- Morning, Trainiacs, just got an open water swim done.
Now, pain.
Big, big, big, big, big pain.
Long-tempo run.
We're gonna be shooting for three times 15 minutes
at a 410-per-kilometer pace with NTK sagging me on the bike.
Whether I can do it or not,
we'll talk about how to do this long tempo run after,
and when you should do it.
Wish me luck. (energetic electronic music)
(upbeat music)
Whoa, oh, whoa, whoa. (excited vocalizing)
Whoa.
So, that was just under a,
I don't know why I'm looking.
It's long gone.
A 17K run, a 10 1/2 mile run.
I averaged 439 per kilometer,
which is just over a seven-minute mile pace,
but the main work was three times 15 minutes
at sub 410 kilometers, which is like,
is a sub 628 mile.
And right up until the very last kilometer,
I was averaging 406s.
It was like 404, 405, 406, 407, 402.
All good.
In the last kilometer right at the end,
there was an uphill that just zapped the legs out of me,
and that hurt.
That hurt.
All right, tempo training.
In a bit. (groaning)
Get this monkey suit off me.
I'll explain why I've actually gone back
to wearing something that was in the closet
since investment advisor Taren went away in a bit.
But tempo runs, so tempo runs are like the meat
and potatoes of what you wanna be doing
in I would say the last six weeks before a big race.
What is a tempo run?
Well, the ones that I'm gonna recommend
to you is a combination of a long run and a speed run.
And why we do this is because it gets us
to that point of being able to race
for a really long amount of time at a fast pace.
And this came about by an Instagram post done
by Beth Mckenzie, pro triathlete,
who was asked on Instagram,
how do you run a sub three-hour marathon in a triathlon?
And she said well, run six times a week
every single week for years on end
and do some form of all of the following,
a speed run for speed, a hill run for strength,
a tempo run to build your engine, and a long run.
However, you can combine some,
for example, a long tempo run.
And for triathletes that are tight on time
like just about all of us are,
I think that long tempo run is critical.
Now, what is a tempo run is a bit of a fuzzy thing.
Lot of pure runners out there might be like no, Taren,
a tempo run is a very specific thing.
Like, oh, okay, thanks guys.
But it's a bit of a moving target.
So, tempo pace is faster
than the pace that you would be running in a race.
So let's say you are training for a sprint triathlon,
and you are planning on running it in 25 minutes,
well, tempo pace is about how fast you would run
in a 15-minute race, thereabouts.
If you are doing an Olympic,
and you're planning on running in 50 minutes,
it's how fast you would run for 30 minutes
in like just a dead flat running race.
For a half Ironman, like me, where I'm trying to get down
to that 130, it's basically how long could I hold
in a one-hour race.
And for an Ironman that, let's say you're doing it
in four hours, it's kind of around like two-hour pace.
So, it's fast, but what you're looking to get
into is a very fast pace, that it's really challenging.
And you saw that today from me.
It was extremely challenging,
but it's not so fast that you blow up instantly
because what you're looking to do is kind of get yourself
to a rate of perceived exertion of like 85% of your top end.
And that 85% of top end rate of perceived exertion,
that's like the top end of your aerobic.
And that's what you need to get out of that gray zone
where it's not slow enough to be recovery
but not fast enough to make you
really twitchy muscularly, neuromuscularly fast.
But this is going to make you aerobically fast.
That 85%, you're not gonna like it.
It's gonna hurt, but the longer you can hold it,
and we're talking 10, 15, 20-minute intervals,
with maybe a rest of three to five minutes in between,
repeat enough times so that you're going
for about half, ideally,
the length of time that you are going to be racing in.
That is a very meaty, purposeful tempo run.
It's good.
So, thank you to Beth Mckenzie
for that inspiration to murder myself today.
And why am I wearing this and about to put on a jacket?
Well, the world's okay-est employee,
Mel, is getting married today.
Sorry, fellas, I know a lot of you are pieing
for her attention, but she's gonna be
off the market in just a little bit.
Very happy for her.
I'll bring you along right now.
You'll see just little tidbits.
Oh, and if we don't talk again after the wedding,
if you aren't already subscribed,
hit the subscribe button below.
And if you are subscribed, you're like the Jay to my Mel.
(upbeat violin music)
(crowd cheers)