The Worst 5 Threshold Running Mistakes Everyone Makes (Avoid These)

[00:00:00] This is threshold, done right, smooth, sustainable, and a steady burn. And this, this is what runners do way too fast, unsustainable, and with zero adaptation. In this episode, you’ll learn the five biggest mistakes runners make with threshold training and how to fix them without running more or trying harder.

[00:00:21] I’ll be going over how to find your actual sweet spot pace. No more guessing or dying when your runs. Why most runners are secretly sabotaging their threshold workouts and how you can be a smarter threshold runner, and if you stay around to the middle, nice little bonus, you can get a free and easy, super simple plan for threshold training that builds speed without burning you to an absolute crisp.

[00:00:43] It’s called sub-threshold training. More of that in the middle. I’m Darren D, leg running a nutrition coach, sub three hour marathoner, 10 hour Ironman finisher. And since 1996, I’ve been helping all of the self-coach runners get 1% better each day by experimenting on myself, researching and talking to so many experts so you don’t have to waste your time.

[00:01:03] Let’s get into the episode. What is threshold running? So let’s define things and make sure we’re speaking the same language before adding a whole bunch more to the mix threshold in simple, regular terms is the effort. You can barely hold for 45 to 60 minutes, so that’s a pace, heart rate, effort, et cetera.

[00:01:23] It’s not easy. But 45 to 60 minutes is quite long. It’s where your body is working hard, but still in mostly control. For some, this is a recent 10 K race time. Possibly. For me, it’s in between my current 10 k and half marathon pace. Not optimistic future goal. It’s what my actual fitness is right now.

[00:01:41] Here’s a metaphor to make this stick in your brain. Imagine your muscles are a pot of water on, on a stove. Zone two is a gentle simmer, so there’s fire under it threshold that’s just below. Boiling so we’re not boiling yet. You’re hot, you’re not spilling over, let’s say VO two max in intervals. That’s boiling.

[00:01:58] That’s when you’re like, I can’t handle this. I boiled over. So we wanna sit right at that gentle simmer. Check out the video right here, or blow in the video description and I talk more about threshold, but quick run science and nerd breakdown. Lactate is fuel, not waste. It’s good and low levels and wanted when we are running, it’s only bad when there’s so much that your body can’t use it as fuel.

[00:02:20] You produce it. Even when you’re walking or just sitting upright, it’s crazy. Everyone’s like, oh, lactate gets out, and they say, no, no, no, no, no. You actually have it. Most of the time, the burning you get when you race or go too hard for a long time isn’t lactate specifically. This is a bit of a mind blowing.

[00:02:34] It’s hydrogen ions. That’s the byproduct of too much lactate in your system not being cleared out and that whole. Tick acid thing that’s outdated language. You might hear or read lactate and lactic acid in different places. They generally mean the same thing, so don’t feel like you’re missing out on something.

[00:02:52] And temple runs are usually around your lactate threshold if you know. What your LT is, so lactate threshold, and speaking of tempo, most runners confuse vague tempo runs with true threshold training. This is where things get really murky, leading to unsustainable efforts, but by identifying your actual threshold and training just below it, which is called sub-threshold, you can achieve more effective, controlled, and sustainable adaptations.

[00:03:17] And it just so happens, I gotta fix for this shortly. Stay tuned. But if you wanna learn more about Temple Runs, did an episode right up here or below in the show notes or in your podcast audio app, the five dumbest threshold mistakes. Let’s start with mistake number one. Running it too fast. If your tempo run or threshold run feels like a race, it’s not threshold.

[00:03:37] You slipped into VO two max territory and now you’re just burning fuel and hope. So. Personal example, I’m, I’m always gonna keep it real and be vulnerable. Back years ago when I was new to fast distance running, I used to do tempo runs at my 5K pace, and then I wondered why I was receded. For three days, sometimes four days after, because I was basically racing myself like every Tuesday for years.

[00:03:59] Tempo Tuesday, getting nowhere fast. It took research and talking to a a few coaches to realize I was making this fundamental mistake. The fix, super easy. Dial it back until you can talk in short phases. But really don’t want to. So you could still do a little bit, a little bit of basic math. Your brain is fully there.

[00:04:18] That’s the sweet spot. Mistake number two, skipping the aerobic base phase threshold. It only works if your aerobic engine is already built. It needs a foundation. Can’t build a skyscraper on swamp muddy land. You gotta have a nice steel. Concrete foundation for that whole building to go up. No base threshold becomes just another stressor and not the good kind of stress.

[00:04:42] So there’s a video on base training that I did above or in the show notes or video description below. Go check that out. Quick example. So I know a runner who jumped. Right in the threshold. After three weeks of running, her legs felt fine, but her body had zero foundation to absorb the work. So two, three weeks in, she’s like, I’m fine.

[00:04:58] I can keep building. I’m, I’m good. Six weeks later, shin splints and pure frustration. The fix build zone two, first, your threshold sits on top of that. Otherwise, it’s just pretty and sweet icing on a really, really gross mud cake mistake. Number three, doing it while. You are fried if you sleep deprived, under fueled, or you’re just mentally wiped out.

