Pro Coach's Series: Why Runners Need a Multi-Pace Approach

Variety has been described as the spice of life, but analysis reveals that it also may be the perfect flavoring for your race training recipe. By the time elite runners reach their early 30s, they are usually resistant to broad-based training revelations, but while Keith Dowling was preparing for the 2002 Boston Marathon and poring over the training logs of other top runners, he had an epiphany. After a solid showing at the Parkersburg Half Marathon the previous August (1:03:59), Dowling had locked into a traditional training program for the New York City Marathon that was set to take place in November. In the final six weeks before the race, Dowling's training program was packed full of threshold workouts but excluded most other workout types. Unfortunately, this caused Dowling to struggle to a 2:19:09 time in the Big Apple's illustrious marathon.

"Before Parkersburg, my training included repetitions, threshold, and no VO2 workouts, but I incorporated some short races like 8Ks and 5Ks as well," says Dowling. "It was only when I moved into the next phase of training, which primarily focused on threshold training, that I got stale."

Dowling's sub-par New York effort inspired him to evaluate Olympic marathoner Rod DeHaven's training, along with "pretty much anyone's training regimen that I could find," he says. "I noticed most elite long-distance runners rarely followed a strictly periodized Lydiard-like program. That's when I realized that a program comprised of a mixture of different types of training runs worked better. The earlier phase of training that I implemented before Parkersburg had produced better results because it included a little bit of everything."

The type of training Dowling adopted goes by various names, including multi-tier training, complex training, or perhaps most commonly, multi-pace training (MPT). Although not new conceptually, this training style was systematized by British coach Frank Horwill in 1970, before being applied with great aplomb by some of the top middle-distance runners in the world. Peter Coe, a champion of Horwill's five-pace training, used the system to coach his son, Sebastian, to four Olympic medals and 12 world records across the 800m to mile distances, one of which, the 1,000m (2:12.18), stood from 1981 to 1999 before falling to Kenya's Noah Ngeny (2:11:96).

Horwill based his original plan on what is known as the four-second rule, which is the observation that top runners typically slowed down by approximately four seconds per 400-meter lap when moving from a given race distance to twice that distance. Also, it is believed that runners should train not only at the pace of their chosen distance but that they should train at the two distances "above" and the two "below" it as well, with due emphasis given to the athlete's own race pace. For example, a 3,000m specialist capable of running a time of 8:45 (70 seconds per 400m) would train at 62, 66, 70, 74, and 78 seconds per lap during a traditional interval workout. Rest jogs also followed a mathematically precise scheme: twice the repetition distance when training at 400m paces, equal to the repetition distance at 800m pace, half at mile pace, and so on.

Unsurprisingly, advocates of the MPT system adapted it to the longer distances once its efficacy was proven. It is here at 5K distances and above where training is traditionally marked by strict phases that emphasize training at a single pace during harder sessions throughout a given training period. Although multi-pace training now encompasses methods outside the strict five-pace system, one implication of using a Horwillian approach for road distances is that as an athlete's specialty grows in distance, they wind up doing an increasing amount of their "quality" work at or near their threshold. In any case, the key is to not neglect speed work throughout a training block, always ensuring that the paces of the workouts are appropriately varied.

Those who defend the concept of running distinct training phases at one specific speed frequently reference Arthur Lydiard to support their reasoning. This New Zealand great produced numerous Olympic medalists, as well as a host of world record holders, and Lydiard is well-regarded as an advocate of the "peaking" approach. In this type of training, a tremendous aerobic base is a prerequisite for succeeding training blocks, and a distinct sharpening period precedes a goal race or a series of goal competitions.

That said, many runners and coaches lack a complete understanding of Lydiard's philosophy. While Lydiard stresses the need to build aerobic endurance through the implementation of high-volume mileage before endeavoring in other forms of training, he also notes the importance of anaerobic training and advocates for the inclusion of a small amount of speedwork in each training phase. These range from short, "a-lactic" 50-meter sprints to repetitions of over 200 meters designed to incur lactic-acid build-up. His methods predated the invention of the term "multi-tier training," but Lydiard's famed "one-quarter effort," "half effort," and "three-quarters effort" workouts employ a juggling of speeds virtually identical to that favored by contemporary MPT followers.

