It’s become something of a stereotyped custom in running communities to chow down on pasta the night before a big race. Typically this practice begins in high school cross country, for which the ritualistic Spaghetti Dinner is widely practiced in the United States in the name of “carbo-loading.” But does consuming a large amount of carbohydrates the night before a race actually work to support performance?

Yes, But…

In a word: Absolutely. But there are a few stipulations. Carbo-loading works great for races longer than 90 minutes. (So no you don’t need to do it the night before your 5k.) Fat-loading is the ticket for events extending beyond four hours. For anything shorter, not so much.

Carbo-Loading: History, Benefits, and Side-Effects

Carbo-loading dates to the 1960s, when athletes discovered that three to four days of carbohydrate restriction, followed by three to four days of carbo-binging, doubled muscle glycogen stores, which led to reduced fatigue during endurance races. Unfortunately, carbo-restriction also led to irritability and gastrointestinal distress. So athletes kept looking for a better way.

By the 1980s, athletes had found that a three-day taper accompanied by increased carb intake worked as well as the old seven- to eight-day routine — and with no side effects. In 2002 a University of Western Australia showed that cyclists who pedaled hard for two and half minutes, pedaled all-out for another 30 seconds, and then loaded up on carbs saw an 80% increase in glycogen stores within 24 hours. And a 2013 University of Minnesota School of Kinesiology found that simply increasing carb intake during the 24 hours before a race improved marathon times by 4%.

On the other hand, carbo-loading adds about 4 pounds to your weight, inhibits fat-burning, and, as a race strategy, has been pretty much rendered obsolete by sports drinks, gels and other glycogen-replacement strategies. Still, to ensure adequate glycogen levels, it’s a good idea to increase carbs to 70% of all calories for three days before your race — and to taper.

How to Fat-Load

Fat loading is a performance-enhancing must for endurance events lasting four hours or more. Exercise scientist Dr. Timothy Noakes estimates that elite Ironman triathlon competitors burn fat at a rate of 50% above normal, following a period of fat loading.

There are two good fat-loading methods:

• High-fat diet. Stick to a high-fat diet for seven to ten days before your event. Your body learns to function at low glycogen levels that would stop a carbo-loaded athlete in his or her tracks.

• łŇ±ô˛âł¦´Ç˛µ±đ˛Ô-»ĺ±đ±č±ô±đłŮ±đ.ĚýTrain after fasting, or . This teaches your body to burn more fat (an almost inexhaustible source of energy within your body) while running. In other words, this is a method of “fat loading” by using your own fat stores.

All that said, anyone considering carbo-loading or fat loading might be wise to remember the words of multiple-time USA masters champion and former 2:13 marathoner David Olds: “It’s not a meal, it’s a race.”

—

About the AuthorĚý

Ěýis a running coach, world-class runner, and author.ĚýAs a coach, Magill has led his masters clubs to 19 USATF National Masters Championships in cross country and road racing and has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. He holds multiple American and world age-group records and is a 5-time USA Masters Cross Country Runner of the Year. Magill is author of ,Ěý,ĚýBuild Your Running Body, andĚýThe Born Again RunnerĚý.Ěý

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Continued improvement and controlled peaking are both the products of patient, physiologically-sound training.

You can’t just throw hard training against the wall and hope some sticks. And you can’t stick your fingers in your ears and keeping layering hard workout upon hard workout, regardless of how loudly your body screams, “Stop!”

The Tyranny of the Urgent

When I first started as a personal running coach, I was surprised to discover that most athletes weren’t interested in adopting a new approach to training. Instead, they wanted me to make their old approach to training work better (or at all). The idea of patiently transforming their running engines from 4-cylinders to V-8s just didn’t appeal to them. “That works for you,” they’d say, “but I’ve got a big race in three weeks.”

They wanted to train hard. They wanted to peak for an upcoming race. And then they wanted to continue to train hard and peak for the next upcoming race. And they wanted to repeat that cycle year-round. As for me as coach, they simply wanted me to make that work.

But it doesn’t work like that. Incorrect training leads to inconsistent and unpredictable results.

Better Each Season

But if you train correctly—and patiently—you can both avoid that premature peak and continue to improve from season to season. This might mean adjusting your race goal from one “big race” in the near future to a different race or races following a less aggressive training approach. But speaking as someone who’s 58 years old and has been running since he was 13, I can assure you that it’s the accumulation of big race moments and consistent performances across many years that matters the most, not a single “big race” in any given season.

With that in mind, most successful runners employ one of two training approaches to ensure both top performance and control over their “peaking” phase:

1. – Training is broken into separate phases throughout the year, often including a base-building, race preparation, tapering/peaking, and recovery phase.
2. – A less-formal approach in which the elements from each traditional periodization phase are mixed together during a prolonged period of both training and racing, followed by a short period of recovery/downtime.

Limited Life Span

The important thing to understand about both approaches is this: The physiological demand of training and racing—which involves breaking down your body and then rebuilding it, over and over and over—can only be sustained so long before your body cries uncle.

