A new way of training!

Sunday, August 19, 2012 · Mike Davis

This past week marked the beginning of another Runners Alley Half Marathon training group. This will mark the third consecutive year I have coached this training group and I am pretty excited about this one for many new reasons!

This year I am being joined by my wife who will be coaching along with me and that’s awesome. Having Kathy help will not only be beneficial to me, but she will be great resource for all the runners. Her experience and knowledge, along with being a certified running coach makes her the perfect running coach! She also just signed on to coach in the Girls on the Run program which I think is awesome. She certainly helps me and together we make a pretty great team.

Another reason I am excited about this year’s training is our new training method. In years past this training group has used the typical basic beginners half marathon training plan, starting at 2 miles and adding a mile on each week ultimately getting to 12 maybe 13 miles before getting to the race. If you have been following me on my website, you should know by now that I’m not a fan of cookie cutter training plans. To no fault of anyone at Runners Alley Portsmouth they have successfully used the same half marathon training plan for as long as I can remember. The success while being very good based on pure numbers, might not have served the program as well a different approach would. Some of the feedback from the past has made it clear that runners have varied goals that make it difficult to accommodate within a typical mileage based structure. The frustration for me as a coach has been how do I help new runners get to 13.1, while also allowing more experienced runners the opportunity to improve? Certainly a challenge that I pondered since the end of last year’s training.

Running a mileage based training plan has and does work for many runners, but there are some weaknesses in it for both individuals and most definitely groups. For now I will cover groups and another day I will tackle individuals. Mileage base training plans have worked like this in the past: Today we are going to run 2 miles as a group, we will run an out and back. The group takes off; the faster runners move to the front and eventually lose the majority of the group. Newer runners need the shorter distance run to start their development, while the more experienced runners get no real benefit from such a short distance (to them). As the training progresses we continue along using a beginners training plan so we struggle with the various levels people are at. This type of training is frustraiting for many to include me, but it may not healthy be healthy as well!

Week 6 comes and the week goes like this: Tuesday- 5 mile run, Thursday- 6 mile run and Saturday- 8 mile run. The newer runners are progressing and running albeit slowly so they finish Tuesday’s run around 60 minutes, Wednesday’s around 70 minutes and Saturday in 90 minutes for a total of 220 minutes for the week. The more experienced runners that are faster their week goes like this: Tuesday- 45 minutes, Thursday 55 minutes and Saturday’s 72 minutes for a total of 172 minutes. In this raw scenario the newer runners runs 48 minutes more than the more experienced runners. Some logic would quickly come to mind, such as the more experienced runner should be running more than the less experienced. You might say; “Their running the same distance”, yes they are, but the newer runners are still running for longer periods of time. Running longer periods of time means more steps, more stress and possibly more chance of injury. On the other side, the more experienced runner may not be getting the opportunity to excel as they are being limited by the predetermined beginners distance on the basic training plan. What to do?

Let’s look at Tuesday night our first night of training. Instead of the 2 mile distance as designated on the training plan we ran the group for 30 minutes, 15 minutes out and turned them around to run back. The distances they each ran varied based on the individual’s current level of running, with the range roughly between 2.1 and 3.1 miles. Everyone finished at the same time, but based on their own training level, they covered a distance that worked for them. Same time, same stress on their bodies and everyone enjoyed the simple process of running! Thursday’s run was 17.5 minutes out and 17.5 minutes back and again the distances varied, but the results were the same as Tuesday.

I have designed a personal training plan for the entire Seacoast Half marathon training group that will progress based on time not mileage but time. This personal training plan will allow for everyone in the group to train at their own personal level and not be held back or forced to progress before they are ready. I use this same methodology with my personal training plans that I provide for my personal clients and I believe their success will be far greater. I am excited and look forward to the feedback at the end of this training group. I am quite confident that getting away from basic mileage based training will help every level of runner.