I think a lot of time we take the wrong approach to running during this time of year. In this post give some pointers on how to structure your run training to lead to a better, faster, healthier run in 2014. I've come up with a few basic guidelines that I follow during my winter running.
Increase frequency before duration
Running is a skill. Just like anything in life, if you want to get better at doing something you need to do it more. But running MORE doesn't have to mean running longer. In fact, as Matt Dixon talks about in this article- http://triathlete-europe.competitor.com/2014/01/07/winter-miles-summer-smiles there is a lot of fatigue and musculoskeletal stress that comes with completing a "long run" year round. I'd encourage you to read Matt's article as he is one of the best coach's in the business and knows his stuff. If you are already running three times a week for 30 minutes then instead of increasing to 40 minutes each run try to add a 4th run of 30 minutes on a different day. More advanced athletes may run twice a day some days. Two runs of 45 minutes each still equals 90 minutes of running in a day but you stay fresher and run with better form and quality. One thing I do with some some of my high school runners who are prepping for track season is have them do an easy "shakeout" run in the morning of 20-30minutes. This run is very, very easy and I'll often have them do some light drills and strides to open up their hips and prepare their body for a hard workout in the evening. This is a common practice with many cross country programs.
Emphasize technique
Many people don't realize how important technique is in running. We know it's important in the pool because we see that 50 year old, overweight, former collegiate swimmer jump in the lane next to us and start knocking out 1:05 100's. Coach's have come up with all sorts of catch phrases over the year to cue their athletes into certain aspects of running technique- "run tall," "hips forward," "pump your arms." Ever heard those before? It's easy to forget technique though when you're at mile 24 of the marathon and you just want a hamburger and something soft to lay down on. This time of year is the time to work on technique so that it becomes habit and you don't HAVE to think about it when you're grinding out 20 milers in the death of summer. I like to have my athletes do lots of drill work during this time of year. I have a few different videos I've found that give good instruction on how to properly perform a variety of drills. I've shared the one with Lauren Fleshman before which you can see in my top 10 tips to supercharge your offseason. Here's another one I like to use also from another well known runner.
Most of these drills are fairly basic and if you find yourself struggling to complete them then… you know what to work on! As we run we want to have a quick ground reaction time and running drills will help you feel light and bouncy. Plus, you may learn some sweet moves you can break out on the dance floor.
Run really, really fast
Similar to the plyometric training we talked about with running economy, running very fast for a short duration can help you run more efficiently. Short sprints of 10-30 seconds in length with a full recovery aren't long enough to accumulate lactate or cause your form to break down because of fatigue. Instead they will engage your neurological system and help you recruit all sorts of lovely muscle fibers. You can do these sprints on the track, a grass field, the road or a treadmill. You can do them on flat, up a hill or even down hill. A simple set of 10x :30 on/:30 off will do wonders for your leg speed and turn over.. Just make sure you are fully warmed up and build into the efforts before you try to lay down some mad 100m speed. I learned my lesson last year when I got a bit carried away on some 100's (I love sprinting) and left my calves in knots for weeks. (On a side note- I've discovered that my calves are much less susceptible to getting tight when I am strength training regularly. I believe this to be because my core and hips are most stable while running so I'm not putting as much stress on my lower legs).
Run really, really slow
No, I'm not contradicting myself here. I recommend that the vast majority of your running during this time be done at a very slow pace. If you're not doing drills, strides or specific overspeed work then keep the runs easy and at a conversational pace. Like Matt talks about- think about our form while running and don't have any "bad footsteps." Many, many people I see get carried away while running and every run ends up being a tempo. They don't realize it but they want to "get a good workout in" and so they slowly ramp up the pace every run and end it breathing hard and feeling accomplished. The problem is they may have just sacrificed their form and not really accomplished anything. It may be a struggle because your overall training volume is lower and you're not fatigued from hard workouts. That's ok. Enjoy the feeling of running easy and feeling fresh. It's ok to pick it up occasionally if you're feeling especially frisky but don't turn every run into a Z2/Z3 tempo run.
It will be time to start running some hard workouts soon enough so enjoy this time of year to increase your frequency, work on your technique and get some pop in your step. I'll be happy to challenge anyone in a dance-off consisting as long as it consists only of running drills
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