0:02

FIT! This is

0:04

episode 380 where I answer I answer

0:06

your training questions about injury

0:08

risk, how how to build back

0:10

fitness after getting sick, common

0:13

training errors, and and more

0:15

topics. Welcome

0:25

to the Strength Running We surround

0:27

you with the same experts

0:29

as as so keep listening

0:31

to hear to here coaches, physical therapists, strength

0:33

experts, dieticians, sports

0:36

psychologists, and other thought leaders

0:38

give you the best guidance possible

0:40

to take your running to the next

0:42

level. level. I'm your host, Coach Jason

0:44

Fitzgerald. I ran I ran cross country, and

0:46

outdoor track for Connecticut for I

0:48

one time ran a 239 marathon

0:50

PR now I'm the head the head coach

0:52

of Running and a a monthly column. for

0:55

for Outside magazine. You can learn

0:57

more about me me Strength

0:59

Running at at.com. Now we

1:01

are knee -deep in the holiday season

1:03

and I hope that if you you celebrate you

1:05

had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family

1:07

and friends. and I know it can

1:10

be a tough time of the year

1:12

to fit in your training and one

1:14

change that I am making to my

1:16

personal approach approach to set up a home

1:18

gym. gym. I've always had had know bells

1:20

and dumbbells and bands and a medicine

1:22

ball and things like that like that honestly

1:25

leaves a lot to be desired to be

1:27

I admittedly can't work on getting stronger

1:29

and working on power. as as effectively

1:31

with such light implements. So I've just

1:33

just up up a new squat

1:35

rack in my garage. I have

1:37

a proper plates and a couple a

1:39

couple So I can So I can

1:41

now do a full, complete like high

1:43

program just like high the comfort of

1:45

my the comfort of my own

1:47

garage. And I just put

1:49

up a review video of my

1:51

setup with a couple and things

1:53

and tricks and things that I'm

1:55

gonna be implementing. So don't miss

1:57

that. on It is on the

1:59

running. channel. Next, let's show

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multi features a whole All right,

5:13

our episode today features a

5:15

whole bunch of questions we pulled

5:17

from our YouTube community. Head

5:19

on over to youtube.com to subscribe if you

5:21

subscribe if you haven't already.

5:23

We just celebrated reaching 100,000 ,000 subscribers

5:25

I'd I'd love for you to

5:27

join us All right, All right, let's

5:29

get into it and start with our first question. question.

5:32

Question number one. I've found a

5:34

a road runner turned ultra lower speed

5:36

and intensity, my injuries

5:38

are are down, which is

5:40

surprising, but I definitely need

5:42

more recovery time and and

5:44

recovery techniques after a to

5:46

a 5K. to a started I've

5:48

suddenly started seeing the

5:50

term super compensation being thrown

5:52

around. What exactly is

5:54

that? All right, so there's a lot

5:56

going on in this question. Let me address

5:58

the three things that I I see. Number one, I'm

6:00

I'm actually not surprised that

6:02

your injury rate is lower

6:05

after getting into ultramarathon training

6:07

compared with 5k training, because

6:09

what is the one element

6:11

of your training that is

6:13

the most conducive to you

6:15

getting injured? And that is

6:17

your speed, your intensity. And

6:19

that really is a couple

6:21

of different things. It's how

6:23

fast you're running your workouts.

6:25

workouts. how much volume of faster

6:27

structured workouts you're doing. overall overall, of

6:29

just the pace of your

6:32

easy running. in zone you running entirely

6:34

in a zone three Are you getting

6:36

a little bit of a

6:38

zone well? stimulus as well? Are

6:40

you maybe doing a little bit

6:42

in zone one because you

6:44

might be doing some hiking with

6:46

ultramarathon training. So you you wanted

6:49

to take a season away

6:51

from formal race training and instead

6:53

focus on just running a

6:55

lot. you One of the ways that

6:57

you can do that is

6:59

simply by removing workouts for maybe

7:01

a six to ten period. And

7:03

you're probably going to reduce

7:05

your injury risk because you're reducing

7:07

the intensity of your training.

7:09

So your too surprised too that intensity

7:11

really does. really does. increase your

7:13

injury injury that's not too surprising in

7:16

my book. in my book.

