Run Intensity and TriDot Pool School

Welcome to Episode #480 of the 303 Endurance Podcast. We're your hosts Coaches Rich Soares and April Spilde. Thanks for joining us for another week of endurance news, coaching tips and discussion. 

What is run intensity? Why do we care about run intensity? What are the different ways of measuring run intensity? When should you use a particular method over another? 

 

Show Sponsor: UCAN

UCAN created LIVSTEADY as an alternative to sugar based nutrition products. LIVSTEADY was purposefully designed to work with your body, delivering long-lasting energy you can feel. Whether UCAN Energy Powders, Bars or Gels, LIVSTEADY's unique time-release profile allows your body to access energy consistently throughout the day, unlocking your natural ability to finish stronger and recover more quickly! 

 

In Today's Show

• Announcements and News

• Ask a Coach: Defining Run Intensity 

• Get Gritty Tip: Mastering Run Intensity

• TriDot Workout of the Week - Rich

• Fun Segment: Rich & April’s Top 5 - Run Edition

 

Announcements and News:

 

TriDot Pool School

 

Group Ride Schedule - March 1st Manitou Incline Group Hike. Address and details at 303Triathlon Events https://www.facebook.com/share/1B8u6f7vdH/

 

Upcoming Programming - Our February focus will be on swimming.

Mar. 1 - Run Intensity as HR, Pace, GAP and Power

Mar. 3 6pm - Webinar with author and coach Matt Fitzgerald on his new book Chasing Mastery

https://www.facebook.com/share/166xUjYuYp/

Mar. 15 - Run Drills and Run Mechanics

Mar. 22 - Trail and Snow Running

Mar. 29 - Creative Tips to make running fun

 

Announcing Coaches Corner (aka Office Hours) with Coaches April Spilde and Rich Soares. Every 3rd Tuesday of the month.

Link to March 18 Coaches Corner - https://www.facebook.com/share/15reK1J3m5/

 

Grit2Greatness Endurance Website and Social Media - Come check out our new coaching 

Website - Grit2Greatness Endurance Coaching

Facebook page @grit2greatnessendurance

Ask A Coach Sponsor: G2G Endurance

Hey triathletes, what if you could train smarter, not just harder? At Grit2Greatness Endurance Coaching, we’ve partnered with TriDot to give you the data-driven edge. No more guesswork—just custom workouts designed around YOU. Sign up through Coach April’s or Coach Rich’s TriDot links and start a 2-week free trial. Plans begin at $14.99/month and trust us—you’ll feel the difference. Ready to step up your game? Click the sign-up link in our show notes and let’s go!

Ask A Coach: How to measure running intensity and which metric to use when?

A common question. In the absence of a training plan or coaching, many runners get the trail or path at a running pace that just feels right. Run fast enough that you feel like you are training, but not so hard that it's too uncomfortable.

Let’s explore different definitions of running intensity, metrics to measure and which ones to use when:

Defining Run Intensity - Run intensity refers to the level of effort or exertion you put into a running activity. It is often categorized as low, moderate, or high intensity, based on factors like pace, heart rate, breathing, and perceived effort. Here's a quick breakdown:

Low Intensity: Easy, conversational pace. Your heart rate is relatively low, and you can maintain this effort for a long time.

Moderate Intensity: Steady effort where you're working harder, but can still talk in short sentences. Your heart rate is elevated, and it's a great zone for building endurance.

High Intensity: Challenging effort where talking becomes difficult, and you feel you're pushing close to your maximum capacity. This is often used in interval or sprint training.

Rate of Perceived Exertion - Rate of Perceived Exertion (RPE) is a scale used to measure the intensity of your physical activity based on how hard you feel you're working. Unlike metrics like heart rate or pace, RPE is subjective and relies on your personal assessment of effort, factoring in sensations like breathing, muscle fatigue, and overall discomfort.

Why Run to Perceived Exertion?

Individualized Intensity: RPE adapts to your fitness level, energy, and external conditions (like heat or hills), offering a more personalized way to gauge effort.

