Last weekend at the U.S. Track and Field Olympic Trials, two young runners from the , and , qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. It’s safe to say coach Dathan Ritzenhein knew exactly what he was doing during the long months of the pandemic.

Ritzenhein outlined three basic workouts he prescribed to his athletes to keep them fit and ready when races returned 鈥� without risking burnout. These three workouts pull back on intense interval sessions and focus on maintaining strength and development of basic speed and coordination. They work for any point in a season, or off-season, to get you ready to roll for when you have a race on the calendar again and are ready to resume intense intervals.

Here’s Coach Ritzenhein describing these key workouts:

Back to Basics

We always rely on some workouts year round that allow us to touch on multiple energy systems so as to be ready for racing season on a few weeks notice. Here are three of my favorite workouts I have learned from coaches over the years and use with my runners throughout the year.

Double-Ladder Fartlek

鈥� 1/2/3/2/1/2/3/2/1

Go hard for 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, 2 minutes, 1 minute. The recovery is the same as the rep that preceded it. So one minute hard, one minute recovery, two minutes hard, two minutes recovery, three minutes hard, three minutes recovery, etc. You can make this workout more of a steady aerobic session by keeping the recovery at a moderate pace, or, if you really want to focus on speed, you can jog the recovery easier, allowing yourself to run each 鈥渙n” section a little faster.

This is my 鈥済o-to鈥� fartlek. I have been doing this workout myself since my first year as a pro runner and it finds its way into my runners鈥� training plans usually every 3鈥�4 weeks. It鈥檚 34 minutes long and it is a good aerobic stimulus, but allows you to turn the legs over faster at times than a tradition steady tempo run.

200m Repeats + 200m Hills

鈥� 6鈥�10 x 200m at approximately 5k pace with 200m easy recovery jog.

鈥� Jog easy for 5鈥�10 minutes to a hill.

鈥� 6鈥�10 x 200m hills, jogging easy back down for recovery.

Adjust the number of reps for your ability and fitness level; I suggest starting at 5鈥�6 reps of each first and seeing how you feel before moving up in volume.

If I want to work on speed, this is a simple, but not overly taxing, workout that will get the wheels turning. I used this workout for almost a decade starting in the summer of 2009 when I broke the American Record for 5000m. It is an effective way to build basic speed, but the repetitions are not too long and the recovery is short enough that it shouldn鈥檛 be too difficult of a workout.

The hill repeats should be about 5鈥�6 seconds slower at the same effort, and try not to make the incline too steep. We do this workout because doing 20 x 200m is a pretty intense speed session, but by splitting it and running half the reps on a hill you slow the pace and reduce contact forces enough to not tear up the body. It reinforces good stride mechanic and builds power you might struggle to reach on a flat surface. If you are worried about being at the track with too many runners to come into contact with, or you don鈥檛 have a hill close to the track, there is no reason the 200鈥檚 have to be done on the track. Just go by time and use a nice flat road.

Kilometer’s + Minute Hills

鈥� 4鈥�6 x 1K at between 10K and half marathon effort with approximately 2 minutes recovery between repeats.

鈥� A 5-10 minute jog.

鈥� 4鈥�6 x 1-minute hill repeats at the same effort with an easy jog back down.

If you keep the rest at two minutes or more, and keep at the prescribed effort levels, most athletes should be able to walk away feeling like they put in good work but didn鈥檛 鈥済o-to-the-well.鈥� If you’re a beginning runner, three sets might be plenty. My athletes usually find 4鈥�6 is enough to feel like they worked out well but are ready to go three days later to workout or five days later for a race.

This workout I often prescribe as the last full effort before a race, or as a good moderate session that allows the body to adapt to faster paces but with ample rest so the athletes don鈥檛 overdo the workout.

Year-round Staples

These workouts are staples that I like to use year-round, but they made even more sense when we were wait for the racing schedule to reopen. If you are sitting in a holding pattern, don’t have any races on the calendar for a few months and want to be ready when the time comes, try adding these workouts into your training instead of hitting really hard intervals that leave you laying on the track.

Training gives you the structure and focus you need to keep anxiety away and it helps you to maintain motivation for the long haul. Remember to keep the effort and volume from being too difficult so you don鈥檛 train yourself into the ground 鈥� but there is no reason you have to completely stop training.

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In this isolating time of social distancing, many of us are missing our training partners, those people with whom we form some of the closest bonds. So much energy and passion is wrapped into our training and there are few people who know all the hard work that we put into achieving our running goals. It鈥檚 a camaraderie that is created on weekly long runs, grueling tempos and intervals at the track.听

Many of us are simply missing companionship on those easy runs. As we go through this tough time we might not have those training partners with us at each workout, but we can lean on the lessons we have learned over the years from training with them.听

I have been fortunate over the course of my career to train with some of the best distance runners in the world. They have left an imprint on me as an athlete and coach, and I continue to look to them as examples of how I can get the most out of myself or the athletes I coach. This past week I called Jason Hartmann, Jorge Torres and Shadrack Biwott to see what helped them have success long term with running.

Jason Hartmann: No Excuses

I have known Jason Hartmann for 25 years. Now retired and the Men鈥檚 Cross Country and Track and Field coach at Central Michigan University, Jason was twice the top American and 4th place finisher in the (2012 and 2013). Long before that, we were high school teammates and he was the role model that I chased. Jason was two years ahead of me and beat me in every race we ran, until our final high school race together. He was the person who showed me what it took to be one of the best high school runners in the country and it blazed me a path to a dominant final two years of high school.听

We were fortunate to come from a powerhouse team where we had a culture of hard work that trickled down across all levels. Jason says, 鈥淭here were no excuses to not do the work when even the slowest runners were out there pushing themselves to exhaustion in practice. It didn鈥檛 matter if you were the best runner in the state or the slowest member of the team, you did the work otherwise you weren鈥檛 going to be proud of yourself.鈥� Being in a competitive environment was essential for us and that started when we were impressionable young athletes.听

Jorge Torres: Love, Patience, Confidence

After high school I moved to Boulder, Colorado. I was fortunate to have another athlete to show me what it took to be the best. Jorge Torres would go on to become an NCAA Champion in cross country and Olympian in the 10,000 meter. But before that, he would take me in as an elder statesman of our team at the University of Colorado and gave me an education in what it took to be an NCAA Champion. As I did before with Hartmann in high school, I spent the first two years of college as a rising American running star, chasing someone who was two years older than me.听

I was always very driven as an athlete, but early on lacked the self control and confidence that Jorge had. I was a reckless trainer who had learned to always do more. Jorge on the other hand was an athlete that was always comfortable with himself and his ability. He ran strictly because he loved running and never felt the need to prove anything.听

I was coming from a culture of running where we just outworked everyone. Jorge, in contrast, had a steady confidence that came from daily training and routine which he thrived on. He knew that to have passion for the training that he needed to love what he was doing.听

