Running Technique

Excerpted from article written by Mark Holroyd, exercise physiologist from BUPA's Bristol Wellness Center

Why is a good running technique important?

Running technique is a topic that few runners pay particular attention to, however it is essential for:

Economical running - Correct technique can maximize the economy of running by eliminating unnecessary movement and thus wasted motion. To put it simply, runners want all their energy to produce straight ahead movement, as opposed to side-to-side motion.

Minimizing the chance of injury - When we walk one foot is always on the ground, and our forward foot hits the surface with a force equal to approximately half our body weight. When running this force is much greater, as there is a non-contact phase when both feet are off the ground. During running the foot strikes the surface with a force greater than three times our bodyweight. A combination of correct running technique and using appropriate running equipment can help to reduce these landing forces and therefore the stress on our bones and muscles, minimizing the chance of injury.

So what is correct running technique?
With respect to running technique, the most important concept is to run tall and relaxed. Running tall is equivalent to running light, and this is essential for efficient running. Consider the following points when assessing your running technique.

Body Position



Technique drill
To develop a correct and economical running technique you can concentrate on the different components of the action by using a "technique drill". A running technique drill imitates technically sound running form, such as upright posture, proper carriage of the arms during the running stride and proper knee drive and leg action. It is performed slowly at first to allow you adapt to the correct running technique. Using a running technique drill has the additional benefit of helping to strengthen specific muscle groups that needed for powerful running, especially the muscles of the calves, shins, thighs and hips. The running technique drill outlined below involves marching (walking), which, once mastered, can be incorporated into your running motion.

Marching drill
The marching drill provides an excellent starting point for beginners who wish to focus on the basics of running technique. Marching is performed slowly at first, but progresses in speed as your balance and stability improve. This drill allows you to focus on maintaining an upright posture, coordinating the movement of your arms and legs and stabilizing your movement. Begin by walking slowly forward on the balls of your feet, making sure your heels do not touch the ground during this exercise. Use small steps, approximately 12 to 18 inches (30-46cm) in length.

Raise your right knee to hip level (so that your thigh is parallel to the ground) on each stride. Your right ankle should be directly under or slightly behind your right knee, and your right foot should be 'cocked' (toes pointing upwards). As your body passes over the left foot during the stride, rise on the toes of the left foot and extend the left knee. Hold your chin and trunk upright (think "run tall") and swing your arms slowly in rhythm with the marching stride. Repeat this action, raising the right knee to hip level with the left leg moving through a normal walking stride, for 50 meters. Repeat the drill with your left knee rising and the right knee moving through a normal walking stride.

Remember that this is a technique drill, so focus on proper posture, limb movement and whole body balance, and perform the drill in a slow and controlled way. After you have performed the drill with each leg marching separately, combine the marching action to incorporate both legs. This drill emphasizes a driving knee lift, upright posture and a coordinated arm swing, all essential components of proper running technique.

Timing
When performing the drill, do so at the start of your workout as opposed to at the end, because this is when your concentration and energy levels are at their highest. Performing the drill when you are fatigued can lead to a lack of concentration and poor technique. Remember that practice does not necessarily make perfect, but it will certainly make permanent. So focus on the correct technique when performing the drill, or you could end up reinforcing bad habits

Warm up

Due to the low intensity of the marching drill, it is ideal as part of a warm up because it will both warm up your muscles and focus your mind on proper running technique before your run.

Terrain
When practicing proper running technique and drills, perform them on relatively flat terrain. This will allow you to concentrate on running form more than if you were exercising at a higher intensity running up or down hill flexibility. The ankle, knee and hip joints undergo considerable flexion and extension during the marching drill. It is therefore important that the muscles surrounding these joints are supple, allowing the joints to have a wide range of motion. Before performing the drill, be sure to stretch, focusing on the legs (quadriceps, hamstrings and calves), hips and lower back.

What Does 'Periodization' Mean and How Does It Work?

Source: Mike Ricci

Preparation Phase
Base Phase
Build Phase
Peak Phase
Transition Phase

If you have ever wondered how the Russians were kicking our butts for three decades in sports, here is the answer. Yes, there were some Eastern Block women that looked like they could play for the Pittsburgh Steelers, ‘Steel Curtain’, and maybe that wasn’t natural, but the answer is something called 'periodization’. Tudor Bompa, who is considered the ‘Father of Periodization’ refined the ideas of Russian sports scientists in the early 1960s. During the 1940s the Russian scientists tried dividing the training year into different training periods. Previously, the training was to maintain the same constant stresses year round.

