Training

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

Note: This is an article I first wrote around the 2002-2004 timeframe for the articles section of HillRunner.com. As I’m in the process of retiring that section, I’m moving all articles to the blog in their original form. I have one more to move after this. I would likely write this somewhat differently if I were to rewrite it today but I want to keep it in its original form as I know this one, especially, has gained some popularity (and been copied without reference by some other sites).

Note: This article is in no way meant to disrespect Bart Yasso as a runner or as an individual. I have no doubt that this workout works very well for him. However, as with most things running, this isn’t everything for everyone. While this workout may work well for some runners, devoting ten workouts to this training method for a marathoner is not as effective for most marathoners as a predictor or training tool than other options.

Show me a marathoner who hasn’t heard of Yasso 800s and I’ll show you someone who hasn’t been paying much attention recently. The concept sounds great, doesn’t it? Want to run a 3 hour marathon? Train to run 10×800 in 3 minutes. Want to run a 4:00 marathon? Train to do the 800s in 4:00. 2:30 marathon? 2:30 800s. What could be more simple than that? Not much. The best part is, if you read some articles I’ve read on Yassos, you’ll be convinced that Yassos are the key to getting your marathon time goal. Of course, do your long runs but definitely don’t skip the Yassos because they are what will get you to the finish line in your goal time. Unfortunately, no matter how much we would like this to be true, running just isn’t that simple. Especially marathon running.

In some senses, Yassos seem to have some merit. Try some training pace calculators (like this one on Hillrunner.com) and you’ll see that a 3:00 marathoner’s suggested VO2max interval pace would be about 2:58/800. A 4:00 marathoner’s suggested VO2max interval pace would be about 3:56/800. That seems quite close, doesn’t it? Well, theoretically, yes.

There are a number of factors we have to keep in mind when considering whether Yasso 800s are really a good idea. First, remember what energy systems the workout is stressing most and what energy systems the marathon is stressing most. Second, note the differences in those paces. Third, is there a better workout you could be doing?

What energy systems do Yasso 800s stress most? The energy system in question is called the VO2max system. What about the marathon? That would be a primarily aerobic event, run at paces lower than your lactate threshold. So you are trying to determine your performance potential at a very stamina oriented event by doing a much more speed oriented workout. The simple fact is most marathoners these days have not developed their aerobic systems as well as they have developed their speed. You can nearly maximize your speed very quickly. It takes many years to fully develop your aerobic system.

For a good visual of the differences here, just consider the paces. Running 800s in 3:00 means you’re running about 6:00/mile. A 3:00 marathon is a little under 7:00/mile, over 50 seconds per mile slower than the workout. As your times increase, so does the spread. a 4:00 marathoner would be running Yasso 800s over 1:00/mile faster than goal marathon pace. That’s a pretty significant difference in paces when trying to predict what you are capable of in one by doing the other. The difference is very significant when we figure that most runners are more well trained for the shorter events than they are for the longer events. Don’t believe me? How many 18:45 5k runners do you know who can run a 3:00 marathon? How many 25:00 5k runners do you know who can run a 4:00 marathon? Those are equivalent performances if one would be equally well trained for both events. The simple fact is most people are more well trained for the shorter events and hence Yassos than they are for the longer events like the marathon.

But Yassos still make a good workout, right? Yes, they make a good workout. However, are they the best workout that a marathoner can do? No. A marathoner would be more well served by doing longer repeats. Repeats at around the pace of Yassos but of distances more like 1200-1600 meters would be better. Tempo runs and repeats of 1-2 miles with short recoveries are even more important. Aerobic running, of course, can not be overlooked and a significant amount should be done before even considering any other workouts. Doing 800s at times in a training plan is not a bad idea. However, devoting a workout every week for 2 months, give or take, to 800s is taking time and energy away from workouts that can be much more effective in preparing for the demands of a long event like the marathon.

I have heard many stories of people trying to use Yassos to predict their marathon performance. The typical result is that they fall 10-20 minutes short of what the Yassos predicted, sometimes even more. If you are one of these people and you actually go out at the pace that your Yassos predict that you could do the marathon in, you will be going through the half 5-10 minutes faster than you should be. Some people say that, for every minute fast you are at the half, you end up losing at least 2-5 minutes in the second half. That means you could be costing yourself 10-50 minutes in the second half and 5-40 minutes overall. That adds up to two things: a time much worse than you were capable of and a very painful second half.

