This post is provided by Complete Track and Field

By Scott Christensen

Scott Christensen’s teams have been ranked in the national top 10 eight times. He won the 1997 High School National Championship and his squads have captured multiple Minnesota State Championships. Scott has coached 13 Minnesota State Championship-winning teams and 27 individual Minnesota State Champions. He was the USTFCCCA Endurance Specialist School junior team leader for the World Cross Country Team in 2003 and the senior team leader in 2008. Scott is a 14-year USATF Level II endurance lead instructor.

Since the early days of exercise science testing and experimentation, it has been accepted that aerobic power development is one of four training domains used in preparing distance runners.  Consider the combined energy zone events of the 800 meters through the 10,000 meters; including both short and long cross country competitions.  Improvement in the anaerobic glycolytic domain in all of these races hinges on better management of hydrogen/lactate ion presence; while aerobically, the three domains are: improving running economy, shifting the lactate threshold, and boosting aerobic power.  These three aerobic domains have a sliding influence based on the distance of the race.  The shorter distance races lean more toward aerobic power, while the longer races lean more toward running economy.  Today we will consider how this relates to when to deemphasize VO_{2 max} training.

For exercise scientists studying aerobic power, there is a maximum rate of oxygen consumption that can be measured during incremental exercise, or exercise of increasing intensity.  This maximum value is called VO_2 max (V is volume, O₂ is molecular oxygen, and _max is maximum).

Maximal oxygen consumption reflects the cardiovascular and respiratory fitness of an individual.  For distance coaches, VO_2 max is an important determinant of aerobic power during prolonged exercise and is a crucial variable in race performance.

* Training Resource: Speed Development for Distance Runners

In experienced runners, once the VO_{2 max} system is nearly developed through a combination of athlete physical maturity, and plenty of prior vVO_2 max work, a switch to the other two training domains of lactate threshold and running economy is necessary for continued success.  The training route most commonly taken is to implement a series of workouts that fractionalizes individual vVO_2 max intensity into longer training runs.  These can be done as either continuous runs or inter-style workouts as shown in table 1.

Let’s look at a couple of case studies on how vVO_{2 max} fractionization can be used in training to either add to or replace 100% vVO_{2 max} work.

1. Shannon is a junior and has been on both the high school varsity cross country and track teams for the past two years. She has run 5:05 for 1600 meters, 11:12 for 3200 meters, and 18:43 for 5000 meters in cross country.  Her tempo run pace always correlates to her 85% vVO_{2 max} date pace and she seems to recover in 24 hours from the workout.  As expected, her improvement has slowed a bit as she has gotten older.  Let’s diagnose Shannon and look at specific training.  Shannon no doubt has a mature VO_{2 max} system already in place, so despite continued workouts at vVO_{2 max} pace, it is not going to improve much.  Her aerobic capacity work, mainly done as long runs, are her favorite thing to do because they come easily to her.  Typically, females are a couple of years ahead of males in VO_{2 max} development, and some more than that.  If Shannon is to get faster at distance races, then her best route to success is to try to raise her LT pace from 85% vVO_{2 max} to a value closer to 90% vVO_{2 max}.  Her LT paced workouts need to evolve from continuous tempo runs to critical velocity (CV) runs done as intervals (table 1). To address this, Shannon should continue to do vVO_{2 max} paced training sessions bi-weekly beginning half-way through the general preparation period, and concurrently do CV paced runs bi-weekly at the same time; doing both all the way to the championship meets in the competition period.  When Shannon begins the CV interval sessions she will first have to start with a 3200 meter test to determine her vVO_{2 max} date pace and then do the mathematics to determine CV pace. Let’s say on August 10, Shannon runs 11:40 to exhaustion for a 3200 meter time trial, so her present-day vVO_{2 max} pace is 5:50 per mile.  For the next fourteen weeks, Shannon should do seven spaced workouts at her date CV pace, in this case, 90% vVO_{2 max}, to improve her LT.  The typical total volume for each of the seven sessions should be 4-5 miles done as intervals.  The date pace for Shannon is set at 350 seconds (5:50/mile) divided by .90 for a workout pace of 6:28 per mile, but she will not run a full mile at that pace, so one more mathematical division must be done. Shannon’s typical CV workout is 6 x 1000 meters with 90 seconds recovery between each repetition.  Her calculated date pace for today is 6:28/mile or 4:03/1000 meters.  As her 3200 improves throughout the year, the fractionally derived CV pace will too.

