[Max Krause]

First of all thanks for all the fantastic information you offer. From everything on this site to the podcasts it has already improved my running and enjoyment of training immeasurably.

My background: I recently (2 years ago) got into running, having been only a very pedestrian hiker before. Over this time I have been able to significantly ramp up my training load and I now run almost every day and average about 7 hours a week of running and power hiking. I am not training for any goal. I just enjoy training and especially my weekend mountain long runs. On these long runs I more and more notice that the principal limitation is power/muscular endurance, even when keeping it quite easy metabolically. How do I go about changing this?

My current training: I train by feel and for almost a year have focused solely on increasing easy volume. I believe that the vast majority of my training is Z1/Z2 – I use things like my breathing and the fact that I seem to be able to repeat/increase my training without major hiccups. I just get sore after long mountain runs sometimes. I’ve very recently started a kettlebells class once a week as I’m quite generally weak and I want to start doing some strides one on of my runs each week. I theoretically train in 4 week blocks where every 4th week is easy in theory but mostly life dictates the easier weeks.

So to the main question. How do I go about getting specifically stronger? The key here is I don’t have any goals aside from enjoying my long runs and building capacity in the very long term. From the menu of:

• hill sprints
• gym ME
• outdoors ME
• Z3 uphill intervals
• continuous long uphill Z3

How do I start incorporating some or all of these into my training? How do I go about choosing which of these to do? Would there be a very significant benefit from periodizing despite no goal? Or can all of these be done on a somewhat continuous basis?

Some personal caveats:

• Z3 seems fun, I’ll occasionally do some shorter hills a bit harder and really enjoy that and as much as I really love and prefer the easy training, sometimes I miss the early days when I trained fun fast a lot.
• On hill sprints, I have tried these before but there is no good enough steep hill with adequate footing/steps that I can use in my city (ironic since it’s actually quite a hilly city). If using a 10-15% grade and a slightly longer sprint is an option that could work.

I’ve tried to highlight in bold what I think might be of interest to everyone here, I realize that there’s a lot of text here aside from that and if you think it’s best to discuss on a coaching call I’d be very happy to do that.

[Scott Johnston]

Max:

Thanks for writing in with these great questions.  Your concern with lack of ME is common, so allow me…….

This high volume of low-intensity running you’ve been doing has mainly only been recruiting the slowest of the slow twitch fibers.  They are getting the training benefit which, as you point out, is metabolic.  To run faster or even longer especially in the mountains, requires the recruitment of a pool of faster twitch, more forceful fibers.  You can do that with all the methods you list in bold; plus, I would add Strides or Pick Ups to your list.

With runners, we have had very good luck achieving what you are asking about by adding on gymME and one hill sprint workout a week for a minimum of 8-10 weeks.  Take a break from the ME and add strides in place of the hill sprints. You should find yourself running faster and feeling less fatigue from the long runs

If that all worked and feels effective give yourself a couple of months of faster running including 1xZ3 session/week.  Then repeat that cycle but go 12 weeks in the ME/hill sprint phase.

For the hill sprints, stairs in a tall building can work, and so can stadium stairs. If you belong to a gym that has sleds, you can push or pull a sled sprinting for 10-15 sec to get the same effect.

During this ME and power phase, you should minimize the amount of Z3 as it will target many of the same fibers, and you could have trouble recovering.

I hope this helps,
Scott

 

 

 

[Max Krause]

Thank you very much Scott, that is really helpful.

Great suggestion with the sleds! I had tried hill sprints on steps but found I could never get the balance of taking too few or too many stair steps per step right- at least on the steps I had available.

I trust your suggestions will work but I am curious of the theory behind switching up sprints/ME blocks with Z3 blocks. If my only goal is to get stronger long term and not have whimpy legs on my long runs why not just do sprints/ME? Z3 is fun though so I’d probably do a block anyway :).

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Max Krause.

[Josh Gray]

Max, a good cheap option for hill sprints is using an old car tire. You can almost always grab one for free stacked behind car dealerships (they just trash them) drill a hole and put an eye bolt through it and attach a rope. On flats to 10% grade you’ll need to add weight inside it to get the right resistance if you’re just using one tire. I use it on a 10% dirt road near my house and it’s perfect with a 25-30 pound sandbag inside the tire.

I know you asked Scott to clarify on the zone 3, but I believe the goal of swapping out the ME for Z3 is because the Z3 is much more sport specific and allows you to take the gains that you’ve made from the gym ME converted them into real uphill running performance.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Josh Gray.

[Max Krause]

Thanks for the suggestion on hill sprints Josh. I suspect where I live that might draw a volume of funny looks that I could not handle :D.

The Z3 thing I’m wondering is more a theoretical question of whether you can infinitely build capacity (via ME) if you have no goal (race) at all. Or is it more of a staircase of building performance where each step requires building capacity, then cashing in with specific training before moving on to the next step?

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Max Krause.

[Josh Gray]

I think you nailed it. Basically it’s a form of block periodization where you alternate between the two modes and will improve with each new block.

[Josh Gray]

A good example for me personally following Evoke’s mountaineering plan is I did an 8 week block of max strength ( with gym strength & sled sprints with mostly unloaded runs and steep hikes) which increased my pool of available muscle fibers then moved into a ME block where I’m carrying a heavy pack up steep terrain utilizing those muscle fibers in a sport  specific way while just doing a small of amount of strength. The uphill fitness gains I’ve made in just a short time have been profound using these specialized blocks.
<p style=”text-align: left;”>One other thing I’ve heard Scott mention is that the ME effect you gain will last about as long as the block you trained it before tapering off. So after an 8 weeks block of ME you should still see the benefits for another 8 weeks in a Z3 block with no gym ME training</p>

• This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Josh Gray.

[Max Krause]

Thank you Josh, that makes sense. I think so often periodization is talked about in the context of preparing for a race/event which made me unsure whether the time spent in the capacity phase is limited by the possible gains or simply by the time available to the event.

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