OK, I’ll confess. I have been slacking on my speedwork. You know, those workouts that everyone says will help your pace, but they do more to kick your butt than anything. At least they feel that way. I only have two that I do; tempo runs and gentle pickups. Lately, I haven’t done any pickup runs, until today.
Gentle pickups go by more than one term. Some would call them a form of interval training because you are interposing hard, fast runs with slower recovery runs. Others would call them fartleks, because they are more unstructured than a real interval workout. I first read about them on RUNNERSWorld where they were called gentle pickups, so it has stuck with me.
Let no one kid you around. Speedwork like tempos, intervals, or pickups do work. They affect your anaerobic exercise level versus the aerobic exercise level. If you want a really technical explanation of it all, go look up anaerobic exercise on RUNNERSWorld or The Running Times. The crux of the workout is this: you put your muscles into a controlled oxygen debt (anaerobic) in order to build up their ability to perform during that type of running. Instead of just running fast and hard for a long time, the body is gradually built up through bouts of hard and fast with recovery periods (often walking). Doing these workouts at least once per week will help to improve your pace during other runs.
Normally, a gentle pickup workout begins with a stretch of warm up at a slow and easy pace. For me, that is about 1 mile. Then, you “pick up” the pace gradually until you are running approximately 80% of your full speed. This is not meant to be sprinting. If your maximum pace is 11 minutes per mile, then your pickup pace should be in the neighborhood of 11:3o to 11:45. You hold this pace for as long as possible until you feel like your about to give out. Slow down and walk to recovery. Repeat these at least about three times in a run, more if you can. I usually do three at the early portion of a 4-mile run, followed by about a mile of a good pace, then three more, finishing with about a mile of slow and easy pace.
However, today, I pressed my Garmin into service. I ran my pickups according to heart rate. I set my alert at the top of my zone 5 (about 75% of max, or 169 bpm). I would run the pickup unti I heard the alert tell me my HR was over 169, then hold it as long as I could. During the recovery, I would not start running again until my HR went back down to 130. If you have a heart rate monitor, you might try a workout of gentle pickups this way. I think it gives me a better structured workout knowing that I have to run at my higher pace until I know my HR is going into the anaerobic territory before slowing back down.
Speedwork is crucial to good running. Many runners (yours included) don’t like doing them. They are often hard and brutal. Yet, they give great results. Running isn’t just about running at one speed. During any good race, we have to run at different speeds for different areas. That’s true even if you know your not going to be one of the speed demons at the finish line. It’s good to know that when you need to pick up the pace that your body will know how to respond. Happy running!
I’m a beginner and am planning on beginning these this next week. I always understand these terms and ramifications better when you explain them. Just a thank you! Keep on truckin! (No pun intended, I’m 6’6” and 240…..)
Thanks for replying. I sometimes call them “not so gentle pickups”. BTW, thanks, I read the post again and found a major flaw in the next to last paragraph. It’s fixed.
hey dave, good read!! i read back a few posts and was reading about your garmin. i want one really bad, but right now the finances aren’t there. i plan to try to get one as i train for october. any advice, what do you like about it, not like?
Thanks for reading. I though it would be easier just to send you an email. I enjoyed your post as well.