A training plan. Do you need one? What if you don’t race? Is it really necessary if your only objective is to ‘just run’? You’ve probably guessed this is headed very much in the direction of ‘yes.’ Training plans are an important tool for those that have specific goals and objectives in mind like a race, but competitive athletes definitely don’t have the monopoly on training plans. Any trail lover can build volume safely, track progress and measure change over time with a well-crafted plan. Training plans are truly brilliant resources to refer back to when things go sideways. It’s worth spending a little time delving into the nuts and bolts of what goes into creating a plan, and why you (yes you) need one.
The Basics
First we’ll cover some basic physiology and physiologic adaptations before going deeper into the specifics of training plans. It’s crucial to have a good grasp of some of the terms that are often thrown around without much context in the world of endurance sport (slow vs. fast twitch muscle fibers, VO2 max, lactate threshold, etc). The goal for most trail runners, competitively minded or not, is to build endurance. Raising the bar on your endurance limit through thoughtful, cyclic, and sustainable training will allow you to go longer, tackle tougher terrain with less effort, and decrease recovery time between workouts.
A short primer now on some basic physiology; time to cast your mind back to High School science class! We’ll be going over skeletal muscle, and that’s what I’ll be referring to when I use the term ‘muscle.’ (There are two other types of muscle: smooth and cardiac which we won’t get into). Muscles are actually comprised of bundles called fascicles which contain tightly organized individual muscle fibers. Fibers can further be subdivided into three types, Type I slow twitch (ST), fast twitch Type IIa (FTa) intermediate-fast, and Type IIb (FTb) super-fast twitch2,3,4. Slow twitch fibers are the type most endurance runners are interested in; these are the fibers that carry the vast majority of the workload for runners going long. They have greater densities of mitochondria (cellular workhouses) and capillary beds, are fatigue resistant, and have high oxidative capacity1,4. Essentially, they are perfectly suited to long days on the trail. By contrast, fast twitch fibers are the virtual opposite in makeup and are much more suited to short, explosive bouts of work like the 100m dash.
The reason muscle fiber distinction matters for runners is that there is significant evidence and research pointing to the fact that these fibers react to the stresses (ie: training) put upon them. Essentially- they will, over time, adapt to the training they are being asked to do and subsequently become more tailored to these activities5. While the jury is still out as to whether or not fiber types can change from Type I to Type II or vice versa, a sprinter who trains for maximal speed, short durations, and super-high force outputs will have FT fibers that are primed and ready to respond to these specific stressors. By contrast, endurance runners make full use of the aerobic capacity of ST fibers, and endurance training has been shown both to increase mitochondrial density as well as capillary bed size in slow twitch fiber groups.
A quick overview now on some common terminology relative to training plans and training plan design. VO2 max (your peak oxygen uptake) is merely one of many indicators of athlete potential, but it does not preordain you for any one particular athletic outcome. It is largely genetically predetermined, and well-trained athletes will see little if any variation in their VO2 max4,5. Lactate Threshold (LT) is the point at which your body begins to accumulate more lactate than it can remove within a given timeframe. The LT is highly trainable and is arguably a more important variable to target within a training plan than VO2 max4. A foremost goal of endurance training is to increase the LT creating progressively higher levels of tolerance to the stress training places on your body4,5,6.
The Why and Wherefore
Ok, so how does all of this relate to training plans? The answer is that it’s the start of a toolbox any runner will need to access to for effective training. Simply going hard for every run will invariably lead to burnout1,4,5. Conversely, never testing and pushing the limits of your LT will stymy you into perpetual ultra-shuffle territory without generating much zip in your legs. Knowing when to put in a hard effort and when to take it easy, when to taper and when to build up mileage; these are all components that need consideration4,5. Increasing training volume too fast can lead to injury. Not tapering before a big endeavour (like ANY of the magical Aspire trips) can lead to difficulty or outright inability to complete your objective.
There’re a few other aspects of training plans that need addressing here too. Plans act as a window back in time to what you were doing and when, especially when you add notes regarding your training such as: a training ‘grade’ for each day, energy levels during your run, or specific muscle aches/pains. This can be invaluable when injury strikes, and when you head to your doc only to be asked, ‘when did this start?’ To which you’ll be able to respond with a much more reliable timeline (thank you training plan!) than if you had relied solely on your hazy memories of months of training runs. Training plans are incredible tools to track progress, plateaus, and problems, to build volume, and increase your overall savviness regarding running. They create a guided timeframe that takes much of the mystery out of training.
With those glowing attributes acknowledged, it’s time for the caveats. Do not be beholden to your training plan. Despite the best laid plans, life will throw a curveball your way at some point. So much of training is a grand experiment (albeit guided by science and training theory) and there will be a certain amount of trial and error involved too. If your plan says you’re due for an 80 minute Zone 2 run and you begin only to feel like you’ve been hit by a bus–Stop. Walk. Sit down. Go home and take a nap. I recognize this scenario is absolutely anathema to most us runners. We don’t quit, we ‘battle through,’ we ‘tough it out.’ But ignoring alarm bells from your body and going out training in spite of these warning indicators will not get you ahead or earn you a special badge of toughness. (Like so many runners I’ve learnt this lesson the hard way, more than once).
