For many runners, the dog days of summer mean base building for a fall marathon. Improving your aerobic system with a big base is critical to running a fast marathon. But what about all those fun and competitive 5Ks you have lined up this summer? Is it possible to maintain speed while building miles, and not threaten to ruin the effects of the base training? Can speed work in the base phase help your marathon training?
Popularized by the renowned coach Arthur Lydiard, traditional marathon training doctrine dictates that a runner spend six to 10 weeks slowly building their aerobic system with a steady diet of easy mileage, a marathon-paced run, and one fartlek session each week to prepare the body for faster training in the marathon-specific phase. Speed work during the marathon base period, however, was considered out of the question. Until recently.
As our understanding of training and exercise physiology continues to evolve, many coaches are rethinking the importance of speed during the marathon base-building stage. Jay Johnson is just one coach who is a proponent of this shift in training methodology.
"Marathoners should consider including speed development workouts in their marathon buildup because these workouts can help improve both biomechanics and running economy. If you can become more economical you may be able to run a faster marathon, even if you don't make metabolic improvements," Johnson says.
Many of the world's top coaches and fastest marathoners now incorporate various workouts targeted to hone and maintain speed during the traditional base-building phase of marathon training. Should you include speed development in your marathon base phase? If so, what types of workouts are best and how do you implement them without peaking or getting injured?
SPEED DEVELOPMENT, NOT VO2 MAX WORK
First, it's important to differentiate between speed development and traditional speed work to understand how to incorporate these types of workouts in your training. Speed development is training your top-end speed, more specifically the fast-twitch muscle fibers and the neurological systems, to improve your efficiency and running economy. Speed development workouts include strides and explosive hill sprints. Traditional speed work, what runners think of as 400m or even mile repeats, is about improving your body's metabolic systems to increase VO2 max or anaerobic threshold.
The reason traditional speed work is avoided during the base-building phase is twofold. As Blake Boldon, former head men's and women's cross country coach at the University of Pennsylvania, explains:
"First, the body's tolerance for this type of work is limited. From a performance standpoint, a runner can only progress his or her VO2 max and anaerobic threshold so far in one training segment before further improvements need to be made to aerobic conditioning for continued results. Likewise, performing intense speed workouts lowers the body's blood pH [a measurement of acidity levels], which can only be sustained for six to eight weeks before staleness and burnout occur."
In contrast, speed development workouts are alactic, which means they don't require oxygen and don't produce lactic acid. Therefore, there's little risk of exhaustion or staleness, and you can continually improve your fast-twitch muscle recruitment and neurological patterns without needing to also improve a complementary energy system in the way aerobic conditioning requires. Because of this, "It's safe to include these types of alactic workouts year-round without detriment to aerobic progression or risk of burnout," says Boldon.
WHY SPEED DEVELOPMENT HELPS MARATHONERS
When you avoid speed development during the marathon base phase you lose the gains you made during your previous training segments, especially if you focused on shorter events in the spring and early summer. By including speed work in the base phase you can build on the gains you made over the summer instead of spending the entire marathon-specific portion of your training desperately trying to regain the speed you neglected.
Similarly, since speed is one of the first training aspects to deteriorate as you age, including speed workouts in your base phase allows you to continually work on speed and make it a part of your weekly training cycle. Therefore, the deteriorations in your ability to run fast are less dramatic and your overall race times will improve.
Furthermore, one of the main causes of running injuries is that often the muscles, tendons and ligaments progress slower than aerobic conditioning. As Mike Smith, men's and women's cross country coach, assistant track and field coach at Kansas State University, states, "Initial improvements in aerobic conditioning are often biochemical in nature and thus can happen somewhat rapidly, whereas changes to the physical structure of muscle, ligaments, tendons and bones is a far more time-consuming process." Including speed work during your base phase reduces the occurrence of these types of injuries because you're increasing your muscular readiness at the same time as your aerobic capabilities.
Finally, regarding those summer races, including speed development work in the base-building phase of the marathon affords you the opportunity to still race well at shorter distances during your buildup. While you should be willing to sacrifice a few seconds off your 5K PR to train optimally for the marathon, you don't need to completely sacrifice your performances at your local summer races.
