Tempo training can take your performance to next level
May 6, 2011
If you want to be a stronger, more efficient Bellin Run participant, your best bet is to immediately start incorporating tempo runs into your training routine.
The 2011 Bellin Run is at 8 a.m., Saturday, June 11. Get on out and start training today for an optimal race-day performance.
Bellin Health running specialist, Nate Vandervest, offers the following information on tempo training:
Simply put, tempo runs will get you race-ready. Tempo runs condition your body to use oxygen more efficiently. Over time, your body will increase the speed you are able to run before lactic acid – that burning feeling in your muscles, a byproduct of your body working at a very high level – begins to accumulate in your blood.
When all of these byproducts or “waste” products build up in the muscles, the muscles must then slow down in order to give the body time to dispose of them. But if we train our bodies at a higher intensity, say, through tempo training, our bodies will become more efficient and quicker at getting the waste out of our cells. The result – we will run faster.
To use a car analogy, tempo runs will allow your body’s engine to rev faster and longer before red-lining.
How to do a tempo run
• Start with a half-mile to 1-mile tempo run and every week add more distance
• You do not need to build up to the full distance of the race for which you are training
• Only do this type of run once a week
• Go at a fairly fast pace during a tempo run, somewhere between 10 to 20 seconds slower than your race pace or 88 to 92 percent of your max heart-rate
• Running experts can help you incorporate this into your training program
Contact Bellin Health XL Athletic Performance, the official training site for the Bellin Run, at (920) 430-4722 for more information.
