Strange and usual morning aside (read previous post), I managed to get to Pasir Ris Park last Saturday morning just in time for the start of the MH Runners Workshop on Tempo Training.

Adrian Mok, Polar Singapore supremo, hardcore runner, and the running guy behind Men's Health's Ask the Running Guy column, kicked off the session with an crash-course introduction heart rate zones. He explained briefly what happens to your body at the different zones and levels of intensity, and how to tell which zone you're in if you don't have a heart rate monitor strapped on (by the ease with which you're able to converse while running).

Adrian then also explained the benefits of incorporating varied periods of increased tempo during long runs, and how it would serve a runner during a long race, like a marathon. For example, a guy could be putting in long training runs that lasted an hour or two, but he wouldn't really improve if he simply ran at a comfortable heart rate zone (zone 2 or 3) throughout. On the other hand, most runners would likely have great difficulty sustaining a pace at the higher spectrum of the heart rate zones (zone 5).

Tempo training suggests that runners should train at zones  2 or 3, but incorporate periods of increased intensity. For example, if you're going for an hour-long run at a pace that keeps you in the third heart rate zone, you might choose to incorporate several periods of increased intensity and brings you up a zone — say three 5-minute periods of increased intensity sustained at zone 4. Tempo training, to summarise what he said, was to marathon runners what interval training at a track was to the guy training to improve his 2.4km timing. Conditioning yourself to be able to increase your intensity also helps tremendously during the latter stages of the marathon, he offers.

With the theory lesson over, we moved on to the practical side of things. After some warm-up stretches, games and a run, we were then dispatched to run laps of a circuit. Blue cones marked out a section of the lap, and every time we entered this section, we had to increase our running intensity and get to the higher heart rate zone and maintain it until we passed the second blue cone that marked the end of the section. On consecutive laps, the distance of this higher intensity zone was increased, so we would have to sustain the higher pace for a longer time. In total, we did about 5 laps (to be honest, I lost count — I was too exhausted to keep track after the first lap).

After that, we had our warm downs while the Polar team dispensed always-invaluable running and race advice to the participants. Personally, it was great learning about this tempo training technique, especially since I'm currently training for my first half-marathon at the Adidas Sundown Marathon on 29 May. It was also nice to meet up with the other participants and Men's Health readers, especially those that I'd come to know via Men's Health Facebook Fan page (or is it Like page now) and Twitter, and put a face to their names (special shout out to Dan Ho and Steve Lim).

Stay tuned for the next MH Runners workshop, and I hope to see you there!

For more pictures of the MH Runners Workshop on Tempo Training with Polar, visit Polar's Facebook page. You can also catch a video of the action (courtesy of Polar) here.

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