Running Breakthroughs:
Which is More
Effective: Tempo or Intervals?
Which
will have a bigger impact on your performances?
To examine the relative value of interval and tempo
training, Peter Snell
and his colleagues at the University of Texas Southwestern Human Performance
Center asked some well-conditioned runners to focus on either tempo running or
interval training for a period of 10 weeks. If the name Peter
Snell rings a bell, the researcher from Texas Southwestern is the same Peter
Snell who won a total of three gold medals at the 1960 and 1964 Olympics and
also captured two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 1962.
Snell's world-record performance of 1.44.3 for 800 meters, which he ran in
February, 1962, is still the New-Zealand national record. After his
running career ended, Snell earned a Ph. D. in exercise physiology and has been
a researcher at Texas Southwestern since 1981.
His study "High-Intensity Training Programs for Well-Conditioned
Runners," published in Medicine
& Science in Sports & Exercise, Vol. 21 (2), #448, 1989
showed that tempo running had little benefit for 800M performance.
However, a Danish
running study showed that tempo runs provide a significant benefit for max V02
and better improvement in steady run performance than interval workouts. Their results are documented in Medicine and
Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 30(8), pp. 1250-1256, 1998.
So what is the answer
and why different results?
Like that famous
runner Forest Gump once said when faced with free will or determinism,
"Maybe it's both".
The answer is that
we have to take each study in context.
The first study by Peter Snell focused on 800 meter racing. The second study focused on performance at
tempo pace, max V02, and efficiency.
Both are right.
Training is specific
to the race you want to run. An 800M
race has little to do with efficiency or capability at a moderate pace. The 800M is a mostly anaerobic race (without
oxygen). It has little to do with how
efficiently you can run slowly.
Improving efficiency at running aerobically has little effect on your
performance over such a short distance.
On the other hand,
if you are training for a marathon, your ability to run at an aerobic but
challenging pace is a key factor. Tempo
runs will be a key aspect in your training if you want to run your best.
Specificity
Most of our training
needs to be at an easy pace, regardless of our race pace. (See Training
Basics, which discusses hard/easy patterns). However, specificity is a key ingredient in
training. The Danish study described
above showed that tempo training provided a significant improvement in both
capability and efficiency at tempo pace.
However, tempo runs did little to improve efficiency at faster
paces, such as 5K race pace (or 800M pace).
On the other hand, interval
training was shown to improve both max V02 and efficiency at 5K race pace.
This demonstrates
the principal of specificity. You can't
train (only) at 8 minute pace and race at 6 minute pace. You have to mix in a little bit of faster
training.
As was proposed
originally by Dr. Jack Daniels, intervals tend to improve max V02 and tempo
runs tend to push the threshold where running can remain aerobic. Both have affects on the other and provide
multiple benefits. However, efficiency
at a specific pace is achieved by running at that pace or slightly faster.
Your training needs
to include some running at race pace or slightly faster in order to make you
more efficient. This improves your
biomechanics and your body's ability to provide oxygen efficiently at that
pace.
The Danish study
showed that 6 weeks of training utilizing intervals or tempo runs improved
efficiency at that pace by about 3% while improving aerobic capability
by about 6%, leading to an overall improvement of about 9% to 10%.
Would you like to
improve your 5K time by 10%? (Wouldn't
we all!)
So what is the
answer?
Focus Your Training on How You Will Race
If you are a
marathoner, intervals, especially long intervals, can help with your
running. They will improve your body's
maximum capabilities. However, tempo
runs (and marathon pace runs) should probably be a more significant ingredient
in your training. Tempo runs are a
little faster than you will run in the marathon. Marathon pace runs are at race pace. Both bring efficiency and aerobic
performance. Intervals should not be
excluded, but you really don't need a lot of short intervals or high
speed running.
If you are running
the 800M, tempo runs should play very little role in your training. You will be racing much faster than this and
much of your racing is anaerobic. You
will want to include both long intervals (for max V02) and short interval race
pace running (for efficiency).
If, like most
runners, you are running races somewhere in between, both long intervals (3 to
5 minutes) and tempo runs should be an important part of your training. The long intervals provide a boost in your
max V02 and efficiency at 5K kind of race paces. The tempo runs provide a boost in your
efficiency at slower paces (15K, half marathon) and push the aerobic threshold
downward, making races at all speeds a little easier. All of these effects will improve your
performance at any distance from the mile to the marathon, but your primary
focus should be on running your specific pace during training. For details of how to incorporate these
elements, see any of our articles on running.
References:
1) Medicine & Science in Sports
& Exercise, Vol. 21 (2), #448, 1989
2) Medicine and
Science in Sports and Exercise, vol. 30(8), pp. 1250-1256, 1998
Copyright
2009 by Florida East Coast Runners
and Frank Norris. Reproduction or
reprinting without written permission is illegal.
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