Could you imagine doing the same workouts week in and week out? The new method was to create some periods of training that were easier then the others to promote rest and to let the body grow stronger. Most training programs today are rooted off of Bompa’s theory, and its how the successful athletes of today train. Periodization involves many variables including frequency (how ‘often’ you train), duration (how ‘long’ you train for one session), volume (how ‘much’ you train in a given week or cycle) and intensity (how ‘hard’ you train at any given time). From these variables a recipe is created that will hopefully help you reach your peak for the key race(s) you are targeting. There are four to five phases in a given annual training plan, with the variables changing within each phase. Please see the following chart:

Preparation Phase

The first phase of training is called the Preparation (Prep) Phase. This is a period of time from three to six weeks. It involves performing your aerobic activities at a low heart rate and it helps your body adjust to the rigors of training again. This is also the time to work on your drills for each sport. This would include many of the drills in swimming, isolated leg pedaling in cycling and/or strides in running. The workouts in the Prep Phase are usually short in duration, low in intensity, and may be frequent. The volume for this cycle is low. This period prepares you for the Base Phase.
The Base Phase

The Base Phase can last anywhere from twelve to twenty four weeks. The longer this phase lasts usually means the more aerobically fit you are entering your key sessions for the season. The Base Phase runs in three to four week ‘blocks’, and can have up to six blocks within this phase. These would be called Base Phase Two, Three, etc. The amount of blocks you have in this phase is dependant on your training experience. If you are in your first few years of training, the more blocks you do in the base phases, the better off you will be in the long run. This phase continues to focus on increasing your aerobic capacity while improving your efficiency with drills and skill workouts. The intensity in this cycle remains low or non-existent, while the frequency may drop, and the duration of your longer workouts keeps extending itself. The volume in this cycle starts out low, but will eventually be your greatest of the year as you get closer toward the end of your base phase. After the Base Phase has been completed and you get closer to your key races, the next step is the Build Phase.

Build Phase

The Build Phase drops in volume, increases in intensity and may keep the same or drop off in duration. The key to this phase is to become more efficient (faster) at a certain distance or go further in a certain time period. This is done by adding ‘interval’ training to your workouts. These intervals can be repeats in the pool, on the track, or on your bicycle. In this phase, the volume is consistent, the intensity high, and your duration for your long workouts should be at an all year high. This phase lasts about four to eight weeks and comes right before the big race. Before we get to the big race, we do something called ‘peaking’.

Peak Phase
The Peak Phase and ‘peaking’ itself is a very tricky thing to do. Basically, you are trying to bring together your whole season for one or two important races. It could be the local triathlon where you need to beat your training partner, or it could be a qualifier for the World Championships. Either way, you want to perform your best. In order to peak for the race, we taper down our training. We cut back to let our bodies rest and restore itself. Our volume is low, our intensity is high, and our duration is short. Frequency for some is quite high, as some athletes like to keep their ‘feel’ for the water or keep their running ‘rhythm’. Others don’t have such problems and cut back the frequency as well. This is when training is personal choice. After your race, and hopefully successful racing season, you move into the final phase of the year, the Transition Phase.

Transition Phase

The Transition Phase is a time to just kick back, and do something other then triathlon. It can mean a time to do nothing for a few weeks, or it could mean the time of the year that you try out some new sports that don’t involve swim, bike, and run. Toward the end of this phase, you want to start organizing your plans for the upcoming season. A new Prep Phase will almost be upon you and you get to do it all over again.

Effective breathing in swimming

Effective breathing, while swimming, is all in the balance
Not getting enough air?

Extended arm sinks while taking a breath (elbow drops)?

Speed is sacrificed because of a “Pause” while breathing?

Difficulty breathing while navigating in a race?

Sucking in water while taking a breath?

Effective breathing, while swimming, is all in the balance The most common question I hear in the triathlete world about the mysteries of swimming efficiently usually involves something with breathing. In freestyle, it is the first step to get your body position right. Then, for many, you throw in breathing and everything goes haywire! This has to do with lack of balance, using your head instead of your core to breath, and a few other factors. Here are the top 5 challenges in learning how to breathe in freestyle, along with the remedies on how to get over these:

1. Not getting enough air? There are a couple of reasons this typically happens in freestyle. First, make sure you breathe out all of your air before you rotate to take a breath. When learning, some people try to exhale and inhale while they are rolling to the side for air. There simply is not enough time for this! Your exhalations should only be in the water in the form of bubbles. At first the timing may seem difficult, but eventually you will get used to it. Second, you may be sinking as you breathe. Make sure you are rolling to the side to breathe, and not rotating your head and looking straight up.

2. Extended arm sinks while taking a breath (elbow drops)? This is mainly a balance issue. While you breathe to one side, your other arm should be extending. For many swimmers, this extended arm pushes down into the water and they are sinking while trying to inhale. The side kicking and shark fin drills will also help to improve this. Another drill also discussed in the materials that will help with this challenge is the fist drill, which forces you to not use your hands, therefore improves your balance in the water.

