Running� Science and Training Tips

OXC

2023

About this session….

It will move fast. There’s a lot to cover and some of its pretty technical

No need to memorize anything, master these materials, or even recall the scientific details of what we cover today

This session is intended to help you understand (“U”) how each of these concepts and pieces fit into a training framework

See how much you understand (“U”) about the basic science of your training; that should motivate you to do the training correctly; those with a deeper interest in a specific area can always discuss that with a coach

Stay focused today on getting the big picture, the big blocks or pieces of your training, and how the things that you do outside of practice help make you a complete runner

Not this

This.

Mental Part of Your Training and Racing

Your mental confidence and resiliency play an important role in your running performance.

We will cover the mental side of XC in a different session; today focus on learning some basic running science

SAID – Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands

When the body is placed under a stress, it starts to make adaptations that allow the body to get better at managing that specific form of stress.

In other words, the body – through many mechanisms – is always trying to get better at exactly what it is being stressed to do.

SAID Examples

Foot bones get harder and denser from repeated foot striking

A tennis player’s dominant arm will have larger bones and stronger muscles than the other arm

Tendons and ligaments thicken and strengthen in response to resistance training

The brain and your motor skills also adapt the more you practice a movement (e.g., your ability to be more coordinated, more balanced, or generate faster neurological responses to specific movements like hurdle drills and strides)

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SAID Caveats (1)

Get just the right amount of “stress” and gradually progress the level of stress

• Too much or too soon and you get injured (over training)
• Too little and you get minimal adaptation (too easy or not specific enough)
• Same stress over and over leads to plateaus; keep mixing it up to stress the body into greater adaptations (think about the last 2 weeks training)

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SAID Caveats (2)

Adaptations are highly correlated to the specific stress that you impose on a specific part of the body; for example:

• Endurance running strengthens the legs and the heart, but kicking a soccer ball doesn’t make you a stronger runner
• Riding a bike > 15 mph clearly improves your cardio, but it is less beneficial in developing muscles you use to run

Do as much training that you can that is “sport specific” and “movement specific” to get the best adaptation and performance improvement

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SAID Bottom Line

1. Muscles, tendons, ligaments and organs develop with training and the more intense the adaptation the more efficient they become
2. However, intensity should be introduced carefully (to avoid injuries and training gaps) and intensity should gradually be increased when a solid foundation of running has been established

This is why we have different training levels (“L”) with variances in running minutes and degrees of intensity

How to Think About SAID Principles and Your Training

This is not how you should be thinking about your training!

Figuring out the right “stress”

Even Sisyphus would agree that this is too much stress – both physically and mentally all the time (“X”)

These are the key questions:

1. How frequently should you run?
2. What should your running training focus on?
3. How hard should you run?
4. What should you focus on at practice when you don’t run?
5. What should you be doing the other 22 hours of the day?

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Training Levels (“L”) – Running Frequency and Focus

Levels 1 and 2

3 to 4 days of running a week. Most work is aerobic or moderate hill resistance work, but greatest focus is on building volume (minutes) and not intensity; cross training (XT) can supplement. Races are hardest effort

Level 3

4 or 5 days of running a week with XT days as needed. Mix of aerobic and anaerobic work. Building volume but layering in bouts of moderate intensity. 2 to 3 days of hard training, including races

Level 4 and 5

5 to 6 days of running a week. Running highest volume and doing significant intensity work. Level 5 doing highest volume and intensity. Some runners race less frequently before SWBL as their season runs to November and they get more adaptations from training than racing

Training Components & Relative Importance

Training Components – Basic Concepts

Endurance Running (“E”)

Improves capillaries per muscle fiber and how efficiently you can deliver oxygen to fuel working muscles and how quicky they can clear waste products (aerobic training)

Speed Related Training (short speed as well as speed endurance) (“I”)

Develops anaerobic energy, increasing fitness and power for starts, surges and finishes in races

Develops fuller range of motion for joints, improving flexibility

Strength Work (“O”)

Helps you run faster by improving neuromuscular coordination and power

Stronger muscles do not need as much energy to sustain a particular pace

Improves running economy by encouraging coordination and stride efficiency

Prevents injuries by strengthening muscles and connective tissues

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Training Components – Basic Concepts

Coordination (“O”)

Getting faster is about getting off the ground faster; improving coordination (and balance) enables better stabilization of the foot when it strikes the ground before pushing off

Can achieve the highest possible speed with the smallest possible loss of energy as well as reducing injuries from poor form

Flexibility (“F”)

Improves joints range of motion, improving running form and stride efficiency

Stretching helps improve running form and efficiency by improving ability of muscles to lengthen through full range of motion

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Aerobic Versus Anaerobic Energy�

Your Energy Systems�

The body draws on all three systems, regardless of the type of effort you exert.