1. Jack is a 21-year-old junior in a successful collegiate program. His athlete profile for 5000 meter personal bests notes 14:35 as a freshman and 14:21 as a sophomore. His desire is to compete in 10 kilometer championship track and cross country races over the remaining two years of school.  In high school, his best marks were 4:14 for the 1600 meters and 9:15 for the 3200 meters.  Jack’s improvement has slowed a bit as he has gotten older and the chances of running sub 14:00 in college have dimmed.  Let’s diagnose Jack and look at specific training.  Jack has spent his career stimulating adaptation to his VO_{2 max} system and it has reached developmental maturity. So, despite continued workouts at vVO_{2 max} pace, it is not going to improve much more.  In moving to frequent LT work sessions, Jack will not only shift to an aerobic capacity emphasis to perform well at 10k, but his 5k time may drop as well; probably lower than it ever would have with just continued vVO_{2 max} paced work.  During each week of training, Jack should do a long run with frequent surges that accounts for 22% of his weekly volume, a tempo run of five miles at 85% of his vVO_{2 max}, and a critical velocity (CV) pace workout.  The rest of the week is basically recovery runs at the aerobic threshold.  A typical CV work session for Jack would be 4 x 2000 meters at 90% of vVO_{2 max} with two minutes of recovery between repeats.  Follow this unit with five minutes rest and then do 3 x 200 meters at 800 meter pace with 90 seconds recovery between repeats.

Aerobic power training exercises are not done in isolation from the other aerobic domains.  Work sessions directed toward VO_{2 max} improvement also concurrently improve aerobic capacity and running economy.  Greater aerobic power can also help shift the lactate threshold to a higher pace.

* Coaching Resource: Training Model for High School Cross Country

Running economy, which is the efficiency a distance runner consumes food energy and oxygen molecules to facilitate movement, is dependent on aerobic power because the economy too is heavily dependent on greater blood flow to the muscles.  Running economy improves with VO_2 max training, as does lactate threshold velocity.  However, there comes a time when VO_{2 max} training needs to be deemphasized and economy and lactate threshold training emphasized with specifically targeted workouts if further development of the cross country runner is to occur.

This post was provided by Complete Track and Field

By Scott Christensen

Scott Christensen’s teams have been ranked in the national top 10 eight times. He won the 1997 High School National Championship and his squads have captured multiple Minnesota State Championships. Scott has coached 13 Minnesota State Championship-winning teams and 27 individual Minnesota State Champions. He was the USTFCCCA Endurance Specialist School junior team leader for the World Cross Country Team in 2003 and the senior team leader in 2008. Scott is a 14-year USATF Level II endurance lead instructor.

Strength is one of the five primary physical components (speed, endurance, flexibility, strength, coordination) that defines athleticism.  Cross country runners, like all athletes, benefit from the improvement of all five physical components to the degree to which their particular sport demands.  Strength training must always be focused on training the movement, rather than the muscle, so a close examination of an individual distance running style is always the first step in the process.  Movement screenings that measure six to seven different exercises directly related to the repeated vertical oscillation and foot strike pattern of a distance runners movement signature are essential to initiating and monitoring improvement of their athletic skills.  Today we will look at functional endurance strength.

Movement itself is recognized as a continuous sequence of changing shapes.  Shape changes for distance runners are unique to their sport and in fact, to the individual runners themselves.  Specific strength training designed for distance runners should improve the often-repeated transition from shape to shape, and their ability to maintain a specific shape necessary for that moment in time as the body’s center of mass moves forward efficiently and economically.

This conceptualization defines functional strength, which involves unrestricted movement against resistance, in which the exerciser defines the exercise motion as it moves from plane to plane.  In other words, functional strength training is defined as training that attempts to mimic the specific physiological demands of real-life activity.  In this case, cross country running.