When I started getting injuries, I lost the confidence I had as a young star. I poured myself into cross training because I felt I needed to make up for that lost time and do more than everyone else. I never loved cross training, but I had a compulsion to do it and always felt I needed to be in shape. It was part of my nature and something I learned at a young age.听

Jorge also hated cross training and the mental wear and tear that injuries brought. But he was able to wait until he was healthy and slowly build himself back to full strength and fitness. It didn鈥檛 bother him how long it took, he was happier to let the injury come and go and build back slowly. I was never able to do that. I always felt a need to prove myself, but he knew that he would be able to return to full strength when his body was ready again. It took me a long time to trust that my talent never would go away.听

We went on to train together professionally for a few years and he was the same as a professional runner as he was in college. Coming off winning the 10K at the USATF Championships in 2006, Jorge was injured for much of 2007. He wanted to make the World Championships Team in 鈥�07 but he was not able to get back healthy in time. With the Olympic year looming he didn鈥檛 rush or panic, but instead took his time to get healthy.听

He got back into his routine when his body was ready and had the calm self assurance in his abilities to just slowly build his fitness back. When the Trials came around later that year he was as determined as ever and kicked his way .听

When Jorge was focused on something, he was very hard to beat. That sense of self assurance was never easy for me unless I was training full steam ahead. I had the ability to race well off abbreviated training, but it would often lead to reinjury. He had the perspective and confidence to look long term and not worry about what others were doing. He knew that if he was healthy, he would have as good a chance as anyone on race day.听

Shadrack Biwott: Stay in Your Own Sweet Spot

Shadrack Biwott shares that same sense of calmness and self assurance that Jorge possessed. 鈥淪haddy鈥� as he is affectionately known, is still a training partner of mine with the Hanson鈥檚 Original Distance Project. Over the last three years, I鈥檝e had the chance to watch as Shaddy has finished top five in three major marathons, including a third place podium finish in the 2018 Boston Marathon.听

In each one of those marathons, he showed the cool headed composure of a true professional. He made smart decisions in the race that helped him close better than most other runners and get the most out of himself on race day.听

But I have observed in training with him daily that it doesn鈥檛 just happen on race day. He says, 鈥淚 do what鈥檚 best for Shaddy and I don鈥檛 worry about what others are doing. Believe in yourself is my number one motto.鈥澨�

In training for the 2018 Boston Marathon, Shaddy and I trained everyday together at our Hanson鈥檚 training camp in Florida. I was absolutely on fire in training. I was doing the most volume I had ever run and doing workouts better than ever. I was a man on a mission and it was obvious everyday. But I was also running the red line, and ten days before the race I ended up injured and unable to make the start line.听

Shaddy, on the other hand, was steady and quiet in training. He was often far behind me in workouts but he never felt the pressure to prove anything. He saw the workouts I was doing and he was impressed, but he never felt the need to do everything I was doing. He knew his own strengths, which were a natural stamina over long runs and the daily grind of training.听

鈥淚鈥檓 in the sweet spot,鈥� is what he tells himself in training and during the race. He was able to out last me in that training segment and he took that same mentality to the race in Boston. As the horrible weather took its toll on almost everyone, Shaddy was able to focus on himself and outlast almost everyone and finished on the podium in an inspiring third place.听

It took Jason many years to learn that same confidence which Shaddy and Jorge had. He spent years training with other runners that he saw as more talented than him. He trained with me in high school and again as a professional with athletes like Jorge, Jorge鈥檚 twin brother Edwardo, and me. Like me, Jason started out feeling like he needed to do more than his opponents, something that was burned into our minds at a young age.听

I remember, when we trained together, he would run one minute longer than me every day. Finally after a month of this I asked him, Why do you run up the street and back each run when we are finished? He told me it was so, at the end of the day, he could tell himself he was doing more than I was, even if it was only one minute a run. While that mentality helped him at a young age, it hampered the middle of his professional career.听

He recalled the group training was foundational when he was younger, because it taught him work ethic, however, he found most of his success as he got older and started to train more on his own. This allowed him to stop comparing himself to others. He listened to his body more, and on race day he would focus solely on himself. That was the approach he took the two times he placed 4th in the Boston marathon.听

The Opportunity: Learn to Focus on Yourself

In talking to these three training partners, a common thread emerged. Work ethic is essential, like Jason and I learned at a young age. You have to be able to do everything you can to be the best. But that doesn鈥檛 mean you have to do more than everyone. And you don鈥檛 need to prove yourself and make up for lost time like I did. These guys performed their best when they focused on themselves and did what they personally needed. Looking back, it was the same for me when I ran my best.听

Jorge and Shaddy were great at focusing on themselves. For Jason, this lesson took time, but he eventually learned to be great at it too. It isn鈥檛 easy to do, especially when you’re training hard with people every day. But now, during this time of social isolation, you have an opportunity to do just that. And after this is over, training partners will be there to share the training load again.听

But this is a moment to focus on what you as an individual can handle day in and day out. There is no clock on getting back. There is nobody else to compare yourself to. 鈥淔ind the sweet spot鈥� like Shaddy says and use this time to figure out what you need as an athlete.

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S*** Happens. Remember how Forest Gump came up with that bumper sticker slogan when he was running across America? How appropriate he had that epiphany while running.

Many runners suffer from a compulsion that everything has to go according to plan. In fact many athletes buy just that: a Training Plan. But sometimes life happens. We set out with a goal, we plan鈥攎aybe with the help of a coach鈥攂ut something is bound to pop up in our way. Rarely does everything go according to plan.

Eternal Optimists

We think of our best training days always. Workouts that were effortless. Long runs that you could go forever. I鈥檓 an eternal optimist myself and so I always remember the good and forget the bad. I revert to thinking I can run 120 miles a week because I did that before at one point in my career. Or I think I can workout after just one or two easy days because I was able to do that at a different point in my life. I think of my best workouts and I rarely remember that they come often when its a great day and the numbers at the end look amazing.

Usually, however, it鈥檚 not 65 degrees, overcast with no wind. You don鈥檛 always sleep and eat well, and life stress isn鈥檛 minimal. You’re bound to get sick at some point, an injury might arise or you might just have to take care of your family obligations. Even if you are really good a having a routine, obstacles will invariably arise. Many athletes underestimate how much that can effect training in both the short and long term. It doesn鈥檛 mean your goals always have to change but often you need to adjust in the days around that obstacle to make sure you get yourself back on track.

Buying a training plan is a great option for someone who needs to have guidance in their training, but if you know you can鈥檛 hold yourself to account, you might consider getting a coach who you can communicate with regularly. Several site, such as the platform I use, , have many great options for whichever kind of athlete you are. If you can be honest with yourself, and adjust, a plan might be fore you. Otherwise look for one of those trusted coaches to help you along the way.