3. Speed is sacrificed because of a “Pause” while breathing? A typical scenario is that you feel like you are cruising along just fine and then you take a breath and it feels like you have just lost all your momentum. To remedy this, when you breathe, concentrate first on breathing to the side (as in #1), then on having your mouth parallel to the water, instead of over the water. The latter will take a while to master, but once you do, it will take care of the pause, and improve your speed overall.

4. Difficulty breathing while navigating in a race You need to look up to see where you are going, and at the same time grab a breath. How can you do both? Start with bilateral breathing (breathing on both sides every 3 strokes). This will help you to see about where you are without lifting your head up as much. When you need to lift your head up to sight, try not to look straight ahead as this will make your hips sink and throw you off balance. Instead, take a quick peek at your target, roll to the side to breath, and bring your head right back down into position.

5. Sucking in water while taking a breath? In practice, this will sometimes occur because of #1 and #2 above. In a race, the waves may cause the inhalation of water instead of air (bilateral breathing will help here as well). The drills to practice to improve balance and avoid this unpleasant occurrence are the side kicking and shark fin drills, as well as the one-arm drill. To perform the one-arm drill, swim a full stroke with one arm while your other arm rests at your side. Breathe on the opposite side of the stroking arm. This is a difficult drill and takes some practice, but it will pay off!

For more details of Kevin Koskella’s effective breathing when swimming, read the new Successful Coaching.

Excerpted from:
SPORTS PERFORMANCE BULLETIN
The weekly newsletter for athletes and coachesIssue 16 - 18th April 2005

Nutrition for the Long Ride


After working with patients training for 100 mile-rides for several years and having done a number of century rides, the factor that I see causing the most problems is a lack of understanding regarding nutrition during training rides and races. The first thing to remember is that by the time you start to feel thirsty or hungry you are behind schedule for hydrating and eating.

Pre-Ride Meal
This can be a relatively small meal since the primary purpose it to fill up your glycogen stores that are depleted from the prior days training or last nights sleep. This small meal should consist of foods that are high in carbohydrates and low in fat and protein. Even if you just eat a bagel and drink some orange juice this can do the trick. If you currently don’t eat breakfast, I recommend starting off with a bagel or piece of toast and a small glass of fruit juice and see how that works. If your stomach can handle that and you don’t feel too full, add a small bottle of Gatorade or breakfast bar the next time. I usually eat while driving to the race or training so have gotten used to portable breakfast items like bananas, Gatorade or bagels. Oatmeal, yogurt and a banana with or without toast and peanut butter a couple of hours before the ride would be a luxurious breakfast. If have a particularly hard day planned, i would add some protein such as an egg or your favorite.

During the Ride
Set up a schedule that you stick to in regards to what to eat and when to it eat. How do you know what works for you? You experiment during your training rides. Besides getting your muscles and cardiovascular system trained for going a 100 miles you want to determine what energy your body requires for the ride and what you can tolerate and like the taste of. I think some of this comes from knowing what my body requires during these long rides. For most people the biggest need is going to be staying hydrated (water or sports drink), getting enough calories and keeping your electrolyte levels balanced.

Staying Hydrated
I try to stick to drinking at least one large water bottle per hour as a minimum and alternate water and sports drink. This rule of thumb of one bottle per hour is just a guideline. I recommend drinking every time you see someone else drink or drinking every 15-20 minutes. If this comes out to more than one bottle per hour and you don’t feel a sloshing in your stomach you should be okay. If you feel a sloshing or have to urinate more than once an hour you should cut back on your intake of fluids for about 15 minutes or so until you feel better.

Calorie Consumption
In order to ride 100 miles you are going to need to consume enough carbohydrates during the ride to maintain your glycogen levels and continue to burn fat as your primary energy source. The main source of energy for these long training rides should be fat, which is only utilized at heart rates that are below 85% of your maximum or your aerobic rate. Above 85% you are burning mostly carbohydrates, which your body has only limited amounts of. Once you consume all of your glycogen stores your muscles no longer have energy to contract and you “hit the wall” or “bonk”. Remember the phrase, “Fat burns in a flame of carbohydrates”. I partilarly like Lara Bars (220 calories), Power Bars (230 calories) and half-sandwiches of PB&J and occasonally gulp down a Crank e-Gel (150 calories)

What does this mean to you?
Start by eating something every hour regardless of whether it’s a solid food (sports bars, fig Newton’s, small peanut butter and jelly sandwich) or semi-solid food (gels). You will also be getting calories from your sports drink but the additional calories from the gels and bars will help. After you get used to eating something every hour, you can start to experiment with your eating intervals. The most common interval that I see people using are between 45 and 60 minutes between eating. So if you are taking in a minimum of one bottle of sports drink or water and some type of food per hour you will be off to a good start.

