Long Winter Season, Treadmill Speed Work!

From Triathlete.com

Coach Brett Sutton, is amazing, spending many months on the treadmill will make you crazy, batty or just board. You need to shack it up, but what to do, Crossfit Endurance, yea that works, for shoter distances and give you a heck of a speed workout. The book Unbreakable Runner has a great 8 week, 5k plan. Coach Sutton has this workout that well is amazing, try it to change things up.

The Staple Treadmill Session

Jan and I spent a season and a half getting it right, which has become a staple for my squad ever since. Jan was from the old school of non-drafting triathletes—a good swimmer, super biker and a runner who would just get home with whatever he could. However, he wanted to go to the Olympics (a drafting event which heavily bias the faster runners), so we had to try something radical. Cue the treadmill.

We tried all sorts of distances, gradients and workouts trying to find a combination that would develop not just his aerobic function, but stimulate his turnover and build muscle strength to give him the drive forward that as a “natural” runner he just didn’t have.

The session we found that activated all three in a way that the body could adapt to without injury was this:

2x[30 seconds at 2%, then 30 seconds rest]
2x[30 seconds at 4%, then 30 seconds rest]
2x[30 seconds at 0%, then 30 seconds rest]
Run six times with an extra 30 seconds rest between each set of six intervals.
Speed was at race pace for the entire workout.
This short rest model helped with keeping condition and the aerobic function was maintained through the six repetitions.

Any less than six sets and the aerobic component would be compromised, any more and you lose the neuromuscular advantage as the body gets too tired to hold the required speed. Similarly, any more than 4 percent and we lost the advantage of being able to hold the gradient at race pace losing the strength or muscle adaptation we were looking for.

That set is the diet of every run-challenged athlete that walks into my door and wants to improve—pro or age group. As mentioned, it was completed two days ago by the current Olympic champion, just as it was done yesterday by two of my age group athletes. The only difference was a 5K an hour drop in speed.

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The Perfect Running Interval - Triathlete.com

High-intensity interval sessions are key for boosting fitness. Here’s how to work them into your training.

While endurance buffs often revel in long, slow runs, any good training regimen will also include some high-intensity sessions. This often comes in the form of interval training, which can create significant jumps in fitness. “Ultimately, as endurance athletes, we want to be able to sustain as fast a speed as possible over the duration of our events,” says Krista A. Schultz, an exercise physiologist and triathlon coach for Endurance Works in Boulder, Colo. “Proper training including workouts aimed at increasing speed will improve one’s lactate threshold (LT), the point at which lactate is produced at such a rapid rate it cannot be cleared. The benefit of interval training is that it helps us increase our LT.”

New research offers insight into the ideal length of the intervals themselves, as well as how to best recover. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic pulled together 37 separate studies on interval training and VO2max to get a clearer picture of what scientists collectively know about interval training. They identified 3–5-minute intervals as being the most effective.

Another recent study out of Great Britain examined the recovery piece. While some coaches favor complete rest between intervals, this research revealed that active recovery was more effective in clearing metabolites from the muscles. This, in turn, allows athletes to recover faster between high-intensity bouts when they keep moving, which also likely leads to better performance during those subsequent intervals. “Running easy or jogging between intervals will help clear lactic acid quicker because it is being reused as fuel at a faster rate when you’re moving around,” Schultz says.

The next time you’re headed to the track or trail for some high-intensity training, consider the following workouts. Start with workout 1 before graduating to 2 and 3. Keep in mind that intervals should not be performed all-out. This means that it should feel difficult, but you shouldn’t be sprinting. The point of these workouts is to be able to do multiple intervals, not crash and burn after the first couple.

RELATED: Interval Workouts To Try On The Track

Interval Workout 1
– Warm up 10 min
– 5×3 min at 5K pace
– Jog easy for 3 min between each
– Cool down 10 min

Interval Workout 2
– Warm up 10 min
– 4×4 min at 5K pace
– Jog easy for 2 min between each
– Cool down 10 min

Interval Workout 3
– Warm up 10 min
– 4×5 min at 5K pace
– Jog easy 2:30 between each
– Cool down 10 min

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50 Mile Mountain Bike Race, Bearscat 50

$65 this is a great deal for 5+ hours of racing, get the season started off right!
Black Bear Cycling
The Bearscat 50 presented by Black Bear Cycling is returning for its fifth year in 2015.
The race will have a Field Limit of 300 Riders. The Field limit is due to an agreement with the Park and not because we only want 300 riders. If it were up to us we would open it to anyone that is willing to take on the terrain of the park and suffer for the day.
No Annual USAC License Required.
The race will be held on Sunday, June 7, 2015 and will consist of 2 x 25 mile laps for a total of 50 miles of mixed singletrack, double track and fire roads covering some of the best riding in Northern New Jersey. Many have seen a small portion of the park in our annual Wawayanda Spring Cleaning race held every May. You can take in that race in May 2015 also to get a preview of some of the trails you will be seeing but for this race you will see a whole lot more of the park.
Camping available
For 2015 this will be free of charge at the Park's group campsite. This is primitive camping. Tents only, No RVs.
Course
The 2015 Course is similar to 2013. If other options become available and it would make the race better we will entertain those options. Course may be altered from original plan in the event of weather or other uncontrollable conditions. Map
Registration
Entry Fee includes race fee, event specific item, post event food. Registration opened January 19th 2015. BikeReg.com
Pre-registration only.
There will be NO RACE DAY REGISTRATION. NO REFUNDS. If you sign up in January and then decide in June you haven't done your off season training it will be up to you to sell your spot and notify us of the change. There will be a fee of $10 to transfer entries.
Black Bear Cycling