By Carrie Lane, Director of Sport Performance
What do you have in common with Usain Bolt? Probably more than you think. Recent research has proven that distance runners actually benefit from some of that speed and power training that makes Bolt the fastest human in the world 1, 2, 3. More and more elite endurance athletes are adding explosive training (i.e. sprinting and/or weightlifting) into their weekly routine because it has been shown to improve running economy.
What is running economy and how does sprint training improve your marathon time? Running encompasses the efficiency of your stride and your body’s energy output per step. If you have some gait imbalances and poor force production with your steps, your running economy will be deficient. These imbalances in your gait are caused by a variety of factors, including poor postural alignment, obstructed neural pathways, and soft tissue malfunction. For example, find a puddle of water in a flat area of dirt or sand. To drain the water from the puddle, trace a narrow trough from the puddle and downhill through the dirt. The more twists, turns, and constrictions you trace into the dirt, the slower the water moves. As soon as you straighten out or widen the water’s path, it flows more quickly and efficiently. Now lets go back to your running stride. The trough in the dirt represents the neural pathways from your brain to your muscles. The water represents the signal that travels along the pathways to tell your muscles to contract. When those neural pathways contain “twists, turns, and constrictions” created by soft tissue imbalances or poor postural alignment, your body expends more energy to send that signal to contract the muscles. This energy expense adds up over the course of a run or race, leaving you gassed or unable to finish strong. For the duration of your run or race, conserving small amounts of energy per stride can reduce running times, and even better, minimize overuse injuries.
So how does the addition of a speed and power regimen improve your running economy? Running— even at slow paces— involves a series of plyometric (stretch reflex) actions throughout the body’s connective and muscle tissue. Through high velocity, low volume plyometric power training—i.e. a little of Usain Bolt- style workouts—your soft tissue stretches to a fuller range of motion and absorbs greater impact than during low velocity, limited range-of-motion running. Plyometric training such as sprinting, strength training, and even dynamic stretching, accelerates tissue adaptation and helps your body improve its muscle recruitment patterns. Over time, the body then implements its learned efficiency to slower speeds, thus impacting your running economy and improving tissue health.
While you may not think of yourself as “speedy”, sprint and power training will actually impact your overall efficiency and tissue health during those long endurance runs you love so much.
Click here for a sample strength training workout designed to take your joints and muscle tissue through high ranges of motion and faster velocities than what you achieve in your daily runs.
So how does the addition of a speed and power regimen improve your running economy? Running— even at slow paces— involves a series of plyometric (stretch reflex) actions throughout the body’s connective and muscle tissue. Through high velocity, low volume plyometric power training—i.e. a little of Usain Bolt- style workouts—your soft tissue stretches to a fuller range of motion and absorbs greater impact than during low velocity, limited range-of-motion running. Plyometric training such as sprinting, strength training, and even dynamic stretching, accelerates tissue adaptation and helps your body improve its muscle recruitment patterns. Over time, the body then implements its learned efficiency to slower speeds, thus impacting your running economy and improving tissue health.
While you may not think of yourself as “speedy”, sprint and power training will actually impact your overall efficiency and tissue health during those long endurance runs you love so much.
Click here for a sample strength training workout designed to take your joints and muscle tissue through high ranges of motion and faster velocities than what you achieve in your daily runs.
| | US Olympic Marathon Trials qualifier, Ben Payne, performs a series of plyometric hurdle hops after a workout. |
REFERENCES
1 Effects of plyometric training on endurance and explosive strength performance in competitive middle- and long-distance runners Rodrigo Rami Rez-Campillo, Cristian Alvarez, Carlos Henri Quez-Olguin, Eduardo B. Biaz, Cristian Martinez, David C Andrade, and Mike Izquierdo J of Strength and Conditioning Research 28(1): 97-104, 2014
2 Explosive-strength training improves 5-km running time by improving running economy and muscle power Leena Paavolainen, Keijo Häkkinen, Ismo Hämäläinen, Ari Nummela and Heikki Rusko J Appl Physiol 86:1527-1533, 1999.
3 Faster top running speeds are achieved with greater ground forces not more rapid leg movements Peter G. Weyand, Deborah B. Sternlight, Matthew J. Bellizzi and Seth Wright
J Appl Physiol 89:1991-1999, 2000.
1 Effects of plyometric training on endurance and explosive strength performance in competitive middle- and long-distance runners Rodrigo Rami Rez-Campillo, Cristian Alvarez, Carlos Henri Quez-Olguin, Eduardo B. Biaz, Cristian Martinez, David C Andrade, and Mike Izquierdo J of Strength and Conditioning Research 28(1): 97-104, 2014
2 Explosive-strength training improves 5-km running time by improving running economy and muscle power Leena Paavolainen, Keijo Häkkinen, Ismo Hämäläinen, Ari Nummela and Heikki Rusko J Appl Physiol 86:1527-1533, 1999.
3 Faster top running speeds are achieved with greater ground forces not more rapid leg movements Peter G. Weyand, Deborah B. Sternlight, Matthew J. Bellizzi and Seth Wright
J Appl Physiol 89:1991-1999, 2000.
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