Improved Training: It helps balance your runs—ensuring easy days stay easy and hard days push you effectively.

Injury Prevention: Avoid overtraining by recognizing when you're pushing too hard.

When to Run to Perceived Exertion?

Adverse Conditions: When gadgets like heart rate monitors or GPS devices are unreliable, such as in extreme weather or technical terrain.

Adaptive Workouts: If you're feeling unusually tired or energetic, RPE allows you to adjust your workout to match your current capability.

Race Training: For pacing strategies during races, especially if unexpected factors (like crowded race conditions) arise.

 

How to Run to Perceived Exertion?

Use a simplified RPE scale (1 to 10):

1–2 (Very Easy): Recovery runs or warm-ups. You should feel like you can talk effortlessly.

3–4 (Easy-Moderate): Base-building runs, where you can hold a conversation without strain.

5–6 (Moderate): Steady effort runs, breathing heavier but still manageable.

7–8 (Hard): Tempo runs or intervals; talking is difficult, and you're focused.

9–10 (Maximum Effort): Short sprints or finishes; you're working at your limit.

Incorporating RPE into your runs allows for more mindful training, adjusting to your body’s signals in real time.

 

Heart Rate - Running to heart rate intensity involves monitoring and controlling your effort level based on your heart rate during exercise. This method helps align your training with specific fitness goals by ensuring you stay within optimal heart rate zones.

Why Run to Heart Rate Intensity?

Targeted Training: Heart rate zones align with physiological benefits like fat burning, aerobic endurance, or anaerobic power, making your training more effective.

Prevent Overtraining: It ensures you don't push too hard on easy days or underperform on hard days.

Performance Feedback: Tracks improvements over time as you can run faster at the same heart rate or maintain higher intensities for longer.

When to Run to Heart Rate Intensity?

Structured Training Plans: Ideal for workouts aimed at specific goals, like building endurance or improving speed.

Recovery Runs: Helps keep effort low, avoiding unnecessary strain.

 

Race Pacing: Guides you to stay consistent and avoid burnout, especially during long races like marathons.

How to Run to Heart Rate Intensity?

Determine Your Heart Rate Zones: Calculate them based on your maximum heart rate (rough estimate: 220−age) or use a fitness test for accuracy. Common zones are:

Zone 1 (50–60% of max HR): Active recovery.

Zone 2 (60–70% of max HR): Aerobic endurance (easy effort).

Zone 3 (70–80% of max HR): Steady-state/cardio fitness.

Zone 4 (80–90% of max HR): Anaerobic power (hard effort).

Zone 5 (90–100% of max HR): Maximal effort (short sprints).

Wear a Heart Rate Monitor: Use a chest strap or wrist-based device for real-time feedback.

Match Your Runs to Zones:

Recovery runs in Zone 1–2.

Long, slow distance runs in Zone 2.

Tempo runs in Zone 3–4.

Interval workouts in Zone 4–5.

Training by heart rate takes time to get used to, especially as your pace can vary due to factors like weather, terrain, or fatigue.

 

Pace - Running to pace intensity involves setting and maintaining specific paces during your runs based on your goals and fitness level. This approach relies on measurable speed, helping runners stay consistent and hit desired performance targets.

Why Run to Pace Intensity?

Goal-Oriented Training: Enables you to train precisely for specific race goals, like a personal best or qualifying time.

Consistency: Keeps your workouts structured and ensures you're working at the right level of effort.

Progress Measurement: Tracking pace helps evaluate improvement and adjust training over time.

When to Run to Pace Intensity?

Race Preparation: Crucial when training for events like 5Ks, marathons, or ultramarathons to mimic race day conditions.

Tempo and Speed Workouts: Ensures you're working hard enough to improve endurance or speed.

Performance Tracking: Useful in testing sessions to assess fitness levels and adapt training plans.

How to Run to Pace Intensity?

Set Target Paces: Base them on your fitness level or goals, often determined through assessments (like a recent race) or pace calculators.

Example: A long run at a slower, steady pace vs. interval training at faster paces.

Use a GPS Watch or App: Track your pace in real time to stay on target.