Do Yasso 800s make a good workout for someone training for a marathon? In moderation, yes. Do Yasso 800s make a good predictor of marathon performance? In the large majority of cases, absolutely not.

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

Summer is here. In the past week or so, I’ve seen a number of runners comment on the heat and/or humidity hitting them. I’ve also noticed mostly the humidity (it hasn’t been terribly hot here in the past week) hitting me hard. I think it’s time to make sure we all remember a few key points about running in the summer.

1) It sucks. It sucks for all of us. There’s no way around it. Whether we’re in Wisconsin suffering through the 80s with high humidity or in the southeast suffering through 20 degrees warmer with even higher humidity, it’s something our bodies aren’t used to handling and it’s tough on us. I think it’s even tougher this year after the winter we had. We’re all suffering out there. Those of us who tough it out are the ones who will thrive in the fall, though. Accept the difficulties and embrace the suck. Wear it as a badge of honor, be proud that you’re hanging tough through it and keep plowing on.

2) It’s going to slow you down. Don’t fight that. These conditions are placing a strain on our bodies. If you try to maintain the paces you were running a month ago when it was cooler, you’re going to beat yourself up and end up burned out by the time fall rolls around. Instead, let the paces fall back naturally. When it cools in the fall, your paces will bounce back. The summer season is one of the reasons I like running workouts by feel. If you can feel the right effort, you’ll naturally make the correct adjustments for the conditions during the summer. You’ll slow down as the heat and humidity rise and you won’t make a big deal of it because you’ll know the effort was what it’s supposed to be.

3) It can be dangerous. Be safe when the heat gets extreme. We all have our own limits. Someone in Wisconsin like me will melt down far sooner than someone in Georgia who is more used to the heat. Also, every individual handles the heat differently. Don’t think you’re a wimp if you have to back off, throw in some walking breaks or cut a run short because the heat was getting to you. Better to cut a run short or walk some than end up in the hospital with heatstroke.

So keep training this summer. It’s what will make your fall racing season a success. Just be willing to adjust to account for the conditions and make sure you’re paying attention to how your body is responding to the heat so you don’t get yourself in trouble.

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

I had a couple conversations recently that made me realize that some of my past statements about cross training may have given a false impression of my current opinion on it. I’d like to take a few moments to clear up any misconceptions and to explain where I believe there is value in cross training and where there isn’t.

First, though, a little on the history of my views on cross training. I think maybe my history will shed some light on how I’ve come to my current viewpoint and maybe how these misconceptions about my current viewpoint happened.

I’ve always been a very resilient runner. In my 24+ years as a runner, I’ve suffered one injury of note, a relatively minor pulled hamstring. My body has always held up to anything I could throw at it, from 150+ mile weeks to track workouts that many runners would consider insane to ski hill repeats. Not only did my body hold up to this level of training but I never lost motivation. I was always ready for the next run or the next workout. For a long time, when I was almost solely focused on my own running and how to maximize my own abilities, I questioned the need of cross training. If you can run more, why not run more? Why take away from your running to do something else? The specificity of training principle, which I always have and always will strongly believe in, says this is a mistake.

Then, as I started to focus more on training theory and helping others, I noticed a different world than my own. I recognized runners around me who just couldn’t do what I was doing. For whatever reason, their bodies just didn’t hold up to the running the way mine did. Or their motivation would lag whenever their training climbed. I also noticed runners with a host of priorities. From triathletes to runners who also participated in other sports, they weren’t solely focused on running the way I was. It’s at this point that I realized there were three very good reasons for cross training.

1) Physical Limitations

While my body could take anything I threw at it, not everyone out there was that way. I may not have recognized it at some points but, all my running life, I was surrounded by people whose bodies would just break down if they tried to do too much. So their running was limited by injury risk to a greater extent than it was by time and energy. It made perfect sense for these people to supplement their running with additional exercises.

2) Motivational Limitations

Another thing that was never a problem for me was keeping my motivation up. I simply love running so I’ve never had serious motivational issues. Sure, we all have those days that we’d rather not be out running but, when they are short term issues, you can just plow through them. However, once I looked closely again, I could see runners around me for whom trying to carry a big training load just wore on them mentally. They could not keep their motivation up to carry the big training load through running only. For them, cross training would keep things fresh and they could increase their overall training load through it.

