There are many distances to choose from, but to obtain results you need to vary them. This is what a fundamental training structure is all about
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Runningcharlott
There’s a lot of talk about repeats in the runner community: They are among the most strenuous workouts, but also more satisfying. During the repetitions we measure ourselves and with the stopwatch, we notice the improvements, we “play” with our limits. However, it is not always simple understand which scheme to use for our goal and we often choose classic training, for the simple reason that many people do it.
the pyramid
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The “pyramid” however is certainly not among the simplest schemes. It’s called pyramid training because the distance of the repetitions is variable and follows a pyramid scheme. For example, one of the simplest pyramids on the track is 200-400-800-1200-800-400-200, taking advantage of the multiple of the lap of the track. Basically, in the first part the distance increases and in the second it decreases. More rarely, the reverse scheme is used, i.e. with a first descending phase and a second ascending one. In fact, the pyramid serves to “drag” the speed of the first repetitions – which tend to be shorter – onto the central repetition, the longest one. From a mental point of view there is a “memory” effect and you tend to maintain a more linear speed between the different repetitions. Very often, in the series of constant repetitions one can notice a speed variation depending on whether you start strong and gradually decrease or are excessively conservative in the first tests.
when to insert the pyramid
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So why include the pyramid? The goal is to teach the body to go “over the top”, momentarily deceiving the mind. In fact, we tend to unconsciously set a target speed for the repetitions, so mentally we face a session of 800 differently than one of 1000. The pyramid, on the other hand, by associating different distances in the same session has the ability to elude this unconscious mechanism. In the second part, when the distances become shorter, we have a tendency to speed up, having just faced longer efforts. Very often the result is to have a first part slower it’s a second most sustained. A must-do training for the marathon? 1000-2000-3000-2000-1000, perhaps the pyramid of excellence for lovers of 42km and beyond. The plus? Repeat the pyramid twice!
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