Questions about Winter Training

We recently got a question from one of our readers (The Red Line, huh? nice username.) about winter training, specifically geared toward the 3200:

So I have a lot of questions about winter training..... How should young runners (about one year of experience) go about winter training?
What the overall goal and how does it differ from summer training?
What percent of intensity for workouts?
If we are training for a race in May, is doing full workouts in December ok?
What should be more built up for the track season our anaerobic or aerobic fitness?
Should an aspiring 3200 runner train different then a 800/1600 runner?
And any other valuable "Tid-Bits" of info just so that i can get a better understanding of what Winter Training truly is/does!!!

-Thanks in advance!!

An aspiring, but beginning runner shouldn't go overboard their first winter of training. Definitely do a slow build-up of mileage, always in reference to and working toward your peak mileage goals for later in the season. Some programs do this buildup of mileage per week as a percentage of your peak mileage for the season, starting at 50% for the first week and then building up, with a slight dip in mileage every three to four weeks, throughout the winter.

Personal opinion from Joey- I think it's best to get to about 90-95% of the mileage you will want to run all season by the last week of your base period. I then think it is important to keep this mileage all season except in "down weeks." I didn't do this my senior year before cross country and ended up being at my best mid-season because I had dropped my mileage so early, then staying at pretty much the same fitness level until state, maybe 10 seconds faster over 3 miles, but not that great of a peak. For track I got up to a mileage, then tried to keep it all season long until the taper at the end, except for down weeks which I took at about 70% of peak mileage. By doing this I was able to have a better peak and dropped seconds off my 3200 every time I had a major race, case in point, the three times I raced it competitively; 9:36, 9:34, 9:30, 9:21. When I did this, my biggest week was the week of the 9:30 at 71 miles. That winter my biggest week was 69. The idea behind this keep your mileage up then taper idea has to do with glucose stores. While you are in more intense training, your body needs to produce glucose in order to fuel you for the training you are doing. Now if you do 70mpw from January to May, then cut your mileage down to 30mpw as I did for the last few weeks, your glucose stores go crazy, all the glucose you have been producing is now being stored for when you need it instead of being used a whole bunch every day. You get to the line on race day, you aren't sore because your training isn't leaving you dead and your fuel stores are up. Muscles have hardened as well do to getting proper rest. Of course you will have a great race on this day.
-In addition I watched the progress of some high schoolers over the course of cross country who did a lot of miles in the summer but dropped them when the season started, (case in point 70mpw summer, 40mpw in season) did great in the early-mid season then ate it in the post season. Their aerobic base wasn't getting better, and though they were in roughly the same shape as mid-season, they were expecting to feel better and it hurt them mentally in races more than physically and led to bad post-seasons. Their glucose rise and muscle hardening had happened months earlier.

The goal is really pretty much the same as summer training. You are trying to build an aerobic base upon which you can add speed later. At this point, base/foundation runs are emphasized, which are just your basic runs at base pace that you will do for almost every run of the week. Base pace is not an exact science, it is basically what pace you can run, day after day without getting too tired for between 4 and 10 mile runs. Long runs should be at roughly this pace as well, whether your long run is 8 or 15 miles.

On top of that, some speed maintanence is recommended about 3 times a week after you finish a foundation run. One simple way is just 4-10 100s on the track at a quick pace, emphasizing proper technique and form. A good way to build into these is to start your first 1/3rd at mile pace, your middle ones at 800 pace and your last 2 or so at 400(basically all out) pace. It is very important to keep your form when doing these, your top speed will be at its best when everything is working fluid and efficiently. You don't want to do these with bad form because you will then get bad form into your muscle memory when you are running fast and though maybe your fast twitch muscles will be firing as best they can, you won't be going as fast as you can. One way to do speed that I think helps a lot is as follows: after a good warmup and a couple striders, then do a few more strides at a quicker pace. The first 30 meters or so you want to accelerate, then for 30-50m go all out, while keeping form of course, then decelerate the last part until you have gone about 100-110m or so. The key to these is taking a LOT of rest. The more rest you take, the better your muscles can fire because the creatine stores in your body need 5 minutes to recover and fire at their best again. So by taking this much rest, your muscles are able to fire at their freshest and thus their fastest and thus your top speed improves best by taking a lot of rest. You don't need this much rest for strides per say, but when doing that workout, the closer to 5 minutes rest, the better. 3 is pretty good too.

