4 Gears…

I was on a run last night when story line came to me.  I was doing a slow run on the trail system here when a cyclist pulled ahead of me.  Thinking nothing of it I continued running but the cyclist couldn’t shake me.  I didn’t change gears, I just kept the same speed.  After about 3 minutes of her in front of me I re-passed her.  She turned to me and said "Man you’re fast!  I’ve been trying to keep up with you since awhile back!"

My running has come a long way this year (just since January).  Every year I start off really slow and always worry if I will get fast enough.  My gut always tells me to trust in my training while my "Rogers" side says go balls to the wall and skip the slow stuff.

Well, after some slow months I have started to arrive at good form for the race season.  This was done by  following 4 simple running rules; I call them gears.

Gear 1: This is my "recovery" zone which for me is <70% heart rate.  This is used on easy days or after hard workouts to flush out the lactic acid in the legs.  In a typical week, I spend about 20-25% in this zone.  In the starting weeks of training I spend less time here and gradually add more as I add more intensity workouts.

Gear 2: This is my "aerobic" zone which for me is from 68-76/77% heart rate.  I spend the majority of the week in this zone.  All my long stuff, warm-ups and jogs are done in this zone.  It stresses the body enough but doesn’t tax it, leaving me feeling more rested.  During the week I spend 50% in this zone alone.  In the winter months, it can be as high as 85-90%.  Putting more time into this zone will make you faster when you get to the two higher zones.

Gear 3: This is my "tempo" or "hill" zone which for me is 78-85%.  I usually incorporate this zone year round to help me reserve some speed.  I use this gear a lot in my brick workouts.  This speed is a little slower than race pace.  Typically I do from 5% to 15% year round in this zone.

Gear 4: "Interval" zone which is 85%+.  The hard stuff.  This suposedly is where you gain your speed which I agree to some extent.  A lot people spend way too much time in this gear and it usually puts them into physio or in a burnout.  I am a prime example of this as my first two years of running always ended in both.  Last year I got a little smarter and waited longer in the season to add this gear.  However, I ended up burning out because of the quantity that I added.  This year I’ve waited much longer to add this gear (started in May rather than February).  The result?  I’ve got the same speed but I’m still feeling fresh. 

I truly believe that you must find a balance with these 4 speeds.  If you can picture a triangle with the bottom being gear 1and the peak being gear 4, this is how  I believe training time should look like.  If any of these zones are built without the strength of the gear before it then you will collapse.  Take the time to build each one up and you will find that you’ll be feeling stronger and faster.

If you’re hesitant to try it let me share this, in January most of my long runs (all in Gear 2) were done at 5:45-6:00 km/min pace.  In March I was down to about 5:25-5:45 km/min pace and now in June I am where I was last year running at 5:00-5:15 km/pace.  All because I stuck to my plan.  I didn’t cheat, I just knew the body would adapt and it has done so. 

Belief and constancy, the two cornerstones of training.  I hope you can achieve some success too.

Happy (Time Trialing Friday) Trainin!

Cliff