# Become a Faster Runner WITHOUT Risking Injury | Ep 516

An episode of [Oxygenaddict Triathlon Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/951501034), 20 Nov 2024, 20 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/ea99f7d8/podcast/play/94669404/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2024-10-19%2F390118912-44100-2-63afbb95455ba.mp3

BLACK FRIDAY 2024 Special Offer: Save £200 on an annual membership to Team Oxygenaddict! Book an application call before the end of November 2024 to qualify (https://team.oxygenaddict.com/consultation-call/ ) In this episode, the third in our winter training mini-series, we're focusing on run training. We take a deep dive into how to structure your winter run training to build a strong base for next spring... Our baseline testing protocol to enable you to measure the progress of your run fitness & speed... How to become a faster runner while avoiding injury... The importance of steady pacing, the benefits of the nine-minute run/one-minute walk method for long runs, and the role of differing run sessions each week.

## Transcript

[0:04] Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Oxygen Addict
[0:07] Triathlon Podcast. We're brought to you every week
[0:09] by our sponsors, Precision Fuel and hydration.com.
[0:12] You can personalise your fueling and hydration strategy so you
[0:15] perform your best with 15% off your first order of electrolytes
[0:19] and carbohydrate fuel with the code OXYGEN 24 at
[0:22] precisionfuelandhydration.com. Welcome to the show, everybody.
[0:26] I'm your host, coach Rob Wilby, and every week we bring you an
[0:28] episode of this podcast to help motivate and inspire you.
[0:31] Listen, before we kick this off, there's a couple of things you
[0:33] could do for us. Please, if you like and enjoy
[0:36] this episode, please consider following us on Spotify or Apple
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[0:41] And if you're watching on YouTube, please click like and
[0:44] subscribe. It helps the growth of the show.
[0:47] It helps us get shown to more people, that helps us get more
[0:50] athletes into our coaching programme, that helps us keep
[0:52] bringing more content to you. And secondly, if you're looking
[0:55] for help and advice with your Iron Man or 70.3 training,
[0:58] please get in touch. We run our own coaching
[1:01] programme, Team Oxygen Addict. I think it is the most
[1:03] comprehensive programme for busy age groupers.
[1:07] We've helped thousands of athletes over the last 10 years
[1:10] achieve the 70.3 in Iron Man dreams and we'd love to help you
[1:12] too. So please get in touch.
[1:14] Send an e-mail to help@oxygenaddict.com or there's
[1:17] a link in the show notes to book a call with me or the team and
[1:21] we can see how we can best help you out to make next season be
[1:23] the best one ever. OK, on today's show we're going
[1:27] to be talking about Iron Man Winter Training series, the run
[1:30] specific section of how to prepare your running so that
[1:34] you're in fantastic shape ready to kick off the build phase of
[1:38] your training when we get to next spring.
[1:40] Before we jump into the details, I just want to say Black
[1:43] Friday's coming. We've got a special offer over
[1:45] at Team Oxygen Addict if you're looking for triathlon coaching
[1:48] for next year. We're going to have £200 off an
[1:51] annual coaching membership, so there's a link in the show
[1:54] notes. All you have to do is book your
[1:56] membership call before the end of November and you'll qualify
[1:59] for that 200 LB reduction. OK, on with the show.
[2:03] So in today's episode, I want to talk you through how to
[2:06] structure your training all through the winter if you're
[2:09] racing a 70.3 or an Iron Man next year, so that you get
[2:13] yourself through into next spring with a really great base
[2:16] of run fitness ready to really push on so that you can build in
[2:20] your race specific training phase.
[2:23] So here's what we're going to talk about.
[2:25] We're going to talk about how we can do some testing and
[2:28] baselining and how you can make an evaluation of your fitness.
[2:31] We're going to talk about the kind of training sessions you
[2:33] should do and crucially, the kinds of training sessions that
[2:36] you should avoid. And we're going to talk about
[2:38] the effect that these training sessions is going to have on
[2:41] your fitness, both within your overall run fitness, but also
[2:44] how that fits together in the bigger picture so that you can
[2:48] train as a triathlete rather than just training as a runner.
[2:52] OK, so first up, baseline testing for winter running for
[2:56] Iron Man and 70.3 triathletes are baseline tests that we're
[3:00] going to use for our athletes is going to be, we're going to have
[3:03] a warm up and a cool down either side of this.