Functional training is likely the opposite of many of the exercises done on the machines found in a gym or weight room.  The motion found there is usually in one plane with the machine itself dictating the path of movement.  This results in the improvement of weight-room strength, but not much improvement in distance running performance.

* Coaching Resource: Strength & Power Development for Distance

Some of this thought applies to the “Big 3” of free weight training as well.  While the squat and clean put the distance runner in an upright stance which is the position of performance, the bench press is a horizontally done exercise with shape changes that are just not applicable to improving distance running performance where the arms are merely used for balance.

Functional strength training in cross country runners takes many forms.  All prescribed exercises must take into account: the degree of resistance, planes of motion, exerciser defined, and the movement signature of athletes within the boundaries of the sport.  Ideally, the majority of functional strength work should put the cross country runner into an upright posture, but there are other exercises such as various forms of crawling and mountain-climbers that travel laterally, rather than stationary, that are surely applicable.

The simplest mode of functional strength training is running itself.  The resistance is gravity and friction.  The planes of body motion are sagittal and transverse, with both linear and rotational movement.  The runner defines the velocity and direction of movement and greatly benefits in multi-directional running done at various angles.  Pushing off and against the pull of the Earth is mainly achieved through backside mechanics by the cross country runner with a concentration on the work of the soleus and hamstring.

To run faster requires more force production, which means more (not stronger) muscular contractions, and brings in greater frontside body mechanics of the quadricep and greater lift from the glutes.  So, cross country runners benefit greatly from running at velocities ranging from slow to medium pace in multiple directions to max speed work done in a straight over 30-40 meters.

Adding a vertical component to exercises brings in a much stronger functional strength stimulus than just running.  Any type of lateral skipping exercise facilitates this mode of training when done with purpose.  There are plenty of stationary exercises that also add a vertical component; with the most familiar being a deep body squat followed by a jump, and then repeated several times.

In running, everything seems to be connected to everything else in the body as it achieves a movement pattern.  In reality, running is an alternating series of unilateral movements that themselves need to be interconnected in a coordinated manner.  With that in mind, useful functional strength training can be done by isolating on unilateral movements.  Doing multiple repetitions of unilateral deep bodyweight squats is a good exercise.  Remember to work on the right side of the body as much as you work on the left side.

Step lunges, bounding, mini-hurdle hops, 30-inch hurdle stepovers, and jump roping are all excellent forms of functional strength training for cross country runners and are easy to do, and do not require time in the “wait” room.  Link several exercises together such as 10 right leg step lunges, followed by 10 bilateral deep bodyweight squats, then 10 left leg step lunges, and then 10 bilateral deep bodyweight squats with a jump emphasis at the end of each one.  Try to average about two seconds per action.  After the set is done, rest 3-4 minutes and then repeat the full set.

Constructive coaching cues are important when doing these activities, with a close eye always kept on proper upright body position.  Many coaches like to prescribe these activities with something always in the athletes’ hands.  Medicine balls, broomsticks, or a five-foot PVC tube come to mind.  It is easier for the athlete to recognize their proper stand-tall upright posture when an object such as these that are in their hands, and it is very easy for the coach to spot improper technique.

* Coaching Resource: Training Model for High School Cross Country

If a cross country runner has earned the right to train in the weight room with an artificial load, then it opens up many new avenues of functional training.  A person is ultimately ready when their movement screenings indicate that it is now appropriate to add a greater load.  A thoughtful coach will analyze the running signature of a particular athlete and determine where the loading stimulus should occur to improve a certain movement.  Choose three exercises, to not overwhelm the athlete.  Have them do a load they can surely handle, but barely.  By moving an artificial load that is close to their maximum for only a few reps the muscle stays under tension for only a short period of time.  This is the desired stimulus.

Three lifts to start with might be the hang clean, deadlift, and the squat.  Handling a heavy load (for them) is not easy.  It takes coordination besides strength.  That is why the right to artificially load needs to be earned.  If a cross country runner cannot easily jump rope, forget the weight room. They are not ready.

