Five Key Training Interventions for Dramatic Running Improvement

Key Quotes

"A hill sprint is an 8 to 10 second max intensity sprint up the steepest hill that you can find provided of course that it's not so steep that you can't actually run fast up this hill the idea is to maximally recruit as many muscle fibers as possible and to work on the neuromuscular connection between your brain and your muscle so the idea is to work on 100 max effort sprinting in a way that also builds strength so you do get a lot of injury resilience benefits from it"

Coach Fitzgerald explains that hill sprints are a method for endurance runners to develop speed, power, and resilience against injury. He emphasizes the importance of maximal muscle fiber recruitment and the neural connection between the brain and muscles during these short, intense efforts. This approach aims to build strength in a way that directly translates to improved running performance and injury prevention.

"Now another key to doing hill sprints is the recovery first we don't want a jogging or running recovery we want at least 90 seconds but also up to two minutes of just walking standing around this isn't a real workout like we distance runners really understand it it's more of a speed development session so make sure you get that maximum recovery at least 90 seconds but up to a minute two minutes of walking around of standing really let your heart rate come down we want to allow your nervous system to settle a little bit because as soon as that next hill sprint starts we want to be going at max effort"

Coach Fitzgerald highlights the critical role of recovery between hill sprints. He advises against active recovery like jogging, instead recommending a minimum of 90 seconds to two minutes of rest, including walking or standing. Fitzgerald clarifies that this is a speed development session, not a traditional endurance workout, and sufficient rest is necessary for the nervous system to recover, ensuring maximum effort on subsequent sprints.

"Now there's a big reason why we are focusing on monthly mileage rather than a shiny new weekly mileage pr monthly mileage is more of a long term project you're not going to be forced to cut corners in the same way or take a shortcut or try to cram in a couple extra miles on sunday at the very end of the week instead you have more days to play with and the reason why we're focusing on mileage is because your total running volume is arguably the most important aspect of your training exercise scientist stephen seiler determined that the volume of training you do is the number one training need of endurance runners volume matters and monthly mileage is a more long term metric than weekly mileage"

Coach Fitzgerald advocates for focusing on monthly mileage personal bests over weekly ones, explaining that this approach encourages a more sustainable, long-term training project. He notes that monthly goals reduce the temptation to take shortcuts or cram mileage at the last minute, unlike weekly goals. Fitzgerald cites exercise scientist Stephen Seiler in stating that total running volume is the most crucial factor for endurance runners, making monthly mileage a more effective metric for consistent improvement.

"Heat training is something that is you know it's often been described as poor man's altitude you know if you don't have access to altitude you can get a lot of the benefits of altitude with heat training and the more we're learning about it the more that we're discovering that heat training might actually be more effective at driving improvement than running at altitude and there's less of a training risk in other words your training is not going to suffer as much whereas if you go up to altitude you just can't run as fast"

Coach Fitzgerald introduces heat training as a cost-effective alternative to altitude training, often referred to as "poor man's altitude." He suggests that current research indicates heat training may be even more effective for driving performance improvements than altitude training. Fitzgerald points out a key advantage: heat training carries less risk of negatively impacting overall training intensity, unlike altitude training where paces must often be reduced.

"The weightlifting that we're doing just exists to make our running better it's also a good idea to follow some kind of a plan yes we have a program at strength running you can read more about it at strengthrunning com hpl which stands for high performance lifting this is our periodized weightlifting program that i created with a usa weightlifting national coach and one of the big goals of this program was to periodize it so we don't want to do the same weightlifting workout every week we want that workout to gradually evolve and change over time"

Coach Fitzgerald emphasizes that weightlifting for runners should be supplementary, designed to enhance running performance rather than compete with it. He recommends following a periodized plan, such as the High Performance Lifting (HPL) program he co-created. Fitzgerald explains that periodization involves gradually evolving workouts over time, ensuring that the training stimulus changes and remains effective, similar to how running training progresses towards a goal race.

"if you want to be able to increase your mileage you want to be able to run a marathon more efficiently and you want to maybe qualify for boston or get under three hours or four hours or whatever it might be focusing on running economy through heavier weightlifting through speed development like hill sprints through higher volume training like focusing on a monthly mileage record all of these things help improve your running economy which is the oxygen cost of running so if you can run the same 10 miles the same 5k race whatever it might be with a lower oxygen cost you're going to be able to train more you're going to be able to feel better with your training and you're going to be a lot more economical"

Coach Fitzgerald connects several training strategies, including heavy weightlifting, hill sprints, and increased monthly mileage, to the concept of improving running economy. He defines running economy as the oxygen cost of running at a given pace. Fitzgerald explains that by reducing this oxygen cost, runners can train more effectively, feel better during their workouts, and ultimately perform better, making their efforts more efficient.