Learning by doing.
I did not value nor understand this concept enough in the past.
However, a recent experience with helping drive the ship for the athletic endeavors of someone other than myself brought the power of application to light.
Five months ago, my friend Tristan Sumpter came to me looking for guidance on how to prepare for a half marathon. I helped him prepare for a 1:26 half marathon performance in 2021 (his first real running race) as well as his first triathlon in 2022. These two prior advisory experiences and 3 years of swimming collegiately with him gave me the familiarity needed to develop a plan to get him under 1:20, his big goal.
Given that we have a similar athletic profile in terms of a strong engine but injury prone, I could also call upon my preparation for when I ran 1:18 last April.
The following is a case report of how we did it. Tristan ultimately had an incredible day, running 1:18:17 at the Mercedes Benz Half in Birmingham, AL.
I intend for this to be informative for others because we had to think outside the box in order to make a big leap from 1:26 —> sub-1:20. Some of the concepts we employed are rapidly gaining steam in the running community.
3 main goals
I used my power of three concept to craft 3 overarching goals that I knew would give Tristan a great chance at success:
Keep connective tissues healthy
Capitalize on a big aerobic engine (from swimming)
Never get too tired
Ankle issues had plagued Tristan’s run progression in past build-ups, especially with our first go around when he ran 1:26. Staying healthy was paramount, and the cardiovascular system was not the main limiter.
He also came from a sport, swimming, where being tired all season was associated with “good training”. That mindset does not fly in running, and my mind is shifting to believing that mindset should not be favored in any sport. You should never be too far away from a lifetime best performance.
2 main trip-ups
At the beginning of the build-up, Tristan experienced some medial ankle pain that was quickly resolved with some targeted interventions for strengthening and stretching. He decided that stretching daily was going to be a priority for keeping the body able to accept the demands. He was also starting back up with a traditional strength training program 4-5 days per week. I believe that this program was good for tendon health and it has always been a domain of exercise he really enjoys.
4-5 days of lifting weights is not a requirement to run fast, especially for a runner who has never lifted heavy weights. However, a 1-2x weekly tissue loading program can go a long way for an athlete who has a history of injury.
A few weeks into the build, Tristan was hit with a stomach bug, but we simply took a down week and he bounced back great the next week without any loss of progress.
The rest of the training was smooth sailing. Dare I say textbook.
The how
Utilize the bike
We found during Tristan’s triathlon build-up that he loved training on the bike and also had a major boost in run performance when bike fitness was high. 10 weeks before the race we set a structure for how to work the bike into the program.
Over the 10 weeks of specific prep, 4-5 hours per week were spent on the bike and distributed as follows:
2-3 very easy spins before or after runs (30-60 minutes)
1 hard threshold or above workout in the form of a cycling class at his local gym (60 minutes)
1 medium-length aerobic ride (60-75 minutes)
The medium-length ride went away as the running volume went up and became shorter in duration or was replaced by a 4th easy spin.
The contents of the hard ride were variable depending on the week and were intended to simply be a hard stimulus. It served the role of a second hard workout instead of a second hard run during the week.
My favorite remark from Tristan came from the night before the race when he said “I need to wheel a bike over to the start line tomorrow!”. The gym was unfortunately closed the morning of the race so he was not able to do a warmup ride, but that was not a major concern. The bike did have a material impact on his ability to get warmed up for running throughout the 10 weeks. Sounds like a triathlete in the making, right?
Introduce heart rate training + “truly easy pace”
“But it feels easy” was the initial response when I gave my sales pitch to avoid running at 150, 155, or even 160 bpm for general aerobic runs. A common presentation from a former swimmer turned runner is feeling comfortable at a high heart rate for a long period of time. The engine is massive for these athletes and the anaerobic profile is strong, but it’s not an engine fine-tuned for a 75-90 minute race. Dropping the intensity of the day-to-day work with the intent to build a more robust aerobic foundation was our plan. We had to make room for volume.
Training by heart rate was a learning curve, but we ended up seeing great gains in economy once Tristan was able to string together weeks with casual runs between 130-140 bpm instead of 150+. In terms of pace, this was between 7:50-8:10/mile or 4:50-5:05/km for him. By the end of the 15-week build, he was operating at the faster end of this easy pace zone while keeping his heart rate low. A hallmark sign of improvement.
