Max efforts are hard – is there an alternative?

Runner Questions: Max efforts are hard – is there an alternative?

This is a common experience for runners new to power.

A maximum effort (max effort for short) is a run at the maximum (average) power you can maintain for a specific duration.

For example, your 3-minute max effort is the highest average power you can maintain over a 3-minute run.

Why do them?

By running max efforts over two or more durations (e.g. 3 minutes and 12 minutes) you can calculate your Threshold Power – an important representation of your running fitness, and the foundation for many other power metrics.

And if you’re using a model that automatically updates your Threshold Power (like Stryd’s Auto-CP or WKO’s mFTP), maximum effort runs give the model the information it needs to correctly calculate your Threshold Power.

Without max efforts, you won’t truly know what you’re capable of, and your training targets, training load and race/event targets may be understated.

Is there any alternative?

Yes.

Sort of …

You can pay for lactate testing, but this typically involves a graded exercise test (max efforts in disguise) and won’t provide a Threshold Power you can use:

❌ it’ll be on a treadmill – which isn’t the same as running outdoors; and,

❌ it’ll be impacted by the definitions, protocols, and models used to identify lactate threshold – these are different than the definitions, models and protocols used to calculate Threshold Power.

You can estimate your Threshold Power using easy runs, but:

❌ the estimate is just that – an estimate – a number that may be 5-10% different than your actual Threshold Power

❌ this method is only recommended until you’re able to complete maximum effort runs

Do max efforts get easier?

They do … and they don’t.

😟 They don’t because you’re running at the highest average power you can manage – that’s never going to be easy. And it’s typical to start out too fast and fade towards the end, which may mean you didn’t really run to your maximum.

😊 And they do. You get used to how they feel. You get used to starting out a little slower, then pushing it towards the end. And you can use previous max effort results to gauge how hard to run the first part of your max effort (before you push on).

Don’t they mess up your training?

You’d typically run a max effort workout in place of a ‘regular’ training workout. And they are harder than you might typically run for a training workout (so may need a little more recovery).

But they’re necessary to track changes in your Threshold Power, which in turn adjusts your workout targets, your training load metrics and your race-day targets.

And then you realise (in the words of Dr Andrew Coggan) ‘testing is training, too’, and max efforts become a normal part of your training schedule – a way to track improvements in your fitness.