Trail running has been a game changer for me! My balance has improved and my ankles feel so much more reliable. I feel more confident in my movements in general and I'm less clumsy. Also I'm much more excited to discover a new hidden view motivating me out the door. It's worth the travel time if you don't live near nature. Just start slow. Those roots will get ya!
By the time your body is talking to you, it may be too late. Strengthening specific areas for me have helped prevent reinjury after I listened to my body the first couple of times.
My biggest point was first doing some strength training and then picking up running again. Before I always had knee pain. Now I can run 6 days per week if I want to.
Oh maaan. I had just come back to running after 3 years with long covid symptoms and after completing Couch to 5K immediately injured my ankle after going too far, too fast, too soon. I wish i had seen this video before. Invaluable stuff. Thanks!
15:54 training load, so true! Been ramping up my weekly mileage to 50 km but dialled back to a week of 29.97 km when I threw in a harder interval mid-week and recovery took unexpected 3 days. I listened to my body. Stubbornly chasing my "50 km week" goal would have ended in injury. My tight calf told my NO and I listened, skipped my long run for one very short very easy jog. Secondly, once you are regularly doing a certain mileage but happen to fall ill for a week or two, no need to start from zero in slow 10 per cent increments. 20 to 30 cent increase is justified up to the old level. Reaching new, higher mileages I'd tend to be even more conservative than 10% from my aging bodies experience.
So right, pushing through an illness or a twinge is seldom worth it. Take the time when it first crops up to nip it in the bud and overall your time out will be shorter.
Running slower was definitely the one thing that heled me the most. It sounded like dumb advice and counter intuitive at first, but one day I decided to drop my pace during long runs and after a while I noticed a big improvement in performance during races. Looking back I think when I was running faster, I was constantly sore but ignored it and was running races semi injured, wondering why I wasn't getting faster! Now I just need to work on the other 19 points...
Great Video! All valid points, but the most important for me is "listen to your body". 4 weeks ago I did a Zone 1 long run for 3 hours, i.e. slower than normal, because I was feeling something in me knee. My knee did not mind it but for some reason I got sore calves. The next day i did a bike ride instead of a run, but 2 days after the long run I decided to anyway go ahead with my threshold session. I did not feel anything after the warmup so I though it would be fine. Wrong. Towards the end of the session i strained my calf and needed to take three weeks completely off from running, and that happened 5 weeks away from my next marathon. So now I'm back at it with less then two weeks to go... Thankfully I did not try to push trough the pain. Otherwise I would for sure have missed the Marathon. Let's see what it's like running a marathon by training mostly on the bike.
@@harrydawg Not good. Aerobically I felt ok, but the legs were not prepared. I noticed I was in trouble already at 16k when there was a downhill. Legs felt like they usually do at 30-35k. They just could’t handle the poundibg. Hip flexors also gave out at the end, so for the last 10k I was running flat parts and walking up-and downhills. Two weeks after the Marathon I ran a Half Marathon PB though. I think cross training can complement running, but not totally substitute it.
@hman2912 yes it has, big time. I started having to pretty much walk to stay in Z2, and now I can run in Z2 for over an hour at 7min/km, which used to have me up in Z4!
@@lyndsaymaria That's so cool! I'm watching my pace increase, too. I try to have below 130 bpm (my zone 2) and just one hour, but the pace seems to improve pretty quickly :) I'm also at about 7 minutes/km and I'm so excited to see the numbers within the next weeks :)
Thank you! I'll put some thoughts here: All coaches on YT or IG are concerned about the cardio output part of the fitness. Not a single coach is teaching efficient movement. I am not talking about some principles of "running form" like head-up, short steps, etc. Rather I am searching for advice on how to combine relaxation and stance within the running cycle. When paying attention to "short steps in front" we still do not train how to stand on the extended leg while falling forward, but with RELAXED muscles except for necessary to maintain the standing position. When moving the knee backward in an extended leg, the Achilles tendon gets automatically shortened and the foot extends. When flexing the knee and letting the foot approach the butt, no one is speaking about the relaxed muscles this movement needs to have. My starting point is how can a tiny slim professional runner run at a pace of 3 min/km, while you and I with big muscles cannot... this is not a question of force, or cardiac output, etc., it is a mere question of precise coordination and relaxation in the right place, of finding the spot in the knee where it is supported by the shin and the weight is moving the knee forward, it is more like dancing, where impulse and moments are a rhythmic pattern.
