Many of us have that feeling, or pretend that that’s the case, or are trapped in pretending that that’s the case. For some it actually is the case. So what can we do?
Effective training sessions.
Which type of runs can give a little endurance boost, challenge your body, for example, during times of low training load, and provide a new stimulus to it? Here some ideas:
Sprint Training
Have you ever run as fast as you can without being chased by a dog? Several times in a row? Uphill?
Most of us haven’t, which also means, their fast-twitch fibres are probably underdeveloped and could stand a little boost. Our muscles are made up of endurance (slow twitch) and sprint (fast-twitch) fibres, both of which can be activated by the brain depending on the required effort. By purposely activating those fast-twitch fibres, we don’t only teach the brain how to use those efficiently together with the slow-twitch fibres, we also tell it that those muscles will eventually be needed (for example, towards the last part of a race when most slow-twitch fibres are close to giving up; or for that short sprint uphill across another fun-run fellow).
Ideal for such workout is a steep hill; do 5-8 times 10 seconds uphill at full power with sufficient recovery of several minutes (this is not about getting your heart rate back down, but restoring the muscle functionality; if your muscles are still tired and you’re not able to put all the effort into them, the workout is less effective).
It should go without saying, that this workout is very effective but also very dangerous and prone to injuries! Only perform this after some years of running experience and after a sufficient warm-up of 20 minutes including some faster running.
Slow Run
As basic as it sounds, this is still one of the core units! A long enough slow run will have the main benefits and adaptations you are seeking in the long term as a runner by developing, and developing, and further developing your aerobic system. Never underestimate the power of those easy-peasy, longish runs – especially if carried out in continuity, summing up to over many years. If once speed training and intervals are included in the daily training, those slowish runs should make up around 80% of your total training volume.
The main question one may pose: “What is slow, and what is too fast?” As a rule of thumb, better too slow than too fast. You should easily be able to have a conversation and talk a few sentences while breathing. Or take at least four steps when breathing in, another four steps when breathing out.
For some more specific numbers:
If you run four times a week or more, try to aim at the following heart rate:
(HFmax – HFrest) x 0,65 + HFrest
If you run three times a week or less, go at slightly higher heart rate (around 5 beats/min higher than above formula).
Fasted Runs
(start carefully, ideally in the morning after a low-carb dinner)
Now it is becoming a bit more interesting and a bit more specific. Fasted runs can be very effective in increasing your fat burning capability along with reduced energy intake during a fairly short running session (45-60mins). This improves the aerobic lipolysis and therefore, overall endurance – remember that events of several hours duration resort a lot on aerobic lipolysis besides burning carbohydrates; for example, if run at paces around the aerobic threshold – a little slower than marathon pace for most of us – fat burning and carb-burning are balanced (as further detailed in this post).
Ideally, you perform this run in the morning the day after a hard training with a reduced carbohydrate dinner, in other words, with partially depleted glycogen stores. During a tempo run or interval session the day before, your body will deplete some (or most) of its glycogen stores. After the session, you recover and fill up your tired system mainly from veggies, salad, protein, and fat – but not carbs (and obviously neither sugar!) – during dinner to keep those glycogen stores at a low level.
Then, after a good night of sleep, go for your fasted run before breakfast (coffee is okay, and a must for myself) at an easy pace for around an hour. More than that might actually be too long and you can have diminishing or even detrimental effects because your body will start digesting your muscles to produce energy from protein if it does not feel any food coming soon. If you want to stay out longer in order to directly make it a long slow run, after 1 hour is the time to feed on a gel or a banana before continuing.
This is also an excellent workout to do before the rest of the family gets up and the day starts. Head out at 6 a.m. and be back at 7 a.m. for a beautiful and well-deserved breakfast with the whole family.
By the way, one nice side effect, you’ll also have fewer digestion problems 😉 (if that’s a typical problem for you).
HIIT Workouts for runners
This is an interesting one, especially in combination with the Slow Runs above, as it will help you boost your performance at the upper limit of your cardio-vascular system – the VO2max (or the corresponding velocity: vVO2max). At this pace, your body is a maximum oxygen uptake and consumption, i.e. all aerobic processes run at their maximum capacity (uptake: lungs, arteries, capillaries; and consumption: mitochondria with ATP production and metabolism). For more description of what VO2max stands for, see this post), it corresponds to an maximum effort of approximately 6 minutes.