I’ve spent a fair bit of time in Norway studying and training with endurance athletes there. The Norwegians often reference the old saying: ‘training makes you weak, recovery makes you stronger.’ Nothing could be truer, and the Norwegians have racks and racks of Olympic gold medals to prove they are indeed some of the strongest endurance athletes in the world; ergo they must be doing a great job resting! (Now would be a good time to look up the meaning of ‘hygge’ and then take it to heart).
The Nuts and Bolts
Let’s get to the business of planning training, what general phases of look like, and things to consider along the way. Think of the following information as additions to your training toolbox; less of a rigid prescription and more of a flexible recipe, science-guided and not tempted by fad-based training that promises impractical or impossible outcomes.
It takes a bit of humility to dive into training, especially if you’ve had a period of little or no activity. Taking an honest assessment of your baseline fitness and not worrying about what other runners are doing is important. This is where, if you’re one of those folks that enjoys the competitive side of something like Strava I’d encourage you to proceed with some caution. Never attempt to mimic the training of elite athletes. They’ve spent years or decades getting to where they’re at, often with expert coach guidance along the way9. The stellar performances the lay public witnesses from these folks is only the tip of the iceberg. Years of toil, hard work, tears, and planning9 have gone into their highly publicized successes and infrequently discussed failures. Also be wary of the competitive spirals that can happen on training platforms that are ego-oriented rather than community supportive. Jumping into an online contest with another athlete that pushes you into deleterious territory beyond your safe capacity is not ideal. It’s always good to remember that training isn’t racing, nor should it be.
Endurance base training (BT) is the starting point of your plan1,5,8. Remember those slow twitch muscle fibers we discussed earlier? Here is where they come into play in a big way. Base training is largely dominated by long, slow runs and hikes at the lower end of the effort spectrum, <Z1-Z1. These are the runs that train those ST fibers to become increasingly reactive and preferentially recruited to the activity you’re doing: long, low-intensity runs. This is the point at which other physiologic changes will begin such as endurance-orientated metabolic adaptation, faster recovery between workouts, and increased muscular and cardiovascular endurance4,5. Base training within a four month training plan can easily comprise over one third of the training mesocycle. Another thing to keep in mind, many athletes consider base training to be a years-long process. This is not to say they spend years training exclusively at this low intensity level. Rather, it means that the physiologic adaptations they enjoy as experienced runners take years of cyclic training, base building, and thousands of hours of determinedly slow, easy training4,9. It is crucial within this phase to resist the urge to chase after the rabbits on a group run, or to overstretch your base training so that it creeps into the harder effort heart rate zones (Z3+). This will defeat the purpose of base training and deny you the physiologic adaptations you’re meant to be working on1,5. (Read on to see the note on Junk Training). To many, this phase often is the patience-testing phase since it may feel like you’re not doing much at all. Rest assured you are, and the ease with which you complete these runs is a marker of your increasing base fitness.
Building Phase (BP) is where runners will get to start building on all that hard and patient time they put in during base training. This is the point at which training will include greater variability, such as runs designed to continuously challenge the upward limit of your LT (think: hill repeats, pick ups, technique focus). This training interspersed with continually longer slow runs will put you into Z2-Z3 and maybe Z4 for brief periods4,5. Think about BP as the point at which FT fibers are being added in small doses to the larger recipe you’re creating: a more durable you5,6,7. Depending upon your objective (ie: training for a 50k versus a multi-day outing) training in Z3+ may comprise 1-2 of your weekly workouts or may only make an appearance biweekly. The duration and flavour of your BP is dependent upon your end goal. A shorter event such as a 50k may actually have more time devoted to intensity training than someone training for 100+ miles or multi-day adventuring4. A 50k runner will want and need more leg speed and require less overall base training than those going longer distances.
If you’re attuned to the world of training theory and physiology9, you’ll probably have heard about ‘junk training’ or the training ‘black hole’…pick your negative descriptor. This is a very real concern, and definitely applies to the competitive and non-competitive alike. BP puts runners in close proximity with this type of training, and it takes a very self-aware runner to not dive into the black hole of junk training at least a few times (guilty here). Junk training is often referenced as training that occurs at the top end of Z3-Z4 and is performed repeatedly without any real consideration or respect for the true training objective of the day. This type of training is so prevalent because it feels great and productive; it’s hard enough to make you feel like you really accomplished something, but not quite hard enough to be considered a true Z4-Z5 workout1,4. It’s also not easy enough to be considered Z1-Z2+ base or lactate threshold training, meaning you’ll also miss out on all the benefits that training bestows on you1,2,5,7. Lots of runners can and do sustain junk training for months or even years (guilty again!). They may be solid runners with impressive performances, but frequently see little long-term progression, are prone to overuse injuries, and are definitely not attaining the upper reaches of their true potential. Instead, these runners often accumulate many of the negative side effects of hard training (sustained muscle damage, lackadaisical recovery, performance plateaus) without any of the benefits. Speaking from more personal experience than I would like to admit to, it took several back-to-back injuries years ago for me to evaluate my training methodology and finally begin to learn from my past mistakes.