Functional training such as resistance exercises and bodyweight movements can help a cross country runner become stronger, more flexible, agiler, and better equipped to handle the day-to-day rigor of speed and endurance training.  Plus, it can help a chronic runner become less injury-prone.

This post provided by Complete Track and Field

By Scott Christensen

Strength is categorized as a primary physical component of the human body. The other primary physical components are speed, coordination, flexibility, and endurance. The aim of physical training is to improve the fitness of these five components in a balanced program to meet the specific demands of the sport. The role of a coach is to design and implement a program balance that improves the fitness of the individual primary physical components to the degree that is necessary for athletic success.

Of the five primary physical components the one that is most stressed in cross country running is endurance. Make no mistake about it the cross country coach needs to spend the great majority of training time addressing endurance. Development of the other four components does not substitute for endurance development, but rather adds to a much smaller degree to the endurance runners overall fitness.

Figure 1 indicates the relative emphasis of the five primary physical components to each other in a cross country specific training plan. While endurance earns 10 out of 10 in emphases, strength is relegated to 4 out of 10 in training emphasis. Much of even this 4 is gained strictly through the act of running. Running alone is strength work. To push back off the Earth requires strength. To run faster requires a stronger toe-off and to run farther requires long bouts of uninterrupted toe-offs. This is strength work.

Related Coaching Resource: Scott Christensen’s Strength and Power for Distance

By far the two most important strength factors in cross country running are the toe-off moment in the running gait cycle and body core stability in maintaining proper posture as the runner fatigues during the race. Once the posture begins to change due to fatigue and weakening of the core muscles, the stride length and stride rate change enough that overall performance is impacted.

Core stability is related to dynamic balance, coordination, and balance among core muscle groups. By stabilizing the abdominal, back, and shoulder muscles, distance runners increase their training gains, improve performance, and reduce low back and other related injuries. Core exercises are generally done with a body-weight resistance that allows for 15-30 repetitions per exercise. Sets of core exercise must be done regularly in each microcycle with a minimum of every other day. An exercise called the Gambetta leg circuit helps develop strength for a stronger toe-off needed for faster sub-maximal running.

The routine consists of 20 body weight squats, rest 30 seconds, 20 split leg lunges (10 on each side), rest 30 seconds, and then 10 body weight squats ending each with a double leg jump. Rest 3 minutes and repeat. Do this at least every other day from the general preparation period through the pre-competition period.

Resistance work increases the size of muscle fibers and recruits additional fibers to help with the specific task at hand. Therefore, strength training for cross country runners has performance benefits.

By adding muscle mass to the body, additional oxygen is required to complete cellular respiration. Cross country running revolves around a race pace that is at VO2 max. By adding muscle mass it strangles a process that is already the bottle-neck of physiological activity and is the primary performance inhibitor.

Cross country running only involves moving the body at sub-maximal speeds. There is no object to toss, people to sweep aside, or something to stop. Strength training for cross country runners should reflect that specificity in sport profile. Body weight resistance is enough to develop the strength needed to successfully complete a cross country race. By adding artificial resistance, too much unnecessary muscle fiber enlargement and recruitment occurs at a very steep oxygen cost. The concept of efficient running economy outweighs these unnecessary muscle mass gains.

In the running motion, arms are strictly used to balance the torso. If the right-side of the torso twists or becomes unbalanced the left arm reacts to stabilize it, and so on. There is no strength component, only a balance component. Unnecessary arm muscle mass gains and fiber recruitment due to artificial resistance stimulus does not help the arms balance the torso “better”, and again occurs at a tremendous loss of running economy. Arms “learn” to balance the torso more effectively by doing miles and miles and miles of running, not by artificial strength training. Running economy improves by race specific and sub-maximal training.

Improvement of all five of the primary physical components adds up to greater athletic fitness. Cross country running is similar to few other physical activities. It is heavily skewed to development of the endurance component. There are obvious gains to be made in developing the other four components as well, but never, ever at the cost of oxygen consumption. Aerobic power and running economy are the deciding factors in cross country running performance and these two variables are best addressed by running and body core resistance activities.

Checkout Scott’s Strength and Power Program for Distance