Rule #5: Alternate Hard & Easy Training

It is generally believed that Bowerman & Dellinger, the coaches behind the dynasty of great runners who have emerged from the University of Oregon, were the first to teach that training should not always be of the same intensity and duration each day. They observed that their runners progressed best only when they were allowed a suitable recovery period after each hard training session. For some runners, this period was only 24 hours; for others it was as long as 48 hours. This has been called the hard-day/easy-day training program.

Researchers have not established why the body is unable to train hard every day, but it is probably due to muscle damage of the same type (but less severe) as that caused by marathon racing. Muscles damaged to this lesser degree require about 24 to 48 hours to recover fully, rather than the 6 to 8 weeks needed after a 42km marathon.

Training is certainly not simply a matter of stoking up with fuel and repeating the previous day's training. You must learn that if the previous training session was hard, you must allow your body a period of recovery to restock its energy stores and to repair the microdamage caused by the previous day's heavy training, regardless of what your mind tells you or what you imagine your competitors are doing in training. Hard training when the body is not fully recovered simply compounds damage already done.

You must establish for yourself how frequently you can train hard; your success will, in large, depend on whether or not you achieve this balance. When training hard, I have found that 3 moderately hard sessions a week were optimum, but only for 6 to 8 weeks at a time.

Rule #6: At First Try to Achieve as Much as Possible on a Minimum of Training

For some reason, part of the "macho" image of running is the belief that the top runners achieve greatness by enduring training programs quite beyond the levels of the rest of us. The best runners, some believe, are those who train the hardest. Seldom do you ever read about the many great athletic performances that have been achieved on very little training or about how well these top runners perform even when they train very little.

It is clear that genetic abilities have more effect on the performances of great athletes than do their "harder" training programs; there is no earthly way by which training can reduce the gap that separates these runners from the rest of us.

Unfortunately, too many runners believe that they must train very hard to run very well, and so they end up doing too much to try to compensate for their genetic deficits. But by starting with a modest training program and then gradually increasing and modifying the balance between increasing training distance and training speed, you can avoid the crossover point where increased training leads to worse, not better, performance and to increased risk of injury.

Rule #7: Don't Race When You Are in Training, and Run Time Trials and Races Longer than 16km only Infrequently

By racing I mean running to total exhaustion.

The essential point to remember is that fast running exhausts not only the body but also, equally important, the mind. Thus, the amount of fast training and racing that you do must be very carefully controlled.

The rule of thumb is that the shorter the race, the more frequently it can be run; approach runs beyond 25km with caution, because it appears that racing- induced muscle damage starts to occur in races longer than 25km.

You can certainly enter shorter races more frequently, but again you must exercise extreme caution and restraint.

Arthur Lydiard advocated runnning regular time trials during the peaking phase. Yet he shared Newton's concerns about the dangers of racing in training:

"The word 'time-trials' often give a wrong impression of their use. Basically they are used to develop coordination in running races over certain distances, and to find weaknesses and use the appropriate training to strengthen them. Time trials should not be run at full effort, but with strong, even efforts, leaving you with some reserves".

Lydiard spoke out strongly against racing in training and placing too much reliance on the stopwatch. He noted that too much concern with time can cause the athlete to lose confidence, a feeling that would be exacerbated by fatigue from heavy training.

"Remember that when you are doing time trials, you are still training hard, so good times cannot always be expected. You cannot train hard and perform well simulataneously".

In running regular time trials, many runners err by thinking that each trial must be faster than the last. This is neither desirable nor possible. The surest indication that you are improving is if you are able to run the same or better times in successive time trials but at a lower heart rate, with less effort, and with a more rapid recovery.

Newton on time-trials ( but note he was probably referring to time trials over marathon distances):

"I decry such things as time-trials...I am convinced that they are nothing but a senseless waste of time and energy.

I am convinced that it doesn't help in any way at any time to practice sheer speed. Actual racing and running or all-out exertion in any other form of sport should be confined solely to the competition for which you are training. Your business is to build up, not to break down. You will find the speed is there and doesn't need practice.

But by all means enter for a race now and then, but beyond making a good shot of it, leave time-trials and anything of that sort very much alone.

Remember to "bank" your racing powers until you seriously require them, and you will then find that the interest is there as well as the capital when you start to draw on the account; there is no safer, saner or surer method of training"

Part 3