Speed Training for Ultras
You’re training for an ultra, 50 or 100 miles. Are
you doing speed training? You may wonder why you should.
After all, you’ll be running pretty slow, even walking. How
can speed training help?
Speed training can improve:
·
Cardiovascular
efficiency;
·
Muscle
strength;
·
Stride
efficiency.
Cardio: The bigger the size of your
engine - volume of blood your heart pumps with each stroke -
the more oxygen and fuel you can deliver to your body more
easily. This is true at any effort level. A stronger heart
will allow you to go faster and use less energy at a lower,
ultra effort level.
Strength: Faster running engages muscle
fibers you don’t normally use when running slower, and
builds general muscle strength. That’s important for two
reasons. First, when running an ultra, your muscles
preferentially start by using the efficient slow twitch
fibers. As they become fatigued, you will begin to use the
less efficient oxidative, and then non-oxidative fast twitch
muscles. When you run that long, you are going to need a lot
more of your muscle fibers than in shorter races. Make them
stronger now, and they will be strong for you when you need
them in an ultra.
Second, a big factor in how fast you run is the
percentage of muscle fibers you engage with each stride. At
slow speeds, a small percentage of your fibers are working.
Go faster, and more of your fibers have to engage. Train
more to work, and you will have a stronger stride (i.e.,
faster pace) even at lower effort levels.
Efficiency: The less time your foot is on
the ground, the more efficient your stride is. The longer
your foot is on the ground, the more energy/inertia you
lose, and the more energy it takes to generate forward
momentum. You need just enough to let your muscles coil like
a spring and then spring back, returning as much energy as
possible to your motion. Far too many ultra runners, spend
far too much time, using nothing but a slow, ultra-shuffle
in training. At the 2004 Leadville 100 Run, I was able to
witness Matt Carpenter running up the back side of
Getting started
If you haven’t been doing any fast running, then
first start with some drills.
Striders: Striders are short sprints
where you step as quickly as you can. It's about stride
speed, not absolute speed; i.e., don’t try to run fast, try
to step fast. Think of it like running on hot coals; pick
your foot off the ground as quickly as you can after it
lands. Make your stride rate quicker than is comfortable.
Build your speed for the first half, then carry it
through to the end. Jog easy for about the same distance, or
about twice the time in between; close to a full recovery.
On the track, sprint the straights and jog the curves. Off
track, do ~20-30 sec hard, 40-60 sec easy. You shouldn’t be
struggling to maintain your speed or breathing during this.
DON'T REACH! Keep your stride short and make sure
your foot lands under your body, not in front of it. It
might help to keep your stride short by doing striders on a
slight grade, but it shouldn’t be a hard run. It should be
easy on the muscles.
Always do striders (and all speed training or
racing) after a good warm-up, such as towards the middle or
end of an easy, short-medium length run. Striders are also
great to do before intervals (or a race), after your warm-up
and drills, and just before you run hard.
Starting out, you may want to start with just 6
striders/workout, 2x/week. You
can increase them to 10-12 or more over time. Striders
should be continued throughout your training, including
during tapering.
Hill Sprints: Hill sprints are short, hard
sprints, up steep hills. They are designed to build
strength, engage fast twitch muscles, and promote stride
efficiency. Hills increase the workload on the muscles,
while reducing the stress on joints, bones and connective
tissues.
Focus on form more than speed. Use a powerful leg
drive, driving your knees up and forward, parallel to the
slope, keeping your stride quick and short. Drive your arms
back hard, like you’re elbowing someone in the gut behind
you, to help drive your knees.
Start with uphill striders. Start each stider slow, even walking or skipping into it. Skipping is a great way to start hill sprints because it gets your knees up - and gradually build your speed. I'd keep it to 20 sec to start, 10 sec building speed, and 10 maintaining it. As with flat striders, keep your stride short and quick. Take a full recovery between the striders, perhaps walking back down the hill to the start. This is not about breathing hard.
Next move to hard, 6-10 sec sprints. Walk or skip into them, and jog the
first couple of strides easy. It's not like starting out of
the blocks in a 100m sprint. The reason to keep them to <
10 sec is to really focus the work on the non-oxidative fast
twitch muscle fibers. Keeping them short also allows you to
stride at a very fast rate. Take a full recovery (~1 minute)
between sprints. This is not about breathing hard.
These are generally done early in the season, after
a few weeks of easy, base building. Start with 6
sprints/workout, 2x/week. If
you’re well into your training already, and aren’t sore, you
can move to the linger hill
sprints after a couple of weeks. Otherwise, and especially
if you’ve never done any speed training, continue doing
these for 4-6 weeks, or longer if they make you sore.
Use the steepest, run-able hill, perhaps 10%+. By
run-able, I mean not so steep that you aren’t able to run,
and not rocky that you have to alter your strides; the
smoother the better (how it feels is more important than the
precise grade). The hill should be steeper with the shortest
sprints, and slightly less so as you go longer. If you don’t
live near hills, be creative by using things like parking
garage ramps, overpasses, stairs, or a treadmill.
Then, gradually increase the length of the sprints
to 20, 30, 40 sec. These slightly longer
sprints add more strength, and promote a faster stride over
longer distances. Monitor your form and leg turnover as you
increase the length. Once your form starts to break down,
your legs tighten up, and your stride rate slows, take just
a few more strides, working hard to maintain your form and
stride rate, then stop. You want to push yourself a little
further than is comfortable, but continuing to run with bad
form isn't helpful. You should feel a bit winded,
but not dead at the end. Over time, you'll be able
gradually increase the time you'll be able to sprint uphill
while maintaining good form. For the longer sprints,
use a slightly less steep hill, perhaps 6%-8%. Run a little
less hard than the 6-10 sec sprints. Focus as much on leg
turnover and form as on power.
As you transition form the shorter sprints, first
substitute one of these per week, then both. Over time, you
should be able to maintain your stride longer and extend the
sprints to 40+ sec.
I’m not a big fan of tempo runs, or lactate
threshold (zone 4, LT) training for ultras. While LT
training does stress the heart/lungs, the main focus of LT
training (as opposed to other speed training) is that
it works on lactate tolerance. Lactate is a fuel
source as well as a byproduct, and your ability to process
lactate is important at high effort levels. Since you
shouldn’t be anywhere close to that level in an ultra, LT
training isn’t necessary for ultras (except, perhaps, for
elite runners at 50km distance). It’s not that it’s bad, but
the higher, shorter VO2Max efforts promote greater capacity
improvements.
Speed training is not without risks. Running fast
puts greater strain on the muscles, and can lead to pulls
and strains. So, follow these guidelines:
If all you do is long, slow, plodding, ultra
miles, then all you learn to run is a long, slow, plodding
pace & stride. Add some speed to your training and watch
your power, efficiency, and speed increase.