2 x (1200/400/1200/400) + 4 x 150m
2 x (1200/400/1200/400) + 4 x 150m
Designed for XC runners
Intensity
2M alternating between 1200m at 5K pace / 400m at 15K pace
150m — 1st 50m building, then 20m rapid acceleration, & final 80m maintaining
Recovery
6’ after each 2M set
Full recovery between 150s
Exertion
9/10
Periodization
Specific Period
Context & Details
One of the biggest factors to improving running performance is upgrading a runner’s Lactate Escalate Pace.
Smart training of XC runners addresses this factor in nearly every workout session.
Lactate Escalate Pace is the velocity where the muscles become so oversaturated with lactate that it spills into the bloodstream, causing a rapid surge in blood lactate concentration. At Lactate Threshold and lower velocities, blood lactate concentration is low, stable, and manageable. At Lactate Escalate Pace, blood lactate concentration spikes, triggering an exponential cascade. This Escalation Pace is a topping point, like water boiling by turning from liquid to gas at 212˚F.
Traditional training methods try to improve a runner’s relationship with Lactate by training just under Lactate Threshold, but the unparallel success of Coach Renato Canova’s training methodology has forced coaches to rethink this strategy. Canova-style workouts seek to escalate lactate concentrations which elicits a much stronger adaption due to the higher magnitude of the stimulus.
In the Foundation Period, where repeated exposure to Lactate Escalation begins, the pace does not matter. What matters is the effect the training has on the runner, not the means. Canova has shared stories of World Champion track runners and marathoners who run 6:00/mile pace during the later stages of Lactate Escalation workouts in the Foundation Period then cruising at 4:45/mile pace during similar type sessions during the Specific Period.
Lactate Escalation adaptation is not linear. Rather, it’s more like a Power Law.
At first, gains are marginal, at best, but then once a certain tipping point is reached, gains start to compound. To accept this view of training (and Canova’s training methods) means rejecting the outdated narratives of linear training progressions.
If you want to get better results by learning more about Canova’s methods, Join the Scholar Program for only $29 to get unlimited access to 100+ training logs of his athletes.
This workout happens in the Specific Period. In the preceding Foundation Period, the intent of these sessions is exposure to the sensations of Lactate Escalation. It’s assumed that perhaps 8 - 14 Lactate Escalation training sessions have been performed in the training season before this session.
In the Specific Period, Lactate Escalation training sessions are designed with the intent that the runner “learns the pace.”
“Learning the pace” means endowing the runner with a complete education of what it takes to hold and sustain their target race pace throughout all phases of a race and levels of fatigue. You want them to practice running their target race pace fresh, slightly fatigued, as well as significantly fatigued. Crucial to racing performance is a clear understanding that to keep pace, a runner will need to continually increase effort over time as fatigue increases.
Underperforming runners usually don’t fully grasp this concept. Race results are disappointing because they compete with the misguided notion that a steady pace results from a steady effort. Not so. A steady pace results from an increasing effort.
The goal of the 2 Mile reps is to alternate between target 5K pace for 1200m and a steady tempo for 400m to further elevate the runner’s lactate threshold as well as their tolerance to lactate escalation. The recovery period is 6 minutes walking, sitting, or very light jogging to ensure significant lactate clearance has occurred.
Finally, the 150s are designed to mimic the race day final kick by providing a clear map of how to successfully kick on tired legs. It’s impossible to ask a runner to continually accelerate during the final sprint of a 5K. It’s more realistic to build up their pace, then rapidly accelerate for a short period (20m or ~4 seconds) to “blow-by” a competitor, then maintain that newly achieved velocity for 10” (or roughly 80m) to the finishline.
By practicing this structure to the final kick, the runner develops a clear concept of what to do, when to do it, and the associated sensations. This will, in turn, give them supreme confidence during the final 20 seconds of their race, resulting in passing or holding off competitors down the homestretch.
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3 Good Books on XC / Lactate training
The Science of Running by Steve Magness
Running: Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology in Practice by Frans Bosch and R. Klomp
The Physiology of Training for High Performance by Duncan Macdougall & Digby Sale