SPEED DEVELOPMENT WORKOUTS
Given this understanding of the importance of speed development as part of marathon buildup, what type of workouts should you include in your training? The three most effective speed development workouts during the marathon base-building phase are strides, explosive hill sprints and long run surges.
"Strides, hill sprints and long run surges allow an athlete to aim for short, fast bursts of speed without interrupting the physiological benefits of the base-building phase. All three workouts increase running economy and many coaches and physiologists agree that adding near maximal efforts may be the best way to recruit new muscle fibers," Boldon says.
STRIDES
A simple way to add speed to marathon base building is by incorporating strides or diagonals--short 20-to 30-second sprints with full recovery--after your easy mileage days. Boldon suggests that you include strides after your easy run days, up to four times per week. "If you're doing workouts in your base phase, you should include strides on the day before your workout. This will not only help you work on your speed, but help stimulate your legs for the faster running to come the next day."
EXPLOSIVE HILL SPRINTS
Explosive hill sprints, popularized by Renato Canova and Brad Hudson, not only recruit and maximize new muscle fibers, but also help improve neuromuscular coordination and, because of the mechanics involved, are a safer and more specific form of strength training than lifting.
Pat Rizzo, a Hudson-coached athlete with a 2:13 marathon PR, includes explosive hill training once or twice per week during his marathon base-training phase. "I credit short hill sprints with shortening my needed recovery time from race to race and workout to workout. They help me keep my volume high and keep muscle strain to a minimum at the same time," he says.
During your marathon base phase, you could include 10-to 15-second hill sprints once or twice per week after, or as part of, your easy run. Because hill sprints may be a new element to your training, start with only two or three sprints at a time. Slowly add one or two repetitions per week until you reach 10–12 per session.
LONG RUN SURGES
Long run surges, while not an alactic workout like strides and explosive hill sprints, are another innovative speed development workout that can inject a quick dose of speed into what would otherwise be a slow running day, without compromising the aerobic benefits of the long run.
Nate Jenkins, a 2:14 marathoner, incorporates surges into his long runs. Jenkins' favorite workout includes 60-second pickups that are run at 3K to 5K pace and include a full 5 to 6 minutes of easy running between each during his base-building long runs. Jenkins points out that surges not only help improve your top-end speed, but "enhance your ability to run fast when tired while developing the specific physiological adaptations and mental skills necessary to increase your effort and pace as the race gets more difficult." Furthermore, because surges are completed in a glycogen-depleted state, they develop your body's ability to use fat as a fuel source early in the base-building period.
PUTTING THE WORKOUTS IN A PLAN
Now that you've seen three highly effective workouts you can add to maintain speed during your marathon buildup without compromising aerobic progression and mileage, how does it all come together within a training plan?
Here's a modified sample of a marathon buildup suggested by Jenkins:
| Monday | Short, easy recovery run w/8 x 20-second strides after run |
| Tuesday | Moderate easy mileage w/8 x 20-second strides after run |
| Wednesday | Medium length marathon-paced tempo run |
| Thursday | Off--Rest day or cross-training |
| Friday | Moderate, easy mileage + 10 x 15-second explosive hill sprints |
| Saturday | Short, easy recovery run w/8 x 20-second strides after run |
| Sunday | Long run w/8 x 60-second surges @ 3K pace w/5 minutes easy running between |
This schedule doesn't appear to include much speed work, and it might not seem very different from your typical base-building schedule, but when you look closely, the speed adds up. The strides and hill sprints total 2 miles of running at your top-end speed, while the surges total about 2K worth of running at your 3K pace. Combined, that's 5K of speed work in one week--equal to a session of 12 x 400m. However, you didn't compromise your marathon buildup or the focus on aerobic mileage. Moreover, the surges, strides and hill sprints didn't make you tired--if anything they made your legs feel fresher.
Try including strides, hill sprints and long run surges in your marathon buildup this summer and you'll maintain that hard-fought speed development plus maintain your relative standing in the local 5K field.