@@dylanboyd6147 I don't have it, but I wish I did! As a professionally trained musician, I know from the instrument that speed in playing is not a question of finger strength, but of sensory coordination and the inner perception of the movements. Feeling the piano key with the weight of the finger that goes down in milliseconds while the other fingers remain relaxed is important and must be trained. If I transfer this to running, which is also a semi-automatic movement like playing an instrument, then we should learn to drop the leg without effort and put our weight on it, using the vertical stabilization of the shin, but without effort in the foot and thigh. This is the only way professional runners can complete an easy run at 4'30/km.... I think we should find an exercise that really teaches us which muscles to relax and which not to. Many amateur runners use a kind of stride with knee flexion to absorb the shock of ground contact, but this knee flexion is a huge energy waster, we should instead extend the knee at the very last second, just as the body weight comes down to stiffen the leg. The ankle must relax, as must the front hip, etc.
This video is so real I love it. My mistake was trying to add injury prevention exercise while not dropping mileage at all to compensate for extra strain. I thought I was helping reduce the risk. Boop strained calf. Haven’t been able to run in weeks
From my experience, if you run regularly and eat fairly healthily, the weight just comes off. I have returned to running after many years away, and I have lost 20 kg (44 lbs) in less than a year. I have not changed my diet radically; I've just stayed away from obvious junk food. When I was running huge mileage, my low BMI became a problem. My BMI at its lowest was 17 because I just ate when I was hungry and stopped when I was full. I was also running 31 miles per week back then. Remember, you can't eat 4,000 calories in a day and think you can run that off. I need to consume about 2,760 calories a day just to maintain my current weight. When I was running 31 miles, my BMR was only 3,100 calories. It helps to know your BMR so you are not overeating or undereating. I am in a good place today with my BMI at 22! Running burns lots of calories, but unless you want to run halfway across your state, you need to watch what you eat.
@@Veroweithofer Me too, I wouldn't recommend it during training, because cutting calories could lead to underfueling for your workouts and potential injury. In the off season or after your race is your best time to lose weight
hands down the best advice video on running that i have viewed - and i've watched alot. Well done. Great to find actually brilliantly presented proper content on you tube on this topic !!
If you're also a gamer like I am, then you know...don't get greedy...hit hit dodge, hit hit block and then back away...so run run rest,,,you have your whole life to run, no need to cram it all in. Everyone run safe and happy!!
As you said early on, you want to avoid injury. This year I pulled a hamstring and two calves. One of the calf injuries was moderate and kept on recurring and took months to fully recover.
I absolutely agree... NOT GETTING INJURED is the key to being able to run consistently... my running mates always praise me for not ever getting injured. I told them I don't overdo it. Most of my runs are easy runs, and I won't do fast runs unless my body feels like it. In general it would be 10%-20% of my distance
All great tips! I do have a bit of a problem with the connection that some people make between low heart rate and injury prevention though. Running with a low heart rate doesn't necessarily mean that you won't get injured. In fact, when starting with low heart rate training, running form suffers quite a bit as people find it unnatural to run that slow, sort of in between running and walking. That ends up putting more load on muscles that we haven't used before. I rather have people run slow but with a form that they are used to than trying to force any given heart rate number. On the flip side, running with a high heart rate doesn't mean one will get injured if form and conditioning is on point. So yes, I'm a big fan of running slow to get faster, and I do think that running slow generally helps prevent fatigue, injury, and therefore be more consistent, but I don't agree that a given heart rate number is the metric we should be looking at :)
Last week I had a VO2 max test done after many months of “zone 2” training, and I learned that my zone 2 heart rate/ideal fat metabolism zone was much lower than expected. 54-64% of max hr is my zone 2… unfortunately a very fast walk brings me into zone 2, and I cannot stay in zone 2 if I am jogging/running.
Some people just have naturally higher heart rates. I think you should use the talk test (if you can hold a conversation without much trouble, that's zone 2)
I recently did a VO2 max and lactate analysis test recently. I'm by no means a fast or good runner, and Ive only been doing it consistently for 3 months now My max VO2 translated to a max heart rate of around 195 bpm. And my tester who coaches triathletes and Ironmen said that my "zone 2" training was probably a little easy and recommended I run somewhere between 145 (ideally 150 as the low end)-160 bpm. Your tester telling you to run at a max of 64% of your max heart rate sounds way too low. I'd suggest you take your results to someone else and get a second opinion.
