Properly deploying your strength in long-distance running is half the success. Therefore, it is necessary to know what running pace to choose in order to give the right load to the body.
How to know if you're running at the right pace
Depending on the distance and your physical fitness, the running pace will differ. But there are a number of criteria by which you can determine whether you have chosen the right running speed for a given distance.
1. Pulse. The best indicator of the correct running pace is your heart rate. For easy jogging, it is not advisable for it to exceed 140 beats per minute. If you are running a tempo cross, your heart rate can go over 180. But be careful. You should only run at this heart rate when you are confident in the strength of your heart. If not, then do not raise your heart rate above 140-150 beats while running.
2. Breathing. even and calm. If you begin to feel that there is not enough oxygen and your breathing begins to become difficult, then you are already running at the limit of your capabilities. This pace is suitable if you are either finishing your run and making a finishing dash. Or your running distance is no more and you run it at the maximum of your strength. Otherwise, such breathing is a sign that your muscles will soon become clogged, fatigue will take its toll, and your running pace will have to be reduced to a minimum.
3. Tightness. A common sign of tired runners is tightness. Many novice runners, when they get tired, begin to lift and squeeze. If you understand that you can no longer live without it, then you are already running only at the expense of your moral and volitional qualities. Therefore, you need to control yourself and run at such a pace that you don’t have to force yourself.
4. Squat. Not in the literal sense of course. It’s just that at a certain pace, when the speed is too high and there is still a long way to run, many runners begin to squat to the ground, thus trying to save energy. Most often, this running technique leads to unnecessary energy expenditure on leg work. In this case, ahead, you have to bump into it. In addition, there is a forced increase in step frequency, which also requires additional energy. This is good when you have very strong legs, but lack stamina. Otherwise, this running technique will only “clog” your legs with lactic acid faster.
5. Rocking the body and head. If you realize that you are starting to swing from side to side like a pendulum, then most often this is a sure sign of fatigue, and you won’t be able to run at this pace for a long time. However, many athletes have such a running technique that they always swing their body. Why they do this is unknown, all that is known is that many of these athletes are world champions in many running distances. Therefore, before judging by this criterion whether you have chosen the right pace for running, think about whether this is your technique.
To improve your results in middle and long distance running, you need to know the basics of running, such as proper breathing, technique, warming up, the ability to do the right approach for race day, do the right strength work for running and others.. For site readers, video lessons are completely free . To receive them, just subscribe to the newsletter, and in a few seconds you will receive the first lesson in the series about the basics of proper breathing while running. Subscribe here: . These lessons have already helped thousands of people, and they will help you too.
Thus, you can understand that you are running at the right pace as follows:
Your breathing is even, but deep and strong. The body is straight, slightly tilted forward. Hands work calmly along the body. Shoulders slumped. The palms are gathered into a fist, but not clenched. Pulse from 140 to 200 depending on running pace, age and fitness. The legs work clearly, without squatting or shortening the step. Elastic repulsion from the surface will be the main criterion for the absence of “squatting”. The body and head do not sway.
In this mode, you need to find the maximum speed at which you will not lose any of the signs. This will be the ideal pace for running any distance. It’s just that the shorter the distance, the more elastic the repulsion from the surface, the more frequent breathing and the faster the pulse. But the signs of fatigue will not change.
This article will be of interest to those who want to learn more about musical tempo. After reading it, you will be able to familiarize yourself with the properties of different tempos, and also learn about how the tempo of music can affect people.
1. What is the tempo of music and where did this concept come from?
The word "Temp" comes from the Italian word Tempo, which in turn comes from the Latin word "Temps" - time.
Tempo in music is the speed of the musical process; speed of movement (change) of metric units. Tempo determines the absolute speed at which a piece of music is performed.
Basic tempos in classical music (in ascending order):
Grave, largo, adagio, lento (slow tempos); andante, moderato (moderate tempos); animato, allegro, vivo, presto (fast tempo). Some genres (waltz, march) are characterized by a certain tempo. A metronome is used to accurately measure tempo.