If by full workouts you mean intense interval workouts, I would certainly advise against that. The whole point of those workouts is to sharpen your speed and get used to your race pace later on in the season. This doesn't mean to cut out all workouts though. Jack Daniels has proved a lot about the importance of early intervals, but with high rest and not too high of intensity. If your workouts are 5k pace, say 1000s or 800s and you are getting between 3 and 4 minutes rest, and you are doing only 5k worth of running, thats fine. This type of work isn't so much anaerobic as efficiency work. If you are doing intervals that don't tax you too hard, they are working on your efficiency at a given pace, and your V02 max to an extent. Workouts at 10k pace and tempo pace are great too, they help lower your lactate threshold.

In the winter, 800/1600 runners and 3200 runners hardly need to do different training at all. Maybe the mid-distancers need more top speed work, such as strides and the thing mentioned a couple points up.

For workouts, another thing to remember is that you are mainly working at date-pace. That means that if you are hoping to run sub 4:30 and 9:50 or so, you should not do workouts at that pace now. In most cases, you are not even as good as you were in cross country. If your 5k pace was 17:00, its probably around 17:30-45 right now unless you have been doing your workouts too hard in which case you have screwed over your peak.

As far as what winter training does, it helps develop an aerobic base which will help in your season, it helps build speed, it gets you ready for the season's workouts and it helps build efficiency. Simply put, by running more you are building your muscles to be efficient at running. Your muscles form to landing, your muscle memory gets good running mechanics. You build capillaries which help transport oxygen through blood to the essential muscles. You build mitochondria which help fuel you better and produce more energy etc. By doing winter running, you are maintaining all your systems, most importantly the aerobic system which works so hard to bring oxygen to the muscles that need it. You are really getting ready for in-season workouts, without winter training it would take months to get to the point you will be when you start the season by maintaining your cross country base. Long term aerobic development, thats the key. Consistency and just keep building mitochondria and capillaries. Long term, uninterrupted aerobic development. Let me reiterate. Long term aerobic development.

So yeah, don't go too hard or fast in winter workouts, keep things at date pace, don't drop your mileage too soon, keep normal runs at base pace, do your speed maintenance with good form, and mid distance and distance don't need to train terribly different.

Up to date- Joey

Since I haven't been able to talk to Calvin in some time, I figured I would go ahead with a new post and share my training situation and some thoughts I have.

First off, it is really really hard to be in college and run with other collegiate runners in the East Bay and run only 55 miles a week. I end up taking a couple really low days every week so that I don't go over my mileage, yet still went 59 for what was supposed to be a 55. I suppose that's not too bad. Training has been pretty easy here in early base phase but I am already feeling like my speed is pretty good, just based on strides. Soon enough I will be running a 60 mile week and get to build toward my 80mpw with real workouts that will hopefully last for a good while before I have to drop my mileage.

This track season I am going to focus on the 1500 and 5k, off what is mostly 5k training. Lately I have been thinking that because of my height, my potential lies in the 1500/5k. I am 6' 2" and a white boy, the best 10k runners and marathoners are all considerably shorter than me. Now bare with me here. Shorter runners are more efficient at longer distances because in their form, they have a shorter lever, which is more efficient because it requires less energy to make a shorter lever work, while a longer lever takes more energy, but produces more power. Thus Haile Gebrselassie is the fastest marathoner in the world at 5' 4" and Asafa Powell holds the world record in the 100m at 6' 3". Now here's the other thing that leads me to believe that 1500/5k should be my distance. Craig Mottram. Like me, he is white and 6' 2". He runs a 12:55 5k and 3:48 full mile. I don't mean this to be racist in any way or form, but Craig Mottram is my personal inspiration due to the fact that he has the same Caucasian heritage and he is my height, he gives me hope. If this man who is similar in genetics and body can compete with the Africans, maybe I can too, that is my thought. This is not to say I don't think I should run the 10k, as Mottram is a great at that distance in road races from time to time, but he is definitely better as a 1500/5k man.

Now this is not to discourage tall people from wanting to develop themselves at the longer distances, in fact I have always been an advocate of the mentality "Everyone runs the shortest race they have the speed to run, when they should move up in distance to be great." At this point though, I am not so sure which is right, that tall people should run the race they are more efficient at or move up in distance and let the mileage carry them to have great endurance.

