Runner's Corner - January 2002

New Year's Training  --  by Kitty Consolo, Ph.D.

Welcome to another New year.  No doubt with the holidays behind you and New Year's resolutions in place, you are ready to run better than ever.  One of the keys to continual improvement and enjoyment is a consistent training program which leaves you healthy and motivated to run.  So that we can all be on the same page, let me offer you some training guidelines so that you can make this year a continued success.

Create a Running Log

One of the most important training tools you can have is a running log.  You can create your own or purchase one.  It doesn't need to be fancy or expensive.  The purpose of the log is for you to get to know you so that you know what works and what doesn't.  I suggest you record the following information:

1.  Amount of time you spend running per workout (more important than mileage particularly in bad weather, we can be out much longer than we realize).

2.  How you felt: especially if you noticed as pain or injury.

3.  Conditions which might have affected your run such as weather, course, job stress etc

4.  Resting heart rate (when you are most relaxed)*

5.  Any other information that affects your performance.

*This is the most important early sign of over-training.  If your resting heart rate increases just 10%, this is a warning, back off at least 50% the next day.  If it increases more than 10% take the day off or just walk easy.  Also watch for chronic soreness that does not disappear after a warm up, increases colds, increased irritability, lack of appetite and difficulty sleeping.  These all mean you need to REST and rest is just as important as running.  Take from me, a diehard over-trainer and you will be surprised how much better you feel and can run when you rest and take some time off.  By listening to your log and your body, you can take this time when you really need it.

Decide on race distance focus

Before you get too carried away in planning your training, reflect on your current training and body status. Decide what race distances you want to focus on.  While there are a few rare talented runners like Dr. Ken Sparks who can do well in the 800 and the marathon, it is usually counterproductive to focus on being great at the very short and very long distances because the energy systems are so different.  In choosing your races, please refer to the chart below (modified from Wilt and Fox and Mathews) which gives you an idea of what energy systems you need to train and what kind of training you need to do to be successful.  In general, the shorter the distance, the more intensely you need to train and less mileage while the farther you compete, the more emphasis you need on endurance work and strength.  Try to pick what you enjoy doing.  If you hate speed-work, then you may not enjoy training for the mile or be as successful at a distance you like.

Energy Systems for Different Race Distances

Event              Sprint 1                Sprint 2                               Endurance 3

marathon        ----------                  5%                                      95%

10km               5%                       15%                                     80%

5km                10%                      20%                                     70%

1 mile             20%                      55%                                    25%

How to Train the Different energy Systems

1. Sprint I is the ATP-PC system.  This energy system involves very intense short (anaerobic work) lasting 10 seconds or less.  As you can see from the above chart, the shorter the race distance, the more you need to train this system.  This would be very short 100 m or less sprints.

2.  Sprint 2 refers to the lactic acid energy system.  This is also very intense but longer than sprint 1 lasting from 10-90 seconds.  In this case, your muscles start to produce lactic acid.  Use active rest in between your work bouts such as slow jogging or walking to help recycle the lactic acid out of your muscles back to the liver where it can be converted into energy.  Running often use interval training or repeats of 400 and 600-1320 with rests in between.  You can see that this system also becomes more important to train as your race focus becomes shorter.  As a general rule of thumb, 400s should be run 1-4 seconds faster than your current time in the mile.  The 600-1320s should be done 3-4 seconds slower than your best current time in the mile.

3.  Endurance: this energy system involves aerobic training done for longer than 90 seconds at a slow pace (less than 65% of your max effort) that allows the muscles to work with oxygen.  Your long runs and easy runs should be easy and you should be able to carry on a conversation with a friend. If you are out of breath, you are training too hard.

4.  Tempo runs and short races: Tempo runs involve a good warm up and then doing 2--25 minutes at a pace about 20-30 seconds slower than your current 5km or 30-40 seconds slower than your current 10km time.  These runs are great substitutes for races and help you get ready for race season.  If you hate to do speedwork alone and are training for longer races, you can use the shorter races such as 5kms, in place of tempo runs.

Now check the chart out again and see how you should divide your training.  For example, suppose you decide to focus mostly on the 10km this year.  Using the chart, 5% of your weekly distance or time spent training should be on sprint work, 15% on speed work and 80% on endurance running.  Keep in mind that these are just guidelines which need to be tailored to your own individual needs. 

A word to beginning runners:

If you are just beginning to run and you have less than 6 months of training, first concentrate on just getting regular time in, such as averaging 30 minutes a day.  Once you can do that comfortably, then you can add some speedwork.  It is important to build your endurance first though so that you avoid injuries and illness.

Following the Training Principles

The last bit of advice I can give you about training this year is to follow the training principles while watching for signs of over-training that I talked about.  And it they appear, be sure to modify your training!

1.  The individual differences principle.  This is a key principle and basically states that no two runners are alike!  Thus you need to find what works for you the individual and don't just stick to a program because someone else was successful with it.  I remember when I first started running I heard many good runners of the day were doing 100 miles a week.  So I quickly forced myself to do 100 miles in a week and ended up with a stress fracture!  I never ended up running more than 80 miles (and often only 50 miles a week) after that and went onto win over 400 races - so you can see that more is not necessarily better and following what works for your body is the key to your success.

2.  The Progressive Overload Principle.  The key to this principle to is overload your body gradually so that it improves.  However there is a fine line between training and straining.  You can overload in 3 different ways: 1.  Increase your time 2.  Increase your pace.  3.  Increase your number of runs.  If you are a beginner, go with adding more time until you feel comfortable averaging 1/2 the race distance per day you wish to try to race at.  If you are more experienced, work more on speed but limit your hard efforts to 2 days a week.  A long run will count as a hard effort.  Following these other guidelines will help minimize injury and maximize training:

1.  Only increase your mileage or running time 10% a week.  It is even better if you are trying to run a longer race to do this just once a week by adding the time to the long run rather than adding time to every run.  This allows easy short runs during the week or days off which are important for recovery.

2.  Every three or four weeks, (or when your body is showing signs of over-training) cut your weekly mileage or running time 10-30% that week.

3.  Allow an easy day of running for every mile you race.  Thus, if you run a 10km, the following week should be recovery training, not hard training.

4.  Races count as speedwork, if you are racing over 5km, don't do much or any speedwork the same week.

5.  If you choose to follow a 7 day training schedule, do not run more than 3 hard days counting a long run during this period.  This also includes hill running and speed or tempo runs.

Keep in mind there is no short cut to becoming a strong runner.  It takes the body many months of training to change the cells, bones and blood to adapt to running.  If you try to force or hurry the body and ignore the signs of over-training, often you will end up ill or injured and miss more time than if you were slow and consistent in the first place. 

I have been fortunate to be running for 26 years.  During that time I have only missed about 30 days because I learned after my first stress fractures, to back off as soon as a sign of over-training appears.  I also love to go to races so I usually use them as my speedwork.  As I get older, I need a lot more recovery and if I did speed in the same week I raced, I could not get to the race healthy.

If you follow these guidelines, you should arrive at the races ready to run to your potential.  I look forward to seeing you on the roads.

If you have questions feel free to contact me at: drkittyconsolo@yahoo.com