Rise of the American Mile, Part 2: Better Coaching

 Through the many decades of trial and error, it seems that we have finally figured out how to coach distance runners in the good ole US of A. The science of running is never exact and is constantly changing, but it seems that we have figured out a rough formula to create successful endurance machines.

Jim Ryun- Best miler in American history

I am borderline obsessed with training theory and philosophy and also fancy myself a bit of a historian. Hence, here is a brief history of American training theory for distance runners:

 In the 50s and 60s, training was all about interval work to tax the anaerobic system and push the limits of the human body. The much coveted sub 4:00 mile was at stake, so you can see why people found it attractive to run ten to fifteen 400s at 60 seconds. When the barrier was broken, the interval work proved effective, so people stuck with it.

In the 70s and 80s it was all about high mileage to build up aerobic endurance. The marathon became more popular and “jogging” suddenly became an American past time. The effective idea with high mileage was simply that the more we make our bodies use to the repetition of mileage, the easier and more efficient we will be at that motion—no matter what distance. (If you want to be money from the free-throw line, shoot 100 from the line every day. If you want to be good at running, lace em up and run 18 miles a day.)  It was not uncommon for professional runners in this time period to run 130-140 miles a week on a regular weekly basis. 

Frank Shorter-- Olympic Champ-- known to run 170 mi/week

 Today, we are starting to realize that a combination of all these things are necessary to develop well rounded runners. Not just aerobic work, not just anaerobic work, but a combination of both. Additionally, throw some speed work in for good measure and you have a well rounded machine of an athlete—two iron pistons underneath steel lungs that can effectively hang for 10 laps, surge with the leaders, and close the race in a blazing 53 seconds for the win. 

 Plus, Jack Daniels, PhD developed a book based purely on scientific data about how to train distance runners. I have adequately heard this book described as “The Bible” by numerous top-level coaches. This makes it easy for coaches to personalize training for specific athletes. The whole “one training model fits all” is now obsolete thanks to Daniels. Individualization is the key to good training and many coaches understand that now. 

Additionally, our governing body for the sport, USA Track and Field, holds track and field coaching education courses year round all over the country to provide coaches with education about the sport.  Thanks to USATF, coaches are gaining valuable knowledge by realizing that coaching track and field is a science based on physiology and the human body, rather than an experiment based on trial and error.

Alberto Salazar-- two National records in one race

All over the country our top athletes are training with the best coaches in the world right here in the USA. Even athletes from other countries come over to be coached by the likes of Alberto Salazar (He has British, Irish, African, and American athletes in his training group right now-- many of whom have national records in their respective countries). Likewise, our college system turns out some of the most skilled and knowledgeable coaches in the world that recruit from all every continent including, Europe, Africa, and Australia.

Training the human body to perform at its absolute highest level, in a sport that demands perfection, is a science. Finally, we have the scientists for the job in the US… and it has made all the difference in the world.

Rise of the American Mile, Part 1

Less than 60 years ago, some of the most prestigious scientists in the world adamantly felt that running a metric mile in under 4:00 was outside the realm of human possibility. Learned medical scholars agreed that surpassing this barrier—running a quartet of laps around a 400 meter oval in under 1 minute each—would cause the heart to fail, the lungs to collapse, and the legs to seize.

Today, in 2012, running the 1609 in under 4 minutes will not even qualify you for the national collegiate championship. On some collegiate teams, like Oregon or Stanford, you might only get a pat on the back. (In 2009, Oregon had 5 sub 4 minute milers on their roster!) Again, let me put that into perspective: What was once thought physically impossible by the human body only 60 years ago is now done in a routine manner by 18-22 year old guys in a country that is considered mediocre at best when it comes to distance running. However, that last assumption is quickly changing. The One Mile Run has been a benchmark for the incredible and unprecedented improvement of the American distance running system.