7:18

And the issue issue about

7:21

so quite simply, simply, supercompensation

7:23

is the same as adaptation. It It

7:25

is stressing your body with some

7:27

type of training stress that could

7:29

be a long a a could be a

7:31

It could be a week of

7:33

running, say 60 miles, a little

7:35

bit more than what you're used

7:37

to. Whatever training stress that you're

7:39

giving yourself, your body then needs

7:41

a period of recovery. You're gonna

7:43

recover from that training stress. But

7:45

the other thing that your body

7:47

is gonna do, which is a

7:49

very natural process, a very natural going

7:51

to is you're going to that training

7:53

stress, stress, going to

7:55

super compensate, and you're you're going to

7:58

come back a little bit stronger with

8:00

a bit more speed or with

8:02

a little bit more endurance. So

8:04

your body basically says, whoa, I

8:06

don't like that 20 mile run

8:08

that you just went on. That

8:10

was very fatiguing. I want to

8:12

be better at that if you

8:14

decide to do something crazy like

8:17

that again. So I'm going to

8:19

build a few more mitochondria. I'm

8:21

going to be better at being

8:23

efficient with fuel stores and a

8:25

whole bunch of other adaptations are

8:27

going to occur. In other words,

8:29

your body is going to super

8:31

compensate after that stress so that

8:33

if you were to do it

8:36

again once you're fully recovered, you're

8:38

going to be in a better

8:40

position to execute that particular run

8:42

or workout. And the final thing

8:44

that I'll say is, I'm not

8:46

actually surprised either that you're gonna

8:48

need more recovery time after a

8:50

50K than a 5K. Even though

8:53

speed is more likely to get

8:55

you injured, you're going to be

8:57

more tired after a 50K than

8:59

you are with a 5K. So,

9:01

you know, there's a lot of

9:03

teenage kids who race one or

9:05

two five K's every single week

9:07

during the cross-country season. And that's

9:09

just a testament to how quickly

9:12

you can recover from these middle-distance

9:14

races. and that's simply not the

9:16

case with the 50K. It is

9:18

a more global type of recovery

9:20

that's needed afterward. You're not just

9:22

sore because of muscle damage, because

9:24

you ran really fast. You're also

9:26

needing to recover hormoneally. You're actually

9:29

going to probably need to give

9:31

your heart some time to recover

9:33

because let's remember your heart is

9:35

a muscle too. And there have

9:37

been some interesting studies that show

9:39

if you're not fully trained for

9:41

a long endurance event, let's say

9:43

like a marathon or a 50K,

9:46

then you're going to experience a

9:48

little bit of muscle damage. Now

9:50

your heart is a muscle, so

9:52

part of that's very normal, part

9:54

of that is not something we

9:56

have to worry about. it does

9:58

just go to show a lot

10:00

of things have to be given

10:02

the time to adequately recover after

10:05

a very long event like a

10:07

50K. So you're going to need

10:09

more recovery time, but in general,

10:11

your training overall for the ultramarathon

10:13

distances probably is going to leave

10:15

you feeling pretty good. It's a

10:17

little bit more volume oriented rather

10:19

than speed oriented. you're going to

10:22

really be building your capacity for

10:24

more training in the future while

10:26

your injury risk is likely a

10:28

little bit lower. And so you're

10:30

going to super compensate from that

10:32

stress. You're going to gain a

10:34

lot of endurance. And then when

10:36

you go back to some of

10:39

those shorter events, you're going to

10:41

have a lot more bandwidth to

10:43

get even faster. All right, let's

10:45

get into question number two. How

10:47

do you build back your fitness

10:49

after getting sick? I'm a high

10:51

school runner and I've been sick

10:53

on and off for the past

10:55

three weeks. I've only really been

10:58

able to get a couple easy

11:00

runs in on the days that

11:02

I've felt good, but it only

11:04

totals to about 56 miles total

11:06

in the last three weeks, whereas

11:08

my weekly mileage prior to getting

11:10

sick was about 55 miles per

11:12

week. So, This runner is running

11:15

approximately a third of their normal

11:17

weekly mileage. He goes on to

11:19

say, my district meat is next

11:21

week and I should make it

11:23

past that whether I'm sick or

11:25

not, and I'm also not too

11:27

concerned about making it past my

11:29

regional meat the week after, but

11:32

I need to have my fitness

11:34

back for states. So we're looking

11:36

at about three to five weeks

11:38

of recovery time from getting injured.

11:40

Now, the good news is that

11:42

even by running a little bit

11:44

when you take time off, you're

11:46

going to really do a great

11:48

job at maintaining your fitness. Now,

11:51

if this has been going on

11:53

for three weeks, like this runner

11:55

has mentioned, there is going to

11:57

be some decline in fitness. You

11:59

know, this is simply the detraining

12:01

process. related to our prior question,

12:03

this is the opposite. super compensation.

12:05

If your training volume or intensity

12:08

dramatically declines, you're just going to

12:10

experience some detraining. Your fitness is

12:12

going to decline. That's just part

12:14

of the process. And the opposite

12:16

is true as well. Running is

12:18

cumulative. So the more you do

12:20

it, the more consistent you are,

12:22

the more it builds on itself.

12:24

Sort of like compound interest. So

12:27

there's no one clear answer on

12:29

this exact question here, because on

12:31

the one hand, it does take

12:33

about two weeks for your aerobic

12:35

fitness to start declining, but you

12:37

were going on some runs during

12:39

those weeks that you were sick.

12:41

So I would probably estimate that

12:44

you really haven't lost too much

12:46

of your aerobic fitness. Now what

12:48

you have probably lost is some

12:50

of your neuromuscular fitness, your coordination,

12:52

your speed, and your ability to

12:54

feel comfortable running anaerobically. So as

12:56

a high school runner, you're probably

12:58

racing middle distances in that one

13:01

mile to five K range. And

13:03

so you're not going to feel

13:05

as good running at those paces,

13:07

especially midway to the end of

13:09

those races where things really start

13:11

to get hard. Now, you're going

13:13

to get a lot of that

13:15

back. And I'm also very encouraged

13:17

by the fact that you have

13:20

a couple races in front of

13:22

you before you get to states.

