Luke Humphrey Running

Many times a runner is already running the weekly volume that the training plans start out at. This prompts the question, “do I need to lower my mileage at the start of the training plan, or can I keep going at my current mileage?” Anyone who knows me at this point, knows what my immediate response will be, “it depends.” There really are cases to be made for keeping on with current mileage, as well as, reducing down to match what the plan is asking you to start at.

When you should reduce back:

If you have looked at the plan in entirety and realize it’s going to be the hardest training plan you’ve ever followed. This can be a combination of weekly mileage, workouts, and workout volume.

You are already doing workouts. By this I mean, speed, strength, tempo, anything of intensity.

You have been running for more than 2-3 weeks already and are at 85% of your weekly mileage.

You never took significant down time after your last major race.

You have a nick, a trouble spot, or are actually injured.

The reason these are important factors boils down to two things. The first is the length of time you will then make the training plan. With the two main Hansons Marathon Method plans, you are looking at 18 weeks of structure. This is already a long time. If you now turn it into a 22-26 week training plan, then you are asking for trouble late into the training plan and will turn cumulative fatigue into plain old overtraining. The second is that not only are you making the training segment loner, you are making it longer at a higher level. This is a combination that more often, than not, leads to injury, staleness, and overcooking. It’s by design that the plans start out a little easier, especially the beginner.

Consider reducing the mileage as hitting a refresh button to the plan. I know many of you are worried about losing fitness, but I can assure you that you won’t lose much at all. With two weeks completely off, you’d lose about 5% in performance. All I’m asking is to reduce your mileage. It’s all about getting you to peak fitness for race day, not the 4 weeks prior to your peak race. If you haven’t already, check out my blog post on Getting too fit too fast.

I would take a step back if you have any one of the above scenarios that apply to you.

When you should keep on keeping on

Despite what I just said, I do see a couple scenarios where it might be best to just keep on with what you are doing until the training plan keeps up with you.

You are currently injury free, but have come off a long layoff (4+ weeks of no running). The biggest issue here is that you have already had a lot of time off and you really want to make sure that you are ready to get into a long training plan. So, where before you might be starting a plan with an already fitness that’s high enough, you might be trying to get your to a decent starting point. It wouldn’t do you any good to cut back when you already cut back for several weeks.

You are currently NOT doing any SOS days. To me, the mileage is secondary to intensity. What I mean is that usually the mileage is fine as long as the intensity is low. It’s usually the higher intensity for extended periods of time that will overcook the runner. So, if you are running, but just keeping it easy, then I don’t usually see problems later on.

Your weekly mileage is 40-60% of what your peak mileage will be. While intensity might be the bigger factor in overtraining, if your mileage is continually near peak, you go back to making that segment too long. If you’ve been running at say 30 miles per week, with no SOS, and the training plan starts at 20 miles a week, then I don’t see a need to scale back to reach the prescribed early mileage.

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At the end of the day, you just don’t want to put yourself in a position where you’ll be regretting your decision six weeks out from your marathon. With beginners and first time Hansons Marathon Method users I tend to be more cautious. With these runners, I know the training is going to be hard for them, but they might think it’s too easy at the start. If they have never been through cumulative fatigue before, it’s my job to make sure they don’t overdo it too early in the program and then go straight through CF and into injury, illness, and overtraining. Hopefully, these scenarios can help guide you in making the decision that best meets you where you are at! If you take anything away, I want you to recognize that you should start a plan fresh, recharged, and not already too close to peak fitness. You want to reach that peak fitness in the last 4 weeks, not the last 8 weeks!

Gastrointestinal Distress is seemingly increasing problem for marathon runners. In fact, up to 90% of runners complain of at least one GI distress symptom during a race. That can be anything from heart burn to diarrhea. It’s not a good situation to be in, but does it have to be that way? There’s a lot of reasons that GI distress will occur. In this podcast though, I want to discuss the easy things we can do (or not do) to help us ourselves out on big workout days and race day. We will talk about the most common causes and the easiest solutions. Races like the half marathon and marathon are demanding mentally and physically. We don’t want our performance to be determined by stomach issues- especially after all the hard work, time, money, and effort into getting to race day healthy and ready to rock.

