Are you stuck in a running rut? Have you not PR’d in a while despite consistent training? Maybe you’re wondering if you’ve reached your potential and your fastest times are behind you. Or maybe you’re new to the sport and are wondering what your ceiling might be.
We can find our running potential in many ways. The types of running and workouts that we do will have a great effect, no doubt (you can read up on some of that here!). But I want to take a step back and look at training philosophy on a more macro level here.
Perhaps more importantly, I’m putting these ideas in order of importance. I don’t pretend to believe that everyone is a professional runner and has all day to commit to training. Each one of these items will build on the other to form a more complete runner. Here are six ingredients a runner needs to maximize his or her potential.
#1 MILEAGE
There’s no getting around it. Runners need to put in the miles to get faster! This is the most obvious of this list. Total mileage improves almost every running adaptation there is from running economy to aerobic capacity. It is the pillar of any distance running plan.
There is no replacement that will teach your body to run more efficiently than running itself. Arthur Lydiard first made this famous and turned heads in New Zealand for his crazy success. “The following plan calls for no less than 100 miles per week during the initial four month training period,” it says in some of his literature.
The point is: most people don’t realize how much benefit they would get from increasing their mileage from say, 20 miles per week to 40 miles per week. The rate of performance benefit decreases as mileage is increased, however, which makes sense. That is to say, the benefit is much less for an increase from 80 to 100 miles per week than it is for an increase from 20 to 40 miles.
#2 RECOVERY
Recovery is irreplaceable to a training program. You cannot maximize your mileage unless you are also able to get adequate recovery. As Steve Magness points out in his book, “Peak Performance”, all performers, whether it be musicians, writers, or athletes, get closer to their peaks when they find the ideal balance between stress and recovery. Stress, in this instance, brings about a positive adaptation (ie: the stress of practice brings about improved performance).
Too much recovery and you’re not maximizing your growth. Too little recovery and you risk injury or burnout. So what makes up recovery? 99% of it is simply sleep and nutrition.
A runner quite simply needs at least 7-9 hours of sleep every night when they are training hard. The body adapts to the training when the body is at rest.
A 2014 Sports Medicine poll of Olympic athletes found that these top athletes sleep an average of almost 8.5 hours per night. Elite athletes are also well-documented for their napping routines, especially leading into competition!
Furthermore, nutrition is key. Getting in a good recovery snack or meal within 30 minutes of your hardest efforts is ideal. The body is primed and ready for it at this time! The ideal blend, research shows is something with a ratio of 4:1 of carbs to protein. For me, it looks like a bagel with peanut butter in its simplest form!
#3 CORE WORK
Now we’re getting into the good stuff! And maybe the not so obvious. Core work is defined not just by abs, but glutes, hips, and back as well. Once you’ve upped that mileage and recovery and are looking to add something, start with the core.
Here’s the thing – this will ALSO help you add more mileage. Our core is what keeps our body stable while we run. If you’ve ever watched people hunched over at the end of a long race, it’s likely because of this lack of stability. A weak core leads to poor form which leads to injury, and thus, low mileage (or NO mileage!).
A strong core helps build a more efficient runner as well. Runners sometimes will twist their upper body excessively when they run with a weak core. This wastes a lot of energy.
How do you add core work? I recommend two times per week of roughly 20-30 minutes of focused core work. Try and find exercises that require stabilization of multiple body parts, like planks or bridges, or single leg exercises, like balancing. That will get you the most bang for your buck so you’re able to spend more time running.
#4 STRENGTH TRAINING
Strength training for runners has many benefits. One of the biggest being increased muscle fiber recruitment. When we strength train, we increase the number of muscle fibers we use. It’s these same fibers that we use when we run!
So what type of strength training should we focus on? It depends. If you like the weight room, target the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes with high weight, low rep exercises. If lifting isn’t your thing, use hills through either sprints or short runs to build strength in your legs.
Again, this is meant to supplement your running. If your strength work is compromising your running in anyway, then you are doing too much. I recommend about 1-1.5 hours/week for strength work spread out over a couple days.
#5 PLYOMETRICS
Strength training is a general foundation to support your running and increase injury resistance while improving mechanics. Plyometrics do the same thing but in a more specific way.
The focus with plyometrics is to minimize ground contact time. If you watch the most elite runners, it seems as if they are always in the air. It is because they generate so much force off the ground in such a short amount of time. Unless you teach your body to do the same, you haven’t fully realized your potential.
Exercises like hopping (single and double leg), skipping, and bounding (a Lydiard favorite) are all forms of plyometrics. Furthermore, things like strides and sprints are also geared towards minimizing ground contact time. Plyometrics are best used when they can capitalize on strength training, which is why they should be prioritized second.
Again, two times per week is usually sufficient for these. The best time to do them is debated (easy vs hard days), but it is clear that they should be abandoned as soon as form starts to suffer.
#6 FLEXIBILITY
Flexibility is usually much higher on a runner’s list than this, and I believe that’s an error. Most runners are more than flexible enough to complete a full running motion with no problems. Too much flexibility and some of the springiness in the muscle is lost.
Eliud Kipchoge, highly regarded as one of the best marathoners of all-time, is widely known to be wildly inflexible. This is one area we can certainly learn from the elites.
I recommend a simple dynamic warm-up that keeps the legs moving. My go-to exercises are high knees, butt-kicks, A-skips, and leg swings. No standing and touching toes. No holding stretches for a long time. At the end of the workout is the time for some static stretching if desired. Attention should be paid here to stretches that increase hip mobility also.
POTENTIAL
Everyone has a different potential. A different height they can achieve. It’s a fact that most people don’t reach their potential in life. For many things, this is okay – I can sleep easy knowing I will never find my potential, for example, in country line dancing! But if you are one of those who is bent on finding your running potential, consider these six ideas before you say you’ve tapped into that potential!
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