13:24

So you have a couple races

13:26

to shake off the rust and

13:28

kind of get back into things.

13:30

So how do you build back

13:32

your fitness after getting sick? This

13:34

is a unique question because you're

13:37

at the very end of your

13:39

season. It's not like you can

13:41

take a lot of time to

13:43

build back your fitness. You really

13:45

only have a couple weeks. So

13:47

my suggestion would be, Let's just

13:49

focus on executing the workouts that

13:51

you still have scheduled with your

13:54

team and your coach as best

13:56

as possible and use those races

13:58

to get back to the level

14:00

that you were at prior to

14:02

getting sick. think you've likely lost

14:04

a substantial amount of fitness. What

14:06

you have lost is a little

14:08

bit of race readiness. So you're

14:10

not going to feel like you're

14:13

in as great of shape, even

14:15

though you kind of are. The

14:17

only thing that you're missing is

14:19

just your ability to express that

14:21

fitness and just put together a

14:23

great race. It's going to come

14:25

back in the next couple of

14:27

weeks. Be patient. Don't get down

14:30

on yourself. Just missing a couple

14:32

runs over the course of a

14:34

few weeks is not the end

14:36

of your season. and my hunch

14:38

is that you're going to be

14:40

feeling better and better over these

14:42

next couple weeks. Your races are

14:44

going to get better and better

14:47

as you sort of dig yourself

14:49

out of this little small hole

14:51

you're in after being sick. Refined

14:53

your legs, you'll get that neuromuscular

14:55

fitness and coordination back, and then

14:57

you'll start feeling a lot more

14:59

comfortable at those high speeds, and

15:01

then you'll be able to put

15:03

together a great race. So thank

15:06

you for the question, and good

15:08

luck at your state me. Question

15:10

number three, this one is for

15:12

our beginner runners. I'd love some

15:14

high level guidance on beginner to

15:16

intermediate runner progressions. Particularly, can you

15:18

focus on traps and pitfalls to

15:20

avoid? This is a great question

15:23

because I really think if you

15:25

can start your running journey on

15:27

the right foot, no pun intended,

15:29

you're going to be much more

15:31

likely to be successful in the

15:33

years to come. So avoid some

15:35

of those early mistakes, and it

15:37

just becomes easier to be more

15:39

successful. So one of the biggest

15:42

mistakes that I often see beginners

15:44

get into is that they start

15:46

running, and after, you know, one,

15:48

two, three months, they register for

15:50

a marathon. Now the problem with

15:52

that is that the marathon is

15:54

a very difficult event. I have

15:56

no hesitations that someone with six

15:59

months of training can finish a

16:01

marathon. And if that's the goal,

16:03

if you just want to finish

16:05

a marathon, you want to cross

16:07

off that bucket list goal, I

16:09

commend you. That is awesome. But

16:11

from a developmental perspective, not the

16:13

way that you typically develop an

16:16

athlete over the course of several

16:18

years. So what I would do

16:20

at the beginning is instead of

16:22

focusing on trying to train for

16:24

one of the hardest races in

16:26

running, which is a road marathon,

16:28

instead, let's focus on nothing longer

16:30

than the 5K for the first

16:32

year of your running journey and

16:35

really just focus on getting fast.

16:37

So you just want to be

16:39

focused on short race distances from

16:41

the mile to the two mile

16:43

to the 5K, of course the

16:45

metric versions as well, the 1,500,

16:47

the 3K, and the 5K. And

16:49

I'm thinking very much like a

16:52

beginner-runner who starts running high school

16:54

track. I honestly think that high

16:56

school track and cross country is

16:58

probably the best introduction to the

17:00

sport that one could ask for,

17:02

because you're going to be focused

17:04

on running fast, not trying to

17:06

run for three hours in month

17:09

three of your running journey, which

17:11

is a little advanced. but anyone

17:13

can get on the track and

17:15

just run hard. Now the key

17:17

is to race frequently so that

17:19

you have many opportunities to improve

17:21

because unlike the marathon or even

17:23

the half marathon, you can run

17:25

a lot more of these middle

17:28

distance races and not need so

17:30

much recovery time. for a 5K

17:32

that's going to take maybe 20

17:34

or 25 minutes, maybe a little

17:36

bit faster, if you've been working

17:38

hard and you're talented, then, you

17:40

know, that's something that we can

17:42

recover from in just a couple

17:45

days, and then be ready for

17:47

another race the following week. So

17:49

we can give ourselves many at

17:51

bats at becoming successful at these

17:53

short races. I would encourage you

17:55

to increase your running frequency. So

17:57

this means running more days per

17:59

week, but not necessarily really long

18:02

runs. I love to see runners

18:04

running at least five days per

18:06

week. if they want extra credit,

18:08

ideally six days per week, only

18:10

the real, the real, the real,

18:12

the competitive, talented runners are going

18:14

to be running seven days a

18:16

week. And I do think that

18:18

there's a real strong argument to

18:21

be made that even if you

18:23

are highly talented and potentially even

18:25

national class. Maybe a day off

18:27

per week is a good idea.

