Quality vs. Quantity: How to Run Faster (part 1)

Original url and discussion:
http://www.yourrunning.com/blog-my_running_brain_is_being_rewired_normal...

If I seem to have gone quiet for a couple of days, it's because I've been having my brain re-wired.

It all started when I found Rich Gibbens' site www.powerrunning.com. Rich has got the finest collection I've seen of science-based articles questioning the "more miles the better" school of thought. The "aerobic madness" theory has dominated distance running -- and caused so many injuries and wrecked careers -- for too long. It's way past time for a change.

But change is hard: it hurts the brain.

Rich is one of a handful of independent thinkers who are closely examining what the latest research into training, physiology, biology and genetics, has to tell us about running faster. If the conclusions were put into practice, they would revolutionize the way we train. But you only need to look at the advice in Runners' World and Running Times and suchlike to realise that it's not going to happen any time soon.

As Marshall Burt says, "The amount of information that coaches, athletic trainers and doctors currently have, even those who function at the highest levels of elite sport, is shamefully low." Marshall's another one who's looked at the science and come to similar conclusions to Rich. If you want to run fast -- you need to train fast. This doesn't mean you're running flat-out all the time, but it does mean taking a critical look at staples of our training such as the long easy run and the "recovery" run, and shifting the focus away from mileage and towards power output.

It's a lesson already learned to devastating effect by the new breed of bike riders, epitomised by Lance Armstrong. It's what you'll see the Kenyans doing, if you've checked the blogs and videos at chasingkimba.com.

It appeals to me, as I never get anywhere near the miles per week I "should". I've already junked "recovery runs". I'd rather get off my legs and do some other form of active recovery, like drinking tea lying on the sofa. No seriously, like a refreshing bout of strength training, for instance.

I got pushed deeper into this when I heard what turned Emile Zatopek into a champion. He won the 5,000, 10,000 and marathon at the same Olympics (Helsinki, in 1952 -- the year I was born). "When I was young, I was too slow... I thought, why should I practise running slow? I already knew how to run slow...I must learn to run fast by practising to run fast" (quoted in Lore of Running, by Tim Noakes).

Marshall Burt has developed "Velocity Focused Training", in which he has re-written the concept of "base training" and uses training runs at goal race paces across all the standard racing distances. Basically you set off at your goal pace at your chosen race/training distance; when you can't maintain the pace, stop. Session over. Next time, you'll probably hold it for longer. When you reach goal pace for the full distance, set a faster goal pace and start again. He also advises setting a "bottom floor" of power output: a comfortably fast pace that you can maintain for long distances without wrecking yourself. That becomes the absolute slowest pace you will allow yourself to train at.

I'll get into some of the new thoughts on intense-but-not-destructive training put forward by Marshall, Rich Gibbens and the Dutch coach Herman Verheul and others in other posts. But if you've always wondered about this stuff, as I have, give yourself a break -- miss a "recovery" run, or one of your easy morning runs if you're a twice-a-day type -- and go and read the intro to Marshall's Velocity Training at this link on Rich's site.

If you are a a card-carrying running geek with a huge appetite for challenging information, then here's a treat. Marshall heads up the Elite Training Group, which has gathered together a team of runners and researchers who are road-testing training programmes based on the new data from a huge range of scientific specialities. On the ETG site here, you'll find links to chapters in the ETG Training Packet. You'll be able to spend the next couple of weeks reading up on Marshall's stunning findings, Hundreds of pages -- free.

PS: When your brain starts hurting, just go for a run -- but make it quick!