This is another law that is proposed by Noakes but was not one of Newton’s original laws.

- to provide inspiration and support for the athlete
- to provide an objective analysis of when the athlete is doing too much
- knowing the athlete and providing the appropriate mental and physiological stimulus

Of course I am going to strongly support this law. For many recreational runners, it is difficult if not impossible to have a relationship with a coach on an individual basis. The danger then is that the runner picks up bits and pieces from books, magazines, other runners and the Internet and applies ALL of it!!

As I’ve previously posted, my coaching ethos is to train Smart. In the coming months I’ll post detailed guidance of what that looks like in practice.

For all my American friends, Happy Thanksgiving and Train Smart!

Bill Bowerman, legendary US coach

One of the biggest challenges facing new runners is speedwork
• What is it?
• Is it necessary?
• How much do I need to do?
• Will I get injured?

Over the next week or so, I’ll look at different types of speedwork and give some suggestions of sessions you could do in that particular area.

But to answer our original questions:

What is speedwork?
In the SMART training system, it is any running done at faster than steady state. So, any time you run at a pace that is faster than your normal running training speed. For example, if instead of your normal 3 miles steady run, you run the first mile easy, the second mile as fast as you can to see how fast you’ll do it and then the third mile easy – that is speedwork. It can be as informal as that or as formal as a session on a track with a coach holding a stopwatch and shouting instructions.

Is it necessary?
In order to achieve the most you can as a runner – Yes. Different coaches with different ethoses (what is the plural of ethos???) may disagree about how much speedwork you need to do and what preparatory training you need to do before it but I’ve yet to find one that would not include it at all.

How much will I need to do?
That depends of lots of factors
• What event you are training for
• How much natural speed you already have
• What is your training background
• What type of training suits you body best

Will I get injured?
Many runners get injured when they start speedwork because, in addition to running at a faster pace than they are used to (which will effect the mechanics of how they run), they often change surface and running shoes to run on a track. All of these things are risk factors in causing injury. However, if the introduction to speedwork is properly managed, the risks of getting injured are no greater than any other running training.

For those of you who are already experiencing the delights of gasping for air whilst it feels like someone has chopped off your legs from the knee down (well that’s how I often felt during speedwork) feel free to download my free e book. You can get it from the link at the top right of the page and it includes a selection of ideas about speed training including instructions on how to carry out a dynamic warm up.

Please let me know what you think of it.

Train Smart!!

Runners come into the sport through many different routes. Some were runners at school, trained with a running club and kept up running through their adult lives. Others played other sports and took up running in later life. Others started to run to lose weight, get fit or support a charity.
All runners have a different physiological makeup. They have different balances of slow twitch and fast twitch fibres.

Many running books and training plans have a generic, one size fits all package that takes no account of the individual differences of each runner. So, how can we address the differences?

running coaching

I have two athletes who are both training to run a 40 min 10k. In order to prepare for the race, I will include race pace sessions peaking at a session of 5 x 2k, each 2 k run in 8 minutes with 60-90 seconds between runs.

Runner A has been a track runner all his life, is used to running speed sessions on a track and has progressed to road running from middle distance running. He is a predominantly speed based runner.
Runner B started running for charity and caught the running bug. He has only just started serious training but is used to running long distances at a steady pace. He is a predominantly endurance based runner.

For runner A, running at race pace will be easy but maintaining it over time will be more difficult. Therefore, the progression I would use with him would be 5 x 400m at race pace. When that can be completed easily, extend the distance to 5×600m, then 5×800 and so on.

For runner B, covering the distance will be easy but the speed presents a problem. Therefore the progression I would use with him would be to start at 5 x 1k but at a slower pace – probably 4:30 miling. When he could complete 5x 2k at this pace, I would then gradually increase the pace of the runs until he was comfortable with 5×2k pace.

This is just a simple example but there are lots of factors that effort each individual runner and need to be taken into account in planning training.

Train Smart.