 In 2000, six collegiate milers broke the 4:00 barrier, according to Track and Field News. In 2010, 22 collegiates broke the barrier during the indoor season. Because of the enormous mile fields at the NCAA meet, they changed the automatic qualifier for the NCAA championship to 3:57.9 in 2012. You need to break 3:58 to qualify for a collegiate championship in track and field right now! So far this season, 28 people have broken 4:00, ten have run under the automatic qualifier and the American collegiate record has been broken by Miles Batty of BYU running a sickly 3:54.54. And remember, this is just the collegiate system—the developmental program for our professional level teams. 

 On a pro-level, the past three years of American distance running has seen the American record for the men’s 5k broken three times and the 10k record broken twice. Likewise, both the half marathon and marathon record have been broken by Ryan Hall. We have seen both men’s and women’s world championship winners and medalists in all events from 1500 to 5k in the past five years. One thing is for sure: There has never been a better time to be US distance running fan.

What could possibly be responsible for the seemingly implausible rise in American distance running in recent years? How has our sport elevated from a phase in which running was considered recreational exercise to a point where we are finally beginning to be competitive with the best runners in the world? All sports are subject to evolve and improve over time; That is simply the evolutionary nature of athletics. However, something strange is happening with the sport of track and field in the US. A sport that was once monopolized by East African countries is now beginning to evolve... and the Americans are getting some mentions and recognitions. I believe that there are a few things that are responsible for this dramatic transformation and I will discuss them over the course of the next week or two…

Injury: Part II

"Shattered against the rocks" 

The month that likely broke me-- namely that last week

In a perfect world, we all walk that fine line with ease; realistically, this is not the case. So what do you do if you find yourself shattered against the rocks? This is something that until recently, I have honestly had very little experience with. I walked that line very well for about 7 years, until I wrote a certain blog in which I stated “I have had 8+ years of virtually injury free training.” As per usual, I was sidelined with intense IT pain about a week after writing that—10 days before my half marathon debut (when I was in the best shape of my life nonetheless). After 10 days of barely any running and an excessive amount of cross-training, I ran a race in Philly that I considered to be mediocre at best relative to the shape I was in. Recently, after months of rehab (thanks Advanced Sports Chiro) I was finally getting consistent training in with hopes of a spring season. Last week I finished a successful early season workout of 4x400, and a 5 mile tempo, before exclaiming “man, I’m really glad my IT held up for that.” No sooner did I start my cool down before my IT locked up, preventing me from making it across the track. I am now an avid believer in running karma.

Stimulation therapy-- electrodes on my leg

In my mind, there are two types of running injuries: Those you can rest, and those you can’t afford to rest. If you are in your base building phase or any early stage of training, and have the luxury of time, do yourself a favor and rest. 1 day, 3 days, a week, 2 weeks—if you don’t need to be in peak racing shape for a few months then take the time off while you still can. It is never beneficial to run injured. It destroys you physically and mentally. It saps all the joy out of the sport. What you need to do is dedicate all your time to rehab. Say you run 45 minutes day when healthy. When hurt, you need to rehab 45 minutes a day. Stretch, massages, foam-roll, ice and repeat as many times as necessary to take care of your injury. I understand that this is tedious, but it needs to be done in order to return to health. I learned this the hard way. MANY running injuries do not go away just by taking time off. Constant attention is a necessity.

Every runner should have a foam roller

Those injuries that you can’t afford to rest come in your final stages of competition—when you are weeks away from your goal race that you have spent many months training for. In this case, cross-training is the solution. Many types of cross-training provide low impact exercises for muscular and aerobic development. Some of the best kinds are swimming, elliptical, biking, cross-ramp, and pool running. Contrary to popular belief, you can stay in excellent shape simply by cross-training. If you do a variety of exercises daily, you can get the same—if not a better—stimulus than actual running. The trick is to do more volume of cross-training. If you run for 45 minutes a day, cross-train for 90 minutes when injured. This can be extremely difficult and mentally taxing. It is easy to give up hope when you’re sidelined and just succumb to the injury. If you want to make the months you spent training for your race worthwhile, then you need to stay focused and rededicate yourself to a different kind of training—a more monotonous kind.

