Supertraining

Bill, my view of a few points:

--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], "W.G. 'Bill' Johnson" 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote re article in Sports Performance 
Bulletin:
 
> Mistake No. 1
> Carrying out three long runs during the four-week period before race
> day - a 13-miler four weeks before the race, a 21-miler three weeks
> before the marathon, and a 14-miler two weeks in advance of the big
> day (we might also count the nine-miler at race pace one week before
> the marathon, which would give us four long runs in the pre-race
> month). For a runner with average leg strength, it takes at least a
> month to recover from strenuous marathon training so that the race
> itself can be completed with rested, healthy leg muscles; scientific
> research suggests that during this month before the race no workout
> should cover more than about 10 miles. This principle was violated
> three different times by the runner above, and as a result his quads
> were not really ready to race on marathon day - they were still
> reeling from the punishing training which had been conducted.

Yep, one needs to be well rested for sure. Easy mistake to make, 
doing too much in the weeks before.
 
> Mistake no. 2
> Carrying out just one workout per week at faster than goal marathon
> pace. For endurance runners in general, max running speed is a good
> predictor of marathon potential, and for individual runners
> improvements in max running speed almost always lead to upgrades in
> marathon performance. It is difficult, however, to enhance max speed
> when only one 'speed' session is completed per week, especially when
> that 'speed' session is more of a tempo run than a higher-intensity
> effort.

No argument with that. Our group tended to do a lot of road training 
in the 6 to 10 mile range by starting out relatively slowly and 
finishing the last half of the training run at flat out 10k race 
pace. 

> Mistake No. 3
> Failing to complete any neural training, i. e., failing to train at
> VO2max speed (i. e., vVO2max) and omitting 'super sets' from the
> overall programme. It is certain that vVO2max workouts produce more
> gains in vVO2max, lactate threshold, and running economy than any
> other type of training session; these three physiological variables
> are great predictors of marathon success. It is likely that super 
sets
> have a similarly strong physiological effect.

Ditto above.
 
> Mistake no. 4
> Emphasizing non-running-specific strength training. For the first 
four
> months of the pre-marathon training period, this runner emphasized
> strengthening exercises which involved isolation of particular 
muscles
> or muscle groups and seated or lying-down postures. These kinds of
> exercises are likely to have only a small (or no) impact on actual
> running strength (i. e., the ability to consistently take longer
> strides and the ability to be more stable and economical when the 
foot
> is on the ground during the stance phase of the gait cycle; if you
> doubt this, read Owen Anderson's piece on one-leg exercises earlier 
in
> this issue).
> 
> Proper strategy: start preparations for a marathon with six weeks or
> so of whole-body strengthening, with an emphasis on exercises which
> involve most of the muscles in the body simultaneously and which 
avoid
> seated and reclining postures. Then move on to hill training and
> exercises which duplicate key aspects of the gait cycle, including
> one-leg squats, high-bench step-ups, one-leg hops in place, bicycle
> leg swings, reverse bicycle leg swings, eccentric reaches with toes,
> and arrested step-downs, focusing on weight-bearing exercises which
> require high degrees of coordination and must be carried out with 
full
> body weight supported by one leg at a time. Finally, finish with 
about
> eight weeks of explosive work, including hops, bounds, sprints,
> one-leg squats with lateral hops, in-place accelerations, Indian 
hops,
> drop jumps, and high-knee explosions. These moves enhance the 
ability
> to run fast, and as max running speed increases, it drags marathon
> pace along with it.

I know this will sound like heresy to you and many others, but I 
doubt that pre-season strength training, although novel and 
interesting, will have much impact at all on performance once in-
season training commences. Hills and plyos, OK.

I note in this article (below) where Owen Anderson discusses Tim 
Noakes' comparison of elite black and white African marathoners -- 
and reasons for black superiority -- that "black runners' quadriceps 
muscles were about 31 per cent weaker than those of the whites, yet 
the blacks' quads fatigued much less rapidly during the test".

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0416.htm

I can't see that any strength or hypertrophy adaptations from early 
season strength training with weights -- even of the optimum design --
 could  possibly survive 100 km/week of hard and long road and track 
training. And even if it did, it might be counter-productive. 
 
> Final Points
> Completing our analysis, it's important to bear in mind that aqua
> jogging does not remove lactic acid from the leg muscles (see 
Sunday's
> workout above); in fact, if the aqua jogging is above a fairly 
minimal
> intensity, it will actually increase muscle lactic-acid
> concentrations. > 

Aqua jogging? Who's got time for that? Next it'll be synchronized 
swimming. Give us a break! Who wrote that article? <g>

> Any others?

I would add that new marathoners (and even experienced ones) can make 
the mistake of not eating enough, especially if they have a picky, 
restrictive type of diet, eg, vegetarian, Pritikin, Ornish etc. It's 
worth sitting down and calculating calories expended and calories 
consumed, particularly carbs. In that Anderson article above, the 
black runners seemed to eat better than the whites by total energy 
and carbs.

Regards, Paul Rogers
Gympie, Australia