Normally I do a stand alone 5 mile tempo run at 6:20-6:40. I'm trying and currently failing to run sub 18. I keep running 18:10.
I was thinking of interspersing this tempo run with easy miles, so 1 mile tempo / 1 mile easy (x 5).
Obviously it would make the tempo run a 10 mile run instead of 5, but could this help my endurance at all? My training is stale and I need something new.
Edit: there was something else I wanted to add.
When I do that stand alone 5 mile tempo run, it feels reasonably easy.
However, if I try to do say a 90 minute long run and drop down to tempo pace for 5 miles, I really struggle to do that. Is that a lack of strength or something else?
5 miles at 6:30 is too tough of a tempo for an 18:10 guy. Slow down.
Also again 90 minutes with 5 at tempo is way too intense for someone at your level. Do the 3.5-5mile tempo on one day and the long run on another.
Sounds like you’re running yourself into the ground
You think so? The jack Daniels calculator says I should do 6:15 pace for a tempo run so I thought 6:20-6:40 was taking it easy.
well I think the 6:15 figure means that you should be doing 20min/5k tempos at that pace. If you go longer then you need to slow it down.
6:35-6:45 ish would be about right for 5 miles. That's a solid workout. 6:20 pace is tough on the body, even if you don't necessarily feel it. It's gonna take more out of you than you think especially in one long stint. It's right in the threshold range and not something I would personally be doing in any kind of continuous block.
If you wanna get a bit more in though a good 50 mins at the lowest end of tempo around 6:50-70 and you'd start to see some benefits of being stronger on the longer runs when you wanna add some pace to them.
Vary your pace a bit. Try the Moneghetti Fartlek.
stuckon18 wrote:
You think so? The jack Daniels calculator says I should do 6:15 pace for a tempo run so I thought 6:20-6:40 was taking it easy.
The problem with Daniels calculator is that it assumes you have a perfect running economy and can run as good of a marathon as you can an 800m.
An effective way to break through barriers like this is to fluctuate the intensity and length of your tempo runs.
Every week you could vary between something like 2x2 miles with 5-10 minutes active/jogging rest shooting for sub 12:30, and then do something like 6-8 miles shooting for 6:40s to 6:50s. That way you are working both above and under your threshold which will make it drop to a faster pace, which in turn will make you improve.
Typically, if you are at any point going “oh crap, I don’t know if I will be able to finish this” during a tempo run you’re going a bit too fast.