Hills, workouts, and walking?

Running downhill can KILL you!

Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit here, but this post is brought to you by a conversation I had at a wedding last weekend with one of my former athletes. We talked about this blog and about his running. He was a 21' 6" long jumper, a 15 flat 110 hurdler, a 15' 7" pole vaulter, and he did the multi-events which means he also had some experience with the 1500. Many decathletes will tell you running long distance is the least favorite part of the event; it may not be as much the distance, but the fact that it is the 10th event in the two day competition. Having met Ashton Eaton, I can tell you that it's tough if you're the best in the history of the event or the third best on your team.

One of the workouts we use across the board with our athletes is hill running. Hills can be great, but it is running with resistance. Put your arms down at your sides, now lift them straight out. Not too hard, right? Now grab a 20# weight and see how easy it is. Harder, right? Resistance makes things more difficult. Running 200 meters at a high intensity is tough, running with resistance is tougher. That probably won't kill you though, actually it will probably make you stronger and your running form will probably improve significantly and therefore make you less likely to get hurt!

Then comes the problem, you have to get back down the hill. So how do you do it? Well when you're doing repeat hills, I recommend that you walk down the hill. 

Walk? 

Yes, walk down the hill. Running downhill causes an over-stride, gravity causes you to land with a greater impact on your legs, and that greater impact often results in a painful experience. Obviously this isn't a feasible way to run a race, nor a routine easy run. I recommend this on your hill repeat runs. This will allow you to have a good recovery on your hill run, but it will also prevent you from going down the hill too fast and creating a greater possibility of injury.

When not to walk?

It is a good idea to practice running downhill and obviously to do long runs and continuous runs by not stopping to walk down the hill. When you are running downhill, the reason you are most likely to over-stride and put extra force on your knees, shins, hips, etc. is because you will lean back to control your speed. Controlling your speed is your brain's way of saying "don't go too fast, I can't stop you before you hit that tree at the bottom of the hill" but finding an in between may be an important factor in preventing leg injury as you run down the hill.

What is a good hill workout?

You may or may not love hills, but I have come to love this workout:

Warm up to your favorite hill and be ready to go fast.

Run up the hill at the effort you would run a mile, and sustain that for 30-40 seconds.

Take 3 minutes to return to the bottom of the hill.

Repeat (as many times as you would like, but keep track and try to progress!)

Cool down and stretch (and do core and strengthening exercises)

Recover. 

in the LONG RUN

First of all, sorry for not posting for a couple of weeks. My dad has been sick, and while running is really important, that is more important.

Long Runs are long! 

The long run is one of the best things you can do. My dad taught me a lot about exercise physiology, and in talking about the long run, he went on about the benefits. I can remember being dropped off with some of my high school teammates 15 miles away from the school. After telling us to pay attention to all the turns as we road in the back of his pickup truck, we would jump out and run back to the school. Up hills, on dirt roads, running at a pace that spurred conversation (some of which caused us to go faster as the conversation became more intense.) Being the son of the coach, I always knew why we were doing what we were doing, but I always would ask for more...delaying the inevitable run was a certain goal!

Developing capillaries: 

One of the benefits I heard about was the development of capillaries, or new blood vessels, that would go through our muscles in our legs in order to better fuel our muscles with oxygen on our runs. We were told to never stop in the midst of a long run because that would lower our heart rate, and our body wouldn't develop those as well. This development would happen more efficiently during a long run than a normal easy run. Long runs "overloaded" the body and we need that to happen in order for our body to realize it needs to develop a more efficient pathway for the oxygen rich blood. 

Developing strength:

We don't think of strength as something you do over and over again, rather that is endurance. However, running for a long time develops strength; mental strength. Long runs, whether done at a pedestrian conversational pace or an up tempo pace, make you know how to persevere through pain as a race gets tough. Think about entering a 5k race knowing you can run it twice, there is nothing to fear. Think about that race knowing you can run it 5 times, now you know you can't go "too fast".

How long?

I have heard anything from 20 - 30% of your weekly run. If you run 4 times per week, it needs to be more than 25%, if you run 7 days a week, 20% could be good enough. The run is called a long run though, so it really should be longer than any of your other runs! 

If you are just starting out, I would say go out and run for as long as you feel like you can. If you get 35 minutes in or 6 miles or whatever, that's great! If you get a little further, or a little less, that's fine too, just find your first long run by trying. After that, try to go that far or a little further. Running a long run is something I would not want to do on a track, so find a good place to go run. Maybe the track or treadmill is right for you, either way, stick to it until you hit your distance/time goal. 

