#ukmarathonchat

Running Economy and Plyometrics

The Marathon Mystery - #marathonmystery

As an endurance coach there are 2 misconceptions which crop up time and time again. Firstly; 'the skinnier I am, the faster I will run' and secondly; 'the greater volume I run, the faster I will become'. It can be very hard to convince people in marathon training that they need to drop a run session per week and exchange it for a gym session. Just because Paula Radcliffe built up to 145 miles per week, it doesn't mean that by running that amount of miles per week we will be as fast as Paula. To be able to run that amount of miles per week you need to be in incredibly strong form, which can't be achieved without lots of good fuel and a large dollop of strength work. The following study is one I have referred many a road runner to, and usually with good effect. It's a good robust study with clear outcomes and statements. When someone comes to me and says "I've got a marathon in 6 weeks and I don't think I've trained enough" (as they regularly do!), I usually advise to hit the gym and get your body in as strong a condition as possible to deal with the 26.2 miles ahead. If you start trying to run high mileage weeks without having built up the mileage steadily then the chances of injury incidence are greatly increased. In several interviews following Mo's move to Salazar he was asked what had changed, and his response was that he was doing more weights than he'd ever done, and heavier weights. Ben Cox - MSc Sport and Health Science