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Old Forum StrongFirst training principles and Running: a success story

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EHughes323

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First, some back-story. I am a runner who trains using StrongFirst principles. 2 years ago I worked up to running a 1:46:00 half marathon doing nothing but strength training 4 days a week (squats, deadlifts, bench, pullups), hill sprints 3 days a week, and a 2 mile walk every morning on an empty stomach. I then (stupidly) switched over to a typical higher-volume-and-higher-mileage running program and soon became plagued by chronic injuries.

 

After a 1.5 year break from running and focusing on strength training (mostly deadlifts, get ups, and swings) I have returned to my old ways of training for races. 1-2 days a week of hill sprints, 2 days of get ups (S&S style) and 2 days of two-handed swings (PM man-maker style). Also a 2-3 mile walk every single day. Here are my results:

 

Last week I ran a PB 5k in 19:34, and just this past Sunday I ran a PB 10k of 43:00. Both of these races were done on pavement, and I ran them both barefoot, and had I worn shoes for these races my times would have been even faster. I plan on working back up to the half marathon distance and beyond by sticking to these StrongFirst training principles that have kept me happier, healthier, stronger, faster, and injury-free. Just wanted to share this to show that running performance can be achieved with very little actual running, and a focus on strength, speed, and power; or to put it more simply, a focus on being StrongFirst.
 
Congratulations with your results.

Just curious, as I'm training for a 5K besides S&S myself to at this moment. Could you describe the hill sprint workouts a bit more in detail? Did you run on the descent or just walk down?  Thanks in advance.
 
Ha!  I was going to ask the same thing as Yoeri!

My wife just completed her first sprint length triathlon.  I'd originally planned to do it with her but lost interest.  The race atmosphere kicked it back up though, and we're signed up for a race in Sept.  I've been looking at the beginner's training plans I have, trying to see where I could work some KB work in so I don't lose the strength I've built up.  Would love to see a more detailed look at what you're doing.
 
I'll lay out below exactly what I'm doing:

Sun: OFF

Mon: 5 TGUs each arm (10 total; S&S style)

Tues: 12-20 mins. Two-Handed Swings (Program Minimum, Man-Maker Style)

Wed: Hill Sprints

Thurs: 5 TGUs each arm (10 total; S&S style)

Fri: 12-20 mins. Two-Handed Swings (Program Minimum, Man-Maker Style)

Sat: Hill Sprints or OFF

 

I am using a 40kg kettlebell for my get ups and two-hand swings.

 

I also walk 2-3 miles every single day, preferably first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, but not a big deal if you can't do it then. Just make sure you walk every single day somehow, somewhere.

 

Hill sprints are done in a StrongFirst-esque manner; sprint up the hill, walk back down, rest as long as you need in between hills so that you are almost fully recovered for the next hill (for example; for the first few hills I might only need 2-3 minutes rest, but for the last few hills and I'm starting to fatigue more, I might need 4-5 minutes rest). I cycle my hill sprint volume just like I would with any other exercise. I will ramp up the volume for 3-4 weeks, then take a de-load week. Here is an example below:

Week 1: Wednesday - 5 hill sprints   Saturday - 6 hill sprints

Week 2: Wednesday - 6 hill sprints   Saturday - 7 hill sprints

Week 3: Wednesday - 7 hill sprints   Saturday - 8 hill sprints

Week 4: Wednesday - 8 hill sprints   Saturday - 9 hill sprints

Week 5: Wedneday - 5 hill sprints   Saturday - 5 hill sprints

Week 6: Wednesday - 9 hill sprints   Saturday - 10 hill sprints

 

If and when you get up to 14 or 15 hill sprints, you would be better off increasing the incline or the distance of the hill you run on (or both) and then starting back down at around 5 hill sprints again. When race day is 1-2 weeks out, I would decrease the sprints to just once a week on Wednesday and eliminate the Saturday hill sprint session (a sort of pseudo-taper before race day).

I cannot say enough about how amazing hill sprints are for conditioning for running long distances. In my experience, A LOT of runners get very noticeably more fatigued when running up hills during races and it kills them, whereas I can really fly up the hills with speed and power and still be fresh at the top to keep up my pace, not to mention the fact that when you get used to sprinting up hills all the time, running at an easy/moderate pace on flat ground becomes an absolute piece of cake.