Creating Your Personal Plan

When I start to work with an athlete, I like them to give me the obligations that they have in their normal life and we work training around that. Most athletes are not professionals who have the full day to devote to training. So making sure they get the best schedule is the first step. For many people Sunday long runs work great, but for others it simply isn鈥檛 an option.

Finding the right training balance which you can sustain for a long period of time is important because your goals shouldn鈥檛 just stop after the end of a training program. Hopefully your passion for running just moves to the next goal and you will need to have a long term schedule that works with your everyday life.

If you buy a training plan, finding out how much training load you can handle is an important step. Many runners think of volume as the main component. While mileage is very important, how much intensity, how much you can rest, your running background and what your goals are matter as well.

Let Go and Roll With It

Once that plan is in place, be able to take the emotion away and adjust whenever life throws you curveball. It took me a long time to figure out that no one day really matters that much. If you force a workout on a day when you are short on time, the weather is horrible or you are under the weather, you鈥檙e likely to effect the next workout and eventually that will catch up.

I always did better if I had a coach that would help me adjust the plan and take the emotion out of it. Sometimes you need to just slow down the paces. If its super windy and rainy but you need to get in the session that day because of your schedule, just take away the time goals and focus on the effort. If the speed is what matters more, wait an extra day if the weather looks good.

Just this past weekend I had two women I coach鈥擡mily Oren and Leah O鈥機onnor鈥攚ho needed to adjust their training. They had a , one of their best this season: 3 x 2K with 2 minutes recovery, plus 4 x 400m with 2 minutes recovery. The runners reported that the repeats felt effortless, and we walked away feeling great about the work they did, averaging 5:15 mile pace for the 2K鈥檚 and 68 down to 63 for the 400s.

The next workout Emily was away out of town and needed to use the track. She showed up and it was locked. We decided to just put the spikes away for this one and do the workout on the roads in her training shoes. It wasn鈥檛 nearly as flashy, and she was racing on the track the next weekend, but we had had such a great workout two days before that it was better to get it done that day and let her rest on her travel day home.

Leah was suppose to do the same workout at the indoor track that day. We showed up and found a lacrosse tournament going on in the infield. I just wasn鈥檛 worth the risk of getting hit with a flying ball or running into a spectator. Unfortunately it was freezing out and the track was closed later, so we didn鈥檛 have the same option that Emily had while she was away in warm weather. We decided for an extra easy day and we did the workout the next day. We took some of the intensity out of part of the workout since it was one day closer to their race, scheduled for the upcoming weekend. We still focused in the fast work, but for the tempo portion we just toned back the effort a little so she wasn鈥檛 pushing for the same pace she would with an extra easy day before race day.

Know When You Need An 国产吃瓜黑料 Perspective

These are situations where it’s good to have a coach or advisor to make the decision. Some athletes are ok doing that, but I find most athletes aren鈥檛 able to make those decisions. Its always harder to do when it’s your own running. If it was me as an athlete in their situation, I probably would have tried to the workouts and risked the outcome. I would have jumped the fence or dodged the flying balls trying not to break an ankle.

That kind of thinking is what led me to two achilles surgeries and missing an entire year about 10 years ago. I had a workout scheduled that was 7.5 miles of hard intervals. The track I normally used was under maintenance and so I went to a smaller 200m flat indoor track. Instead of altering the workout for tighter turns, I didn鈥檛 want to miss the session鈥攁nd I lost all of 2011, a year in the prime of my career. In the moment, I always found it hard to push emotion away and I needed someone to make the call for me.

Some athletes are self-coached and can be quite successful. I even was somewhat successful for a period of time being self-coached, but I always found it difficult and draining to not have someone to discuss the obstacles I faced. If you know you need the guidance, look for someone you can use to help you make those changes to your training plan. One workout won鈥檛 make your season, but it can certainly break it.

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Adapt or die. If you don鈥檛 change and adapt, based on your situation, surroundings or environment, you will struggle to survive, let alone succeed. That is the basic principle behind Charles Darwin鈥檚 evolutionary theory.

Many people have adapted that same principle to other facets of life鈥攁nd running is really no different. In training and racing, over the span of many years you have to learn to evolve based on your past, limitations and strengths. Your body is in a constantly changing state and if you always train the same, your success will be limited.

The Blank Slate of Youth

When you鈥檙e a young runner or someone new in the sport, you are essentially a blank slate. Where you go from there depends on many factors but if you never adapt to the variables that arise, you鈥檒l never get as far you wanted in your running.

As a younger runner, I had almost no deficiencies. I was light, strong willed, had an incredible natural aerobic system and鈥� despite some critics鈥擨 even had decent speed! I saw nearly constant improvement and was able to train at a level that was truly remarkable and world class. With youth came the ability to train hard nearly everyday, something that blows my mind now.

The environment I was in at that age gave me a direct path to success. But it wasn’t a straight path; I realize now that over the next 20+ years, my situation was constantly changing. In the moment it never felt like that, but in hindsight it is much more obvious.

At 37, I train at a very similar volume level as I did when I was 17, but it looks completely different. There are some things I just can鈥檛 doing anymore and then other that I can do even better. The comparison is the hardest part to accept.

Comparing Favorably

Comparing where you are to where you have been is sometimes a good tactic. In the short term, it helps you see gains you have made in a training cycle or from year to year.

When I was younger around the age of 20, I knew that my weekly long runs of 17鈥�20 miles would normally be around 6:00-6:15 pace average. It might change some based on the time a year and how fit I was, but I always knew thats where I would be roughly.

Now that I have all these years of hard training under my belt, my body has adapted to running closer to 5:45-6:00 for those runs to get the same benefit. They take the same amount out of me on that day because I have evolved my aerobic system over the years to be more efficient.

Unfortunately while my aerobic system has become better and I recover on that day the same aerobically, the structure of my body is not the same as it was when I was 20. My college coach Mark Wetmore use to say you can always improve your aerobic system, a principle he took as a disciple of the legendary New Zealand coach Arthur Lydiard. In many ways that鈥檚 true. Your body becomes more efficient at many things with aerobic training and those benefits can last even if you get out of shape.

Creeping Changes

But that fitness doesn鈥檛 mean you have the same flexible tissues or hormone levels to recover as when you were younger. Athletes can lose speed and power as they get older. So while I always use to run speed workouts two days after a long run, I had to learn to take three days at least before an intense interval session. I still needed that same volume but I just need more time before I could do my next quality session.

That need for extra recovery can be difficult to see, in response to changes that happen in the short and medium term鈥攐ver the course of months and year to year. Looking back now across many years of training, I see it, but only too late.

Many injuries have happened over the years because I perpetually think of myself as in my early 20s. I think that’s a flaw that many people struggle with. 鈥淭he mind is willing but the body is weak鈥� so to speak. Identifying those weaknesses is important because you can still have success, you just may need to take a different route to get there.