Problem is I feel like I get injured more often when I slow down and do a long run at a zone 2 pace. My mechanics are different at slow pace vs fast. More heel striking or something, and more knee and ankle injuries.
The issue is changing things when there was no reason to change anything when you didn't get injured. Injuries mostly happen when changing things too quickly like changing your technique, speed, volume, etc without slow adaptation.
I tried increasing my cadence instead of taking bigger strides and that helped me to slow down and keep good form. I struggle with ankle and knee pain too
@@IHACKER316 Yes, you're absolutely right re the bike and I cycle a lot. I was responding to the video suggestion but also wondering about the cardio benefits in comparison. For example, Vo2max is pretty sport specific because of the different muscles involved and the fact that it's so heavily affected by body weight. So if you want to increase your running VO2max, the advice is run a lot in zone 2.
Hello @James Dunne - thanks for the wonderful insights. Are strides considered speed workout? If so, how do we rate them, where do they stand in terms of intensity. Coincidentally I am a beginner runner, training for my first marathon. 3rd week i did my first speed work - a 10k distance at 10k race pace (tempo). 4th week I did short hill reps(150m x6). I have minorly pulled hamstring and am taking rest now. Your words are so true.
I just started going faster on the same trail run/walk I've been doing for years. Sometimes I take a shorter route but with the exact same elevation gain/loss so it's steeper. Sometimes I only walk. Sometimes I race my previous PB.
This is actually very solid advice. It sounds like someone is doing a book report from Dr. Phil Maffetone. If you combine all the virtues of the low heart rate and measured workload increase with a clean/carb free diet, its 1+1 =3. You can literally run all day...and get up and do it the next. No inflammation, no stress, no recovery needed. Magic!
On the power of variety - although the majority of my races are on road - I do run trails at least once or twice a week to vary the running surface/patterns. I think you are spot on!
I am following the half marathon training plan on my Garmin Forerunner 55. Do people consider these programmes to be good? I am enjoying it so far and seeing the benefit.
Question: You said long contact time can be a factor in achilles problems. Wouldn’t in be the opposite? If you just slam down and slam up you have high impulse on the achilles which is more destructive ?
How do you "add" a speed session to your program without increasing mileage? I consistently run inconsistently meaning that, depending on my goals and how I feel, I may run three, four or five days in a week. My goal is three and I never run less than three sessions a week, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, but this week I added an interval/speed session Thursday, so now I owe myself a long run which I will do Saturday morning. This is replacing a high intensity cycling session every Saturday that I do not run, so it's not too big of a change. This flexibility is how I manage this sort of, well, flexibility in my own program.
lol the last one on running through pain. I learned the hard way. Small pain in a metatarsal in my left foot. Didn’t properly rest. And yeah. A nice stress fracture eventually happened and I lost 2 months of training😅
James, I tore my Achilles tendon. I’m currently seeing a physio, but don’t have a plan whether I’ll need surgery or not. (PreMRI). What are some things I can do to keep my running fitness that won’t jeopardize my injury?
These are true golden advices for all runners regardless of current fitness level vs those so called Guru 😅, the same stuff worked for them might not work for others, thanks for these valuable & essential points shared!
I've had pain issues that's have been assessed as structaul (torn labrum). The pain was in fact coming from my brain which had got stuck in a pain, anxiety loop. I had to retrain my brain that I was fine and could run ( i did need to cut back on exercise load) after a few weeks of running with the pain it just went away. A lot of back pain is similarly not physical in origin. We have to look at our running in the context of our life. Lots of stress whether it be psychological or physical can tip us into a pain loop.
Kcal in vs kcal out is all that matters for losing weight. If you burn more than you consume by burning more or consuming less makes no difference. For example, some elite Kenyans do 280 km weeks (not some meager 60 miles per week). They can eat whatever they want without gaining weight.
Use the watch data for calories burned from your runs and through steps as a place to start. I found that number to be pretty damn accurate, I would maintain my weight if I consumed calories based on that number and would reliably lose weight if I chopped 300-500 cals from it.
What about 5 vs 6 days per week? Given your advice, how about this for a week: easy, easy, threshold/tempo, easy, easy, VO2 max/hills, rest? Or potentially reversing the VO2 day with threshold?
@@Xpecialist I started in March with slow run for 3km 4 days per week, April was the month I incorporated long runs of 10k once a week but in May where I added speed run twice a week along with long run and tempo run for a total of 6 days a week...I have been having problems with my shin and thus stess fracture
@@yeahyeah9869 ok we have similar builds I thought it might have been weight related. Did you just push too hard through the pain? I am a new runner myself at 32.