To better control this process, you must carefully monitor the volume and intensity of your training to ensure you do, in fact, continue to recover and adapt (i.e., get fitter). And then, if peaking is your goal, you should include a taper—a short period of reduced training volume and intensity — to trigger maximum adaptation, recovery, and race-readiness. But be aware that isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy. As a of studies on peaking and tapering concluded: “Despite its use and popularity, there is no common consensus on the optimal design or duration of a taper in endurance athletics.”

Finally, once you’ve trained, tapered, and knocked your big race out of the park, you should schedule two to three weeks of down time, during which you run only a little (or not at all), catch up on Netflix, and think non-running thoughts.

Coach Tom Cotner of Club Northwest contributed a quote to my first book, , that I think applies here, “If you don’t take planned breaks, you find yourself taking unplanned breaks.”

So let’s look at your original question: How will you know if you’ve peaked too soon? Well, workouts that seemed easy a week before will suddenly seem darn near impossible. Your legs might feel heavy. Your muscles might hurt. You’ll be tired during the day, restless at night. You might get clumsy — drop your keys and bump into chairs and the like. Worst of all, you might start dreading your runs. That’s because mental burnout often precedes physical burnout.

Who wants that, right? So train smart, taper, race well, and recover. Rinse, repeat.

About the AuthorĚý

Ěýis a running coach, world-class runner, and author.ĚýAs a coach, Magill has led his masters clubs to 19 USATF National Masters Championships in cross country and road racing and has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. He holds multiple American and world age-group records and is a 5-time USA Masters Cross Country Runner of the Year. Magill is author ofĚý,Ěý,ĚýBuild Your Running Body, andĚýThe Born Again Runner.Ěý

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Runners often ask me, “How fast should I run my long run?” They’re looking for a simple answer, some percentage of 5K or marathon race pace, or a range relative to their usual training paces. Unfortunately, my answer is never that clear.

The truth is, there isn’t a single “best” pace for your long run; the pace you choose will depend on your running goals, overall training program, current fitness — and what you mean by “long.”

It’s not complicated. You just want to know the magical pace that ensures you’ll get all the aerobic benefits of long runs without incurring any nasty side effects—like injuries, excessive fatigue, or cramps that interfere with your giant, post-long run breakfast.

But it is complicated. Because there isn’t a single pace that works equally well for runners of different fitness levels targeting different race goals.

Before discussing what pace is right for you, we should first agree on what constitutes “long.” An elite marathoner might consider 5 miles to be a morning shakeout run. But a 35-minute 5K runner will see it as a marathon. They’re both right. But the run is only “long” for the second runner, who will take over an hour to complete it. And that’s the key: It’s not length in miles that makes a run long, it’s length in minutes.

How many minutes makes a run long?

• New and less-fit runners go long simply by running longer than their normal runs.
• Experienced runners log up to 50% more than their usual daily running time on weekly long runs—with runners who train less than 5 times a week sometimes doing more than that.
• Competitive runners need to exceed 90 minutes, the point at which they begin to accrue many of the most sought-after benefits of long runs.
• Marathoners need at least one long run (pre-race) that matches the length, in time, of their projected marathon finish time (up to 3.5 hours max).

The training effect of each long run pace — or effort level

With that in mind, let’s discuss pace—or more accurately, effort. You produce aerobic energy by sending oxygen via capillaries (small blood vessels) to muscle fibers (muscle cells) where each fiber’s internal machinery (mitochondria) turns fats, carbs, and oxygen into aerobic energy. Your effort-level determines which muscle fibers and energy systems you’ll train during your run.

• Low effort (jogging or easy run, 3 or more minutes/mile slower than 5K race pace): This effort only activates about 35–65% of your slow-twitch (endurance) fibers, but it’s great for teaching your body to burn fat as fuel. At this effort level, you’ll use up to 75% fat to fuel your run, making it good for ultra runners.
• Medium-easy effort ():ĚýYou’ll activate 75–80% of slow-twitch fibers and more than 10% of intermediate (strength and speed) fibers, triggering an increase in those fibers’ carbohydrate fuel stores and aerobic-energy production. This is a good effort level for 10K, cross-country, half marathon, and marathon runners.
• Medium-fast effort (1.5–2 minutes slower than 5K pace):ĚýYou’ll activate 90–100% of slow-twitch fibers and up to 25% of intermediate fibers. This is great for increasing aerobic-energy producing benefits in a larger percentage of intermediate fibers. This is a good effort level for middle-distance runners racing the mile to 5K.
• Fast Segments or Finish Finish: In this version of the long run, you interrupt medium-effort runs to insert periods of tempo or marathon-paced running. You train more than 50% of intermediate fibers, and your body learns to burn lactate (a carbohydrate energy source that’s produced within your muscle fibers at more intense efforts). Other versions of fast long runs include negative runs (first half medium, second half medium-fast—also called negative-split or progression runs) and (you increase your pace over the final 30-90 minutes, finishing at near maximal effort). Runners getting ready for a marathon should include a few of these runs.

All these paces increase muscle/connective tissue strength and stride efficiency. The longer you run, the more muscle fibers you’ll train—as fibers run out of carbohydrate energy, other fibers are recruited to replace them.

