What do you want to know?

Posted on January 3, 2013 by CoachJay

If you want to know about the Krebs Cycle because you know it relates to distance running, then you should go to Wikipedia.  Looking at training at the cellar level is not my specialty.

But if you want to know about athletic scholarships for female distance runners, then you’ll probably find this post informative (and you may struggle to find this type of information elsewhere).

I have opinions about training for high school runners, even thought I’ve never coached at that level.  Yet many training truths apply across all ages and this post on 1,600m training and this post contrasting the 800m/1,600m/3,200m are informative because you get not only my opinion, but you get the thoughts of accomplished high school coaches in the comments sections.  Thanks to everyone who takes the time to write thoughtful comments.

But if you’re an adult runner who is just minutes away from qualifying for the Boston Marathon, you probably don’t care about high school training and instead want information about marathon training.  You’ll find my thoughts in articles outside the blog like this one and this one and this one.  What I write for other media outlets isn’t always on this site.  And while this podcast with Dr. Trent Stellingwerff on fueling for the marathon (and training in a carbohydrate depleted state) is insightful, more of my posts for adult runners have been written for other media outlets.

I want to answer your questions, but I don’t always know what they are.

This is your opportunity to ask.  Use the comments section below to ask your question.

I can’t promise I will be able to answer every question, but no doubt some of these questions will be answered.  Don’t be shy.  I don’t know what you want to know unless you tell me what you want to know.

Thanks for your time and attention.  I’m working hard to make this site live up to it’s tagline.

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  • http://twitter.com/Baristing Alex Beecher

    Most of the strength work you recommend is high frequency, low weight. It’s easy to do lunges nearly every day, because the resistance is low. There are a lot of advocates for max effort, high weight training, not unlike what strength/speed athletes do. Of course, this isn’t new. Coe was doing heavy squats in the 80′s, and probably, there were successful runners before that. There are the crossfit zealots who think we should focus are training around such work, which is ludicrous. However, I’d be curious to know how (or if) you think conventional barbell/weight training should be implemented in a distance runners weekly training diet. Granted, runners and their circumstances vary, so making a blanket statement on such things is unwise.

  • rob hewitt

    I would like to read your thoughts on improving Vo2 max efficiency from multiple angles.

  • http://www.facebook.com/MountainMama Ali Cameron
  • http://twitter.com/RTripicchio Ryan Tripicchio

    I’ve been a big follower of Jack Daniel’s training methods for years but I’m starting to wonder if the amount of base work he advocates isn’t counter productive to my high school runners running less than the 3200, i.e., my 1600 Senior looking to get a scholarship. In your opinion is six weeks too much time to simply run for base? Or is it ok and I just need to add more general strength?

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KRIXL7URWLJ2LBS4IM4R3EHREA Matthew

    Thanks for putting all these links in one post, Jay!

  • http://bqby40.blogspot.com/ Terzah Becker

    I love the links! Thank you!

    Put me in the adult mid-pack marathoner who wants to qualify for Boston camp.

    My question (relevant today because it’s awfully cold outside): in your opinion, is doing speedwork/fartlek workouts on the treadmill short-changing myself? I hate doing it outside when I have to wear layers, even the high-tech kind, but I want to maximize my training time and really learn my paces by feel and that doesn’t happen for me on the treadmill. Also, I read recently that the “1% incline rule” is wrong and that to imitate outdoor conditions you’d need to put it at 3%–that sounds huge and awful to me.

    Hope you can answer this one! And thanks in advance.

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    You’re welcome Matt. Let me know what questions you have.

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    I think doing fartlek on a treadmill is not only smart but sometimes it’s the only option. If there is snow and ice on the ground you can’t expect to run faster and have a 100% chance of staying upright.

    For the incline of the treadmill I have always heard 1% but maybe that’s outdated. But has to be more than 0% since you’re not moving the ground under you, but rather the ground is moving for you.

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    I think Arthur Lydiard had a good point when he said he wanted runners to do as much marathon training as possible. But yes, I’d add a lot of General Strength and Mobility (GSM) to any training program. The problem is time. If the 1,600m runner finishes their junior year then they have all summer to run a lot of miles, do GSM and get some 1,600m pace strides in a few times a week. But if they come off of Basketball and only have a 10 week season then you probably don’t want to spend 6 weeks in a general preparation phase.

    This article may be helpful – http://www.coachjayjohnson.com/2011/06/the-jump

    And this post on 1,600m training – http://www.coachjayjohnson.com/2012/02/ingredients-for-1600m-success/

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    Good question. i need to take some time and put together a post with some video links so you can figure out what is best for yourself or the athletes you coach.

    Help me with this – what is the population you’re targeting? HS athletes? College athletes? Adult runner?

    Thanks

  • Bryan

    I have a question, what if someone is depressed because they trained hard all year for a race, and ended up not going because something extremely important popped up. They haven’t been serious into training for 4-6 months. Running occasionally and now starting back to daily runs. Talented runner, but needs that drive to get the spark back in the training. What should that person do, to get the motivation back?

  • http://twitter.com/Baristing Alex Beecher

    I don’t coach anyone. I’m simply a runner with an oversized curiosity about training methodologies, and a respect for your opinions on them. That said, I’m an adult runner myself, as are the other runners on my club/store team; so that’s the demographic I’m most interested in.

  • http://twitter.com/ToeTheLinePPT Danny Fisher

    Thanks for sharing your time and knowledge to us! My question is focused on adult marathoning. I have a client wanting to run a marathon in late September 2013 and then another in early November. Is there a way to run fast at both races and not just one? If not and you advise to “train through” the first marathon, as I suggested to him, would you treat the first marathon as a long run or a different type of workout?