2. Tempos and tempo notations in classical music
The main musical tempos (in ascending order) are:
- largo (very slow and wide);
- adagio (slow, calm);
- andante (at a calm pace);
- moderato (moderately, restrained);
- allegretto (quite lively);
- allegro (quickly);
- vivache (quickly, lively);
- presto (very quickly).
| Italian | German | French | English | Russian | Metronom by Malter |
| grave | schwer, ernst und langsam | gravement | heavy, seriously | grAve - very slowly, significantly, solemnly, heavily | 40-48 |
| largo | breit | large | broadly | lArgo - wide, very slow | 44-52 |
| largamente | weit, in weiten Abständen | largement | broadly | largamEnte - drawn out | 46-54 |
| adagio | gemächlich | à l'aise | (“at ease”) easily, unhurried | adAgio - slowly, calmly | 48-56 |
| lento | langsam | tape | slowly | lento - slowly, weakly, quietly, rather than largo | 50-58 |
| lentamente | langsam | tape | slowly | lentaEnte - slowly, weakly, quietly, rather than lento | 52-60 |
| larghetto | mäßig langsam | un peu lent | somewhat faster than largo | largeEtto - quite wide | 54-63 |
| andante assai | sehr gehend | un peu lent | somewhat slowerthan andante | andAnte asAi - with a very calm step | 56-66 |
| adagietto | mäßig gemächlich | un peu à l"aise | somewhat faster than adagio | adagiEtto - quite slow, but more agile than adagio | 58-72 |
| andante | gehend, fließend | allant | ("walking") flowing | andAnte - moderate pace, in the nature of the step (lit. “walking”) | 58-72 |
| andante maestoso | gehend, fließend erhaben | allant | in a majesticand stately manner | andAnte maestOzo - with a solemn step | 60-69 |
| andante mosso | gehend, fließend bewegt | allant | with motion or animation | andAnte mosso - with a brisk step | 63-76 |
| comodo, comodamente | bequem, gemählich, gemütlich | commode | convenient (pace) | komodo komodamEnte - comfortable, relaxed, leisurely | 63-80 |
| andante non troppo | bequem, gemählich, gemütlich | pa trop d"allant | andante, but not too much | andAnte non troppo - at a slow pace | 66-80 |
| andante con moto | bequem, gemählich, gemütlich | allant movement | andante, but with motion | andAnte con moto - comfortable, relaxed, leisurely | 69-84 |
| andantino | etwas gehend, etwas fließend | un peu allant | somewhat close to andante (somewhat faster or slower) | andantIno - faster than andante, but slower than allegretto | 72-88 |
| moderato assai | sehr mäßig | un peu modéré | somewhat slower than moderato | moderAto asAi - very moderate | 76-92 |
| moderato | mäßig | moderé | moderately, neither slow nor fast | moderato - moderate, restrained, average tempo between andante and allegro | 80-96 |
| con moto | bewegnung | movement | with motion | con moto - with movement | 84-100 |
| allegretto moderato | mäßig bewegt, mäßig lustig | un peu anime | somewhat slower than allegretto | allegretto moderato - moderately animated | 88-104 |
| allegretto | mäßig bewegt, mäßig lustig | un peu anime | somewhat slower than allegro | allegretto - slower than allegro, but faster than andante | 92-108 |
| allegretto mosso | mäßig bewegt, mäßig lustig | un peu anime | somewhat faster than allegretto | allegretto mosso - faster than allegretto | 96-112 |
| animato | bewegt, lustig | anime | animated, lively | animato - animatedly | 100-116 |
| animato assai | bewegt, lustig | anime | very much animated, quite lively | animato assai - very animated | 104-120 |
| allegro moderato | bewegt, lustig | anime | quite lively, cheerful and quickly | allEgro moderato - moderately fast | 108-126 |
| tempo di Marcia | marschieren | marcher au pas | marching | tempo di marcha - at the tempo of a march | 112-126 |
| allegro non troppo | bewegt, lustig | pa trop d"animé | lively, cheerful and quickly, but not too much | allEgro non troppo - fast, but not too fast | 116-132 |
| allegro tranquillo | bewegt, lustig | anime tranquille | lively, cheerful and quickly, but calm | allEgro trunkIllo - fast but calm | 116-132 |
| allegro | bewegt, lustig | anime | lively, cheerful and quickly | allEgro - fast pace (literally: “fun”) | 120-144 |
| allegro molto | sehr bewegt, sehr lustig | très anime | lively, cheerful and quickly | allEgro Molto - very fast | 138-160 |
| allegro assai | sehr bewegt, sehr lustig | très anime | lively, cheerful and quickly | allEgro assai - very quickly | 144-168 |
| allegro agitato, allegro animato | sehr bewegt, sehr lustig | très anime | lively, cheerful and quickly | allEgro agitato - very quickly, excitedly | 152-176 |
| allegro vivace | sehr bewegt, sehr lustig | très anime | lively, cheerful and quickly | allEgro vivAche - much faster | 160-184 |
| vivo, vivace | lebhaft | vif | lively and fast | vIvo vivAche - fast, lively, faster than allegro, slower than presto | 168-192 |
| presto | Schnell | vite | fast | presto - quickly | 184-200 |
| prestissimo | ganz schnell | très vite | very fast | prestIssimo - extremely fast | 192-200 |
Partially based on the book: Malter L., Tables on instrumentation. - M., 1964.