Work What Still Works

Some weaknesses can鈥檛 be fixed easily. For example, I have an arthritic condition in my foot which makes speed work almost impossible now. I have always been a big believer that basic speed is important for all runners. I struggled for a while thinking I could just overcome that problem and muscle my way through my limitation which gradually got worse. Speed work is something I believe is so it was difficult for me to give that up. I felt that without regular speed work I was missing a huge component of training.

Ideally it would be great for me to be able to go to the track and run 200鈥檚 and 400鈥檚 but it simply isn鈥檛 possible anymore. I have had to adapt my thinking and approach to prioritize other aspects of training so I can still get the most out of myself. I spend more time focusing on quality in my long runs and tempos as I can still do those as good as ever. They were always my strengths anyway but I liked doing the training that I saw as a weakness. I know I can鈥檛 do the work to run sub 13:00 for 5k anymore, but I have instead adapted my goals and looked elsewhere to long distance races.

Reinvention

It is hard to give up on certain things but once you adapt your focus it frees you top to chase different goals. A great example I will always remember is Bernard Lagat. About three years ago I was running a cool down with him after a 10k road race in Manchester UK. I had won the race, but I barely beat him鈥攁nd he was 42 at the time, moving up in distance.

Once the World Champion at the 1500m and 5,000m, I was amazed he was still running and having success at a longer distance race. I asked him how he was still doing it. He told me you can always change your goals.

He now, at听an amazing 45 years old, has a legitimate chance to make a sixth Olympic team, this time in the marathon, an event he once told me he would never do. He knew he was no long a 12:53 5k runner but he had shifted his focus and reinvented what he could do.

Change is difficult no matter what, but it is absolutely essential to embrace it. As an athlete, you are an ever-changing body. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

Make the most out of those variables that are constantly evolving and be flexible in your approach to training and racing. Success long term lies in being able to adapt to what you have to work with and to not be obsessed with what you can鈥檛 change.

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About one year ago I began coaching Parker Stinson, who has, during that year, won the US 25k Championship in an American record and set a massive, 4-minute PR of 2:10:53 at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon last week.

I helped coach him briefly during the 2014 Indoor and Outdoor NCAA track season while he was at University of Oregon. I could tell even back then that he had the natural talent of a marathoner. He was a US Junior Champion at 10k and had a great career at the University of Oregon. After an achilles surgery in 2016 early in his pro career, he had a few solid years of professional road racing before he decided to try a marathon.

Marathon Prowess Takes Patience

Working with him this last year, I believe he has the talent and ability that one day he will be able to run at least 2:08 for the marathon. His biggest problem was that he tried to do that in his first two marathons. A new event can take years and multiple attempts to run your full potential and the marathon is no different. So while the talent was there for Parker, the training and the experience was not. Like many runners, he crashed and burned hard the final miles in his first two attempts.

I was the same. My first marathon, I thought I would step out and win the NYC Marathon. Instead I faded hard the last 10k and ended up in 11th place in 2:14:01.

Having patience in this sport is hard because great athletes always want more. So when I sit down with a new athlete I coach, I ask, and help them to come up with short, medium and long term goals.

Long, Medium and Short-Term Goals

The 鈥渓ong term鈥� goals are easy for a professional runner. We identified those things quickly for Parker.

Long Term: Make an Olympic team, a podium finish at a major marathon, and running 2:08.

But when we started working together he was a 2:14:29 marathoner and had never won a US title. So improving on those two things were the 鈥渕edium term鈥� goals we focused on this year. I wanted him to know the confidence of winning a US title and to learn the patience it takes to be a great marathoner. Both of which are going to be essential to becoming an Olympian and having a great marathon career.

As we looked at the year ahead, I noticed things that were lacking in his training and so our 鈥渟hort term鈥� goals became identifying those weaknesses and focusing on them through the winter and spring. He had done some very long marathon specific training blocks over the previous year and I felt it was essential to get back to some basics in training.

He was only 26 and still had not fully developed those skills. You need to be good at the basics before you can focus on specifics. He needed to bring his speed and power back but he also needed to spend months just racing. In marathon training we tend to race less often and not think of the competition part. So we laid out the year to work on those short and medium goals.

Short term: Spend the winter and spring working on basic training and racing skills. Aerobic base, basic speed, power, gym work and plenty of competition.

Medium term: Win a US Championship and finish a marathon well, running sub 2:11.

One Lion at a Time

When I looked at the calendar for the year, I wanted to spread those two goals out. A good Kenyan friend of ours says 鈥測ou can only hunt one lion at a time.鈥� We needed to focus solely on one goal at a time.

The USATF 25k Championships were in May at the Amway River Bank Run. It was in my home town in Grand Rapids, Michigan and I felt that we would have a distinct advantage because I knew the course well from winning it in 2017 and we would have the chance to train on the course prior to the race.

It is also the longest non-marathon distance US Championship so it made the most sense to support our second goal of running a sub 2:11 marathon. With a break between the two goals, we decided to run the marathon in the fall at either Chicago or Berlin Marathon.

Once we had laid out those venues, everything else was geared towards getting ready for those events. I kept his training volume lower than he had been because I believe strongly that you always should have somewhere to go in training. If he could run the quality training sessions and stay healthy through the year, we could always add more volume in subsequent years.

Essential Components: Patience and Consistency

The lower volume was itself part of the second important component of the training; patience and consistency. The marathon is a game of control and balance. Being able to train hard day in and day out is so important. Over the course of the year, I think we only had 3-4 days off running that weren鈥檛 planned.

We made some adjustments along the way for aches and pains but he was always able to handle the training load. He would occasionally get nervous about fitness but then we would complete a big hard workout and he knew his fitness was great. But instead of continuing to prove more after that session, we would go back to training that he could manage very well.

Over the course of the spring, that training saw his fitness grown each week and by the time the US 25k Championships came around his confidence was so high.

I knew from a few of the really impressive workouts that we had done that he had a chance to break the American Record. He stepped out that day and hit it out of the park winning his first national title and shattering the American Record.

After running so fast it was important to step back and remember the other big goal we had set out for the year, sub 2:11 in the marathon. It was easy to start thinking he was ready for a 2:09 but I always tried to bring the focus back to patience and control. With that in mind, and his great run at the 25k, Chicago became the obvious choice for the fall marathon. We knew that a large group of American were going to be there running 2:11 pace and this was a great opportunity to practice those lessons we had learned from the spring racing.

Get Specific

So after a short break we went back into two months of basic work getting his training load back to where it was in the spring approximately 100 miles per week. At that point from 10 weeks out we really turned to marathon specific work.

We had two races built into the block at six and seven weeks out from the race but they were in the middle of the marathon specific work and we knew his legs would not have the same pop that they felt earlier in the year. It was a good lesson for him as I tried to constantly tell him that if you鈥檙e fit you will run ok on race day no matter how you feel. He had done that all year long and there was no reason it was going to change now. He ran fine even with the longer workouts but he was now into the hardest part of the the training.