After a lot of experimentation I have found this to be by far the most effective minimalist training method for running longer distances while staying injury free, not to mention that you will also be much stronger, more powerful, more explosive, healthier, more well-rounded, etc. than most of your competitors. Let me know if you guys have any more questions for me, I would be more than happy to help answer, since I have a decent amount of experience with minimalist training for running long distances now and have become quite passionate about it and how incredibly effective it is!
 
Thanks Evan for the insight on your experience! If you don't mind: what is your current weight?Are you training barefoot, or using 'barefoot' shoes?

Thanks in advance.
 
Great story and results Evan!  Thanks for sharing.

Wish there was a hill near my current house.  I'm probably 2.5 miles from a good running hill.  Seems like a shame to drive my car to a hill to run it.  And 2.5 miles each is just a bit too far for me to walk or run to.

I'll have to keep up the TGU and Swings for now and opportunistically run hills when close by one :]
 
Michael,

I think you should start to spontaneous run any hill in close proximity. Good for you running and will make everyone laugh. Do it midsentence too.
 
Great stuff Evan. You've just supplied me my programme once my knee is fixed. I trained for a marathon a couple of years ago with one steady run a week upto one hour and 400 m repeats. I'll strip it back to sprints now, thanks! You split get ups and swings into separate days  - is this to ease the load as you are using a 40 kg bell? Or for any other reason? Interesting stuff, thanks for sharing it.
 
Dave:

I am 5'8" 150 pounds, 23 years old. Up until now I have been doing all of my training (including the hill sprints, walking, and racing) completely barefoot, but I will be switching to running in minimalist shoes for my races from now on, and that is simply because in 99% of races I can run faster in shoes than I can barefoot. I will still be doing my hill sprints, walking, and kettlebell training barefoot as much as I can.

Michael:

It is absolutely worth it to drive to a hill to do hill sprints. The hill I train on is a  5-10 minute drive from my house (depending on how many traffic lights I get). If you have the time, place, and reason for hill sprints in your training, do not hesitate. You will be extremely pleased with the results.

Alistair:

I split the TGUs and Swings into separate days for a couple of reasons. First, I have always liked only training one lift per day; it allows me to put all of my focus, energy, and effort into really nailing the lift for that day. I have also found that higher intensity, lower volume training works better for me in terms of making steady progress and staying injury free by preventing over-use, and I enjoy it more, hence why I only do get ups and swings twice a week each, a la the Program Minimum. Also, it definitely does help to ease the load of using the 40kg bell as you mentioned. However, I'd say if you like the higher volume and frequency of S&S better, then you could definitely do S&S 3 or 4 days a week instead if you prefer.

 

Also, I laughed out loud at Rickard's idea of GTG hill sprints =D
 
Great Evan, thank you. With that approach, that focus and mentality at your age you will achieve a lot I'm sure. Good for you, cheers
 
Evan, well done!

No excessive soreness or tweaks from racing an unusually long for your distance?
 
How long is the hill sprint? 30-60 seconds or what? Riding a bike to the hill seems like it'd be a good option for a little bit of a warm-up.

Evan, if you're looking for a minimalist running shoe, I'd recommend the Sketcher GoRun2 or 3.
 
Evan, I don't know if you realize what a huge contribution this is to the forum; outstanding info, and great results, thank you very much.

I have one question for you; prior to the first half-marathon you mention, had you done a lot of LSD running, i.e. accumulated a lot of miles, or only the lifting/walking/hill sprints. In other words, was this recovering ability you'd developed previously, or creating it from scratch?

This looks like a very doable program for me; the lifting and walking are already in place, all I'd need to add would be the hill sprints, which I've been meaning to do for a while anyway. Really appreciate the detail on those, great insights.
 
"Evan, I don’t know if you realize what a huge contribution this is to the forum; outstanding info, and great results, thank you very much."

To add to this I can tell you that I printed the replies and scheme. It goes in the same folder as contributions by Pavel, Geoff and other greats of this forum.

and Evan, great that I made you laugh. I thought it was a hilarious idea and did it for the first time today. My friend didn't find it weird coming from me, apparently I'm the type of person that midsentence run up a hill.
 