Hi @james I do run marathon first half of the year 2024 but recently got pain in my lower ankle of left leg which was checked with sport science doctor about it and it was suggested to use a arch fit shoes and okay to back running! I am scared now to begin bcoz still feel pain. I have remembered your couple of video is about how to make more strength those part of leg and well, it’s worked somehow but however still nowhere that pain or numb go away. Here is my question to you that is your training program could customize for those who comes from the such injury or your training mainly focused on as mentioned by you every post “bullet proof running” work my condition? Look suggestions to sign up program
If I’m not running every day (almost every day) at low heart rate will I see the benefits. I’m thinking I need minimum 4 days a week of it to see improvements
Great summary James! It’s hard to summarise some of those points it can get so technical! Being older and injury prone, I really feel like you know me and are giving me a bit of a lecture! 😉😆 Balancing the pain/injury thing is always challenging as I am constantly managing ongoing niggles. Bottom line is ease in, be patient and listen to your body! I was wondering about the 10% thing. I will watch your video on that. Thanks again, for the pragmatic, quality content!
I enjoy participating in trail run events & i rarely join road running events. I do see the benefits of trail run. However i don’t agree with one thing . Trail run actually will give you higher risk of getting injured . knee pain & ankle sprain are quite common. You need to know the right technique when doing trail run & must do strength training to improve your leg and core muscles. The right trail shoes is very important as you tend to underestimate the terrains .
You're correct. But you are less likely to get overuse issues like shin splits on trails, which are a much softer surface. Also lots of trail "running" involves walking as well which helps to break up the pounding. A lot of trail runners, however, I know are dealing with ankle issues due to the constant sprains especially those that run on technical trials
Great video and really good points! Thank you. My biggest issue seems to be my cadence. I run about 20 miles a week right now. Don’t feel any discomfort after my runs even my long run of 10 miles on Sunday ( I know that may be nothing to some but for me it’s my long run right now haha ) my best go in the past 3 weeks of consistent 10 miles on Sunday has been 8:19 pace @ about 1 hour and 20ish minutes with avg cadence of 158 which apparently is slow. Yesterday I went for an all out mile / speed work and I was able to do a 6:29 mile & avg cadence of 164 which is not far from that 158 for the 10 miles. I guess my question is can one eventually get faster times with those type of cadences or is that something I have to work on? Honestly in my mind when I do my all out miles I feel like I would naturally have a way better cadence but it’s not that much of a difference if I’m running at a slower pace . Hope this made sense 😅
I also was running in the high 150’s with my cadence. It was causing bone growth in my tibia. I had to go see a physical therapist in April for 5 weeks. I’ve since been working hard on getting cadence to 180’s or higher. My wife is 5 foot and runs exactly at 180 cadence so I run with her a lot. I also know how to count in my head quickly to 8 to keep a high cadence, this was learned with a metronome app. It was very hard at first because you’re increasing your steps a minute to go up 20-25 more which causes your heart rate to go higher. I have to focus it constantly unless I’m with my wife. Now I can go much faster cadence, my heart rate isn’t spiking anymore with the extra steps. I got a 51 second 5k pb 3 weeks ago and another 16 seconds today (19:41) I’m 49. I’m also landing mid foot instead of heal striking. When I race now I focus my form and cadence. I feel mentally I’m just making the same amount of steps at 180 cadence when I’m running slow so I can also do it when I’m trying to pace myself going faster.
Heard a professional runner says once "I add strides to each of my workouts unless it's a hard interval or hard long run workout. I just throw in two to 6 strides near the end so I cannot "forget" to do them." Blew my mind because I "happened to forget" strides all too often. Since hearing this piece of advice I do strides more often. Sorry I cannot recall the name of the runner or the exact source video, wish I could!
Running form is crucial to avoid injury. Its how you hold your chest, shoulders, core, hips and ankles. As a PT, I use running form to check for bodily imbalances and yes there is a correct way to run, just like there is to swimming or any sport. The optimisation of form helps efficiency and injury prevention. Basically if you can fix your form via conditioning you're likely going to run more consistently while being less prone to injury.
I'd love to hear some stuff about relationship with food some day if you're comfortable. I struggle big time with overeating and junk food which has been the biggest barrier towards achieving my running goals as the lack of nutrients and increasing weight really impacts my ability to progress in my training
You need to address the behaviours of eating. It could be driven by mood, depression, compulsion and so on. More than likely it is a habit rather than anything else.
