Running - A Year Round Plan

by Jeff Galloway

I start most runs taking a short walk break every minute. By 2 miles I am usually walking every 3-4 minutes. By 5 miles the ratio often goes to every 7-10 minutes. But there are days every year when I stay at 3 minutes and even a few days at 1 min.

Go to a track, or other accurately measured course. 2. Warm up by walking for 5 minutes, then running a minute and walking a minute, then jogging an easy 800 meter (half mile or two laps around a track). 3. Do 4 acceleration-gliders. These are listed in the “Drills” chapter. 4. Walk for 3-4 minutes. 5. Run the one mile test—a hard effort—follow the walk break suggestions in this chapter. 6. On your first race, don’t run all-out from the start—ease into your pace after the first half (2 laps). 7. Warm down by reversing the warm-up. 8. A school track is the best venue. Don’t use a treadmill because they tend to be notoriously un-calibrated, and often tell you that you ran farther or faster than you really did. 9. On each successive test, try to adjust pace in order to run a faster time on the test. 10. Use the formula below to see what time is predicted in the goal races.

Hill training strengthens lower legs and improves running form The incline of the hill forces your legs to work harder as you go up. The extra work up the incline and the faster turnover, builds strength. By taking an easy walk between the hills, and an easy day afterward, the lower leg muscles become stronger. Over several months, the improved strength allows you to support your body weight farther forward on your feet. An extended range of motion of the ankle and achilles tendon results in a “bonus” extension of the foot forward—with no increase in effort. You will run faster without working harder.

Biggest mistakes: too long a stride, bouncing too much Even when your stride is one or two inches too long, your downhill speed can get out of control. If you are bouncing more than an inch or two off the ground you run the risk of pounding your feet, having to use your quads to slow down (producing soreness) and creating hamstring soreness due to overstride. Best indicator of overstride is having tight hamstrings (big muscle behind your upper leg).

Anaerobic running means running too fast or too long for you, on that day. At some point in the workout, when you reach your current limit, the muscles can’t get enough oxygen to burn the most efficient fuel, fat. So they shift to the limited supply of stored sugar: glycogen.

1. As soon as you can after a run, write what you did in your journal: • mileage • pace • repetitions—times • rest interval • aches or pains • problems

This is an easy drill that makes your running form smoother and easier. By doing it regularly, you pull all the elements of good running form together at the same time. One drill a week will help you step lightly, increasing the number of steps you take per minute. This will help you run faster, with less effort. 1. Warm up by walking for 5 minutes, and running and walking very gently for 10 minutes. 2. Start jogging slowly for 1-2 minutes, and then time yourself for 30 seconds. During this half minute, count the number of times your left foot touches. 3. Walk around for a minute or so. 4. On the 2nd—30 second drill, increase the count by 1 or 2. 5. Repeat this 3-7 more times. Each time trying to increase by 1-2 additional counts. In the process of improving turnover, the body’s internal monitoring system, coordinates a series of adaptations which makes the feet, legs, nerve system and timing mechanism work together as an efficient team: • Your foot touches more gently • Extra, inefficient motions of the foot and leg are reduced or eliminated • Less effort is spent on pushing up or moving forward • You stay lower to the ground • The ankle becomes more efficient • Ache and pain areas are not overused

Acceleration-glider drills This drill is a very easy and gentle form of speed play, or fartlek. By doing it regularly, you develop a range of speeds, with the muscle conditioning to move smoothly from one to the next. The greatest benefit comes as you learn how to “glide,” or coast off your momentum. 1. Done on a non-long-run day, in the middle of a shorter run, or as a warm-up for a speed session or a race—or test day. 2. Warm up with at least half a mile of easy running. 3. Many runners do the turnover drill just after the easy warm-up, and then do the acceleration-gliders. But these can be done separately from the turnover drill, if desired. 4. Run 4-8 of them. 5. Do this at least once a week. 6. No sprinting—never run all-out. After teaching this drill at my one-day running schools and weekend retreats for years, I can say that most people learn better through practice when they work on the concepts listed below—rather than the details—of the drill. So just get out there and try them! Gliding—The most important concept. This is like coasting off the momentum of a downhill run. You can do some of your gliders running down a hill if you want, but it is important to do at least two of them on the flat land. Do this every week—As in the turnover drills, the regularity of the drill is very important. If you’re like most runners, you won’t glide very far at first. Regular practice will help you glide farther and farther. Don’t sweat the small stuff—I’ve included a general gu...

Relaxed muscles—especially at the end of the run Overall, the running motion should feel smooth, and there should be no tension in your neck, back, shoulders or legs. Even during the last half mile of a hard workout or race, try to maintain the three main elements of good form, and you’ll stay relaxed: upright posture, feet low to the ground, and relaxed stride. You should not try to push through tightness and pain. Adjust your form to reduce aches and recovery time.

I. Posture Good running posture is actually good body posture. The head is naturally balanced over the shoulders, which are aligned over the hips. As the foot comes underneath, all of these elements are in balance so that no energy is needed to prop up the body. You shouldn’t have to work to pull a wayward body back from a wobble or inefficient motion. Forward lean—the most common mistake The posture errors tend to be mostly due to a forward lean—especially when we are tired. The head wants to get to the finish as soon as possible, but the legs can’t go any faster. A common tendency at the end of a speed session is to lean with the head. In races, this results in more than a few falls around the finish line. A forward lean will often concentrate fatigue, soreness and tightness in the lower back, or neck. Bio-mechanics experts note that a forward lean will reduce stride length, causing a slowdown or an increase in effort. It all starts with the head. When the neck muscles are relaxed, the head can naturally seek an alignment that is naturally balanced on the shoulders. If there is tension in the neck, or soreness afterward, the head is usually leaning too far forward. This triggers a more general upper body imbalance in which the head and chest are suspended slightly ahead of the hips and feet. Sometimes, headaches result from this postural problem. Ask a running companion to tell you if and when your head is too far forward, or leaning down. This usually occurs at the end ...