For many runners, the dog days of summer mean base building for a fall marathon. Improving your aerobic system with a big base is critical to running a fast marathon. But what about all those fun and competitive 5Ks you have lined up this summer? Is it possible to maintain speed while building miles, and not threaten to ruin the effects of the base training? Can speed work in the base phase help your marathon training?
Popularized by the renowned coach Arthur Lydiard, traditional marathon training doctrine dictates that a runner spend six to 10 weeks slowly building their aerobic system with a steady diet of easy mileage, a marathon-paced run, and one fartlek session each week to prepare the body for faster training in the marathon-specific phase. Speed work during the marathon base period, however, was considered out of the question. Until recently.
As our understanding of training and exercise physiology continues to evolve, many coaches are rethinking the importance of speed during the marathon base-building stage. Jay Johnson is just one coach who is a proponent of this shift in training methodology.
"Marathoners should consider including speed development workouts in their marathon buildup because these workouts can help improve both biomechanics and running economy. If you can become more economical you may be able to run a faster marathon, even if you don't make metabolic improvements," Johnson says.
Many of the world's top coaches and fastest marathoners now incorporate various workouts targeted to hone and maintain speed during the traditional base-building phase of marathon training. Should you include speed development in your marathon base phase? If so, what types of workouts are best and how do you implement them without peaking or getting injured?
SPEED DEVELOPMENT, NOT VO2 MAX WORK
First, it's important to differentiate between speed development and traditional speed work to understand how to incorporate these types of workouts in your training. Speed development is training your top-end speed, more specifically the fast-twitch muscle fibers and the neurological systems, to improve your efficiency and running economy. Speed development workouts include strides and explosive hill sprints. Traditional speed work, what runners think of as 400m or even mile repeats, is about improving your body's metabolic systems to increase VO2 max or anaerobic threshold.
The reason traditional speed work is avoided during the base-building phase is twofold. As Blake Boldon, former head men's and women's cross country coach at the University of Pennsylvania, explains:
"First, the body's tolerance for this type of work is limited. From a performance standpoint, a runner can only progress his or her VO2 max and anaerobic threshold so far in one training segment before further improvements need to be made to aerobic conditioning for continued results. Likewise, performing intense speed workouts lowers the body's blood pH [a measurement of acidity levels], which can only be sustained for six to eight weeks before staleness and burnout occur."
In contrast, speed development workouts are alactic, which means they don't require oxygen and don't produce lactic acid. Therefore, there's little risk of exhaustion or staleness, and you can continually improve your fast-twitch muscle recruitment and neurological patterns without needing to also improve a complementary energy system in the way aerobic conditioning requires. Because of this, "It's safe to include these types of alactic workouts year-round without detriment to aerobic progression or risk of burnout," says Boldon.
WHY SPEED DEVELOPMENT HELPS MARATHONERS
When you avoid speed development during the marathon base phase you lose the gains you made during your previous training segments, especially if you focused on shorter events in the spring and early summer. By including speed work in the base phase you can build on the gains you made over the summer instead of spending the entire marathon-specific portion of your training desperately trying to regain the speed you neglected.
Similarly, since speed is one of the first training aspects to deteriorate as you age, including speed workouts in your base phase allows you to continually work on speed and make it a part of your weekly training cycle. Therefore, the deteriorations in your ability to run fast are less dramatic and your overall race times will improve.
Furthermore, one of the main causes of running injuries is that often the muscles, tendons and ligaments progress slower than aerobic conditioning. As Mike Smith, men's and women's cross country coach, assistant track and field coach at Kansas State University, states, "Initial improvements in aerobic conditioning are often biochemical in nature and thus can happen somewhat rapidly, whereas changes to the physical structure of muscle, ligaments, tendons and bones is a far more time-consuming process." Including speed work during your base phase reduces the occurrence of these types of injuries because you're increasing your muscular readiness at the same time as your aerobic capabilities.
Finally, regarding those summer races, including speed development work in the base-building phase of the marathon affords you the opportunity to still race well at shorter distances during your buildup. While you should be willing to sacrifice a few seconds off your 5K PR to train optimally for the marathon, you don't need to completely sacrifice your performances at your local summer races.