[3:05] But the main section of the the run session is a 45 minute
[3:10] submaximal run test. So I've used the phrase
[3:14] submaximal here and it's really important.
[3:16] Most people only think about run training and, and run testing as
[3:21] a, as a flat out, how fast can I possibly go over the given
[3:25] distance, excuse me, or the given time.
[3:28] And we're going to be doing things a little bit differently
[3:30] here. My guiding principle for run
[3:33] training is at all costs we want you to avoid getting injured
[3:38] because injury is the number one killer of progressive run
[3:42] fitness across a period of time and the number one cause of
[3:46] injury or run niggles in athletes and triathletes,
[3:50] especially in age groupers who are 40 plus.
[3:54] Let's say. The danger is entirely self
[3:58] created and the danger unfortunately comes from trying
[4:01] to run too fast, too hard too often.
[4:04] But the big challenge is it's easy for me to sit here as a
[4:07] coach and say, look, you just have to trust me.
[4:09] If you follow this training structure, you will get to the
[4:12] end of the the winter fitter and ready for the next phase of
[4:16] training. But lots of people need to see
[4:18] evidence and progress, evidence and progress along the way as
[4:22] well. So we can't do the very, very
[4:25] top end testing very often. We can't do a, a flat out 5K as
[4:30] often as we can do a bike FTP test or a swim CSS test.
[4:35] So we have to find a way to do a test that still shows the
[4:39] athlete that they're making progress, but without that risk
[4:43] of injury picking up niggles, making you really sore,
[4:47] essentially meaning you can't go on and and do more training
[4:49] going on. So the test we're going to do is
[4:51] going to be 45 minutes long. It's going to be submaximal.
[4:54] For those of you who are familiar with the M pace run
[4:57] test from Jack Daniels Run Formula, I like to set the
[5:00] target pace at M pace. So for most people, you can
[5:03] think of M pace as being roughly around your half marathon race
[5:08] pace. So we're going to do 45 minutes
[5:11] at that pace, keep the pace consistent and we're going to
[5:14] monitor heart rate at the same time.
[5:16] So at the end of it, we end up with a a set of numbers, 45
[5:19] minutes at an average of let's say 5 minutes a kilometre.
[5:23] And our average heart rate was 150 beats a minute, 160 beats a
[5:27] minute, whatever that number was.
[5:29] We'll then repeat that baseline test again in eight weeks time.
[5:33] We'll do it at the same pace. And what athletes will see is
[5:37] that their average heart rate is going to be 3 beats, 4 beats, 5
[5:41] beats a minute lower than it was when they did it 8 weeks
[5:45] earlier. We'll then repeat again and
[5:47] another eight weeks time again, we'll see a similar sort of
[5:49] reduction. I really like this as a test to
[5:52] show triathletes that they're making progress or to show 70.3
[5:56] and iron distance athletes they're making progress because
[5:59] that reduction in the average heart rate shows us that we're
[6:03] getting more efficient, where we're creating pace for less
[6:06] effort. And it's material evidence of
[6:09] that. So you know that you're getting
[6:11] fitter, you know that your run is improving, you know that
[6:14] running at a given pace is taking you less energy, but you
[6:18] don't have to go to the very, very top end in order to test in
[6:22] order to prove that to yourself. And also I think the end pace
[6:25] run is much more specific to to 70.3 and to Iron Man.
[6:30] But for athletes who are racing 70.3, what I'll typically say is
[6:34] the M pace is your best case scenario.
[6:37] Race pace, running off the bike on race day.
[6:41] Lots of people can't actually produce that kind of run off the
[6:44] bike. But our very top athletes and
[6:47] our most disciplined athletes will be able to do their.
[6:50] When it all comes together and they pace the bike correctly,
[6:53] they'll be able to deliver their run on race day at M pace.
[6:56] So it's really specific for that.
[6:58] For our Iron Man athletes. Well, it's a little bit faster
[7:03] or quite a bit faster than you're going to end up racing on
[7:06] Iron Man race day, but it's still fast enough that you feel
[7:10] as though you're getting a good run workout.
[7:12] I think that's the key to it. Your athlete brain is going to
[7:15] say, look, I can't just do easy runs all the time.
[7:18] I have to have some faster running in there.