The last segment of training is actually comprised of two smaller parts: Tuning Phase and Tapering Phase (TTP). This phase is the shortest of all the phases and is highly variable depending on what you’re training for. In general terms, volume of training will decrease incrementally allowing for greater recovery while attempting to preserve the highest level of fitness you’ve attained in the previous phase. This is a great time to dial in things that are not strictly running but will have definitive influence on the success of your goal run. For example: fuelling strategy, blister and chafing management, hydration planning, navigation and logistics, and gear review. For the uninitiated, many of the things in the aforementioned list might elicit an eye-roll or not even that much attention. However, I’ve seen many a fellow runner side-lined and/or unable to finish due to any one or a combination of those items. I myself have experienced the dreaded GI distress that puts your stomach in knots for hours, failed to account for pack chafing, nearly DNF’d due to macerated feet, and been lost in the night portion of a 120 miler in the rain. All not fun. All part of the adventure, and well noted as things to learn from for future outings. The point here is that small things become very big things when you’ve been out on the trail for hours or even days, and all the training in the world will not help you if you haven’t taken care of the non-running side of business.
The lighter training volume of the Tapering portion of the TTP is crazy making for some runners whilst others whole-heartedly embrace the freedom that comes with less training. You can generally expect the taper period to be from 2-3 weeks, with the last week largely consisting of ‘activity recovery’ (think: jogging with your 80 year old dad, riding a bike with your kid, going for a swim). To borrow a phrase from the road running community, the ‘taper tantrums’ come into play in a big way here for a lot of people. Regardless of whether you’re tapering for a race or resting up for a dreamy trip on the Wonderland Trail (ahem, did I mention Aspire yet?) the temptation to head out for a long, hard run when you’re at peak fitness and recovery is almost irresistible. But like so many things in life, good things come to those who wait!
The Next Step (after step, after step, after step)
Writing a training plan from scratch, even equipped with the information here, can be a daunting task. This blog has only scratched the tiniest of surfaces in training plan design, methodology, and implementation. To the intrepid reader who has made it this far, you’re a trooper. And for that fortitude you get to be one of the first folks in the loop about the forthcoming Aspire Spring Training Plan. This will be a 4-month plan debuting in March, geared toward getting you ready to embark on the Aspire adventure of choice or any trail objective you might have in mind for the summer. We’ll put the principles discussed in this blog to use in the Training Plan creating a supportive, ego-free community in which we can cheer our fellow runners and field questions along the way.
So-here’s to a healthy 2021 running season and to hitting the trails together, whether that be remotely or in a socially distanced reality.
JOIN US next month when our Spring Training Plan kicks off! We’ll provide a detailed week by week plan complete with suggested strength training and rest days. Beginning in March, we’ll host monthly webinars alongside the training program where you can ask Cate your burning questions on how to train well. Head here for more info and to join the mailing list for training plan updates!
Resources
- Hedelin, R., G. Kentta, U. Wiklund, P. Bjerle, and K. Henriksson-Larsen. Short-term overtraining: effects on performance, circulatory responses, and heart rate variability. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 32:1480-1482. 2000.
- Hills, A.P., N.M. Byrne, and A.J. Ramage. Submaximal markers of exercise intensity. J. Sports Sci. 16:S71-S76. 1998.
- Horowitz, J. E., L. S. Sidossis, and E. F. Coyle. “High Efficiency of Type I Muscle Fibers Improves.” Int. J. Sports Med 15 (1994): 152-157.
- House, Steve, and Scott Johnston. Training for the New Alpinism. Patagonia Books, Ventura, California, 2014.
- House, Steve, Scott Johnston, and Kilian Jornet. Training for the Uphill Athlete. Patagonia Books, Ventura, California, 2019.
- Lambert M.I., Z.H. Mbambo, and A. St Clair Gibson. Heart rate during training and competition for long distance running. J. Sports Sci. 16: S85-S90. 1998.
- Noakes, T.D., M.I. Lambert, and M. Gleeson. Heart rate monitoring and exercise: Challenges for the future. J. Sports Sci. 16: S105-S106. 1998.
- Smith, D.J. A Framework for Understanding the Training Process Leading to Elite Performance. Sports Med 33, 1103–1126. 2003.
- Tønnessen,E., Madsen, Ø., Haugen, T., Staff, H. (2019) Arbeidskrav i idretten. Norge Olympiatoppen. Available: https://www.olympiatoppen.no/fagstoff/treningsplanlegging/page557.html [Accessed: 12 December 2020].
Join our Spring Training Community to receive Cate’s Spring Training Plan, including monthly webinars exploring mountain fitness.
The first webinar on the benefits of an “off” season training plan is Sunday, February 21st. Register to get into the science, explore how to adjust a training plan for real life, and join the Q&A.
Cate Airoldi brings over a decade of training and racing experience to Aspire, with first place finishes in distances ranging from 50 to 120 miles. With an educational background in Physiology, Kinesiology, and Sports Performance, she has been training individual and team athletes since 2011. Cate holds CPT and LMT certifications, and is a current MSc graduate student in Sports Performance Coaching.