Training is not rocket science, so don’t make it more complicated or difficult than it needs to be. The way to get faster is to simply stay healthy and train consistently over a long period of time. As we prepare for the fall racing season, please pay attention to the reminders below and develop the discipline to not only get out to train on a regular basis (very few of you have a problem with that one), but also to know when to back off in the interest of keeping yourself healthy (some of you aren’t very good about that one).
Listen to your body
Pain is your body’s way of telling you that something is wrong. If you feel pain while you’re running, stop immediately! If you try to be a hero and ignore pain signals that you’re receiving that could be indicative of an injury, it is very likely that something very bad is going to happen to you. Continuing to run on an injury that was caused by running is not going to make it any better. It’s always best to take a few days off from running and do some cross training (preferably pool running) at the first signs of trouble or else you risk turning a minor injury into a major one. Missing a few days of running in the interest of caution is far better than missing a few months of running due to your stubbornness.
Sleep
It’s impossible to train effectively for long distance races if you’re not consistently getting a minimum of 7-8 hours of sleep per night. If you’re not getting adequate sleep, your body can’t possibly perform up to its capabilities. When you combine the rigors of training with sleep deprivation, you end up in a fatigue funk that leaves you very susceptible to injury and illness.
Save your racing for race day
All of your training should be done with some sense of control to it. If you’re training impulsively and simply going out there on a daily basis and running as fast as your body will allow, your body will eventually rebel against you as you become overwhelmed with fatigue. The goal of training is not to find out how fast you can run in your training sessions, but rather to find out how fast you can run on race day. The way to do that is to give your body reasonable amounts of uptempo training 2-3 days per week, and then spend the rest of the time doing slow recovery running (1:30+ per mile slower than your projected marathon pace) so that your body is ready when it’s time to run the next uptempo session. Effective training is simply endless cycles of stress followed by rest. If you overdo the stress part and/or do not allow yourself enough rest, you’ll never run as fast as you’re capable on race day.
Start slow and finish fast
The first few minutes of any race or training session are the time when the biggest mistakes can happen. If you start your races too quickly, you’ll run yourself into premature oxygen debt and suffer mightily in the latter stages of the race. If you start your workouts too quickly, premature fatigue will cause you to either struggle later in the workout or force you to cut the workout short. A residual effect of starting too fast in a race or training session is that it will take you longer to recover from the effort which will negatively impact your subsequent training sessions. Always start your training sessions at a comfortable pace and increase the effort as the workout progresses, and always start your races at a pace that is no faster (and preferably somewhat slower) than your overall target pace. Almost every world record from 1500m thru the marathon has been accomplished with negative splits. Starting slow and finishing fast is simply the most efficient way to race. Make that approach a consistent part of your training so that it becomes second nature on race day.
Do your core work
Developing great core strength will allow you to maintain correct and efficient running posture all the way through your workouts and races and keep you far less susceptible to injury. Do lots of planks! Every day!
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Keep yourself well hydrated
I rant about this more often than any other subject because so many runners leave themselves so chronically dehydrated. I hear complaints almost every day about headaches, unexplained muscle cramps and unusually quick onset of fatigue during workouts, which are all symptoms of dehydration. Dehydration is one of runner’s worst enemies, but also one of the easiest problems to fix. Drink. More. Water. And don’t forget to be getting your electrolytes as well.