How often? 

I think a long run once every week is great, but for some that might be too much. If it is, shoot for every 10 days or every two weeks. I wouldn't go any longer than two weeks without a long run, and I wouldn't do more than 2 in any given week with one being likely still shorter than your true "long run." 

Where should you run?

I always made it back to my starting point...maybe that's why my dad dropped us off so far from the school? We never had the option to turn back or stop, we just ran. You can do a long run anywhere you want, trails, roads, grass, beach, etc. Running a loop or having a planned course sometimes helps when you're slightly less than half way through and you want to give up, you know you've got a plan and can stick to it. 

Finally, long runs have a great sense of accomplishment attached to them. When you finish, I know you'll feel amazing. Try it, you might love it! 

A workout you can do anytime for any distance oriented race

Can 30 seconds make a difference? 

The workout I'm going to talk about today, we call 30:30's. As a runner, I have done as few as 3 of these at a time, and as a coach, I have prescribed as many as 40 of these at a time. I have done them at the beginning of training cycles as well as at the end of a long training cycle. They can be fun, and if you do them in a place you don't enjoy running, they can be miserable. Ultimately I think they can be a workout anyone can do any day of their training, and they will help you improve your running speed. Technically, they should help you improve your velocity at VO2max (vVO2max), your lactate threshold running speed, your running economy, your heart muscle, your lung function, etc. They probably won't make you run the 100 meters significantly faster.

Warm Up

For now, I would suggest an easy jog, but do some "striders" to get up to the speed you plan to run. What are "striders"? Just short bouts of speed that you build up to a planned speed, and then gradually ease out of. In the future, I'll talk about warm up drills and routines, but a simple run with "striders" should be sufficient to raise your heart rate.

30:30's - The workout!

You get to decide how fast you are going to run today. I don't suggest this workout be any faster than your perceived 1 mile race effort, nor do I think you should go any slower than your 5k race speed. Ideally you could calculate your 3000 meter or 2 mile race speed and aim for that, but the decision is yours. (How to find your 3000 meter pace from a different race) 

Once you have determined how fast you want to go, you'll run the workout. Minimally you'll do 1 repetition at that speed. Hopefully you'll do more. If you have a weekly mileage goal, shoot for that, but stop when you are no longer hitting your target times. You might want to to give yourself a second try if you're not near your goal, but if you miss twice in a row, you're done; the workout is no longer benefiting you in the ways you were planning for.

How to do the workout?

Run for 30 seconds at that speed, and then walk or jog slowly for 30 seconds. Repeat! Does it matter if you walk? No, you'll be able to do more of your quality speed. Does it help if you jog? Not really, you'll do less of your quality speed, but you will have a higher percentage of total effort during your workout. If you're training for a marathon you might want to jog and a 5k you might want to walk. If you've never run before, walking might be great, if you're running 100 miles per week, jogging may feel more normal. Either way, it is 30 seconds of rest, and while it might not go by too quickly to begin with, by the end of your workout, it will seam like 30 seconds isn't enough. That's called overload, and that's a good thing!

Cool Down!

After the run is over, cool down with a jog. 5, 10, 15 minutes, maybe longer, but cool down. Easy jogging can help you be able to bounce back and feel like running tomorrow. It will begin the flushing of the accumulated lactic acid in your muscles, and that's a good thing. When you're done, you should probably stretch, my runners should probably stretch, and I should probably stretch. I'm terrible at that and don't spend anytime at all stretching. When I do stretch, I don't notice a difference, but when I skip the cool down I do notice the difference, I wake up the next day as if I had a much larger truck run over me the day before. 

When? How often? 

The great thing about this workout, you can really sprinkle it into any part of your training. As I stated earlier, we have done them very early in the season, and we have done them very late in the season. Sometimes they just spark the legs to get going, other times I am looking to add a boost to an otherwise easier day. Either way, I consider it a moderate workout. You probably don't want to (or need to) do it more than once a week, but you can do it in every microcycle, or for a period throughout a mesocycle of training. Have fun, and do them in a place you like to go feel fast. 

A Warning

I'll start by saying that I am not a doctor, and your decision to read about running doesn't mean I qualify you to begin a running program. They say you should talk to your doctor before beginning any exercise program, and I guess I'll just say if you haven't been running, you might want to get checked out. My only suggestion for seeking out a doctor, find one who seams like they might be active. They don't have to be a runner, but someone who is active may be able to understand what it is you are going through.