As any marathoner knows, the 4-5 weeks before a taper are the hardest part. Over those weeks we began switching to two big workouts per week instead of two workouts and a long run. The long run basically became a workout and he was getting 20-24 mile quality days twice a week.

We extended the recovery days from between workouts and focused more on getting comfortable at the paces we hoped to race for the full marathon distance. He was able to do more mental focus and visualization and that is so important in the final stages of the training.

In the final weeks, as the taper began, he had to beat away all the doubts about how he was feeling. Sometimes you feel great when the training load comes down but as many runners know, sometimes you don鈥檛. He didn鈥檛 feel great so we spent much of the final two weeks just focusing on goals, race plan, mantras and reflecting on the training he had done. He knew that no matter how he was feeling he was ready for sub 2:11.

Stick to the Plan, Work Through the Doubt

After the gun went off my job was done. I rode around the course over the second half yelling and cheering as much as I could, but that was really for my benefit not his. He knew the plan. He had to run the race. Nothing I did mattered at that point. He had to stick to the plan, work through the doubt and run every step of that 26.2 miles. As his coach, I was so proud of how he ran. His splits the most even I could have ever hoped. 65:25/65:27. 4:59 per mile right down to the last mile for 2:10:53.

A few days after the race we talked in great depth. We always want more but in the end he accomplished all the goals we set out for a year ago and he walked away healthy and ready for more. We have some areas we can improve on and there is a lot more left in the tank for Parker Stinson but he is now one step closer to those long term goals we set out for a year ago. After this week’s break, its time to get back to work!

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Even the best runner is only as good as their weakest link. For many marathoners, including myself, that weakest link is their hamstrings. Over years of racing, I have many different obstacles, but the most frustrating problem for me has always been hamstring cramping during the latter stages of a marathon.

Many times I would feel amazing through 15鈥�20 miles before being stopped dead in my tracks with uncontrolled spasming of my hamstrings. It usually starts as a light fluttering. It鈥檚 almost imperceptible but slowly it gets more intense and more frequent.

Athletes who have experienced it know the feeling, but the best way I can describe it is like the muscles are short-circuiting. If you have ever had electric stimulation done at the physical therapy office, it feels just like that. That is essentially what is happening: The muscles start firing at random in a short circuit.

Endurance, Not Electrolytes

Many athletes have been ingrained to think that cramping is caused by . That can certainly happen, but most athletes are prepared for that on race day. More likely the culprit is from fatigue that is overloading the nerves and causing a misfire to the muscle.

Just like the electrical stimulation you get at the PT office, your body sends electrical cues to your muscles. When you get out too fast in the early stages of the race or are unprepared for the pace you are running, it can leave you struggling to just keep one foot in front of the other.

This happens so often in marathons compared to other races because we never really go that far in practice at that intensity level. Even for professional runners, there are diminishing returns to run more than 20 miles at race pace. I have on several occasions run 20 miles at my marathon race pace. Before the 2009 London Marathon, 2010 NYC marathon, and 2012 Olympic Trials Marathon I ran 20 miles at 4:53 per mile or faster. Still, I had hamstring cramping just past 20 miles in each one of those races.

After having this happen in a marathon, you might think to yourself, 鈥淚 need to strengthen my hamstrings.鈥� I did, for sure. I felt there was no way I could be tapered and not be able to continue at those paces on race day for another 10k.

So I started a with exercises like deadlifts and hamstring curls. While that stuff was great for my general hamstring flexibly and strength, it was not enough to stop my cramping problems during the closing stages of each marathon. I had been working so hard on my hamstring strength, but I wasn鈥檛 able to keep the cramps away after 20 miles.

Sleuthing the Secret to Success

I started to think back to the one marathon that I had not cramped: the 2007 Olympic Trials. That race was very different because I was coming off the World Championships in the 10,000m. I had been racing track all summer and my speed was very good. I did not do any super long workouts like the previous 20 milers at my goal race pace.

For my next race, the 2012 I was in a similar situation as in 2007. I was coming off the 10,000m in the Olympic Games and my speed was very good. I did marathon-specific pace work, but I never pushed that distance over 15 miles. I focused on having good short speed sessions every 3鈥�4 workouts and I maintained more speed than I had in those previous races. I was able to go out and have a race where I never had any hamstring problems and finished strong in a PR 2:07:47.

At that point, I started to become a believer that short speed work is still essential for many runners to have a good marathon. Runners who are prone to cramping might need additional fast work that others don鈥檛.

In marathon training, we often think that more is better. The distance is so long that we feel like we need to focus almost entirely on volume and marathon-pace training. While that is definitely essential in an event like the marathon, often we mostly abandon speed. As our bodies get better at the aerobic parts of running, we can sometimes lose the ability for our legs to handle the fast pace for so long. We never go that fast for that long in practice, so it鈥檚 hard to ever know what you will feel after 20 miles.

Short Speedwork for the Long Run

In subsequent marathons, I have had varied success, but without fail my best ones always come when I maintain some short fast workouts and when I have laid a foundation of that speed before the marathon training starts.

On several occasions, I couldn鈥檛 do that because of minor injury problems that kept me from being able to train fast. Those were the races I had problems with. I was so strong for the long sessions, but I would still have hamstring problems past 20 miles.

Not every runner is the same, but if you have experienced cramping, try adding some short sessions to your next training block. It might even be as simple as strides on easy days or a couple of 200鈥檚 to the end of an interval workout.

Here is one simple workout I often like to add to my schedule:

鈥� 6鈥�10 x 200m at 5k pace, with 200m recovery, plus

鈥� 6鈥�10 x 200m hills at the same effort

Doing a session like this every 3鈥�4 workouts is pretty short and easy for most marathoners but it can be enough to get the hamstring firing well, while still allowing you to do the hard marathon training you need. In fact, you will likely feel better on those hard long sessions and be able to get more out of them.

Volume and marathon specific work is essential to run your best for 26.2 miles but don鈥檛 be afraid to try a little bit of speed to keep your hamstrings firing well and allow you to finish the last 10k strong.

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This past week, I, like many others, was shocked to wake up and see that three American men听had run 13:00 or faster for 5000m in the same race. Woody Kincaid ran a staggering 12:58, leading his two training partners Lopez Lomong and Matthew Centrowitz to huge PR鈥檚, both finishing in 13:00 flat (previous PR鈥檚, Lomong: 13:07 indoors, Centro: 13:20.06)

Under the lights, in an intimate setting on Nike鈥檚 Michael Johnson track, it was the kind of performance that seems almost unexplainable. The race was jaw-dropping in part because, while Lopez and Centro are veteran world-beaters, many don鈥檛 really know Woody鈥檚 name. So, while all the times are incredible, they don鈥檛 seem unreal for athletes who have the accolades of Centro and Lomong. But to see , who has never worn USA color, take so much time off his听solid-but-distant 13:12 best was really incredible鈥攅specially given it didn鈥檛 happen on some grand stage.

