Here in part one, I’ll try to summarise Rubio’s six key ingredients for a schedule and explain how and why you should include them into your weekly schedule, and in part two, I’ll give you an idea of how to fit this training into your weekly schedule. If you’re a member of our running club, this includes our Wednesday sessions and circuits.
After months of marathon training and then two months of winding down, racing and re-winding up again, I’m ready for something new. So I picked Run Strong (Human Kinetics, Ed Kevin Beck) off my shelf last night for some bedtime reading (I’d read enough about Bin Laden’s execution!). Chapter 3 by Joe Rubio, Devising an Efficient Training Plan, caught my eye! As he says, ‘you’ve probably played around with your training schedule in an attempt to improve your race performances, and maybe you’ve had mixed results.’ This is true – but before I go on to what he recommends, one thing I can say, that for me, mileage works – that’s my common denominator for success.
Rubio explains how he stumbled across his formula for success, and that the most striking thing about it was its simplicity. So here goes, here are the six elements he recommends including in your schedule…
1. a weekly long run of 90 to 120 minutes
2. General training runs of 45 to 90 minutes and consistent double days
3. Progressive tempo runs (eg his favourite, 5 miles warm up, 5 miles at marathon pace, 5 miles as hard as he could go)
4. Intervals of 800m to 2.4k at 5k to 10k race pace
5. 200, 300 or 400m intervals faster than 5k pace
6. A recovery day each week
1 and 2 address a key component required to improve, says Rubio, aerobic conditioning. This slow/steady running boosts your aerobic capacity by putting more oxygen into your muscles. It also improves joint and tendon strength (with less injury risk); helps your body store fuels, such as carbohydrate and fatty acids; increases the number and size of mitochondria; and improves oxygen transportation via bigger and better capillaries!
This type of training has been the bulk of my training for the last few years – lots of easy running with my heart rate in the 120s for two hour Downs runs. And this combined with a couple of speed sessions a week did help me go from a 3:18 marathon to a 3:12 in two years – the biggest change for me was adding volume – going from 50 to 70 miles per week.
Progressive tempo runs address ‘anaerobic conditioning’ says Rubio. ‘By training consistently at paces ranging from slightly slower than marathon race pace up to 10k race pace for sustained periods, athletes increase their plasma volume, capillary density, and stroke volume, all necessary ingredients for faster running.’
I’ve always found this type of training harder to put into practice, and have found racing is the only way I can get myself to run at these paces. However, as @juliaarmstrong said yesterday, the irony is that the fitter you get, the more races take out of you, as it’s harder to recover. The less fit you are, the easier it is to ‘race yourself fit’… good news for me then! I also think to do a good progressive tempo run takes fitness that needs to be built up to – but lots of people would disagree!
The fourth element, interval work at 800m to 2.4k at 5k/10k pace trains ‘aerobic capacity’. ‘By training consistently at 5k to 10k pace the athlete trains at 90 to 100 percent of Vo2 max pace, the exact pace necessary to develop maximum oxygen uptake by the muscles, a key component in distance running performance.’ And of course doing interval, as opposed to running a 5k or 10k every week, means you can do this without getting too exhausted.
Rubio’s fifth element, 200s, 300s, 400s at faster than 5k pace, develops ‘anaerobic capacity’. ‘Primary benefits include increased tolerance of lactic acid and lower-leg strength.’ This type of training will also help the body become ‘more efficient at the actual act of running’ by making you more efficient, by boosting ‘running economy’.
The final element is recovery… do I need to tell you why that’s important? Recovery can either be a very easy run, or a total rest day.
Those who attend our interval sessions on Wednesday nights will notice I’ll be alternating 4 and 5 this month – so that you can try out these six principles for yourself.
Now clearly, that’s a lot of elements for one week. So the idea is to spread the sessions over 7, 14 or 21 days, depending on where you’re at. For me it’ll be 14 days. Rubio suggests you plan in your recovery day first, then your long run, then plan in the primary workout days – ie the harder interval/tempo runs. For me I prefer to do my harder sessions on Wednesday (our club night) and Saturday (5k time trials). Rubio recommends rotating your workouts in this order:
1. 200s, 300s, or 400s (anaerobic capacity) (WEDS)
2. 800m to 2.4k intervals at 5k to 10k race pace (aerobic capacity)
3. Tempo run of approximately 30 minutes at threshold pace (anaerobic conditioning) <<For Rubio this was actually his 15 miler, easy 5, 5 at MP and 5 hard – the last 10 miles would have been anaerobic conditioning for him>>
But he also points out that most runners will benefit most from working on developing their aerobic capacity (as I said I think you need to get fit to train anaerobically). So, if you’re doing two hard sessions a week, he suggests you always include the aerobic capacity workout and don’t do 1, 2, 3 and then 1 again, instead he suggests
Week one: 2. Aerobic-capacity workout (800m to 2.4k); 3. Anaerobic conditioning workout (threshold) (Saturday)
Week two: 2. Aerobic-capacity workout (800m to 2.4k); 1. Anaerobic capacity workout (200s, 300s, 400s) (Saturday)
Rubio says to do the double days on ‘hard’ days – and for his top athletes, hard days make up at least two days a week, so for me that’s Wednesday and Saturday! If you’re really serious, Rubio says you can add double days to up to six days a week! (ahem, maybe, a bit further down the line!).
As for the general training runs of 45 to 90 minutes, Rubio says ‘Whether you choose to do two-a-days and whether you keep to the shorter end of the the 45 to 90 minute range or the longer end is as much a matter of preference and recoverability as it is a function of your chosen race distance.’ Needless to say, the best runners would opt for the 90 minute twice a day option. Also, Rubio’s suggested schedule is applicable to any distance, and with relevant adaptations, to any runner. The point he makes over and over again, is that you need to be consistent – and do the training week in and week out!
Go to part two to see how you can fit this training into your weekly schedule. If you’re a member of our running club, this includes our Wednesday sessions and circuits.
