TARGETING THE CORRECT TRAINING FACTORS

Many people think training for shorter races – even a series of shorter races – requires the same type of training as is needed for the marathon, only less of it. This is not the case. In reality, while you’ll need to build almost the same endurance fitness required for the marathon (which may be a surprise), you’ll also need to develop more musclefibre strength, more connectivetissue resiliency and better nervous-system efficiency. As shown in the table (below left), all races recruit 100 per cent of available slow-twitch muscle fibres, but the shorter races also recruit a much higher percentage of faster fibres. All races draw on the aerobic system for more than 90 per cent of energy requirements, but the shorter races demand an anaerobic contribution, too. In addition to recruiting more muscle fibres, a race season also requires fortified connective tissue (the better to race and rebound to race another day) and a nervous system that can pivot from the frenetic demands of the 5K to the imperturbability of the half marathon.

Here’s the bottom line: preparing for a season actually demands a wider range of training than prepping for a single endurance event. The trade-off is that a season provides you with many more opportunities to find your best race distance and to log satisfying performances, not to mention the luxury of writing off occasional bad races (we all have them) without feeling that you’ve wasted months of effort. Of course, improving all these training factors takes time. And that brings us nicely to base training.