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Speed, Strength and Power Training for the Distance athlete

by Adrian Faccioni

Typically the distance athlete will develop a plan based around the building up of as many miles per week as their time or body will allow them in the pursuit of improved performance (Known as LSD - "Long Slow Distance" or as I like to call it "Losing Speed Dramatically!"). There is a simple equation that can determine the results from such a training regime:

LSD = long slow distance
LSR = long slow racing!

Once you are capable of completing a specific distance (eg marathon event), the next goal becomes beating your time (indicating a requirement for increased SPEED in your performance).

What basic factors allow you to run faster? Biomechanically it is a combination of increased stride rate and/or stride length. To increase stride rate requires an increase in POWER and an increase in stride length requires an increase in STRENGTH.

Regular distance running will initially aid in the base development of these two factors but typically the improvement is minor resulting in a plateauing in your race performance.

Definitions: To have a better understanding of why these training elements should be incorporated into your training program, it is useful to have a better understanding of how each element effects running performance.

Speed - The ability to quickly move a limb, or quickly move the body from one point to another. Both of these definitions relate to distance running because one thing the distance runner needs to be able to do is to develop what is know as a speed reserve.

Speed reserve is where the athlete develops a high running speed (you probably won't be challenging Marion Jones but you will be faster than you were) so that when you are running an endurance event where your speed is somewhat less than maximal, you are able to expend less energy travelling at that speed. Once the body knows how to run fast, at slower speeds, there is less effort required resulting in reduced energy expenditure which will assist in saving energy for the latter stages of any event.

Strength - The ability to coordinate and contract muscle fibres to overcome a resistance. Each time an athlete takes a step, strength is required in the following phases:

1. Resisting collapse each time the foot hits the ground. Eccentric forces (the forces that occur at each foot contact) are very high in distance running and the stronger the athlete in the appropriate areas, the less collapse at contact, the quicker off the ground and the faster they can move into the second phase of the stride.
2. Pushoff takes place at the end of each contact. The stronger the pushoff the longer the stride meaning the athlete is covering more ground with each step therefore needing less steps to complete a distance (less energy expended).
3. Strength through the athlete's mid-torso will also assist in maintaining efficient running technique throughout the race.

Power - The ability to perform a movement with strength at speed. Power is the combination of speed and strength but needs to be trained regularly to get the best coordination between these two attributes.

Power is also useful in the stride phase (contact, pushoff) as well as when the athlete has to run up hill and downhill. Power training increases the athlete's dynamicness (often seen in athletes who have a natural "spring" to their stride). Increased power results in better efficiency in running which can help overall race time.

The great thing about speed training for the distance athlete is that it is REALLY EASY to improve an athlete's raw speed because typically the distance athlete does so little speed work that these underused fibres and nervous pathways lay dormant just waiting for the opportunity to fire up and have you feel like you should get back on the track and running some 100m races!

The key to regaining some of that lost spark is to stimulate the nervous system in a different manner to what it is used to (sounds like something a relationship counsellor would say!!). This can be done in several ways:

1. Pure speed training

I like to take the distance athlete away from their typical environment (running tracks) and put them in a place where speed is conducive (the 100m start at the local track). I then put the athlete through their paces, which might include:

Teaching basic running drills
These drills teach the athlete to pick up their feet faster, work on quicker leg turnover and have then focus on better core stability which is vital for faster running speed. Drills include high knees, heel to bum flicks, running over small hurdles (only 4-6inches in height).

Acceleration drills
These drills allows the athlete to focus on getting from point A to point B as fast as possible.

Drills include jog in to start line then sprint for 40m-50m
Walk to start line and sprint for 40-50m
Standing start sprint for 40-50m

Different body positions to sprint (pushup position, laying on ground, etc).

Maximum speed drills (main neural training).
These drills are specifically aimed at improving the neural output to the legs.

Drills include having the athlete run up to a line/cone (about 95%) then between two marks on the track they have to turn their legs over as quickly as they can. Importantly in these drills the athlete needs to be able to hear and feel a difference and as a coach you should be able to see the difference also.

IMPORTANT
Short speed intervals are not fitness training (maybe for sprinters!!). The athlete should take plenty of time (slow walk recovery) between runs to make sure that each effort is at 100%. It is the regular stimulation of the nervous system (@ 100%) that leads to increased speed capacity.

2. Speed training in endurance sessions

This can be achieved by having the athlete perform varied speed components during any typical endurance session. One example can be having the athlete perform a dozen 5 second sprints in any one session. These can be at set time intervals or for more flexibility the sprints are performed when the athlete feels ready (as long as they get all sprints in during the session).

