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by Tinman » Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:01 pm
Would an book on Optimal Workouts for certain race distances be helpful?
I would focus on one distance per book. Let's say it was for the mile (1500m/1600m or full mile, which is 1609.344m); I would cover all the various types of key workouts. That's a long list, by the way: (1) Long Runs, (2) Tempo workouts, and (3) Threshold and CV workouts for Milers; also (4) hill workouts, (5) VO2 max and Race-Pace Workouts, and (6) Over-speed workouts; tactical/race-strategy workouts I provided many examples in the upcoming book (Build Your Running Body), but I was limited on the specificity of the workouts. I was writing for a wide range of abilities. For my book, I'll use highly technical formulas for generating pinpoint workouts for varying performance levels. For example, rather than right something like 8-10 x 400m at 1-mile pace with a 400m jog recovery, I might say 9 x 400m in 74.6 seconds with 1:49 of active recovery between reps (active recovery would be specifically defined, too, for the reader/runner/coach). Rather than say a 20-25 minute tempo run, I might say 23 minutes of tempo running at 84% of VO2 max, which is 6:34 pace per mile. I'd be very specific about everything, which is how to really fine-tune your training. The goal is to take the guess work out of training.
Besides defining what the types of training mean, I would describe their value, how to integrate them to a schedule, and when you know you need to go back to that type of workout (there are tell-tale signs that need to refurbish certain areas of your fitness profile).
When writing the book, I will get to the point. I won't add much fluff to it. I'll make it so that you can pick up the book, turn to a section - let's say CV training - and you can right away figure out the top 5 reasons why you are doing the training; you can see introductory CV workouts, intermediary CV workouts, and advanced CV workouts; you can see examples of CV workouts that are blended with other types of training, such as race-pace work for the mile or over-speed training.
Am I striking a cord with you guys? Is this making sense? Is there something you want to ask or add? I believe that with your help, I can make the book very useful, organized, and interesting / educational too.
Tinman
Last edited by
Tinman on Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.