Adjusting your racing and running plans in the coronavirus pandemic of 2020.
by Steve Palladino
coach and consultant, Palladino Power Project
Original version March 13, 2020
Updated March 20, 2020
Updated April 8, 2020
Updated April 10, 2020
If you are a runner, and if you had plans to race an important race in the Spring of 2020, you likely have had those plans completely undermined by the emergence of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. The public health precautions applied to sporting events - amateur and professional, running and other sports - have been both necessary and disappointing. Necessary to help deter more widespread and aggressive transmission of the virus. Disappointing because major marathons, other major road races, indoor track/athletics championships, important outdoor track/athletics events, and entire collegiate outdoor track/athletics seasons have been cancelled or postponed. Runners diligently training for these various events for months already have suddenly been left wondering what to do next. This article will provide some thoughts regarding re-thinking your racing and running plans, until, hopefully, the pandemic subsides and events are once again open for competition.
Foremost, the health and wellbeing of you and your loved ones are to be prioritized. There are already many recommendations in place in this regard:
- Avoid crowds and close contact with others
- Stay home as much as is possible
- Avoid mass public travel if possible
- Avoid unnecessary hand contact with others
- Clean your hands properly, thoroughly and regularly - especially before eating, and after contact with other people or surfaces that are touched by multiple people
- Avoid hand to face/mouth contact with unwashed hands
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces (doors, keyboards, sink handles, phones, etc)
- Cover coughs/sneezes - preferably avoiding your hands, and if with your hands, wash afterwards
For runners, here are few more:
- Avoid Do not participate in group runs
- Run solo if it is safe for you to do so
- If you must run with a partner, it is best to run with the same 1-2 regular partners and no more, and practice safe spacing - at least 6 feet / 2 meters if running side by side. Keep in mind, when running in-line, social distancing increases from ~2m if standing still, to ~10m if running and ~20m if cycling faster. These guidelines, again, are for the trailing athlete while in-line - a bit lower spacing would be safe if the trailing athlete was offset, or better yet, spaced side by side and at least 2m apart.
- If you carry a hydration bottle or pack - do not share it, and clean it thoroughly after each run
- Since touching the face is not uncommon - wash hands before your run
- If you use gels, clean the surfaces before your run, and use caution in what you touch prior to using the gel
- Pick running routes that are not in congested areas
- If you have a home treadmill, it may be your preferred training option
- If you use a gym, consider not going, and if you must go, be very, very careful (clean surfaces before and after use, wash hands after use, consider 6ft / 2m person to person spacing) Don’t go to a gym.
- If your local area has restricted/quarantined citizens to their homes, then those without a TM or other aerobic machine at home will need to rely on strength training, plyometrics, and even jumping rope, calisthenics like burpees, or stair running (for aerobic fitness maintenance) at home. (example: home program for runners without use of special equipment)
- Maintain a well balanced diet with sufficient energy supply - avoid negative energy balance
- Stay well hydrated
- Avoid excess alcohol consumption
- Maintain healthy sleep habits / volume
These recommendations aside, realize that regular moderate exercise actually makes for a stronger immune system, and possibly superior resistance to the covid-19 virus versus age-matched sedentary cohorts. (Figure 1) This is a benefit of being fit. However, the worst thing that you can do is to assume that because you are fit, you cannot become infected with this virus. Enjoy the benefit, but do not become over-confident because of it. Still further, if you have at-risk loved ones at home (sedentary elderly family), you have to consider them in your preventive measures. Be smart.
Figure 1. Conceptual relationship between exercise and illness risk. (From Nieman and Wentz,2019)
Maintaining exercise, or more specifically, running, is a reasonable goal during this pandemic - if it can be done safely (recommendations above). However, also realize that training errors of excessive training, whether it be a) an acute single exertional bout of training or racing in excess of chronic training load (a marathon race could be one example), or b) a chronic excess in training load leading to non-functional overreaching, can lead to some degree of either temporary or prolonged impairment of immune status and increased illness risk. In other words, too much of a good thing can turn into a bad thing.
To avoid training errors that can lead to suppressed immune status and higher illness risk, it may be wise to follow your training load metrics closely. Keep TSB or RSB from going too negative for too long (see appendix). Keep chronic training load (CTL) ramp rate to no more than 3 (higher ramp rates might be tolerable, but why risk it?). If you use HRV and it gives you reliable information, heed it. Beware of single training runs or races that will yield a TSS or RSS well above 150-200% of CTL (another way to think about this is to avoid runs that can significantly deplete muscle glycogen).
In essence, with no races on the horizon, it might be wise to elect a much more modest training program than had your Spring “A” race not been cancelled.
- Lower overall training volume
- Consider a complete rest day each week or two
- Reduce long run duration
- Reduce frequency and volume of high intensity interval training (HIIT)
- Dial the training intensity distribution a bit more towards easy aerobic running
- Consider offsetting some running in favor of strength training and plyometrics done at home
While there is evidence to suggest that some HIIT does not impair immune status, a) too much of a good thing can eventually turn into a bad thing, and b) with no races on the horizon, you might be best to consider using HIIT at maintenance levels.
What to do with my outstanding fitness now that my “A” race was cancelled?
- Option 1) Initiate your planned taper immediately, and run a time trial*
- Option 2) Continue your training plan and taper until the date of your canceled “A” race, then run a time trial* in place of the “A” race
- Option 3) Go straight into the scaled back, more modest training program
- Option 4) Find an alternative race to make your new “A” race (not likely going to happen, but you can investigate)
* time trial suggestions:
- Plan on doing it solo (see recommendations above)
- Plan a route near your that is safe and will allow you to run uninterrupted (or an open track)
- If you were training for a marathon, plan on maybe a 10K to half marathon time trial
- If you were training for a half marathon or less, plan on perhaps a 10K to 5K time trial
- After options 1, 2, or 4, take a bit of recovery and then go into the scaled back, more modest training program.
Take care, be well!
Appendix
1) For Stryd Powercenter users that follow RSB, Stryd classifies -10 to +5 as "maintenance". That is quite safe in these times, and will likely avoid non-functional overreaching. Short excursions (in terms of # of consecutive days) into the -10 to -25 range (Stryd "productive") is also likely OK. I would suggest avoiding RSB in the Stryd "cautionary" (-25 to -40) and overreaching (below -40) ranges.
2) Using Running Power on the Treadmill
3) Stryd Podcast accompanying this article.
4) home program for runners without use of special equipment - from Nick Palladino of PalladinoOnlineFitness
References
CDC Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) - Steps to Prevent Illness
Zickl, What Runners Need to Know About Coronavirus. Runner's World, March 2020