But beware: The faster your long run pace, the longer it takes your body to recover, which may . So choose an effort-level (and length) that fits snugly into your overall training program and best serves your racing goals.

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QUESTION:Ěý

What are the main differences between 5K, 10K, and half marathon training? – Pascal

ANSWER:Ěý

Not much.

Okay, this needs to be our little secret, given that my last book, , speaks directly to 5K training: There is almost no difference between 5K and 10K training, and there’s only a smidge of difference between what you need for the 5K and the half marathon.

Runners make a mistake when they base their training on the length of a target race, thinking that a 5K requires a much smaller volume of training than a half-marathon—you know, because it’s a much shorter race. Instead, runners should plan their training based on the muscle-fiber, energy-system, and nervous-system requirements of each race, which coincidentally happen to be very similar for all three distances.

• Energy systems: For a 5K race, about 90–95% of the energy you use will be produced aerobically. For the 10K, it’s about 92–97%. For the half marathon, about 98–99%. In other words, all three races depend almost entirely on aerobic energy.
• Muscle fibers: For all three races, you’ll use 100% of your slow-twitch muscle fibers. For all three, you’ll also need between 50–85% of your intermediate fibers. You’ll recruit significantly more of your fast-twitch fibers (about 50%) for the 5K than the half marathon (about 5–10%), but due to these fibers’ anaerobic nature and the intense force required to recruit them, it takes the same type of workout to train a small percentage as a larger one. Bottom line: You use most of the same fibers for all three races, and when you don’t, you use the same workouts to train the fibers you do use.
• Nervous system: Your nervous system is responsible for the contraction and relaxation of your muscle fibers, and it’s also responsible for coordinating these contractions in multiple muscles across multiple joints in order to produce the most efficient stride and expenditure of energy possible. As your running speed changes, the way your nervous system utilizes muscles also changes—for instance, at slower paces your quadriceps and calves make a large contribution to propelling you forward, while at the fastest paces it’s your glutes and hamstrings that carry the load. By including a significant volume of training at varied paces—as you do when training for both 5K and half marathon—you ensure that your nervous system will become efficient at recruiting the full range of muscle fibers and energy systems required for all three races.

Having said all that, there is one training adjustment you’ll need to make when targeting a half marathon versus a 5K. You’ll need to lengthen your weekly at least a couple (at most a few) times in your build-up to the race. This isn’t so much a physiological adjustment as it is a psychological one. You’ll want to prepare your brain—that worrywart behind the curtain—for the extended effort that accompanies a half marathon race. By going longer at a normal distance pace, you convince your brain that it’s safe to go longer at half-marathon pace.

Finally, understand that your program isn’t a bank account. You aren’t depositing mileage and workouts into an account until you’ve saved enough for a 5K race—or with a larger deposit, a half marathon. Instead, your program should be designed to stimulate adaptations in your body that allow you to race better. You’re building your running body the way Detroit builds a car, by assembling the pieces of a machine that’s ready to perform. Build a better running machine, and you’ll run a better 5K, 10K, and half marathon.

Pete’s freebee training tip:

There’s a simple rule I always follow when deciding how to prepare for an upcoming race: Never run a workout if you don’t know what it does. When I landed my first high school head-coaching job in track and field, I only really knew the thinking behind four workouts: distance runs, repetitions at race pace, hill repeats, and (oddly enough) technique drills. So that’s what I had my athletes train. And we won league. My bag of workouts has grown a lot since then, but the principle remains the same. When you know why you’re running a workout, you’ll do it correctly and improve. When you don’t, you risk injury, excessive fatigue, and a significant chance that, at best, you won’t improve, and, at worst, you’ll regress.

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Question:

My right knee has started “popping” when I run. If I can run without much pain, am I risking injury by training? – Hugh

Answer:

The short answer is that while diagnosing a knee injury without in-person evaluation can be tricky, most “popping” is caused by tightness in a connective tissue called the patellar retinaculum, and most runners can safely reduce pain and keep training by incorporating short sessions of self-massage. Now for the long answer…

“Aren’t you worried running will ruin your knees?” runners are sometimes asked.Ěý

No, we’re not. We’re worried that any injury that prevents us from running will ruin the fitness we’ve earned from weeks, months, years, and even decades of training. Plus, running . It doesn’t hurt them. So stick that in your couch-surfing, Netflix-binging, toasted marshmallow butterscotch pie-eating, sedentary lifestyle, oh critic of my running addiction. But I digress.

Your knees are popping, and what’s more, you’re experiencing some pain and stiffness along with the popping. First things first: Relax.

While it’s conceivable that you have a more serious injury, it’s more likely that the popping is a symptom of patella femoral pain syndrome, better known as “”—a catchall phrase for pain on the front part of the knee.

But first let’s make sure this isn’t one of those serious conditions:

1. Did you hear and/or feel a popping sensation at the pain’s outset, and did you happen to be performing a twisting motion when the injury occurred? If so, you might have a meniscus tear. You’ll want your doctor to check that out.
2. Are you age 45-or-over, and do you have significant swelling and stiffness in your knee, especially in the morning or after sitting for a while? If so, you might want to get checked for . Be aware the younger people can develop osteoarthritis, too.

