How Do I Know When To Increase My Pace

Audio Transcript

Claire: Here’s goes today question, “Hi. I would like to know, when is it time to increase my training paces? My temple pace is around 840, and I’m wondering how many months of training with that temple pace I should continue at, before I start to increase the pace over time. Thank you.”

This is a really good question because it’s not something that you can type into Google and find a really clear answer to.

When do you know how to change up your pace? One of the ways that people get injured is by going too fast for their ability. It’s a great question on how to get to a faster speed but do it safely. It doesn’t matter what particular pace you are at; it’s all relative to you.

The best way to answer this question is to not quite get so worked up about this actual pace or the number on your watch.

You’re going to have to answer this question by feel. There is no one out there that can answer that question for you and there is no clear cut answer.

The only way you can figure this out is to do a test. You need to learn how to run by effort. Don’t look at the watch and see what happens.

You mentioned temple runs. What should a temple run feel like? It’s hard when you’re starting off to know if you haven’t run all these paces before. Is this too fast? Is this too slow? How do I know if I’m training properly?

I’m going to take some time to break down the different kinds of runs and tell you a little bit about what they are for and what they should feel like.

You’ll know when you actually attempt one of these runs if you are in the proper pace zone for you.

Temple runs are great. They are kind of the bread and butter of marathon training, and they are a good solid effort. They are typically about a half marathon effort or marathon-paced effort depending on exactly what you’re trying to do.

They are also called the lactate threshold run. That is the fastest pace that you can run without generating more lactic acid than your body can effectively use for fuel. It’s something that you can only handle for about 30 to 45 minutes and not a whole lot longer during a regular training run.

It should feel hard but controlled. It’s not a walk in the park. A temple run is a good solid run, but it’s not everything you’ve got.

A great way to figure out exactly what I’m talking about is do a little talk test. If you’ve got a friend running with you, that’s even better. During a temple run, you should be able to speak about one or two sentences.

As far as breathing goes, there is a couple of breathing techniques or breathing patterns that are generally associated with different kinds of runs.

For a temple run, that’s about 2:2 ratio. What that means is, you’re breathing in for two steps and you’re breathing out for two counts.

You have a nice deep breath, bring it into your lungs and it should go down to your belly and have a nice controlled exhale.

A temple run should never feel panicky, neither should it feel forced. However, it should not feel easy. This is a good quality run and it’s definitely not something that you can do all day long.

This is a tough run, but it is not considered at the top end of your ability. It’s a good solid run.

When you are running your 840 pace and you feel like you can go a little bit faster, go ahead and try to speed up a little bit.

Even better, don’t look at your watch at all and get to that point where you feel like you could only speak about one or two sentences and only keep it up for 30 or 45 minutes.

Some other runs out there are the steady run. A steady run is slower than a temple run. It’s anywhere from 10 seconds faster than your current fitness for a marathon pace, not your goal marathon pace, just your current fitness, to 30 seconds slower than a marathon pace. That’s 40 seconds and it makes a huge difference.

The only way to determine this well is by effort, and this will be different with each day. In the thick of heavy marathon training, you’ll want to go to that slower end because you’ve been working so hard.

If you are feeling fresh or good, 10 seconds under a marathon pace might feel like a nice steady effort.

What does a steady run feel like? A steady run feels comfortably hard. What does comfortably hard mean? It’s something that you could sustain for about an hour, but it’s definitely not easy. You can breathe in 3:3 ratio, that’s three counts in and three counts out.

As far as talking, you can speak a paragraph, or three or four sentences, but you’re not exactly going to be able to sing a song. It’s still a hard effort, but it’s not as hard as a temple run.

How about speed work or V02 Max? That is something that a lot of runners really love because you can get out there on the track, or on the road, and really push the pace.

The trick to this is that it’s really too easy to go too fast at the beginning and then fall apart at the end.

With any kind of speed worker intervals, you want to dial it back a notch or sand bag the first couple of intervals, so that you are strong and consistent throughout the entire workout.

Generally V02 Max workouts are at about 5K pacer faster.

What’s the definition of a V02 Max workout? It’s the maximum amount of oxygen that the body can use during the workout.

Training at your V02 Max increases the amount of oxygen the body can use, which will make you a faster runner. This is something that you don’t want to do every single day.

V02 Max is at the top end of your ability, so it’s best saved for once a week. Some advanced runners can do it twice a week.

We want about 80% of your running to be easy and only 20% of your running to be faster running.

V02 Max is at the top end of your running. It’s only a few percentage points of your running.

The good thing is you are going so much faster than you normally do. It kind of forces your body into good form because as soon as you start getting sloppy, you can’t run as fast, and it becomes much, much harder.

The quick little bursts of fast running will keep in you good form and make you a better runner for your races.

What does V02 Max feel like? It almost feels like you’re giving everything you’ve got. It’s almost your maximum effort. You’re going to be breathing really hard.

You should not be going so fast that you have to drop to your knees at the end of any interval. You should be able to do one or two more reps at the end of your workout. It’s not something that you can sustain for very long. It’s almost everything but not quite everything.

As for your V02 Max breathing, some people do 1:2 ratio, while others do 2:1 ratio: two breaths in, one breath out.

Some people do one breath in, two breaths out. I tend to have a one breath in, two breaths out when I’m running hard, but that is up to you. Do whatever you feel powers you the best, but maintain some control.

When you start breathing 1:1 in-out, in-out with every single step, that’s hyperventilating, and you’re not actually effectively bringing as much oxygen to your body with those shallow quick breaths. You still need to maintain some deeper breathing, but it’s certainly going to be faster when you’re doing these V02 Max workouts than the steady or the temple runs.

About the talk test, basically when you’re running a V02 Max workout, you shouldn’t be able to talk. Maybe you can blurt out a word or two at the beginning, half an interval, but by the end, you should not be able to talk.

However, most of your time as a runner should be spent running easy. What does that feel like? Running easy is one of the hardest things to get people to do. It’s not hard to get runners to run fast but it’s hard to get them to run slow.

What should an easy run feel like? For most people, it feels uncomfortable because they are not used to running super slow.

You should be able to have an entire conversation while you are running easy – almost as if you are standing still. A good way to test if you are running easy is to try to breathe only out of your nose.

It’s quite challenging to do if you are running at any kind of speed. Give that a little try; breathe in and out only through your nose and see how long you can keep that up. I guarantee you that it will make you run slower which is exactly what we want.

So how do you know when it’s time to increase your paces? The best way is by effort and not by pace at all.

Try out some of these runs and see how they feel. When you get back from the run, check out what your paces are.

If you are able to run your temple run and it felt hard but controlled, look and watch at the end and see what that pace was. That will give you a better sense of how you’re progressing and where you need to improve.

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