wellnow wrote:
malmo is very insistent that trying to run for 20 minutes at 60 minute race pace is a very stupid idea for most runners. He recomends setting off somewhat slower and speeding up if you feel good. He has a point.
If you had a choice between being personally coached by malmo or JD, it would be preferable to choose the man who is good at math, not the man who thinks he is good at math.
JD has done some great research, but he doesn't apply it in the best way.
Also practically speaking....my bet is that very few runners have done hard run over 30 minutes unless they were racing. So they have no reference point to compare a 20min "tempo" to something longer or more progressed.
The best "tempo runs" I've ever done, and this is nothing more than the feeling of a workout, have been 6-9 miles starting around marathon pace or a tick slower and speeding up to half-marathon effort or faster. The last mile is then balls out.
So for a 2:32/1:10 guy it would look sort of like: 6:00, 5:45, 5:45, 5:30, 5:20, <5:10 or longer: 6:00, 5:45, 5:45, 5:45, 5:45, 5:45, 5:30, 5:30, <5:10.
For the most part, if I tried to start at a pace and keep it consistant it was always a struggle in training VS building up to that pace. Struggle meaning the pace would at some point slow down and I'd have to work hard the next mile to speed up.
Also, you don't need exact mile markers. Find a loop that's around 2miles. Run it hard, repeat, try to increase speed each lap, continue until you can no longer increase speed without "racing".
Alan