Such HIIT workouts could make up the other 10-20% of training volume beside the 80% slow efforts (IF you are not in the specificity training that leads up to a special event, this follows the principle of capacity and utility training). On a more general basis, one basically wants to avoid the middle zone – comfortably hard and fastish but not too hard – the race pace for most runners (half marathon to marathon).
Most traditional HIITs require full-body workouts of short duration (max. 1 minute), to maximally stress the circulatory system; and to maximise oxygen uptake. However, those very specific workouts are not too useful for us runners, as they target a large range of muscle groups
French exercise physiologist Veronique Billat designed an efficient workout that would allow runners to spend the maximum amount of time at VO2max.
Micro intervals: 30/30/30: 30x(30s hard + 30s easy)
- Warm up 2-3 k at easy pace with some faster pick-ups, ending at a higher pace
- 30” close to vVO2max (a pace you could sustain 6-8min all out),
- 30” at roughly 50% of your vVO2max (normal everyday pace)
- Repeat fast/slow until you cannot hold vVO2max for 30” (approx. 10-30 times depending on training level)
- Few minutes rest
- Either a second set (for example, two 10×30′ sets in total), possibly a third, or just
- Cool down 2-3k at an easy pace
Other possibilities:
- 4-6x 3min hard / 3min easy (how hard? so hard that the last repetition is just about possible).
- A 20min tempo run at current 10k race pace. This is not really a HIIT session, but an intense and effective session to boost your aerobic system when time is short.
Needless to say that all those intense session should be preceeded by a warm-up and followed by a cool-down.
Double usage of time, combine daily routines with sport and running:
Commuting:
One of the most obvious (and eco-friendliest) usages of time. I tend to run to and from work (around 7k each way). I also noticed that the morning run activates and warms up my aerobic system, which strongly helps for intervals or tempo runs on the way back home in the evening. In-between those runs, the body remains in a paused state with a higher metabolic rate. Of course, one could also extend either the morning or evening run, making it a very effective running day with high milage.
Buggy:
Also an obvious one – go running with the kids (may require stroller). We have a Thule Urban Glide, which performed great over the last 4.5 years (late 2017 until now, early 2022). With the second child, we upgraded to the Thule Sport 2, which made me jog around with an additional ~40 kg to push forward – not too noticeable on the flat thanks to the perfect glide of the buggy, but a good leg exercise up-and downhill!
(below: holiday run, half-marathon run, double-buggy run)
TV-time:
Netflix in the evening? Sure, but use this dead-time for stretching and exercises. Great exercises that don’t require too much focus off your beloved show:
- wall sits
- squats
- planking
- push-ups
- Calf Raise
- one-legged stand to strengthen your ankles and ligaments (add difficulty with moving the other leg forward, sideward, backward); also very easy to be done during brushing your teeth (added difficulty: with closed eyes!)
- foam rolling (before stretching): calves, thighs, hamstrings, piriformis, feet
- any type of stretching
- and any other great and useful exercises that you can find on the world-wide romping place and that feel good.
Other Suggestions
Plyometric exercises (mostly jumping work-outs, improving leg spring stiffness)
- 3x per week 5min rope skipping (not for those with Achilles problems)
- wall sits (1min and longer)
- box jumps
Combination of specific sessions
Combine intervals and long run, for example, 3x10min lactate threshold (tempo) run followed by a 90min slow run. Or the other way around, a 90min slow run followed by a 15-30min tempo run (similar to a long run crescendo). Those workouts are efficient if your time does not allow for a proper long-run at the weekend and get you into racing shape very rapidly. Indeed, they are commonly used in marathon training during the last training block, i.e., the last 6-8 weeks. However, keep in mind that those are very specific and demanding training units, and should as such only be used sparingly and as backup.
Training Camps (2 weeks holidays with the family)
Do double mileage within 2 weeks, followed by a recovery week. Those ‘shock weeks’ can be very effective (with regard to intensity, mileage or both) and can help boost your endurance. For example, having some stressful days before a vacation that don’t allow you to run – use those to freshen up your legs. Then raise your mileage during the holidays (at home, at the beach, or in the mountains) to give your system an endurance boost with hard work on your legs, good sleep, and most importantly, good food!
But we have to keep in mind that training continuity is always preferred – which shall not prevent us from adding some extra kilometres during a nice vacation.
Fun.Run.Dad 