Just some thoughts. Feedback would be great, leave comments and I will try to analyze and learn.

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Thanks

And as I procrastinate for my finals tomorrow, I stumble across a quote, and thus exit teh intrawebz for teh nite

I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words each hour, each day, everyday, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing, and the action which follows becomes as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every action necessary for my success. I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. I will walk where failures fear to walk. I will work when failures seek rest. I will act now for now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure. I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay, success will become wed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the person.

Weight lifting-Completed Version.

I received the question that follows and decided that it deserves its own post.

"What is your stance on weight lifting? How often? What tyoe? Core work? Types of reps? When to do it? How long into the season to hold it? ect. ect." - Winter Lifter

Joey: My stance on weight lifting is that it is not necessary, but I know its not harmful and may even be helpful. As my high school coach, Chuck Woolridge described it, the point is to teach your muscles to all fire at once. I was skeptical when he first started giving us light-weight training and I really didn't believe in it. The weight training is really more for speed, it helps far more with sprinting than it does distance running, as you want your muscles to all fire effectively in order to produce a powerful stride. The idea as I understand it, with distance running, is that it would possibly make your stride more efficient because top speed and explosive muscle make you more efficient at all distances. It also helps with your kick. The idea is also that it helps your form stay together and having upper body strength at the end of a race helps you to drive your arms to kick harder.

Personally, I do not believe it really has any positive benefits that doing core work and top-speed work don't give. As Wetmore says "Why borrow from Peter to pay Paul?" He also says that death tastes like pennies, so I don't know how right he is. He has coached several national championship teams and multiple individual national champions, so I'll take his word that weight lifting is unnecessary for the distance runner. Another person who doesn't make distance runners do weight lifting is my coach, Gary Towne. Though not as mainstream successful as Wetmore, Towne's methods work really well. I can also vouch for the fact that Scott Bauhs has never done any sort of weight lifting or even core work for that matter, but my intuitive mind tells me that he would be even faster if he did do core. And strides. How he is fast is beyond me.

Anyways, what I do know about weight lifting is what actually does help running. Squats, and just about everything to do with your hamstrings and quads. In low weight. High reps, low weights. Calf work is unnecessary. Being powered by your quads is the most effective way to go.

High reps, low weights. If you dont do them at all, whatever. Dont skimp on the core work though.

How long to keep doing weights? Until your taper for your peak race starts, about 2-4 weeks out from target race.

Calvin: I agree with Joey on the most part, and it definitely depends on what sort of event you are training for. Middle distance and shorter events, in my opinion, can find beneficial gains in strength by doing actual weight-room lifting. But the way we do it for the long-distance runners at Davis is a regimen of strength and core exercises, the vast majority of which can be done with a medicine ball, swiss ball, a bench, and a dumbbell. In fact, many of the exercise we do don't require equipment at all. In regards to reps, at Davis we keep it fairly small, but we definitely are looking to progress. So at the beginning of the season we are looking at around 10 reps per exercise, to be increased as we improve. As Joey said, you want to keep the weights low, you aren't looking to gain a whole lot of muscle mass.

The exercises we do range from squats to pushups and planks to pull-ups to abs. I would look online, I actually found a pretty good set of core/strength stuff at various sites that I incorporated into my high school on my own. Here's a plyometric workout regimen, a circuit training regimen, and another circuit training regimen. Personally, I used the last link, as I thought the article was pretty informative and it's a pretty good way to get in an aerobic effort and some strength/core in a fairly limited amount of time. I actually added thirty minute jog loops after each exercise and then immediately started the next one, in addition to the prescribed 400 meters at 5k pace. They mentioned in the article that adding these jogs would be beneficial, and believe me, my heart rate was really high after the deceivingly difficult circuit. Also, I would definitely not launch into this sort of stuff without already having a good base of fitness, it is surprisingly hard.

Back to the topic - At UC Davis we have several different "programs," which are basically a set of a dozen or so core and strength exercises, that we do throughout the week. So, if you had three "programs," you would do the first one on monday, the second on wednesday, and the third on friday, and then repeat the following week. So to answer your question about the duration and timing, I would recommend doing it all year, and only skipping one of your programs to all for a better taper for an important race. Near the end of the season, for the peak races, I would suggest dropping weight/strength altogether until you start all over with another season.