Run on a variety of surfaces
Fortunately, Tristan had his pick of surfaces in Birmingham. Treadmill, asphalt, and dirt were all readily available. I am a proponent of using the treadmill to take some load off or running on dirt, if available, to challenge the foot mechanics and lessen the impact. We were careful to not run too many hard workouts on asphalt close together given the injury history.
No alcohol for the last 6 weeks before the race
This was something Tristan implemented on his own. I try my best to not push abstinence on athletes because my experience with alcohol is limited. However, he self-reported that eliminating alcohol during the last 6 weeks of the build had a material impact on his recovery and consistency in training. When in doubt, make the 1% move and avoid the occasional drink in favor of rolling consistent quality sleep and quality training.
Stick to the plan
If there was one thing I can point to that explains Tristan’s success, it was his ability to stick to the plan. We were flexible with the days on which certain sessions were going to get done, but no sessions were missed due to low motivation, poor planning, or other circumstances. Let this be a lesson that while you can have all of the fancy gadgets, sessions, or nutrition, nothing beats laying out a plan and just turning up week after week.
In this case, it was 15+ weeks of showing up. There was nothing special about the methodology. Work works. What was this work? Let’s dive into the specifics.
The program
Initial period
After coming off a block of triathlon training from August-October, an endeavor which I directed as well, Tristan got a small break to end October. In early November, we embarked on a slow build-up of running mileage, with the goal of regaining his great triathlon run base by Thanksgiving. These 4 weeks of general aerobic running featured:
Nearly no intense running other than strides
2-3 hours of bike time per week with 1 hard ride
4:30-5hrs running or 30-34 miles
A long run capped at 80 minutes
This period was when we realized the efficacy of using the bike to our advantage. Subjective reports from Tristan confirmed that the boost in aerobic fitness was tangible and there was a minimal mechanical penalty.
Specific build
After Thanksgiving, the specific preparation was underway. I wanted to work on threshold development before we worked on sustained duration half marathon workouts. There were roughly 10 weeks until the taper at this point and it was split into 2x5 weeks blocks. While intensity did bleed into the overall program, it was not overkill. A little pep went a long way.
Block 1 featured an intense run workout with threshold intervals and a modest weekend long run. The weekly standard hard bike ride remained.
A typical week:
The weekly run workout followed a simple progression from 1’ intervals up to 5’ intervals by the end of the 5 weeks (e.g. 4x5’ w/ 3’ recovery). The long run progressed up to 95’ minutes with the same structure of easy out/steady back.
Block 2 featured a long run with a half marathon-specific component and a weekday run with strides or a few hill reps. Again, one hard bike ride was still in the program.
Other than the specific long run, the schedule was nearly the same as Block 1. The full off day was optional and Tristan often opted for an easy spin.
The last 4 specific workouts were:
95’ run with 5 miles at 6:00-6:10 pace
95’ run with 6 miles at 6:00-6:10 pace
95’ run with 3x2 miles at 6:00-6:10 pace
80’ run with 4x 1 mile on/1 mile float*
*The final workout with 4x1 was intentional as it was a workout he did in his 2021 build. I wanted him to see the progress he had made from then, and while he did not feel great on this day, he was miles ahead of 2021. A big confidence boost only one week out from the race.
Subjective feel varied by week on these workouts, but there was never a need to adjust the workout contents. Paces were hit and a sense of feel was developed.
Taper
An always tricky subject is the taper, especially in longer races. Some of Tristan’s best swim races in college came after big blocks of work and then a quick rest, so I was bullish on working with this strategy to sharpen up. He let me know after the last long workout that he felt it was time to rest after rolling along strong for many weeks in a row. We decided to drop the bottom out completely the week of the race, only doing light and short running and a few easy spins on the bike. Some may refer to this as a drop taper. It evidently worked great given that the end result was an 8+ minute PR.
The bottom line
While the plan was fit for the individual in this case, many of the principles can be applied by others for successful and sustainable running performance. The program boils down to:
Using cross-training to deepen fitness
A new runner will not miss out on potential by prioritizing base
Consistent work done well is the “magic” but there is really nothing magical about it
This was a fun process. I learned about Tristan and about training principles that I hope to apply further in the future either with him or with other athletes.
You can follow Tristan on Strava to keep up with the rest of his year which will include an early spring 10K road race and then a gradual ramp back to triathlon fitness for the summer.