Match Workouts to Paces:

Easy Runs: ~60–75% of your race pace, focusing on recovery and endurance.

Tempo Runs: ~85–90% of race pace, maintaining a challenging but sustainable effort.

Speed Work: Short, fast intervals (e.g., 400m) run faster than race pace to build speed.

Running to pace is an excellent tool for precision, but it's important to stay flexible since factors like terrain, weather, or fatigue can impact your speed.

 

Grade Adjusted Pace - Running to grade-adjusted pace (GAP) intensity accounts for the impact of elevation changes (uphills and downhills) on your effort level. It essentially adjusts your pace to reflect how hard you’re working, regardless of the terrain, allowing for a more accurate evaluation of intensity.

 

Why Run to Grade-Adjusted Pace Intensity?

Effort Consistency: Uphills and downhills significantly alter your pace, and GAP provides a better measure of effort than raw pace alone.

Smarter Training: Allows you to match your effort levels to your goals, even on hilly routes.

Race Preparation: Ideal for training on varied terrain while maintaining the intensity required for flat courses or specific race targets.

When to Run to Grade-Adjusted Pace Intensity?

Hilly Routes: Use GAP to ensure your effort stays consistent when elevation fluctuates.

Long Distance Training: GAP can help keep you within the right intensity zone during marathons or other endurance events on rolling terrain.

Performance Analysis: Post-run, GAP is great for evaluating your effort compared to your intended training intensity.

How to Run to Grade-Adjusted Pace Intensity?

Use a GAP Calculator or App: Apps like Strava and certain running watches automatically calculate GAP based on elevation data during your run.

Focus on Effort: Pay attention to how your body feels in hilly sections and adjust your pace to keep a steady effort.

Uphills: Run slower than your flat-ground pace; GAP adjusts to reflect the extra effort.

Downhills: Your pace naturally increases, but GAP accounts for the reduced effort.

Incorporate GAP into Training Zones:

Easy runs: Stay in lower GAP zones to avoid overworking on hills.

Tempo runs: Use GAP to sustain the intended intensity, regardless of terrain.

Hill workouts: GAP helps you measure consistent effort, improving strength and endurance.

Running to grade-adjusted pace allows you to train smarter, especially in regions where hills dominate the landscape.

Power - Running to power intensity involves using a power meter to measure the amount of force or effort you’re exerting during a run, expressed in watts. Unlike heart rate or pace, which can be influenced by external factors, running power provides an immediate and objective measure of your effort, making it a highly efficient way to train.

Why Run to Power Intensity?

Objective Measurement: Power reflects your actual output, unaffected by variables like heat, fatigue, or elevation.

Precision: It ensures you're training at the right intensity for specific goals, from endurance to speed.

Consistency Across Terrain: Power accounts for changes in elevation and surface, helping you maintain consistent effort.

Improved Efficiency: Monitoring your power output can help you refine your running form and efficiency.

When to Run to Power Intensity?

Hilly or Variable Terrain: Power allows you to maintain effort regardless of elevation changes, making it great for trail or road running.

Interval Training: Provides instant feedback, so you can hit and sustain specific targets for each interval.

Racing: Helps you avoid going out too hard or too easy by sticking to your target power zone, especially in events with rolling hills.

How to Run to Power Intensity?

Set Power Zones: Determine your Functional Threshold Power (FTP) through a fitness test, then calculate power zones (similar to heart rate zones):

Zone 1 (Recovery): 55% or less of FTP.

Zone 2 (Easy): 56–75% of FTP for aerobic base building.

Zone 3 (Moderate): 76–90% of FTP for steady-state running.

Zone 4 (Threshold): 91–105% of FTP for sustained hard efforts.

Zone 5 (VO2 Max): 106–120% of FTP for short, intense intervals.

Zone 6 (Anaerobic): Over 120% of FTP for maximal efforts.

Use a Running Power Meter: Devices like Stryd or certain smartwatches with power sensors provide real-time wattage data.

Match Workouts to Zones:

Long runs: Stay in Zone 2 for endurance.