I'm stuck in this weird place where I can go for long durations at the highest intensities on cardio machines but I cannot run for more than a minute. Whatever the muscles/tendons on the outside lateral ankle are just get so swollen up and I get gassed so fast that I can't figure out what to do..
Pro tip, use 1.25x speed to get through this video. My man is talking in zone 2 speed as well😂
Underrated comment❤
bro i followed your advice and then forgot i did it.
@@mezzamistic 😂. Hope that means it worked!
😂😂😂
Probably on purpose
#1 counts as long format
#2 you can always speed up whilst slowing it (e.g.non natives) would be weird
Trail running has been a game changer for me! My balance has improved and my ankles feel so much more reliable. I feel more confident in my movements in general and I'm less clumsy. Also I'm much more excited to discover a new hidden view motivating me out the door. It's worth the travel time if you don't live near nature. Just start slow. Those roots will get ya!
Same. 50% of my running is on soft sand. Fixed my knee and ankle issues through strengthening
I'd agree. I used to do mostly trail running, but now years later, not being near hilly and bush tracks, the fitness has never reached that same level
Maybe, running barefoot or in barefoot shoes, could help.
@@MarkWilliam-z7tTreadmills are the best. Only have to worry about running
Some good advise.
I'm still learning.
Been running now for 18 months.
A few weeks after my 64th birthday.
Been running now for 20 years without getting injured. Listen to your body is the best advice.
Really? Not even shin splints?
@@MondeSerenaWilliams No, not even shin splints. Some blisters of course.
Impressive! Here I was thinking humans needed sleep like an idiot.
By the time your body is talking to you, it may be too late. Strengthening specific areas for me have helped prevent reinjury after I listened to my body the first couple of times.
ye
My biggest point was first doing some strength training and then picking up running again. Before I always had knee pain. Now I can run 6 days per week if I want to.
What exercises did you do exactly?
@@sadeqsegaraga8766mostly squat variations, leg press, hip abductor exercises
Thank you a lot. 20 years in such a short time is so valuable, it's crazy we get it for free here.
Oh maaan. I had just come back to running after 3 years with long covid symptoms and after completing Couch to 5K immediately injured my ankle after going too far, too fast, too soon. I wish i had seen this video before. Invaluable stuff. Thanks!
Long covi really? No one believes that crap
15:54 training load, so true! Been ramping up my weekly mileage to 50 km but dialled back to a week of 29.97 km when I threw in a harder interval mid-week and recovery took unexpected 3 days. I listened to my body. Stubbornly chasing my "50 km week" goal would have ended in injury. My tight calf told my NO and I listened, skipped my long run for one very short very easy jog. Secondly, once you are regularly doing a certain mileage but happen to fall ill for a week or two, no need to start from zero in slow 10 per cent increments. 20 to 30 cent increase is justified up to the old level. Reaching new, higher mileages I'd tend to be even more conservative than 10% from my aging bodies experience.
So right, pushing through an illness or a twinge is seldom worth it. Take the time when it first crops up to nip it in the bud and overall your time out will be shorter.
Running slower was definitely the one thing that heled me the most. It sounded like dumb advice and counter intuitive at first, but one day I decided to drop my pace during long runs and after a while I noticed a big improvement in performance during races. Looking back I think when I was running faster, I was constantly sore but ignored it and was running races semi injured, wondering why I wasn't getting faster! Now I just need to work on the other 19 points...
Best 26min I’ve spent in a while. Cheers mate.
Great Video! All valid points, but the most important for me is "listen to your body". 4 weeks ago I did a Zone 1 long run for 3 hours, i.e. slower than normal, because I was feeling something in me knee. My knee did not mind it but for some reason I got sore calves. The next day i did a bike ride instead of a run, but 2 days after the long run I decided to anyway go ahead with my threshold session. I did not feel anything after the warmup so I though it would be fine. Wrong. Towards the end of the session i strained my calf and needed to take three weeks completely off from running, and that happened 5 weeks away from my next marathon. So now I'm back at it with less then two weeks to go... Thankfully I did not try to push trough the pain. Otherwise I would for sure have missed the Marathon. Let's see what it's like running a marathon by training mostly on the bike.
How'd the marathon go??