Electrolyte Balance
The reason for alternating between water and sports drink is so that you maintain your electrolyte balance. If you only drink water you could possibly “water down” your electrolyte balance and start to suffer from a lack of vital minerals such as potassium, sodium (hyponatremia, a potentially condition) and magnesium (These deficiencies are the most common cause of cramping). Having a sport drink that includes the basic minerals mentioned above you can help to maintain that balance. If you have a high sweat rate, you can also experiment with supplements such as electrolyte or salt tablets and eat foods that are high in sodium and other minerals. I sometimes will eat Beef Jerky or drink a V8 at gas stations to increase my sodium levels. Before experimenting with changing your sodium levels you want to check with your doctor due to the link between sodium and hypertension.

Sports Drink of Choice
I am currently using Gu2O as my sports drink due to the taste and high levels of nutrients that are contained within. I frequently mix up several bottles with different products to vary the taste and purpose: Gu2O (for electrolytes, hydration and carbs (if I am not eating early in the ride), Nuun (hydration and electrolytes if I am "eating" my calories) and, Endurox as the final recovery product because of it's protein content which assistis in the adsorption of carbs towrd the end of the ride. However, because of the availability of Gatorade and Powerade I occasionally end up using them if I am on a supported ride while training. I know that a lot of people use Ultima, Cytomax, Acelerade, Endurox or other concoctions and my opinion is that if you are using any sports drink on the market you should be okay. Your choice is going to be determined primarily by taste and the positive experiences that you have with your choice drink.

Study Cautions Runners to Limit Their Water Intake


NY Times
April 14, 2005
By GINA KOLATA

After years of telling athletes to drink as much liquid as possible to avoid dehydration, some doctors are now saying that drinking too much during intense exercise poses a far greater health risk.

An increasing number of athletes - marathon runners, triathletes and even hikers in the Grand Canyon - are severely diluting their blood by drinking too much water or too many sports drinks, with some falling gravely ill and even dying, the doctors say. New research on runners in the Boston Marathon, published today in The New England Journal of Medicine, confirms the problem and shows how serious it is.

The research involved 488 runners in the 2002 marathon. The runners gave blood samples before and after the race. While most were fine, 13 percent of them - or 62 - drank so much that they had hyponatremia, or abnormally low blood sodium levels. Three had levels so low that they were in danger of dying.

The runners who developed the problem tended to be slower, taking more than four hours to finish the course. That gave them plenty of time to drink copious amounts of liquid. And drink they did, an average of three liters, or about 13 cups of water or of a sports drink, so much that they actually gained weight during the race.

The risks to athletes from drinking too much liquid have worried doctors and race directors for several years. As more slow runners entered long races, doctors began seeing athletes stumbling into medical tents, nauseated, groggy, barely coherent and with their blood severely diluted. Some died on the spot.

In 2003, U.S.A. Track & Field, the national governing body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking, changed its guidelines to warn against the practice.
Marathon doctors say the new study offers the first documentation of the problem.
"Before this study, we suspected there was a problem," said Dr. Marvin Adner, the medical director of the Boston Marathon, which is next Monday. "But this proves it."

Hyponatremia is entirely preventable, Dr. Adner and others said. During intense exercise the kidneys cannot excrete excess water. As people keep drinking, the extra water moves into their cells, including brain cells. The engorged brain cells, with no room to expand, press against the skull and can compress the brain stem, which controls vital functions like breathing. The result can be fatal.

But the marathon runners were simply following what has long been the conventional advice given to athletes: Avoid dehydration at all costs. "Drink ahead of your thirst," was the mantra.
Doctors and sports drink companies "made dehydration a medical illness that was to be feared," said Dr. Tim Noakes, a hyponatremia expert at the University of Cape Town.

"Everyone becomes dehydrated when they race," Dr. Noakes said. "But I have not found one death in an athlete from dehydration in a competitive race in the whole history of running. Not one. Not even a case of illness." On the other hand, he said, he knows of people who have sickened and died from drinking too much.

Hyponatremia can be treated, Dr. Noakes said. A small volume of a highly concentrated salt solution is given intravenously and can save a patient's life by pulling water out of swollen brain cells. But, he said, doctors and emergency workers often assume that the problem is dehydration and give intravenous fluids, sometimes killing the patient. He and others advise testing the salt concentration of the athlete's blood before treatment. For their part, runners can estimate how much they should drink by weighing themselves before and after long training runs to see how much they lose - and thus how much water they should replace. But they can also follow what Dr. Paul D. Thompson calls "a rough rule of thumb."