If you answered, “No,” to both the above questions, then you probably have runner’s knee. And chances are good that your popping is being caused by tightness in your lateral and medial patellar retinacula, two bands of fibrous tissue located on the sides of your kneecap.

“Your retinacula get tight and cause patellar [knee] tracking issues,” says Mike Parkinson, a physical therapist, high school track coach, and former track star for UCLA. “That’s the cause of almost all knee popping.”

When your knee isn’t tracking correctly—that is, your kneecap isn’t sliding evenly as your knee flexes and extends—the result can be pain and inflammation. Many runners immediately think, “Cartilage damage!” But it’s often due to associated with the patellar retinaculum itself. Parkinson suggests runners should massage the retinacula to loosen the tissue and to provide temporary relief from any pain they’re experiencing.

“I like to pull the kneecap over with my fingers either medially and laterally,” says Parkinson, “and then I like to get my thumb to the side of the kneecap, actually right underneath its edge, and rub up and down on the side of that kneecap to loosen the retinaculum.”

Of course, knee pain and improper tracking has also been linked to muscle imbalance, and Parkinson advises that any long-term approach to knee pain incorporate resistance-training exercises to strengthen the glutes, hip abductors and quadriceps.

I second this suggestion. I can’t count the number of times I resolved a painful knee issue in myself or the athletes I coach by attending to the quads and glutes. Here are a few exercises you can start with:

• Crab Walk: Begin in a supine (face up) position, on hands and heels, with your butt a few inches off the ground. Now, alternately lift a combo of opposite hand and heel to move backward. This one’s tough, so you have permission to get out of sync.
• Monster Walk: You’ll need a resistance band. Secure the band either above your knees or around your ankles. Then, starting with your feet hip-width apart and a slight bend in your knees, alternate legs as you step forward and out (at about 45°), mimicking the movement of Boris Karloff as Frankenstein in those old horror films.
• Side Steps: With a resistance band around your ankles, start with your feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent. Then step sideways until you feel significant resistance. Slide your other foot over to recreate your initial stance. Repeat. Reverse direction.

• Hip Thrust: The most effective bodyweight glute exercise ever! Lie on your back, arms extended to your sides, heels close to your glutes. Now, lift your pelvis toward the sky, creating an upward-angled bridge from shoulders to knees.
• Step Downs: Balance one foot on the edge of a platform or step. Hold the opposite leg, knee bent, extended in front of the platform/step. Lower your hips by bending your support leg to approximately 45°. Then return to your start position. Repeat. Switch legs.

You won’t want to crab walk too far to start, but do 5-10 reps of all the other exercises. If your popping and pain don’t get better—or if they get get worse—consider a visit to a health professional.

Otherwise, “Run, Forrest, Run!”

—

Ěýis a running coach, world-class runner, and author.ĚýAs a coach, Magill has led his masters clubs to 19 USATF National Masters Championships in cross country and road racing and has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. He holds multiple American and world age-group records and is a 5-time USA Masters Cross Country Runner of the Year. Magill is author of ,Ěý,ĚýBuild Your Running Body, andĚýThe Born Again Runner.

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QUESTION:

I hear a lot about VO2 Max in training plans and running articles. What does it mean?

ANSWER:

First, let’s look at the term itself. “V” stands for “volume.” “O2” stands for “oxygen.” And “max,” of course, means “maximum.” Put together and given context, VO2 max refers to the maximum volume (amount) of oxygen your body can consume in a minute.

At rest, you don’t use anywhere near your VO2 max. That’s because your aerobic energy demands are low. But as you begin exercising, your energy requirements increase. Your cardiovascular system transports more oxygen-rich blood to your capillaries, your muscle fibers extract more oxygen, and your mitochondria use that oxygen to create a greater supply of aerobic energy. But this process has an upper limit. Only so much oxygen can be transported, and only so much of the transported oxygen can be used to create energy. When your body reaches that limit, you’ve reached your VO2 max.

Most runners, depending on their fitness levels, reach their VO2 max at the fastest effort they can sustain for 5 to 7 laps on a track (2000 to 2800 meters). This means that any pace faster than VO2 max (e.g., pace you can sustain for 800 meters or a mile) will require more energy than you can produce aerobically. You’ll require an increased percentage of energy from anaerobic sources. On the other hand, any pace slower than VO2 max (e.g., a 10K or marathon pace) can be fueled almost exclusively from aerobic energy. In fact, marathons are 99 percent aerobic! This pace or velocity—vVO2 max—is an important and often used as one parameter in .

VO2 max is measured in two ways:

Consumption based on body weight: Oxygen is measured in millimeters per kilogram per minute (mL/kg/min), with a kilogram equal to roughly 2.2 pounds. Three-time Tour de France winner Greg LeMond had a VO2 max of 92.5 mL/kg/min. An untrained 30-year-old male would have a VO2 max of about 35–45 mL/kg/min. This measure of VO2 max is the number usually estimated and reported by heart rate and fitness monitors.