  • brunfree84

    What would be the first thing you would try and establish with a track team who is very “green” in all aspects of the sport? I’m mainly working with mid distance/distance runners and they have no clue about racing, pacing, nutrition, strength work, etc.

  • brunfree84

    HS level athletes.

  • Slow

    Hip flexors and hamstrings. I’m 44 years old and I notice that while endurance is relatively easy to maintain, speed wants to disappear. No matter how gradually I add speed to my program, I seem to pull a
    hamstring any time I try to do much work at 800m pace or faster. Maybe because no more playground tag, maybe from sitting all day in the office. I do lots of your general strength stuff, but my range of motion still seems very limited and, I think, the main reason I can’t safely get faster. There must be lots of people in this boat. Any advice?

  • http://twitter.com/mdrunners MDRunners.com

    Do 20-40m sprints 100% effort with complete rest between. Start with 4 then increase as you feel good up to 8

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    I’d like to see you start with some hills, at just a 1% or 2% grade, and run just 5k pace for only 150 meters (ideally you have a measuring wheel and can roll this out). This gets your posterior chain – the back of your body – involved to a greater extent than you would on the flats (because right now you’re probably not using those muscles when you run on a track). Just 4-5 reps to start with. Over the course of 4 weeks you can build up to 8 reps.

    Then, you can do the same hill and run a pace that is a minute faster than 5k pace. Remember, the entire time you’re doing this you’re strengthening specifically – you’re running. All of the General Strength and Mobility (GSM) that I suggest is helpful, but if you’ve done that and are still having problems then this might work.

    Perhaps the most important thing to do is to find a soft tissue person that does ART work. You probably have some weaknesses that are causing you to use your hamstrings too much.

    I do know that people who do the Lunge Matrix and do the Phil Wharton flexibility routines have fewer injuries. The routines we have with Phil from RunningDVDs.com are gold – but they are boring…but then again if they keep you healthy then they are obviously worth the time.

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    I think in this case it’s important to see the help of a mental health professional There is a tone in this email that the issue that popped up during the year are serious. Sometimes lacking motivation to run is a sign that your need to figure out some elements of your mental health and then you’ll get back to your normal, intrinsic motivation to train.

    Sorry to hear about this and best of luck.

  • Slow

    Thanks. Bunch of elementary questions, if you don’t mind.
    -any preliminary work necessary before I start doing this?
    -any particular warmup?
    -in spikes?

    -how often should this workout happen?
    -what should be done in the day(s) immediately before and immediately after this workout?
    -how should I adjust, or should I, if I start to feel discomfort or strain in the hamstrings or hip flexors?

  • Slow

    Thanks. For me everything down to about 3K pace is doable. Also fine are hills, including what you recommend here and also short, steep hill sprints. And I can do strides at mile pace or a bit faster. Where I seem unable to turn the corner is full workouts at say mile pace or faster–and even there I can usually get away with one or two workouts. So I guess what I have trouble with is making serious mile-and-faster paced workouts sustainable week after week (or fortnight, or whatever). But without that sort of thing, 5K pace feels labored. Alas, I haven’t found any ART people where I live; most of the physiotherapy types are old-school. Any hints on what sort of strength deficiencies I might have and what I might do about them? (This should go without saying, but please feel free to ignore this post if you don’t think the problems described here are potentially relevant to a significant chunk of your readership.)

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    These types of questions are great.

    I terms of strengthening I firmly believe in Phil Wharton’s work. And while I don’t want to come off as a pitch man, I know that someone who follows his Active Isolated Flexibility (AIF) work daily and then, after 3-4 weeks, starts the strengthening work, will definitely see a benefit.

    http://www.runningdvds.com/

    Sorry you can’t find a person who does good ART work in your area. Another good approach is to find a good soft tissue person who works with the fascia (i.e. the fascial lines). So this is a massage therapist who doesn’t go deep, but rather releases the fascia.

    …but maybe that is unrealistic in your area.

    If you ever had time to come to Boulder I could help you set up a serious of appointments to see people in town who can help you.

    Take care and thanks for the questions.

  • http://coachjayjohnson.com CoachJay

    My take on the 40m sprints at 100% is there are fantastic for HS, College and Elite athletes. But that said, I’m struggling to have the adult age-group runners I work with do anywhere close to that intensity. Maybe a year from now when we get them stronger as strength begets speed.

  • Slow

    Thanks! I have a suggestion for a future article, in case that’s part of the intent of this thread: how to determine whether you’re ready for speedwork (or for various types of speed/paced work, with criteria varying by type of work). You mention strength; perhaps there are some feasible do-it-yourself tests? Maybe even just the ability to do a particular one of your strength routines?

  • Aaron Grider

    Us runners spend a good deal of time trying to build a training routine that will help condition us to go faster… and I would like to do the same for my “eating routine”. Coach Jay, do you have a good resource regarding building a nutrition program for runners, especially related to track athletes? Note that I’ve heard the excellent race day and post workout nutrition podcasts on iTunes (Dr. Stellingwerff, Dr. Pfitzinger, Nate Jenkins, Dr. Messer) but am interested now in how to eat day-to-day in order to get faster.

  • Cory Adams

    when an athlete competes at a track meet running multiple events (say 1600 and 800), do they do the lunge matrix before the warm up for each event? Or do they do it only before the warm up for the first event and just do a pre race warm up (excluding the LM) for the second event?