18:29

Now, that's a conversation for another

18:31

episode, but for this question, try

18:33

to get up to five days

18:35

per week of running. Keep almost

18:38

all of it really easy. Maybe

18:40

you do one workout a week

18:42

where you're running 5K pace or

18:44

faster. for very brief periods of

18:46

time. So you're doing short hill

18:48

reps, you're doing fartlets, you're doing

18:50

short repetitions on a track of,

18:52

let's say, 200 meters on up

18:55

to 800 meters, and you're just

18:57

really working on driving your VO2

18:59

Max up when you're running workouts,

19:01

and then. On the other days,

19:03

you know, the other four days

19:05

that you're running, you're just running

19:07

at an easy effort, you're gradually

19:09

increasing your mileage so that you're

19:11

running about 30 to 40 miles

19:14

per week. And I think that

19:16

general template is going to serve

19:18

a lot of runners really well.

19:20

It's very simple. but it's also

19:22

gonna prevent you from falling into

19:24

a lot of common training pitfalls.

19:26

Like training for a very advanced

19:28

race when you are not an

19:31

advanced runner. Two, it's going to

19:33

prevent you from working on what

19:35

I'll call high end aerobic endurance,

19:37

you know, things like long tempo

19:39

runs, 20 mile long runs where

19:41

the last 10 miles are at

19:43

goal marathon pace. These are great

19:45

workouts, but they're also fairly advanced

19:47

workouts. And we need a first

19:50

work on becoming the runner who

19:52

can then do those kinds of

19:54

workouts. Besides that, the other thing

19:56

that I will mention is try

19:58

to do a lot of cross-training.

20:00

And you don't have to do

20:02

very hard cross-training. if you can

20:04

get on an exercise bike or

20:07

the elliptical or maybe even do

20:09

some pool running several times per

20:11

week for 30 minutes to 60

20:13

minutes, this is gonna bridge the

20:15

gap between the mileage that you're

20:17

running now and the mileage that

20:19

you might want to run one

20:21

or two years from now. So

20:24

you're essentially going to be. running

20:26

more volume without actually running it.

20:28

So you're going to be getting

20:30

that aerobic exercise stimulus without the

20:32

stress and the injury risk of

20:34

more running. And so in total,

20:36

I see this training program as,

20:38

you know, moderate mileage, but more

20:40

cross training to really give you

20:43

the stimulus of running higher volume.

20:45

You're going to do a simple

20:47

workout once a week. This can

20:49

be periodized over the year. So

20:51

maybe you're doing some short tempo

20:53

runs or cruise intervals, but you're

20:55

also doing some of those faster

20:57

workouts as well. We're gonna do

21:00

regular strides twice a week, almost

21:02

every week for the first year,

21:04

you're going to be running strides

21:06

or something similar like hill strides

21:08

or hill sprints. These are, you

21:10

know, 15, 20, 25 second efforts.

21:12

on a flat ground or uphill

21:14

at close to your max speed.

21:17

And this is really going to

21:19

help you get comfortable at high

21:21

speeds. It's going to really develop

21:23

your running economy and power and

21:25

lift that ceiling of speed as

21:27

high as possible so that when

21:29

you are trying to run, say,

21:31

a 5K race, you've gotten so

21:33

much experience running so much faster

21:36

than 5K pace, that is just

21:38

a little bit more manageable. And

21:40

so, you know, I have seen

21:42

middle school kids and the best

21:44

runners in the world running strides,

21:46

and that just shows how fundamental

21:48

and universal they are. definitely a

21:50

big pitfall to avoid is just

21:53

not running strides, not ever running

21:55

really fast. And strides are that,

21:57

you know, fun drill. you do

21:59

after an easy run or before

22:01

a workout or a race that

22:03

allows you to run really fast

22:05

but not to run really hard.

22:07

And I think that's an important

22:10

distinction. We want to separate fast

22:12

running from hard running. We want

22:14

to frequently run fast. but not

22:16

necessarily frequently run hard unless it's

22:18

that specific time of the season

22:20

and we are ready for that.

22:22

So let's do regular strides. Let's

22:24

get our running frequency up to

22:26

at least five days per week.

22:29

Let's add in some extra cross

22:31

training if possible to really boost

22:33

the aerobic stimulus of our training

22:35

and let's focus on those short

22:37

races. You basically want to treat

22:39

your running like a high school

22:41

track athlete. That is going to

22:43

set you up for success in

22:46

the future. And I think is

22:48

one of the most beneficial ways

22:50

of starting your running journey and

22:52

developing yourself as an athlete. Just

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free sample pack. And

24:34

now question number four. This one

24:37

is about training age and progression

24:39

and whether or not someone is

24:41

a novice or more advanced runner

24:43

based on their prior sport experience.