Being injured is the most trying ordeal any dedicated runner will face. It can take everything you worked for and leave you in physical and emotional pain. However, you can also find a lot out about yourself as a runner—and as a person—while injured. It is a question of how you respond to adversity. Do you pack it in and chalk it up as bad luck and lost season? Or do you hang tough and rededicate yourself to your goal, grinding it out until the job is done? 

From personal experience, my first real trial with injury was my senior year of college during indoor track. With a week before the conference championship I strained a muscle in my lower quad. It was an injury I could not run through because it locked up my whole knee, changing my stride. It would have been easy to pack it up as a lost season and get focused on building a base for outdoor. However, I decided to grind it out and see what I could do. I spent four days furiously cross-training and rehabbing with a chip on my shoulder, trying to prove to myself that I could still salvage the season. After 4 days, it felt good enough to test out with a light workout—8-10 quarter miles at around 67 seconds. After nailing the workout I felt good about my chances for the meet.  Got a 10 minute pre-meet in and decided to lace up the spikes and see if I could hang in the race, very unsure of my fitness. To this day, it is one of the most memorable races I’ve ever run, and by far the conference title I am most proud of.

Injury: Part I

"Staying healthy is half the battle."

I have found that, ironically, one of the best things about the sport of running is also one of the biggest detriments. So many people fall in love with this sport for one single idea: The harder you work, the better you get. It is one of the things that makes the sport so pure. Your competition runs 70 miles a week. You run 85 and you outwork him with higher mileage, more tempos, and faster workouts, inevitably becoming the faster, stronger runner. Unfortunately, this is a misconception—and it is a misconception that leads to the biggest pitfall in our sport: The much dreaded injury.

Our sport is one of high stress and high impact on almost every bone, joint, muscle and tendon below your waist. Almost all running injuries are related to over-use. So how do we outwork our opponent without pushing yourself across the line that may lead to stress or injury? The answer is simple: Don’t out train the competition. Outsmart them. You need to train with a more innate sense of your physical and mental limitations. One of the most important things I have learned in my years of running is that staying healthy is half the battle. Consistent training kills the competition. Don’t destroy yourself to make huge gains over a one or two month period. Stay healthy, motivated and injury free for 6 months and make steady progress towards your goal.

In my (not expert) opinion, staying healthy comes from being in touch with your body—and no, not in that way. If you can understand when your muscles are sore and need to be stretched, massaged, and iced, then you can prevent injury. If you can understand exactly what kind of food and hydration your body needs to perform at its highest level, you will have the most successful training possible and prevent sickness. If you know exactly how many hours of sleep your body needs in relation to your mileage, then you will be able to stay healthy and energized. If you can “feel” that exact pace and intensity that your body needs on recovery days, workout days, and longruns then you can optimize your training. In essence, if you can walk that very fine line between training perfection and absolute disaster, then you are master of your body. There is such an infinitesimal difference between sailing happily on the ocean waves and crashing along the rocky shores; if you understand that difference then you can own your training. 

Over-training can put you on this long, lonely, uphill path

It is those who walk this line that I have seen become successful over the years—and likewise—It is those who blur that line that I have seen crash and burn over the years. More often than not, someone who makes conservative, steady progress with their training will trump someone who tries to rush fitness. Run enough mileage, high intensity intervals, and speed workouts and you will get into scary fast shape in a month or two. But you run the risk of peaking too early, sustaining a severe injury, or becoming mentally exhausted from pushing yourself to the limit. Either way, you regress back to square one. Nothing destroys a season (and your morale) like a stress fracture, tendonitis, a long-term sickness or the much feared "burn out" . Lay a foundation, be patient with your fitness, and train in a correct and physiologically sound way and you will make leaps and bounds over a 4-6 month period. If this plan is followed, weeks, months and years of happy, injury-free training can follow. 

