principles

Principles define training. Principles can lead you to personal best performances, injury prevention, and health – if they are simply applied correctly.

Historically, running has a social and coaching culture that would have you believe that very diverse methods are required to train for different events. For example, most would assume that training for the 800 meters on the track would be in complete opposition to training for a 100 mile trail run. One is 200 times longer than the other. Currently-held beliefs would tell us that these events utilize different “energy systems”, that one event is anaerobic while the other is aerobic, that one event is for those with lots of fast twitch muscle fibers while the other is only for those with a predominance of slow twitch fibers, that perhaps a specific periodization or structure of training is required, or even more commonly, that perhaps a certain number of miles of training are necessary.

These traditional methods make some assumptions that, sadly, have not stood the test of time or science.

Much of the traditional thinking assumes that the cardiovascular system is the primary limiter of performance – and thus the primary aspect to address in training. But as we’ve built a body of knowledge in the sports sciences, this has been found to not be the case. The central nervous system and neuromuscular system are the primary limiters of performance, and thus issues such as power output should define the training plan. The greater the power output (at any given distance), the faster you go.

What does this mean from a practical application?

I have coached runners of all skill levels and paces, and through a wide variety of event distances. And the one common element that links events like the 800 meters and a 100 mile run is that the training principles are the same. Yes, the same.

The Ivory Tower of Academia. If you've been involved with the educational system in any way, shape, or form, you've at least seen it off in the distance. Perhaps you've occupied it's courtyard, or maybe even resided inside it's walls. 

The Ivory Tower - is tarnished.

Last time I looked, academia and education were about teaching and learning. There is plenty of good research literature to indicate that adults learn primarily by interaction, by doing, by being actively involved in their own learning process. In effect, it is much the same way that children learn most effectively. As Bob Pike would say, adults are just babies with big bodies.

This week marks the 13th anniversary of my first McKenzie course. I would bet that your first thought would be "why remember something so seemingly trivial - it was just a course"! But in our lives, we remember moments in time that shaped us and our perspective on the world. That four days in February 1994 was one such weekend.

What made it so? In the span of four days I was presented with a large volume of research - that contradicted much of what I'd been taught in school. This was, at first, unsettling - but the "scientist" in me decided that you can't simply discount the literature and that if it was all about "being a better PT" then I better sit down and do some homework to understand how all these issues fit together. It pushed my "comfort zone" ... and started me down a path that changed not only my career but my personal life perspective as well.