Are You Training Too Fast?

Running is an easy sport to take up: buy a pair of trainers and off you go. For this reason , many people run without having ever taken any specific advice on how to train, how often etc. I was for one of them! When I first started running, gait analyses - which consider your unique way of moving and require you to hop on a treadmill in a running shop - were pretty unheard of. I just used to try on a pair of trainers and if they fitted and felt roughly comfortable then that was good enough for me. Never did it occur to me to seek advice about training zones. So I trained for about 30 years in complete oblivion. Most of my training run were done at between 5min/k and 5:30min/k, depending on where I was running (was it hilly?) or whether I was training for a specific event. Little did I know that most of that time I was training too fast. The issue with this, especially if you start logging up high mileage is overtraining and the higher risk of injury. I definitely suffered from both at various times in the past.

Last year, after I signed up for my ultra marathon I decided to look further into this training zones business, with the main aim being to reduce the likelihood of injury, optimise my muscles adaptation and ultimately benefit my running economy. My running coach started by asking me: 'what's your easy pace?'. Hmmm, not sure, 5:30min/k feels easy I guess. I had no clue. As it turns out, the best way to assess easy pace is to ensure that you can hold a full conversation. I tested this: could I hold a full conversation at 5:30min/k? Nope. I had to go right down to about 6min/k in order to do so. Funnily enough, this is the pace my coach had advised me to run at for my easy pace runs based on his calculation. I must admit I found it extremely difficult to stick to that slow pace, mainly because I had never trained at that pace previously. 

So here is the current recommendation from the University of Kent School of Sport and Exercise Science department in terms of training intensity distribution. You should be doing most of your training (about 80%) at easy pace as defined above and a small proportion of up to 20% at high intensity, in the VO2max region (Mile to 5-K pace or faster). You may also want to incorporate some training around lactate threshold but that should only account for a small percentage of your total training load (about 5-10% max).

Also I believe that uphills should be run hard and downhills slow - I see a number of people doing it the other way round. To me the issue with this approach is twofold: first, sprinting downhill may lead to overextension of the leg, which increases the risk of hamstring injury. Also, going slow uphill will not hold the same benefits to running performance as if you ran it fast. It also has the added downside that you spend more time going uphill and this can be psychologically tough.

I came across a convenient training pace calculator that will enable you to estimate your pace in the different training zones, based on recent race. Alternatively some universities' sport science departments regularly run research studies where you would undergo a free VO2max test as part of the study so that would be another route. You could also get one done privately, but depending on your goals it may not be worth the investment.

So check out the pace at which you should be training, and let me know how you get on!