Coffeeing-Up

 “Coffee is the sweet nectar of life” 

Three things I attribute to drastic positive changes in my running career: 1) Switching from Nike trainers to Brooks, 2) introducing a regular strength routine into my training regimen, 3) Embracing the gloriously dark, heart-thumping nectar of life that is coffee.

Many people see coffee as nothing but an unwanted, unsafe caffeine boost that grabs hold of you and enslaves you for life. I won’t disagree that once you are hooked, you are hooked for life. However, I am fine with being dependent on something as useful, cheap, and easily available as coffee. The day they stop making and selling coffee at every convenience store, corner market, snack stand, and organized gathering of over 10 people, is the day that I will give up running and possibly being a productive human being all together.

Opponents of coffee fail to see the positive nutritional effects of it on physical activity. Not only does coffee increase your heart rate and warm-up your body up for activity; It helps you store glycogen and burn fat more efficiently. Yes, it is a diuretic, and yes it can dehydrate you if used incorrectly. Just make sure that you double-fist hydrate with both coffee and water or a sports drink. Also, leave yourself plenty of time to use the bathroom, which you will have to frequently.

One of my best friends since high school—and my longest legitimate training partner (7 years and counting)—was a huge opponent of coffee. Not only did he have an intense hatred for the taste and a loathing of the smell, he saw no real use in terms of running. Needles to say, he was adamantly against my favorite beverage and we spent many runs bickering about the topic. I’m not quite sure what made him cave, but I received a text from him a month or two ago that read: “ Dude. Drank a cup of coffee. I feel like I can run a 4 min mile. And take over the world.” Beautifully put. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

Fam's Alaskan brew- Dead Man's Reach

I have woken up late for a scheduled longrun, forgetting to eat a breakfast, and made it 20 miles up and down South Mountain with nothing to fuel me but a steaming cup of joy. Ryan Hall puts coffee in his pancakes (true fact). Anthony Famiglietti gets Alaskan Coffee shipped to him that he brews only on race days. Even the famed Quenton Cassidy disappeared into the woods with little more than a pair of trainers and coffee pot, and we all know how that turned out. (Disclaimer: Not even coffee will make you run 60 barefoot 400s in 62-63 seconds)

One the biggest proponents of coffee I know is my former college coach. Ironically, he also happens to be the single greatest mind in the land when it comes to distance running, and he himself was one the most accomplished long distance runners in the history of the country. He is the proverbial Godfather of running— if Vito Corleone could run a 2:12 marathon and win a bronze medal at the World Championship. Anyway, he once told me that using coffee the right way could take 30-40 seconds off my 8k time. Now, this is by no means a proven scientific formula and may have been highly exaggerated, but the point is: when an Olympian talks, you listen—especially when you are a young, impressionable freshman. And listen I did. My running career took off and I never looked back… or stopped drinking my liquid stamina.

If you are feeling stiff and asleep for the first half of your morning run—coffee up. If you are having trouble mustering the energy to get in a 30 min afternoon run—coffee up. If you have a tough workout that you absolutely need to nail—coffee up. If you can’t make it though the day of work because you are at the tail end of a 90 mile week—coffee up. If you see it mid-race at a fueling stop—just kidding, don’t coffee up mid-race. Anyone who has been shunning this beverage, needs to wake up and realize the benefits! We need to start a coffee revolution in the running community. Do your part. Make your fellow runner coffee up!

Getting into a Routine

“Distance runners are creatures of habit”

There aren’t many recovery runs I can remember during the glory days of college. They all seem to blur together in a muddle of monotony and pain. One, however, I can recall clearly. Not because it was a particularly exciting run, but because I received an excellent piece of advice that has stuck with me through all these years.  