SPEED DEVELOPMENT WORKOUTS
Given this understanding of the importance of speed development as part of marathon buildup, what type of workouts should you include in your training? The three most effective speed development workouts during the marathon base-building phase are strides, explosive hill sprints and long run surges.
"Strides, hill sprints and long run surges allow an athlete to aim for short, fast bursts of speed without interrupting the physiological benefits of the base-building phase. All three workouts increase running economy and many coaches and physiologists agree that adding near maximal efforts may be the best way to recruit new muscle fibers," Boldon says.
STRIDES
A simple way to add speed to marathon base building is by incorporating strides or diagonals--short 20-to 30-second sprints with full recovery--after your easy mileage days. Boldon suggests that you include strides after your easy run days, up to four times per week. "If you're doing workouts in your base phase, you should include strides on the day before your workout. This will not only help you work on your speed, but help stimulate your legs for the faster running to come the next day."
EXPLOSIVE HILL SPRINTS
Explosive hill sprints, popularized by Renato Canova and Brad Hudson, not only recruit and maximize new muscle fibers, but also help improve neuromuscular coordination and, because of the mechanics involved, are a safer and more specific form of strength training than lifting.
Pat Rizzo, a Hudson-coached athlete with a 2:13 marathon PR, includes explosive hill training once or twice per week during his marathon base-training phase. "I credit short hill sprints with shortening my needed recovery time from race to race and workout to workout. They help me keep my volume high and keep muscle strain to a minimum at the same time," he says.
During your marathon base phase, you could include 10-to 15-second hill sprints once or twice per week after, or as part of, your easy run. Because hill sprints may be a new element to your training, start with only two or three sprints at a time. Slowly add one or two repetitions per week until you reach 10–12 per session.
LONG RUN SURGES
Long run surges, while not an alactic workout like strides and explosive hill sprints, are another innovative speed development workout that can inject a quick dose of speed into what would otherwise be a slow running day, without compromising the aerobic benefits of the long run.
Nate Jenkins, a 2:14 marathoner, incorporates surges into his long runs. Jenkins' favorite workout includes 60-second pickups that are run at 3K to 5K pace and include a full 5 to 6 minutes of easy running between each during his base-building long runs. Jenkins points out that surges not only help improve your top-end speed, but "enhance your ability to run fast when tired while developing the specific physiological adaptations and mental skills necessary to increase your effort and pace as the race gets more difficult." Furthermore, because surges are completed in a glycogen-depleted state, they develop your body's ability to use fat as a fuel source early in the base-building period.
PUTTING THE WORKOUTS IN A PLAN
Now that you've seen three highly effective workouts you can add to maintain speed during your marathon buildup without compromising aerobic progression and mileage, how does it all come together within a training plan?
Here's a modified sample of a marathon buildup suggested by Jenkins:
| Monday | Short, easy recovery run w/8 x 20-second strides after run | | Tuesday | Moderate easy mileage w/8 x 20-second strides after run | | Wednesday | Medium length marathon-paced tempo run | | Thursday | Off--Rest day or cross-training | | Friday | Moderate, easy mileage + 10 x 15-second explosive hill sprints | | Saturday | Short, easy recovery run w/8 x 20-second strides after run | | Sunday | Long run w/8 x 60-second surges @ 3K pace w/5 minutes easy running between |
This schedule doesn't appear to include much speed work, and it might not seem very different from your typical base-building schedule, but when you look closely, the speed adds up. The strides and hill sprints total 2 miles of running at your top-end speed, while the surges total about 2K worth of running at your 3K pace. Combined, that's 5K of speed work in one week--equal to a session of 12 x 400m. However, you didn't compromise your marathon buildup or the focus on aerobic mileage. Moreover, the surges, strides and hill sprints didn't make you tired--if anything they made your legs feel fresher.
Try including strides, hill sprints and long run surges in your marathon buildup this summer and you'll maintain that hard-fought speed development plus maintain your relative standing in the local 5K field.
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