The Value of Easy Runs and Mileage

The factors needed to run fast when it counts

Over the next few weeks, I'd like to lay out the training principles that have guided the way that I prepare Hughson athletes to race.  I'm going to go through the factors that are the most responsible for racing performance in order from those that take the longest to develop to those that develop relatively quickly. Briefly, in order those factors are:

• Aerobic capacity (your body's ability to use oxygen to create energy)
• Neuro-muscular efficiency (the ability of your muscles and nervous system to work smoothly together to move you along the course with as little effort as possible)
• Lactate Threshold (the ability to run fast for long periods without building up lactic acid)
• Anaerobic capacity (the ability to create energy without oxygen)
• Lactate Tolerance (the ability to tolerate the lactic acid that builds up)

When you've raised each of these factors as much as you can possibly raise them for a season and are ready to race your best, we can say you are peaking.  The goal of any season is to bring these physiological factors to their maximum at the end of the season and be ready to run your best race when it counts the most. 

Aerobic Capacity: Time to develop this - years

Physiologists have long agreed that one of the most important factors in running success is the ability of your heart to deliver oxygen to your muscles and the ability for your muscles to use it.....aerobic capacity 

There are two main factors that determine aerobic capacity.  Today, I'd like to focus on the easiest one to understand: your heart.  Your heart is responsible for pumping blood around your body.  That blood contains things your muscles need to work: Oxygen and Nutrients.  The more blood your heart can deliver to your muscles, the harder they can work.   

There are only two factors that determine how much blood your heart can pump: heart rate (the number of times your heart beats per minute) and stroke volume (the amount of blood your heart pumps with each beat). Your maximum heart rate will not increase as you get in better shape.  This means that in order to train your heart, you need to make it pump more blood per beat. 

So, how do we train the heart to do this? Simple, get the heart to spend a lot of time at maximum stroke volume.  The longer you keep your heart working at a level that causes it to reach maximum stroke volume, the better your heart will adapt.

How do I know if I'm at maximum stroke volume?

Measuring stoke volume takes some serious science equipment.  Luckily for  us, studies have been done on athletes to determine when they reach maximum stroke volume.  I'd like to share one with you that I read in grad school.  The study contained 3 groups of subjects

• Group 1 were not trained athletes
• Group 2 were athletes trained for a speed/power sport (volleyball)
• Group 3 were trained endurance athletes (college cross country runners)

These athletes were put on a treadmill and ran an exercise test where their stroke volumes were measured as the speed of the treadmill got faster and faster.  Here is what the study found

• The untrained runners reached maximum stroke volume at a heart rate of about 130 beats per minute.  Their stroke volumes then actually began to get smaller as their heart rates continued to speed up.
• The athletes who were trained for volleyball also reached their highest stroke volume at about 130 beats per minute.  Their stoke volume stayed at maximum until they reached a heart rate of about 150 beats per minute.  After this, their stroke volume values also began to decrease.
• Although the cross country runners had higher stroke volumes than the other test subjects, they did not reach maximum stroke volume until their heart rates reached 150 beats per minute.  As the treadmill continued to accelerate, the athlete's stroke volume did not decrease until their heart rates were almost at maximum.

So, what does this study mean for your guys' training?

• If you are a total newbie, your heart rate only needs to reach 130 for you to get some training benefit.
• If you're coming from another sport such as football or volleyball, you will get your maximum benefit at heart rates somewhere between 130 and 150 beats per minute.
• If you are a veteran, your most effective heart rate for training will be about 150 beats per minute.

After reading this you might think, "Dang, 150 beats per minute sounds fast!  How am I going to run with my heart going that fast?" 150 BPM really isn't that fast.  Most of you probably have maximum heart rates well over 200 and when you run a 5k race your average heart rate for the whole thing is probably around 95-98% of that maximum.  So, if you want to run at 150 BPM, you really only need to be going 75% effort.  This effort level should feel pretty easy.  

Let me re-state that:  For the majority of your running, your heart rate does not need to exceed 75% of its maximum.  Beyond that level of 150 BPM, you won't get any extra training benefit for your heart.

Why shouldn't I go over 75% heart rate for most of my training?

The simple answer to this question is: TIME. If you don't get any extra training benefit for your heart by making it beat faster than 150 beats per minute, then the only way to get a stronger training stimulus is to keep your heart rate at that 150 BPM level for more TIME. If you go too fast, it cuts down the amount of time you can spend training at the most effective level.

This is the reason that almost every elite runner in the world has spent  thousands of hours throughout her life running at a pace that doesn't cause her heart rate to exceed 75% of its maximum.  Remember, developing an elite level heart takes years and the only way to do that is to patiently run as many miles as you can at a easy to moderate pace.

If all that stuff about staying below 150 BPM is true, do I ever need to run fast in training?

Yes, you do.  There are other factors to you racing fast.  But we'll discuss those another day.