A sub 10 guy with a PR of 4:35 is claiming he can't run a 3 mile "tempo" run around 7:00 pace? I call BS. Something doesn't add up. That pace should be his normal easy run pace.
I don't see anything wrong with this pace and effort given time of season and weather. I would just continue to have him run these every so often (every 10-14 days), with gradual increases in pace and hopefully - a similar HR. The majority of his runs should not be 8 min pace tho. I would push for gradual increases in daily pacing and more medium, even medium hard efforts. 9 min pace should not be part of his training, ever.
Why should 9 min pace never be part of his training?
Isn't the new thinking that they shouldn't be pounded into the ground with fast long miles and instead be doing more long slow runs?
B/C he's a 9:50/4:35 kid who will get little to no benefit from plodding along @ 9 min pace. It's all relative to the athlete. There is nothing wrong w/easy days and/or long runs, but none of them should be at 9 min pace for this kid. He would be better of not running at all or getting in the pool or on the bike.
And no - I don't believe LSD is new thinking. The 90s came and went and were a miserable failure for American distance running.
Agreed. However, I wouldn't care about the recovery times so much. Summers are brutal. 1 min is not much on a hot and humid day for reps 1k and up. You can do it but the sustainably suffers. 90s-2 mins is probably enough to recover and get water, pour some over your head, etc. Shorter reps allow for this more often too. So be willing to adjust. Don't put much pressure on the splits or recoveries. Just make sure they are relaxed and having fun while collecting work. It's a long season.
A couple of factors beside heat humidity and expected HR drift or a layer too many for the training conditions
You are unlikely to have a true HRpesk for the kid and your rough calculations expectation are off 10% at least … my guess is HRpeak is 205 plus
the kid runs 4:35 and likely has some intermediate fiber he is probably bounding at these slower miles extremely inefficient look for a pace where he smooths out. I’d look at 5:50-5:40 pace and yes reps will be more effective at this level 800-1000 is fine no reason to crack the whip medium to somewhat hard RPE is fine hell even 400s 85 would be fine just don’t make this kid run slog slower than 6:40 pace ever
There is some truth to the form comment. He is a plodder when he is running slow. When he is cruising it all smooths out. He is not a fast twitch athlete though. He's a strange duck. He can probably run about 58-59 for 400... yet when you get to 400, 800 and 1000 reps he's very efficient and smooth.
To someone else's comments about his comment about not being able to fathom running 5:45 pace for 3m. You have to keep in mind... spring 2023 he ran 10:40... last fall he ran 18:30 for 5k cross (hard course) and then in spring runs 9:50/4:35. So by all intents and purposes, 18:30 is the fastest he has ever run a 5k. Its not that he can't... its that he can't get his head around it. This is a mental case... not a physical one.
To be clear... its not like during track he never ran an easy run up-tempo. He had many 3-4 mile runs at 7:00 pace or even a bit faster. He's 6'3" and very lean. I think maybe the heat bothers him more than most and like I said, he is uncomfortable being uncomfortable.
For this type of athlete you need to tell him the pace to run and don’t keep it open ended. You know what pace he needs to run obviously, just tell him.