3. The effects of music on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems depend on its tempo
Dr. Luciano Bernardi and his colleagues (University of Pavia, Italy) studied the response of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems (CVS, RS) to changes in music in 12 practicing musicians and 12 age-matched individuals from other professions (control group). After 20 minutes of quiet rest, CVS and RS parameters were assessed. Then they listened to 6 musical fragments of different styles, 2 and 4 minutes each, in random order. Each fragment contained a randomly placed pause of 2 minutes.
They found that respiratory rate (RR), blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and the ratio of low to high frequency heart rate variability (HF/HF, a measure of sympathetic activation) increased with faster music tempos and simple rhythms. , compared to the original values. At the same time, the blood flow velocity in the middle cerebral artery and baroreflex parameters decreased. Compared to non-musicians, musicians breathed more frequently at faster music tempos and had a lower baseline RR. The style of music and personal preferences of the participants did not have the same effect as the tempo or rhythm of the music. The decrease in blood pressure, respiratory rate, heart rate and LF/HF after a 2-minute pause in a musical fragment was more pronounced than after 5 minutes of initial relaxation.
According to the authors, specially selected music, which alternates fast, slow tempo and pauses, can cause relaxation, reduce sympathetic activity and, thus, act as a component of complex therapy for cardiovascular diseases. In an editorial in the same issue of Heart, Dr Peter Larsen and Dr D Galletly (Wellington School of Medicine, New Zealand) suggest that trained musicians are more sensitive to changes in music tempo and therefore have a stronger correlation between musical tempo. and NPV.
4. Electronic music tempos
Nowadays, classical music has faded into the background a little. Therefore, we present to your attention the tempos of electronic music by direction.
Trance is a style of electronic dance music that developed in the 90s. Distinctive features of the style are: tempo from 130 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). Trance usually uses a straight beat.
Trance substyles:
Full on- 140-150 beats per minute (bpm)
Psy- 146-155 (bpm)
Dark- 160 or more beats per minute.
Drum and bass- genre of electronic music. Originally an offshoot of the British breakbeat and rave scene, drum and bass arose when musicians began mixing the bass of reggae with the uptempo breakbeat of hip-hop. In general, there is no significant difference between the terms “drum and bass” and “jungle”. Some call old records of the first half of the 90s jungle, and drum and bass consider significantly evolved jungle with new post-techstep elements. For many people, the pace of this trend is initially difficult to grasp. Because the broken rhythms can make it very difficult to determine the tempo of this style. The spread of pace in this direction is probably one of the largest. Drum and bass sounds start from 140 beats per minute (usually old school) and can reach as much as 200. The tempo in this style can be easily determined by the snare drum.
House is a genre of electronic music originated by dance DJs in the early 1980s in Chicago. House is heavily influenced by some elements of the 1970s soul genre and the Disco style of dance music. House is created by mixing the relief drum bass of the Disco genre and a new type of “heavy” (bass, beats, various sound effects, etc.). Disputes about the origin of the name of this style are still ongoing. But at the moment, the central version is that the name comes from the Chicago club Warehouse, where DJ Frankie Knuckles mixed classic disco with European synth-pop, adding his own rhythms to it using a Roland 909 drum machine. The tempo of this music is quite static. It usually hovers around 130 beats.
Techno is a genre of electronic music that originated in the mid-1980s in and around Detroit and was subsequently picked up by European producers. It is characterized by artificiality of sound, an emphasis on mechanical rhythms, and repeated repetition of the structural elements of a musical work. Techno is characterized by a tempo of 135 beats to 145 beats per minute. “Techno is music that sounds like technology,” says Juan Atkins, one of the genre's founders. In fact, in the US, techno music was only an underground phenomenon, but in the UK it burst into the main music scene of the country in the late 1980s. This style of music was also very popular in other countries.
About 20 years ago, a style appeared in electronic music culture that became an offshoot of techno music. The name of this style is Hardcore.
