Runners

040 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.UK JULY 2018BOUND TO GET BETTERJump``````Improves rhythmand cadenceImagine you areat the centre of aclock face and jumpforward with bothfeet to 12 o’clock,back to the centre,behind to 6 o’clock,back to the centre,then alternately tothe 3 and 9. ‘Keepthe tempo quick andaim to land lightly,with a soft knee,’says Cole. Visiteach spot four times.Rest. Repeat.``````Hop``````Improves stabilityHop on the spot fromone foot to the other.Can you maintaingood posture,without the hips‘dropping’, andland withoutwobbling or losingyour balance? If so,try hopping side toside on one foot (ieon your left foot toboth left and right;on your right foot toboth right and left.)Do six sets per leg,twice through.``````Skip``````Improves use ofelastic energyIn a leap or bound,you take off onone foot but landon the other –just like running,in fact. Leapforward for 10-15m,maintaining a tallposture, using yourarms and driving offthe foot to travel asfar as you can witheach step. Keepground contact timeshort. Rest, thenrepeat twice more.``````The Transformation IssueFaster040 RUNNERSWORLD.CO.UK JULY 2018‘The focus is on improving theefficiency of the neuromuscularsystem – the line of communicationbetween your brain and your muscles- which will not only contribute to theactivation of more muscle fibres butalso increase the speed at which yourbrain sends signals to the muscles.’GETTING TWITCHYTo appreciate why this matters evenif you don’t race anything shorterthan a half marathon, you need tounderstand a little about musclefibres. Some muscle fibres are ‘slow-twitch’ – these take time to reach theirpeak force and don’t produce as muchforce as their ‘fast-twitch’ neighbours,but they are easy to recruit and they’refatigue-resistant – perfect for loggingsteady miles. In contrast, fast-twitchfibres produce greater force and do somore rapidly – but they also tire morequickly. You won’t be surprised tohear that East African distancerunners tend to have more of theformer, while sprinters of Africandescent have more of the latter.The crash-and-burn nature offast-twitch fibres means they onlyget recruited when the muscle needsto explosively produce a very highforce (for example, to lift a heavyweight overhead). ‘Sprinting exposesyou to much higher forces than doesrunning at your usual training pace,’says Gareth Cole, head of education atthe Third Space gym (thethirdspace.com). ‘As you adapt to these higherforces, running at slower speedsautomatically feels easier.’``````MORE IS BETTERMost of us distance runners rarelytrouble our fast-twitch fibres duringa typical training week because theintensity at which we are runningfalls below the threshold that wouldrequire them to ‘step in’. But whathappens when our slow-twitch fibres’``````capacity has been exhausted throughprolonged effort? For example, at mile18 of a marathon. Wouldn’t it be goodto have fresh recruits to step in? Thisis where having trained your fast-twitch fibres through maximal-speedrunning comes into its own.‘Sprinting is one of the only waysin which a distance runner is going tolearn how to recruit a large numberof those harder-to-recruit fast-twitchfibres, increasing the size of the poolof recruitable muscle fibres,’ explainsperformance coach Steve Magness(scienceofrunning.com).The larger the pool, the more musclefibres are available when the goinggets tough. ‘When the slow-twitchfibres are being overwhelmed, youhave other fibres available to do someof the work,’ says Magness. The result?You’ll be able to maintain your sub-maximal paces for longer withoutsuccumbing to fatigue. You’ll also beable to produce a mean kick on thehome straight of your next race –because those fast-twitch fibres willbe accustomed to firing.According to Gaudette, speeddevelopment boils down to improvingboth your running economy andyour efficiency – the amount of effortit requires to run at that speed. ‘Inlayman’s terms, better baseline speedallows you to run faster and furtherwith less effort and while expendingless energy,’ he says.Worried your sprinting days aregone? You’re just the type of runnerwho needs it most. ‘As athletes getolder, more emphasis is needed onspeed training to combat losses instrength, numbers of fast-twitch fibreand neural recruitment,’ says Magness.``````FORM UPGRADEA regular sprinkling of f lat-outrunning will also help you honebetter running technique. ‘Sprintingprovides an excellent platform to workoff and improve running mechanics,’says Magness. And that has benefitsbeyond just looking better in yourrace-day photos. The ability to storeand recover elastic energy (theenergy stored between contractionand release – think of when a rubberband is pulled back taut) from thelengthening contractions of musclesand tendons is known as the stretch-shortening cycle and is a key part ofrunning economy. The more forwardpropulsion you can derive from this‘free’ energy source, the less oxygenyou use at any given pace and themore you can delay fatigue. ‘Throughsprinting, the body gets better at``````MANY STUDIES HAVE SHOWN THAT PLYOMETRICS (explosive exercisesdesigned to improve muscular power) boost running speed. Forexample, one study found a 3.1 per cent improvement in 5K timefollowing a plyometric programme (that means a 20-minute 5Krunner would see a huge improvement, to 19:23). Once or twicea week, try these three simple moves to increase your power.