Running longer makes me stronger

If you’ve signed up for a spring race, chances are you’ll be starting training soon, if you haven’t already. You will start building the mileage slowly, you’ll curse the freezing weather and you will be tempted to, if you must run in the winter, do it on a treadmill. Personally, I’m not a fan of treadmills, although, if I’m honest with myself, there are days when the weather makes me wish I had one. However, I still don’t think I could ever feel as good after a workout on a treadmill as I do while I’m thawing with a cup of hot chocolate, the ice melting in my beard.

If treadmills are your thing, just keep in mind: when you’re training for a race, at least 60 per cent of your running should be done outside, in the conditions as close to the race conditions as you can find. Too much running indoors and you are at serious risk of injuries once you step back outside.

Actually, that risk of an injury is what I’d like to talk about. A lot has been written lately about high intensity interval training as a way to reduce mileage and build up strength and endurance. It was supposed to replace low-intensity long runs with much shorter workout at much higher intensity for better results. In plain talk, you swap a 90-minute or longer run at conversational pace with a 40-50 minute interval workout that will leave you gasping for air. The common sense is that running less will also reduce the risk of injuries. Unfortunately, it isn’t so.

A Danish study, published in 2013, shows that runners running fewer than 30 kilometres per week suffered twice as many injuries than those running 30-60 kilometres per week. A subsequent study, published in 2014, confirmed that those who were running longer were injured less often.

Specific endurance, durability and resistance to the forces of impact and other causes of running injuries can be built only by running. No amount of strength and cross-training can replace it.

I fell victim to my lazy gene too: for my last marathon race I followed a training plan which called for the longest run of 29K, with 19 of those run at different, higher paces. I was intrigued by the promise of reduced mileage and therefore, I thought, reduced chance of injury. True to the promise, I avoided injury, but at the race I sorely missed those additional kilometres I gladly skipped in training. After exactly 30K my legs turned to rubber and I struggled to finish the 12 long remaining kilometres. I know there could be many reasons for that struggle, but considering I did the whole training exactly as prescribed and, based on previous experiences, I concluded the main culprit was cutting down the mileage on those long runs.

Backed with the science proving I don’t need to fear injuries if I run longer, and trusting in building endurance by actually running the volume, I’m not going to repeat that mistake.