24:45

So this runner says I spent

24:47

20 to 25 years training for

24:49

field hockey and soccer a mix

24:52

of five kilometer quote long runs

24:54

twice a week or so with

24:56

strength and interval training throughout and

24:58

that included shuttle sprints, hurdle sprints,

25:00

hurdle sprints. This person has recently

25:02

switched to consistent longer running programs

25:05

for the half marathon distances. and

25:07

I've only been doing this for

25:09

a year, but running regularly for

25:11

nearly 30 years. Would you say

25:13

I'm still a novice or am

25:15

I heading towards being a more

25:17

advanced runner? Oh, this is a

25:20

great question because this really talks

25:22

to the difference between being a

25:24

beginner in terms of experience and

25:26

a beginner in terms of ability.

25:28

So if you've been running seriously,

25:30

you know, training for the sport

25:33

of running for about a year,

25:35

Yeah, I would say you're probably

25:37

somewhat of a beginner, but moving

25:39

into the intermediate range, just in

25:41

terms of your experience. But because

25:43

of your prior sport experience, because

25:45

of all of these years in

25:48

very fast explosive, more power-oriented sports

25:50

like soccer, I probably would assume

25:52

that you probably have much better

25:54

ability in the sport of running

25:56

than a true beginner. So, you

25:58

know, I would say that, you

26:00

know, if you were to actually

26:03

race a short race, like a

26:05

5K or a 1,500 or something

26:07

similar, your ability would indicate a

26:09

more intermediate or advanced athlete, even

26:11

though your experience is still in

26:13

that beginner to intermediate level. So,

26:16

you know, all that to say,

26:18

look, these are just kind of

26:20

relative labels. I don't really like

26:22

putting labels on runners. You know,

26:24

are you a beginner? Are you

26:26

an intermediate? Who cares? Let's just

26:28

train the best way that we

26:31

know how for where you're currently

26:33

at. And so for this for

26:35

this particular question, I would say,

26:37

you probably have a lot of

26:39

strength and speed built up over

26:41

the years. I would maintain that,

26:43

but a lot of your efforts

26:46

right now need to be working

26:48

on your weaknesses. And if you're

26:50

training for the half marathon distance,

26:52

like you mentioned, you probably want

26:54

to do more endurance oriented work

26:56

rather than more hard training workouts.

26:59

So. For this athlete, I would

27:01

say, maybe we only do one

27:03

workout a week rather than two.

27:05

We still want to maintain regular

27:07

strides or hill sprints just to

27:09

maintain that speed and that neuromuscular

27:11

coordination. But we really want to

27:14

index a lot on overall weekly

27:16

mileage on the frequency of your

27:18

running, in other words, trying to

27:20

run more days per week. I

27:22

want to be focused on aerobic

27:24

cross training to continue to build

27:27

that aerobic metabolism in a way

27:29

that is not as risky for

27:31

injuries. And if you're doing some

27:33

pool running or cycling or something

27:35

similar to that, the risk of

27:37

injury is just so substantially lower

27:39

than running that I think it's

27:42

a really great option for a

27:44

lot of runners who are volume

27:46

limited. So for this particular athlete,

27:48

they're probably limited because they don't

27:50

have a history of high volume,

27:52

but they do have a history

27:54

of a lot of fast work,

27:57

a lot of anaerobic speed and

27:59

power oriented training. You can maintain

28:01

that with regular strides, a weekly

28:03

workout. Hopefully you're getting into the

28:05

gym to do some strength training

28:07

once or twice a week. But

28:10

a lot of your current training

28:12

focus should be on the endurance

28:14

side of things because that's likely

28:16

your weakness based on your background.

28:18

And so if you add in

28:20

a little bit of endurance to

28:22

all that speed and power you've

28:25

built over the years, you're probably

28:27

going to be quite a formidable

28:29

runner. Here's question number five. I'm

28:31

curious about miles versus running duration.

28:33

You could have two people both

28:35

running 30 miles a week, but

28:37

it takes the person running at

28:40

10 minute pace, five hours, but

28:42

the person running 12 minute pace,

28:44

six hours. Is there any extra

28:46

benefit for the person running longer

28:48

duration? Yeah, this is a great

28:50

question. And there are some differences

28:53

based on how slow or how

28:55

fast you're running. So I don't

28:57

think there's a tremendous benefit to

28:59

running slower than you necessarily have

29:01

to. So let me start with

29:03

that. Everyone has an appropriate easy

29:05

running effort pace that It's going

29:08

to change a little bit based

29:10

on the weather, based on your

29:12

hydration and caffeination levels, based on

29:14

how you're feeling on that day

29:16

and how much fatigue you're bringing

29:18

into the run. But for most

29:20

runners, it's not going to vary

29:23

by more than 60 to 90

29:25

seconds. So they're easy running efforts

29:27

going to fall somewhere in that

29:29

kind of a range. Now, if

29:31

you go too fast, you're obviously

29:33

increasing your risk of injuries, and

29:36

if you go too slow, you're

29:38

probably going to feel uncoordinated, a

29:40

little bit clunky, you're going to

29:42

feel like you're just plotting along,

29:44

and you don't have, you know,

29:46

you don't feel like you have

29:48

good form. to feel very awkward.

