Eventrac News

Strength and conditioning for off road running

12 Dec, 2024 02:22 By: Ceri Rees

Why is strength and conditioning so important for runners?
Running is a dynamic activity, which requires coordination of muscles, tendons, supportive
tissue and bones. When something goes wrong, it can spur a chain reaction, which often
requires your focussed attention or that of a specialist. When did you last meet a runner
who has never been injured? In order to improve your resilience, the body has to learn how
to adapt to the resistance imposed upon it in the gym (or outdoors- or anywhere for that
matter).

I’ve been using gyms since I was 14-years-old, when football, rugby and tennis vied with
athletics and cross country for my attention. I didn’t really know what I was doing, until I
arrived at Loughborough University as a student, where GB endurance coach George Gandy
would put us through his Monday night and Thursday night weights sessions with his
famous Wednesday night Circuit sessions sandwiched in between. I became familiar with
the explosive power of the Olympic lifts- the clean, the squat and the deadlift- all of which
required a strong core, good legs and proper technique, in order to avoid near certain
injury. There was some variation built for the throws and sprint squad, many of whom had
their own coaches and programmes but the template was still quite generic.

Resistance training for rugby was a whole different ball game (a hum), concentrating on the
smash tackle muscles of the shoulder- the deltoids and traps, which involved much heavier
cross over free weights than I could manage now. I didn’t pay much attention to recovery
time or the exact number of sets or reps, which all seemed a bit arbitrary.

Since completing my PT Qualification this year, I’ve come to understand the distinction
between the different variables which govern the intensity, duration and recovery at which
you train. This is known as the Power pyramid.

The Power Pyramid
In a nutshell, you have to decide what your objective is (short, medium and long term) and
then narrow down the specific phases before mixing in some Advanced Training Systems,
partly to keep things fresh.

It’s easier if you see it as a pyramid with the base being the supportive structure or Stability
phase with less resistance applied, higher volume reps, less sets and less recovery time.
Next comes Hypertrophy (the building of muscle), then Strength then Power.

The variables which are often inversely related, are resistance, volume, number of sets and
recovery, as well as the speed at which you perform them with Power being performed
faster than the rest. This can be further broken down into subsets of Advanced Training
Systems like Matrix, Supersets, Eccentrics, Negatives and German Volume Training. I’ll spare
you the detail here, suffice to say each one is a subject in to itself.

What are we training?
Muscles contain a range of fibres, but the type of fibres depends on the type of activity/s
you favour. For example, stability activities may require more Type 1 muscle fibres in your
back and head. The arms and shoulders have more Type 2 fibres.

Endurance Resistance training can convert type 2B (fast twitch) fibres in to type 1 and vice
versa. The arms and shoulders have more Type 2 fibers than the legs and trunk, which also
have to play a more supportive role.

Resistance training will also increase the number and size of mitochondria and
mitochondrion enzymes, which can utilise metabolise carbs and fats, which essentially
means more energy. This is also good to know if say, you are going through menopause and
need to find a way to speed up your metabolism, or if you just want to improve your pool of
energy.

Add to the mix compound exercises which involve the legs and core, versus isolated
exercises which isolate individual muscles or joints (often using fixed weights), which is less
functional but is useful if you need to correct an imbalance for example.

How to gauge resistance
In a nutshell this is done by estimating your 1 Rep Max.
If you can learn to apply a numerical value to the effort extended, or once you have tested
your percentage of 1 Rep max (the maximum you can lift)- which is more likely to be 3 rep
max, since a flat out 1 rep max can lead to injury.
This can then be applied as one of the key variables to the Power Pyramid. Percentage of
maximum 1RM/sets/recovery.

At the Endurance end, this would be 55-65% of 1 RM. (10-18 reps/2-3 sets/45-90 secs)
Hypertrophy which is 65-75% of 1RM (5-10 reps/3-4 sets/90 secs to 3 mins recovery)
Strength 80-95% 1RM (2-5 reps/4-5 sets/3 to 5 mins recovery) and Power 95-100% 1RM/1-
2 sets/5 min recovery).
Balance, Proprioception and the Stretch Reflex
As we learnt on our Origym Level 3 PT course, “Co ordinating motor unit activity is
fundamental to optimising force generation and therefore, improving exercise
performance.” (McCardle et al 2001)
It's also important to focus on proprioception and the stretch reflex, which involves body
weight exercises, so the body can adapt to different torques and range of movements so
that muscular skeletal input becomes more efficient. Our muscles and tendons have muscle
spindles and Golgi tendons respectively, which help with proprioception. Muscle spindles
control the stretch reflex. The Golgi tendon can only detect change to the tendon and
produces an inhibitory response. This is useful to know if you are say, a fell runner who
needs to adapt to changing terrain very quickly with quick musculoskeletal feedback.
Stretching, Warmups and Warmdowns

The warmup becomes particularly important as you get older. Youngsters don’t need to
spend as much time on this as their body temperature rises far quicker as does their heart
rate. The warmup primes the muscles, tendons and connective tissue, as well as raising your
core temperature and heart rate.

Warm downs are largely necessary to prevent DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness),
which result in blood pooling around muscles and joints and delays recovery.

Developmental stretches versus maintenance stretches
Dynamic stretching involves multiple muscle/limb functional movements to prime the
muscles for the task at hand, whereas static stretches (which focus more on individual
muscles and limbs), are better for after the session when the muscles have probably
shortened.

Menopause
**I plan to write a separate blog on this huge area, now that more research is coming to
light and because I will not be able to do it justice here.** But in a nutshell, it is now thought
that a resistance programme incorporating vigorous, high intensity but short exercises, can
alleviate some of the symptoms experienced during menopause.

Over 50s
From your 50s and in some cases 40s, it’s normal to notice a degeneration in bone density,
stability, muscle tone and strength, blood pressure as well as slower metabolism. This can
be held at bay, or at least delayed by a consistent and thoughtful resistance programme.