Today's Training

[Travs]

A lot of the British elite also measure lactate during sessions.... particularly those living/training in the USA.

That said....

"All of this is to say that I’m not a big believer in magic workouts or secret training plans. Endurance training involves stressing your cardiovascular system, metabolism, and muscles in a way that spurs them to adapt. There are many different ways of organizing your training in order to accumulate as much of this stress as possible, while allowing enough recovery between sessions. The wheel gets reinvented on a regular basis, but it’s still a wheel."

....is probably the most important paragraph in the entire article.

[Mike T]

A lot of the British elite also measure lactate during sessions.... particularly those living/training in the USA.

That said....

"All of this is to say that I’m not a big believer in magic workouts or secret training plans. Endurance training involves stressing your cardiovascular system, metabolism, and muscles in a way that spurs them to adapt. There are many different ways of organizing your training in order to accumulate as much of this stress as possible, while allowing enough recovery between sessions. The wheel gets reinvented on a regular basis, but it’s still a wheel."

....is probably the most important paragraph in the entire article.

Exactly how much stress is enough but not too much - it would seem going by feel, nor time, is not good enough, hence the lactate measurements.

I can remember going to an Austrian gym to use a treadmill whilst on a ski trip decades ago, watching the young lads running on the spot as fast as possible on pressure mats and checking their blood - I assumed their lactate level - from time to time. I had seen nothing like it in the gym I went to in Suffolk, nor in any gym I have been to since.

[Travs]

Exactly how much stress is enough but not to much - it would seem going by feel is not good enough, hence the lactate measurements.

I can remember going to an Austrian gym to use a treadmill whilst on a ski trip decades ago, watching the young lads running on the spot as fast as possible on pressure mats and checking their blood - I assumed their lactate level - from time to time. I had seen nothing like it in the gym I went to in Suffolk.

Yes that appears to be the theory, but its not the only method.

If you take an event like the 1500mtr (which Ingerbritsen is well known for)....

You have the 1500/3000/5000 guys (again Ingerbritsen a prime example) who are more likely to rely on their strength rather than pure speed, and therefore perhaps more likely to use this method.

Then at the other end of the scale you have the 800/1500 guys who are perhaps more likely to fall back on their top-end speed in the last 150mtrs.... they are perhaps more likely to go way past their lactate threshold in rep sessions.

[Mike T]

"they are perhaps more likely to go way past their lactate threshold in rep sessions..."

But then it will take them ages to recover from that session, and they will not be able to do a similar session for several days, and certainly not later on the same day. Doing 2 tough sessions on the same day is one of the features of the Norwegian Method.

[Travs]

Yes...

I totally agree, there's a lot of sense behind it, and i'd love to try it myself.

Just throwing up a counter-point that its not the only method.

I highly doubt El Guerrouj was measuring his lactate, nor Daniel Komen..... but will anyone ever get near their world records in the 1500m and 3000m.....? Records which have stood for over 25 years and nobody has got close (perhaps they'd have gone even quicker if they were measuring lactate!)

[Travs]

Reccied the first half of the Welsh 1000 (short) this afternoon.

Started off from Ogwen in beautiful sunshine, but by the time I reached the foot of the Gribin grade 1 scramble, I was in zero visibility.... so didn't find out much decent info on that section.

Was quite tricky finding my way across the mile or so to Glyder Fawr summit from the top of the ridge, but I managed it, which will give me confidence tomorrow if conditions are the same.

I really wanted clear conditions to nail the descent to Pen Y Pass, however had to work off a compass bearing. However I found the path with little trouble which is again a confidence booster.... lo and behold it completely cleared up on the way down, so was able to go off-path in hunt of the more direct route, rather than the roundabout, vague path/trod route.... found a good route down the steeper stuff to bring me down the "grassy gully to the tadpole shaped sheepfold" (as described by Dangilbert in the Peris thread)..... although I'll only take it tomorrow in good conditions, otherwise I'll stick to the trods.

Was somewhat distracted half way down when I stopped to chat to a beautiful young lady who was also out on a recce for tomorrow.... if you bump into someone on that side of the mountain you can virtually guarantee they're a fellrunner... there's not much for the tourist on this side of the mountain.
Hopefully renew acquaintances with her on the coach to the start tomorrow.