Dr. Thompson, a cardiologist at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut and a marathon runner, advises runners to drink while they are moving."If you stop and drink a couple of cups, you are overdoing it," he said. Dr. Adner said athletes also should be careful after a race. "Don't start chugging down water," he said. Instead, he advised runners to wait until they began to urinate, a sign the body is no longer retaining water.

The paper's lead author, Dr. Christopher S. D. Almond, of Children's Hospital, said he first heard of hyponatremia in 2001 when a cyclist drank so much on a ride from New York to Boston that she had a seizure. She eventually recovered. Dr. Almond and his colleagues decided to investigate how prevalent hyponatremia really was.

Until recently, the condition was all but unheard of because endurance events like marathons and triathlons were populated almost entirely by fast athletes who did not have time to drink too much. "Elite athletes are not drinking much, and they never have," Dr. Noakes said.
The lead female marathon runner in the Athens Olympics, running in 97-degree heat drank just 30 seconds of the entire race.

In the 2002 Boston Marathon, said Dr. Arthur Siegel, of the Boston Marathon's medical team and the chief of internal medicine at Harvard's McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., the hyponatremia problem "hit us like a cannon shot" in 2002.

That year, a 28-year-old woman reached Heartbreak Hill, at Mile 20, after five hours of running and drinking sports drinks. She struggled to the top. Feeling terrible and assuming she was dehydrated, she chugged 16 ounces of the liquid. "She collapsed within minutes," Dr. Siegel said.
She was later declared brain dead. Her blood sodium level was dangerously low, at 113 micromoles per liter of blood. (Hyponatremia starts at sodium levels below 135 micromoles, when brain swelling can cause confusion and grogginess. Levels below 120 can be fatal.)

No one has died since in the Boston Marathon, but there have been near misses there, with 7 cases of hyponatremia in 2003 and 11 last year, and deaths elsewhere, Dr. Siegel said. He added that those were just the cases among runners who came to medical tents seeking help.
In a letter, also in the journal, doctors describe 14 runners in the 2003 London Marathon with hyponatremia who waited more than four hours on average before going to a hospital. Some were lucid after the race, but none remembered completing it.

That sort of delay worries Dr. Siegel. "The bottom line is, it's a very prevalent problem out there, and crossing the edge from being dazed and confused to having a seizure is very tricky and can happen very, very fast," he said.

Boston Marathon directors want to educate runners not to drink so much, Dr. Siegel said. They also suggest that runners write their weights on their bibs at the start of the race. If they feel ill, they could be weighed again. Anyone who gains weight almost certainly has hyponatremia.
"Instead of waiting until they collapse and then testing their sodium, maybe we can nip it in the bud," Dr. Siegel said.

Caffeine amd Alcohol - How dehydrating?

The conventional wisdom is that caffeine and alcohol, the two drugs regularly consumed by most people, are dehydrating and should therefore be used with caution by athletes concerned with maintaining optimum fluid balance. Just how seriously should this advice be taken?
That is the question addressed by nutrition expert Andrew Hamilton in the latest Peak Performance, a special issue on hydration. And some of the evidence he unearths is quite surprising.

As far as caffeine is concerned, the news is good for coffee and cola-loving athletes, particularly as caffeine is now known to possess some useful ergogenic properties. Hamilton cites a series of studies that fail to demonstrate any significantly deleterious effects of caffeine on fluid balance.
‘When it comes to caffeine, the oft-repeated advice to cut out caffeinated drinks to boost hydration seems well wide of the mark,’ he concludes. ‘Not only is there scant evidence that drinks containing even moderate levels of caffeine exert a diuretic effect, but cutting out these drinks and not replacing them with at least an equivalent volume of non-caffeinated beverages would actually lead to poorer hydration.’

Unfortunately for fans of wine, beer and spirits, Hamilton advises a considerably more cautious approach to alcohol. By contrast with caffeine, the evidence against alcohol is quite damning, with study after study showing detrimental effects on hydration. A particularly scary finding was that blood viscosity (stickiness – a sign of dehydration) may remain raised even after fluid levels have returned to normal.

‘The evidence suggest,’ advises Hamilton, ‘that unless you consume very weak alcoholic drinks (2% by volume or less), alcohol should be completely avoided until you are fully hydrated. And because alcohol takes 36 hours to completely clear the system, athletes should refrain from its use for at least 48 hours before an event.’
Sports drinks or water?

That’s the key question addressed by Andrew Hamilton in his overview of the subject of fluid balance in the latest issue of Peak Performance Newsletter. In the end it all depends on your goal. Where hydration is your main aim, he concludes that plain water is okay, although low concentration (hypotonic) drinks and isotonic drinks are even better because they may be absorbed more rapidly from the intestine. But where energy replacement is top priority, he recommends more concentrated (6%-plus) sports drinks, which deliver a powerful carbohydrate punch, although they are less efficient for hydration.