Tempo runs: Target Zone 3–4 for sustained, moderate efforts.

Intervals: Push into Zone 5–6 for high-intensity bursts.

Training with power takes some adjustment but can lead to greater insights and efficiency in your running.

 

Get Gritty Tip:

Mastering Run Intensity

Not every run should feel like a race. One of the biggest mistakes endurance athletes make is pushing too hard on easy days and not hard enough on intensity days. The result? Stagnation, burnout, and frustration.

Here’s the key: Honor the purpose of each run. Easy runs should be easy—think conversational pace, building endurance without taxing your system. But when it’s time to go hard, don’t hold back. Speed work, tempo runs, and race efforts should push your limits, not just check a box.

Challenge: On your next run, be intentional. If it’s an easy day, slow down more than feels natural. If it’s an intense day, embrace the discomfort and lean in. Training smart is how you break through.

Grit isn’t just about effort—it’s about discipline.

TriDot Workout of the Week: 

“Threshold Repeats” vs “Recovery Run”

Threshold Repeats

Session Note

Your goal is to perform each repeat with a consistent effort. The pace of your last repeat should be the same or slightly faster than your first. Be conservative and don't go out too hard on the first one else your later repeats will be negatively impacted. The most significant training benefit will come in how well you perform on the last few efforts. Recoveries should be at an extremly slow jog.

 

Main Set

2 x 9 min @ Z4 (2 min)

Balance of session @ Z2

Balance of time @ Z2

Recovery Run

 

Session Note

It's essential to manage your intensity for this session based on heart rate rather than pace and keep your heart rate well within the proper zone, even if it means walking instead of running.

 

Going too hard on this session will hinder your recovery from prior sessions, limit your ability to get the most out of future sessions, and deprive you of the essential training adaptations that only come with training at the lower intensity.

 

The pace at which you can go while maintaining a lower heart rate (and whether that is walking or running) is determined by many factors including environment, dehydration, residual fatigue, body composition, running efficiency, and aerobic fitness.

 

As your body composition, running efficiency, and aerobic fitness improve, you will develop the ability to go faster at your target heart rate. Maintaining your lower heart rate during these sessions is key to developing that ability.

 

Your heart rate is the standard of truth for your intensity level on this session. If you need to walk, then be disciplined to walk and remember that for these sessions ‘walking is winning’.

Warmup

~5-10 min of dynamic stretching and muscle activation

Main Set

All @ Z2 

include 3 to 4 x 20-30 sec Strides focusing on form and turnover

Today’s Fun Segment: Rich & April’s Top 5

Running Edition

How It Works: Rich and April break down their Top 5 favorites in a specific area of triathlon. From gear to training hacks, this is where experience meets personal preference. This week, we’re hitting the pavement (or trails) with our Top 5 Running Favorites!

Favorite Running Shoes

• The go-to pair that feels like running on clouds and never lets you down.

• What makes them special: comfort, durability, race-day magic?

 Favorite Pre-Run Fuel

• The must-have snack or drink before heading out.

• Are you team coffee, bananas, or something unconventional?

Favorite Type of Run Workout

• Tempo runs, hill sprints, or the good old long, slow distance—what gets you excited to lace up?

• Why it’s a game-changer for training and racing.

Favorite Running Route (or Type of Terrain)

• Trail, track, treadmill, or scenic roads—where do you love to run the most?

• Best spots we’ve ever run and why they stand out.

Favorite Post-Run Recovery Hack

• The go-to recovery tool or ritual: foam rollers, ice baths, compression gear, or straight to the couch?

Closing:

Thanks again for listening this week. Please be sure to follow us @303Triathlon and @grit2greatnessendurance and of course go to iTunes and give us a rating and a comment. We'd really appreciate it!

Stay tuned, train informed, and enjoy the endurance journey!

Train With Coach Rich:

Coach Rich Soares

[email protected]

Rich Soares Coaching

TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/richsoares

RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/richsoares

 

Train with Coach April:

Coach April Spilde

[email protected]

TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/aprilspilde

RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/aprilspilde