Hardcore. Anyone who was into electronic music in the 90s should remember the well-known Thunderdome rave, which gathered a huge number of people in Holland who came to hardcore raves. But this style of music was extremely popular not only in this country, but also in Germany and other European countries.
Breakcore- This is a fairly recently emerged genre. Probably the youngest among all genres that use broken rhythm. Tempos in this style are striking both in terms of bpm and in their tempo in general. The smallest tempo in breakcore is as much as 220 beats per minute, which is much more than any other style of electronic music and can reach absolutely cosmic values. There are some known compositions in this style, which have a value of 666 bpm.
Electro- short for Electro funk (also known as robot hip hop), this is a style of electronic music that takes its roots from hip-hop. Kraftwerk and funk had a very big influence on the style. Music in this style sounds very electronic (“computer-like”), the creators of such music try not to use the sounds of living nature, even the vocals are usually distorted to give a “darker” and “mechanical” tone. Therefore, the performers’ works are imbued with the ideas of robots, nuclear physics, computers, future technologies, and science fiction largely contributes to the development of this style. Electro has a tempo that is approximately the same as house music. From 125 beats and a little more - this is electro.
The last style of electronic music that I would like to pay attention to is Breaks.
Breaks- A very interesting style, in my opinion, but I’ll be brief. The entire break culture, including this trend, arose as a result of a historical event. If I'm not mistaken, in 1969 the Winstons came up with the song "Amen brother", in which the broken drum loop, now known to everyone as part of breakbeat music, first appeared. Now it is called amen break. It is very often used in drum'n'bass. In breaks she no longer looks like herself, and it’s not her anymore, but the basis of this style is precisely the broken rhythms that originate so long ago. Their tempos became slower and more pumping. The pace has become lower than that of its predecessor directions. Break music is played at a tempo of approximately 120-130 bpm. If it were bigger, she would lose all her drive.
I think I’ll end here, since other styles of electronic music are, in my opinion, more experimental or less relevant.
All running apps have two measurements of a runner's movement - average pace and average speed - and many people confuse the former with the latter. Therefore, in today’s article we decided to touch upon this particular topic and explain the main differences between these indicators.
Running pace is the reciprocal of average running speed. It is measured in minutes per kilometer (or minutes per mile). That is, Pace is the time a person spends covering a certain distance.
3 Knowing your average pace, which the program tells you about either after a certain period of time or after a certain distance (it all depends on how you are), you can calculate the approximate time in which you will run the intended distance. This is very important, because during running competitions it allows you to correctly distribute your strength and run the distance within the planned time.
Formula for relating pace to speed: T (min/km) =60/V (km/h)=50/3V (m/s)
As we have already said, knowing your average pace, you can approximately calculate the time in which you will run the intended distance. For example, your virtual trainer is set up to tell you your distance traveled every 5 minutes, and after 10 minutes you look at your watch screen (or smartphone screen) and see that the distance traveled is 10 km. This means that your average pace is 1 min/km, and you will run the planned 5 km in about 5 minutes.
If your average pace for 5 km was approximately 5 min/km (that is, you run 1 km in 5 minutes), then your average speed will be 12 km/h.
speed
Of course, pace and speed indicators depend on the athlete’s training, but if we take average indicators, then sports running - a pace of 3-5 min/km, race walking - 4-7 min/km, jogging - 6-9 min/km, walking - 9-15 min/km.
We hope that we have brought some clarity to this issue and wish you productive training! We also remind you that we have a great calorie calculator for runners and swimmers in which you can calculate the number of calories burned. To do this, you need to enter your gender, age, weight and heart rate during training. After this, the calculator will perform its calculations and show the number of calories burned not only in numbers, but also in a visual form - how many hamburgers, glasses of sweet soda or sweet candies. And then, washing down your next hamburger with a glass of Coca-Cola, you can roughly imagine how much you will have to run or swim in order to remove these extra calories.
Another good way to use this calculator is to estimate your workout time and the required heart rate level to burn the required number of calories. For example, I looked at my notes and realized that today I allowed myself 200 kcal more than usual. This means that in order to remove them, I will need to run for about 20 minutes and at the same time maintain my heart rate at 160 beats per minute.
