How to take your running to a new level

If you are begging for a running breakthrough, try including some of the following ideas. At some time or another, they have been the making of many a runner.

Having a 'base' and running consistently
Everybody talks about a base, but few people really understand what it means. A base is not just the miles you have done in the last month, nor is it about running 100 miles a week for as long as you live. It is about running consistently. Just about every runner who has ever had a trouble-free year ends up breaking through to a new level. Of course if it were that easy, we would all be breaking through on an annual basis.

Consistency in your running by staying injury-free
So we need to be consistent. But do not think of this as consistently banging out big miles; think of it as running incident free for 52 weeks of the year. Whatever your level of running, the athlete who can run 52 weeks in the year is consistent and on the road to a breakthrough.

It goes even further than that though, because the runner who can then be consistent in all facets of their training is almost guaranteed a breakthrough.

Clock up the mileage in your running legs
Contrary to the modern mantra of less being more, mileage does work. Why else do elite marathoners regularly clock up 120-mile weeks. The key is finding how much works for you in regard to doing enough while avoiding injury, illness or overtraining. The longer runs improve muscular endurance and aerobic capacity while the shorter runs continue developing aerobic capacity while allowing the legs muscles to recover slightly for the next long run.

Your long run should be approximately 50-100% longer than your normal run.Contrary to the modern mantra of less being more, mileage does work. Why else do elite marathoners regularly clock up 120-mile weeks. The key is finding how much works for you in regard to doing enough while avoiding injury, illness or overtraining. The longer runs improve muscular endurance and aerobic capacity while the shorter runs continue developing aerobic capacity while allowing the legs muscles to recover slightly for the next long run. Your long run should be approximately 50-100% longer than your normal run.

Three-time New York marathon winner Alberto Salazar of the USA broke through to a world record in only his second marathon by upping his weekly dose from 90 miles to 125. It worked brilliantly for two years, but eventually he broke down. As a successful coach today he suggests working out the most mileage you think you can handle, then knocking off 25% to find the most you can handle consistently. The key to effective mileage is alternating longer runs with shorter runs. This was one of the big breakthroughs in Lydiard’s training methods.

Fit hills into your running training
More than any other form of running, hill training can be the key to a breakthrough. The physical effort strengthens the legs and works your aerobic capacity higher. So every time you head up a hill you are developing a superior combination of leg strength and anaerobic threshold. Useful hill sessions include non-stop runs of one to two hours over hilly terrain, uphill runs of 15-30 minutes non-stop uphill, and hill repetition sessions such as 4-6 x 5 minutes at approx 10km effort with jog back down to recover between repetitions.

Improve your anerobic threshold
Peter Pfitzinger, the American Olympic marathoner and exercise physiologist, says that “AT” is the single biggest determinant in running potential for events longer than two minutes. AT is simply your maximum aerobic ability; by improving it you improve how long you can run at race pace and how fast you can run before going anaerobic.

Of course, once you go anaerobic, your body will slow down. So it makes sense to work on AT, and because it is simply an extension of your basic aerobic or endurance base you should work on AT pretty much all year round. The key is controlling the effort, which is somewhere between your 10km and half marathon pace.Peter Pfitzinger, the American Olympic marathoner and exercise physiologist, says that “AT” is the single biggest determinant in running potential for events longer than two minutes. AT is simply your maximum aerobic ability; by improving it you improve how long you can run at race pace and how fast you can run before going anaerobic. Of course, once you go anaerobic, your body will slow down. So it makes sense to work on AT, and because it is simply an extension of your basic aerobic or endurance base you should work on AT pretty much all year round. The key is controlling the effort, which is somewhere between your 10km and half marathon pace.

Useful AT sessions are 30 minute runs at half marathon pace or sessions such as 4-6 x 1,500m at 10 seconds per kilometre slower than 10km pace with 2 minute recovery between repetitions.

Improve your running biomechanics
This much-overlooked area of distance running can provide improvement in several ways. Increasing your basic form and flexibility can increase stride length and stride turn over. In theory, a 2cm increase in stride length and 1/10th/sec improvement in leg turnover can mean savings of approximately 45-60 seconds over 10km. If nothing else, improving biomechanics will help make you more efficient, which will help avoid injury and allow you to hold your pace for longer.This much-overlooked area of distance running can provide improvement in several ways. Increasing your basic form and flexibility can increase stride length and stride turn over. In theory, a 2cm increase in stride length and 1/10th/sec improvement in leg turnover can mean savings of approximately 45-60 seconds over 10km. If nothing else, improving biomechanics will help make you more efficient, which will help avoid injury and allow you to hold your pace for longer.

Improving biomechanics involves improvements in flexibility, form, basic speed and core strength. Try a circuit training session that includes form drills, fast relaxed striding, and body weight exercises to improve abdominal, back and glute strength.