Thank you everyone for the kind words, it means a lot to me and I'm glad this info can be of help to all of you!

Pavel:

Not much soreness at all. I ran my 10k on Sunday morning earlier this week, and when I woke up this morning on Tuesday only 2 days later I have no soreness to speak of. No tweaks or injuries either, and I attribute that partially to the barefoot running and how it forces you to run with proper form; lighter, more gently, and more efficiently. Also I'm sure the kettlebell training plays a huge role in injury prevention as well for a number of reasons.

Tim:

The hill sprints I did were probably 10-15 seconds long. I don't think that part is terribly important, as long as you can find a hill and sprint up it, I wouldn't over-think that park too much. As far as minimalist shoes go, I actually have a go-to brand that I always buy from: Vivobarefoot. If you have not heard of them, I would go so far as to say they make the best minimalist shoes on the market, and cannot recommend them enough.

Jason:

Thank you very much for the kind words, it is greatly appreciated! Prior to my first half marathon, I had very little experience with LSD running. Initially what I did was every 2-4 weeks, I would replace one of my hill sprint days with an LSD run of 4-9 miles. In total, I did maybe 4 long runs before my first half marathon, the longest being 9 miles. Other than that, it was just the walking, lifting, and hill sprints. After that, I just decided that the LSD runs were completely unnecessary and provided me with very little (if any) benefit, so from that point on I just eliminated them. So to answer your question in short, I had very little prior LSD experience going in to the half marathon, and I would definitely say that it is not necessary to have any LSD experience, for reasons that I will expand on below.

I think the key to executing on race day with this type of plan is to not be intimidated by the distance, and to take it slow if it is your first time running at a particular distance. If you have been training using StrongFirst principles for a while, you are more than strong enough to finish at least a half marathon, it's really just a matter of your mental game, strategy, and pacing.  A great way to think about it is that nobody ever runs 13 miles all at once, that would be extremely difficult. They run 1 mile 13 times, which might sound silly, but from a mental standpoint, the difference in thinking is absolutely huge, and usually means the difference between finishing the race and not even showing up at the starting line. Break up the race into shorter, more manageable chunks, and getting to the finish will be much more doable and enjoyable.

 
 
Evan,

First, interesting shoes. I'm going to try a pair.

As far as the sprints go, I end up doing several different sprint varieties while on the bike. I do 2 types of 'short' sprints. One is an over-geared sprint. I'll start going maybe 5 mph in a tall gear and then sprint hard for 10-12 seconds. I never really 'get on top' of the gear. It's a leg-strength training exercise. This would be analogous to your hill sprints. The other short sprint I do is in a relatively short gear. It's also 10-12 seconds, but you end up spinning your legs very fast (~200 rpm cadence). These are more of an effort to train good form and leg speed. The running analogy would be going _downhill_ and working on your foot speed. While I find these short sprints good for their purpose, I have to say that I don't find a big gain in terms of their effect on overall fitness as they concentrate on developing the alactic system.

I get much more training effect out of a longer sprint. I'll do 6x1 minute hill sprints with ~5-8 minute rests. Keep in mind that a 1 minute sprint basically has the suck knob turned up full-blast. It's the hardest (mentally) workout I do. These _hurt_. When I'm done with each one I'll be swearing like a sailor and feeling my pulse in my teeth. These hit the glycolitic pathsways hard and make all sorts of lactate/H+ ions. As a reference, I generally get about a 550 watts average for my first interval and by #6 I'll drop about 15%. If at any point I drop below 20% of my first interval, I stop the workout, as this is a good indication that I'm not recovered enough to be doing this type of work. 6 is as many as I've ever done during a single session.

I would be interested in how these go for you if you have a the chance for any of this type of workout. If you're running, then you'd pretty much have to be going uphill and/or wearing a weight vest. I bet you'd be surprised at how much training effect you get out of it.
 
Thanks so much for this thread, Evan!  This will be my training for future races, no matter the distance.
 
Thanks for the clarifications!
Especially interesting to see you're doing well on a 10k with hill sprints and S&S, versus the S&S with a long run combination I've read that some people were doing.
 
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