What is the difference between running pace and speed? In all running applications, there are two measurements of a runner's movement - average pace (pace) and average speed (speed), and many people confuse the first with the second. Therefore, in today’s article we decided to touch upon this particular topic and explain the main differences between these indicators. Running pace is the reciprocal of average running speed. It is measured in minutes per kilometer (or minutes per mile). That is, pace is the distance that a person runs in a certain period of time. 3 Knowing your average pace, which the program tells you about either after a certain period of time or after a certain distance (it all depends on how you set up your personal trainer), you can calculate the approximate time it will take you to run the target distance. This is very important, because during running competitions it allows you to correctly distribute your strength and run the distance within the planned time. The formula for relating pace to speed: T (min/km) =60/V (km/h)=50/3V (m/s) As we have already said, knowing your average pace, you can roughly calculate the time it will take you to run the intended distance. For example, your virtual trainer is set up to tell you your distance traveled every 5 minutes, and after 10 minutes you look at your watch screen (or smartphone screen) and see that the distance traveled is 10 km. This means that your average pace is 5 min/km, and you will run the intended 5 km in about 25 minutes. alt pace If your average pace for 5 km was approximately 5 min/km (that is, you run 1 km in 5 minutes), then your average speed will be 12 km/h. alt speed Of course, pace and speed indicators depend on the training of the athlete, but if we take average indicators, then sports running - a pace of 3-5 min/km, race walking - 4-7 min/km, jogging - 6-9 min/ km, walking - 9-15 min/km. We hope that we have brought some clarity to this issue and wish you productive training! We also remind you that we have a great calorie calculator for runners and swimmers in which you can calculate the number of calories burned. To do this, you need to enter your gender, age, weight and heart rate during training. After this, the calculator will perform its calculations and show the number of calories burned not only in numbers, but also in a visual form - how many hamburgers, glasses of sweet soda or sweet candies. And then, washing down your next hamburger with a glass of Coca-Cola, you can roughly imagine how much you will have to run or swim in order to remove these extra calories. Another good way to use this calculator is to estimate your workout time and the required heart rate level to burn the required number of calories. For example, I looked at my notes and realized that today I allowed myself 200 kcal more than usual. This means that in order to remove them, I will need to run for about 20 minutes and at the same time maintain my heart rate at 160 beats per minute.
The terms “threshold pace” and “tempo running” are familiar to many runners, but not everyone can explain the difference between them. Many runners have also heard the term "lactate" or "lactic acid."
In this article, we'll use these terms to describe a byproduct of anaerobic metabolism that often comes into play during intense training and racing.
Threshold running pace and its basics
The concept of threshold running pace is quite simple. This is simply running at a pace at which lactate does not accumulate in the blood in significant concentrations during exercise, but remains at a constant level.
One way to find out how much lactic acid your body produces is to test it in a physiological laboratory. There, you will be asked to run at faster and faster paces, while blood samples will be taken to establish your "lactate curve." There will be an inflection point on this curve, reflecting the moment when the concentration of lactic acid in the blood increases sharply.
So, shortly before this moment, you will run at your threshold pace. Increase your running speed and your body will switch to using anaerobic metabolism to fuel your physical efforts. This is fine if you're running the last kilometer of a 5K, but if you're looking to do threshold training, it's not practical to run that fast.
What's really cool about running at threshold pace is that your breathing pattern changes as you reach your target speed (Martin and Coe's Best Training for Long Distance Runners has a graph showing ventilatory rates and lactate levels at different speeds). running speeds). This is great news because it means you can “feel” your threshold running pace. This is a pace that is faster/harder than a regular easy run, but slower than a 5-10K pace. While maintaining this pace is definitely not the easiest task, it is not so difficult that you cannot run at this speed for 20 or 30 minutes if you are in good physical shape.
How to determine your threshold running pace?
There are various ways to help you calculate your threshold pace, but we encourage you to take an individual approach to each threshold workout and recommend the following. The pace should be more challenging than an easy run, but once you feel your breathing taking on a 5K rhythm, you should slow down.
Running at threshold pace is an excellent way to train the aerobic energy system, making it the cornerstone of training for races of any distance, from a 5K to a marathon.
Tempo run
What about tempo running? Tempo running sessions are longer than threshold pace running sessions. You have the opportunity to catch a good rhythm and maintain it for several kilometers.
So, a marathon runner might warm up for 4 km, run 12 km at tempo pace and finish with 4 km of easy running. This is a great way to run 20 km (although the distance can be 10 km), of which 12 km will be aerobic training.
The reason the terms “threshold pace” and “tempo running” are not interchangeable is that the former refers to running at a pace that is just shy of your anaerobic threshold, while the latter describes running at in which you select a pace that allows you to run a greater distance.
In most cases, instead of running a tempo run, we would advise you to use half-marathon or marathon pace. But this is a topic for a separate article.