How to train to sustain effort over longer intervals?
Looking for some insight into what to do. I did a 10k today as my mid-OS run test. Well, that was the plan at least. I crashed and burned really hard and it was a slower pace than my half marathon I did Nov 1. Some things were just dumb, like abysmal pacing going out way too hard. I also had a stressful week with very suboptimal sleep. However, this is definitely not the first time this has happened. I really struggle on 5k, 10k distances, much moreso than 10 mile or longer races. I am not good at pushing through that awful feeling of really pushing a hard pace. In training I nail the Z4 intervals (or even overachieve) because I can get through them by telling myself it is just a mile. Sustaining a tough pace for longer than 2 miles seems to be where I fall apart. I know most of this is mental, but I need to train that aspect to. So what can I do in training? Longer intervals? More threshold runs? The OS will now transition into shorter VO2 intervals on Wednesday. On one hand, I think this can help up my VO2, but on the other, I think I need longer durations? HELP PLEASE!
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For sure if you go out way too hard you have a good chance of blowing up!!
WSM Al Truscott recommends that you should do the first 15% of the time interval at 15% below your expected power or pace.
Since I have adopted this approach I almost always get a good/solid test/race time or FTP etc.
So for an FTP test that I expect to be able to achieve an NP of 220 watts for 20 minutes, I sit on 187 watts (220*0.85) for 3 minutes (20*.15). I then let my AP and NP drift up while targeting 220 watts. In the last 5 mins I go all out as per a VO2 max test.
For a 5 km TT, where I expect to be able to do 24 mins (pace = 4 min 48 per km), I sit on 5 min 31 per km (4 min 48 * 1.15) for the first 3 mins 36 (24 * 15%). Then I accelerate up to around 4 min 48 per km and adjust in the last mile as I can.
Before I started using this approach, I thought that is was a bit too conservative. Not now as I am a full believer.
Perhaps you could try this (or similar) approach for racing and testing? It sure works for me.
Almost by definition that cannot be right. Certainly at some (unknown!) pace you could sustain for a really long time. You just seem to have it nailed better on the longer races. I'm curious as to how you think, therefore, that some of these other shorter efforts were paced "properly". You may just be physiologically wired to run slower for longer and thus your 5k and 10k VDOT will never approach your half marathon or long-distance VDOT. Personally I am one of those people...my VDOT suggest a 5k time over a full minute faster than I've ever run a 5k. Just some food for thought.
Rachel, maybe sharing some mile-by-mile metrics from this race would help get closer to steps for improvement? Specifically, time, pace, HR, RPE, any terrain changes (hills), as well as your VDOT.
Personally I only use real races for VDOT testing, and do so at the 15k-13.1mi distances.
As an aside, to the original question of "how do I sustain effort over longer intervals", one thought is to run longer intervals. The EN plan does a lot of 3x1mi and 2x1.5mi intervals at LT / TP / "z4". But you may find it helpful to add a bit more LT work like 4x1mi or 3x1.5mi or 2x2mi. Also you can try less recovery jogging, like 400m between 1mi repeats or 800m between 1.5 or 2mi intervals.
On the occasions that I've thought I was there, to be honest, the "cure" has been to do longer intervals in training at lower paces. If I felt that way, I would drop a couple of the TP or IP workouts to be replaced by 20-40 minute HMP segments.
The thing that's hard for us Type A types to remember is that TP is supposedly what you could run for an hour...in other words, you should be able to run a 10k at TP pretty easily at your real TP. Matt's recipe of having short recovery intervals is sort of like my recipe of having zero recovery intervals... only he's telling you to do it at TP and I'm trying to force you to find your real HMP by having to run half an hour at it. :-)
There is something to be learned about racing certain distances. While EN stacks your fitness up, and we can find our supposed paces on a chart, different races have different "feels" to them. For me, 5k and HM I can dial things in according to charts, but 10ks I can't or I will crash and burn. Also - you will feel like you're "holding back" the first mile to third of a race but the how much will vary according to the race distance. I wonder if part of what's going on for you, Rachel, is a bit of a discipline practice - are you holding back enough? Remember that the negative split is the holy grail of running
I think that when we are racing an event we know we aren't good at, extra planning and care is required -- the kind of things that go right out of the window in a race scenario. So your current EN workouts are a great weekly way to get better at your pacing -- hard efforts, repeatable, end of the last interval faster than start of the first one, etc.
I do agree with longer road race vDOTs being more applicable to long course racing...but the z5k here is about testing your fitness gains, not determining race paces.