Hi all
After a bit o f a lay off from running (due to injury, illness, an operation and, to be frank, a lack of motivation), I am ready to start running again, and training properly.
What I want to do, though, is train very effectively. For riding I use TrainerRoad and absolutely love it. The plans are crystal clear, follow an understandable progression and clearly target certain adaptations. It all makes a lot of sense. Most importantly, it's tied to an initial 'fitness test' that all workouts are then scaled to - an FTP test. I'm not here to get into any debate about FTP, 4DP, or any other form of test. My point is that the plan is scaled around an initial fitness assessment so that the subsequent workouts are suitably taxing given their intended outcome.
What I am looking for is guidance on an equivalent test for running. I don't own a running power meter, and have no desire to own one at the moment. As far as I can see the tech is still in its infancy and I don't want o be an early adopter. I am very comfortable using HR and have a very good understanding of my zones (I used a 5 zone system with zone 5 being anything above lactate threshold heart rate).
Could someone point me in the direction of:
1. A test that I can do to gauge my running fitness and, from this, the speeds I should aim to be running at for my efforts (i.e. 7 min mile for 1km repeats, 7.15 for 1 mile repeats etc.). Ideally, I'd like to be similar to an FTP test in that I can schedule one every 6 weeks or so to gauge progress and update my planned workouts; and
2. Somewhere with decent training plans. I really like the base, build, specialty setup of trainerroad, so something similar would be really great. I am happy to pay for these, within reason!
Any help appreciated.
Thanks in advance
After a bit o f a lay off from running (due to injury, illness, an operation and, to be frank, a lack of motivation), I am ready to start running again, and training properly.
What I want to do, though, is train very effectively. For riding I use TrainerRoad and absolutely love it. The plans are crystal clear, follow an understandable progression and clearly target certain adaptations. It all makes a lot of sense. Most importantly, it's tied to an initial 'fitness test' that all workouts are then scaled to - an FTP test. I'm not here to get into any debate about FTP, 4DP, or any other form of test. My point is that the plan is scaled around an initial fitness assessment so that the subsequent workouts are suitably taxing given their intended outcome.
What I am looking for is guidance on an equivalent test for running. I don't own a running power meter, and have no desire to own one at the moment. As far as I can see the tech is still in its infancy and I don't want o be an early adopter. I am very comfortable using HR and have a very good understanding of my zones (I used a 5 zone system with zone 5 being anything above lactate threshold heart rate).
Could someone point me in the direction of:
1. A test that I can do to gauge my running fitness and, from this, the speeds I should aim to be running at for my efforts (i.e. 7 min mile for 1km repeats, 7.15 for 1 mile repeats etc.). Ideally, I'd like to be similar to an FTP test in that I can schedule one every 6 weeks or so to gauge progress and update my planned workouts; and
2. Somewhere with decent training plans. I really like the base, build, specialty setup of trainerroad, so something similar would be really great. I am happy to pay for these, within reason!
Any help appreciated.
Thanks in advance