How do I understand this? Is it “sprinting”? How do I do that skill development session?
Thanks, Marcos.
Strides are runs at fast pace, but the focus is on perfect technique. Gnerally you build speed towards sprinting speed, but you really want to focus on keeping your technique perfect as your speed increases. Start slowly, with good form, and then quickly pick up the pace. They are form exercises.
Great! Now I undrestood!
Thanks, happy new year, Marcos.
I’ll add that you should not hit your 100% sprint pace. That is a recipe for injury, particularly if you are doing your striders after long runs. As Rapp said, its all about form…training your body to run with good form at faster paces and cadences.
in addition to what rappstar said, i would add, think high turnover.
Jack Daniels, in Daniel’s Running Formula says that: “strides are 20-30 second quick, light runs”. He goes on to say: “The strides should be quick but comfortable,” Daniels says. “They only last 30 seconds, so you’re not running long enough for them to become hard,”
From my perspective on Daniels, I’ve interpreted runs that include strides to be part form-work, and partly prepatory for the body before introducing tempo runs or intervals in a long-term schedule.
Another source references Daniels and says the following: http://www.sportalaska.com/womensrunninggroup/handouts/WRGHandoutJackDanielsPaceTablesText.htm
In the August 1996 issue of Runner’s World is an article by Jack Daniels about preparing for a marathon. Accompanying that article is a table of various paces which I think is particularly useful. I have not copied his table verbatim, because when I looked at it I found a few inconsistencies for which I couldn’t figure out a reason. I took the information from his tables, ran some averages, and created a new table which is pretty close to his but which offers a little more detail – the gaps between times in his table being pretty sizable.
The basis for the table is a person’s current 5km race time. If you don’t have a current 5km time, you can use the table based upon 10km times, as we shall see. Daniels projects race times for 10km, the Half-Marathon distance, and the Marathon distance from these 5km times. In addition, he offers recommendations for three important training paces based upon the 5km times: * Long/Easy Run Pace*
The long/easy pace is about 28% slower than your 5km race pace, or about 24%-25% slower than your 10km pace. This pace should be used for your easy distance sessions and long overdistance sessions. * Threshold Run and Cruise Interval Pace*
The pace for threshold runs and cruise intervals is about 6.5% slower than your 5km pace, or about 2.5%-3% slower than your 10km pace. This is the pace at which you do most of your interval training. When you do interval training at this pace, your recovery time should not exceed your work time. This pace is also appropriate for threshold runs (time-trial like efforts). * Strides (i.e. pickups) and Repetition Interval Pace*
This pace is about 6.5% faster than your 5km pace, or about 2.5%-3% faster than your 10km pace. Use this pace for pickups, and for your harder intervals. When you do intervals at this pace, recovery time should exceed work time. Also, because intervals at this pace are so demanding, you should not do them throughout the year. Repetition intervals should be used only in the final stages (final 4-6 weeks) of preparation for a major effort.
I just found a much more appropriate and detailed explanation by Jack Daniels, in ‘Daniel’s Runnning Formula’, p.194:
“Strides are relatively fast runs lasting between 10 and 40 seconds each. Stride speed is about the pace you would race 1,500 meters or 1 mile.”
“Understand that strides and even fast strides aren’t sprints but are comfortably fast runs controlled and performed with light, quick leg turnover, rather than long powerful strides. Take 20 to 60 seconds of recovery - either walking or easy running - between each stride.”
Also add that if you can do them on GRASS or DIRT, even better.
I use strides as an opportunity to do a cadence check and “let loose.” Running fast you need to be relaxed. So I focus on running quickly, yet relaxed and with a good cadence. I usually do 30" of strides and 45" of walking, 8-10 repetitions, once a week. When I’m in a taper I switch to 30" strides/30" walking (less recovery).
If you do them outside in a field, just run for 30" or so, recover walking back to where you started and repeat.
A typical strides session is 10’ warmup (easy), 10-15’ strides, and then 20-30’ “steady,” where “steady” is like Z2-lower Z3 heart rate.