Want to learn more about the products I use? Check ’em out!

 

Actually, the question was originally about what paces their long run should be at, but it quickly escalated into, “what about warmups?” “What about cool downs?” “What if I’m slow?” “What should my recovery jog be (between intervals)?” So in an effort to clarify, I put together this 15ish minute explanation. Hope it can help you out, too!

 

In our open Facebook group we have about 3,000 members (at the time of this) and so thanks to them I have a nearly unlimited source of blog topics. A right now, a frequent question we are getting is in regards to modifying the training plan in order to fit a race in. I always chuckle at responses people give. Some are so hardcore that they feel like the schedule is the Written Word and will “scold” a person for even thinking about racing during the marathon segment! Others live for racing and would race every weekend if budget and relationships were not an issue. Their responses are the complete opposite. The truth is, well, it depends on the situation. Like anything in life there is a time and a place for everything. So let’s take a look at what our options.

My General Feelings on racing during the marathon segment

There are a lot of people who become discouraged with me when I discourage them from racing very much during a marathon training segment. For me, every race (during the marathon segment) should serve a purpose. If a person is just running the local 5k to beat a rival, but then still want to have lofty goals for the marathon, then I always have to ask them what their big picture goals are. For one, racing a 5k in the middle of a marathon segment won’t do too much for your confidence. You’re not 5k sharp, you shouldn’t have the ability to run your best 5k while training for 26 miles. If you do, then I would be concerned. If you are a new runner who’s never raced any distance very much, then you’ll see improvement, but for any seasoned runner that shouldn’t be the case.

I see two, maybe three cases, for running a race during the marathon segment. Even in these scenarios, it should be at specific times during the segment. This we will discuss later on, but for now let’s discuss the three scenarios. One is if you are trying to establish a baseline for training. Let’s say you haven’t raced anything in the last few months, and aren’t really sure what kind of marathon time you should be training for. At specific times during the segment, a race can be beneficial to get a baseline for your marathon training goals. The second scenario is performing a dress rehearsal for the marathon. The purpose here is not trying to test fitness, but rather to go through every detail that you will on your big race day. If done right, the race is not set up for the person to race all out, so they have to go in not expecting a personal best. The last scenario is if the race falls into a time when a long tempo can be replaced. Every segment runners will complain that they struggle doing the tempo’s by themselves, and there’s a race that would be a perfect substitution. While I understand the desire to have a little extra motivation to perform well on a long tempo run, I also know human tendencies. I know that more times, than not, that runners will not heed speed limits and then dig themselves a hole that takes away from other training and sets us back. I am always a lot less likely to give full on green lights for this option.

So now that we know how I feel about racing during a marathon segment, let’s discuss what to do with that training plan of yours once the rage registration is paid for.

For short races (5k or 10k)

Since the speed is done in the beginning part of the training segment, the urge is to run these short races during this block of training. Honestly, the logic here is sound, if you can race responsibility.  These are races I typically see as beginners using to establish their baselines for marathon training, rather than setting personal bests. Advanced runners may have races they run every year and they fit in fairly well with being able to do their speed workouts and substitute for shorter tempo runs.

For those with no race experience:

Below shows Weeks 5 and 6 of the classic marathon plan. This is a great time to establish a baseline for not only your goal marathon eff...

We recently talked about adapting to training where we really focused on how long it takes to adapt to a workload. Along with that, I discussed the problem with getting too fit too fast. Now, to supplement those ideas, I’d like to discuss two more parts to this whole idea. The first is getting the desired effect out of a specific workout. The second is avoiding the idea that every workout is the most important.

Easy Days

There are a couple problems with easy days that I tend to see across the board. The first is that, the runner will fail to see their importance for overall development. For instance, I just got an email from a runner who was going to take part of one schedule, a 50 mile per week schedule, and then take parts of a bigger schedule, a 75 mile per week program. Can you guess what parts he was going to take from each schedule? Correct, he wanted to take the shorter easy runs from the lower mileage program and then add the bigger workouts from the higher mileage program. The problem is that, at the lower mileage, he would throw off the ratio of hard work versus recovery work. It’s an easy mistake to make because we all would naturally assume that if we can tolerate more work we should. However, if you can’t handle the foundational work of easy running first, the harder work will only bring you down. If you struggle with the idea that easy mileage is junk mileage, then you limit how high the ceiling can be.