29:51

And so this really speaks to

29:53

this band of pace range that

29:55

is appropriate for every runner. And,

29:57

you know, if you compare a

29:59

runner who's running substantially faster for

30:01

their easy pace, as long as

30:04

both of the efforts are still

30:06

easy, I would say, well, the

30:08

person running eight-minute pace for their

30:10

easy running is doing a great

30:12

job, so is the person running

30:14

11-minute mile pace if that is

30:16

an appropriate easy pace. The only

30:19

thing that really changes when you

30:21

run slower is that you're probably

30:23

going to take more steps overall

30:25

and burn more calories overall. So

30:27

let's just say, you know, you

30:29

go run 10 miles and you're

30:31

running 10 minutes per mile. It's

30:34

going to take you an hour

30:36

and 40 minutes to complete that

30:38

10 mile run. Now, if a

30:40

highly talented collegiate runner is listening

30:42

to this and it takes them

30:44

70 minutes to run their 10-mile

30:47

easy run because they are a

30:49

highly talented young track athlete, then

30:51

that is also appropriate. They're going

30:53

to burn fewer calories. They're going

30:55

to take fewer steps. They're also

30:57

probably going to be a little

30:59

bit more economical. So running at

31:02

those faster paces is gonna take

31:04

a little bit more economy to

31:06

do so. These runners are likely

31:08

going to have a little bit

31:10

more of a spring in their

31:12

step. They might look a little

31:14

bit more bouncy. And that's just

31:17

because they're taking more advantage of

31:19

their tendons and that stretch reflex.

31:21

And this is one of the

31:23

ways in which faster runners improve

31:25

their economy is that, you know,

31:27

they're not just exerting tremendous levels

31:30

of force against the ground and

31:32

striking the ground with a lot

31:34

of force. They're also holding on

31:36

to that force a little bit

31:38

better than the slower athlete, and

31:40

they're releasing that stored energy primarily

31:42

through the Achilles tendon, but it

31:45

happens in another area. well, and

31:47

getting a little bit of that

31:49

free energy back. So, you know,

31:51

is there any extra benefit for

31:53

the person running a longer duration?

31:55

Not from a performance perspective. I

31:57

might say that it could be

32:00

slightly better for weight loss because

32:02

you're going to be burning more

32:04

calories overall, taking more steps overall.

32:06

But that's kind of an issue

32:08

outside the realm of how we

32:10

train for races and how we

32:13

improve as a runner. I would

32:15

always recommend every runner stay in

32:17

their normal band of easy effort

32:19

when they're on an easy run

32:21

and just let the pace come

32:23

to you. You know, when I

32:25

work with runners on building out

32:28

their pace ranges for their training

32:30

plans, when I write a custom

32:32

training plan for someone, I want

32:34

them running appropriate paces, not too

32:36

slow, not too fast. We sort

32:38

of want that Goldilocks effect. We

32:41

want the just right pacing. And

32:43

I wouldn't really encourage anyone to

32:45

slow down so substantially that it

32:47

just doesn't feel good. The opposite

32:49

is true as well. I wouldn't

32:51

want you speeding up too much

32:53

that it just doesn't feel good.

32:56

So always try to run that

32:58

appropriate easy pace, don't slow down,

33:00

just for the sake of slowing

33:02

down. And for the most part,

33:04

I would say, there really isn't

33:06

a substantial difference in training effect

33:08

or how you're going to feel

33:11

if you compare yourself to running

33:13

someone who's running a lot faster.

33:15

You're still doing very similar training.

33:17

The only real area in which

33:19

this becomes a problem is, let's

33:21

say you're training for a marathon

33:24

and your training plan says you

33:26

need to go run 21 miles,

33:28

but the problem is you run

33:30

all of your easy runs at

33:32

about 12 minutes per mile. Now

33:34

the problem with that is that

33:36

it's going to take you over

33:39

four hours to run this 21

33:41

mile run. And it's a general

33:43

rule in training theory that if

33:45

you're training for a marathon, you

33:47

probably don't want to go too

33:49

much beyond about three and a

33:51

half hours for your long run,

33:54

because number one, it's going to

33:56

increase the injury risk of the

33:58

effort. Number two, you're not getting

34:00

that much extra. stimulus, that much

34:02

extra fitness or aerobic fitness from,

34:04

you know, a four-hour long run

34:07

compared with a three and a

34:09

half hour long run. But because

34:11

of the injury risk, you're just

34:13

sort of playing with this type

34:15

of training session where the risks

34:17

outweigh the rewards. And so If

34:19

your long runs are taking more

34:22

than about three to three and

34:24

a half hours, I would say

34:26

that is just not necessary for

34:28

the marathon, and we can instead

34:30

run those long runs by time

34:32

rather than distance. Now this rule

34:35

also falls apart if we look

34:37

at ultra-marathoners. If you're an ultra-marathoner,

34:39

you're obviously going to have to

34:41

do some runs that are really

34:43

long, longer than the typical run

34:45

that you're going to experience as

34:47

a marathoner. That's a little bit

34:50

of a separate conversation for another

34:52

podcast, but those runs definitely have

34:54

value. You just want to be

34:56

careful with them and do them

34:58

in the right strategic way. Okay,

35:00

moving on to question number six.