The systems merely change the amount of energy they contribute depending on the duration and intensity of the effort.

Aerobic Energy (“E”)

Aerobic Training Benefits – How long does it take?

You can experience big improvements in the first 3-4 weeks of training; you benefit a lot from even a little bit of training at the beginning

After a few weeks, improvement is steadier for up to 20-22 weeks, but will see about 70% of the benefit by 13 weeks (~3 months)

The SWBL championship is in 11 weeks; that’s why summer conditioning is so valuable

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Anaerobic Energy�(“I”)

Anaerobic Training Benefits – How long does it take?

It can produce steady improvement every week for about 12-14 weeks before it starts to plateau and then peak

It can take as long as 20-24 days to get the maximum physiological benefits of a hard workout; that’s why very hard workouts disappear from the training plan the closer we get to the end of the season

Anaerobic training is harder on the body and the risk of inflammation and injuries rises quite a bit. That’s why we want a strong aerobic base that has prepared the body for more intense training

If we start the season without a strong aerobic base, then we can’t fully train the anaerobic system until mid to late September, just a month before the SWBL Championship; another reason summer conditioning is so valuable

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Anaerobic Alactic Energy�(“I”)

Energy Yield Over Time

Source: blog.athletigen

Aerobic Threshold (AT)�

The point at which your body starts to use the anaerobic metabolism to provide energy to your muscles.

Also signified by when you sense an increased rate of breathing due to a higher metabolic rate happening

Can run for a long time at or near AT, as the amount of lactate being generated can be processed

We do most of our easy running below AT (highly aerobic)

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Anaerobic Threshold / Lactate Threshold (LT)

As intensity increases above AT (aerobic threshold), the body generates more waste, causing an increase in muscle fatigue due to hydrogen ion build-up

As you run faster, your breathing rate increases to help eliminate waste products, but at some point, your body can’t clear the waste products as fast as your body is producing them. This is referred to as your anaerobic threshold or lactate threshold (LT)

Exercising above your LT can only be sustained for a short time before muscle fatigued or exhaustion happens; that is why we spend so much time talking about “running in the right zone” (“Z”)

Training at your LT will over time increase the speed you can run before hitting your LT. That is the SAID principle at work

LT training is one of the 3 most important elements of a distance runner’s training

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Lactate Accumulation Rates

Sources: Faude, O.; Kindermann, W. (2009); blog.athletigen.com

AT and LT Paces

Aerobic Threshold (AT): About 65 -75% of of MHR

• Almost always continuous runs or very long intervals
• Safest way to get aerobically fit (focus on volume)

Lactate Threshold (LT): 15 – 30 seconds slower than 5k pace; ~85-92% of MHR

• Continuous runs of up to 3 – 6 miles
• Intervals at LT pace with short rest

“Tempo” Runs: Done at just below your LT: 30 – 45 seconds slower than 5k pace and can be continuous or done in intervals; about 80 – 85% of MHR

VO2 Max (E + I)

Measures the maximum amount of oxygen that the body can utilize during exercise (your cardio fitness and endurance capacity)

V = Volume O2 = oxygen max = maximum

The greater the maximum the more oxygen the body can consume and the more efficiently it uses oxygen to generate maximum energy; it can increase with intensity, but eventually it plateaus

VO2 Max training builds power and speed endurance and teaches the body to tolerate more lactate build-up

VO2 Max Training Results

Heart size increases

Increased blood volume

More glycogen storage sites

More capillaries

Aerobic enzyme increase

Hematocrit and myoglobin increase

Increase in mitochondria size, number

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These are all positive benefits, but there are limits to how much you can improve your VO2 Max and why we only do a certain amount of VO2 Max training

Using VO2 Max As The Index

Pace = VO2 / Target Training Zone

Low intensity runs – between 55 – 75%

Stead state / tempo runs – between 75 – 85%

Lactate Threshold – about 88%

Critical Velocity – about 92%

5K race pace – about 95%

VO2 Max, 3200 Time

Anaerobic work - anything greater than about 103-105%

Your 3200 time is a good approximation of your VO2 Max rate (e.g., 12:00 for 3200 means your 1600 pace for VO2 Max intervals is 6:00)

