To know how to properly distribute forces at a particular distance, and not be afraid of running a certain distance, you must regularly participate in control starts or do control training in order to approach the most important start in full physical and mental readiness. In today's article, I want to talk about the frequency with which it is necessary to perform control trainings or participate in secondary starts, depending on the distance. The article will only talk about average and stayer distances.
Note. In this case, control starts are running at the maximum speed possible for a given distance. Running at a significantly slower pace is no longer considered a control workout.
Control workouts for middle distance runners
One of the biggest pitfalls in the training program for many aspiring runners who are preparing for a test or race for 800 to 5,000 meters is that they try to run the test distance as regularly as possible. And they do it literally every day.
At the same time, progress is extremely slow. And overwork overtakes such an athlete extremely quickly.
To prevent this from happening, test attempts to cover the maximum required distance of 800, 1000, 1500 or 2000 meters should be done no more than once every 2-3 weeks. If we are talking about distances from 3 km to 5 km, then it is better not more often than once every 3 weeks. And at other times to perform specific types of work for a given distance.
In major athletics tournaments, professionals can run 800 or 1500 meters 3 times a week, as they need to qualify for the final. However, it will never happen that an athlete ran the distance to the maximum of his capabilities all 3 times. Otherwise, there will simply be no strength left until the final.
Therefore, do not forget that even for professionals, the body cannot work at the limit all the time, then for an amateur, even more so, recovery periods are needed.
In addition, before any control training or minor competitions, it is necessary to make at least a small connection to the start, reducing the load.
Control training at medium distances, as well as at 3 and 5 km, should not be done closer than 14 days before the start of the main competition. Depending on how quickly the person recovers, you can perform a control training and not earlier than 3 weeks before the start.
Control workouts for long distance runners
In this case, we will refer to long distances as 10 km, 15 km, 20 km, half marathon, 30 km and marathon. And, accordingly, all other non-standardized distances, which are in the interval from 10 km to the marathon.
Here the situation is such that the longer the distance, the longer the body will recover. This applies to both professionals and amateurs.
So, professional marathon runners will have only 3-4 marathons a year, which they will run according to a personal record. These are the so-called shape peaks. The rest of the marathons, if any, will run at a slower pace.
At a distance of 10-15 kilometers, it makes sense to conduct a control training (run in a competition) no more than 1 time in three weeks. And, accordingly, you do not need to run a maximum of 10 or 15 km closer than 3 weeks before the main start at which you want to show your maximum.
As for running 20 km, half marathon and 30 km, here it is worth running these distances for test time about once a month.
Of course, if you realize that you are recovering completely faster, then you can also run once every 3 weeks. However, the majority will not be able to show good results more often than once a month.
As for the marathon, if you want to run to the maximum of your capabilities at each marathon and strive to break your personal records, then you don't need to do this more than 4-5 times a year. Yes, of course there are tons of people who run marathons almost once a week. But this run is not valid. Compared to their personal records, these runners show very low results, since the body simply does not have time to recover.
In between marathons, you can run other long distances, 10, 15 km or half marathon. The results shown on them will give you an overall picture of what you are capable of in a marathon. There are tons of tables on the Internet for this.
In addition, it is believed that a person can reach peak shape 3 times a year. Therefore, two out of 5 marathons that you run will be for training rather than credit. And three will be at the fastest speed possible.
Conclusions
At distances from 800 to 2000 meters, control trainings should be carried out once every 2-3 weeks.
At distances from 3 km to 5 km, control races for the desired distance should not be run more often than 1 time in 3 weeks.
At distances from 10 km to 30 km, it is best to show your maximum no more than once a month.
It makes sense to run a maximum marathon no more than 5 times a year.
All these figures are conditional, and differ depending on the degree of recoverability. However, on average, they show how much rest period is required for the body to fully recover from the previous race.
These values are given on the assumption that you are going to run the distance to your maximum. If your personal best is, say, 3 km 11 minutes, but you want to run 3 km for a company with a friend, for 12-13 minutes, then feel free to do it, since this will not be a control training. The same can be said about other distances.
