According to the New York Times, a study has just demonstrated the obvious ... that the “talk test” is not for people who are training, as opposed to out-of-shape people looking for basic fitness (like me). The talk test is fine for warming up, cooling down, or a long, slow recovery run after a tough race, but it’s not going to get anyone into good shape or keep anyone there. This is a concept known to every runner. To get better and stay good, you have to work up against your lactate threshold, which happens to be pretty much the same thing as Arthur Lydiard’s aerobic threshold. Very old news. Why does the Times treat it as a surprise, a turning over of established beliefs?
Of course, these days, I do try to shuffle along with the talk test in mind because I want to complete my tours of the cemetery without actually requiring space there. But I run alone, so I wind up gasping my little mantra over and over: “Jeez. How did you. Ever. Get so fat and. Slow.”
It was probably because I stopped running at my lactate threshold.
2 comments:
"I do try to shuffle along with the talk test in mind because I want to complete my tours of the cemetery without actually requiring space there."
Made my evening!
Yes - they are talking out of their bottoms! (Word = "aserad" .. close enough to agree)
My grandparents lived next to a cemetery for a while when I was a boy. My grandfather would frequently tell me, "You know, people are just dying to get in there." Then we'd share a laugh and he'd eat his prunes.
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