A crisp Portland night.
A track in the forest.
A screaming crowd.
A train of men.

The goal, defined.
History, rewritten.

— TrackTown USA (@TrackTownUSA)

The emotions of such a breakthrough were fresh in my mind. Just two weeks prior, on August 28, I had been reliving a similar breakthrough of my own as I celebrated the 10th anniversary of the day I broke the American Record for 5000m, running 12:56. Like Woody鈥檚 performance, my run blew away some people, as my previous PR had been 13:16.

Looking in from the outside, performances like that can lead some people to search for 鈥渞ational explanations鈥濃�攍ike someone explaining away miracles or ghost stories. Immediately, people search for an easy answer: Is the track short? Were there illegal pacers? Could it be doping? But the truth of the matter is that mind over matter is a real thing. It may sound clich茅, but super performances are possible.

If you have prepared well, believe in yourself and enter the arena with absolute focus, anything is possible!

10 years ago today was a day I will never forget. Breaking the American Record running 12:56 for 5000m in Zurich was a moment like no other I have ever felt.

— Dathan Ritzenhein (@djritzenhein)

When I toed the line in Zurich 10 years ago, I was full of confidence and momentum. My training had been amazing. I had been healthy for a full year. I had an amazing aerobic foundation from my spring training for the London Marathon. And my new coach Alberto Salazar started having me do the fastest speedwork I had ever done in my life. These things all set the stage for me being in the best shape of my life.

But the wave I was riding was more than training and fitness: I was training and living in the moment. I didn鈥檛 look down the road to where I wanted to be. I didn鈥檛 stress over the next race or workout. I didn鈥檛 really think about much of anything except getting the most out of each day of training.

I was happy in my life. My wife and I had a young daughter, I was in a new training group, and we were traveling the world. It was fun, it was exciting, and I was beaming with positivity.

I recall coming off the world championships 10k feeling like I was ready for something great.

We went back up to our training base in St. Moritz Switzerland and I just felt on fire. I had originally planned to run the 2 mile that week in Gateshead and then the 10k in Brussels a week later with a plan to try and run under 27:00 and break the then American Record. Then the 10k in Brussels ended up being cancelled and we made the decision to run the 5k in Zurich instead. It was a last minute move that ultimately paid off.

At the time I really wasn鈥檛 considered much of a 5k runner. I had made multiple world championship and Olympic teams at 10k and never had much speed for the 5k. I had been running the marathon and it seemed like 13:16 PR might be as good as it would get. Given that, my instructions from my coach were clear: Go out in last and hold on for dear life. The assigned pacing of 60 seconds per lap was closer in pace to my 2 mile PR (8:11.7) than my 5k, so it was definitely going into the unknown. But I was strong and had the ability to concentrate.

Scroll to 1:11:25 in this Universal Sports’ replay to watch the 5,000m in its entirety.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMyxo-JX-sg

As the gun went off, I went straight to the back. Seeing each lap pass by at 61-62 seconds pressed my ability to stay calm. But I just kept saying to myself over and over just 鈥渟tay calm and relaxed, don鈥檛 lose contact.鈥�

We blasted through he first mile in 4:06 and came through 3k in 7:47. But something amazing started to happen around then. I don鈥檛 even recall it happening, but soon I wasn鈥檛 in last place anymore. My instincts took over and I maintained my same focused concentration. I started to pick off runners one by one. Before I knew it, I was moving into the top 5.

It was like a charge running through my body. I started to feel something special was about to happen. I was feeding off the energy of the 25,000 screaming fans and gaining confident in the fact that I was passing such world class athletes.

With two laps to go I started to realize I had a chance to break 13:00 minutes. I saw the clock at 10:56 with 800m to go and knew if I just maintained I had a chance. My next lap I passed more people and came through the line in 11:56. I had actually picked it up.

With the bell ringing I was closing on Kenenisa Bekele, the reigning Olympic Champion and World record holder. As I moved into second place on the backstretch he was only a few second ahead of me, and I started to harbor visions of passing the world’s greatest runner.

I was running full out now and it was everything I could do to keep my legs moving. My lungs were on fire and I could feel the acid turning solid in my legs. Coming down the home stretch I was passed back by one runner but I willed my way to the finish line.

As I crossed the line I saw 12:56 flash on the clock. It felt like a bomb going off in my head. I was so ecstatic I could . I prayed, I cried, I stumbled around in disbelief and exhaustion. I had chopped 20 seconds off my PR and had run literally out of my mind. I could not believe it.

That race left plenty of people dumbstruck or skeptical. But as someone who was in it every moment, I knew it was just one of those special performances that we are capable of if we truly believe and don鈥檛 hold ourselves back.

Last week, when I saw what Woody Kincaid and his Bowerman teammates did, I couldn鈥檛 help but be reminded of how much mind over matter dictates the race. In listening to Woody鈥檚 interviews you could tell he didn鈥檛 know he had that in him. He wanted to give in many times, but the electricity at the track that night from the fans, his teammates and the setting gave him the ability to get the absolute most out of himself. Remembering so vividly my special night in Zurich 10 years ago, it was incredible to see Woody turn out his truly magical performance.

Ritz’s Splits

August 28, 2009, Zurich Weltklasse Meet

200m: 30.9 [15th]
600m: 1:32.7 (61.8) [15th]
1000m: 2:34.5 (61.8) [15th]
1400m: 3:35.8 (61.3) [15th]
1800m: 4:38.5 (62.7) [15th]
2200m: 5:40.7 (62.2) [14th]
2600m: 6:43.5 (62.8) [12th]
3000m: 7:47.4 (63.9) [11th]
3400m: 8:50.3 (62.9) [9th]
3800m: 9:53.2 (62.9) [8th]
4200m 10:55.7 (62.5) [7th]
4600m 11:56.1 (60.4) [3rd]
5000m 12:56.3 (60.2) [3rd]

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Like many long time runners, when I first started training seriously, I was able to roll out of bed put my shoes on and go straight into my normal daily training. Likewise, I could finish a training session and with no thought at all move on to the rest of my day.

Youth gives you the amazing ability to train and recover with almost no additional thought or focus on anything else. I relish those days because now my pre- and post-run routine is closer to what an airplane goes through prior to take off. With each year that passes I get more and more boxes that need to be checked off before I give my body the go ahead to get out the door.

Our bodies are like any other vehicle. Just like a new car, in youth, we are smooth and powerful. Without proper maintenance, however, wear and tear eventually leads to break down and rough running. Over the years I have slowly changed my pre- and post-run protocol to adopt a different philosophy than when I was young.

