Coe: Go for quality not quantity
DURING my career, I was famously known for favouring high quality training rather than high quantity training. This approach made sense to me then and it still holds true today. However, despite the fact that it is 30 years since I went to my first Olympic Games, there still seems to be too much emphasis on quantity rather than quality.
I strongly believe that a triathlete seeking to maximise their performance should put some quality into their running. Obviously you need to put in the miles with long steady runs to develop the endurance you need for such a tough event. However, by substituting one of these ‘steady state’ sessions for some tempo work you will find you look and feel much more like a competitor during that final but crucial stage of the triathlon.
Here are some suggestions for how to add some high quality running into your training.
TEMPO RUNNING
If all your running at the moment consists of comfortable, steady pace running then this may be the best way to start to introduce speed work. A tempo run may typically last from 20-45 minutes and is right on your anaerobic threshold. Some people have described this as being ‘comfortably hard’. You will know that you are working but you should be able to sustain the pace throughout the duration of the run. Start off with shorter runs and then gradually build the distance to improve your speed endurance.
MEDIUM TRACK INTERVALS
These are the next stage if you are already regularly using tempo runs. Personally I liked to use distances of 800-1200m for these sessions. You will find your own pace but as a guide you should be running significantly quicker than race speed and be able to maintain an even pace through the distance and from the first to the last rep. Here are some suggestions for effective sessions:
• 6-8 x 800m with 1:1 recovery
• 4-6 x 1200m with 1:0.5 recovery
SHORT TRACK INTERVALS
These are really the icing on the cake for a triathlete and I would probably only recommend them to high level competitors who are already very adept at speed training.
For example:
• 10-15 x 200m with walk back recovery
• 100m – 200m – 300m – 400m – 300m – 200m – 100m
If you experiment with these ideas and stick with them consistently you should see big improvements in your running. Good luck.
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