Running Faster

Running Faster: Why You Should Care About Technique… Even If You're Not a Sprinter By Tim Alan Kauppinen

This article originally appeared in the sports science newsletter, Peak Performance. Do you think you are to blame for your sports injury? Well, you probably are!

The cause of most distance running injuries is due to training errors committed by the athlete. Training errors don’t necessarily mean you are doing the wrong type of training but are more than likely associated with high training volumes or intensities and any rapid changes in training.

Studies by James and colleagues (1978), Brody (1980) and Clement and colleagues (1981) all found training errors are the most significant cause of running injuries even though James and colleagues (1978) hypothesised that anatomical and biomechanical factors were the likely cause.

Some examples of training errors are performing high mileage without easy days in between and suddenly increasing the mileage you run. To understand why these training errors may cause injury you need to think about the strains put on the body during running.

Running causes a stress on the bones, joints and muscles of the legs and lower back causing damage which must be repaired, through rest, before further training. Therefore combining regular training with adequate recovery results in what is called 'supercompensation'.

Supercompensation
Supercompensation means that during training the capacity to perform decreases but with adequate recovery a supercompensation effect occurs causing an increased performance capacity and the strengthening of all the bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles.

However if you continue with high mileage training day after day, there is never sufficient recovery. In time, instead of growing stronger, your body becomes permanently weakened and an injury will result.

By suddenly increasing your mileage you are putting stresses on the bones, ligaments, tendons and muscles that they are not used to. This is because the body can only be as strong as its current training level. Extra strength cannot suddenly be developed as an immediate response to training increases. Supercompensation is therefore a long-term progressive adaptation.

Planning Your Training
Avoiding these two common errors, of prolonged high mileage with inadequate recovery and sudden mileage increase should be a major priority for athletes and coaches. Therefore careful planning of training, with adequate rest periods, is required and should be stuck to.

Each month an athlete should plan their training in every detail. A full rest day is recommended once a week or every other week with easy days recommended every three days. Mileage increases should be no greater than 10 per cent a week.

Progression is the Key
The main principle for planning training is a slow and steady progression. Firstly work out at what level of mileage you can currently train at without becoming injured.

Then you must carefully plan a slow progression over a period of months up to the mileage level you would like to be training at. Not only will this slow progression prevent injury but it will also improve performance.

Further Training Errors
Rapidly changing any aspect of an athletes training is also likely to cause injury. These include adding high intensity training to your programme or changing the running surface.

Adding high intensity training to your workout could be a situation where you have spent months on steady mileage training and then decide to include fast anaerobic interval sessions. The body is not used to the new stresses of the faster pace, resulting in greater muscle and impact forces. Muscles therefore tire quickly, placing extra strain on the bones and joints with the result being INJURY!

To add interval sessions into your programme this should again be steadily progressed. Fartlek sessions (involving changing the pace during your run, e.g. fast sections with slower recovery periods). can be used once a week.

After several weeks of Fartlek training introduce steady interval sessions at 3K pace. Gradually build up from 8-10 x 40mm with 60 seconds recovery to 25 x 400m. Once you are used to this pace, you can attempt faster paced sessions to train the anaerobic system.

Changing the running surface is another error. Hard surfaces, e.g. roads, require high impact forces to be absorbed and you need to be able to cope with this. However hard surfaces are true and do not dampen propulsive forces (ability to propel the body while running).

Soft surfaces e.g. off road terrain, have less of an impact force but damage propulsive forces. By changing the surface you train on problems may occur due to the different stresses placed on the muscles. To adapt to the different surafce you need to change your neuromuscular coordination.

Artificial surfaces also have unique properties that you must be used to coping with. If athletes are to train or race on different surfaces then they must plan in advance the switch in surface and build up the training on the new surface slowly.

A common Problem
A very common training error of most athletes are compound rapid changes. A classic compound change is a runner doing steady runs on the road in trainers all winter to then switch to fast work on the track with spikes in the summer.

Three variables have suddenly changed: the intensity of training, the surface and the shoe! Spikes have less support and place greater stress on the lower leg muscles.

This change in shoe, the higher impact forces of the fast speeds and different muscle recruitment required for the spongy nature of the track is often too much for the athlete and injury will result. This injury risk can be drastically reduced by including fast track sessions throughout the whole year.

As long as you are used to, and can cope with, a variety of surfaces or shoes then that is fine. Remember, it is rapid changes that have to be eliminated, not necessarily variety in your training.

All the above training errors are commonly committed by distance runners but also by coaches and athletes from all events and sports. Coaches and athletes must understand that by using prolonged high intensity training, high volumes of training and any rapid change in any aspect of training then they are increasing injury risk.

Therefore careful programme planning with slow progressions during training must be done to avoid injury.

But a word of warning: because elite performance requires high mileage and high-intensity training, athletes are still at risk simply from hard training. Some may be able to withstand it; others may need to reduce their training to remain injury-free. Only then will they reap the benefits of uninterrupted training. To underline the point, here is a telling comment from Derek Clayton, the former world-class marathon runner:

'If I had my competitive career to run over again, I would change some of my attitudes to injuries. I would show them more respect. Because, after all, injuries weren't some unknown barrier I was trying to break through. Injuries were simply my body telling me that something wrong was happening'

References
1. Kesting, S. (2003) Perfect Peaking Part 1: Overtraining and its prevention in mixed martial arts conditioning. [Internet] Available from www.grapplearts.com/Overtraining-Article.htm

About The Author
Tim Alan Kauppinen, or Coach K, has over 20 years experience as an athlete and coach. He has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities in track and field, football, speed training and strength and conditioning. This has given him the privilege and the opportunity to coach athletes who have become conference champions, state champions and Division I college players. Coach K is the author of Uphill Fitness Training and Ultimate Insider Speed Training Secrets. Coach K also publishes a free daily fitness email with current tips on getting stronger, faster and in the best shape of your life. To sign up for this no cost service, visit Coach K's website at http://www.makesyoufast.com

Speed Training    Agility Training    Speed Training Workouts   Strength Training for Speed
Sport Specific Speed Training   Speed Training Equipment   Speed Products   Resources  
Most Popular   Speed Training Product   Sports Training Product    Strength Training    Program Design   Conditioning   Sports Nutrition    Link to us   Site Map   Speed Training Home