12 Rules For Running
Just as Stephen Covey stresses in “The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People”, principles matter more than techniques.
When you understand the principles behind how something works, you can tailor your approach to the unique circumstances you’re in. You’re not enslaved to a formula. You experience “freedom within a framework” (to quote Two Brain Business Coach Chris Cooper).
This is true for running.
Many recreational runners get lost in the weeds about the specifics of training. They get sucked in to the latest overhyped training fad.
The danger here is they don't learn the big picture principles about how to draw out long-term performance gains.
When the demands of life or the unique idiosyncrasies of their body derail the "ideal" program, they might throw in the towel and get despondent.
They need to focus more on the time honoured, science backed principles and less on fads or specific workouts which are pitched as silver bullets.
And, unfortunately, the running landscape is littered with overhyped fads.
Should you do Norwegian 4×4, VO2 max intervals, lactate threshold testing, 80/20 training, Zone 2 running - or all of the above?
None of these are wrong in and of themselves, but they’re examples of the millions of formulas and techniques out there.
It’s much better to learn the time-honoured, science-backed principles behind getting faster. These have been, and always will be, how progress is made.
Here’s my best shot at summing up the fundamental principles behind getting faster in distance running.
1/ To fully realise your potential, you need to allocate a lot of time, energy and focus to running.
You need to train more, and do other things less.
Less work, less study, less family time. More of your finite resources need to be allocated to training.
If you don’t like the sound of this… that is probably a GOOD thing, because for many, becoming really fast becomes a vain and destructive obsession.
But it doesn’t change the fact that that’s what it takes.
Pumping tonnes of money, time, energy, focus and attention into training is one big reason why professional runners are so much faster. (Talent being the other).
And if YOU wanted to get faster, it is the simplest and most reliable way to make it happen.
It is safe to say that if you’re reading this blog, you’re not a professional athlete. And you probably don’t want to turn into an obsessional, intolerable endurance junkie. Honestly, I think you’re much better off holding loosely to improvement, and simply taking pleasure in participation and training for health.
Strive for progress by all means, but hold it loosely. Running is a great servant but a poor master.
NB: You can improve a lot without a massive time allocation. To do it, you need to have a narrow goal that you specifically train for over a very long time frame. Plus, you need to get good at scientifically planning and evaluating your training - or finding a coach who can make that happen. Like me!
2/ Come to terms with your limits.
This is in the same vein as rule 1, but with a slight difference.
If you really want to get better as a runner, you have to understand and embrace your limitations.
You don’t have limitless energy. You can’t just keep adding more and more training without getting injured, sick or burnt out.
Given this, you need to be quite focussed and strategic about what you put energy and resources into.
Here’s how it might play out:
Instead of trying to get really maximally strong with running related strength work, try instead to only do the MINIMUM you need to do to get the benefit you want. Conserve your energy.
Embrace the fact that you can’t expect to get good at vastly different events simultaneously. If you’re gunning for a 5K personal best, your half marathon time might suffer and you need to be OK with this.
3/ Running training should be periodised.
You can't focus on everything at once. Periodisation is the process of progressively structuring training towards a goal, emphasising different aspects of performance as you approach the match, race, season, or other event.
There’s lots of ways to periodise running training.
Many coaches follow in the footsteps of Arthur Lydiard, who stressed the importance of doing a very high volume of relatively easy running, followed by a period of speed and race pace work in reasonably close proximity to the target race.
Elite runners commonly follow an approach called “funnel periodisation”, developed by the renowned Italian coach of Kenyan elites, Renato Canova. In Canova’s system, runners start by working on small doses of high speed running (like hill sprints) in conjunction with a high volume of easy running - like in Lydiard-inspired training. Then, as the event nears, the training converges onto practicing the target pace of the forthcoming race, with lower overall volume than when the training block commenced.
A skilled and experienced running coach (like me!) can help you periodise your training.
4/ Get comfortable with running for a long time.
You can't expect to reach your potential over 10K or a half marathon if simply covering the distance is very unusual for you. With the exception of marathons, covering your actual race distance shouldn't be a big deal for you. Your training needs to support you to cover the distance with ease. Then, in time, you can strive to get really fast over that distance.
5/ Practice your event.
You get good at what you practice. You develop efficiency at certain speeds. You need to invest in practising running at a realistic target pace for your race. Which is not to say you need to race every week, just that you need to sensibly mimic the actual demands of your event in manageable portions in order to develop mastery. And that needs to occur reasonably frequently.
6/ Develop your chassis.
Running involves a lot of time on your legs and repetitive stress on your bones, ligaments and tendons. Some of your training should be focussed on creating musculoskeletal toughness. This is one of the reasons why the old school Nordic champions were big proponents of long walks! Chassis building can be accomplished in tandem with developing a great aerobic base at the start of a new training block with a focus on high volume easy to steady paced running.
7/ Build your engine.
With all the emphasis on zone 2 training in recent years, the balance has tipped away from high intensity work. But both are needed. This is why many serious runners do hard intervals workouts 1-2 times per week.
Building up your top end cardiovascular fitness can also be achieved on the bike, which is great news for recreational athletes who need to minimise fatigue.
8/ Distance running is about speed endurance.
Both properties need continuous attention, because it’s the combination of these which makes the magic. The precise mix of endurance vs speed in training depends on the individual, their muscle fibre composition and other individual characteristics.
You need to develop your aerobic capacity. You need to maximise the aerobic contribution to energy production. This is because your aerobic energy systems and slow twitch muscle fibres are highly resistant to fatigue. A well developed aerobic system enables you to handle a higher volume of training and enables you to bounce back quicker from hard running.
You need to work on anaerobic capacity, too. A judicious amount of really fast running supports good mechanics. You need to utilise the systems you'll actually use in a race situation (you don't get better from just running easy).
9/ Strength training reliably improves speed, economy, and resistance to injury. PLUS it's great for your health.
A sensible amount of targeted strength work can help runners improve their maximum speed, reduce the likelihood of overuse injury and become more efficient - using less energy at a given speed.
If you need help learning how to make this happen, please get in touch!
10/ Cross training helps you get the work in with less fatigue and fewer injuries
Many readers of this blog will, like me, be middle-aged people. As you get older, your tolerance for hard training diminishes.
Cross training (using things such as bike riding or water running) can help you get in productive training stress on your muscles and heart but using modes of training which involve less impact than running.
Often you might feel like your legs are sluggish and fatigued. Cross training can be more mentally approachable when your legs feel dead.
Having that option can make a higher volume of consistent training more comfortable and enjoyable.
11/ Invest in technique development but don't obsess about it
Addressing flaws in your running technique may help you to become more efficient and address injuries.
This topic is quite hotly debated in running research, but I believe you CAN make helpful and productive changes to your technique.
However, it is important to minimise counterproductive micromanagement of the way you move. That’s a sure fire way to undermine confidence in yourself and sap running of its joy.
There’s no one right way to run, and your technique will reflect your unique physical characteristics.
A skilful running coach can help you to identify what may be worth changing and what should be left alone.
12/ It's OK to maximise enjoyment in your training (and not performance).
Running and other endurance sports attract driven, type-A, data-focussed people who are prone to obsessionality. If you are 40 years of age or older and can run continuously for 30 minutes or more, that is a big achievement! Celebrate it! Enjoy it! Pick training which lights you up and which you feel good doing.