[7:20] And this particular workout is the one that allows you to
[7:23] stretch your legs a little bit and allows you to see that
[7:26] you're making progress. And like I said, if we repeat
[7:29] the run test at the same pace, you'll see that that heart rate
[7:32] comes down. Inevitably athletes are going to
[7:35] do a flat out running rate at some point during the year and
[7:39] we'll use that to reset the paces at that point.
[7:41] So when it's appropriate in the spring or the early summer
[7:44] athletes, we'll do a 5K or A10K, we'll reset the pace zones based
[7:49] on that and then end pace will naturally be faster.
[7:52] The the net result though is you can be sure that you're seeing
[7:56] progress in you running all the way through the winter without
[8:00] needing to test at the very, very top end.
[8:02] And practicalities wise, if you think about this, we all want to
[8:06] know we're getting fitter. The winter is a terrible time to
[8:09] try and do a run race for most people, especially if you're 40.
[8:12] Plus, when it's cold outside, when it's difficult to get your
[8:16] muscles properly warmed up, it's really, really hard to convince
[8:20] yourself that this is a good idea.
[8:22] Because we're opening ourselves up to, you know, the four
[8:25] horsemen of the injury apocalypse.
[8:27] Getting injured, getting the niggle, getting the sore to the
[8:30] point, getting sore to the point where you can't run the next
[8:33] day, and getting sore to the point that you can't
[8:35] consistently repeat you're running three or four times a
[8:37] week. We don't want any of those.
[8:39] So there's our baseline test, the 45 minutes sub maximal test
[8:44] where we record heart rate along at the same time.
[8:47] So a couple of things with this. Do it outside if you possibly
[8:50] can, do it on a flat loop if you possibly can.
[8:53] So 3 or 4 loops of the same mile long circuit or two mile long
[8:58] circuit, whatever's appropriate for you.
[9:00] Try not to do it on the treadmill if you can possibly
[9:03] avoid doing that because the the challenge with the treadmill is
[9:07] you're going to get very, very hot, like being inside on the
[9:10] indoor trainer. That skews the heart rate result
[9:13] massively and it means it isn't very comparable when you go to
[9:16] run outside. I'd much, much rather you do
[9:18] this outside. Try and do it in a looped
[9:20] circuit so that if you've got headwind in One Direction, it'll
[9:23] even itself out with the tailwind in the other direction.
[9:26] And try and do your subsequent tests on the same course in the
[9:30] same ish weather conditions if you possibly can to try and make
[9:33] it repeatable. The more of this you can make
[9:35] repeatable, the more and the more genuine you can be sure
[9:40] that the result is at the end of the day, I think, OK, so that's
[9:43] baseline testing. That's how we that's how we get
[9:45] a number, OK. The training principles we're
[9:48] going to talk about in order to improve your run for 70.3 and
[9:52] Iron Man. The big one I want to remember
[9:55] here is running improves as a function of consistent training
[10:00] much less than as a function of hard training.
[10:02] What do I mean by that? Well, what I mean by it is our
[10:05] brain tends to think that we have to run hard or we have to
[10:09] work hard in whatever sport in order to improve.
[10:12] It's not the case with running, especially for triathletes who
[10:15] are already doing their hard work on the bike.
[10:18] You're going to get all those aerobic improvements through the
[10:20] hard interval work that we're giving you on the bike.
[10:23] The running is going to improve as a function of the fact that
[10:26] if you can run consistently without getting injured 3 * a
[10:30] week for a 16 week block across the winter, you're going to
[10:33] build a very strong and a very durable runner's body.
[10:37] So that when we start to ramp up either duration or intensity or
[10:40] both as we move into the spring, your body is going to be strong
[10:44] enough it can handle the increased duration and the
[10:47] increased intensity without picking up any niggles at that
[10:50] point. So right now you're doing all
[10:53] your hard work on the bike. There's a Halo effect of fitness
[10:56] bleeding over onto your fitness from the hard work you're doing
[10:59] on the bike. The running just needs to be
[11:01] consistent and steady so that you can then reap the benefits
[11:06] later on in the year. Now, I'm 100% convinced that if
[11:09] you do this right, your run fitness will increase across the
[11:12] winter. It's not necessarily as a
[11:15] consequence of having to do hard intervals.
