Two runners can share the same personal best and still need completely different training. One fades badly over longer distances but has a sharp finishing kick. The other can hold pace forever but cannot change gears. Giving them the same plan helps one and holds the other back.
How to identify your profile
You do not need a lab. Look at:
- Your race times across distances. How sharply does your pace fall off as the distance gets longer?
- How you handle different sessions. Long runs, threshold work, and short speed each tell you something.
- Simple power or sprint tests. Raw speed is a clue to fiber orientation.
The speed type
You are relatively strong at shorter races and fade in longer ones. You enjoy short, fast work.
What tends to help:
- Aerobic work split into pieces rather than long continuous runs
- Progression runs and shorter intervals
- Aerobic intervals that train fast fibers to work aerobically
What to watch:
- Very slow jogging can cost you mechanically.
- A heavy diet of sub-threshold work can blunt the speed that makes you good.
The endurance type
You get relatively better as races get longer. You handle slow volume and threshold well, but you lack top-end speed.
What tends to help:
- More speed and lactate exposure to preserve power
- Regular short, fast work so speed does not fade
Why it changes everything
Your profile should shape:
- How much threshold work you do
- How intervals are designed
- How slow your easy days should be
- How long your taper is and how you sharpen in race week
The same event can be reached through very different routes. The mistake is letting a training block erase the quality that makes you good.
If you are not sure
Assume a balanced profile and learn from how you respond to each type of workout. Your response over a few weeks is more reliable than any single test.
How Catherine applies this
Catherine reads your race times across distances and how you respond to different sessions to estimate your profile, then adjusts threshold volume, interval design, easy pace, and the taper to match it. As your strengths and weaknesses change, so does the plan.