We train in many zones (“Z”)

Running Slower Than 5K Pace

Recovery (> 2 mins)

Easy or Long (90-120 secs)

Steady State (~60 secs)

Tempo Runs (30 – 60 secs)

Lactate Threshold runs (~30 secs)

Critical Velocity (~15 secs)

Training Faster Than 5K Pace

Some Progression Runs

VO2 Max efforts (~15 secs less)

SE 2 (300 – 600 meters)

SE 1 (150 – 300 meters)

Speed Endurance (60-150 Meters)

Speed (30 – 60 Meters)

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Each zone produces different stresses and adaptations

Progression Runs (E + I)

Progression runs = start easy, gradually increase pace and usually finish strong or hard, even going faster than tempo or LT pace

Usually broken into timed parts (e.g., thirds: 7,7,7)

Teaches your body and mind how to run faster when you’re tired and provides good stress adaptation and builds strength

Good alternative to harder interval training which has a higher risk of injuries and inflammation

Good for mental discipline and mimics to a great degree the way a 5k is typically raced (negative split)

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Types of Interval and Rep Workouts (E + I)

Lactate Threshold (LT) (5 – 25 minutes)

Critical Velocity (CV) (3 – 7 minutes)

VO2 Max (3 – 5 minutes)

Anaerobic capacity (improves buffering and tolerance) (30 secs – 2 mins)

Anerobic power (recruits fast twitch fiber) (5 – 15 secs)

Active rest between reps or intervals = jogging or running easy

Inactive rest between reps or intervals = walking or standing

Hill Training – Functional Strength (E + I)

Strength work (great for core and hip flexors) and builds muscle mass

Combination of strength and speed work (if short reps)

Improves coordination (forces muscles, hips, legs, ankles, feet to action in concert)

Improves running economy and aerobic power (VO2 Max)

Improves lactate threshold (LT) over time (delays it and improves processing)

Improves aerobic fitness (e.g., produces more enzymes enabling adaptation at the molecular level)

Improves ability to run hard when tired at end of races

Overall Aerobic Fitness = AT + VO2 + LT

Aerobic Capacity + Aerobic Power + Running Economy

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Aerobic/AT Running + VO2 Max + LT Running

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How long or far can you run without fatigue or how fast can you recover

How much aerobic force can you apply over time

How little oxygen consumption can you use to achieve a specific pace

Sweet spot for Level 1 & 2 runners; lots of base running

Develop power once aerobic capacity

established (e.g., long runs, base runs, tempos, fartleks); some speed helps

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Staple of Level 3 - 5 runners training and ideal for 5k races

How Fast To Realize Training Benefits?

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Source: Runnersconnect.net

Rule of Thirds – Getting the Right Stress and Adaptation

1/3 of the time the training should feel good.

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1/3 of the time the training should feel okay, challenging but manageable.

1/3 of the time the training should feel very challenging or even very hard.

If it always feels just okay, you are probably not doing the training as it was designed.

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If it always feels good, you’re not running at the right intensity or in the right zone.

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If it always feels hard or fatiguing, you’re over training and headed for an injury or burn out.

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Over-Training (“B”)

Basic Causes

1. Training too hard too often (or under-recovery)

2. Too much too soon

3. Too much effort or stress on your body for your current fitness level

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Signs and Results

1. Fatigue

2. Loss of appetite and excessive body weight loss

3. Dips in performance

4. Injuries (e.g., tendinitis, stress fractures)

5. Weaker immune system (e.g., colds, infections)

6. Elevated heart rate and / or blood pressure level, even when at rest

7. Stress, anxiety

8. Difficult time sleeping

9. Burnout, lack of motivation

Basics of Regeneration & Recovery (“R”)

1. Fueling: A snack after training + a meal within a few hours
2. Hydrating – at practice, throughout the day, at meals
3. Fueling – proper diet several times a day
4. Sleep – 8+ hours a night on average to grow and recover
5. Stretching and massaging
6. Recovery runs, easy runs or rest days

Recovery Times - Why You Need to Train in the Right Zone and How You Combat Fatigue (Z + R)

24 Hours

Long run (easy)

Base run

Recovery run

Moderate tempo

Max speed

(6 – 8 secs)

48 Hours

Long run (moderate)

VO2 Max

Lactate Threshold

Strong tempo runs

Speed work

5k race

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72 Hours

Very hard speed work

Very hard special endurance training

Long or very hard tempo runs

10K races

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Strength Work For Runners (“O”)

Strengthens muscles, joints and bones; also helps improve bad mechanics

Decreases chance of injuries

Improves running form and running economy

Increases endurance

Improves speed

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The research is compelling, especially for younger and newer runners still developing. Need to train the movement patterns and critical areas for runners.

