I’ve just received my May copy of Runner’s World. Amongst the running coaching articles is one entitled ‘Secrets to a Stronger Finish’ One of the suggestions it contains is to use plyometrics - jumping and bounding exercises. This is an excellent way to improve speed and running performance but, what the article fails to mention, is that it carries a very high risk of injury if the athlete is not fit enough. So, while there are benefits to be had, plyometrics represents very much the icing on the cake.
So, what alternatives are there to boost performance at the end of a race?
In my track days, I mainly raced 400m hurdles. To gain strength, I often trained with a group of 800m runners on the Oxford University track – the track where Roger Bannister ran the first four minute mile. The group was coached by Mac – a retired fire fighter – who devised one of my favourite sessions.
We would run 200m at a fast float (running fast but not flat out sprinting – around race pace) then walk 50m and then sprint 150m. A session consisted of 4 repetitions with 3 minute recoveries.
When I began coaching road runners, I looked to adapt the session so that it followed the same principles but at paces and distances that were more appropriate to road runners.
We ran 550m @ 5k pace, walk 50m, 150m fast finish.
3 minute recovery.
4 reps.
The session is excellent for a runner sharpening before a race. The 5k pace is at 100% VO2 max and boosts that; the fast finish replicates finishing a race fast and will also generate some lactic acid. By the time the third and fourth reps come around, the body will be struggling to clear the lactic acid in the 3 minutes and so the runner is forced to run fast while there is a lactic acid accumulation in the legs – just like the end of a 5k or 10k race. This is a great fun session to do in a group on a good grass surface.
“Running any given route in the rain makes you feel 50 per cent more hardcore than covering the same route on a sunny day”
Unwritten Rules of Running
What about in the snow???
Daley Thompson told how he would train on Christmas Day just to get a small advantage over his rivals who would not be so dedicated. Training in the snow is a bit like that! With that in mind, today I went out for some drills and strides on the playing field – if you look closely you can still see my footprints!!
So, given the weather we’ve been enduring, I present the Running Coaching top tips for running in the depth of winter.
1. Wear appropriate clothing
Cold and wet weather are rendering infinitely worse by a driving wind. Have you ever been out in the rain when the driving wind has made every raindrop feel like a needle in you? It is essential to wear clothing that will enable you to maintain your core temperature. Many companies nowadays manufacture clothing designed for freedom of movement in the worst of weathers. You will also need to pay attention to your footwear. Today I was wearing cross country spikes for extra traction on a snowy field.
2. Stay warm!!
Intrinsically linked with #1, is keeping warm. Cold muscles are much easier to pull; cold bodies are much more susceptible to infections and viruses. Warming up is also very important in the cold. I did some kettlebell exercises inside in the warm today before braving the snow to warm up the muscles and get the blood flowing. Once back inside, out of wet clothes, a quick stretch and then into a warm shower.
3. Choose your running surface
Mainly runners spend most of their time running on tarmac. Once covered with compacted snow or a heavy frost though, tarmac can become treacherously slippery. When conditions are like that, the risk of injury is again very high. Running off road is a much better options. You could run laps of a sports field or diagonals of a football field where you run fast from one corner diagonally to the other corner and then jog along the goal line before repeating. If you have the option of running on trails or cross country, so much the better.
4. Use a treadmill
For runners who are members of a gym (or are likely enough to own a treadmill!), this is an option. The great marathon runner Ingrid Kristiansen did a lot of her training on a treadmill in the depths of the Norwegian winter. This is not entirely without problems though. Some gyms get a mite upset with you if you want to do you Sunday 20 miler on their treadmill preventing others from using it. I was once a member of a gym who introduced a time limit of 3 minutes per piece of apparatus!! The biggest cautionary note though is for those runners who don’t usually run on a treadmill and start due to the inclement weather. Any change of running surface presents an elevated risk of injury. When you start you treadmill training program, cut back on your mileage for the first couple of weeks to allow you body time to adjust.
5. Cross train
For those of us not in training for a Spring marathon and with no important races on the horizon, it can be beneficial to use the bad weather as an excuse for some cross training. If you have had a long period of sustained training, you body will benefit from some respite from the pounding running gives it. A couple of weeks of cycling or cross country skiing on an exercise machine in the warm will result in little loss of fitness but may prevent an injury from occurring.
What’s your best tip for keeping fit in the cold weather? Please leave a comment and let us know.
Train Smart!
1. I believe that running fast is a skill that everyone can learn
2. I believe that life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.
3. I believe that my family are the most important thing in my life.
4. I believe that hard work and dedication are qualities that are seriously undervalued in today’s world.
5. I believe it is better to educate and encourage than it is to bully and belittle.
6. I believe that there is real magic in enthusiasm. It spells out the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.
7. I believe that there are few greater pleasures than the sensation of running fast with the sun on your face and the wind in your hair.
8. I believe that smiling is contagious.
9. I believe that everyone would be healthier if supermarkets did not exist
10. I believe that Paula Radcliffe will win gold in the 2012 London Olympic marathon
I have to confess that I have a bit of an obsession for buying books about running, predominantly about running training. If I were to pick one area that was consistently undervalued, it would be the holism of training. Many runners obsess about how many miles they’ve done without ever consider what happens during the rest of the week when they are not training. Noakes identifies the four main factors that impact performance when training hard:
Eating an appropriate diet
Getting the right amount of sleep
Avoiding physical effort that it not training related
Reducing work stress
A professional runner has systems in place to manage these things. Masseurs and physios help with recovery between sessions, diet is closely analysed and managed and our runner has no other exertion to concentrate on other than training. Unfortunately, the vast majority of us do not have the good fortune (or talent!!) to be in that position.
Some of these areas may be very difficult to manage giving other conditions in your life. For example, as a parent of a young baby you may not be able to get the right amount of sleep. In my day job, I work a rapid rotation shift pattern that means I spend a third of my working life working nights. Even though I have had more years than I care to remember working shifts, I still regularly struggle with my sleep pattern. Until I retire, I will continue to face that. Therefore, I need to consider the holism of training and account for my variations in sleep in my training. So, I concentrate my hardest training efforts on my days off and on those days where I know that I will struggle for sleep, I either train very lightly or take the day off.
Similarly, a person working in a job involving considerable amounts of manual labour will need to manage their energy levels to ensure that their training is having a positive and not negative effect on their overall health and fitness.
Why is this important?
Many running books contain training programmes that are written by coaches who coach runners who are full time athletes or full time students – people who have very little stress to manage beyond their training efforts. For runners with full time job and family responsibilities, the stresses of all of life’s challenges have to be considered in conjunction with the stresses from running and the level of training needs to be modified to prevent overtraining and illness and to maximise performance.
Train Smart.
This law is not one of Newton’s original laws but has been incorporated by Noakes. Newton has recorded for posterity his training and the effects it resulted in. Similarly, by recording our training, we have an ideal resource to determine what will work for us. Over a running career, comparison of training logs from previous years will provide an assessment of current fitness and areas to address in future training. Through analysing training logs, the causes of most injuries or poor race performances can be diagnosed and remedial steps introduced to prevent a reoccurrence.
So, what do we need to include in our log?
The date
The time of day
The route run – most runners have a limited number of routes that they use making comparisons easy. Routes over differing terrain will affect the average speed.
The details of the session – how far, how fast, rest intervals etc
Shoes worn – many shoes will be deteriorating prior to showing outward signs of wear. By logging those shoes worn, you will be able to measure how many miles you have done in each. Dependant upon how heavy you are on your shoes, they will need to be replaced every 500-1000 miles.
Weather conditions – poor weather will slow you down
Waking pulse rate – an elevated pulse rate is an indicator of over-training or the onset of illness. A pulse rate that decreases over time indicates improving fitness
Early morning bodyweight/post exercise bodyweight – although it is not too much of an issue in the UK, in areas where the temperature is generally higher, most daily reductions in bodyweight are a good indicator of hydration status.
There are other areas that can additionally be recorded eg how the run felt, effort rating, enjoyment rating, bedtime and hours of sleep. These are good measures to determine the effects of training and can be used to provide an early indication of overtraining.
There are mainly online and computer based training logs as well that will also record and calculate training load and follow and measure heart rates using heart rate monitors. I have known runners who kept a detailed spreadsheet of a multiplicity of variables from their training. If you have the time and the knowledge to do this, it can provide an excellent basis to analyse your training and make the necessary adjustments to maximise performance.
For me, I recently cleared out a cupboard and found some old training diaries lurking at the back. I spent an enjoyable hour reliving various races and feeling very old as I considered my current performance against what I was once capable of!!
Train Smart!