When I was younger I use to think of recovery as getting something to eat right away and taking an ice bath. Now much of my warm up and cool down focuses on getting the structure of my body ready so I can get the most out of my upcoming training session and making sure that it is ready to turn around in a few hours to do it all again. Training 110 miles per week means putting in good quality and quantity, day in and day out, and that is the secret to success over a long career.

Rolling and Activation

After being up for an hour or two I start my pre-run rolling and activation exercises. These usually will take me around 30 minutes and I try to hit every part of my lower body to get the tissues loosened up and firing well. Here鈥檚 a look at my therapy tool bag.

I start with identifying areas that I feel are not symmetrical. Over the last 10 years I have come to believe that having proper joint movement and free-moving fascia (tissue surrounding your muscles) is the first step before we start running. If those things aren鈥檛 moving well, it won鈥檛 really matter if the muscles are firing well or warmed up.

The therapists I work with every week focus intensely on joint and fascia movement since they are the experts, but I do an abbreviated 鈥渟elf evaluation and treatment鈥� session before each run. If I feel an area is not moving well, right off the bat I use my therapy tools to pin and stretch those tight and restricted spots. I also have certain areas that I know are just vulnerable to me at all times. I hit these areas first then I move on to light rolling of the actual muscles to warm the tissue and create blood flow. I try to hit each muscle for a couple minutes to get the blood pumping.

After making sure my body is limbered up and warm, I go through a series of exercises to get my muscles firing before I start running. I focus mostly on my glutes and hips. Simple such as clam shells, fire hydrants, glute bridges, rotational squats are great options. Just a couple minutes will get your hips moving well and your heart rate up slightly.

Warm-Up and Cool-Down Drills

I start my run easy and just go off feel for the first 20 minutes. Whatever pace my body tells me, I don鈥檛 really look at my watch. If it is an easy day or easy long run I just keep going off feel and really don鈥檛 try to hit any specific pace.

If I am doing a workout I usually stop at that point and go through a full set of my dynamic flexibility and running drills before starting the quality portion of my training. I start with 5鈥�10 minute series of dynamic movements that get all the major muscle groups ready to perform at full range of motion.

I follow the dynamic flexibility exercises with 15-minutes of form drills that reinforce powerful running movements and enhance the connection between the muscles and the brain.

When I finish a run or workout I immediately get my recovery drink. Then I go right into doing my same dynamic flexibility routine I use after my warm up.

Back to the Hips

I follow this right away with a few minutes of exercises with bands for my glutes and hips again. Exercises similar to my pre-run such as clam shells, fire hydrants, etc. As you can tell I place a big emphasis on making sure those muscles are firing well.

I have found that spending just a couple minutes doing these exercises right after a run, when fatigue has set in, helps the body break bad habits that it picked up over the course of a training session. When we get tired, our form tends to breakdown and we settle into 鈥渟urvival mechanics.鈥� If you get right into the car and sit on your butt for the rest of the day, those neurological patterns remain and it鈥檚 harder to break the cycle for the next run.

The next step for me is 5鈥�10 minutes of active-isolated stretching. Active-isolated stretching, unlike static stretching, is a series of stretch and relax movements that do not hold the stretch for more than 1鈥�2 seconds. A good resource for these is . I started incorporating these into my training years ago when I saw Meb Keflezighi听doing them. He only got better with age and was a huge inspiration on me for how all these little routines added up over the years.

Learning these drills, exercises and stretches over the years from some of the world best coaches, athletes and therapists has been one of the biggest reasons I have been able to keep my body going over the years at such a high level. Even being in my mid-late 30鈥檚, with nearly 100,000 miles on my legs, all these little routines have allowed me to maintain greater flexibility, training load and athleticism than many athletes who are much younger.

Routines that seem insignificant add up and they become second nature. Consider adding a few of these into your pre- and post-run ritual to keep your body running like a well-oiled machine. If you can spend just 20鈥�30 mins on each side of your run developing good habits it will pay dividends years down the road.

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With the spring marathon season in the rearview mirror, many runners start turning their sights on speed for the summer. This is great time to change your focus to bringing back some of the turnover and power that you might have lost during the winter and spring.

Pro athletes are no different. We spend months in the winter and spring putting in the base work that is needed before we can really go for the quicker work in practice. While you might not be lacing up your track spikes, you can really focus on that speed by hitting some fast 5k鈥檚 over the summer.

Some serious runners, once they move into half marathons and marathons, look at the 5k like an intro level event. They see it as something that has been accomplished or as an event that you can just do without ever training for it. While racing 5k鈥檚 are always good for working on speed, to really run as fast as you can, you have to train specifically for that event. It takes a special blend of aerobic strength, power and athleticism to really push the limits of what you are capable of in a 5k. Ultimately the training you do during most of the year is what will make or break how fast you can run for 5k, but the last few weeks can put you over the top by following a smart but aggressive training routine.

The key to running fast if you are trying to peak for a 5k is to maintain the aerobic strength you have gained鈥攚hile sharpening your ability to sustain an incredibly hard effort for a short period of time. The mind needs to be trained as much as the body, as we can sometimes get too comfortable after long base training phases.

I find the best way to do this, for me and my athletes, is to use interval workouts that progress in pace and repeated sets. I then bookend it on each side with some lighter tempo work and a small dose of speed or power.

Three Progressively-Faster Interval Workouts

Below are some examples of the interval work that can really get you ready. Each of these workouts were taken from former coaches of mine, Brad Hudson and Alberto Salazar. I use them now as staple sessions for myself and my own athletes because they are the type of sessions that allowed me to run 8:11 for 2 miles and 12:56 for 5k.

• 3鈥�5 X (600m, 400m, 300m, 200m) with 1鈥�2 minutes rest between reps and 3鈥�4 minutes between sets. Start at 10k pace for the 600鈥檚 and work down to mile race pace by the 200.
• 2鈥�4 X (1000m, 600m, 400m) with 2鈥�3 minutes between reps and 5 minutess between sets. Start at 10k race pace for the 1k, advance to 5k race pace for the 600m and 3k race pace for the 400m.
• 1鈥�2 X (1600m, 1200m, 800m, 400m) with 2鈥�4 minutes between reps and 5 minutes between sets. Start at 10k race pace for the 1600m and work down to 3k race pace for the 400m.

Parker Stinson demonstrates the middle workout in , shot during his training before he set the American Record at the 2019听Amway River Bank Run in Grand Rapids Michigan.

All these workouts are very challenging and I always recommend they are done approximately 10 days before a race. The high end of the repetitions are the type of volume that professional runners would do when getting close to their goal race; someone who doesn鈥檛 do much volume should stay on the lower end.

Teaching Mind and Body

What I like most about these workouts is that they get progressively faster and take a lot of focus and concentration as the workout progresses. They are intense just the like 5k. You can鈥檛 ever take your foot off the gas or you will quickly be off pace. It will teach your mind the aggressiveness it needs.

