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On the Run

Posted on April 22nd, 2006

To prevent injury, be proactive in your training - I regularly receive questions pertaining to recovery from injury. To keep injuries to a minimum - and to expedite return from injury - the essential ingredients that all runners must accommodate in training are “Balance & Patience.” Some common missteps, which will either undermine a training schedule or bring training to an end altogether, include:

1. Beginning too quickly; often due to poor sense of pace.
2. Increasing energy demands (intensity or tempo, typically) too aggressively for the runner’s current fitness level.
3. Racing too aggressively; again, fitness level is inadequate for the attempted pace.

Whether training for a one-mile race, 5K, or a marathon, all conditioning must begin with aerobic training (slow, easy running). This represents the bulk of a runner’s base, and it is the least demanding in intensity. It provides an essential foundation in advance of more demanding anaerobic training (increased speed over a prescribed distance). Often runners become impatient and go from long slow distance into hill training, fartlek or tempo running, and racing prematurely. The usual result? Injury.

For my students, training consists of two 90-day cycles. The first cycle is dedicated to aerobic training; easy, foundation-building running. The subsequent 90-day cycle introduces anaerobic training. Anaerobic conditioning includes track intervals, hills, fartlek, tempo training, and racing.

By “racing”, I refer to incremental increases in intensity, from “practice race” (”feeling out” the process of racing) to “intermediate race” to the “all-out, leave-it-on-the-track” race effort. In my LA Roadrunner/LA Marathon training program, we initially run a 5k, upgrade to a 10k, extend it to a 10-miler, experience a half-marathon, and then culminate the pre-marathon race schedule with a 30k four to five weeks prior to the LA Marathon itself. I consider the 30K a “dress rehearsal” for the big event. Thus, my runners mature under race-day pressure, while the program also allows individuals to explore their own capabilities for a peak race performance.

Here is an example of an aerobic week vs. anaerobic week of training:

Sunday: Aerobic — 45 minutes easy run / Anaerobic — 45 minutes easy run

Monday: Aerobic — Day Off / Anaerobic — Day Off

Tuesday: Aerobic — 60 minutes easy run / Anaerobic — Interval on Track

Wednesday: Aerobic — 45-60 minutes easy run / Anaerobic — 45 minutes easy run

Thursday: Aerobic — 60 minutes easy run / Anaerobic — 60 minutes hills, fartlek or tempo run

Friday: Aerobic — Day Off / Anaerobic — Day Off

Saturday: Aerobic — 8-12 mile run / Anaerobic — 8-12 mile run

It is no different than building a 20-story building. Everything rests on the integrity of the foundation.