Absolute rate of consumption: This is the total volume of oxygen consumed per minute. British rower Sir Mtthew Pinsent, who won four consecutive Olympic gold medals, recored a VO2 max of 7.5 liters per minute—more than any cyclists, runner, or cross-country skier in history—even as his VO2 max based on body weight was a meager 68 mL/kg/min. At more than 240 pounds, Pinsent needed that level of overall oxygen consumption to compete in endurance rowing. An average untrained male would consume about 3 liters per minute.

Training typically improves VO2 max in perviously untrained runners by about 20–25 percent, although the actual range can vary from negative improvements to well over 50 percent. In highly trained runners, VO2 max doesn’t change much with training—it’s already established. As an actual predictor of performance, VO2 max take a backseat to other factors, e.g., running economy, but it remains a valuable determinant of running potential.

—

Ěýis a running coach, world-class runner, and author.ĚýAs a coach, Magill has led his masters’ clubs to 19 USATF National Masters Championships in cross country and road racing and has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. He holds multiple American and world age-group records and is a 5-time USA Masters Cross Country Runner of the Year. Magill is author ofĚýSpeedRunner,ĚýBuild Your Running Body,ĚýThe Born Again RunnerĚýand the upcomingĚýFast 5K.Ěý

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Question:

I’ve recently switched from outdoor running to treadmill training. Are there injury risks associated with this change? – Jean

Short Answer:

There’s an injury risk with any type of running, and some risks specific to treadmills — but you can reduce your treadmill risk by following a few simple guidelines.

Long answer:

First, the scary news: A , conducted by elliptical reviews.com, concluded that treadmill running was the most dangerous indoor exercise, accounting for over a third of all injuries and trouncing activities such as weight-lifting, yoga, jump rope, and box jumping. Yes, even box jumping!

But here’s the (sort of) good news: Outdoor running is equally dangerous. Between 50 and 80 percent of outdoor runners get injured each year. In the U.S. alone, that’s more than a million cases each of shin splints, Achilles tendinosis, IT band syndrome, and plantar fasciitis — and twice that many instances of runner’s knee.

As Mike Parkinson, a Los Angeles-area physical therapist, high school track coach, and former UCLA track star puts it: “You can get injured running anywhere, anyway.”

That includes on the treadmill. And yes, there are some unique injury risks associated with treadmill training. But nothing that a little practice and common sense can’t overcome.

The most obvious challenge is balance. “It’s different on a treadmill,” says Parkinson. “Your proprioception [a primary component of balance] is thrown off because you expect to see the scenery going by you. Those visual cues are an important part of the normal input that guides your cyclical leg movements.”

Parkinson notes that if you run on a treadmill and turn your head to the left, you’ll lose your balance to the right. Look to the right, and you lose balance to the left.

“I had a patient who lost her balance on the treadmill, fell off the back, and broke her shoulder,” says Parkinson. “In fact, that’s how several patients have come to me — falling off the back.”

So your first step in transitioning to the treadmill is to practice balance —Ěýgradually. Be aware that it’s a factor. Reduce head movement (e.g., sideways glances) for the first few sessions. And be confident that you’ll soon adapt to the change.

Of course, falling off the back isn’t the only way to get hurt on a treadmill. I personally suffered a nasty hamstring strain putting in treadmill miles while vacationing at Disney World. And a documented greater loading rates and peak forces for participants’ Achilles tendons during treadmill versus overground running, potentially increasing the risk for Achilles injuries.Ěý

But Parkinson suggests the main factor driving treadmill injuries isn’t load rate, peak force, or Disney World vacations. He places the blame on that old human standby: our egos. We choose a speed for the treadmill, we run until we get tired, and then we refuse to push the “slow down” button until it’s too late.

And that’s a problem because as we fatigue, our form falters, our balance becomes less stable (see above for “falling off the back”), and we change our stride — specifically, we — to keep pace with the treadmill. When we overstride, we reach forward a little bit more with each step, landing farther back on our heels with straighter knees, a recipe for runner’s knee, hip-flexor strain, hammy pulls, and more.

Luckily for us, Parkinson has a simple solution: “Push the button.”

So your second step in transitioning to the treadmill is to set your ego aside and be willing to adjust the treadmill speed. When you get tired on the road or trail, you slow down until you catch your breath. Do the same on the treadmill.

Finally, I’d like to offer a personal observation based on years of coaching athletes who utilized treadmills: Don’t forget to warm up. Don’t jump straight from standing in your living room to chugging away at your normal distance-running pace on the treadmill. You still need 10-12 minutes of easy (i.e., slower) running to prepare your body for the faster running to follow.

That said, save the pre-workout strides and drills for outdoors (or a long hallway indoors). “Strides are not a good idea on a treadmill,” says Parkinson. “That leads straight into the falling off.”

So here are your three guidelines for safe treadmill running:

1. Practice balance (use the handrails if necessary).
2. Push the button to reduce speed when you’re fatigued.
3. Warm up.

Treadmill running isn’t a perfect substitute for outdoor running. It doesn’t replicate the terrain adjustments, lateral movements, force production variations, etc. that play into every outdoor run. But when severe weather, pandemics, or other circumstances require you to turn to the treadmill, you can rest easy. Treadmill running is a safe, effective workout — just resist the urge to look over your shoulder to see who’s got next, unless you’re looking for a quick exit off the back and on your face.

