Get Faster in 5 Easy Steps

You may have seen this type of title in running magazines. There are some inherent problems with many of these types of generic running schedules or advice. They do not take the runners fitness, age, health and running experience into account. I am going to give the best running advice you will ever receive. Listen to your body. Sounds simple, but many runners do not follow this basic principle. Successful training comes from the correct amount of workload and the body’s ability to adapt to that workload. If the workload is right, the body adapts and becomes stronger. If the workload is too much, poor performances, illnesses and injuries can be the result. Your body will tell you what it can handle. All you have to do is listen. The most critical signs of recovering from the workload are heart rate, body weight, and hours of sleep. By monitoring these three things you can tell if your body is adapting or failing to adapt. Regularly check these three things. 1. Check your resting pulse rate. It should be taken before getting out of bed in the morning. If it 10 percent higher than normal, you may not be fully recovering from your workouts. 2. Check your weight. If it is 3 percent lower than normal, you may not have properly rehydrated. 3. If your sleep is 10 percent less than normal it could be a problem. If you do not get the rest you need, your body will not properly recover. Any one of these three things could mean you should shorten your workout. All three mean you should take the day off from training. If you are unsure it is best to be conservative. If you listen to your body, and give yourself a chance to properly recover from your workouts, your body will adapt and get stronger.

Hot Weather Training

Doing long runs in the hot summer can be difficult at best. Proper hydration is the key to successful summer training. You must prepare for a long training run in the summer as you would a marathon. Drink plenty of fluids the day before the run. Being you will most likely be running in the early morning, hydrating the day before is essential. On the day of the run; drink plenty of fluids, including a sports drink, before during and after the run. Remember that you cannot train as hard in the hot weather. The long run is still important, even at a slower pace. When running races in extremely hot weather, negative splits are helpful. Try starting a race at slower than normal pace then pick it up later. This strategy will help you from becoming overheated. Remember if you go out too fast in hot weather and become overheated early, there is nothing that will help you cool down except to stop running. So easy does it at the start. Even in hot weather a “cool” down after a hard run is a good idea. After a hard run, get hydrated, then go for an easy jog for at least 10 minutes. This speeds muscle recovery, and helps you get ready for your next run.

Proper training

It is all in the training. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. Running is a sport in which you truly get out of it what you put into it. There are no miracles on race day. If you don’t train well, you will not perform to the best of your ability. Training is the systematic process of exercise or practice with the objective of improving an athlete’s fitness or skill in a selected activity. Law of Overload: A training load is the work or exercise an athlete performs in a training session. An athlete’s fitness is challenged by a training load and there is a response from the body. The initial response is fatigue. After the training load stops there is a process of recovery from the fatigue and an adaptation to the training load. Recovery and adaptation returns the fitness of the athlete not just their original level, but to an improved level. The body’s ability to adapt to training loads and overcompensate in recovery, explains how training works. Overtraining occurs when the training load is too great. This will cause the athlete problems with recovery, and the athlete may not return to the original level of fitness. A coach can be helpful to monitor the athletes training and progress. Law of Reversibility; If you don’t use it you lose it. If you stop training, your fitness level will decrease. Law of Specificity: The specific nature of the training procedures has a specific response. In other words if you are training to be a sprinter, you will get better at running sprint events; it will not train you to run a marathon. You need specific training for the event you are competing in. The systematic approach to training includes endurance and speed training. It is necessary to incorporate both speed and endurance into ones training to obtain optimal results. Long slow distance alone will make you a long slow racer. Speed training (intervals, tempo runs, hill repeats etc.) will help to increase leg turn over and produce faster race times. The long slow runs and short easy runs are necessary to be able to perform the speed training. Speed and endurance compliment each other. The proper combination of the two will make you a better runner

Nutrition for endurance athletes

The most essential nutrient for an endurance athlete is fluid. Hydration is important for well being and performance. You need to drink 8-10 cups of fluid daily. Use a sports drink during exercise, these contain needed electrolytes (sodium) and carbohydrates. An endurance athlete should pay close attention to nutrition. Running can cause damage to muscle fibers, which can slow glycogen recovery. Taking carbohydrates immediately after training will start to replenish glycogen stores and help prevent muscle glycogen depletion. You should consume 50-100 grams of carbohydrates immediately after exercise and drink plenty of fluids to recover properly. Thirst is not a good indicator of fluid needs. You should monitor your weight before and after exercise, and drink 24 ounces of fluid for every pound lost. You also should make sure you have enough sodium in your diet after training; this will improve the hydration process. A typical sports diet consists of 15% protein, 35% grains, 20% fruits and vegetables, 25% fat and 5% dairy. Endurance athlete’s diets typically consist of about 60% carbohydrates, 15-20% protein and 20-25% fat. An endurance athlete during heavy training has a protein requirement of 0.50-0.75 grams per pound of body weight. Using a 160 lb. athlete with a high activity level as an example: A typical daily nutritional requirement would be 2800-3800 calories- 560 grams carbohydrates (60% calories), 128 grams protein (13% calories) and 115 grams fat (27% calories). Nutrition is an important part of an endurance athlete’s training and should be carefully monitored.

Motivation

Running is a somewhat unique sport. Most average, even non-athletic people can participate in it. It is, in most cases, not a team sport. There isn’t motivation to win for the team. If you are, as most people, an average runner, you are not likely to win a race. So what motivates the average runner? Aside from people who jog for fitness, runners usually compete in races. Many compete even knowing they will finish in the middle or the back of the race. The one thing that motivates most runners is time. Runners look to improve or maintain the amount of time it takes them to run a race. How do runners improve or maintain their race times? They train. Training is the thing that all runners have in common. Front, middle and back of the pack runners all have to train to compete. The key to improvement for all runners from the professional to the recreational runner is the quality and quantity of the training. Improvement can be measured in seconds for the shorter distances and minutes in the longer distances. Improvement can even be measured in training runs. It is the challenge to improve that motivates most runners.

Coaches?

Many runners training for marathons train with running clubs. This is a great way to do long training runs. You will have company and encouragement during the hours of running. Unfortunately you also may have the unofficial “coaches”. Many runners dispense advice without any knowledge of the athlete’s fitness level that they are giving advice to. This is a case where a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. In order to successfully train for a marathon you should follow a training plan. This plan can be one of the generic plans from a running magazine or a training plan developed specifically for the athlete by a professional coach. Training with a certified coach who is experienced in training marathoners will give an athlete the best chance for success. It is up to the individual athlete to ignore the unofficial “coaches” advice and stick with their own plan.