[11:17] And I think the idea you have to do hard intervals comes from the
[11:20] running community. If all you're doing is running,
[11:23] you are going to have to do some hard intervals in order to build
[11:27] your top end fitness. But as a triathlete, we've got
[11:30] the benefit that we can do our hard work where it's safest on
[11:33] the bike and then we can do all of our running where it's safest
[11:37] at a consistent, steady pace. OK, let's talk about running
[11:40] sessions that you're going to do during the winter then.
[11:42] So in the early phase of winter training, all of our runs are
[11:47] going to be steady. So what we mean by steady is you
[11:50] should be able to comfortably have a conversation with
[11:52] somebody as you're running along your heart rate.
[11:55] If you've got it set up correctly and using Joe Field
[11:58] zones in training peaks. If that's set up correctly, your
[12:01] heart rate will be comfortably in zone 2.
[12:04] If you're using Jack Daniels run formula, it's going to be what
[12:07] he describes as E pace or endurance pace or easy pace.
[12:11] It's a conversational pace that you can chat to somebody next to
[12:14] you comfortably. Don't be tempted to try and run
[12:18] just a little bit faster. Now deliberately, the Daniels
[12:22] run formula gives you a a quite a broad range of pace here at
[12:27] something like 45 seconds between the top end and the low
[12:31] end of the E pace. So it might be between 5:30 and
[12:35] 6:15 a mile or 5:30. And 6:15 per kilometre is
[12:39] probably more likely for most age groupers.
[12:41] So somewhere within that 45 second banding will be right for
[12:46] you that day. Don't be drawn into thinking
[12:49] that if your E pace is 5:30 to 6:15, you have to hit 530 or or
[12:54] ideally 529 every single session.
[12:57] You don't. I'd like you hitting the middle
[12:59] of the zone. So in this example, it's
[13:00] probably better to be around 540-5550 a kilometre.
[13:05] There will be some days when you feel magic and five 30s will be
[13:09] effortless. There'll be some days when you
[13:11] feel awful and it's a stretch to hit 615 a kilometre, but just be
[13:15] somewhere in that area. You don't have to be at the very
[13:18] top end of it. Somewhere in there is going to
[13:21] do the job you want it to do. Because again, it's not about
[13:23] improving the top end of your aerobic performance.
[13:27] It's about the durability and the repeatability and the
[13:30] consistency of three runs, consistency of three runs a
[13:35] week, every week for 16 weeks across winter.
[13:38] That's what's going to do the job.
[13:40] And we're going to try and avoid anything that gets in the way of
[13:43] your consistency of running as much as we possibly can.
[13:46] OK, so key session and supporting sessions, your key
[13:51] session during the winter is going to be your longest
[13:54] endurance run. So typically in a winter
[13:57] structure I'll give to a new athlete, we'll start our long
[13:59] run at 45 minutes, we'll extend it by 10 minutes a week and then
[14:03] we'll extend it by 15 minutes a week.
[14:05] And we'll build across winter till we get to the point where
[14:08] by the end of winter most of our athletes are running a weekly 75
[14:12] to 90 minute long run. That's plenty long enough at
[14:15] this time of year for athletes either racing 70.3 or Iron Man
[14:20] later on. You don't need to be running
[14:22] much longer than that or any longer than that at this time of
[14:25] year. And the reason I say that is
[14:27] it's tempting to think, well, surely if 90 minutes is good,
[14:29] two hours would be better or two hours, 30 would be better.
[14:33] We want to make sure that you don't burn yourself out way
[14:37] before next summer. Now sure, there's going to be
[14:39] some instances with athletes where they are going to run a
[14:42] little bit longer than that, but that's going to be managed by
[14:45] exception for the vast majority of people.
[14:46] I'd say give yourself the time for your body to adapt. 45
[14:50] minutes building up by 10 minutes a week has you up at 75
[14:54] minutes in a six week build period.
[14:56] So plenty of time, get yourself there.
[14:59] The run is going to be done as 9 minutes run, one minute walk.
[15:03] And we'll use that for all of our long runs, for the entirety
[15:06] of training with us. That minute walk is going to be
[15:08] magic for you. It's going to completely
[15:10] revitalise the way you feel today after a long run.
[15:13] It's going to almost completely eradicate any kind of soreness
[15:17] after a really long run and completely eradicate the idea
[15:21] that you're going to put yourself at risk of injury or
[15:24] soreness from doing a long run. It's revolutionary.
