Training

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

This kind of roller coaster is fun – the running roller coaster is not

It’s theme park month for me. I recently visited Six Flags and have a coming trip to Wisconsin Dells.

Those are fun roller coasters. The running roller coaster? Not so much fun.

What’s the running roller coaster?

The running roller coaster is the training routine I see so many people get stuck on and I’d like to encourage you to break. It’s the pattern where you train very hard for a few weeks, maybe even a month or two, then you get burned out or injured. You reduce your training significantly or stop running for a while to recover, then when you start back up you feel like you’re behind plan so you jump right back in to very heavy training and the cycle starts over.

So how do I avoid the running roller coaster?

I find myself repeatedly saying that I’d rather see you training at 90% of your capacity 100% of the time than training at 110% of your capacity 80% of the time. You’ll get much better results with that consistency than you will pushing harder but breaking down and missing time.

Some people like workouts where you go all out. They say it teaches toughness or it instills some ability to push harder on race day. I don’t believe in that. I believe they break you down. I would prefer you finish your workouts feeling like you had a little more left. Likewise, make sure other aspects of training are sustainable. Just because you can do a 50 mile week once or twice doesn’t mean you should. You will be better served sticking with 45 consistently.

I’m not suggesting you shouldn’t challenge yourself. However, do so judiciously. Make sure you’re not challenging yourself too frequently or too severely.

And save the all out efforts for race day.

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Should I do a 15 mile long run or a 16 mile long run this weekend?

Should I do 4 strides or 5 before my workout/race?

Should I be doing my easy days at 8:20 pace or 8:30 pace?

Should I be doing my easy days at a heart rate of 150 BPM or 155 BPM?

Are these questions you find yourself thinking about? If so, stop for a moment.

Before asking those questions, you should be asking yourself the big questions. Are you getting in a long run on most weeks? Are you running on as many days as you can and need to meet your goals?

I see so many runners sweat these little details while missing the big picture. You may see incremental improvements by taking care of these little details. However, you’ll improve by leaps and bounds if you start asking yourself the big questions.

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

I’m going to begin occasionally spotlighting some key workouts that I believe are important for running success. Given that this is HillRunner.com, it only seems appropriate that I start with something that focuses on hills.

The workout

This is quite simple. I hope you already have long runs in your schedule. Find some quality hills and take the long run to the hills. Keep the distance at what you wanted. Your pace will slow down some but, as I will mention below, you shouldn’t worry about that.

The benefits

I think we all know the benefits of the long run already. Building your cardiovascular system. Building mitochondria, the "power plants" of your muscles, where stored energy gets converted into usable energy. Building capillary beds that deliver oxygen carrying blood to your muscles. Building general stamina all around.

Likewise, I think the benefits of hill workouts are already well established. As Frank Shorter said long ago, hills are speedwork in disguise. They build your strength and, through that, speed.

Obviously, the hilly long run puts these two benefits together in one package. Double the benefit in a single run. Any time you can double up your benefits like this with no negatives, that sounds like a winning proposition.

How to run it

It’s pretty simple. Do you have a long run planned for this weekend? I hope you already do most weekends. Where can you find hills near your home? Don’t worry what the hills are like. Just take the best you can get and go that direction for your long run.

Don’t worry about pace. The great thing about hilly long runs is that you are combining two workouts that beg you not to worry about pace. For the long run, duration matters, not pace. When running hills, pace obviously takes a back seat to effort. Combine the two and you have the perfect reason to just run and focus on effort, not pace.

Where should the hills be placed? Wherever they fit. If you have a hilly race coming up, you may want to simulate the course if possible. For example, if you’re training for the Boston Marathon, you might want some early downhill stretches before some late run climbing, finishing with more downhill. More generally, though, it doesn’t matter. Just find the hills and run what is available. Depending on your location, this may mean long, grueling climbs or it may mean more rolling hills.

As you’re running, take some time at points to focus on form. Are you running tall with your hips forward regardless of grade? Don’t let your hips fall back on the uphills. Keep your hips as far forward as reasonable and let gravity help you on the downhills.

Photo credit: Mok Ying Ren by david albo, on Flickr

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

run by brett lohmeyer, on Flickr

When race day comes, do you have confidence in your preparation?

When you read a magazine or an online article and see an interesting workout, do you instantly start figuring out how to fit it into your training schedule?

If you are doing the work you need to be doing, you should have the confidence you are well prepared on race day and you shouldn’t always be chasing the newest workout idea.

I hope the first goes without saying. If you are not lining up for a race confident in your preparation, something went wrong in planning your preparation.

If you’re training on your own, you need to go over your plan and maybe consider getting some assistance in guiding your training.

If you are already receiving assistance, whether informal advising or more formal coaching, you need to have a talk with the person who is helping you. If the person helping you can’t give you confidence that you are on the right path or work with you to come up with a plan that you will have confidence in, it’s time to look for someone else.

The second may not be so obvious. Don’t we want to be open to new ideas? Absolutely.

However, when you lay out a training plan, you have a reason for everything in it, right? I hope the answer is yes.

If you add something new, you’re going to need to take something away. What are you going to take away?

Maybe there are times when it is wise to change plans and take away one component of training in order to add something else that will be more valuable. However, if your training plan was well thought out, it should be rare that doing so on short notice would be considered a good idea.

This article was originally posted by Ryan at the original HillRunner.com Blogs.

Have you ever felt you just needed one workout to get to the next level? Do you know someone who insists that one specific workout must be done or that runner simply isn’t prepared?

Most of us have been there at some point and know others who still are there.

The truth is no single workout will make or break your training plan. They are all building blocks. All matter but none are so important that you simply can’t do without them or that they are worth risking injury or some other serious problem.

It might be nice to think one workout will make all the difference but, as I posted recently, it’s more about consistency than any single workout.

So don’t fall into the trap of putting too much stock in any single workout. If it goes well but the rest of your training hasn’t, you might be creating a false confidence. Worse, if it doesn’t go well or has to be skipped but your overall training has been solid, you might sell yourself short.