Then a long easy trot down the Llanberis pass into town.

10.5 miles, 3000ft

[Mossdog]

First run outside of Teesdale for what seems like ages. So, an old favourite, from Weasdale up to Green Bell, along the green trod to Randygill Top, north wards down to Leathgill bridge (a saddle), up t'other side and along to Hooksey and then 180 degrees turn around, back to Randygill, then detour off to Kensgriff top before returning once again to Green Bell and ending down at the car. 1 hr 53 mins, 9.03 miles, 2844 feet. 3 walkers passed on Green Bell (I remembered it's half-term).

Odd weather. Cool easterly, moderate to keen breeze, and obscured views beyond the Hows, but the sun was trying its best. Warm enough to quaff a cuppa while sitting on the bank near to the car, listening to the meadow pipits and skylarks.

[anthonykay]

Beacon Hill, via Buck Hill and Felicity's Wood: only my third run since recovering from Achilles tendonitis. So 61m20s was much faster than I was expecting, even allowing for the short-cut along the field edges at the start, which was at least partly compensated by the long-cut imposed by the closure of an area of Beacon Hill from April to July for conservation reasons.

Depending on how badly my calf stiffens up, I may go to the Carsington race this Friday. The course doesn't look particularly exciting (and I'm not looking forward to a mile or so of flat running along the High Peak Trail), but the distance and climb are almost exactly the same as today's run, so it should be OK as a first race following recovery from an injury.

[Travs]

It was such a beautiful morning in Llanberis that i nearly abandoned my plans and considered doing the Moel Elio ridge instead... however after yesterday's efforts i stayed sensible, drove down to Betwys Y Coed for a little road run.

Took the quiet road, alternative to the A470, down the Conwy Valley towards Llanwrst.... queit valley roads sometimes have a few surprises.... often more undulating than expected, and some blind corners and summits, with no path.... but a short out-and-back gave me 5.5 miles and about 350ft.

That wrapped the week up with 79 miles. Considering i've been taking it easy since tuesday, its a decent total... the long run last monday bank hol, session tuesday, my recce on friday, and yesterday's race, coupled with the 5 mile run down off Snowdon, combined to give a decent total.

A fantastic week, yesterday clearly the highlight of anything i've done running... but generally things going well, i was especially happy with tuesday's km session.

Next week the emphasis is on recovering from yesterday.... will hopefully get to thursday's club session on the grass, but won't even attempt to make it on tuesday. Then next weekend hopefully some kind of hill session.

Next race is the Snowdon Uphill in 4 weeks.... this will be more a pointer towards where i am than yesterday was.... being a 50 minute hard runnable climb, rather than yesterdays rough and technical slog.

[Llani Boy]

Last weeks RATRun was from The Church Inn at Chelmorton. Prior to our arrival there had been a cloud burst and the roads were likes streams. It had stopped raining but some very dark clouds were approaching from Buxton so waterproof jackets were donned. By the time the 10 of us had got up the small hill at the back of the pub we were roasting so the waterproofs were off. Fortunately no more rain fell as we crossed the fields to Flagg where we turned right at the school and more saturated fields up to Pomeroy. The Blinder Lane bridleway and a little tarmac back to The Church.

Only 6 miles and 750 feet in a very steady 56 minutes. Back at The Church we were sat in the beer garden as the pub was snided with folk attending an 80th birthday party. Cheesy and non cheesy chips were washed down with an excellent Deception 4.1% from Abbeydale Brewery.

The reason for the bigger turnout was that it was Matt Nichols last run as he was moving to Penrith at the weekend. Sad to see him go as he was one of our founding members. We bought him an Inov8 voucher so he can have no excuses not to get up those bigger hills. He is one of those annoying runners who just seems to float effortlessly over the ground. He has won a few local races but could have won a lot more if he put his mind to it! He completed his Bob Graham last year and had a decent run in this years Fellsman. He tells us he is going to join Eden Runners and he'll be a good asset to them. One word of warning though, he has a penchant to run naked!