Workout of the Day: 10 Miles, 10 Miles, 2 Miles
10 Miles, 10 Miles, 2 Miles
Intensity — 1st 10 Miles easy | 2nd 10 Miles @ Marathon pace | 2 Miles @ 10K pace
Recovery —10 minutes walk/jog after each rep
Exertion — 9/10
Context & Details
Even though the marathon is the longest of the popular race distances, there is little reason to forfeit quality running in favor of big volumes of submaximal running. Marathon success, like 5Ks and 10Ks, hinges on upgrading lactate-threshold velocity, running economy, and resistance to fatigue.
High volume submaximal running does a poor job of enhancing these variables. The 10 Miles, 10 Miles, 2 Miles workout addresses all 3 of these training variables nicely.
A hallmark of effective training is balance. The balance of this workout is achieved by exposing the runner to 22 miles of running, but in a controlled way of increasing tempo and intensity.
The 10 miles easy serves as a precursor to the 10 miles at marathon pace. Although submaximal, the first 10 miles will slightly deplete the runner of glycogen stores, and shift fuel demands to come more from pyruvate and lactate sources.
The 10 miles at marathon pace aims to improve running economy and resistance to fatigue at marathon speeds. The final 2 miles at 10K pace does an excellent job of advancing lactate-threshold velocity with the athlete running in a slightly fatigued state at a faster velocity after 20 miles of running. The degree of fatigue at that point mimics the final miles of the marathon, but without extracting a high wear and tear and recovery penalty.
I like this session better than a standard weekly long run and place it about once every 3 weeks in the training build up for marathoners. It can take 4 - 6 days to recover from, but the value of the session is akin to running a marathon, but without the enormous mental, physical, and emotional costs experienced by 26.2 miles of racing.