, with it, a little more fun to bring in the festive season!

Fartlek Countdown to Christmas Pt.2

Terrain: Undulating trails or flat, measurable pathway (you choose!)

Compared to last week, we’re adding 10 minutes extra work, making the session 40 minutes long when combined with recovery jogs. So, this definitely has an endurance focus and a need to keep the paces easier early on.

You could do this session as a mild fartlek over your favourite beautiful trail. Or you could ramp up the paces and make it a good hard interval session where you pay attention to speeds and splits.

Running can’t always be about what we can give to our running; it should also be about what it can give to us!

I love this sort of session because it’s so flexibility to fit around how we’re feeling on the day and also what unique goals or training situations we might each have.

When there is this flexibility of purpose, it pays to ask yourself what you want from the workout as you’re doing the warm up. If you do want to dial up the intensity, make sure you make that commitment to be all-in from word go. But if you want to pull things back, be sure to keep those first few efforts especially nice and cruisy (like no faster than half marathon pace).

This workout is as easy as 4-3-2-1, twice over. Do it fast. Do it cruisy. You choose. The one rule for this session, though, is have FUN!

Fartlek Countdown to Christmas Pt.1

Terrain: Undulating trails or flat, measurable pathway (you choose!)

In the midst of the silly season it pays to have some workouts up your sleave that are good for the soul and that also provide that flexibility to either cruise or to crank it up and turn it into a stress buster.

So, you could do this session as a mild fartlek over your favourite beautiful trail. Or you could ramp up the paces and make it a good hard interval session where you pay attention to speeds and splits.

Running can’t always be about what we can give to our running; it should also be about what it can give to us!

I love this sort of session because it’s so flexibility to fit around how we’re feeling on the day and also what unique goals or training situations we might each have.

When there is this flexibility of purpose, it pays to ask yourself what you want from the workout as you’re doing the warm up. If you do want to dial up the intensity, make sure you make that commitment to be all-in from word go. But if you want to pull things back, be sure to keep those first few efforts especially nice and cruisy (like no faster than half marathon pace.