Sunday 18 March 2007

How to run, train and race

Posted by speedygeoff on Sunday, March 18, 2007 with
You run, train and race, not necessarily by following someone else's program, but by learning what works for you and fitting that together into your own program. To assist, I attempted years ago to devise some generally applicable principles as guidelines, which I thought others could successfully apply to their own training and racing, These "principles" have been available on this blog. One "new" principle I can add, if not already included somewhere: as you train over longer distances, you can expect your times from 3000m and up to improve.

It is over a year since I published the "principles of running". Here are the links. You can also find them any time, via a link on the sidebar.

The Ten Conditioning Principles
#1 Schedule an easy or rest day after the longest training day
#2 Increase total distance by no more than 10% per week
#3 Plan races so that you have a day off racing for every mile raced
#4 Racing, together with sprinting in training, should not exceed 20% of distance run, and should probably be around 10-15%
#5 Increase distance or intensity from week to week, but not both at the same time
#6 Warmup first before stretching
#7 Usually follow hard days by easy days. Never have three hard days in a row
#8 Don’t ease off training for races, except the handful of races that are your major goals
#9 Treat injuries immediately
#10 Have fun

The Ten Form Principles
#1 The Importance of Relaxation
#2 Run like a child
#3 For Faster Feet, run on your toes
#4 Get those hips forward
#5 Run Tall
#6 Drive with the arms
#7 New breathing techniques may help.
#8 Be Alert and Aware
#9 Run with others who have a good style
#10 Be content with your unique style


Ten Sample Training Sessions
#1 cross training
#2 general endurance
#3 specific endurance
#4 fun sessions
#5 aerobic intervals
#6 hill sprints
#7 speed development
#8 anaerobic
#9 race practice
#10 racing

The Ten Racing Principles
#1 Redefine "Winning"
#2 Practise Surging
#3 Plan races so that you have a day's break from racing for every mile raced
#4 Have Long Term Goals
#5 Define short term goals
#6 Set Intermediate Racing Goals
#7 Horses for Courses
#8 Develop elite runners’ strategies and abilities
#9 Even Pace Produces Fastest Times
#10 Have an established pre race routine

A training pattern that works for me (58 year old Vet), and would suit anyone:
day 1 fast
day 2 long
day 3 medium-tempo
day 4 fast
day 5 long
day 6 medium-easy
day 7 medium-long tempo

But a fit young athlete could do 10 or 12 sessions a week, which can include one more long run and one more fast session, remembering that more recovery is needed after a long hard run than after a short fast session.

And of course I recommend reading the Nic Bideau article, also linked from the side-bar!