Weight Training for Triathlon:

Adaptation Phase: Weeks 1-3 The first part of the program is a high-rep, low-weight phase that serves to prepare joints and tendons for the harder work to come. For each exercise, do one set of 12-15 repetitions. You should choose an amount of weight for each exercise that leaves you feeling like you could have done 2 or 3 more reps with good form. You'll be ready to move to the next phase when you feel like you need to increase the amount of weight to still have only 2 or 3 reps left in you. [Note: If your regular exercise routine already includes weight training, you may choose to skip this phase, and begin with the Endurance Phase of the program.]

Endurance Phase: Weeks 4-10 The next training block is the weight-room equivalent of the endurance athlete's long, slow cardiovascular workouts. Choose a weight that will allow you to complete 2 sets knowing you could have done 2 or 3 more reps before failure. Do 12 to 15 reps for each exercise, increasing the weight by 5 percent each week for the upper body and 10 percent for the lower body. Don't rush the sets; use two counts up, and four counts down for each rep. Allow approximately 30 seconds rest between sets. If you have specific strength or racing goals, this phase can last from anywhere from 5 weeks to 3 months. Many triathletes use this phase during the entire off-season for strength maintenance, increasing the weight as necessary.

Power Phase: Weeks 11-14 The key to the Power Phase is to split the core exercises into two groups. One consists of those that work the lats and triceps (lat pulldowns, dumbbell pullovers, triceps pushdowns, and upright rows). The other is made up of exercises that work legs, chest, and biceps (squats, leg extensions, leg curls, bench presses, biceps curls, and back extensions).The idea is to increase the intensity, or "power" of one group of exercises on Day 1 (see the Table) by adding an additional 20 to 30 percent to the load over what you would use in the Endurance Phase, and doing sets of ten, eight, and six repetitions, respectively, going to failure on the final rep of each set. Be sure to allow three to four minutes of recovery between powered exercises. The other exercises done on Day 1 are done the same way you would do them in the Endurance Phase (2 sets of 12-15 reps each with 30 seconds of rest between sets). On Day 2 you do some of the exercises you did as Power on Day 1 using the Endurance Method and do the ones you did in endurance fashion as power exercises. Some exercises do not need to be done in "Power" fashion, although the choice is always yours.For example, you perform lat pulldowns on both Day 1 and Day 2. On Day 1 you perform them in sets of 10, 8, and 6 using a heavy enough weight that you fail at rep 10, 8 and 6 respectively. On Day 2, you would perform two sets of lat pulldowns for 12-15 reps each, using a weight which you know you could lift for two to three more reps, but you stop at 12 or 15.

Chisel Phase: Weeks 15-16 During these final 3 weeks, return to lighter weights, about the same as those you used at the start of the Endurance Phase, and do two sets of 12, lifting on a two-count, and lowering on a two-count. Pause with the weight at the top of the lift, making sure not to let the weight bottom-out on the other end. In other words, the exercises should be done fast but not sloppy. Failure in this phase comes from the speed of the exercise, not the amount of the weight lifted. Keep form good, making sure you still have one or two reps in you at the end of the second set. Ideally, you should take 30 seconds rest between sets, but if you need more, like about 1 to 2 minutes take it. I like to wear a heart rate monitor for this purpose. When it drops to a point just below 60 percent of our max, we start the next set.Finally, the program recommends that you add five hard minutes of abdominal exercises to every session, no matter what phase you're in. Mark suggests that you not overdo the ab work, noting that if you become too chiseled, it can restrict breathing during endurance activities.Follow each workout with stretching.That's it; pretty simple really, especially for those folks coming from a strength training background. Remember, however, that these workouts are IN ADDITION to the triathlon-specific swimming, running and biking workouts.As for our personal approach, while keeping each weight training session to no more than an hour, we've added in a few of our longtime favorite exercises, and occasionally include those calculated to aid with a particular weakness.For instance, we both love doing deadlifts, and have modified our program to include them. However, we now do sets of Romanian deadlifts, rather than the standard sort. Romanian deadlifts, are done with lighter weights, in sets of reps repeated without returning the bar to the ground, as opposed to the standard variety where the bar is placed back on the ground between reps.We also do eccentric pull-ups and chin-ups as well as the ladder routine, and routinely include military presses for our shoulders. Because of a particular biomechanical weakness, we will sometimes add focused adductor and/or abductor exercises as well. The key is to keep the total workout within one hour, and to perform the additional exercises in a manner consistent with the current phase of the rest of the program. Many triathletes will follow a strength program only in the off-season, but we've found that we benefit from following ours year round. We repeat the phases in order, usually leaving out the Adaptation Phase after the first cycle, unless we've taken more than a couple of weeks off from lifting. We drop back in weight for the Endurance Phase, though not as low as the previous time in that phase, and increase incrementally each time. The only time we take off completely is for about three weeks prior to, and about two or three weeks immediately following, an Ironman

