Step-up runs, surge runs and cheating.

Step-up runs, surge runs and cheating.

I know I’m guilty of using phrases and not explaining them.  I do this when I talk about my training.  Two types of training runs you hear me talk about are step-up runs and surge runs.

What is a step-up run?  A step-up run is a type of tempo training designed to give you strength and confidence in your races.  The theme of a step-up run is to start out slow, incrementally step-up your pace and finish strong.

You can do these using distances or time, and you can measure them with pace, HR or perceived effort.  An example from my training would be a 1:20 step-up.  10 minutes warm up, Run 10 minutes in zone 2, step up to 30 minutes in zone 3, step up to 20 minutes in zone 4 and then cool down for 10 minutes.

These are very challenging tempo runs, but they are very rewarding and very specific to building the kind of fitness you need for racing.  They teach you a number of key racing lessons and condition you to a number of key racing competencies.

First, they drill you in what different effort levels at different paces feel like.  They get you comfortable with these effort levels and paces, like building a quiver full of arrows that you can choose from.

Second they train you, condition you to build into a race and finish strong.  This is the awesome but seldom attainable negative split race strategy that allows you to close the race like a pro.  I speak from experience that the last couple of successful Boston’s I’ve run have been negative split runs. There is nothing more wonderful than dropping the pace and powering down the back side of Heart Break towards the CITGO sign while everyone fades around you.

The step-up runs teach you to spread the effort appropriately to have it when you need it and finish strong.

Finally, the step-up run teaches you to become comfortable with discomfort.  Those last 20 minutes in zone 4, in the example I gave, are a small slice of hell on Earth.  I have had to pull up short and walk in many of these, but by testing I have learned my limits and what it feels like to run at them and hold that needle in the red zone while your body screams at you to stop.

That’s what a step-up run is.

The other bread and butter run that coach Jeff assigns is the Surge run.  These come in two flavors, one shorter and one longer.  The mechanics of a surge run is to run in a relaxed zone 2-3 but throw in a zone 4 surge every 20 minutes and close the run in zone 4 at the end.

Again, this conditions your body to close a race well.  The surges in the middle of the run mix things up and keep it interesting.  An example of this for me would be a 2:15 surge run, which is basically a long run with surges every 20 minutes.

What does this teach you?  The first purpose of the run is to get your body used to different effort levels, but more importantly it allows you to practice in-race transitions.  There are lots of times in a race where you will be forced out of your comfort zone mid-race, for a hill or a competitive surge.  Your body needs to know how to transition into this harder effort and then out of it without falling apart.  Part of the definition of fitness is this ability to seamlessly transition between states of effort. It teaches you how to control the intensity dials of your machine.

That’s what a surge run is.

Let me close this vignette with a word on cheating.  No, not that kind of cheating, I mean cheating on the things that are going to make you successful.

Where I am in my running career I can’t run every day.  I can’t put in 50 mile weeks on the road.  My body won’t take the abuse.  The good news is that I don’t have to.  I’ve found a balance where I can train 3 days a week running, keeping it at a level of volume and intensity that keeps the injury specters from haunting my door.

It’s not just the running.  It’s the other 4 core and bike workouts I’m doing, and the stretch and the foot massaging.  All these things are allowing me to pursue the marathon again.

I hear you folks talking.  I hear about you not doing your stretching, your core and your cross training.  You can’t cheat.  You have to bring the same commitment, consistency, passion and intensity to these cross training workouts.

No cheating.

This cross training is not a secondary activity, a red-headed step child to your running.  They are part of a whole.  A holistic approach to fitness that I hope will keep me on the trails for years to come, competing at a worthy level for my fitness and ability.

The next time you think about skipping your core workout, or mailing it in, or doing it half-heartedly, remember what I said.

No cheating.