Have a question? Shoot us a note.

—

Ěýis a running coach, world-class runner, and author.ĚýAs a coach, Magill has led his masters clubs to 19 USATF National Masters Championships in cross country and road racing and has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. He holds multiple American and world age-group records and is a 5-time USA Masters Cross Country Runner of the Year. Magill is author of ,Ěý,ĚýBuild Your Running Body, andĚýThe Born Again Runner.Ěý

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You know the benefits of both repetitions and hills, let’s combine them to create a super-effective 5K workout: hill repeats. Hill repeats include reps that last between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, with rest intervals (jogging and walking) that are double or triple the length, in time, of the reps.

While workouts like distance and tempo runs, reps, and long hill runs trigger adaptations in the number and size of mitochondria in your muscle fibers (i.e., you develop bigger, more numerous mitochondria, thereby increasing aerobic energy–producing potential), intense workouts such as hill repeats turbocharge those mitochondria, significantly increasing their output of aerobic energy. If standard workouts are like outfitting your home with radiant LED security lights, then hill reps are the switch that turns those lights on.

Hill repeats also improve your ability to produce force quickly. That’s important because the prime directive each time your foot lands during a stride is to generate enough force to get back into the air. The quicker you do that, the quicker you start your next stride. Generating force is a two-step process. First, you , creating force when your foot collides with the ground. Second, your muscles generate additional force while your foot is on the ground. Because hill repeats shorten the distance your foot travels downward (lessening collision force) and require extra overall force generation to fight gravity, they improve your ability to produce muscular force on the ground. Back on level terrain, the result is a quicker cadence (i.e., more steps per minute) and increased stride length. In other words, you get faster.

Hill repeats also stimulate other training adaptations:

• They significantly strengthen all muscle-fiber types.
• They rewire your nervous system to recruit all fiber types simultaneously.
• They increase your heart’s stroke volume.

You’ll need to find a hill that’s challenging, but not so steep that you can’t maintain a good stride. You don’t run hill reps by pace. Instead, you target an effort that is slightly more intense than what you’d expect to exert during a 5K race (e.g., 1500–3K effort). Your goal is to finish all reps with a little gas left in the tank—that is, you could probably run one more rep if you had to.

After each rep, turn around and head back down the hill to your start line. Walk for the first 10–15 seconds of your recovery interval, and then jog the rest of the way down. If you reach your start line with time remaining in your recovery interval, do a short walk. For longer recovery intervals, it’s okay to stand for 15–30 seconds at the start line after your short walk.

Remember not to turn your hill repeats into a distance run. You need a full recovery, so avoid jogging continuously from the end of one rep until the start of the next. Walk, jog, walk, stand, recover.

Hill repeats require intense effort, so one session during a training week is plenty, and no more than two to three sessions per month. The Workout Progression for Hill Repeats table maps out a typical progression of hill-repeat workouts. This progression works even if you skip a week or two between hill rep sessions.

Adapted fromĚýĚýby Pete Magill, with permission of VeloPress.

https://www.velopress.com/books/fast-5k/

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So you want to run a fast 5K.

But you’re not sure how to train for it—or, once trained, how to execute the perfect race.

Relax. You’re not alone. Every year, between nine and ten million Americans run a 5K race. Some are happy just to finish. But others, like you, want more.

You want to run faster. Faster than you’ve run recently, faster than you have in your current age group, or maybe faster than ever before.

Training for a faster 5K has more to do with variety, fun, and self-confidence than it does with pain, discipline, and sacrifice. The trick is making sure that your training and lifestyle adjustments provide the keys for unlocking your 5K potential.

Racing Guidelines

You toe the line for your 5K race. The starting horn sounds. Now what? Now you run a mistake-free race that nets you your 5K goal performance. To accomplish this, you’ll want to adhere to a few simple guidelines:

No Sprinting off the Start Line

While you want to make sure you have good position 400 meters into the race, that doesn’t mean sprinting off the start line. The first 30–40 seconds of the race will be the most anaerobic. The faster you run, the more negative by-products of anaerobic energy production you’ll accumulate. That translates to increased fatigue early in the race and a painful slog to the finish. This doesn’t mean you should dawdle. Get up to race pace quickly. But don’t sprint. The laws of physiology don’t get suspended just because it’s a race.

Don’t “Bank Time”

Some runners try to run the first mile 10–20 seconds faster than goal pace. They think this allows wiggle room later in the race. It doesn’t. Running 10–20 seconds faster than 5K pace puts you right on 3K pace. A 3K is a little less than 2 miles. That means you’re running a pace you can sustain for less than 2 miles, while thinking you’ll somehow stretch your effort to more than 3 miles. You won’t. You’ll bonk.

No Mid-Race Mini-Battles

There is only one finish line, and it’s at the finish. Yes, we’ve all been there—in the middle of a race, settled into our pace, when suddenly some hard-charging runner edges ahead of us. A primitive fight-or-flight response kicks in, and you think, “No way!” So you fight off the challenge. Congratulations, you just sabotaged your 5K. Accelerating mid-race demands greater muscle-fiber recruitment and an increase in anaerobic energy production. There’s a price to pay for that. It’s called fatigue.