A typical mistake I see in this type of training is where the athlete tries to run too far each sprint, leading to a less than a 100% effort which results in increased lactic tolerance (not a bad thing) but doesn't do much for the speed improvement that they are after.

Once you have stimulated your speed capacity, you then have at your calling "speed gears" allowing you to change pace quickly if required (great in competition to break from a pack, to keep up with the pack, surges, etc.)

Increased speed capacity creates two opportunities:

1. To run at current race pace using less energy (more energy left at the end of the race - for surges, fast finishes)
2. To run at a new race pace - therefore improving overall time (time trial type performance)

Strength Training

A facet of training that is even less understood than speed training by the distance athlete is the benefit of strength training for improved performance. Typically we see the endurance athlete performing circuit type strength sessions believing that this "strength training" will increase performance.

There are a few issues that need to be addressed here:

• Circuit training (low weight, high reps) really doesn't have much of an effect upon strength (maybe a bit in the first few weeks - as indicated by the muscle soreness that you will probably feel when you try to get out of bed the next day!). Often the endurance athlete thinks that by performing high reps that this somehow simulates what they do in their actual performance. Let us look at this scenario more closely.
• Typically the endurance strength session consists of several sets of exercises (eg squats) with a light weight and the performance of anywhere from 20-50 repetitions per set. The athlete might complete 4 sets for a maximum total of say 200 repetitions. In a running environment 400m reps/steps would be equivalent to less than 400m of running!!!

So what is the distance athlete developing when they complete such a strength routine? Mainly it is further anaerobic adaptations to the muscular system. Whilst this has some benefits, it is not really strength training and could probably be equally if not more successfully developed performing hill sprints (at least you are simulating the movement of running in this example).

So what are the benefits of a structured strength routine and what should the distance athlete look to be doing in a gym environment? Firstly the benefits can be broken down into several components:

• Resisting collapse each time the foot hits the ground. Eccentric forces (the forces that occur at each foot contact) are very high in distance running and the stronger the athlete in the appropriate areas, the less collapse at contact, the quicker off the ground and the faster they can move into the second phase of the stride.
• Pushoff takes place at the end of each contact. The stronger the pushoff the longer the stride meaning the athlete is covering more ground with each step therefore needing less steps to complete a distance (less energy expended).
• Strength through the athlete's mid-torso will also assist in maintaining efficient running technique throughout the race.

From my experience with endurance athletes, pelvic stability is generally pretty bad and performance improvement can be substantial with a good general program for this region. The types of exercise routines that work well include:

• Swiss Ball.
  
  • Varied crunch & rotational routines.

• Medicine Ball.
  
  • Varied crunch, balance and rotational routines.

• Loaded abdominal exercises (by this I mean making the exercise quite difficult and/or adding a weight to the exercise and keeping the repetitions low).

Another typical situation in a gymnasium is where the athlete will train the upper body and lower body with low repetitions and using weight but when it comes to the mid-torso, they opt for high repetitions and no weight! The core is made of the same muscle that exists in the arms and legs and will respond really well to weight loading.

In all of the above mid-torso examples, the number of repetitions performed are less than 15-20 (some of the hard exercises will have repetitions of only 6-8 - eg hanging leg raise).

In a typical session I would look at having the athlete perform up to 6-8 sets of mid-torso exercises (using a combination of the above examples).

Looking at the other parts of the body, I am also a firm believer in performing what I term Core or Multi-joint exercises (those which use many body parts).

This is beneficial for several reasons:

1. Core exercises uses more of the body resulting in less time needed to complete a full workout.
2. Core exercises are more specific to real life exercise (where you don't isolate a single muscle group such as that which typically takes place in the gym environment).
3. Core exercises lead to greater overall strength gains which is the reason the athlete is in the gym in the first place.

The sorts of exercises I would like to see the endurance athlete perform are:

• Squat/lunge/stepup type exercises.
• Pushup, bench press type exercises.
• Seated row, bent over row, chin type exercises.

Other variables to be considered during your strength routine are as follows:

1. Keep the session to a maximum of 60 minutes (any more and quality will suffer).
2. Combine exercises using different body parts and go from one exercise to the other (eg. Squat with pushups). This will decrease time needed in the gym.
3. Keep the repetitions b/w 6-15 (start with the higher range and as strength improves move down towards the lower end).
4. Perform 1-2 warmup sets and 3-4 main sets for each exercise.
5. If you have the availability of facility, perform a circuit but using the above repetition/set structure.
6. Try to complete at a minimum two strength sessions per week (3 is even better).
7. Change the exercises you are using each month to keep mentally stimulated and to ensure that strength gains continue (athletes can quickly plateau if they do the same exercises month after month).

Once the athlete has gained a good strength base, then they can start looking at the more intense training routines that make up power training. This will be the subject of a future article.