[15:27] If you haven't tried it, I really encourage you to go away
[15:29] and try this. Just your 9 minutes E pace and
[15:32] the one minute run, that's all it needs to be.
[15:35] A typical, a common question tends to be, well look, if my E
[15:39] pace is 5 minutes AK and I'm walking for a minute, do I need
[15:41] to run a bit faster than E pace in order to compensate for the
[15:45] minute? No, you don't do the runs at 5
[15:47] minutes AK, do the walks just at walking pace.
[15:51] You will see a really big difference in the way you
[15:53] recover and how sore or not you are the following day.
[15:57] So that's our key session, your long run once a week.
[16:01] The supporting sessions are going to be two other shorter
[16:04] runs during the week. You can do these as a continuous
[16:06] run. We'll start at 20 to 30 minutes
[16:09] and we'll build them up by 5 to 10 minutes a week and get to the
[16:11] point where they'll be 45 minutes, in some cases 60
[16:15] minutes each across the winter. You're then at the position
[16:19] where you're doing 3 really decent runs every week.
[16:23] You're not getting sore, you're doing the hard work on the bike.
[16:26] The hard work has a Halo effect and lifts your aerobic fitness
[16:29] and gives you that increased lactate buffering ability.
[16:33] The long runs are making you more durable, making you injury
[16:36] proof. You end up with a result that
[16:38] you get to the end of winter in a fantastic position of being
[16:42] both really fit, really strong and really injury proof.
[16:46] Now a couple of other things I want to touch on before we
[16:48] finish. Really common question.
[16:51] Am I running hard enough? Surely I should be going just a
[16:54] little bit faster than the top end of E pace?
[16:56] If if you say 530, surely 520 is a bit better.
[17:01] And the answer there is no, just do what you've been asked to do.
[17:04] The zone is there for a reason. If you're convinced that you can
[17:08] run faster, well, you'll prove that when you do a race.
[17:11] There's no need to do that. It's not about pushing your
[17:14] fitness by running a little bit faster.
[17:17] Your fitness is going to improve as a byproduct of consistent
[17:20] training. So let that thought go.
[17:22] You don't always need to be going faster.
[17:26] And again, just remember, the E pay zone is 30 to 45 seconds
[17:30] wide. Allow yourself to fluctuate
[17:33] within that zone. Don't get too hung up on it.
[17:35] Don't need to be at the fastest end.
[17:37] Some days you'll feel great and you'll gravitate to that end.
[17:40] Some days you'll feel awful and you'll gravitate to the slower
[17:43] end. It's the consistent training
[17:45] that's going to make the biggest difference for you.
[17:47] If you get the winter training correct, you'll get to the
[17:51] springtime with a really strong, really durable body.
[17:54] That means when we start ramping up the intensity and or the
[17:57] volume of your run training, you'll be in a fantastic
[18:00] position to be able to absorb it.
[18:02] You'll have no injury worries for next season at all.
[18:05] All right, I hope you enjoyed that episode of the show.
[18:08] To wrap this up, here are some discount codes and deals for you
[18:11] at precisionfuelandhydration.com.
[18:12] Remember, you can use the code Oxygen 24, the 15% off your
[18:16] first electrolyte and fuel order.
[18:18] Desktop's awesome. Try it, I guarantee you won't be
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[18:28] strategy for your next race. The planner helps you understand
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[18:34] you can refine your strategy during training and you can then
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[18:50] And also if you're looking for help and advice with your
[18:52] triathlon training, please head over to teamoxygenaddict.com.
[18:55] I think we've got the most comprehensive triathlon coaching
[18:58] programme for busy age groupers. Please check us out.
[19:01] There's a link in the show notes to book a call with us.
[19:05] We can have a chat about you, find out all about your
[19:07] background and what you want to achieve and I'm really confident
[19:10] we can help you get where you want to be.
[19:12] Dead easy. Link in the show notes or under
[19:15] this video here. You can book straight to our
[19:17] calendar and we can have a chat here.
[19:19] We can best help you out, so remember links in the show notes
[19:22] so you don't have to remember them.
[19:24] Until next week, have a great safe training and racing week.
[19:27] I'm coach Rob Wilby, and you've been listening to the Oxygen
[19:30] Addict podcast.

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