Alternating Tempo Run

For us that hate Marathon Paced Runs

A lot of Marathon training schedules call for a certain amount of Marathon Paced runs. These are generally no longer then just over half distance and can be quite tough sessions to complete. Mainly because they are often done in the middle of a Marathon training program on very tired legs. While this type of run will test the runner mentally on tired legs, it is too short to have any benefit on the lactate clearance system. If the Marathon pace is correct your Heart Rate should not be hitting levels that start generating increased Lactate that we would experience in the last 6 miles of a Marathon. We incorporate shorter/faster tempo runs to achieve this. One way I have found to get the Heart Rate up to these levels while running at marathon pace is to run an alternating tempo with 1/3 at 10K pace and then drop back to marathon pace. Repeating this without taking any rest. Normally I do this on a track 400 @ 10K followed by 800 @ Marathon pace. Anything between 10 and 13 reps is a pretty tough workout. Below is one such workout I did 12 weeks out from Seville. Just to give an idea of where my Heart Rate was against pace at the time, I ran a 12 Mile Marathon pace (7:35) the following week with an average HR of 158.

Rep	400	Pace	800	Pace	400 HR	800 HR
1	01:41.6	06:48.8	03:42.9	07:28.4	146	155
2	01:41.6	06:48.8	03:44.5	07:31.6	160	161
3	01:43.9	06:58.0	03:45.4	07:33.4	161	162
4	01:44.9	07:02.0	03:47.2	07:37.1	162	164
5	01:44.5	07:00.4	03:48.5	07:39.7	164	163
6	01:43.6	06:56.8	03:49.4	07:41.5	164	162
7	01:45.0	07:02.5	03:47.5	07:37.7	165	165
8	01:45.3	07:03.7	03:48.0	07:38.7	166	165
9	01:45.9	07:06.1	03:48.5	07:39.7	167	167
10	01:44.0	06:58.4	03:47.5	07:37.7	169	168
11	01:44.8	07:01.6	03:48.0	07:38.7	170	168
12	01:44.8	07:01.6	03:50.3	07:43.3	171	168

From my notes rep’s 8-12 it was very difficult to maintain the Marathon Pace for the first lap after the 10K burst but I was always recovered enough after the second lap to be able to pick it up again for the fast 400. This is quite a tough workout and is not meant to replace Marathon paced runs but rather to enhance them.