Getting out the door after a hard day By rehearsing yourself through a motivation problem, you can be more consistent and set the stage to improve. You must first have a goal that is do-able, and a rehearsal situation that is realistic. Let’s learn by doing: 1. State your desired outcome: To be running from my house after a hard day. 2. Detail the challenge: Low blood sugar and fatigue, a stream of negative messages, need to get the evening meal ready to be cooked, overwhelming desire to feel relaxed. 3. Break up the challenge into a series of actions, which lead you through the mental barriers, no one of which is challenging to the left brain. • You’re driving home at the end of the day, knowing that it is your workout day but you have no energy. • Your left brain says: “You’re too tired” “take the day off” “You don’t have the energy to run.” • So you say to the left brain: “I’m not going to exercise. I’ll put on some comfortable shoes and clothes, eat and drink, get food preparation going for dinner, and feel relaxed. • You’re in your room, putting on comfortable clothes and shoes (they just happen to be used for running). • You’re drinking coffee (tea, diet cola, etc) and eating a good tasting energy snack, as you get the food prepared to go into the oven. • Stepping outside, you check on the weather. • You’re walking to the edge of your block to see what the neighbors are doing. • As you cross the street, you’re on your way. The endorphins are kicking in, you feel good...

Getting out the door early in the morning The second most common motivational problem that I’m asked about relates to the comfort of the bed, when you wake up and know that it is time to run. State your desired outcome: To be walking and running away from the house early in the morning. Detail the challenge: Desire to lie in bed, no desire to exert yourself so early. The stress of the alarm clock, and having to think about what to do next when the brain isn’t working very fast. Break up the challenge into a series of actions, which lead you through the mental barriers, no one of which is challenging to the left brain. • The night before, you lay out your running clothes and shoes, near your coffee pot, so that you don’t have to think. • Set your alarm, and say to yourself over and over: “alarm off, feet on the floor, to the coffee pot” or….“alarm, floor, coffee.” As you repeat this, you visualize doing each action without thinking. By repeating it, you lull yourself to sleep. You have also been programming yourself for taking action the next morning. • The alarm goes off. You shut it off, put feet on the floor, and you head to the coffee pot—all without thinking. • You’re putting on one piece of clothing at a time, sipping coffee, never thinking about exercise. • With coffee cup in hand, you walk out the door to see what the weather is like. • Sipping coffee, you walk to edge of your block or property to see what the neighbors are doing. • Putting coffee down, you cross th...

Get in the deep end of the pool and move your legs through a running motion. This means little or no knee lift, kicking out slightly in front of you, and bringing the leg behind, with the foot coming up behind you. As in running, your lower leg should be parallel with the horizontal during the back-kick.

Fat burning and overall fitness exercises Nordic track This exercise machine simulates the motion used in cross country skiing. It is one of the better cross training modes for fat burning because it allows you to use a large number of muscle cells while raising body temperature. If you exercise at an easy pace, you can get into the fat burning zone (past 45 minutes) after a gradual build up to that amount. This exercise requires no pounding of the legs or feet and (unless you push it too hard or too long) allows you to run as usual the next day. Rowing machine There are a number of different types of rowing machines. Some work the legs a bit too hard for runners, but most allow you to use a wide variety of lower and upper body muscle groups. Like Nordic track, if you have the right machine for you, it’s possible to continue to exercise for about as long as you wish, once you have gradually worked up to this. Most of the better machines are good fat-burners: they use a large number of muscle cells, raise temperature, and can be continued for more than three-quarters of an hour. Cycling Indoor cycling (on an exercise cycle) is a better fat burner exercise than outdoor cycling, because it raises your body temperature more—you don’t get the cooling effect of the breeze that you generate on a bike. The muscles used in both indoor and outdoor cycling are mostly the quadraceps muscles—on the front of the thigh—reducing the total number of muscle cells compared with water running...

Cross training for the upper body Weight training While weight work is not a great fat-burning exercise, and does not directly benefit running, it can be done on non-running days, or on running days, after a run. There are a wide range of different ways to build strength. If interested, find a coach that can help you build strength in the muscle groups you wish to be strengthened. As mentioned previously in this book, weight training for the legs is not recommended. Two postural strength exercises The Crunch—lie on your back, on carpet or any padded surface. Lift your head and upper back slightly off the floor. Go through a narrow range of motion so that you feel your abdominal muscles contracting almost constantly. Start with a few seconds of these, and build up to 30-60 seconds, done 3-5 times a day (one or two days a week) Arm running—while standing, with hand held weights (milk jugs, etc) move your arms through a wide range of motion you would use when running—maybe slightly more than usual. Keep the weights close to the body. Start with a few reps, and gradually build up to 3-5 sets of 10. Pick a weight that is challenging enough so that you feel exertion at the end of a set of 10. You don’t want to have to struggle during the last few reps. Note: I do two exercises that have helped me maintain the strength of my postural muscles. Swimming While not a fat-burner, swimming strengthens the upper body, while improving cardiovascular fitness and endurance in those muscles...