My sophomore year, I was out laboring through one of the textbook Shippensburg running loops in the early hours of the morning. The loop, dubbed “school loop,” is a seven miler that connects the University and the high school by means of long, rolling farm roads. Every freshmen on the team knows this loop from their first month on campus. It is not particularly exciting; it is a staple loop. Something to add on 45 minutes here or there. Most runners in Shippensburg traverse it  4-5 times over the week. This morning I happened to be running with one of the wisest runners I know, the proverbial “grandfather” of the team. I say grandfather not for his age (he’s 26), but for his uncanny ability to be wise beyond his years when it comes to matters of anything endurance.

As we chugged along on the early morning recovery run, I remember him saying “Man, I could run this loop everyday for the rest of my life.”  When I disgustedly asked him, “How? Why?” he dropped this earth-shattering line on me: “Distance runners are creatures of habit. I find something that works and I stick with it.” I shrugged it off, thinking he was partially insane, or that it was too early in the morning. In retrospect, this simple word of advice would be the reason for my success as a collegiate athlete and beyond.

Great training can be equated to putting successful, injury-free weeks on top of one another. After that, you can start talking months, and maybe even years of consistently solid training. If one looks at training as a singular week—maybe 2 workouts, 1 longrun, a few strength sessions—it becomes much less daunting than viewing it as, say, an October of steady 85-100 mile weeks. In order to successfully pile these quality weeks on top of each other, one must become master of his/her daily routine.

The moral of the story is not to run the same loop over and over again. The point is that the number one way for your body to easily adapt to a high stress load is by getting in a routine; you must become a creature of habit. If you are trying to run a 100 mile week, while working a full-time job, and coaching (believe me, I have) then you must plan every single day out as to when you will sleep, eat, run, stretch, hydrate, recover, etc. When you are pushing your body to the physical and mental limit day after day, you must give it some sort of regularity to help it adjust to the increased work-load. Block your day off with these designated times and be selfish with them. Don’t disrupt your routine for anybody. If you are fully dedicated to making training your first priority then you don’t push your afternoon run back for anyone or anything. Even the rapture. 

I know I am getting good training in when I fall into a routine. Likewise, I know my training is going poorly when I can’t seem to get on schedule with my runs, with work, with sleeping, with meals, etc. This routine is the so called “daily grind” that runners are always talking about. The grind is getting up at 5:00 to get a 30 minute run in before work. The grind is hitting the bathroom 10 times a day at work because you’re hydrating and increasing the recovery process. The grind is muscling out the afternoon run and having enough will power to hit the weights for a few sets after. The grind is getting a hearty, protein-filled, tasteless meal in, getting some work done, and going to bed at 9 (without a beer) to do it all again the next morning. Once you have trained your body to easily fall into a routine then you can start to really reap the benefits of your hard work.

The best season of training that I ever had, came during my hardest semester of academics. Student teaching while running 100 mile weeks is an ordeal that brought me to knees (literally and figuratively) on more than one occasion. However, it allowed me to get into a routine like I have never been in before, and it forced me to stay on that routine. The first week I thought that I made a mistake trying to take on this much at once. The second month I was buckling under the physical and mental stress, all the while cursing myself to the tone of “this better pay off.” The fourth month I had PRed by 56 second over 10k and qualified for my first NCAA championship—a goal I had set for myself in high school. I don’t think there are too many secrets left in the running world, but if there was, this would be mine. To date, I have had 8+ years of virtually injury free training in which I have PRed in every single event run, every single year… not to toot my own horn. 

It is a fairly simple idea; running is a sport of repetition and monotony. You train your body to repeat the same motion over and over again. It only makes sense to train it to go through the same routine over and over again in order to make the running easier. If you get tired by the same old routine and can’t fall into the zone that is consistent training, then find a new sport, plain and simple. This is our sport: monotonous and masochistic; mind numbingly boring at times and breathtakingly exhilarating at other times. Be a creature of habit. Don’t listen to the people who say “you’re like a robot, going through the motions day after day.” Tell them “Nope, I’m just a runner.” Then tell them that you’re too busy winning to care what they have to say anyway.