I’ve recently been approached by a low-level running client who is also inexperienced in the weight room. Her greatest deficiencies are clearly speed and power. Blanket statement advice - at this point, would it make sense to address her limitations by leveraging the weight room, or should the focus be exclusively on improving speed and power by undertaking more specific, higher intensity (“quality”) track sessions?
My assumption is that this power deficiency stems from too much “gray zone” running alongside an overall absence of speed work in her former running program.
Have you read Hudson’s book? He has athletes just do hill sprints, starting with 6x 6s and working up to 12x 12s over several weeks. He recommends steep gradients, like 8-10% I believe. I used these a lot when I trained for Boston and think they work. Explosive stuff in the weight room is hard to learn (Olympic lifts). Plyometrics are another alternative, but I never got on with them.
The nice thing about Hudson’s system is you just throw them in at the end of an easy run once or twice a week. It might be worth considering this as a first step?
Fazel, thank you so much for your valuable response. In response to your question - no, I have never read Hudson’s book but I’ll be sure to check it out!
The hill protocol you mention sounds particularly well reasoned for an athlete that has minimal exposure to speed training by incorporating large degrees of intent and neuromuscular engagement while minimizing eccentric stresses.
Context please how old is she, what is her background, how does she feel about going to the gym, what does she think of sprinting? Does she have any experience in strength training? Does she have an uphill at her disposition? Does she understand why it would be beneficial to do strength or power work? How far away is her goals? What is her goal? How much time does she in her disposition to train? How is her stress levels? Health?
@Fazel, appreciate the great generosity - if you could kindly share your notes that would be awesome. Pls, allow me to share my Instagram handle so that you can send them via DM: @jbarroso21.
Dear Marjanaa, thanks for the response!!
Allow me to fill you in on the details: I’m dealing with a master’s female athlete who is approaching her 50’s.
She has very limited strength and power training experience under her belt except for the occasional plank, low-stimulus step up, air squat, etc.
No significant injury history, calcium deficiency, osteoporosis, etc.
Here training timetable is highly flexible / high availability, She could feasibly fit a running and weight room session into her program on the same day.
As for the primary challenge: despite having ample running experience (she’s been running for at least a decade now) her overall numbers and progression have been significantly lackluster. She is extremely motivated and is highly ambitious - her current marathon PR is 5:30ish and her objective is to reach 3:45 so that she is able to compete in the Boston marathon.
Other details I consider worthy of sharing are the fact that she is a very avid learner: when I try to justify the physiological “why” of my training prescriptions, she is always open to listen and learn. This has allowed her to understand and value the importance of strength and power training.
As for sprinting, high-intensity, high-load training in general, I think this is one of her main caveats - although she understands their importance and value, she has a low pain threshold and high degrees of inhibition which truly hinder her ability to carry them out. Mind you, this is not associated with any sort of past trauma / injury. It appears to be purely psychological. Your advice on this matter would be invaluable - I would assume the solution simply lies in a low baseline introduction to these types of stimuli. IME and through literature, I understand that initial inhibition levels decay at a pretty rapid rate, meaning we can ramp up these stimuli in an exponential manner. Again , your thoughts in this regard would be heavily appreciated.
My apologies for a late reply. Wanted to have enough time to sit down and give you a well-thought out suggestion.
I really love your question, and I would in general agree with you about higher intensity work together with strength, with some additional considerations (below).
Athletica’s HIIT workouts will help her hit high intensity (above her VT2) without adding too much stress in her system, especially if you choose the shorter intervals like 30/30s for her. If she is not used to pushing it hard (painful), shorter intervals may be much more doable for her vs. 4-5 min intervals. I would start her with very little 1x4x30/30 and progress gently.
There are also hill sprints programmed in the marathon program, and I would highly recommend doing them on preferably on grass or gravel road (vs. concrete/asfalt). The point here is to do faster running uphill to reduce the risk of injury. I would advise against true ALL-OUT sprints lasting 5-10s on track, due to higher injury risk. If she is doing true sprints (for example 10s sprints with long recoveries, she is not really maximizing VO2max aspect here, just the neuromuscular component). Considering the risk vs reward here for marathon specifically, I would opt for 30/30s.
Sounds also like her fat oxidation could use some work - here, you can use Athletica’s test week to make sure her training zones are correctly set, and especially use the MAF test periodically to address her ability to use fat at low (and towards marathon) intensities. You can learn more about MAF with Dr. Maffetone here. .
Strength training: Big Loud YES to strength training. As women age, we start losing both muscle and bone mass. The loss accelerates as we “turn over the page” to menopause (not sure where she is in her journey? Ask her). General strength training with some plyometrics would be advisable here. Running is essentially taking many repeated hops, landing on one foot. Using plyometrics and strength training will be beneficial for her overall health, performance and preparing her body for the demands of marathon. Plyos can make her running much more efficient and keep her injury free. Progress with care.
Special considerations for females over 40: when women get into perimenopause, lower estrogen can negatively impact our tendon and ligament elasticity, meaning that our tendons essentially turn a bit like “old rubber bands”. So adding plyometrics to training program needs to be carefully considered. For same reason, I would recommend starting strength training with someone new to strength training with body weight exercises only, and adding external load only with a personal trainer who can monitor and teach her how she moves under load. I would not recommend going straight to power focused strength training before she is moving well under load. I don’t think you meant power training in weight room, but more of sprint training, right?
Last note; try to add the higher intensity work with her in a way that isn’t intimidating to her. Do you see her in person? There are many ways you could introduce faster running (or she could even do 30/30 on a bike which reduces injury risk substantially but is still excellent for central adaptations) in a playful way with games. Adding very small amounts in a supported environments can take some of the hesitation away. You definitely want the buy-in from her to make it work for her.
Also, balance training would be one more thing to consider.
Hope my long answer gives you more clarity.
All that I mentioned is already in the Athletica marathon plan, but you would need to consider the dosage for her.
Absolutely amazing. Thank you for such an elaborate and generous response.
Your input on being cautious with plyos is invaluable, something I hadn’t acknowledged enough.
I also really appreciate the point you make about risk vs reward regarding all-out sprints.
In terms of power training, I was mainly referring to faster running and plyometrics. I am not a big believer of moving light weights fast in order to stimulate power-related adaptations.
Again, thanks so much for the help!
how old is she, what is her background, how does she feel about going to the gym, what does she think of sprinting? Does she have any experience in strength training? Does she have an uphill at her disposition? Does she understand why it would be beneficial to do strength or power work? How far away is her goals? What is her goal? How much time does she in her disposition to train? How is her stress levels? Health?
MJ