Greg McMillan, a physiologist, runner, and online coach, says, "Ironically enough, Lydiard is where I first encountered multi-pace training. When I started coaching, I found that I could create programs that included the usual phases of training, as well as offer athletes a variety of workouts within each energy system that involved training at a variety of different paces." McMillan discovered that his athletes not only became better conditioned and performed better, but that athletes remained more motivated throughout each training block due to the variety in their routines. McMillan also pointed out that MPT is not incompatible with the use of training phases, stating, "I think the phase system creates the structure of the training cycle, while the multi-pace system provides the nuts and bolts of the workouts. Some paces will be emphasized more extensively in one phase than in others, but no pace is ever excluded."

Although similar, there are a few key differences between Lydiard's approach to marathon training and an MPT-based program. "My fear of Lydiard was his emphasis on speed before the big races, rather than the protection of aerobic conditioning, which I feel is important for 10K on up to the marathon distances," says Dowling.

Runners who are wed to their Lydiardian ideals might be concerned that such a scheme is incompatible with base-building. However, since the focus of an MPT-style program for distance runners is overwhelmingly aerobic, such concerns are baseless, no pun intended. "Even before starting MPT, I had never done base training," says Dowling, "I hoped that I had accumulated a high aerobic base from years of repeating the same cycles of training, so when I moved to the marathon distance, I noticed that my track season was always better. In this way, Lydiard was on the right track, but the difference is that marathon training still requires more than just base work training. It's high-end aerobic training to crush the 26.2-mile race at the end of your training to keep you motivated. After you've done a successful build-up, you race, recover, and continue building."

Furthermore, McMillan adds, "With the way I apply it, MPT plays a role in base-building, but differently than it does in the other phases of training. In the initial 8-12 weeks of base-building, I've gotten the best results when the runner focuses on just two paces: the regular aerobic-building/conversational pace and very fast, short-distance pace." In the last four weeks of base-building, McMillan also incorporates other paces to challenge the full spectrum of energy systems. He found that this scheme warded off staleness, helped prevent injuries, and eased runners into more intense phases of training. Of course, newer runners should simply become familiar with the act of running and establish an idea of a manageable workload before undertaking a specific MPT or any training plan involving directed speed workouts.

Many of the popular "American" training programs emphasize the use of MPT. For example, the training programs that two-time Olympic marathoner Pete Pfitzinger discusses in his book Advanced Marathoning all include a blend of VO2 Max training and threshold runs, combined with fast-paced ultra-short-distance workouts. Pfitzinger also likes to include a variety of build-up races done at various distances in his programming. These efforts are all regularly rotated, with no one type given priority during any stretch of the build-up.

McMillan swiftly points out that coaches can apply MPT concepts in many different ways and still find success. "I find that there's a pace range for each energy system," he says. "For example, if you want to train your lactate-threshold system, then you need to determine a minimum pace, as well as a maximum pace, as training between these extremes will improve that system." McMillan can thus prescribe a variety of different paces just for lactate-threshold workouts and achieve the desired results. The same principles apply to each energy system, which McMillan categorized as endurance, lactate-threshold or stamina, speed, and sprint. Across a training cycle, McMillan can offer his athletes a host of varied workouts and design them with a particular athlete's needs in mind. Within a given week, he'll add paces to target several energy systems through the use of a variety of different workouts.

Joe Rubio, a two-time Olympic Marathon Trials participant and a California-based coach of the HOKA Aggies, lists five essential elements of training:

• Intervals in the 400m to 1600m range
• Progressive pace "tempo" runs
• A weekly long run
• Race-specific speedwork
• A consistent recovery day each week

Moreover, he says that these elements are the cornerstones of any training program for milers, marathoners, and everyone in between, a concept he says many athletes have a hard time accepting. "Get these [five elements] right, and rest assured you are training as the Olympians do," says Rubio. "But miss even one of them, and you're missing half the puzzle."

Looking at Rubio's "quintet" more generally, it's easy to see the distinct benefit of each element in any distance runner's program. The first is designed to strengthen VO2 Max, the second to boost lactate tolerance, the third to improve fuel utilization as well as overall endurance, the fourth to develop running economy, and finally, the fifth is to ensure that runners don't succumb to overtraining. A program that regularly cycles through this array and doesn't neglect any part is considered by many to be a near-guarantee of success.

The following is but one of the countless permutations of multi-pace training. The schedule repeats itself every three weeks—a 21-day period allows for both adequate recuperation from workouts and the inclusion of a broad spectrum of paces. Days marked "recovery" imply anything from easy pace and distance to a day off, depending on an individual runner's needs.