V 02 Max heart rate monitor work out

[Dstew]

Trying to get my fast twitch muscles, among other things, ready to work for the upcoming race season. The longest race is likely going to be 7 K and the shortest 5 K. Decided to get a heart rate monitor on its own so I cannot see pace or distance.

My question is, given this, what would be the best v 02 work out. From what I can gather, I want to get my heart rate over 90% of the max but where it is not clear is how long I should do that for. Especially with a focus on essentially a 5 K race. I have read anywhere from 14 X 400 meters to 3 X 1,200 m.

Your input would be greatly appreciated.

[Jwolf]

I'm not fast and don't have advice on specific workouts that would work for you, but in theory, HR is not a good indicator for VO2max workouts. Especially for short intervals-- you're not at the high enough intensity for long enough to see your HR respond.

[ian]

Agree with Jenn here: VO2 intervals don't tend to linger at a specific HR because they're fairly short and begin from a somewhat well rested state. They can be a good way to estimate maximum HR in order to establish other training zones. Granted that I don't train by HR, but this is one kind of workout where I'd especially want to go by a watch, as 10 seconds per K in either direction on the first few intervals can really change the impact of the last few.

[jgore]

A workout that doesn't fit the VO2 formula but definitely works on fast-twitch fibres is the ever-painful 30/30/30:
30 sec. as fast as possible, 30 sec. slow jog, repeat 30 times.

(A good starting place is 3 x 30/30/10. At first it doesn't feel too bad. After a few, the discomfort builds in a real hurry. I was ready to puke after 10, so did a slow jog for several hundred metres before starting again.)

[MichaelMc]

A workout that doesn't fit the VO2 formula but definitely works on fast-twitch fibres is the ever-painful 30/30/30:
30 sec. as fast as possible, 30 sec. slow jog, repeat 30 times.

(A good starting place is 3 x 30/30/10. At first it doesn't feel too bad. After a few, the discomfort builds in a real hurry. I was ready to puke after 10, so did a slow jog for several hundred metres before starting again.)

This sounds a bit like a "Billat" workout; not sure if that is what you're thinking of. The key difference is in a Billat workout you are going a specific pace, not "as fast as possible". A Billat workout is very definitely aimed at VO2 max, and involves running at a pace that forces you to VO2 max. Here is a write up on it: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0350.htm It sounds a bit complicated, but once you find the correct speed you need to go it is uncomplicated to do. I almost wrote "easy", but that would be misleading What I did instead of using a track was use a straight path and mark out the distance: run the distance in 30 seconds, jog 15 seconds farther, 15 seconds back to the start point then go again.

Generally speaking, VO2 max intervals have been 2-5 minutes long at ~98% effort with equal time rests between them. 800m run with 400 jog rest is an "old school" VO2max workout, but the distance can vary according to your speed and endurance. The object is to get as much time at VO2 max as you can; it takes a bit of time to hit VO2 max, hence the longer effort, but the effort is high enough you can't sustain it for overly long. If you don't FULLY recover between the intervals you reach VO2 max progressively sooner, but you also don't want lactic acid buildup to be the limiting factor, so recovery has to be long enough to clear it. Billat's 30 sec/30 second (or her advanced 3 minute/3 minute ) workouts still honor the equal time ratio.

I do look at my heart rate toward the end of a good Interval workout: it should be 95%+ for intervals of 3 minutes or more. On the other hand it is pretty tough for me to get a good look at a HRM when I'm moving that fast.

[dgrant1]

the ever-painful 30/30/30:
30 sec. as fast as possible, 30 sec. slow jog, repeat 30 times.

Ah, you remember those, huh?

[jgore]

the ever-painful 30/30/30:
30 sec. as fast as possible, 30 sec. slow jog, repeat 30 times.

Ah, you remember those, huh?

How could I not? They almost killed me.

And it was all your fault.

[La]

the ever-painful 30/30/30:
30 sec. as fast as possible, 30 sec. slow jog, repeat 30 times.

Ah, you remember those, huh?

Hey, Denis! Long time no post!

[Dstew]

Maybe related topic.

Not sure if this is psychological or physiological. Before I started running marathons, I was in the 41 minute range for the 10 K races and just under 20 minutes for 5 K. Started to get serious about marathons and there are certain days where I swear it takes me 3 - 4 K just to warm up but if I push it too hard from the start, I am wheezing by 5 K. I seem to have lost about 4 minutes on each distance and although some is age related, not all. Just wondering if there are any other work out suggestions to get my body ready or retrained or whatever to get started much quicker as I have decided the shorter races are good enough for me and a hell of a lot of fun. Run until you puke and hope that is 5.1 k and not 4.9 K.

My problem is the old regime, before marathons of steady paced run of 10-15 K, tempo run of about 9 K and some intervals is lacking. As I said, I get the sense I have to rewire the muscles as I am telling them that they will not have to run 32 K does not seem to be working. It is almost as if my body is saying, you are telling me no more marathon distance long runs but I am going to hold something back in case you are lying.

[Kristen]

It is almost as if my body is saying, you are telling me no more marathon distance long runs but I am going to hold something back in case you are lying.

I can relate to this. Before my tempo run last night, I did a 25-minute session on the elliptical, walked 800m, and ran 2.4K. Then I was finally loose enough to do an 8K tempo (forget VO2 intervals). Needless to say, I do wonder what kind of a warm-up I'd have to do for a 5K road race... and what kind of training I'd have to do in order to convince my body that it needed to start fast and that it wouldn't have to carry that for a few hours.

[MichaelMc]

In the midst of heavy volume marathon training I certainly find it takes me more time to get warmed up on a run. This is probably more pronounced on a long easy run after a harder run (long run or speed work). Whether it is physical or psychological, I can't say, I always seem to be able to hit my speedwork, but whether that is good scheduling or just meeting expectations is hard to say. A big part of my marathon training plans is putting runners heavily into overall fatigue: they (and I) start many workouts already fatigued from the workload. When you put your body under enough pressure to force it to adapt it takes energy and your body is going to signal "don't push me too far!". Riding that line (tired but getting stronger) is what optimized training is all about.

Dstew, if you are setting your sights on shorter distance racing and want to get some zip back in your legs here are some things you might want to try. You want to make your running FUN, and you want to develop some explosiveness. I'd suggest setting out a plan with progressive speedwork. Do some plyometrics to get some jump first, after a few weeks of that do some short steep hill sprints. Next step might be doing solid strides (20 second accelerations), then Repetitions and intervals. One other day a week you can throw some fartleks into an easy run. Go HARD on your speed, but keep your other runs easy and fun (run with friends, or with music, or somewhere really nice). Some friendly competition always helps me stay focused.

To me distance running is all about efficiency, steadiness, repetition, conservation and steadiness: not too exciting. Shorter races are where the adrenaline is. XC racing is interesting that way, because the courses don't allow me to go into "autopilot", which is where I live in marathons. I intentionally jumped into a few XC's at the end of last season for exactly that reason: I was TOO good at cruise control (thus bursts of speed gave me fits). Teach your body it is Ok to go REALLY HARD for a while, because you won't have to maintain it for 3 hours.

[dgrant1]

Hey, Denis! Long time no post!

Hi Leslie! Yeah, I know... me bad!

[Pat Menzies]

Specificity in training. If you want to learn how to warm-up faster practice doing that. It is extremely unlikely that you will hurt yourself unless you are actually sprinting.
It is partially the learned ability to motivate yourself and get your body in high gear without jogging around waiting for it to happen.