[00:05:21] Threshold will take what little you got and turn it into dust and ash. Example, a runner that I coach insisted on hitting his threshold session after DJing late. I think he got home at like 3:00 AM 4:00 AM and he was like, yeah, I only got four hours of sleep because it was a bunch of noise outside at 7:00 AM and he is like, I gotta get the workout in.

[00:05:41] So what? What do you think happened? His pace was absolute trash. His form collapsed and he reinforced bad movement patterns. He kept doing this actually week on week until I came in, was like, buddy, buddy, what are we doing here? We need to move your threshold day away from when you want to DJ so that you can get a bit more sleep and have a bit more recovery.

[00:05:58] This wasn’t training, it was just suffering. They’re two different things. Remember, training equals rest, plus work, not work. Plus work the fix run threshold. When you’re fresh enough, not perfect. You don’t have to have 10 hours of sleep for three days straight and feel amazing. You just can’t be falling apart and have four hours of sleep every single time.

[00:06:18] You wanna do a threshold. Now, if any of these hit home. I got great news for you. I built a free eight week sub-threshold training plan that fixes exactly these issues. It walks you through how to find your actual threshold pace. Or heart rate and how to train just under it. For maximum results, check the QR code here, link below or in the show notes of your podcast players app, and yet bonus, you’ll also get my five minute weekly newsletter delivered to your email inbox where I break down things like VO two max training, long run Stride, and mental fitness tools and tactics that actually help.

[00:06:53] Let’s get back into the episode. Mistake number four, calling everything threshold just because it’s hard doesn’t make it threshold. Four by five minutes at 5K pace. That’s not threshold. That’s field two, max 20 minute death March. Probably not either. Just a really fast temple run, possibly time trial, possibly a race.

[00:07:11] Here is my own personal confession. I was guilty of this for years. Like I’d get all creative, creative by mixing up different tempo paces, fast tempo, medium tempo, slow tempo. But I was mixing it all up because. I actually suck at threshold running. So I’m there doing all these broken sessions, 400 meter repeats at one mile and going like, yeah, good job.

[00:07:33] That’s threshold work. Then I’d be all confused, wondering why my 5K and half marathon times weren’t budgeting. But now looking back at my heart rate data, it was hilarious. It looked like the Rocky Mountains when it should have been more gentle rolling hills. That’s the heart rate data. I had no clue. I wasn’t doing threshold training at all.

[00:07:49] I was just torturing myself for no reason. And this went on for quite long until I did my own research again, talked to coaches and was like. Okay, this is what I need to be doing. And I finally, finally understood it All. The fix threshold is controlled, repeatable, sustainably hard, and you should know it by testing it using calculators or both Think three by 10 minutes, not one by SU fest.

[00:08:12] And the last one, mistake number five. Doing it every week forever threshold is a super powerful tool. But if you hit it every Tuesday for 52 weeks straight. You either stop adapting or just burn out. Here’s an example of the last runner that we have that I see on Instagram. She discovered threshold runs make her feel like a real runner.

[00:08:30] Kids run fast, so now it’s Tempo Tuesday on Strava forever. Same workout, same route, same pace. 52 weeks a year. Her results improved for like three months, right? Get that 12, 12 week bump, then it flatline. Now she’s just really good at being mediocre and wondering why her motivation is in the gutter. Bonus pro science.

[00:08:49] Fact, fun fact, some elite athletes do double thresholds. That’s true. The Norwegians love this stuff. Jaka ina brison. But for most of us, mere mortal amateurs, myself included, overuse, leads to monotony. Stagnation or over training. It’s also quite complex to get it right. So the fix for all of this periodization rotate your focus threshold has a season.

[00:09:11] So does VO two max. So does rest use it strategically like a special knife in your kitchen for certain dishes, not religiously on every. Single meal, a k, a run on a Tuesday. And another thing that really doesn’t have its own place, try to do your threshold sessions either on flat terrain or the same type of route if you can, because hills and off-road can really mess with pacing and effort, and your heart rate can shoot up quite a bit, which isn’t the end of the world if they’re gentle rolling hills.

[00:09:44] But you don’t want to be five to 10 BPMs higher. On your threshold runs. Or lower, because that actually negates the work that we’re doing. We wanna be as specific as possible. So that’s kind of like a a 5.5 in a way. Okay, so if you made any of these mistakes, don’t worry. I built a free eight weeks sub-threshold training plan that fixes all of them.

[00:10:07] It shows you exactly how to find your real threshold and train just below it to build speed without burning out. But here is the thing. What if your training zones are wrong to begin with? I used the MFE tone formula for years. And when I finally tested myself, the results were crazy. Kind of shocked me.

[00:10:23] That’s what I’m breaking down in the next episode. Check that out below in the video description. You can get the link, or if you’re listening, open your podcast player and hit up the show notes.