The second problem I see is with the paces I prescribe. Let’s say we give you a schedule and you have an easy 5 miles at your easy to moderate pace, which is 8:00 pace to 9:30 pace per mile. Early on, runners will tend to be on the faster side of the spectrum, and I do it too. We are fresh, workouts are light and spread out, so it’s easy to get going and not have any repercussions. However, once we get into the schedule more, those paces slow down because we are simply more fatigued. I don’t how many times runners have freaked out about easy runs slowing down once the heavy training has kicked in. I’m here to tell you that it is ok! A common theme across the training pace spectrum is that faster is not better. If it is the day after a hard workout and your legs are sore, it’s ok to be on that slower side of the pace spectrum. For easy days, it’s not necessarily about the pace of the run, but being able to get work in while allowing your body to recover from the intensity that it’s endured the day, or two, before. It’s called relative rest. Your easy runs are more about time on your feet, than hammering at the top end of your easy pace range. Don’t get caught up in matching your easy run paces for every run.

Long Runs

Long Runs are really an extension of easy runs, except for the pure amount of time we are running. Pace wise, we are using nearly the same range. Now, like with all training, how we apply that stimulus will differ as our ability and experience changes.

Many times you will see that people are either pushing the pace on long runs or firm believers in the Long Slow Distance (LSD) camp.

The truth is that there is room for both camps.

Our number one goal is to build endurance. So if you are a beginner, just coming back, early in your segment, or just plain tired, then need for a fast long run isn’t there. For beginners it should be a time to learn how to go out in an appropriate pace and avoid the crash and burn effect. There certainly is some trial and error here, but the idea is to learn from those early mistakes. Also for beginners, every progressive long run they complete is probably the furthest they have ever run, so they simply need to gain confidence in being able to cover ground.

As for those early in a segment or coming back from a layoff, a slower long run is a great way to increase workload and increase fitness without putting too much stress on your currently fragile system. By that I simply mean,

When you look at our schedules in either Hansons Marathon Method or Half Marathon Method, the schedules are 18 weeks. Looking at other schedules, I’ve seen anything from 18 through 32 weeks! I personally have schedules that range from 12 to 20 weeks for our longer race distances. Why the big variations across programs? Well, there’s a lot of reasoning and the answer will probably change as you grow as a runner. With this I hope to describe to you some of the reasoning, but why having a training program that’s too long is just as detrimental of having one that is too short.

How long does it take to adapt to training?

I knew you were going to ask that! The extremely general answer would be that the newer you are to running, the faster the improvements occur. Like with most things in life, our learning curves are steep and running is no different.

How fast you adapt to training

First off, let’s approach the questions regarding the schedules in the book. The primary differences between the beginner and the advanced schedule and the beginner schedule in the book is the first few weeks. In the beginner program we don’t do any Something of Substance (SOS) days for the first few weeks. With the Advanced schedule, we jump right into SOS days after the first week. We know that it takes 4-6 weeks to fully adapt to a training stress. When I say training stress, I am referring to one of the variables of FITT.

F- Frequency (How often we are exercising)

I- Intensity (The intensity of exercise)

T- Time (The amount of time we are exercising per session)

T- Type (The type of exercise we are engaging in)

In general we know three things about training adaptation. The first is that it is individual, so we either have to work directly with each individual athlete or make some generalizations. The second is that the first generalization is that it takes roughly 10 days to experience full benefit from a single workout. This in general, as things like neuromuscular aspects of training can be experienced in a couple days, but that’s for another day. Finally, we know that in general it takes 4-6 weeks of exposure to a specific training stress to maximize the effect of that training stress.

