When eyeing performance rather than general fitness in endurance sports, there comes a time to add nuance. We need not make it complicated, but a semblance of structure is recommended to manufacture an athletic profile capable of achieving lofty racing goals. In short, you might have to do a little more than a bunch of easy volume. I happen to have an athlete who illustrates the effects of structured training quite well.
Adam Kurland came to me in the spring of 2023 with an eye on doing more with his running than “getting out for a jog”. His training history before this was a focus on general fitness, slotting in the occasional, sporadic hard run. This was enough to be fit, but still leaving a lot on the table in terms of performance.
With a spark of motivation to uncover his endurance potential, Adam began to get serious about training to run fast.
His base? Sound.
His tolerance for intensity? Not so much.
His perception of what it meant to “go hard” had been clouded by the polarity of his previous training: nearly 100% jogging easy.
Necessary but not sufficient for operating at speed.
Seeing improvement
We have had a benchmark 5K run test that has become a nice progress check to fill the gap between races.
The test has been the same format since the beginning:
1 mile "strong"
1 mile "hard"
1 mile "buckle down"
0.1 "give it a kick"
The original thought with this test, last summer, was to learn early pacing for his first 10K. Remember, his perception of hard was an area needing improvement.
Adam ultimately had a great first 10K by being conservative early in the race... but the progressive nature of this test run also provides insight into efficiency, an important training metric.
Adam's first performance in July:
Mile 1: 7:53 “strong” Mile 2: 7:13 Mile 3: 6:38 "Hurting a lot!" Final bit: 6:30/mi pace Total: 22:27
Compared to the performance January 2024:
Mile 1: 7:05 Mile 2: 7:01 Mile 3: 6:41 "way more in the tank" Final bit: 5:30/mi pace Total: 21:25
*I also had him run steadily for 45 minutes afterward this time. A new development. His heart rate came right back down as it should.
In July:
The test was all he had in him
There was no 45 minutes steady afterward
It also resulted in some multi-day soreness.
On paper, it may not look like much improvement. In fact, the last mile step was slower than the first test. However, the first mile is where money is being made. The perceived effort was the same at 7:53 in July as it is now at 7:05. That is profound and is expected given how his training has been going.
He also was able to really ramp it up in that final push. This indicates that he is becoming more efficient at a high effort. That is essential for his future goals of 10K/Half marathon racing. Longer term development is always factored into what we are doing.
What can we learn from this?
Solid pacing can allow you to put your fitness on display
Touching all of the zones once in a while is not a bad idea. Adam's program is robust. Not "only zone 2" or "only threshold."
Being consistent helps. There have been no spikes in volume in his program. As he has become more tolerant of running, the volume has naturally increased. No force feeding.
Finally...I think if he pushed this test to his full ability from the start, there would be an eye-opening result. Interestingly, this test result from today is now his 5K PR. Pretty cool for finishing the test with "way more in the tank"
The week-to week specifics of his overall program may be less important to learn from. Everyone is different and I don't want to push dogma on others that this is the only way. As an endurance community, we could benefit from being more optimistic about different ways of training so long as the athlete is hitting the goals he/she desires.
With the current training zone obsession, Adam’s program does point to how no training zone is more important than another. They work together to develop a more efficient organism at speed.