Draft off Other Runners

There’s a physiological benefit to running directly behind other runners. By cutting down wind resistance, you decrease the amount of force you must produce. There’s also a psychological advantage. Instead of having to focus on pace, you relax and let someone else worry about it. As long as other runners are setting a pace that matches your goal, use them to your advantage.

Run Tangents

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. If you see that you’ll be making a left-hand or right-hand turn up ahead, run a straight line toward that corner (unless your straight line takes you through another runner, in which case you’ll need to opt for a slightly modified course). And if you’re running through a gradual curve, hug the inside. Just as running in lane two on a track forces you to run farther than in lane one, running wide on a turn adds distance to your race.

You’re Not Alone

It sometimes seems as if the runners around you look fresher and less stressed than you feel. You start to think that maybe you’re in over your head. You’re not. The other runners are just as tired as you. If they weren’t, they’d be way ahead of you.

Don’t Quit when Your Brain Yells, “Quit!”

There will come a time in your 5K when you’ll want to quit. You’re tired. You hurt. You start to think it isn’t your day. Maybe you even think, If I faked an injury, no one would blame me for stopping. Don’t do it. This is just your brain trying to sabotage your race. Remember: Your brain is a worrywart. It’s sounding a five-alarm warning—fatigue and self-doubt—to get you to give up. Hang in there. Your brain will chill after a minute or two, just in time for you to kick to the finish line.

Target an Even Effort for Your Race

This is probably the most important advice: Run 98% of the race, from the start line until the moment you begin your finish sprint, at an even effort. Effort. Not pace. There’s a difference.

Even Pace

You run each mile (or kilometer) of your race at the same, predetermined pace (e.g., 6-minutes-per-mile). The problem with this approach is twofold. First, terrain, weather, and the presence of other runners makes it hard to do. Second, you simply don’t know what the “right” pace will be for race day—guess too fast, and your legs won’t last; guess too slow, and you rob yourself of the chance to snag a massive PR.

Even Effort

You choose a consistent level of energy expenditure that feels right for race day. You rely on external and internal cues to adjust your pace. Your effort won’t “feel” the same throughout the 5K. You’ll experience increasing fatigue as the race progresses. But you’ll burn energy at a consistent rate. To succeed with this approach takes practice, practice, practice. The good news is that provides that practice. (One trick I’ve used for years is to ask myself at intervals throughout a race, “Can I make it to the finish line at this pace?”—it’s amazing how accurate the feedback from that simple question can be, if you’re willing to take it.)

Implementing the advice in the previous eight guidelines will result in a race that hurts less and gets you to the finish line faster.

“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” —Y´Ç»ĺ˛ą

Adapted from Ěýby Pete Magill with permission of VeloPress.

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Have a question for Pete? Shoot us a note.

QUESTION

My PT said I should do hamstring curls on a , but I don’t have a Swiss Ball and can’t go to the gym. What hamstring exercises do you recommend that don’t require a gym? – JB

ANSWER

Runners should choose hamstring exercises that strengthen the muscle group in a way that’s directly applicable to running. The hamstrings endure enormous eccentric and concentric loads during each stride, so both types of muscle contractions should be targeted. The goal is to strengthen the hamstrings in a way that improves performance and reduces injury risk.

Your hamstrings might be your most important running muscle group. While most muscles flash on and off during the course of your stride, your hamstrings work feverishly from the moment your knee reaches its highest point in front of your body until your foot finally leaves the ground behind your body. During that stretch, your hammies endure an eccentric load of up to 10 times body weight just before your foot touches down and a concentric load of up to 8 times body weight immediately after touch-down. That makes hamstrings both the key to powering your running stride and an injury-risk like no other muscle.

Okay, I can already see your eyes glazing over. Eccentric-concentric, tomato-tomahto, ! That’s a reference to a 1937 film, in case those of you under 80 missed it. But bear with me, because understanding how your hammies function is the foundation for planning exercises to strengthen them.

Concentric and eccentric contractions

When you think of muscle contractions, you probably think of flexed biceps, Mr. Universe flashing six-pack abs, or ESPN’s World’s Strongest Man heaving the Atlas Stones atop tall platforms. Those are examples of “concentric” contractions, but there are actually three types of contractions:

• Concentric contractions: Your muscle shortens during contraction, producing force as it overcomes resistance (e.g., your flexed biceps when you curl a heavy dumbbell).
• Eccentric contractions: Your muscle lengthens (stretches) during contraction, producing force without being able to match or overcome an external force (e.g., you slowly lower that curled dumbbell, contracting your biceps but without enough force to overcome the weight).
• Isometric contraction: Your muscle’s length doesn’t change during contraction, producing force without altering the angle of adjacent joints — not relevant to our hammy training.

Let’s look at how your hamstrings’ concentric and eccentric contractions drive your stride.

