Endurance Handbook

AN INTRODUCTIONTO ENDURANCERUNNING

PACE TRAINING

SECTION 6

WEB COPY ©EVEQUE

PACE TRAINING

Why Pace Training is Important The object of pace training is for an athlete to identify and develop the ability to run at a pace of maximum efficiency for a required time or distance. This we refer to as their ”Optimum Pace”. Let us consider the three sections of an endurance race: The Start Running at Optimum Pace The Finish The Start Many young athletes experience problems controlling their speed at the start of an endurance race which in turn can have a significant effect on race performance. At the start of any running event the body has a reserve of energy which can be dissipated before an oxygen debt occurs. Most sprinters when running flat out in a 100 or 200 metre race, with the possible exception of some elite performers like Usain Bolt, hit a point where this reserve is used up and they go into an anaerobic condition, i.e. they get out of breath and start to slow down. It is most important that athletes do not exceed the ‘critical point’ where oxygen debt is incurred. This is seldom more than 50m and is illustrated by the diagram on the following page. The critical point is different for everybody and therefore it is vitally important the athletes know what is right for themselves and are not encouraged to overexert themselves by trying to keep up with others whose critical point might be different to their own. Young athletes who overexert themselves at the start of a race by sprinting for the first 200m, for example, will incur a considerable oxygen debt, will be unable to settle down to their optimum pace (see next page) and will more than likely underperform. The reaching of the critical point depends on how fast above optimum pace the runner goes at the start of the race. In a flat out sprint it is reached at about 40 or 50 metres but from experience an athlete controlling their effort to 80% to 90% of maximum speed will delay the critical point to over 100 metres or more and then be able to settle comfortably to the optimum pace. WEB COPY ©EVEQUE

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