Module 2-1: A Strong Running Foundation

Aerobic exercise refers to "any activity that uses large muscle groups, can be maintained continuously, and is rhythmic in nature." It is also defined as exercise that increases the need for oxygen. Aerobic exercise is used interchangeably with the terms: cardiovascular exercise, cardio-respiratory exercise and cardio.

Aerobic exercise strengthens your heart and lungs (which make up the cardiovascular system). During exercise, your muscles demand more oxygen-rich blood and give off more carbon dioxide and other waste products. As a result, your heart has to beat faster to keep up. When you follow a consistent aerobic exercise plan, your heart grows stronger so it can meet the muscles' demands without as much effort. Everyone, regardless of their weight, age, or gender, can benefit from aerobic exercise.

The best way to lay a foundation of aerobic fitness is quite simple: Perform a gradually and steadily increasing amount of running at a comfortable pace. Start by running every other day and work toward running six or seven days a week. Start with short (15-20-minute) runs and slowly increase the duration of your average run to 45 minutes or so. Do one "long run" per week on Saturday or Sunday. Keep increasing the duration of this run until it's long enough to carry you to the finish line of the longest events you care to do.

Just like when you learn to walk or run your neuromuscular system 'learns' to send out perfectly timed electrical impulses to your muscles. It is now possible to aid this neuromuscular learning process to quickly master almost any sporting move. By applying the secrets of neuromuscular learning you can improve the flow and fluidity of your techniques, almost instantly.

If the best way to build a foundation of aerobic fitness is to go long and slow, the best way to build a foundation of neuromuscular fitness is to do very short, very fast efforts such as speed intervals (e.g. 6 x 300-meter relaxed sprints a track), fartlek intervals (30-60-second hard efforts sprinkled throughout an otherwise easy run) and steep hill sprints.

Start with steep hill sprints. These short, maximum-intensity efforts against gravity provide two key benefits. First, they strengthen all of the running muscles, making you much less injury-prone. They also increase the power and efficiency of the stride, enabling you to cover more ground with each stride with less energy in race circumstances. These are significant benefits from a training method that takes very little time and is fun to do.

Thanks to the repeated bout effect, you can increase your steep hill sprint training fairly rapidly and thereby develop strength and stride power quickly. First, increase the number of eight-second sprints you perform by two per session per week. Once you're doing eight to 10 sprints, move to 10-second sprints and a steeper, eight-percent hill. After a few more weeks, advance to 12-second sprints on a 10-percent hill. Always allow yourself the opportunity to recovery fully between individual sprints within a session. In other words, rest long enough so that you are able to cover just as much distance in the next sprint as you did in the previous one. Simply walking back down the hill you just ran up should do the trick, but if you need more time, take it.

Most runners will achieve as much strength and power improvement as they can get by doing 10 to 12 hill sprints of 12 seconds each, twice a week. Once you have reached this level and have stopped gaining strength and power, you can cut back to one set of 10 to 12 hill sprints per week. This level of maximum power training will suffice to maintain your gains through the remainder of the training cycle.

As the seasons and years go by, assuming you train sensibly, your training should evolve first by adding layer upon layer to this foundation of aerobic and neuromuscular fitness through increasing mileage and more challenging aerobic workouts, including longer long runs, and also through more challenging high-intensity neuromuscular training. As these types of training begin to reach a point of diminishing returns, gradually shift your focus toward specific-endurance training for your primary race event.

The longer you continue training for competitive performance in the sport of distance running, the more your overall training mix should move away from general training at the extremes and the more it should focus on specific endurance.