35:02

This is about strength training. When

35:05

in a weekly schedule is a

35:07

good day to do specific strength

35:09

training. Take as an example, a

35:11

30-mile training week. When do you

35:13

do that strength work training? All

35:15

right, great question. So, strength training

35:18

is something that I actually think

35:20

most runners should do almost every

35:22

day, but most of the time

35:24

it's going to be kind of

35:26

easy. It's going to be more

35:28

physical therapy oriented body weight strength

35:30

training sessions that you can do

35:33

at home that take 10 minutes

35:35

15 minutes 20 minutes really not

35:37

much longer than that. And the

35:39

goal of these sessions is mostly

35:41

therapeutic. We want to feel good

35:43

after our run. We want to

35:45

address any particular problem areas that

35:48

runners often have like their hips

35:50

and their glutes. And we want

35:52

to provide a little bit more

35:54

balance to the body. And of

35:56

course this is going to help

35:58

us get stronger and improve our

36:01

coordination and just feel better on

36:03

a day-to-day basis. So if you're

36:05

someone who hasn't started lifting weights,

36:07

get started with some body weight

36:09

exercises, The next question, I'm going

36:11

to go into a little more

36:13

detail on that, but for this

36:16

question, let's just get started with

36:18

those body weight exercises after every

36:20

single one of your runs. So

36:22

this is where you can use

36:24

the sandwich method, which basically just

36:26

means you're going to sandwich your

36:28

run between a dynamic warm-up before

36:31

you go running, and then that

36:33

10 to 20-minute routine after you

36:35

go running. And this approach really

36:37

makes you think about training a

36:39

little bit differently. Now all of

36:41

a sudden, your training for the

36:44

day isn't just run. It's also

36:46

10 minutes of dynamic flexibility exercises.

36:48

It's also 15 minutes of body

36:50

weight or maybe band assisted types

36:52

of strength training. And you're gonna

36:54

start feeling more athletic, more coordinated,

36:56

stronger, and that is gonna bleed

36:59

over into your running. You're gonna

37:01

feel really, really good. Now, if

37:03

you are getting into the gym

37:05

or you have a home gym

37:07

and you're lifting, you're putting up

37:09

some decent weight on the barbell,

37:12

now we have to actually get

37:14

real specific with our scheduling because

37:16

we don't want to be doing

37:18

this every day. In fact, we

37:20

don't even want to be doing

37:22

this half the time. Strength training

37:24

in the gym, doing some weightlifting,

37:27

you probably only want to be

37:29

lifting about twice a week. Any

37:31

more than that, you're probably going

37:33

to be too sore or it's

37:35

just going to be too energetically

37:37

draining, considering all the other run

37:39

training that you're doing. And so

37:42

there's a couple different ways in

37:44

which we can schedule in. more

37:46

challenging lifting workouts. Let me start

37:48

with the most challenging option. The

37:50

most challenging option is to lift

37:52

weights on your two hard running

37:55

days. So that would be your

37:57

workout in your long run. Now

37:59

if you're an advanced runner and

38:01

you're doing two workouts a week,

38:03

you could be lifting say Monday,

38:05

Wednesday on your hard workout days

38:07

and then, you know, you can

38:10

take the rest of the week

38:12

off from lifting weights, you can

38:14

do your long run on the

38:16

weekend. Now that's the hard option.

38:18

Doing your weightlifting workouts on the

38:20

days that you are running hard.

38:22

And this principle adheres to the

38:25

idea of polarizing your training. In

38:27

other words, let's just make your

38:29

hard days hard and your easy

38:31

days easy. We don't want all

38:33

medium effort days because then the

38:35

stimulus to adapt to super compensate

38:38

to get better is a little

38:40

bit lower. And on the flip

38:42

side to that, the stimulus to

38:44

recover is a little bit lower

38:46

because you're not having any of

38:48

those true easy days. So we

38:50

can do that approach if you're

38:53

a little bit more advanced if

38:55

you have the time, the scheduling,

38:57

and essentially the resources to lift

38:59

on your hard running days. Now

39:01

we always want to lift after

39:03

our run because as runners we

39:05

always want to prioritize our sports

39:08

specific exercise, which is running, which

39:10

is running. And after the run,

39:12

maybe right afterward or a couple

39:14

hours later, or you can kind

39:16

of turn it into a double

39:18

session where you run in the

39:21

morning, then spend the rest of

39:23

the day refueling so that you

39:25

can lift in the late afternoon

39:27

or evening, that's also another option.

39:29

This is the harder option. And

39:31

I admittedly struggle with this as

39:33

well. I don't really have a

39:36

problem doing a weightlifting workout on

39:38

a fast speed oriented day, but

39:40

I do have problems lifting after

39:42

a long run. I just feel

39:44

more tired. I don't feel like

39:46

I have the strength, the power.

