Run Sessions
Low Intensity Aerobic (LIA)
What is an LIA run?
An LIA run is the lowest-intensity run we use. Despite that, there is still a range of appropriate intensities.
Similarly to Extensive Endurance (EE) runs, these are performed below Lactate Threshold 1, just a bit further below.
These are designed to elicit a lower overall load than an EE run and to use less carbs (if any).
They may form part of a Stimulus session, where there are bouts of higher intensity work, with longer periods of LIA running.
The LIA run forms the foundation of your BASE mileage.
You can see on the Training Zone chart where LIA runs fit and more info on how we define Training Zones and Intensity here
Session durations range from 30 minutes to several hours.
LIA Stimulus
These sessions include some higher-intensity work around a base of LIA running. Typically these include longer rest periods and less overall work than a full session of the same intensity efforts.
Representation of Lactate Thresholds 1 and 2, with LIA and EE zones indicated
How to perform an LIA run.
All our programmes use power to define the intensity. If you are not using power see the supplemental box “Using Pace”.
Warm Up: Start off easy and over 5 - 10 min build up to target intensity. Perform any pre-session mobility or exercises you need, or stop during the warm up and perform that if that is your preference.
Session: It doesn’t get much simpler, run easy. Nose breathing should be possible for most runners. Ensure intensity doesn’t rise too much on uphills and ensure you pick the pace up on the descents to maintain the correct intensity. This is one of the most common errors, too fast up, too slow down.
Cool Down: just ease the effort off over the final few minutes.
Real world example of an LIA run. This is a challenging route with a large descent and climb - however you can see power is fairly even, whilst pace varies by ~1.5min/km.
Fuelling for LIA runs
For shorter sessions, no fuelling is required.
In the longer sessions (90min+) a small amount of carbs may be required, particularly if you have other sessions to do later.
If you do fuel these sessions to improve recovery, save the fuel for the back end of the session.
One consequence of ingesting carbs is that it can switch off or reduce the contribution made by burning fat.
Using Pace
Pace is a poor means of defining intensity, due to changes in surface and terrain.
Software like Training Peaks only allows sessions to be set using a percentage of FTP/Threshold. For fast runners, this overestimates the pace required on lower-intensity runs. and for slower runners it underestimates it. Therefore we will never write sessions using pace as a base metric.
However, some people prefer to use pace - see here for more on how to read the session and execute our power-based session using pace.
Strides: Some sessions include strides at the end. These are 60 - 80m efforts, starting from your LIA power and building to ~VO2max power.
It does not need to be exact, they are in there to create some neural activation and to keep you in touch with faster running. If you feel tired, do them slightly slower, common sense goes a long way.