All runners should include consistent lactate threshold training in their training routines.
Marathon runners sometimes think they don’t have to worry about this since they typically do not run a marathon at their 10K pace or faster.
This is unfortunate since working to improve the lactate threshold can help produce better times and a more comfortable run during the marathon as well.
If you want to start training for these benefits, here are six workouts that will get you started. And make sure you add some of these workouts to your marathon training schedule.
Fast Repeats
The goal here is to train your body to efficiently handle large productions of lactate acid.
If you can increase efficiency when there are larger amounts of the acid produced, you can reduce the sensation of heaviness and the fatigue that typically comes when you hit your lactate threshold. You can improve speed in all races and run all distances more comfortably.
Your repeats will ideally last for one minute and should be performed at your fastest possible speed.
Really let loose and feel the wind breezing past you. Then take it down for a lighter two minute jogging recovery. Repeat this at least twelve times, but you can go up to sixteen or seventeen times as your body becomes more efficient with lactic acid.
Fartlek Training for Marathon Runners
This workout goes beyond basic lactate threshold training. It combines your ideal marathon pace with your 10K pace, thus working for increased lactate threshold and a better 10K running pace if you still do some shorter distance races.
This Fartlek training method is basically an exercise in interval training. For every four minutes you run at your ideal marathon pace, you follow it up with two minutes of your best 10K pace. You go back and forth between these paces without any rest periods. Start with a half hour and work your way up to an hour and a half with time.
Compound Lactate Threshold Training
This is similar to the Fartlek training just described, but it allows you to go at each pace a bit longer with a rest period between compound sets. You run one mile at your 10K pace and then go straight into two miles at your ideal marathon pace, no rest in between. That is one compound set. You can recover with a five minute jog between sets.
Most runners will begin by adding just one compound set into one of their training runs. You can progress and work up to four or five sets with time.
Track/Road Training for Variety
Why choose between the track and the road? Another variation of lactate threshold training involves switching between the track and the road in the same workout.
You will have to find a track that is in a suitable location to running off into the road as necessary.
Try to map your route out beforehand, so you can get back on the track in the appropriate amount of time.
Your workout starts out on the road, where you will complete just one mile at your ideal marathon pace.
You then take it to the track and perform two miles at your 10K pace. Repeat this one more time, and then shake it up a bit on the third set. This third set continues with one mile at marathon pace, but then splits the track time into one mile at 5K pace and one mile at your absolute fastest running speed.
This should come out to a nine mile run that is ideal for lactate threshold training.
Three Mile Repeats
One more interval method for lactate threshold training! One set equals three miles in this version, and those miles are split with 800 meters at marathon pace and 800 meters at 5K pace.
This is far more challenging than the intervals that blend marathon and 10k pace, since you are going back and forth between your slowest and fastest running paces without any recovering time in between.
You can take the intensity down for about five minutes if you choose to do more than a single three mile set, but gradually work your way up to multiple sets.
This is one of the most difficult methods of lactate threshold training, so do not be surprised if you find you cannot perform more than one set when you first get started.
6 Mile Lactate Threshold Training
This is a six mile workout, so you do not have to attempt multiple sets unless you really want to improve and are used to running longer distances. There are three components of the race, and they are performed back-to-back without any rest in between:
- 1 mile at your fastest 5K race pace
- 2 miles at your 10K race pace
- 3 miles at your ideal marathon race pace
That combines to create a six mile workout that will build up your lactic acid levels and require your body to push through it while finishing the last half of the workout. How well does your body perform with a flood of lactic acid? This workout will tell you the answer to that!
All of these lactate threshold training workouts are efficient and can bring different results.
You can use them all at different points in your training cycle so you come out well prepared to handle the lactic acid naturally produced by your body.
If you have never worked with your lactate threshold before, start out with the minimum number of sets and increase the workload as your body becomes more efficient.
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