George Washington said, "It's wonderful what we can do if we're always doing."
This is a really excellent quote for a runner who has “patience”. The key to running is not to try and always do more as quickly as possible. Good things take time. New programs for some people may generate new pain because people want to get the end results fast. I always find it somewhat amusing when people look at a running program. They look at the start and say, “That looks easy”. Then, they immediately look at the end and say, “That looks hard.” I was up in the attic last weekend and found some old training journals from the 70’s through the 90’s. Like everyone, I had goals of always obtaining “running success”. This will have individual definitions, but for me it meant racing success. I had minimum weekly mileages I wanted to obtain quickly and certain amounts of speed workouts I wanted to do at desired paces and a goal number of really steep hill repeats I “had” to do. All the rest is very similar to what you are doing now and will be doing in the future with the exception of several key factors.
o Weekly increase was 10% but…
o No active rest
o What are your speed work parameters?
o Were the goals realistic?
Everybody accepts the rule that you can safely increase your weekly average 10% per week, but is that for 3 weeks… 8 weeks… 10 weeks… 52 weeks? You may want to read http://www.best-running-tips.com/increasing-mileage-safely.html. This formula applies well to people who are doing a pure endurance based running program. How high your mileage goes depends upon your ability to recover in their program by using a 3-week cycle very much like ours. The primary goal is to increase mileage and although a bigger base is important to distance running, it is only one element of the sport. Some other elements are strength and speed. You need to work a bit on strength to handle the extra load and to recover faster from the increases in speed. I find a program that works in the parameters of 10% to be generally acceptable, but the attention should really be focused on the addition of quality as opposed to quantity. This unfortunately does not fall into the 10% rule. If it did, the average 4:00:00 marathoner would drop to 3:36:00 or from 9:10 pace to 8:15. This is an uncommon occurrence and there are usually logical reasons for it if it does.
Once we start talking quantity (more miles), we get into the realm of “too much too soon” territory and the author of the above article falls back on the “listen to your body” application. About 15 years ago I came across a method that appears to safely increase intensity “forever”. For me “forever” was about 4 years. Being primarily self-taught, without the regular guidance of a coach or mentor, and going through various states of employment and finding places to live made training a challenge to say the least. Life does occasionally get in the way of our playtime now and then. I did however in that time period go from 213 pounds to 168 and won the 1998 Penticton Marathon in 2:46:15 breaking the masters record by some 9 minutes on a very hilly course after not running one for more than 10 years. Now I much prefer working with novice marathoners and hopefully getting people on the right track to achieving their own running success.
One of the key factors in any training program is built-in rest periods. If you don’t build them into your running program, then I find enthusiasm over-rides logic. People will tend to run until they drop. This is why being on a running program of any type is so important. Back in the 70’s, I believe it was running author Joe Henderson who made the popular phrase, “too much too soon”. It seems at one time or another every runner will attempt to push themselves that extra step only to find it was one too many. I’ll tell you now one of the biggest secrets I’ve learned in running… “It’s okay to go back!” Everybody is going to physically react differently to exercise. Even with a built-in active rest period, some people may have to drop back one cycle to let their fitness catch up. This is why we work with increases in intensity more than we work with increases in miles. Theoretically if you are running your endurance runs at the correct pace and are experiencing problems in your program, the difficulty you are having is within the rest of the program. You’ll have to look at your journal to see if all of the paces during the week were performed correctly? This is why in our program we give you the paces you should be doing at this time and build from there.
Speed is always a killer. It seems people still believe either ends of the scale. They simply run or run fast. The other popular “success” formula is to mix it up. One day run fast. The next time run slow. They don’t define fast or slow. It’s either “too fast” or “should be slower”. That’s where good coaching and being on a good program comes in. We refer a lot of people to the McMillan Running calculator to find their proper paces. It’s an excellent resource and they offer online coaching too. We’ve had some people sign up for their program and found it rendered similar results to ours. I guess the big difference would be that although we have a group program that works with over 100 runners at a time, you get to run with a group of runners as opposed to running alone. There seems to be more commitment from people in a group than running individually. When you run by yourself, it can be easier to miss workouts or lack intensity and enthusiasm. In the group and with an enthusiastic group leader you have the potential to come to a workout possibly not feeling the best and then after all is said and done realize you had a great run. The other point here is you can be going along very nicely with your program and then you hit a “wall”. There will come a point while although you are increasing at a “normal” rate, your body is saying that it can’t keep up with the levels of increases. For whatever physiological reason you have plateaued. Don’t get discouraged. Don’t lose faith in your program. Don’t change your program. Just drop back one or even two cycles of intensity while maintaining the long run levels and continue. Generally, in the previous cycle it will be less intense in the speed and strength work and therefore you will have no trouble accomplishing it and surpassing your current level of fitness.
The lesson here is that you’ve reached a kind of physical saturation point where you are no longer progressing, but it is my serious belief that anyone can be a world-class runner, it means you just have to step back in order to go forward. By stepping back you are repeating what you know you can do therefore is both physically and psychologically acceptable. You have not stopped running, but are retracing your steps. When you get back to the point you were at, it will seem like there should have been no reason to have stopped in the first place. Even with as much active rest periods we have built into the program, there will always be some people for either physical reasons or missed workouts that cannot keep up. This should never be discouraging. You should never be trying for huge leaps in performance. You will find that your 10% weekly increase will not necessarily end up in a 10% increase in performance every time. Even if it happens once, it would be extremely rare happen a second time. It’s better to not think in that arena and not be discouraged than to make it a goal and become injured. Keep your goals realistic.
When starting a running program I find a lot of people look to the advanced programs as being their key to success. We have our programs labelled RUNNING 101 thru RUNNING 402 at the moment. Most new registrants will come in and say they are experienced marathoners and immediately sign up for the 401 or 402 program. I have run a 2:27:58 marathon and yet… I would start at the 101 program if I decided to compete again. For me it takes 3 – 4 years to return back to racing form even though I still do a little running on the side. Running and finishing a half-marathon or marathon at this time may feel like a monumental task, but if you take it step-by-step and don’t rush it, you’ll finish and have a great experience over the next 16 weeks. After you train for a year, and stay uninjured, you will notice a significant improvement. After a couple of years of staying uninjured and sticking to the program, you will notice even greater improvement and so on and so on. What I’m trying to say is to take your time. You can’t rush fitness and even if you could the gains would only be temporary. Some people have equated it to cramming for an exam. Sure, you may pass, but in a couple of days you will forget. In running, some programs get you through to the finish line, but you may need an extended recovery time because of a periodization kind of program. Ours is developmental. Although it has garnished a lot of success for new and veteran runners alike, it is meant to build a solid foundation should you wish to do more or get faster.
Russ & Lorne
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