You also, however, have to be patient after each set as you go back to a more relaxed pace with a longer repetition again. The goal of each of these workouts is to increase the pace as each rep gets shorter. The body has to get used to running progressively faster while trying to maintain being relaxed. The longest repeat always starts a little over 5k race pace and the shortest one of each set always finishes a little faster than 5k goal race pace. By doing these in sets, you are able to get in a lot of fast running averaging close to race pace.

Use Sparingly and Responsibly

These workouts can make you very sharp but they can also leave you beat for a few days. If you do them too often you鈥檒l just dig yourself into a hole. So be sure to have a workout on each side that maintains the aerobic strength you have gained in the months of base training.

I like to give either a steady shorter tempo run at half marathon pace for 3鈥�6 miles, with 4鈥�8 X 200m at race pace with 200m jog recoveries tacked on the end, or we鈥檒l do 3鈥�5 miles of 鈥渃ruise pace鈥� intervals at a little over 10k pace, and add on 2鈥�4 X 1 minute hill reps at 5k effort.

A simple workout like these will be enough to make sure you maintain that balance and will allow you to get the most out of that last really intense interval session 10 days before the race.

Remember it鈥檚 ok to have easy workouts too. To get the most out of the really hard sessions, you have to know when to back it off and have a 鈥淐鈥� level workout. These type of really hard progressive interval sets will put the icing on the cake. They will teach you the focus and intensity that is required to run your best 5k ever.

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A long run seems like an easy concept: Go longer than you normally do one day a week and you鈥檒l getting stronger. But it isn鈥檛 always so easy as building to a certain distance and just staying there. Over the years I’ve learned the training patterns that are best for me to make my long runs the most effective for year-round goals.

Learning the Value of Long

When I was in high school, we never did long runs until my senior year. My coach said your longest run should be three times your race distance. Since we were high schoolers and our race distance was never more than 5K, that made a lot more sense at the time than it did once I started racing past 10K, particularly after I started targeting the half marathon and marathon.

We didn鈥檛 really use long runs because I came from an intensity-only program where we did hard workouts 5鈥�6 days a week. Now, some of these workout days were incredibly long鈥擨 would get up to 100 miles a week, routinely putting in up to 15 miles of volume each day鈥攂ut the longest steady run of the week was only about 10 miles.

Finally, in the winter of my senior year we decide to start going up to 15 mile runs once a week since I was planning to move up in race distance to nearly 5 miles for the World Junior cross country championships. That also happened to fit into the 3x-your-race-distance model. I immediately saw a huge jump in my fitness and later that spring won a bronze medal in the junior race at the 2001 , the first by an American since Keith Brantly鈥檚 bronze in 1981, and the last since.

I was also conscience of the college program I was heading into. The University of Colorado, under coach Mark Wetmore, was renowned for the incredibly difficult Sunday long run at locations such as and Gold Hill. I had read听听and knew I needed to make the jump before getting there that next summer.

Crucial Commitment at Colorado

When I arrived it was quickly evident that Coach Wetmore believed the long run was the most important part of our training, and I quickly became a disciple of his. I remain to this day, as I believe what you do on your long run matters more than any other single session in your regular training.

In college we used a three-week cycle. Every third week we would go even longer on our long run. So, for me, it was usually two weeks at 17 miles and the third week at 20 miles. We also followed the 20% rule: Our long run was roughly 20% of our weekly mileage. As for pace, these long runs were no joke. Often they would be more like long progression runs, ending closer to tempo pace than easy long run pace.

The terrain was also challenging because of the Boulder elevation and hills. The saying about Magnolia Road is that 鈥淢ags never lies鈥濃�攂ecause you found out really fast if you were fit when you went to 8000+ feet and ran 17鈥�20 miles on rolling hills with other runners trying to drop you. You could also walk away injured very easily if you weren鈥檛 prepared for it.

Marathon Workouts

After graduating I began being coached by Brad Hudson. We started training for the marathon, and I began looking at long runs as being workouts, not simply long easy days, because often we would run 20鈥�28 miles fairly close to marathon pace.

A month before the Beijing Olympic Marathon in 2008 I did a 28 mile run. Three miles warm up then 24 miles at 5:07 pace, then a one mile cool down. This was almost the distance of the race, at just 7 seconds slower than the 2:11 marathon pace we were targeting. So I really began to change my concept of long runs as workouts for marathon training.

During non-marathon training we would continue running long, but revert back to a similar schedule that we used at Colorado, with two weeks at 16鈥�18 miles and then a week at 20 miles. But usually they were not as steady and hard as I had done at Colorado. I would generally average a minute per mile slower than my marathon pace.

Maintaining the Mix

When I started working with Alberto Salazar in 2009 we used much the same philosophy. We would always keep a 20 miler in the mix every 2鈥�3 weeks because that was the staple of our aerobic strength. When we did long runs, they were often pretty fast. It was not uncommon for me to run 20 miles at 5:20鈥�5:30 average pace (approximately 30 seconds/mile slower than marathon pace) even in the middle of the summer track season when our volume was lower and we were focusing on speed. I did them less frequently than during marathon training, but we always used it as a tool to maintain the ability to come back to marathon long runs easily.

This was one thing that I find very beneficial when taking a season off from the marathon to focus on shorter races. If I have maintained regular 20 mile runs every few weeks at a pace faster than just an easy run, I am able to come back and hit the same kind of quality marathon long run workouts that I did with Brad in a much shorter period of time.

After years of training, I’ve learned that my body seems to love that familiar schedule first established in college. Now with the Hanson鈥檚, I have a regularly-scheduled 20 miler, followed by a 17鈥�18 mile long run week. I get so much stronger by having that 20 miler in the schedule every few weeks even if I鈥檓 not doing a marathon. I have tried a few times just staying at 17鈥�18 miles and I just lack that strength if I avoid them for too long.

For athletes that aren鈥檛 training professionally that might be a bit extreme. I think the 20% rule we used at Colorado is a good guideline for most runners. But find a distance that gives you the confidence and the benefits of the long marathon-training run, so that as soon as you go back to marathon training you are fit and ready to adapt to the really hard progressive long runs your body will need for the longer races. By maintaining one run closer to that distance you can keep your body鈥檚 ability to handle those intense long runs when you get back into marathon training.

You can鈥檛, however, be afraid to back it back down by 20鈥�30 percent the next week. By alternating your long runs back and forth between two distances you will be able to get more out of your body on that over-distance long run while not getting too close to the edge and going over.

Sometimes as runners we get obsessed by outdoing what we did before; we want to keep steadily progressing and never want to go less.听But we have to remember that the body will respond better and you won鈥檛 beat yourself in to the ground. You can still come back the next week and hit that longer one that you need to keep getting aerobically stronger, but, you won鈥檛 do the damage by grinding week in and week out.

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