Matt Fitzgerald’s Pace-Based Running Plans
11 June 2008
“One of my favorite tools in the Runner Perspective of WKO+ is the Pace Zone Distribution Graph. …. Essentially, it …. helps you plan your training for optimal intensity balance and improve this balance when you find that it’s not as it should be”. - keep reading Matt Fitzgerald’s article below.
Matt Fitzgerald is a journalist, author, coach and runner specializing in the topics of health, fitness, nutrition, and endurance sports training. (read his blog) Matt uses TrainingPeaks software to provide his pre-built training plans for runners, basing his workouts on the different pace zones that runners training for certain distances should focus on throughout the season.
Runners using the pace-based training plans designed by Matt can analyze their progress using TrainingPeaks powerful desktop software, WKO+, which includes a feature called the Pace Zone Distribution Graph. This feature allows runners to determine how balanced their training is and helps them plan for increased efficiency and balance in their workouts. For more information on training with pace in WKO+, please read Matt’s article:
Using the Pace Zone Distribution Graph
By Matt Fitzgerald
One of my favorite tools in the Runner Perspective of WKO+ is the Pace Zone Distribution Graph. This graph shows you the percentage of your total running time within the past 28 days (or any other time range) that was spent in each of the six target pace zones used in the Pace Zone Index (PZI). Essentially, it shows you how balanced your training is in the intensity dimension and helps you plan your training for optimal intensity balance and improve this balance when you find that it’s not as it should be.
The appropriate distribution of your weekly training among the six target pace zones depends on your goal race distance and how far along you are in the training process. The following tables present suggested running pace zone distributions for various phases of training for each of four races distances: 5K, 10K, half marathon, and marathon. In comparing them, bear in mind that greater total volume is assumed for the 10K plan than for the 5K plan, and so forth.
5k Pace Zone Distribution
|
Pace Zone |
Early Base Phase |
Late Base Phase |
Early Build Phase |
Late Build Phase |
Early Peak Phase |
Late Peak Phase |
|
2 |
5% |
7% |
10% |
12% |
12% |
10% |
|
3 |
80% |
69% |
63% |
60% |
58% |
63% |
|
4 |
5% |
10% |
5% |
5% |
5% |
5% |
|
6 |
5% |
7% |
10% |
12% |
15% |
12% |
|
8 |
2% |
3% |
5% |
6% |
6% |
7% |
|
10 |
3% |
4% |
7% |
5% |
4% |
3% |
10k Pace Zone Distribution
|
Pace Zone |
Early Base Phase |
Late Base Phase |
Early Build Phase |
Late Build Phase |
Early Peak Phase |
Late Peak Phase |
|
2 |
5% |
6% |
8% |
12% |
10% |
8% |
|
3 |
80% |
69% |
63% |
60% |
62% |
64% |
|
4 |
5% |
10% |
12% |
10% |
8% |
6% |
|
6 |
5% |
5% |
7% |
10% |
12% |
15% |
|
8 |
2% |
5% |
7% |
5% |
5% |
4% |
|
10 |
3% |
5% |
3% |
3% |
3% |
3% |
Half Marathon Pace Zone Distribution
|
Pace Zone |
Early Base Phase |
Late Base Phase |
Early Build Phase |
Late Build Phase |
Early Peak Phase |
Late Peak Phase |
|
2 |
5% |
3% |
5% |
9% |
8% |
7% |
|
3 |
73% |
73% |
70% |
60% |
60% |
64% |
|
4 |
7% |
10% |
10% |
12% |
12% |
9% |
|
6 |
5% |
5% |
7% |
10% |
12% |
14% |
|
8 |
3% |
4% |
5% |
6% |
5% |
3% |
|
10 |
7% |
5% |
3% |
3% |
3% |
3% |
Marathon Pace Zone Distribution
|
Pace Zone |
Early Base Phase |
Late Base Phase |
Early Build Phase |
Late Build Phase |
Early Peak Phase |
Late Peak Phase |
|
2 |
5% |
3% |
5% |
7% |
6% |
5% |
|
3 |
73% |
71% |
63% |
56% |
57% |
58% |
|
4 |
7% |
10% |
12% |
15% |
17% |
20% |
|
6 |
5% |
7% |
12% |
15% |
14% |
12% |
|
8 |
3% |
4% |
5% |
4% |
3% |
3% |
|
10 |
7% |
5% |
3% |
3% |
3% |
2% |
For the purposes of planning your training, you can get a sense of how a given set of workouts breaks down in the Pace Zone Distribution chart by copying a week’s worth of past workouts that closely match your planned training, pasting them into the next seven days of your calendar, and then limiting your Pace Zone Distribution chart to the “past” seven days of training. This exercise can be done for any future training week, from next week to your peak training week and anywhere in between. Check the pace zone distribution against the suggested distribution for each race distance and phase and then adjust your workouts as necessary. Absolute precision is not necessary. The goal of this exercise is to help you divide your training into phases that emphasize the various training stimuli in their proper order.
Note that you will never be able to actually get 100 percent of your running time to fall within these six target pace zones. There are four non-targeted “grey zones” in the PZI that are impossible to avoid completely. But if you divvy the time you do spend in these gray zones equally into the adjoining target pace zone(s), you should be able to get your pace zone distribution percentages to match up fairly closely to the values recommended in these tables. For example, if your Pace Zone Distribution Graph says you spent 2 percent of your total running time within the past 28 days in Pace Zone 5 (Grey Zone 2), then add 1 percent to time spent in Pace Zone 4 (high aerobic) and 1 percent to time spent in Pace Zone 6 (Threshold).
In addition to planning, another use for the tables I’ve given you here is to assess whether you are actually dividing your running as planned in your targeted zones. Once a week or so, look at your Pace Zone Distribution Graph and see how closely your actual pace zone distribution matches the planned distribution for your current phase of training. If there are any significant discrepancies, consider tweaking your future training to bring it in line with your plan, especially if these discrepancies appear to have given rise to a weakness in your fitness.
One Response to “Matt Fitzgerald’s Pace-Based Running Plans”
June 11th, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Pace trumps heart rate zone based training. There are simply too many variables involved in HR to correlate with intensity. There’s a brief critique listing many of them on the latest Tri-Talk episode (# 63). Check it out via iTunes podcasts or go to the Tri-Talk website: http://www.tri-talk.com/