I got a new workout schedule today and on a few days it says 8 miles w/ strides. To my best recollection strides are a small sprint at the end of a long run. Is that right? Can someone please define what " strides " constitutes in a workout? Thanks.
I got a new workout schedule today and on a few days it says 8 miles w/ strides. To my best recollection strides are a small sprint at the end of a long run. Is that right? Can someone please define what " strides " constitutes in a workout? Thanks.
strides:
6-10x 60-100m at race pace. recovery is just a few seconds.
i have my kids break it into thirds: 1st third--build up. middle--full speed and hold. last third--gradual decrease in speed.
I also believe that there should be an emphasis on form and staying relaxed...
Sounds right, so cal. Good summary.
I had my distance runners focus on turnover, rather than stride length, when they did these. (So we usually called them "pickups"--as in "pick up the tempo.")
I wasn't particularly concerned about recovery times; in fact, I wanted the runners to get their breath back before starting the next one (didn't want them to turn into high-lactate "wind sprints). But yeah, if you do 'em right they really don't *require* very long rests.
Sometimes we had them alternate stretches and pickups, which seemed to help with recovery for the next day's workout.
Keep them to less than 20 seconds to avoid lactate buildup. They are for form, turnover, and dynamic stretching.
Thanks for the help guys, very descriptive. Consider this post closed.