Recovery and rest is key
Consistency is all very well, but achieving it means avoiding injury and illness. Running can be hard on the body, so to stay consistently clear of problems you have to understand how your body works. People are actually adaptive organisms – when stress is placed on our bodies some internal mechanism allows us to adapt to that stress and actually super compensates so that eventually that level of stress no longer bothers us.

However, the body can only adapt if it is allowed a break from this stress. Continual stress will eventually break us. Running of course is a stress. If we run 30mins every day our body adapts to handle the stresses of that and soon we can run for longer. But if we run every day non-stop, after a while the body will be unable to keep adapting because it is too tired.

The secret is to know when your body needs rest. Traditionally runners have planned easier days after hard days and maybe even a few days off here and there. Chris Pilone trains his runners on a cycle of seven days training and one day off.

Sports medicine expert, coach and world champion triathlete John Hellemans also suggests taking an easy week every fourth week. This allows extended periods of training followed by full recovery and adaptation.

Lifestyleand it impact on your running progress
Part of the recovery picture is the lifestyle you lead. If you are struggling with your career or home life, then your running will struggle too. In 1990 John Campbell struggled at the Commonwealth Games marathon because his home life and business were struggling too. But two months later he had sorted things out and ran 10mins faster to break the world masters marathon record. And the only things that had changed were outside of his running.

Far be it for anyone to advise anyone else on their lifestyle choices. Unless you are Olympic material, there are other elements in life that tend to take precedence over running. So if lifestyle is affecting your running adversely, the answer might be to alter your running to suit your lifestyle.

It comes back to the recovery thing - you need to find the level of training where you can function effectively in all facets of life. Some people may find that their lifestyle stresses are such that reducing the amount of running they do may actually result in better racing.

Periodisation including all methods of training in the right place
Everything you have read above is a useful tool in the search for a breakthrough. But even more useful is knowing when to use them. For years people have considered that Lydiard training is about huge miles to build endurance, when in fact Lydiard himself will say that his tried and true method is a system that includes all methods of training in the right place. The key is to think like a baby. We all start life crawling before we can walk, walking before we can run and running slow before we run fast. If along the way they get tired or sore, kids just take a break before trying again.

The sport of running is just an extension of that. Slower, easier running tones muscles and builds aerobic power for the harder, faster running needed to run fast races. Along the way you have to allow your body to get used to what it is doing by scheduling regular recovery both in the short term and long term.Everything you have read above is a useful tool in the search for a breakthrough. But even more useful is knowing when to use them. For years people have considered that Lydiard training is about huge miles to build endurance, when in fact Lydiard himself will say that his tried and true method is a system that includes all methods of training in the right place.

The key is to think like a baby. We all start life crawling before we can walk, walking before we can run and running slow before we run fast. If along the way they get tired or sore, kids just take a break before trying again. The sport of running is just an extension of that. Slower, easier running tones muscles and builds aerobic power for the harder, faster running needed to run fast races. Along the way you have to allow your body to get used to what it is doing by scheduling regular recovery both in the short term and long term.

Pick a goal, then work back say four months.

First month
Spend the first month running slow and easy and gradually building up to the maximum mileage you can handle (or want to handle. Remember to schedule some easier days, and every once in a while an easier week too.

Second month
In the second month hold your mileage but gradually introduce more hills for extra strength, and the occasional harder run to start pushing your maximum aerobic ability.

Third month
In the third month gradually replace your hill running with some fast running at race pace.

Fourth month
Then in the fourth month it is time to sharpen-up and freshen-up by gradually decreasing your mileage and swap the race pace running for shorter running at faster than race pace. Because you are decreasing your mileage, you are also recovering and pretty soon you will be jumping out of your skin because not only are you fit, but you are fresh. Now you are ready for a breakthrough.

Pushing a bit harder to improve your running
Remember the bit about the body being an adaptive organism? Well, to ensure continual improvement you have to continually give it new things to adapt to. Just because your training this year resulted in a breakthrough, it does not mean the same training will see you breakthrough again next year. To keep improving, you need to put a bit more into your training every year. The best way to do this is to think about the weaknesses in your running and place a bit more emphasis on developing them.

Remember the bit about the body being an adaptive organism? Well, to ensure continual improvement you have to continually give it new things to adapt to. Just because your training this year resulted in a breakthrough, it does not mean the same training will see you breakthrough again next year. To keep improving, you need to put a bit more into your training every year. The best way to do this is to think about the weaknesses in your running and place a bit more emphasis on developing them.

That might mean putting a bit more into that month of hill training. Or it could mean just deciding to run six days a week instead of five. It might be increasing your long run from 90 minutes to two hours, or maybe going from one long run a week to two. It could mean doing six hill reps per session instead of four.

But whatever your running needs, remember the key to that a breakthrough is about pushing just a bit harder. For a comprehensive guide to training techniques, select one of our training guides from the bottom of this page.