39:49

even deal with heavy weights. So

39:51

I like to do a little

39:53

bit of a hybrid approach and

39:55

do one of my lifting days

39:57

on a hard day, my workout,

39:59

but then my other lifting day

40:01

is just on a more moderate

40:04

day. So I'm still reserving some

40:06

days as pure easy days or

40:08

even total rest days, and I'm

40:10

not adding a weightlifting workout to

40:12

those days because it would sort

40:14

of violate this idea of keeping

40:16

your easy days easy. But if

40:19

I just have a normal distance

40:21

run, and it's not short enough

40:23

to be a recovery run, it's

40:25

not a long run or a

40:27

workout, but it's just sort of

40:29

one of these medium days, I

40:32

think this is a good opportunity

40:34

for a lifting workout as well,

40:36

because you're still reserving those easy

40:38

days as pure easy days. Now

40:40

the one thing that I'll mention

40:42

here is that let's try not

40:44

to lift weights before our workout

40:47

or our long run. And I

40:49

don't mean immediately before, I mean

40:51

the day before, because if you

40:53

do a lifting session, say on

40:55

a Friday, and then you go

40:57

for your long run on a

40:59

Saturday, you might be... bringing some

41:02

fatigue into that long run that

41:04

you normally wouldn't. And this could

41:06

be fine during base training, but

41:08

as you're getting into more race

41:10

specific training as the difficulty of

41:12

those long runs increases, as the

41:15

specificity of those long runs get

41:17

more specific as you might be

41:19

doing some goal marathon or half

41:21

marathon pace work in there, then

41:23

That might not be the best

41:25

scenario because again, you always want

41:27

to prioritize your running. Lifting isn't

41:30

there to make your running harder.

41:32

Lifting is there to supplement your

41:34

running to make it better and

41:36

to enhance your running. So let's

41:38

try to lift on those hard

41:40

days or maybe the day after

41:42

the hard day if it's just

41:45

a moderate medium effort day. And

41:47

one of those two strategies is

41:49

just going to be really helpful

41:51

for scheduling your lifting workouts. final

41:53

question. This should be a quick

41:55

one, because it's going to be

41:58

hard to answer this on a

42:00

podcast. We got a question saying,

42:02

when you say 10 to 20

42:04

minutes of core work or strength

42:06

training or mobility training after the

42:08

run, could you give some examples,

42:10

please? So instead of me discussing

42:13

this on the podcast, I'm actually

42:15

going to point you to the

42:17

description of this podcast. we are

42:19

going to put in links to

42:21

the strength running website where you

42:23

can look at and view these

42:26

specific strength routines. We have, I

42:28

think about 10 of them, roughly,

42:30

and these have a whole different

42:32

variety of goals from core training

42:34

to more explosive strength training, mobility

42:36

work, and more. And these are

42:38

these 10 to 20 minute routines

42:41

that almost anyone can start. I

42:43

really don't think anyone is too

42:45

limited unless you have a particular

42:47

injury or mobility problem. Of course,

42:49

talk to your physical therapist. But

42:51

if you're a healthy runner, I

42:53

really don't see any reason why

42:56

you can't start this kind of

42:58

work today. And the beauty of

43:00

these routines is that you don't

43:02

really need anything else. You know,

43:04

of course, some of them use

43:06

a medicine ball or a band

43:09

or something similar, but you can

43:11

just plug these right into your

43:13

training plan. So if you're already

43:15

working with a coach, if you

43:17

already have, you know, let's say,

43:19

you're using one of the strength

43:21

running training peaks plans. You can

43:24

take any of these routines and

43:26

use them in your plan. All

43:28

you would do is just follow

43:30

up your run with one of

43:32

these core or strength workouts. They

43:34

don't take a long time. Most

43:36

of them require no equipment or

43:39

minimal equipment. And you're going to

43:41

find that you're going to feel

43:43

so much better after three to

43:45

four weeks of consistency. Of course,

43:47

you might be a little bit

43:49

sore at the beginning, but once

43:52

your body adapts to these routines,

43:54

you're going to really feel the

43:56

strength. how economical you you

43:58

feel when you're

44:00

out there running.

44:02

so these routines

44:04

are are the gauntlet

44:07

workout, the standard

44:09

core routine, the

44:11

ITB rehab routine, the

44:13

ballista workout, the

44:15

myrtle routine. to We're also going

44:17

to give you the single

44:20

leg strength workout, the mace routine,

44:22

and many others. Again, just

44:24

go in the description. There's links

44:26

to all those routines routines. and

44:28

plug them right into your training.

44:30

training. right, my friends, thank you

44:32

for joining me for some some

44:34

training Q&A this holiday season. I Like

44:36

I said the beginning, I hope

44:38

you had a wonderful wonderful I

44:40

hope that you're staying consistent

44:42

during these trying times times it

44:44

comes to our training training And

44:46

as always, if you have a

44:49

training question for me, you

44:51

can find me on me on Instagram at

44:53

Jason You can leave a comment

44:55

on our YouTube channel, to for

44:57

Strength or of course you can

44:59

email me me support at .com.

45:01

I'm happy to help. is

45:15

end video.