Like every year, a series of races, challenges, and competitions are going to hit the calendars. The Krispy Kreme Challenge and the Durham Indoor Rowing Trials are coming up in the next month. This two part series will discuss some training techniques you can use leading up to the competition. This first post will discuss some training guidelines for the Krispy Kreme Challenge and road races throughout the year.

The Krispy Kreme challenge is an odd one. It’s a 5 mile race that requires runners to wolf down one dozen Krispy Kreme donuts at the 2.5 mile marker, all while holding them down on the 2.5 mile trek back to the start line. The race is coming up quickly, but this training template can help with future races as well. This particular training model operates on a seven day cycle and involves intervals, tempo runs, and long runs to maximize training stimulus.

Day 1: Intervals – Interval training involves a pace near maximum effort. As an example, for a 5 mile race, you could run 10 reps of a quarter mile with a work to rest ratio of 1:1.

Day 2: Steady state run – This is meant to work as a recovery day. The steady state refers to “exercise intensity at which maximal lactate production is equal to maximal lactate clearance.”(1). This type of training should produce very little fatigue and no burning sensation in the muscle.

Day 3: Tempo runs: Tempo running involves intensity at or slightly higher that race pace. This type of training may also be called lactate threshold training. This is the “I hope I don’t throw up” training that you may have experienced in our CF Endurance class. Since you won’t be able to sustain the intensity level above race pace for the given distance, running a quarter to a third of the race at this pace is enough.

Day 4: Steady state run – Same as Day 2

Day 5: Intervals – On the second interval day for a 5 mile competition, 5 reps of 1 mile intervals with a work to rest ratio of 1:1 would work well.

Day 6: Long run – This intensity is very similar to a steady state run. The expectation of a long run is running at least as long as the race distance.

Day 7: Rest – A light jog, mobility, and flexibility work well here also.

A training technique to use specifically for the Krispy Kreme Challenge is to eat a half dozen or even a dozen of donuts before running. This can help you get used to what it feels like to run on a full stomach. I wouldn’t suggest to make this a big part of training, but it never hurts to know what you’re going to encounter before you do it.

This outline can work well, but as always, the body adapts to training stimulus and as your race time improves, your intensities should increase as well. This will help to provide a great enough stimulus for the adaptation process to continue.

Reference:

Baechle, T. Earle, R. (2008). Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics