If you are going to contest a 26-mile event, you must at least be used to 100 miles a week…As it is always the speed, never the distance, that kills, so is it the distance not the speed that has to be acquired. In the early days of training, you must endeavour only to manage as great a distance on each practice outing as you can cover without being abnormally tired..Your aim throughout should be to avoid all maximum effort while you work wit one purpose only and that is to achieve a definite and sustained rise in average speed at which you practice, for that is the secret of ultimate achievement….You must never, except for short temporary bursts, practice at racing speed.
Newton’s ideas in this law are very close to the hugely successful New Zealand distance running coach Arthur Lydiard. In the 1960s, Lydiard coached a string of Olympic champions based on a philosophy of running 100 mile weeks to gradually increase the average speed followed by a short sharpening phase involving hill sprints and then using speedwork in the racing period just for sharpening. Lydiard’s views, as with Maffetone, are still very popular amongst large numbers of the running community.
Another body of coaches subscribe to the idea of using variable training paces throughout the training year. Frank Horwill, a British coach was probably the first to formalise this idea and it was used very successfully by Seb Coe whose father Peter coached him based on Horwill’s ideas. Coe and Martin describe this in the excellent book ‘Training Distance Runners’.
Over recent years, a new idea about what limits running performance has been proposed. The Integrated Neuromuscular Recruitment Model suggests that rather than fatigue or fuel being the limiting factor in running performance, it is a central governor in the brain. Accordingly, speed training is essential to reset this governor. Matt Fitzgerald discusses this theory and suggests training programmes based upon this idea in his book ‘Brain Training For Runners’. I’ll discuss this idea more fully in a later post.
Where do I stand?
I believe that in today’s world there a few runners who are both bio mechanically efficient enough and have sufficient time to run 100 miles per week. Even fewer would have the patience to spend several years gradually increasing their capability to then enable them to run 100 mile weeks without getting injured. Many recreational runners can achieve excellent performances on minimal mileage provided every mile is effective.
I am also a great believer in training at race pace. Many runners fail to achieve their potential in races due to poor pace judgement – setting off too fast normally. Training at race pace both mimics the energy systems that will be used in racing and enhances the neural pathways for performing on race day.
I believe that there is a place for a gradually increase in mileage for the new runner to enable the muscles/ligaments and tendons to toughen up to enable tougher training ahead.
I do not follow the idea that the best way to progress is to spend many weeks doing high mileage to gradually increase average speed.
Train safe and Train Smart!
Nearly all of us dash into it hoping for and expecting results which are quite unwarranted. Nature is unable to make a really first class job of anything if she is hustled. To enhance our best, we need only, and should only, enhance our average. That is the basis we ought to work on, for it succeeds every time when the other fails. So, in running, it is essential to take to it kindly.
Many beginning runners experience their first injury fairly on in their running career. Often, after successfully completing their first race and full of enthusiasm, they increase their training realising that more miles equals better racing and end up at the physio’s. For most untrained people, the cardio vascular system will adapt to a training stress far more rapidly than the ligaments, muscles and tendons. So, often the new runner will be able to run a distance without experiencing any breathing distress but will end up with shin splints, runners knee or any one of a dozen overuse injuries. So, for newcomers, it is essential to follow this law. Many runners expect to run the same mileage in 10 weeks that it took international runners 10 years to build up to.
What about experienced runners returning to training after a period of injury or just an end of season break?
One system for incorporating this principle into training has been devised by Phillip Maffetone. He is an exercise scientist and coach who has worked principally with triathletes. He would advocate using the Maffetone formula for at least three months at the beginning of your training year.
To establish this, you start with 180 and then subtract your age in years.
Then
If you are recovering from a major illness, recent hospitalisation or are on regular medication, subtract 10
If you have not exercised before or have had a period of not exercising due to injury, or lack of interest, subtract 5
If you have been exercising recently without interruption, subtract 0
If you have been training uninterrupted for 2 years without injury, add 5
You then do all you running at a heart rate that does not exceed this figure.
So, a 50 year old runner with no medical conditions but who is returning to running after being made redundant would use the following calculation:
180 – 50 – 5 = 125.
How realistic is it?
Looking at Train Smart principles, your training has to be tailored to you as an individual, both physiologically and psychologically. The Maffetone method has been used successfully by many runners and those that have used it often have lower injury rates and swear by it. For many runners, me included, the idea of crawling along at a pace barely above walking for at least three months would be enough to drive us loopy!!
So, whether it is using something as structured as the Maffetone formula, or just building your weekly mileage, the slow and steady route is definitely best.
Train Smart!
First practice your event as often as possible, paying less attention to other activities. If you want to be a good athlete, you must train all the year round, no matter what. What is really required is a little exercise constantly; this will benefit you permanently to a far greater degree than single heavy doses at long intervals.
This advice appears sound and fits in well with the Train Smart philosophy.
Let’s break it down:
practise your event as often as possible.
A major component of all Train Smart plans is training at race pace to prepare the body for what will be demanded of it on race day.
You must train all the year round, no matter what
Although this is a sound idea, there needs to be more clarity. Most international athletes will just have competed in the World Championships in Berlin. Many will cash in on a few post Championships event but by mid September, most will be doing very little if any training. For most athletes, they will follow a scheme of linear periodisation, which will include a period of recovery and recuperation from the previous training and competition periods. (I will discuss linear and non linear periodisation at a later date) During this recovery period, they will do little running and only physical activity for the enjoyment. Whilst this is necessary at elite level, is it necessary for those running below elite level?
One of the most important training principles is that of allowing the body adequate recovery. This is both on a session to session basis and also over the course of an annual plan. As well as the physical recovery, there is a necessity to refocus the mind, establish new goals and set new challenges. A fallow period allows this to happen.
So, does this require a total abstinence from running? I think that is dependent upon the stresses placed upon the body. If your are really intense and have been running 100 mile weeks for the last 12 weeks preparing for a marathon whilst at the same time working 60 hours a week, then a period without running may be beneficial. For a runner training more conservatively, a change of emphasis or a simple reduction in mileage may be sufficient.
Noakes concludes “Although most elite runners probably aim to train for at least 11 months of the year, I now believe this to be wrong. Athletes who wish to have successful careers that last more than a few brief summers need, I think, to rest completely from training for at least two months each year and to train slowly and consistently for another three months every year.”
What do you think?
Leave me a comment and let me know.
Train Smart!
Dr Timothy Noakes is Professor in the Discovery Health Chair of Exercise and Sports Science Department of Human Biology at the University of Cape Town and is the author or co-author of more than 350 scientific publications and is on the Editorial Boards of 13 international scientific publications. He is also a veteran of over 70 marathon and ultramarathon events – so he doesn’t just study running in isolation, his studies are lived out in his own training.
His book Lore of Running is widely praised as the most complete such book yet written - the “Bible” of running. Currently in its fourth edition, it runs to over 900 pages and covers every aspect of running. If you don’t fancy reading it, you could just use it for weight training!!
In discussing running training, Noakes refers to the 15 Laws of Training. Prior to the development of sports science in the 1970s, very little scientific investigation had been carried out into how the body adapts to training. Most knowledge was gained through trial and error and information passed down through generations. One of the first people to write extensively about running training was an Englishman called Arthur Newton. Newton ran competitively between 1922 and 1935 and wrote extensively about his training. From these writings and his knowledge of sports science, Noakes has compiled the 15 Laws of Training. Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at each in detail and see how whether they are still valid today and, if so, how to incorporate them into an overall training strategy
Train SMART!
At this weekend’s London Grand Prix, Mo Farah was aiming to break Dave Moorcroft’s long-held British 5000m record. Moorcroft had a successful background in middle distance running, winning the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games. However, the British abundance of talent in these events in the early 80s led him to move up to 5000m. On a balmy night in Oslo in 1982, Moorcroft smashed the world record and almost ran the first sub 13 minute 5000m.
And he still holds the British record 27 years later – why?
To run a world class 5k, you need speed. At world record pace, the runners are almost running at 4 minute mile pace – for over 3 miles!! To enable them to maintain such a pace, they also have to be capable of running very economically and to have a very high lactate threshold speed.
So how does this relate to training for club athletes?
For most club runners, the 5k is at the short end of their range of distances. In order to prepare to race, you need to include sessions at current and goal 5k pace. If you haven’t recently run a 5k, you could convert another recent race time over a longer distance to give you an idea of goal time. However, many road runners’ times do not convert particularly well over shorter distances so an ideal session to gain an idea of your likely race time is one devised by Babineau and Leger, two Canadians. When rested and following a thorough warm up, run 3 x 1600m intervals at the fastest consistent speed you can manage throughout the three. You take one minute recovery between each interval. The average time of the three intervals will be your pace for the 5k.
Another session that Babineau and Leger experimented with was 12 x 400m with 15 seconds rest. They found that the average speed during this session was 3.7% faster than 5k speed. The lactate levels generated with this session were much the same as in a 5k race and as the pace is slightly faster than race pace, it is a great session for improving race speed.
The great thing about 5k racing is that you do not need the recovery time of longer races. After building up your endurance through training and racing a marathon, spending a month training for 5k races will enable you to build speed and maximise the endurance gains you’ve made.
Train SMART!
