Break Through the Running Performance Ceiling
Running can be an elusive mistress. Far too many times we’ve heard the following from my athletes: I’m not a good runner, I’m always injured, or I can’t get any faster.
A few ‘real’ runners love the sport, but this corrosive weight-bearing activity, which can be so wonderful but at the same time so frustrating, can deliver a mountain of problems for many who try to embrace it.
There are some great pure running coaches out there, but few truly appreciate the sport from the lens of the frustrated and stagnated. Many athletes follow training programs for pure runners, but not for multisport athletes and their unique challenges.
The good news? If the above sounds like you, we have a long history of helping folks with similar problems break through and perform. Today, we’re aiming to break this cycle and pave the way for you to regain control of running as a sport, remain healthy, and continue to make performance gains.
Let’s get off to a running start:
Framing the Running Challenge
Running can be a beautiful sport and is extremely accessible; it requires little equipment, and you can do it almost anywhere. Moreover, it comes with the bonus of being an ideal vector for exploration; there’s nothing quite like an early morning jog in a new city or discovering different trails in your own backyard.
However, running comes at a cost, especially for the time-starved athlete:
Its weight-bearing nature puts a heavy load on tissue and muscle.
The simplicity and repetitive movement required to run leads to low variability in muscle usage.
Traditional coaching and training plans are typically designed for the purist runner, picture a light and skinny mountain goat. These plans are usually a fast-track to injury for the less experienced runner.
Running training has a fixed mindset rooted in traditionalism which doesn’t serve the majority of those who want just to participate and enjoy.
All that being said, there is a better way! So sit back and allow me to outline the route to a truly sustainable and enjoyable running journey.
Identifying a Smart Approach to Your Running
Running shouldn’t be painful and disappointing. Instead, it can be rewarding and health-positive if we take a measured approach.
The Mission
Training is about applying specific stress to the body from which you can positively adapt to and get stronger, fitter, and more resilient. We know that running is weight-bearing and corrosive, so it leads to cycles of frustration for most, but let’s frame the running essentials:
A Strong ‘Chassis’: This refers to good posture, a robust muscular base, and resilient leg tissue.
Cardiovascular Conditioning: Yes, you need to be fit.
Muscular Resilience: This is essential for retaining form and speed throughout any given run.
And why should we focus solely on running to hone the above components? Even if your main sport is running, you don’t need to stick to the classic weekly ‘long run’, ‘tempo’, and ‘strength/speed’ sessions. There’s a better way, and the key is diversity. At Purple Patch, we take a multisport approach to running training.
Here is a quick list of the ways we have our ‘runners’ leverage the power of different movement patterns:
Cycling: offers a massive dose of non-weight-bearing muscular endurance to develop resilience. Many of our runners integrate at least 2 sessions of cycling a week. However, these sessions are focused and incorporate a specific training element:
Low cadence (RPM), strength-based intervals - the aim of which is to develop muscular endurance as well as low injury risk cardiovascular conditioning.
Elliptical: Many injury-prone athletes can benefit from the elliptical - as it mimics running movement while being non-weight bearing. It isn’t running, but it is high value.
Swimming: Folks who consistently swim nearly always improve their run performance. It is helpful in physiological engine development, and you tend to be able to hit higher intensities in training with much less injury risk.
Indoor Rowing: Rowing has the advantage of training the whole body while still being leg dominant. Most importantly, intervals using the rower engage the ‘posterior chain’ of muscles essential for running improvements.
In addition to incorporating these extra sports in our runners’ training programs, we insist on adherence to a year-round strength regime. The baseline of performance across most sports is proper posture. We can then add coordination, mobility, strength, speed, and power. An effective strength and conditioning program should be:
Consistent: Year-round adherence.
Progressive: The program should allow for strength gains.
Comprehensive: Strength, speed, and coordination should all be covered.
Specific: It should not dilute the effectiveness of your endurance training. The aim is to integrate the strength program, not just add it as an afterthought.
All our successful athletes follow a consistent, progressive, comprehensive, and specific strength program. It is essential to their success.
Putting Lessons into Practice
Classic running training anchors on either a simple accumulation of mileage or a few repeating sessions of over-distance and intervals each week. These approaches are modeled from the training regimes of elite runners who look, train, and run very differently from the vast majority of the average population.
Here are the three main ways we at Purple Patch are attempting to establish better training techniques for the everyday runner:
Frequency: It may sound counter-intuitive, but little and often can build massive tissue resilience. By taking a long-term approach to training, instead of ramping up load quickly towards a specific event, we can develop the resilience and health of tissue (muscles and ligaments) first, then add intensity and intervals.
Split Runs: We are always form-focused at Purple Patch. By splitting sessions into two a day or accumulating training over multiple days, we avoid the all too common fatigue-inducing and form destroying very long run. Here’s an example:
The 3-hour run (a classic length endurance run).
Hour one feels ok.
Hour two brings fatigue.
By hour three one barely recognizes the runner from the first hour. Poor form, muscle damage, and fatigue accumulate.
The muscle damage that occurs from this is amplified due to poor form and running under fatigue.
Alternatively, by integrating split runs we gain the required muscular resilience and cardiovascular endurance without unnecessarily stressing the system.
Example: Mid-long run in the AM (100mins) and a stronger effort in the PM (40mins).
Additionally, we can cluster runs over a weekend. This develops resilience with form but allows for a quicker recovery in the days following, leading to more consistency over several weeks.
Example: Friday PM short-run (30mins), split-run Saturday (AM and PM), Sunday AM short-run (30mins)
Walk Breaks: As I said, at Purple Patch, we are all about form. We want every step to be a good one, and therefore aren’t afraid to prescribe walk breaks. There is no use in practicing bad form. Don’t think of walking as weakness, it can be smart training, it reduces injury risk, and reminds us to hold form under fatigue.
Those are three examples of attacking running using a new strategy and achieving great results. We have completely revamped how folks approach and view running training and by allowing them to have a little fun with it.
Putting Lessons into Practice
We’ve got a couple of great podcast episodes on running that will help you amplify your run training performance. Check them out:
Episode 201: Reimagine Your Run to Reduce Injury & Get the Results You Want
Episode 164: A Triathlete’s Guide to Run Success
Episode 22: Boston to Big Sur — Marathon Training on Three Runs Per Week
Take the Next Step
Our Run Squad run training program is built on proven Purple Patch methodology and a foundation of multisport training. It combines a flexible structure designed for time-starved athletes, targeted cross-training, and specific strength work to give you the training and resources to be successful at any distance. Whether you’re tackling your first 10K, chasing a Boston Qualification, or exploring the world of trail ultramarathons, Run Squad will help you take your performance to the next level. Sign up today: