About the meaning of training
I have seen this scenario dozens of times… A runner training for a 10k or a Half marathon in a very non complex way, with relatively low mileage and by throwing in a couple of weekly runs of higher intensity than the rest of the week. Sometimes a fartlek, sometimes some intervals and the occasional hill rep session.
All good. To go from average or low form to 50% of your potential does not require too much work. So this runner decides to tackle a 20 miler or a marathon and immediately starts thinking about mileage.
More volume is the main variable to change. But how? Long runs! The runner is certain that long runs are the main ingredient of marathon training. But is that enough? Will they hit the wall at 20 miles? Is it inevitable to fatigue and slow down later in the race? Will long runs and more volume prevent that? Is there a recipe for marathon training or is it just the same as any other distance + long runs?
I personally don’t buy into the inevitability of the wall, that the body will fatigue and slow down no matter what. There is this way of thinking that because the fatigue and slow down is inevitable, the runner must go out a little faster to make up for it. Get a cushion of time ready for the inevitable loss. In fact, this way of thinking has even been described to me as the only way to race, or sensible and smart. Even brave!
The main error in this way of thinking is to presume it’s inevitable to slow down. That way we turn it into a self fulfilling prophecy. Because we will slow down we start trying to make up time and that inevitably forces us to slow down.
Then I get hit with the stats. About 94% of marathon finishers slow down and complete the second half slower than the first half. The figures clearly show that it is inevitable. Surely 94% of runners don’t get their pacing wrong. Surely all of them are prepared for the distance. Or are they?
That argument seems to also be defended with figures from sub 3 hour runners. “See! Even the faster athletes fade away in the second half and they know what they’re doing” But do they?
I know I am in the minority here but the logic, for me, is undisputable. You fade because your body and mind was not prepared. Prepared for the distance and prepared for the pace you chose. Elite, semi elite, club runner or just recreational runner. The marathon distance requires very specific training. If you don’t do the work or try to outperform your preparation you will fail. End of.
I am well aware that what I am saying means some elites are not prepared. And it is true. Some have not done enough work. Enough of the right work should I say. I’m sure they’ve done plenty of miles. Fast ones, slow ones, long runs, tempos and intervals. But has their work been effective? Or are they just going through the motions?
When I talk about the right preparation I don’t mean high volume. High volume is just an element that can be introduced to running. The important thing is what we gain from it. If that high volume does not give us what we need then it is not necessary or effective. How can anyone say high volume is not good for marathon training? Because it may be too high. Because teaching the body to run constantly tired may not be what’s required. Now you can run for hours but you can’t manage any kind of pace.
The point I’m trying to make is that every element we relate to marathon training is not just a tick box. What we’re after is not the session in itself, but the physiological changes and adaptations we want it to generate. If we do the session wrong or the wrong session we just get tired and are no better equipped to tackle the marathon distance than we were before.
So let’s get into the detail a bit more… What is the point of the long run? Is it to get used to running for a long time? Why is that useful? So many questions! The answer is… it depends. It depends on the individual. Where they are as a runner, their history, their needs and their ambitions.
For anyone wanting to just finish a marathon we can safely say they need to get used to spending time running. That is what they will have to do on the day. A number of hours on their feet. In that case it is a smart decision to try and get used to longer runs, building that time spent a little bit at a time so not to stress the body too much. Get used to an extra 20 minutes every so often (maybe a week, maybe 4 weeks. It depends on the individual) until you’re comfortable running slow for maybe 2.5–3 hours.
What if you want to run the marathon in 3 hours? Should you just do the same? Longer and longer runs? Slow ones?
Again, let’s analyse what that 3 hour runners needs for the marathon. They need the ensure their body can run for time (3 hours) and at a specific pace (4'16"/km). So that runner needs to work on long but fast, not just long, and not just fast.
No workout delivers in isolation. A number of stresses generate the body to adapt, to whatever you give it. So if you run slow, the body will adapt to run slow. If you run fast, the body will adapt to run fast. In order to give it both we must have a mix of proposals that the body can adapt to in a safe way. We know we can’t run 2 hours at marathon pace every week just so we’re used to it. The body will fatigue and break. We must find formulas that teach the body to get to those adaptations minimising the dangers of fatigue, total depletion. over training and injury.
To run fast for long one must be efficient in how the body uses energy sources to fuel the physical demands. To do that we need to understand how energy is consumed and what role oxygen consumption plays. When we know that a good way of running faster for longer is to:
A) improve pace at the point where we are still using oxygen to help the body consume mainly fat.
And B) improve the point where that oxygen stops being enough and we start using glycogen reserves and enter a mainly anaerobic source of fueling.
Since we’ve established 2–2.5 hours of running at fast pace is likely to be too much stress and lead to injury, we need to find ways of generating the same changes in more controlled ways.
An example would be recreating the conditions we may find during the late stages of a marathon (Glycogen depleted and muscularly fatigued), so perhaps running really fast for a short period of time can be good to deplete the body from excess glycogen, say 10' at threshold pace, followed by a long period of easy running to get the body slightly tired, and then a reasonable chunk at marathon time to give the body time to adapt to that situation. So the workout could look something like 15' warm up + 10' at T + 45' Easy + 30' at MP + 10' cool down = 1h50m of work of which only 40' are at a pace that can be considered stressful, not 2h30m.
So the idea is to manipulate frequency, intensity and time (FIT) to recreate situations that can generate the necessary adaptations to manage the marathon distance.
The second point I was referring to earlier, when talking about managing the distance successful, was the target time/pace the runner thinks it’s ideal to carry for the event. No good training is ever good enough to carry a pace that’s too quick. The analogy there would be an F1 car being capable of 200mph but only carrying enough fuel to last 42.2 laps at a certain speed. If pushed too fast it may run out of fuel or get into technical problems that may force it not to finish.
We train to last a duration (time) at a given speed (pace). No more, no less.
I’ll leave it here for now ;-) Happy running everyone!