Running Economy and the Vagaries of Endurance Training
by Tad Malloy

If you had one method of training and one method only, it would be the type of training you do during your base phase. The physiological benefits are tremendous and it greatly reduces your risk of injury and increases the continuity of your training. Mitochondrial proliferation which enhances your ability for energy conversion, capillarization for greater endurance, muscular/skeletal adaptation and strength to hold up to the rigors and impact of training, and weight loss for efficiency are just some of the benefits derived from your base training. Actually 96% of your potential Vo2max can be achieved from your base training alone. Many times with my older athletes I focus on base training alone with only minor deviations to the other phases of training. By doing this I can ensure that they remain healthy and improve through continuity. However, if you’re mentally and physically ready to “push the envelope” then let’s move onto the next phase.

Running economy is probably the most neglected aspect of training. In fact, most of you probably thought we were getting ready to move onto fast and hard interval workouts or tempo training above or at your anaerobic threshold. A lot of hard-core athletes will chafe at these economy workouts because they will feel too easy. It is my belief that most athletes perform too fast during workouts because of the mistaken belief that they will not benefit from a training workout unless it hurts really badly afterwards. I believe that high intensity runs and rides should be saved for the final periods before competition and that training should proceed in a moderate progressive manner.

An economical athlete is one who burns modest amounts of oxygen at a given pace. An uneconomical athlete consumes large amounts of O2 at the same pace. Obviously, every athlete would like to be more economical because it would mean that desirable paces would seem less strenuous (running, biking or swimming at a lower percentage of your vo2max). Thus, it is possible and also very common for a runner with a Vo2max of say 73 which is very high (milliliters of oxygen consumed per minute per kilogram of body weight) to be beaten in a race by another athlete with a Vo2max of 60. How can this be? Well, the runner with the vo2max of 60 strides more economically thus is consuming only 50 milliliters of oxygen per kg of body weight running at say a 5:30 per mile pace while the runner with a Vo2max of 73 consumes 61 milliliters of oxygen per kg running at the same pace. Both are running at 83% of there respective maximum Vo2’s matching stride for stride and similar feelings of exertion, but one because they are more economical and the other because they were gifted with a high Vo2max. Recently, during a Vo2max/AT testing session I conducted we were fortunate to witness economy in motion with a couple of my athletes. Autumn Ray was testing on the treadmill and had built her speed to a 6:40 pace with 3 % elevation while consuming 64 milliliters of oxygen per minute. Interestingly, when we increase her pace to 6:20 per mile at the same elevation there was no corresponding increase in oxygen consumption. That’s efficiency! I observed when we increased her speed, a subtle increase in her stride length, which because of her elasticity, flexibility, relaxed form, balance and economy training required no additional energy expenditure. Further increases of course did and she eventually topped out at a Vo2max of 74 but remember her economy is what gives her the ability to run a certain pace at a given percentage of her Vo2max. Another good example of economy was Chris Woelfel testing on the bike. Chris has trained methodically and consistently to increase his efficiency at high cadences (94-100 rpm). Utilizing high cadences allow him to improve his endurance and conserve energy on long rides. Smaller muscle contractions require less energy but if your not trained to be neuromuscularly economical at these high cadences then muscle fatigue will set in. During the test, in an attempt to inch closer to his Vo2max, the physiologist helping with the test increased the workload by increasing the gear ratio and resistance. Observing Chris’s very large major muscle groups the quads, glutes, and hamstrings the tester assumed Chris would generate more wattage with a powerful pedal stroke, even as the cadence decreased. Chris seemed to be laboring, in my opinion pre-maturely, at 380 watts, so I recommended to the tester to decrease the resistance and allow Chris to efficiently stroke at the higher cadence ranges, at which he had diligently trained. By doing so Chris was able to sustain his effort and gradually push his wattage output into the 400’s, then 500’s and eventually maxing at 570 watts which would equate with his Vo2max. So his economic pedaling technique and form enabled him to sustain his effort longer, and lowered the percentage of his vo2max he was working at for any given wattage.

