Of Mice and Marathons

Nice workout Jason. I like that it's deceptively difficult, too. Easier to convince yourself to go for it.

I think I've figured out what aerobic threshold is. For me, until I start doing workouts at a specific "threshold" I really don't know what they are.. How would you describe LT?

Longer response on LT tomorrow, but basically 60-75ish minute pace. Half marathon pace for the faster folks 1:00-1:15. 15k pace is a good rule. Mine was 10-mile pace last buildup (I think my 15k and half were within a few seconds). Trying to improve my LT to run 1:15-1:16 in my Nov half.

It's a good training pace to improve your half a full marathon paces.

Matt: I guess I pretty much explained it above, but it is basically the pace at which your muscles are buffering lactic acid (your legs begin to feel like lead, and you can even taste it sometimes). Train your LT and you can teach the body to remove it more efficiently and at faster paces. As far as effort goes, it feels "comfortably hard," meaning you aren't completely gassed in the first 2 minutes but you may be questioning whether you can hold the pace for a given workout and you may feel like quitting on the last few repeats or intervals.

When your half and 15k paces get faster, it's easier to break up the time or distance for your LT. I generally do 5 or 6 x 1 mile w/ about 2 minute recoveries.

After your next race, use the McMillian calculator to get an idea of your LT. 4 x 1 mile or even 3 x 1 mile @ LT pace would be a fine place to start, but there are any number of ways to do a LT workout. This one just works out to be 30 minutes and that's a good number to work up to. At peak, I'll do as much as 45-50 minutes broken up. Just fun to mix things up!

That helps clarify it quite a bit. I made an attempt at a 3x 1 mile tonight. I think the effort was right where it needed to be. (The whole GI thing didn't let me get the full benefit of the workout). This Saturday I'm running a local 5k so that'll be giving me an accurate time to take to McMillan.

I think I'll really benefit from these types of workouts. I feel like I've been challenging my legs much more than I've been pushing my heart/lungs to the limit.