@@harrydawg Not good. Aerobically I felt ok, but the legs were not prepared. I noticed I was in trouble already at 16k when there was a downhill. Legs felt like they usually do at 30-35k. They just could’t handle the poundibg. Hip flexors also gave out at the end, so for the last 10k I was running flat parts and walking up-and downhills. Two weeks after the Marathon I ran a Half Marathon PB though. I think cross training can complement running, but not totally substitute it.
Great video. I've been religious with my Z2 training for almost 3 months now and starting to see major improvements in HR v pace
Also, I LOVE your hoodie 😍
Has your pace increased at the same heart rate?
@hman2912 yes it has, big time. I started having to pretty much walk to stay in Z2, and now I can run in Z2 for over an hour at 7min/km, which used to have me up in Z4!
@@lyndsaymaria That's so cool! I'm watching my pace increase, too. I try to have below 130 bpm (my zone 2) and just one hour, but the pace seems to improve pretty quickly :) I'm also at about 7 minutes/km and I'm so excited to see the numbers within the next weeks :)
@@lyndsaymariathat’s incredible! helpful to see numbers like that, thank you
great advice. thank you for putting the time into creating this video.
Thank you! I'll put some thoughts here: All coaches on YT or IG are concerned about the cardio output part of the fitness. Not a single coach is teaching efficient movement. I am not talking about some principles of "running form" like head-up, short steps, etc. Rather I am searching for advice on how to combine relaxation and stance within the running cycle. When paying attention to "short steps in front" we still do not train how to stand on the extended leg while falling forward, but with RELAXED muscles except for necessary to maintain the standing position. When moving the knee backward in an extended leg, the Achilles tendon gets automatically shortened and the foot extends. When flexing the knee and letting the foot approach the butt, no one is speaking about the relaxed muscles this movement needs to have. My starting point is how can a tiny slim professional runner run at a pace of 3 min/km, while you and I with big muscles cannot... this is not a question of force, or cardiac output, etc., it is a mere question of precise coordination and relaxation in the right place, of finding the spot in the knee where it is supported by the shin and the weight is moving the knee forward, it is more like dancing, where impulse and moments are a rhythmic pattern.
This is super interesting. Do you have any reading recommendations on the topic?
@@dylanboyd6147 I don't have it, but I wish I did! As a professionally trained musician, I know from the instrument that speed in playing is not a question of finger strength, but of sensory coordination and the inner perception of the movements. Feeling the piano key with the weight of the finger that goes down in milliseconds while the other fingers remain relaxed is important and must be trained. If I transfer this to running, which is also a semi-automatic movement like playing an instrument, then we should learn to drop the leg without effort and put our weight on it, using the vertical stabilization of the shin, but without effort in the foot and thigh. This is the only way professional runners can complete an easy run at 4'30/km.... I think we should find an exercise that really teaches us which muscles to relax and which not to. Many amateur runners use a kind of stride with knee flexion to absorb the shock of ground contact, but this knee flexion is a huge energy waster, we should instead extend the knee at the very last second, just as the body weight comes down to stiffen the leg. The ankle must relax, as must the front hip, etc.
Every runner needs to watch this!
This video is so real I love it.
My mistake was trying to add injury prevention exercise while not dropping mileage at all to compensate for extra strain.
I thought I was helping reduce the risk.
Boop strained calf. Haven’t been able to run in weeks
From my experience, if you run regularly and eat fairly healthily, the weight just comes off. I have returned to running after many years away, and I have lost 20 kg (44 lbs) in less than a year. I have not changed my diet radically; I've just stayed away from obvious junk food. When I was running huge mileage, my low BMI became a problem. My BMI at its lowest was 17 because I just ate when I was hungry and stopped when I was full. I was also running 31 miles per week back then. Remember, you can't eat 4,000 calories in a day and think you can run that off. I need to consume about 2,760 calories a day just to maintain my current weight. When I was running 31 miles, my BMR was only 3,100 calories. It helps to know your BMR so you are not overeating or undereating. I am in a good place today with my BMI at 22! Running burns lots of calories, but unless you want to run halfway across your state, you need to watch what you eat.
I agree with weight/fat loss, it’s all about the nutrition. I have run 120+ mile weeks and didn’t lose any weight when eating poorly.
Some mileage that
Last year I put on weight during marathon training. Trying to avoid this this year. You can’t outrun a doughnut.
@@Veroweithofer Me too, I wouldn't recommend it during training, because cutting calories could lead to underfueling for your workouts and potential injury. In the off season or after your race is your best time to lose weight
what the hell were you eating?