Efficiency or economy is determined in part by genetics, age, training and altitude, as is your vo2max. However it is also determined by other variables such as your neuro-muscular firing of the muscle, stride length, stride frequency, calf length, leg length, leanness, overtraining, shoe weight, wind, clothing and terrain. So, in this next phase what can you do to improve your efficiency on the run and the bike? First of all, you should allocate at least 6 weeks and preferably 8 weeks to your base/economy phase. It is really an extension of the base training with specific economy workouts injected for each discipline three times in every two weeks. The majority of your mileage on either the run or bike should still be done at a comfortable aerobic pace or about 60-65% of your Vo2max, if you know it. The economy workouts should account for no more than 5 % of your total weekly mileage. So if you are running 25 miles per week only 1.25 miles or less would be economy drills and if you are biking 70 mile per week only 3.5 mile would be economy drills. Once again and very important, continue to do all other mileage at a comfortable aerobic effort. Be patient, you need to be ready for the hard workouts when it is time and, if you are over trained or damaged goods before you get there, they will do you no good. I like to follow some basic rules whether performing economy drills on the bike, the run or the swim. First the recovery from each effort should always be a full recovery. Generally the recovery should be 4 to 5 times as long as the effort. Second you should perform no more than 12 repetitions for a given drill in any one workout. Thirdly, whenever performing the drill you must always stay relaxed and maintain proper form. If you start losing form, tightening up or struggling you should abort the effort. The duration of the effort should start at 20 seconds and not exceed 90 seconds. We limit the duration so you can continue to remain relaxed and hold form while not producing any muscle fiber damage, which could inhibit the benefits of your base aerobic training. While performing this repetition training on the run, bike or swim you should not be sprinting at maximal velocity but rather progressively increasing your pace through out your effort until by the last 10-15 seconds you are at about 90% full speed. The long recovery should allow you to begin your next effort fully recovered and thus maintain your economy of motion. Runners are different in their mechanics and sometimes the most awkward looking runner can actually be quite efficient. The main thing you need to focus on is relaxation with quicker turnover and stride length. It may help to perform the drills once and awhile on a slight downhill. A sample workout would be to perform a 6-mile run but after the first easy warm up incorporate 10 x 30 sec running economy drills in which you’re building your speed through out the effort all the while remaining relaxed. Try to lengthen your stride slightly while increasing your turnover rate. Your shoulders should be relaxed and dropped and your body posture in a neutral position. Sometimes it helps to think about relaxing your jaw, as this tends to help relax the rest of your body. Make sure before you begin the next hard effort that you feel fully recovered. In the example above this would probably be about 2:30 minutes. Running is really very simple so don’t make it too complex. You can vary the number of repetitions and the duration within the guidelines but it will only be beneficial if you can maintain your form and efficiency. Bounding drills are also very beneficial in improving economy as well as yoga or advanced dynamic stretching. On the bike I suggest working at high cadences between 100 and 105 rpm’s in fairly easy gearing. As your fitness improves you can increase your gear ratio but not until it becomes comfortable. Recover at slower cadence ranges from 75 – 85 rpm. Concentrate on the perfect circle while keeping your sole in contact with the pedal the entire stroke thus contributing to the net wattage the entire stroke. Since you are in an easier gear you will have a bit more ankle flexion. You must always maintain good neutral posture in the saddle and maintain hip, knee, and ankle alignment with the pedal. On the bike it is productive to perform these drills both on down hills and up hills but you must maintain form and keep your cadence high and always take full recovery. Drills out of the saddle can also be incorporated into the program but for no longer than 30-second duration. Another drill, which I like to do, is to vary cadence ranges within the hard economy portion of the workout as well as the recover. The goal is to maintain a certain effort, or preferably wattage read out, if available to you, within efficient cadence ranges from 88 rpm to 100 rpm. So, during an 80 second biking economy drill you may try to maintain say 375 watts or whatever is appropriate but every 20 seconds vary your cadence using your gear ratio to help maintain the same 375 watts. During the 80-second effort you could try to maintain perfect circles during your stroke at 88, 92, 96 and 100 cadences. By so doing your can zero into your most efficient gear ration by observing how your HR reacts. Also this will allow you to become efficient at various gear ratios so you can vary muscle groups during long or hard rides. You can continue this pattern during the recovery portion as well but would probably want to extend the duration at each cadence level. All other mileage should be performed at an easy aerobic pace. Follow the same basic rules for your swim economy workouts in regard to frequency, pace and duration. It may help to on occasion to also incorporate other strokes into your set.

After 6-8 good weeks of base/economy you are finally ready to move into your race preparation stage if you so desire. Actually with the training you have already done you will find you can compete quite well. However, if you want to increase that Vo2max another few percentage points and cut seconds off your pace per mile then it is time to move on. Oxygen consumption capacity workouts and anaerobic threshold workouts via tempo are your next challenge as you move closer to your first racing peak.

Good luck, I hope you can take something from this article and apply it so to make your training more productive and maybe enjoyable as well.

Tad Malloy
Triathlon Coach, Houston

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