Beginners

For the Beginner plan we are making several of assumptions at the start. These are that 1) you are running low mileage 2) Are running less than 6 days per week, 3) That you aren’t running very long per session, and 4) that you aren’t running any workouts. As we look back at FITT, we see that our assumptions involve three of the four variables in increasing fitness. Gaining fitness through training adaptation is a balance between stress and recovery. Let’s say you are attempting to start a beginning plan and are just running easy a few days per week.

For most people, that is a recipe for injury and/or overtraining.

You start the program and it calls for 5 days per week with a long run and a workout (or two) in the first week. If we were to do that, we have now altered three current variables in your training. For most people, that is a recipe for injury and/or overtraining. Making it through a training program of this nature typically ends up being more about survival than gaining fitness.

Now, if you look at our schedule with the same person, we are still adding a new stress, but we limit it to frequency and time. The intensity is left the same and the type of exercise is really a controlled variable for us. By taking that one variable away (for now), provides the beginner to establish a base fitness over the next month and in all actuality, improve their base fitness. Then from there, they have established the foundation to take the next step in training.

Now, what does this have to do with how fast we adapt to training? For the beginner, fitness will actually come pretty fast in terms of physiological fitness- VO2max, endurance,

If you purchase a schedule from us via our partners at Final Surge, you’ll notice the title of this post as a notation in the speed work days. While I hint at it very little in the book, it was brought to my attention that I never really give a full explanation. So, let’s set the record straight as to Speed (not on track)

The vast majority of Hansons Marathon Method comes from my experience with The Godfather’s, Kevin and Keith Hanson. I simply noted what I had observed through their coaching of these specific programs to the masses and the philosophy to individuals. You see, every year, starting in April or May (whenever the snow is completely gone) the brothers start a community speed workout day (Tuesdays) at Dodge Park. It’s great, as it is about a mile dirt path that allows complete viewing and easy cone placement. The speedwork then switches over to follow the marathon program for The Detroit Marathon beginning in mid June. So, here, not doing it on a track easily allows larger groups of people to participate.

 

FIRST REASON

Now, admittedly, the first reason was purely about logistics and nothing particular about physiology, there are specific reasons as to why I personally prescribe it that way. The main reason is that in the classic schedules, you are doing speed work every week for several weeks in a row. If you aren’t used to doing speed work on a track regularly, then it can be a setup for developing injury. All the torque of the turns on that left leg has stopped more than one runner. Speed itself is a risk factor for injury, so let’s minimize it by taking the constant turns out of play.

SECOND REASON

The second reason is that I know you. I know that when I say 10k pace, you’ll cheat it down to 5k pace. That’s easy to do on a track. If you have to do it on the roads, 10k pace is usually hard enough to nail. So, in a sense, getting you off the track is a built in speed governor. In combination with above, I can drastically reduce your injury potential while giving you plenty of hard work.

THIRD REASON

The third reason is that while I want to maintain balance I want you to develop that marathon mindset from the beginning. On the track, you can zone out to a degree. Here, I can force you to be aware of your surroundings. You’ll have to pay more attention to what you are doing, the terrain you are running, and how you are approaching what’s ahead of you.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

The last reason is purely practical as well. Over the years I found that the majority of my runners either wake up and head straight out the door or head out right after work. Much of the time that means that a track is more than a warm up jog away. this way a runner can program their gps and just go do the workout without feeling like they are missing something by not being on the track. It also takes into account the winter variable.

Unless you are willing to shovel off lane one in January or February, this makes it a lot easier to just go out and get a workout in.

WRAP UP!

To wrap this up, it’s not imperative that you avoid the track, I would just prefer not to make it a weekly habit during marathon training. Remember, the speed we are working on is relative to the distance we are racing. Unless you are racing marathon after marathon, we would dedicate specific segments to shorter and faster races that would allow you rip some fast work on the track. That friends, are the simple reasons why I say Speed (not on track).