I can't imagine amounts of food to overeat that kind od mileage 😮
valuable info for new runners
hands down the best advice video on running that i have viewed - and i've watched alot. Well done. Great to find actually brilliantly presented proper content on you tube on this topic !!
This all makes so much sense! There's a lot I'm very aware of, but some not! Thanks for the reminder on several points that I'd forgot about.👍
Best running advice on youtube
Love the ad for coros pace watch, I use the pace 2 and it's fantastic. Much cheaper than garmin
If you're also a gamer like I am, then you know...don't get greedy...hit hit dodge, hit hit block and then back away...so run run rest,,,you have your whole life to run, no need to cram it all in. Everyone run safe and happy!!
This was possibly the best running video that I have watched. Many thanks.
Great video!!!
As you said early on, you want to avoid injury. This year I pulled a hamstring and two calves. One of the calf injuries was moderate and kept on recurring and took months to fully recover.
Fantastic video
I absolutely agree... NOT GETTING INJURED is the key to being able to run consistently... my running mates always praise me for not ever getting injured. I told them I don't overdo it. Most of my runs are easy runs, and I won't do fast runs unless my body feels like it. In general it would be 10%-20% of my distance
James Dunne is the best , I wish He could get more subs as I have learnt a lot from him .
All great tips! I do have a bit of a problem with the connection that some people make between low heart rate and injury prevention though. Running with a low heart rate doesn't necessarily mean that you won't get injured. In fact, when starting with low heart rate training, running form suffers quite a bit as people find it unnatural to run that slow, sort of in between running and walking. That ends up putting more load on muscles that we haven't used before. I rather have people run slow but with a form that they are used to than trying to force any given heart rate number.
On the flip side, running with a high heart rate doesn't mean one will get injured if form and conditioning is on point.
So yes, I'm a big fan of running slow to get faster, and I do think that running slow generally helps prevent fatigue, injury, and therefore be more consistent, but I don't agree that a given heart rate number is the metric we should be looking at :)
lol you're exactly the kind of person that "misses the point"
Love the hoodie
I’ve given this a thumbs up for the real benefit of zone 2 “physical body adaptation”
It raises the question - after running for many years and your body has adapted, do you still need zone 2?
@@stevecrouse9442 the pro’s do so I would say yes. Also goal specific, if you intend on progressing are you ever fully adapted?
Great big picture summary of healthy and consistent training plan
Last week I had a VO2 max test done after many months of “zone 2” training, and I learned that my zone 2 heart rate/ideal fat metabolism zone was much lower than expected. 54-64% of max hr is my zone 2… unfortunately a very fast walk brings me into zone 2, and I cannot stay in zone 2 if I am jogging/running.
And what was his/her suggestion to hit that zone 2?
Cross training on the bike maybe? I'm curious.
Thanks!
Some people just have naturally higher heart rates. I think you should use the talk test (if you can hold a conversation without much trouble, that's zone 2)
I recently did a VO2 max and lactate analysis test recently.
I'm by no means a fast or good runner, and Ive only been doing it consistently for 3 months now
My max VO2 translated to a max heart rate of around 195 bpm. And my tester who coaches triathletes and Ironmen said that my "zone 2" training was probably a little easy and recommended I run somewhere between 145 (ideally 150 as the low end)-160 bpm.
Your tester telling you to run at a max of 64% of your max heart rate sounds way too low. I'd suggest you take your results to someone else and get a second opinion.
I've been training zone 2 on the bike instead for similar reasons. I've already noticed a big difference.
I mostly train in zone 4/5. I'm not injured and get to increase my fitness faster. So zone 2 is a guideline.
Problem is I feel like I get injured more often when I slow down and do a long run at a zone 2 pace. My mechanics are different at slow pace vs fast. More heel striking or something, and more knee and ankle injuries.
That's weird but me too actually
The issue is changing things when there was no reason to change anything when you didn't get injured. Injuries mostly happen when changing things too quickly like changing your technique, speed, volume, etc without slow adaptation.
I tried increasing my cadence instead of taking bigger strides and that helped me to slow down and keep good form. I struggle with ankle and knee pain too
Why not do zone 2 on the exercise bike ? It’s perfect for it
@@IHACKER316 Yes, you're absolutely right re the bike and I cycle a lot. I was responding to the video suggestion but also wondering about the cardio benefits in comparison. For example, Vo2max is pretty sport specific because of the different muscles involved and the fact that it's so heavily affected by body weight. So if you want to increase your running VO2max, the advice is run a lot in zone 2.