Proven Injury Prevention Actions (“B”)

Proper warmup and cool down (“Q”)

No over-training (“L”)

Strength and mobility training (“O”)

Stretching (“F”)

Sleep (“S”)

Nutrition and hydration (N + H)

Good shoes (“G”)

Good running form (“D”)

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Other Important Stuff

The other 22 Hours of the day

Hydration (“H”)

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Nutrition (how much, how frequent, the right stuff to restore and regenerate) (“N”)

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Sleep (grow and recover) (“S”)

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Time management for Academics and other priorities (“A”)

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Training (Covered last week)

Dynamic warmup (“Q”)

Cool down (“Q”)

Strides (“D”)

Hurdle mobility drills (“D”)

Static stretching (“F”)

Hydration during training (“H”)

Fueling during training / racing (“Y”)

Training Tip 1: Listen and learn

Please listen to your coaches each day (V + X)

Listen to our captains and mentors who have valuable experience and don’t want you to make the same mistakes they did (V + X)

Listen to your body. Do not be a blind and deaf tenant (George Sheehan). You will get clear signs when you are taking on too much or need to talk about something. Speaking up is smart (“B”)

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Come to practice (“P”) everyday ready to get better. It’s a short season.

Training Tip 2: Keep your perspective (“T”)

It takes time for your body to fully adapt to aerobic and anaerobic training

Focus on what you can control and remember that your attitude is what matters the most

Training results are NOT linear. At times, you will experience big improvements, small improvements or no improvement at all. Some of that can be explained by your training and sometimes the reasons are more nuanced

It takes time to learn how to do each of the different type of workouts we do. It gets easier with practice, as does racing

Stick with it. There will be days you just don’t feel good. There will be days when you feel amazing. Remember the rule of thirds

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Everyone on the team matters and plays a role in the team’s success, both new and returning runners, both varsity and junior varsity runners. Do your part.

Training Tip 3: Run smart

Keep your log (“J”) current, it will help you and coaches monitor your progress

Increase minutes slowly; it’s okay to stay at the same minutes / mileage for 2-3 weeks (usually increasing intensity during this time) (“L”)

Don’t make big increases in volume and intensity at the same time (“L”)

Train in the right zone (“Z”); do the workouts as designed, they often mimic how to race a 5k. Remember, the right amount of “stress” is a positive thing

Don’t train hard more than 2x per week (levels 1 -2) or 3x per week (levels 3 – 5). Races count as hard days, as do interval workouts, speed work, LT / Tempo runs, hill repeats and intervals

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Every week of missed training takes about 2 weeks to regain your fitness level!

Training Tip 4: The non-running stuff matters

Strengthen glutes, hamstrings, quads, calves, ankles and feet which help stabilize your running form and take on some of the shock from repeated foot striking (“O”)

Sleep is the number 2 driver of performance (“S”)

Nutrition and hydration both have enormous impacts on your training and racing performance, as well as your overall health. Get it right and you will improve rapidly (N + H)

The mental side of training and racing needs to be developed too. It is a big driver of your performance (“B”)

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Just a 2% lift in performance cuts your race time by 20 – 40 seconds! 4 and 5% improvements are not unrealistic for many of you.

Training Tip 5: Easy really means easy (“R”)

Go easy on the easy and recovery days. Your body needs to prepare itself for your harder days. Otherwise, you will likely get hurt

Be disciplined during our “light weeks” when we back off volume

Avoid running on cambered roads when possible – puts unnecessary pressure and stress on ankles and the outside of feet. Softer and even surfaces are much easier on your body

Wear proper fitting and “in condition” running shoes (“G”) – you get about 300 – 400 miles out of them; they make it easier on your legs

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Easy days enable harder training days which yield the greatest adaptations!

Training Tip Last: Strive to be A Complete Runner (“M”)

When you become a Complete Runner, you will achieve remarkable improvements.

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Incremental improvements each day result in big improvements in time. Be disciplined and patient.

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You don’t have to master all the training science. Learn some basics to help you train smart and stay healthy.

Not This

This.