http://runnersconnect.net/running-training-articles/running-workouts-cutdown-runs/
Running Workouts – Cutdown runs
 As I discussed in one my earlier posts, I believe strongly that to improve your running, you need to train to the specific demands of the race. For example, if you’ve read my articles on marathon training,
than you know that I spend a good portion of the marathon training
segment teaching the body how to efficiently use fat as a fuel source
since this is a large factor to marathon success. While each race
distance has its own specific physiological demands, they all share one
common element: As the race progresses, it becomes harder and harder to
maintain goal race pace.
To exemplify this statement, let’s look at a typical 10k race. Assume
your goal is to run 45 minutes for your next 10k, which averages out to
around a 7:15 per mile pace. Assuming you’ve trained correctly, the
first mile at 7:15 pace should feel relatively comfortable. Actually, in
adrenaline-pumping, competitive race conditions, it will feel downright
easy (which is the reason so many runners start out too fast and is
another topic all together). As you ease into the race, 7:15 pace for
mile 2 will still feel relatively comfortable. At mile 3, you’ll start
to notice that your breathing is getting heavier and your legs growing
increasingly tired. By mile 4, the comfortable 7:15 pace at mile 1 is
now becoming a pretty tough pace to handle. Your arms are heavy, your
legs don’t seem to be giving you as much power as they used to, and your
breathing resembles that of a 75 year-old emphysema patient. Your pace
begins to slip as you approach mile 5 and soon your dreams of a new
personal best are out the window.
Well, that description of a 10k race sounded a little bleak. However,
the point of the story is that, during a race, you need to constantly
increase your effort just to maintain your goal pace. While mile 1 will
feel calm and easy, by the last 1/3rd of the race, goal pace
will feel like an all out effort. So, if you want to give yourself every
opportunity to succeed on race day, you need to practice this
physiologic demand during your training. You need to train to increase
you effort over time; you need to train to be prepared for this increase
in fatigue; finally, despite what RunnersWorld might tell you, you need
to train to push through the pain (sounds scary, but it’s really not
all that bad).
To simulate these conditions, I use what are called cutdown runs. The
idea is to start the workout at 20-30 seconds slower than marathon pace
and drop 10 seconds per mile until you are running just a bit faster
than half marathon pace. By doing so, you’re teaching your body how to
continually increase its effort as the workout continues and you become
increasingly fatigued. That way, when you approach the mid-point in a
race – when you start to feel the effect of the early miles – you
instinctively learn to increase your effort and push harder to maintain
your pace.
Furthermore, many runners are familiar with tempo runs and threshold
runs that are designed to have you running at just below or at your
threshold pace (the point at which you can no longer get rid of the
lactic acid produced by your muscles). By running just under your
lactate threshold you can begin to decrease (or improve, depending on
how you look at it) the pace at which you begin to produce too much
lactic acid. These workouts are a great way to train one physiologic
piece of the race. However, during a race we never stop at our anaerobic
threshold – we push through that threshold to keep running faster.
Cutdown runs teach you to approach that threshold and then push through
that point and test yourself. Combined with tempo runs during a training
cycle, cutdown runs allow you to blend specific components of training
into an overall strategy that addresses all aspects of the race.
Give me an example
An example cutdown workout for someone attempting to break 2 hours in the half marathon would look something like this:
1 mile warm-up, 6 mile cutdown run (9:45, 9:35, 9:25, 9:15, 9:05, 8:55), 1 mile cool down.
Modifying cutdown runs
Just like any workout, sometimes it’s important to mix things up in
the training to ensure that the body is always experiencing a new
stimulus; therefore always adapting and never getting stale. Sometimes,
instead of controlling the pace over the last 1 or 2 miles of a cutdown
run, I will have athletes run the last mile “as fast as they can”. This
can add a fun challenge to the workout and really teach your body how to
dig deep. I’ve also found that this “fast as you can” last mile helps
develops confidence in closing speed and ability. Most cutdown runs are
5-8 miles in distance, but you can make them longer, say 8-10 miles, by
slowing down the early miles. These longer cutdowns can be a great
medium effort workout for marathon runners.
What is the difference between a cutdown run and a progression run?
This is one of the questions I get most often. Progression runs have
been a hot training concept over the last few years, especially in the
context of a long run. The main difference between a progression run and
a cutdown run is the structure. A cutdown run requires you to run at a
specific pace, which is also teaching your body how to pace itself –
another skill that is vital to race day success. Progression runs tend
to be more free-form and a little longer. A progression run might start
at easy pace for a few miles and then asks you to slowly creep your pace
up and finish at marathon pace or maybe a little faster by the end, but
without a specific pace drop-down for each mile. It’s a little more
“run as you feel” type of workout. These progression runs are great
during long runs when you want to do something other than run long and
slow, but aren’t a specific workout like the cutdown runs.
By developing the skill during your training to increase you effort
and push harder as you get tired, you approach race day with the tools
necessary to address the specific demands of the race. Too often,
runners enter races with no specific training for what they will
encounter during the race. As with all my articles, please feel free to
comment (scroll to the bottom), share, and email me with any questions. I
love hearing your thoughts.
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