Jay Johnson currently serves as the Middle Distance Coach for the University of Colorado, his alma mater, where he has coached for more than five years. In addition to his coaching responsibilities, Coach Jay directs the Boulder Running Camp, one of the premier high school running camps in the country, and develops training materials for athletes and coaches of all ages and levels.Each week, Jay will be answering the best training questions we receive from you! If you have a question you want answered, email CoachJay@nike.com, and stay tuned to next week’s “Q&A with Coach Jay”!

Hello Coach Jay.

I am a relatively new runner trying to improve my performance. I have looked into running methods such as Pose, Chi and Joel Freil’s Evolution Running to increase speed and distance. Are you familiar with any of these methods and what do you think of them? Am I better off just going out and putting in the miles or working hard on changing my form?

Thank you,
Annemarie
Bethlehem, PA

Annemarie -

I really like your question and no doubt hundreds of people have had the same question as a new runner. I need to preface my comments by saying that I’ve not read any of the books on the methods you’ve described, yet I have no doubt that they all have validity in the running world. I think the best way for me to answer your question is to share an odd part of my coaching personality; every time I see someone running in public I analyze their gait. Literally 10 minutes ago I was watching a guy in his 20’s running (as I was driving) and I thought “He’s leaning forward, as if he’s trying in get somewhere in haste….he’s striking in front of his hips because he’s leaning forward…..he’s probably weak in both the Glutt/Hamstring complex as well as in his Abductors/Adductors…”

Let me be clear, this is not normal behavior and this is not normal interior self-talk, but I do it EVERY TIME I see someone run. So, if I could help someone in their first year of running the first thing I’d do is keep their running at a minimum and ask them to spend a great deal of time on core strength and functional movement training; I would want the person to learn to run “athletically” first, which usually means running “up tall,” even if that means running less, so that they will not only have a better chance of running injury-free, but so they will also have a chance of running fast later in their running life. Now, specific to your question, don’t think of changing your form but rather think of running “up tall” (see the article from last month) and then get with a PT or a personal trainer and tell them that you want to be able to move in all three planes of motion (running is mostly sagital plane and most runners are week in the frontal and transverse planes). This takes faith on your part because the exercises that will be assigned by a competent professional will not look like running, yet that work will empower you with the functional strength to run healthy and run fast.

I know that’s a long answer and somewhat complicated, yet the root of your question is dead on - you’re much better off to become a better athlete first and then work on putting in more miles rather than bumping up your mileage at this point.

Coach Jay

Hello Coach Jay,

I am running a 1/2 marathon on May 25th and have set up a training program through nikerunning.com and my nikeplus. What do you recoomend for crosstraining on the other days - activity, duration & intensity? My training program currently has me running on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for the most part. I have been exercising regularly for many years, usually 5 days/week.

Thanks,
Kelly

Good question Kelly and please know that there are hundreds of good answers to this question….so if you don’t like mine I won’t be offended at all.

I think that cross training should be a bridge to the next running workout and that you want to make sure that the running days are the harder days and that your cross training simply facilitates recovery to the next running workout. So, you can cross train Wednesday, Friday and Sunday with something that is easy. I would recommend you try pool running, which is simply running in the deep end of the pool and I’d recommend that you do it without a running belt, though it is harder the first few times you do it. You could alternate between 5 minutes of pool running and 5 minutes of easy lap swimming, keeping the total time of that workout at or below your running workout. Also, you are set up to have Monday as an off day - TAKE IT! Restoration is the biggest key to long term training and you will be well served to workout just 5-6 days a week and not 7 days a week.

Again, just think of your cross training days as a way to facilitate your running and you’ll be well served.

Good luck. Coach Jay.

Coach Jay,

I began experimenting over the summer with much longer distances in preparation for my high school cross country season. I was putting in about 60-75 miles a week and at the end of the summer I saw huge improvements in my racing times. With the spring track season coming up I was thinking of putting in around 65-75 weekly miles throughout the season, but I don’t know where to start. I don’t know when I should start any speed work, the best way to increase weekly miles, and if I should do more runs or just longer runs.

Thanks,
Christian

Awesome question, Christian. The key is to “start where you are” and be honest about the fact that you can’t just go from 20 miles a week to 65 and expect good things to happen. Thus, you need to increase gently and you need to plan some plateau weeks, meaning that you could go 35, 40, 45 but then you need to have a 4th week at 45 to give your body a week to assimilate to that workload. Also, we use the term “speed work” all the time in this country, yet we don’t really take the time to think about what that term means. Think of this - you need some running at 800m and 1,600m race pace so that your muscle fibers and the nerves that direct them - the neuromuscular system - are coordinated to run that pace. Most people do “strides” a couple times of week, thinking they’re taking care of this issue, yet you have to time your strides to make sure you’re really running the right pace. If you want to run 2:04 in the 800m that is 16.5 sec per 100m and if you haven’t run any 100’s in 16.5 before you run an 800m you’ll likely run slower than your potential, even if you’re aerobically fit.

Another way to look at this is to think of a symphony where ever musician just practices at home and then on the night of the concert they try to play together….it might work, but it doesn’t sound as good as if they had just 2 or 3 practices session with the full symphony. Distance runners love to go out and put in mileage (i.e. practicing the instrument at home) but they need to make sure that they have the neuromuscular coordination at shorter distances to take advantage of their fitness. Thus, you don’t need to run 800m every day, but you need to make sure that you’ve done it a few times so that you can take advantage of that hard earned aerobic fitness. The second part of “speed work” is all about metabolism and building buffering capacity to deal with the decreased blood pH that comes with lactate production during races. Thus, 8×400m with 60 sec rest is referred to as “speed work” but that is totally different than a 30 minute run to the track and then 8 x 100m in 16.5.

What’s my point? You need to do some neuromuscular work 2-3 times a week all spring and you can still get in good mileage when doing that type of work. However, once you’re into the main competition phase of outdoors where your coach needs you doing workouts to improve your buffering capacity, then you need to be willing to blow off your volume in favor of feeling good for those workouts.

Two final thoughts. First, be honest with yourself about where you are now - if you didn’t run all December and January then you better be careful, yet if you were at 40 miles per week all winter and you felt great, then jumping into 2 weeks at 50-55 is probably sound. Repeat for the 3rd week and if you feel well then bump it up a little. Second, remember that consistency is more important than mileage; 12 weeks of uninterrupted training at 40 miles per week is much better than 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 then two weeks in the pool because a stress reaction in your tibia (the most common “hasty mileage” injury, in my non-medical opinion).

Thanks, Christian and if you want to write back with your mileages since December, as well as your race calendar for the spring I can give you a more detailed answer next week.

Coach Jay

*Coach Jay’s advice is provided as general training information. Use at your own risk. Always consult with your own heath care provider for questions relating to your specific training and nutrition.