This year I have taken a much bigger effort to connect with the thousands of people that have used the Hansons Marathon Method over the last few years. Not because I was unsure if it would work, but rather to make sure I was doing a good job of communicating the main idea of the philosophy: cumulative fatigue.  What I learned was well, it is a mixed bag. Some of it is I think people buy the book but just follow the program and wonder why it's so hard. This is a small group, but there isn't much more I can personally do if they don't want to explore why we do what we do. Then there's the group who do everything by the book (literally) and see success. Then there's the group that I need to do better job of coaching. With that, my aim is to pull out all the stops with the idea of cumulative fatigue.

The result of a successful marathon!

What is cumulative fatigue?

Our goal with marathon training and half marathon training is to build a certain amount of cumulative fatigue that develops the strength and preparedness for the marathon.

What exactly is the definition of cumulative fatigue?

Here’s my version of the idea: When fatigue is coming from the culmination of training and not from one specific aspect. The athlete is fatigued, but still able to run strong, and not dip past the point of no return. The end result is that the runner becomes very strong, fit, and able to withstand the physical and mental demands of the marathon distance.

So, what do we do to achieve this end result? To me it’s really about 4 components for the marathon. Balance, Moderate to High Mileage, Consistency, and Active recovery.

Trust the process!

What are the components of CF?

As you can see in figure 1, there are four “pillars” I use in reaching a person to reaching cumulative fatigue. We’ve talked about these a lot, so I'll just link to those discussions.

What I will say here though is that these components all work as part of the entire system.

When you pull one piece out it's like a giant Jenga tower spilling all over the dining room table.

Then what? You're just left to pick up the prices and start over.

For instance, let me share with you a common scenario I will see in our Facebook groups. A person starts the program but doesn't completely by into part of the program. Seemingly, it always has something to do with the idea of a 16 mile long run (insert shocked voice). I feel like one of two things happen. The most popular is that the person doesn't really think that 16 miles is long enough and make their long runs the typical 20+ miles in a 40 to 50 mile week. However, in order to have enough energy, the rest of the week suffers somehow. A skipped workout here and a shortened tempo run there. Before long, the original training plan is a shadow of its former self, but the runner still feels like they are “following the method.” The second is that the runner believes too much in the 16 mile long run and develop a belief that the program is centered around the long run. They feel like even if they skimp on the rest of the training the 16 miler is all they need.

The bottom line is that the 16 miler alone won't get the job done. Like any training, or cumulative fatigue component, it's the sum of parts that makes it successful.

Past discussion on CF

Know the difference between Over training and CF

What is the difference between CF and just overtraining?

This is an area where many of you need help fully understanding and I need a better job teaching. I will admit that it's a very thin line between the two technical stages of training we are discussing. That's functional overreaching and non functional overreaching.

Common symptoms:

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO:

When you are in a functional overreaching, you will be tired but your performances in workouts will not suffer.

When you start feeling like crap and your performances are getting worse, you have likely crossed that line into functional overreaching.

Now, there's always a caveat to these things. Let's say you were running too fast to begin with and through training hard you've slowed down to what you were supposed to be running? If so, I don't think it's non functional, rather a correction. Where you will get into trouble is if you continue to try to hit the paces that were too fast. Rather, settle into the proper paces and let your fitness and body come back around. You'll still feel tired, but as long as performance is stable, you're ok.

How do I reach CF without going too far?

And here we go. The meat and taters, if you will. There’s a number of things we should do 1) before we even begin training and 2) during the early stages of a training plan that will help immensely with our goal of cumulative fatigue and not over training. From there, we can discuss the things we need to do during training that will help safeguard us while in the hardest sections of the training.

Before we even start:

At least have a discussion about what your goal is or should be. Many of the folks using the plan for the first time are people who have at least raced before, so choosing a goal makes it a bit easier for them. For those who have no clue as to what they should run should consult a coach or respected runners who will give them a no BS answer. If you recall a discussion we had about Strava data, we should that something like 60-70% of people are running a 4-5 hour marathon and training about 30 miles per week. An hour difference is a big gap, but it at least gives you a starting point to evaluate yourself. A brand new runner who is building from scratch will probably be looking more at the 4.5-5 hour range. A newer runner with a little bit of running underneath them might be looking at the 4-4.5 hour range.

Look at your schedule outside of running. Do you know of vacations and other gatherings that you know will make training difficult? Big business trips on the horizon? A baby on the way (I don’t think my daughter slept more than an hour or two a night for the first 6 months of her life). I know there’s a lot of unexpected events that pop up, but at least plan for what you know is going to occur. Preparing for these things in advance will not only help you set a more reasonable training goal, but also allow you to absorb the unexpected a little better.

Early in the training:

I made a post about this a bit ago and I think is a must read for everyone new to the idea of cumulative fatigue: Avoiding the early pitfalls of marathon training.

A few keys to take away:

Let your fitness build, don’t try to force the issue. I see this all the time where people think if fast is good, faster is better. No, running the right pace for what we are trying to accomplish is better. For instance, if your goal is 3:45 and it’s already an attempt at a big PR, then why make it harder on yourself and try to run faster than what is prescribed? I want you at peak fitness for your goal race, not the local school fundraiser 5k.

Don’t rely on running alone. This one has always been a problem for me. As much as we feel strapped for time, we need to carve more out if we truly want to prepare. I am talking about things like flexibility, dynamic warm ups, core training, and general strength. I know I know. I hear ya and I have fought it forever, too.

Sleep and proper nutrition are your best friends during a heavy training cycle. This is for your life, aw well. Should be non negotiable.

Adjust for environment. The summer is a perfect example of this. For an October marathon, you’ll start training in June. This means that a lot of your training will be during the dog days of summer. So many times my athletes will overdo it trying to hit paces that aren’t reasonable given the temperature and humidity. Is it ideal? No, but that’s why we don’t be a ourselves up that we were 15 seconds slow per mile when it was 80 degrees with a dew point of 65 degrees and we’ve only been training for 6 weeks.

If you can do these things, you'll set yourself up to be able to not only tolerate training, but also maximize your training adaptations during the last 6-8 weeks of the marathon segment (when it really counts). You’ll put yourself in the zone of cumulative fatigue without crossing the threshold into overt training.

Love the Sport!

What do I do if I take it too far?

The end result of what I saw many folks doing was taking cumulative fatigue into nonfunctional overreaching by the time they got to the strength segment of the marathon plans. If you find yourself in that zone or rapidly approaching it, here’s what I would do.

Immediately start doing the things we just talked about. Consider vitamins/supplements.

Spread workouts further apart (Modifying Schedule)

Tuesday-Friday-Sunday

Wednesday-Sunday w alternating weekend

Within a month of race? Start taper now. If you are fried and performance has gone by the wayside, we have to bring you back and quickly. Reducing both volume and intensity is the easiest way to do it.

Scale back to 2b.

Focus on lower intensity SOS

Don't scale back so much you lose fitness

End Goal

The end goal is two fold. The first is to teach you how to train, regardless of system you use. We want to take you from guessing to knowing the how, what, and why if becoming a runner (regardless of pace, as pace is irrelevant). This is an ongoing process and hopefully incorporated into everything we provide. The second is what you are immediately concerned with- getting to the starting line healthy. I realize that things rarely go perfectly as planned. If you find yourself in such a situation let's cut our losses, minimize the damage, and get to the starting line in one piece. This will at least allow you to run your race and you still might even just surprise yourself with what you can still accomplish. It certainly doesn't have to mean throwing in the towel on a training segment!

 

Listen to our PODCAST on Cumulative Fatigue

This year I have taken a much bigger effort to connect with the thousands of people that have used the Hansons Marathon Method over the last few years. Not because I was unsure if it would work, but rather to make sure I was doing a good job of communicating the main idea of the […]

We always talk about the idea of cumulative fatigue and how it is part of the training process. Then I go and complicate it by talking about not overtraining. Couple that with mistakes we all make early in our training and we are set up for potential disaster. There’s a number of pitfalls I’ve made and seen others make, especially early on in a marathon cycle that can cause major issues for us when the training really gets tough. In this RunClub live session I break down the top 5 pitfalls.

Note: one thing I didn’t mention, but is so crucial is that you want to just be in a stage of cumulative fatigue by the time you get into that 6-8 weeks out point in a segment. You don’t want to be in that stage of training before the hard stuff really gets going!