Are you tired of putting in the hours run training while still feeling like you're
not making the progress that you really feel like you deserve?
In a lot of cases, the reason that runners
don't make progress isn't because they're not willing to put in the work.
It's because they're not putting in the right work.
We know that what we do in our training is
so much more important than how much we do.
But unfortunately, most runners use a very limited set of tools in their run
workouts, leaving a lot of performance improvements on the table.
Well, pull up your running socks and drop your pace clocks, because a recent study
has just confirmed that an approach we use for our training could allow you to run
faster with 45% less training time than traditional methods.
Don't believe it?
I don't blame you, because it sounds too good to be true.
But keep watching, because we have hundreds of athletes
who are experiencing just what this study has now proven.
What's up, Motivators? My name is Taron.
And when ordinary people want to accomplish something personally
extraordinary in endurance sports, they use motive training plans.
Let's do it. For years, coaches have wondered if trail
runners are physically stronger than Road Runners.
And if that was the case,
if trail running could then help all runners by incorporating more trail
running into training plans, this study found that the answer is actually yes.
But don't tune out now, because we're going to explain how
to insert trail running into a training plan properly in just a second.
So when the study compared roadrunners
to trail runners, they found a few differences.
In this study, the Road Runners were
at national level, while the Trail Runners were world class.
Roadrunners in the study maxed out at just
the marathon distance, while Trail Runners maxed out at 14 hours running events.
The roadrunners did more strength train than the trail runners.
But shockingly, Trail Runners were still
able to generate 23% more torque and 16% more power than the Road Runners.
This study found some weird data about how
much energy the Road and Trail Runners use.
But we know from studies like this one
that the more explosive power that was shown by the Trail Runners typically means
that runners can run faster without using as much energy.
But where it really gets cool is that they
found that Road Runners had an average training volume of 79 hours per month,
while the Trail Runners ran an average of just 43.6 hours per month.
So let me just drive this home.
Trail Runners put out more power while using less energy, ran five times longer
races while competing at a higher level, all while strength training less
and putting in 45% fewer training hours than the Road Runners.
This is like the Holy Grail of being able
to train less while generating better results.
Now, you might think that you should just go and do all of your running on trails,
and I've actually done this with great success.
But I do think that there is a proper
balance to how we incorporate trail running into a training plan so that we
can get the best of both the road and trail running worlds.
First, in our training plans,
we prompt our athletes to do most of their long runs on trails or hills.
You can, too, because most long runs
should be under your zone two heart rate cap, so pace doesn't really matter.
You can even hike the entire time
of the run with your heart rate in zone two, and it's still a great workout.
Recovery runs can be done the same way.
Put on a heart rate monitor,
ditch your target run paces, get on some trail shoes,
and head out to the trails for as many long runs as you possibly can.
Next, your fast interval in tempo runs should still be on a road or track.
Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen once
spent many months training on the trails and felt great, but then felt like when
she got into a race, she was a little bit mushy on the ground
and not quite as snappy when she finally did want to move quickly.
So once per week you should be doing an intense run anyway.
But most of the time your focus
in the fast run should be hitting specific paces and working on fast foot turnover.
It'll be much easier to do this when you're on roads or a track.
Finally, once every four to six weeks,
our plans include a super high intensity, high power,
steep hill workout with intervals of anywhere from 15 to 60 seconds.
Remember in the study when they found
that trail runners had much more explosive power?
This workout will get that for you.
But don't just jump right into this hard
workout, because that's a recipe for injury.
If you're not conditioned to it,
do your long runs and maybe some intense runs on gentle hills to adapt
to the undulation of hills, make sure you don't have any soreness or niggles.
Then start building up more and more
powerful efforts on steeper and steeper hills.
As a rule of thumb,
you can do the following to get the most out of your trail and hill running do
roughly half of your run volume on trails and hills.
Besides the performance benefits we've
already talked about, you'll also be lowering your chance of injury.
Low intensity trail and hill running should be dictated by heart rate,
never pace, while intensity work should be dictated by perceived exertion.
Finally, be very, very cautious of hills and trails when you're just starting out.
While a high proportion of running being
done on trails can decrease your likelihood of injury in the long run,
it's not something to jump into in the short run.
Expect it to take three months
of gradually including more and more and steeper and steeper trails into your
training until you're ready to really rip some big, long or intense runs.
Thank you for watching. Make sure to hit the subscribe button if
you want more weekly training tips designed specifically to help ordinary
people accomplish something personally extraordinary and endurance sport.
And hit the notification bell to not miss those videos when they come out.
Finally, if you liked this study,
click the video that's on the screen now, where we discuss an amazing study
that found a run technique that can help runners of all levels go three to 8%
faster at the same effort just by changing your run cadence.
Later, Motivators.