physiological difference between tempos of time

doo doo wrote:

Okay first, you probably don't want to go faster than that 6:00/mile if your goal is to run at lactate threshold. The point is to teach your body to relax while being on the threshold of aerobic and anaerobic running. This raises endurance and is repeatable training because it isn't that taxing on your body.

The old theory is that you clear lactic acid at the same rate you create it, and thus create a lactate buffer. This has been shown to be pseudo science BUT it is still an indicator of clearing hydrogen ions at the rate you create them AND is still accurate in the sense that you are using lactate at the rate you burn it (lactate being a fuel you burn, not the pain causer it used to be thought to be).

So in essence anything faster than your threshold pace is no longer a tempo, but some other sort of steady state workout.

Stuff slower than your lactate threshold, sub threshold, like your 8 miles at LT + 20 seconds is very useful as well because it is again repeatable training that raises aerobic and muscle endurance while not crossing into anaerobic training.

The biggest reason you don't want to cross the threshold is simply because you'll be more sore after (not processing hydrogen ions quickly, as well as pounding.) The more of these you can do without getting sore, the more you can do. This repeatability continues to lower your race pace. It sort of builds on itself.

That said there is a time and place for faster than threshold training, but it's not what you would traditionally call tempo running.

doo doo wrote:

Okay first, you probably don't want to go faster than that 6:00/mile if your goal is to run at lactate threshold. The point is to teach your body to relax while being on the threshold of aerobic and anaerobic running. This raises endurance and is repeatable training because it isn't that taxing on your body.

The old theory is that you clear lactic acid at the same rate you create it, and thus create a lactate buffer. This has been shown to be pseudo science BUT it is still an indicator of clearing hydrogen ions at the rate you create them AND is still accurate in the sense that you are using lactate at the rate you burn it (lactate being a fuel you burn, not the pain causer it used to be thought to be).

So in essence anything faster than your threshold pace is no longer a tempo, but some other sort of steady state workout.

Stuff slower than your lactate threshold, sub threshold, like your 8 miles at LT + 20 seconds is very useful as well because it is again repeatable training that raises aerobic and muscle endurance while not crossing into anaerobic training.

The biggest reason you don't want to cross the threshold is simply because you'll be more sore after (not processing hydrogen ions quickly, as well as pounding.) The more of these you can do without getting sore, the more you can do. This repeatability continues to lower your race pace. It sort of builds on itself.

That said there is a time and place for faster than threshold training, but it's not what you would traditionally call tempo running.

Site your sources wrote:

doo doo wrote:

Okay first, you probably don't want to go faster than that 6:00/mile if your goal is to run at lactate threshold. The point is to teach your body to relax while being on the threshold of aerobic and anaerobic running. This raises endurance and is repeatable training because it isn't that taxing on your body.

The old theory is that you clear lactic acid at the same rate you create it, and thus create a lactate buffer. This has been shown to be pseudo science BUT it is still an indicator of clearing hydrogen ions at the rate you create them AND is still accurate in the sense that you are using lactate at the rate you burn it (lactate being a fuel you burn, not the pain causer it used to be thought to be).

So in essence anything faster than your threshold pace is no longer a tempo, but some other sort of steady state workout.

Stuff slower than your lactate threshold, sub threshold, like your 8 miles at LT + 20 seconds is very useful as well because it is again repeatable training that raises aerobic and muscle endurance while not crossing into anaerobic training.

The biggest reason you don't want to cross the threshold is simply because you'll be more sore after (not processing hydrogen ions quickly, as well as pounding.) The more of these you can do without getting sore, the more you can do. This repeatability continues to lower your race pace. It sort of builds on itself.

That said there is a time and place for faster than threshold training, but it's not what you would traditionally call tempo running.

Interesting. Sources?