Hamstring contractions during each stride

Your hammies first spring into action as your knee reaches its highest point in front of your body (known as “knee lift position”). At that moment, your glutes contract concentrically, pulling your thigh toward the ground. Your hamstrings simultaneously contract eccentrically, both to help your glutes (i.e., straighten the angle where your thigh meets your front pelvis) and to prevent your lower leg from snapping forward at the knee as a result of this downward force — otherwise, you’d perform the . If all goes well, your hammies will align your lower leg for a 90°landing. But right before your foot touches down, your hammies switch to a concentric contraction, pawing your foot back into the ground and exerting more force to extend your hip. As your body passes over your foot, your glutes shut off, leaving your hammies to finish extending and hyperextending your hip until your foot leaves the ground.

The faster you run, the more force your hamstrings contribute — while the contribution from muscle groups like your quadriceps and calves either remains constant or decreases. This makes strong hammies the key to faster running.

Hamstring injuries

Of course, producing all that force leaves your hammies susceptible to injury. A identified the moment after your foot touches the ground as the riskiest. But a refuted that, placing the blame on the eccentric load your hammies experience just before touch-down. Finally, a declared both previous studies to be correct — labeling this entire transition period from air to ground as a danger zone.

Most concerning to runners, show that between 30-40% of athletes who suffer a hamstring injury will re-injure the hamstring within a year. And, in fact, a declared the only significant risk factor for predicting hamstring injury is this: prior hamstring injury. That makes hamstring injury-prevention a Catch 22 proposition: Avoid injuring your hamstring by not injuring your hamstring in the first place. Luckily, the way to avoid that loop is simple. Strengthen your hamstrings.

Hamstring strengthening

And now for the moment you’ve been waiting for: non-gym exercises to strengthen your hamstrings both concentrically and eccentrically. The eccentric exercises are given first, because these are the most important for both injury-prevention and improved performance. Photo-instruction is available for all these exercises, and many more, in my book, .

Nordic Curls

Muscle Targeted: Hamstrings (especially lower hamstrings)

Type of Contraction: Eccentric

• Kneel, with your hands in front of your chest, palms facing out (safer than the arm posture in above photo). You’ll need either a partner to pin your ankles or something to hold them in place (e.g., hook them beneath a bedframe).
• Bend forward from the knees (not the waist!), slowly lowering yourself toward the ground. Keep a straight line from your spine through your knees. If you start to fall, use your hands to stop your descent.
• Use your arms to thrust yourself back up to the start position (i.e., do not work this exercise in reverse). Start with 1 set of 2-3 reps. Build to 2 sets of 6-10 reps.

Single-Leg Deadlift

Muscle Targeted: Hamstrings (especially upper hamstrings)

Type of Contraction: Eccentric

• Stand with your feet hip-width apart.
• Lift your right foot off the ground by bending your knee; your left knee should also have a slight bend.
• Bend forward from your hips, reaching your right hand toward the ground. Simultaneously lift and extend your right leg behind you. Maintain a slight bend in both knees.
• Return to your start position. Do 1 set of 5-10 reps, then switch legs. Build to 2 sets of 8-12 reps.

Hip Thrust

Muscle Targeted: Glutes, Hamstrings

Type of Contraction: Concentric

• Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat (hip-width apart), arms extended at your sides with your hands at about waist level. Your heels should be positioned close to your glutes, with your feet angled slightly outward.
• Use your glutes to lift your pelvis, forming a straight line from your knees to your shoulders. Your knees should form a 90° angle.
• Don’t hold the position; drop back to the start. Then repeat using a steady rhythm. Start with 1 set of 5 reps, build to multiple sets of 10-15 reps.

Single-Leg Squat

Muscle Targeted: Quads, Glutes, Hamstrings

Type of Contraction: Concentric

• Begin from a standing position, feet hip-width apart, with arms straight out in front of you.
• Lift your left leg, with the thigh at 45° and the knee bent. Your right leg should be slightly bent at the knee (for balance). Lower yourself into a squat — one-quarter to one-half squat, no deeper.
• Press down on your heel as you return to your starting position. Start with a few reps. Build to two sets of as many as you can comfortably control. Make sure to work both legs.

*If single-leg squats are too difficult, do bilateral air squats.

Crab Walk

Muscle Targeted: Shoulders, Triceps, Core, Glutes, Hamstrings

Type of Contraction: Concentric

• Begin in a supine position (face up), while resting on your hands and heels. Your hands should be shoulder-width apart, and your butt should clear the ground by only a few inches. Angle your fingers away from your body or find a position that reduces strain on your wrists.
• Lift your right hand and left foot and move in the direction that lies behind your head.
• Put your hand and foot down, and then move your left hand and right foot. Don’t worry if you get a little out of sync. Try 5–10 yards, then lengthen as your strength improves.

Have a question for Pete? Shoot us a note.

Ěýis a running coach, world-class runner, and author.ĚýAs a coach, Magill has led his masters clubs to 19 USATF National Masters Championships in cross country and road racing and has worked with athletes of all ages and abilities. He holds multiple American and world age-group records and is a 5-time USA Masters Cross Country Runner of the Year. Magill is author of ,Ěý,ĚýBuild Your Running Body, andĚýThe Born Again Runner.Ěý

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