3) Other Priorities

Finally, I’ve always been a runner. Not just first and foremost. I’ve only been a runner. Since taking up running in 1990, I’ve never had any interest in cycling, swimming or any other sport. I’m all in. That’s not the case for many runners, though. Whether they compete in sports like triathlon where running is only one of multiple disciplines they will be using or sports like swimming or cycling where running will have some tangential benefits but doesn’t play a direct role, they do have other things to think about. They have to prepare for those other disciplines they want to compete in. What may look like cross training to the runner may, for them, be primary discipline training in another discipline they want to be good at.

What to do?

So what do we do from here? Well, it depends on who you are and what your situation is.

If your goals revolve around running, then you want to run the most you can while remaining healthy and motivated. If you’ve hit that upper limit of your running capacity and you still have time and energy, find something else you can do to supplement your running while still remaining healthy and motivated. The most important thing, though, is to make sure that those extra exercises are supplementing, not replacing, your running. If your goals revolve around running, then you have to make running your top priority and prioritize that.

If you have goals outside of running, then it’s a little more difficult to draw the line. You have to decide how important running is to you compared to the other sports in your life. Then you have to structure your training accordingly. Do what you can to have running supplement your other sports and to have your other sports supplement your running but you’ll have to draw the line at some point. When that happens, you’ll have to decide where your priorities are.

Final Word

If you can run more, why not run more? If your goals are focused on running, I still believe this. If you can’t run more, though, because you will get hurt or lose your motivation, why not use any extra available energy to supplement your running with other exercises? Of course, if your goals go beyond running, it makes perfect sense that you have to train for those other goals.

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

Last week, I joined Renatta from the Seattle Marathon on a Google Hangout to discuss primarily goal setting, though we also touched some on training.

You can view the talk here if you’d like:

Please be gentle. This is the first public speaking I’ve done in quite a few years. I do think I loosened up around 25 minutes, though, and had some fun with it. I also don’t think I stumbled over myself too badly.

If you don’t want to see that much of my face with a bad camera angle and poor lighting, I also have a copy of the audio and will soon have it available online.

Also, I didn’t waste any time in getting back in the saddle. I did another interview less than a week later. When it becomes available, I’ll let everyone know. Until then, I hope you find some of my advice in here useful.

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

In the summer of 1999, I got a call that seemed strange to me. My old high school coach, Coach Conway, was asking me to help him write a training plan for the cross country team. I was a college student and runner with not a day of coaching experience. He was a coach with decades of experience and state champion teams and individuals in his past. Just over a year earlier, I was present as he was inducted into the Wisconsin Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Why would this very experienced, very accomplished coach come to me asking for help writing up a training plan?

Well, because he was a great coach and great coaches don’t rest on their laurels. They are always trying to learn new things. He knew that the college program I was running in used the Daniels training method well before the first edition of Daniels’ Running Formula was published. My coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stout talked with Daniels on at least a semi-regular basis. Earlier that summer, Coach Conway borrowed my copy of Daniels’ Running Formula and obviously liked it. He wanted to implement some ideas from the Daniels method into his training plan and, knowing I had first-hand experience with the plan, asked me to help him out.

This is one of the marks of a great coach. You’re always looking for a better way, you never rest on your laurels and you’re always willing to ask for help, even from people who may never expect to get asked by you.

On that note, I came across this interesting article last week:

Athletic coaches must be open to self-examination, lifelong learning, experts argue

Coaches are often lauded as experts at what they do, and, consequently, it can blind them to their athletes’ individual needs. As a result many problems in sport are misunderstood or solved ineffectively. To address this, coaches need to engage in the critical examination of the knowledge and assumptions that inform their problem-solving approaches for them to become a positive force for change in making thoughtful, healthy, ethical decisions and choices for their athletes, experts argue.

Not only do the best coaches never stop learning and never stop asking for help. They admit their mistakes and learn from them. The bottom line is they are always trying to make themselves better. Anyone can do the same thing year after year and say they have years of experience. The best always innovate and have years worth of experience.

Of course, this all applies to runners as well. Whether you have a coach or you’re a self-coached runner, are you continuing to learn? I don’t care if you’re in your third or thirtieth year of running, knowledge is always changing. If you don’t keep learning, you’ll be left behind. Be a lifelong learner. And, if you have a coach, make sure your coach is also a lifelong learner.