Why Speed Work is Necessary for Elite Endurance

By
Steven Low
Published: August 19, 2009Posted in: Advanced, Articles, TrainingTags: , , , ,
Why Speed Work is Necessary for Elite Endurance

I. Deconstructing the physiology of speed
II. The problem with LSD
III. The necessity of speed work
IV. The focus of an endurance program at different ability levels

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IV. The focus of an endurance program at different ability levels

As stated, for the novice and intermediate the main focus of an endurance program should be first to increasing strength and speed while concurrently developing the ability to run distances. Thus, we aim for a program focused on:

  • Large focus: Integration of strength work such as deadlifts and plyometrics
  • Large focus: Improvement of speed work through high intensity intervals
  • Small focus: longer runs to develop running economy, and muscular and cardiovascular endurance

We plan according to this because strength and speed are the attributes that take longest to develop. High intensity intervals also confer aerobic benefits of increased muscular and cardiovascular endurance so we don’t need such a large focus on longer runs just yet.

The importance of longer runs is because of increases in running economy. Basically, the more running you do, the body gets more efficient at the movement. Thus, running economy seeks to measure this improvement for how much “effort” it takes to run which is measured in oxygen consumption per distance covered. This does not need to be developed as thoroughly yet, since stride length improvements and decreasing the intensity of running quickly take longer to develop and yield better times.

There is the point at which an athlete starts to improve their times into the advanced and elite range. As these times improve, the law of diminishing returns starts to rear its ugly head until you hit the ceiling over which you get negative returns on effort investment.

For example, a runner’s primary focus is improving their running times. As strength increases it is harder to improve to get more strength; similarly, stride lengths will increase as slowly as the strength does. There is a point in time where too much strength will decrease the times of the athlete (because strength and endurance are at the opposite ends of the spectrum). Thus, if such a point occurs then it may be necessary to scale down the strength work to maintenance level, and focus more on other attributes to improve.

Thus, at this point we start scaling down the strenth work to maintenance level (usually 1-2 times per week) and start increasing the amount of longer distance running we do to improve running economy and increase muscular and cardiovascular endurance.

For instance, let’s take a look at the training of one of the elite runners of the past, Hicham El Guerrouj (currently holds WR in 1500m, won some 5k golds). In his program he has:

Looking at his training cycles which resulted in some world records let’s look at the proportion of work he was doing:

First cycle – 21 days
Training sessions: 35
Strength/power work: 10 = 28.6%
Physical preparation: 2 = 5.8%
Aerobic work (intervals + longer runs): 23 = 65.7%

A relatively huge proportion of strength/power work at 28.6% considering what your average runner does which is 0%.

Second cycle – 21 days
Training sessions: 37
Strength/power work: 6 = 16.2%
Race pace (intervals): 5 = 13.5%
Aerobic work (fast pace + recovery): 70.2%

Still a significant amount of strength/power work + intervals. Aerobic work is up to 70% which is to be expected of a distance runner in 1500m and 5000m.

Third cycle – 21 days
Training sessions: 38
Race pace + speed work (intervals): 8 = 21.1%
Warming up + aerobic (recovery + fast pace): 30 = 78.9%

No strength/power, but increased work with speed and intervals to improve race ability. Still a significant margin at 21%.

This corresponds to what I said earlier. He has a small amount of strength/power work to maintain strength and speed, and the majority of the running tends to focus on intervals + longer recover runs + fast pace work which allow him to improve running economy and muscular and cardiovascular endurance.

My point with looking at all of this work is that he always has a fair amount of interval/speed work or strength/power work in his training. Most of the longer distance runners you and I know that may even be competitive barely have any of these types of training sessions if any at all. This is a huge mistake.

Also, for reference, his slowest “recovery” work listed is 18-19s per 100m (which is the 3:00-3:10 pace over 1km). This is most definitely not LSD. Consider that a “decent” time for 5k is 20 minutes. This corresponds to 24s per 100m. His “recovery” work is 25% faster than a decent 5k time.

In conclusion, like strength training or any other type of sports training, novices/intermediate runners have no business training like the advanced/elite runners. We put novices on linear progression strength training while leaving more complicated periodized work for the elite athletes. The same is true of running as to improve times we have different focuses at different levels of ability.

The amount of strength and speed work needed for an endurance runner is proportional to your ability level. Novices need the most amount of strength and speed work, but as your times decrease you need proportionally less. When you’re elite endurance runner, you’re aiming just to maintain strength and speed, and run a huge amount of miles for the running economy and further gains in muscular and cardiovascular endurance.

If I were to structure a novice’s training I would probably start with 50% strength/power, 40% intervals/speed work, and 10% longer runs. As they get more advanced, you can slowly phase down the strength/power work and turn it into more sessions of longer running. Interval distance will also increase to suitable lengths in proportion to the race distance as speed increases.

The above is just a general idea. However, most of the elite endurance runners can run under 11s 100m. If you’re not there you need to be prioritizing your strength/power and speed work to get there at the very least. Then can come the increased focus on longer runs.

Notes:

1. For extra resources on developing improved sprinting/speed ability go here.

2. Bastardization of speed work such as that which is thrown into CrossFit metabolic conditioning does not really improve speed although you do get muscular and cardiovascular endurance benefits. Throwing them together in this fashion leads to mediocre results as evident by most of the best CFers only getting 18-20 min 5k times (although it’s true they are not aiming for much better results than that). The focus needs to be specifically on speed work and strength transitioning into longer runs and run specific intervals.

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About the Author

Steven is a former competitive gymnast who, in recent years, has been heavily involved in the gymnastics performance troupe, Gymkana. With his degree from the University of Maryland College Park in Biochemistry, Steven has spent thousands of hours independently researching the scientific foundations of health, fitness and nutrition. Currently Steven is pursuing a doctorate of Physical Therapy which provides him with insights into practical care for common injuries. His training is varied and intense with a focus on sprinting, gymnastics and parkour. He currently resides in his home state of Maryland.