Training Manifesto

by Sage Canaday

For example, a set of strides after an easy day can be slowly increased throughout the training cycle to reach velocities of a near-maximal sprint. When kept at workbouts of less than 15 sec and with plenty of recovery these efforts are short and intense and designed to work on speed. Combined with hills and/or drills and plyometrics these provide an excellent stimulis to the neuromuscular system�.making all relative paces feel slower and more comfortable. In fact, famed marathon coach Renato Canova suggests even marathoners run 8sec hill sprints at least once weekly to improve their performance�..at the marathon (site: Mensracing.com interview)! There is no doubt that on the track speed often rules in the closing stages of a race. Being able to shift gears coming off the final turn of an 800m-10k race may be the difference in several places or qualifying for a final. As Peter Coe said: �Touch on Speed every day.� At the very least, some 100m strides at mile race pace or faster several times a week should maintain this stimulus to some degree. However, athletes already training 2 hours per day often ignore doing the little things that will touch on their speed. All this extra focus and attention to top end speed development may very well be the extra �edge� gained by 1cm in stride length or a 1/100th sec decreased in foot strike ground contact time pays big dividends in all races (ie 30-40 sec in a 10k or several minutes in a marathon).

Recovery:

Running at a slow jog is appropriate on days after very hard workouts or races. It is about regeneration and simply moving the muscles allows for blood to flow and in fact can speed the healing process for muscle damage and resulting soreness. Mentally, allowing yourself to relax once a week you can slog through an easy mileage day and still burn calories and hit your weekly total while enjoying the scenery. This is equally as important as any hard workout because it allows you to absorb all the hard training. At heavy periods in training you may be on the brink of injury and these days might be the only thing that save you from coming down with more severe tendonitis or the dreaded stress fracture.

Different Training Considerations for Individuals:

I might be going out on a limb, but I think most runners are born to be the somewhat like the versatile type. Many of these guys ran the mile and 2 mile in hs as well as cross country and tended to be decent at all three events. With decent 400m speed they have the potential to gain enough endurance to run a very strong 5k and hold on for 10k. They can also move down to the 1500m and do relatively well.

The �born marathoner� is mainly a 2 miler in hs and they usually excel in XC as well, but not necessarily on certain courses or rough terrain.

A �speed guy� in hs may find that he is in fact a �versatile guy� in college as his mileage increases and he gains the strength to move up to longer racing distances and excell. Furthermore, many versatile guys who were only decent at the mile- 2 mile in hs find that with increased training volume over the years they have dropped PRs in a wide range of events and may infact be most successful at the 5k distance during their later college years.

Why stereotype? Because training a group of runners all as individuals is optimal in theory, but not practical in a team environment. Runners within each of these three categories will have individual strength and weakness variations that could undoubtedly lead to more �classifications.� However, for the sake of simplicity it is best to generalize like this. What is important to note is that the training of each type of runner should be somewhat different in order to capitalize on each type reaching their potential.

continue to page 4