Transcription
If you're looking to run a faster 5K, half marathon, or marathon, it's not about working on speed; it's about improving your endurance. The good news is that there are only three ways to improve your endurance. In this video, we're going to show you what they are, how they work, and how you can use them to ensure that you can run further without getting tired.
But first, you're probably wondering what's with the red balloon. And no, I'm not auditioning for the remake of Stephen King's *It*. The secret to understanding how your endurance works is in this red balloon. I'm just going to put this here for the meantime.
Let's look at why I say speed is not the answer to you running a faster 5K or marathon. Before I tell you, I've got Brad with me today to act as my guinea pig. Before I explain it to you, Brad, off you go. You go. I need you to warm up.
So, while Brad's warming up, let me tell you the first thing that you need to do to build your endurance. There's a simple way of thinking of it, and it's like this: My wife, Haley, loves watching renovation programs, especially when there's a big reveal. She loves the way that the whole place comes together and how, by putting a lamp in a specific place, it can really make all the difference on a reveal day. But imagine it's like trying to do that when you haven't bought the lamp or the desk, or haven't built the house.
When you want to run a fast 5K or marathon, race day is just like reveal day. All the hard work and everything has been done in the buildup, and the race is just about the execution. The secret to building endurance is having a solid foundation, and that boils down to two things.
The first is mileage. Mileage is important because that is literally laying down the foundation, and the more mileage we can do without breaking down with injury, the greater your endurance is going to be, up to a point. So, what we want to do is to really build up the length of your long runs really slowly over a long period of time, so we keep your risk of injury low.
I can see you wondering how much mileage is appropriate because, obviously, for a five and a half and a marathon, we're not talking about the same number. For the five and the half marathon, you're probably looking at being able to run a long run that's probably double your 5K. And for a half marathon, maybe one and a half times, maximum, the length of the race. But as we move into the marathon, you're probably looking at doing about 75 to 80% of the total distance of your race. And of course, there are differences when it comes to running experience and ability.
Let's look at the second, and that is consistency. Consistency is what we do day after day, week after week, and month after month, and that is what is going to lay this foundation or base that is essential for us to be able to build your endurance. It's not about doing huge amounts now; it's about doing small amounts fairly often and building up over time so that we can maintain that consistency over weeks and months and even years. Because the more consistent you can be, the more solid your base is going to be.
It's all well and good having a solid base of training and being consistent, but runners are always coming up to me and saying, "But Lindsay, what about speed?" And that is exactly why Brad is here. Brad, I want you to go and run 1K in under 5 minutes. Off you go.
You joking? No. 5 minutes for a K may not seem that fast to you, but for Brad, that's a stretch. And that's because he's 6'8" and weighs over 300 lb. He really wouldn't be out of place on a rugby field or an NFL field. I'm not sure you can do it, but there's only one way to find out.
Now that you know the importance of building the solid foundation, running consistently, and doing the right amount of mileage, let's look at the second factor that impacts endurance. There are actually two parts to this, but before you can implement the first, you have to fully understand the second, and that is your aerobic conditioning. That's a fancy word. Let me break it down for you.
Aerobic conditioning is simply the ability of your body to supply oxygen to the working muscles when they need it. And in order to stimulate that aerobic metabolism, or to improve your body's ability to both take oxygen from the lungs, transport it in the blood, and deliver it to the working muscles, we need to be doing low-intensity, longer-duration exercise regularly. And that's not always practical for big guys like Brad.
The important thing for you to understand from this video is that that aerobic conditioning can be stimulated by cycling, by swimming, by running, by brisk walking, as long as you are getting a minimum physiological response out of your body and training at the appropriate intensity. Your body is going to respond positively, and you will improve your aerobic conditioning.
And so, for a big guy like Brad, or someone who's just starting out in running, it is actually not practical to do the appropriate amount of mileage that you need to do in order to build up that aerobic base because of the physical damage that is done from running. Why? One of the unique aspects of running is that we experience something called eccentric loading. In a nutshell, eccentric loading is when you hit the ground, and your body is absorbing the impact of hitting the ground. Instead of contracting to protect your body, your muscles are lengthening. And when they are lengthening and essentially acting as shock absorbers, a lot of damage is done.
And so, for somebody like Brad, or a new runner, or a runner that is starting to get older, it is really important to add in some cross-training like cycling and swimming because then you can continue to grow your aerobic base, but without the inherent injury risk that's associated with overtraining or doing too much running. Oh, look, here comes Brad. Ah, well done, Brad.
Now, I guess you're wondering what the point of that all was. Brad, I... I want you to do that another 41 times. You're joking. If only it were that easy. Speed is not the limiting factor. Brad can run pretty fast for his size, but it turns out that he doesn't have the endurance.
And now we'll get to the third secret of endurance, which is exactly why I brought this balloon. We've all done this as kids: breathe in helium, yeah? And then it makes our voices nice and squeaky. And as we talk, our voices slowly start to return to normal. And that really is the same as when we are working on endurance. And that is that if we don't have enough endurance, or we don't train at the right place to build our endurance, what happens is that your body eventually just comes down to its lowest common denominator, or the point at which it can supply the minimum amount of energy. And that is why when you hit the wall, you essentially slow down so much.
And by really improving our aerobic base and improving our body's ability to continually supply oxygen for us to run at a higher relative intensity of our max, that's how you get faster for five, the half marathon, and the marathon. As I mentioned earlier on in the video, improving your oxygen delivery is crucial to being able to improve your endurance. But what does improvement actually mean if you don't have a baseline to compare it to? You might actually be wasting your time. Watch this video next to see how your V02 max compares to runners of your age.