10/10! Best running advice I’ve ever heard. Learned a lot of this the hard way!
There are pains and then there are pains. Learn to tell serious or potentially serious from fleeting. Esp. If you are older
Hello @James Dunne - thanks for the wonderful insights. Are strides considered speed workout? If so, how do we rate them, where do they stand in terms of intensity. Coincidentally I am a beginner runner, training for my first marathon. 3rd week i did my first speed work - a 10k distance at 10k race pace (tempo). 4th week I did short hill reps(150m x6). I have minorly pulled hamstring and am taking rest now. Your words are so true.
Pro runners dont tell me what dosage of drugs they are using
That seems unkind are you serious or being snarky?
@@juliegray7658ignore em😊
@@juliegray7658well lots of pro runners are taking drugs but it’s a bit unfair to assume that they all are
I will ask the liver king.
If even you knew that they do drugs everybody would know.
I just started going faster on the same trail run/walk I've been doing for years. Sometimes I take a shorter route but with the exact same elevation gain/loss so it's steeper. Sometimes I only walk. Sometimes I race my previous PB.
This is actually very solid advice. It sounds like someone is doing a book report from Dr. Phil Maffetone. If you combine all the virtues of the low heart rate and measured workload increase with a clean/carb free diet, its 1+1 =3. You can literally run all day...and get up and do it the next. No inflammation, no stress, no recovery needed. Magic!
Listened to the whole thing. I'm a REAL runner!
A little and often will be my new strength training mantra - thank you for a great video! 👍
Great video James. Received it through BPR email. Lots of simple and effective advice there in a single video.
This video is very helpful, thanks so much
Also agree with the other comments, this was really put together, full of great advice. Running through pain really rung home for me.
You Always Welcome To Kenya 🖤
Thanks for the distilled, concise summary of your experience.
What a really good video and advice. A new subscriber!
GREAT advice, I’m taking notes! Where can I get one of those sweat shirts that you have on?
Great advice Jeremy Allen White
On the power of variety - although the majority of my races are on road - I do run trails at least once or twice a week to vary the running surface/patterns. I think you are spot on!
Great advice as always. Thank you James 👍🏼
This man is a genius.
Thank you for this great video! Very useful.
Thanks a ton!
I am following the half marathon training plan on my Garmin Forerunner 55. Do people consider these programmes to be good? I am enjoying it so far and seeing the benefit.
Question:
You said long contact time can be a factor in achilles problems. Wouldn’t in be the opposite?
If you just slam down and slam up you have high impulse on the achilles which is more destructive ?
How do you "add" a speed session to your program without increasing mileage? I consistently run inconsistently meaning that, depending on my goals and how I feel, I may run three, four or five days in a week. My goal is three and I never run less than three sessions a week, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, but this week I added an interval/speed session Thursday, so now I owe myself a long run which I will do Saturday morning. This is replacing a high intensity cycling session every Saturday that I do not run, so it's not too big of a change. This flexibility is how I manage this sort of, well, flexibility in my own program.
Great info!
So for long slow - what is the formula? How does one determine the distance relative to the overall plan and the fast miles?
Golden advices ❤thanks
lol the last one on running through pain. I learned the hard way. Small pain in a metatarsal in my left foot. Didn’t properly rest. And yeah. A nice stress fracture eventually happened and I lost 2 months of training😅
James, I tore my Achilles tendon. I’m currently seeing a physio, but don’t have a plan whether I’ll need surgery or not. (PreMRI). What are some things I can do to keep my running fitness that won’t jeopardize my injury?
Maybe swimming, or bike. Your physio should know better what you can and cannot do with your injury
Physios are physios for a reason. I am a PT and yes common sense not common but also ask your therapist or physio they are the experts.
These are true golden advices for all runners regardless of current fitness level vs those so called Guru 😅, the same stuff worked for them might not work for others, thanks for these valuable & essential points shared!
I've had pain issues that's have been assessed as structaul (torn labrum). The pain was in fact coming from my brain which had got stuck in a pain, anxiety loop. I had to retrain my brain that I was fine and could run ( i did need to cut back on exercise load) after a few weeks of running with the pain it just went away. A lot of back pain is similarly not physical in origin. We have to look at our running in the context of our life. Lots of stress whether it be psychological or physical can tip us into a pain loop.
Great advice, thanks
I love the Simon Squibb intro❤
Glad somebody picked up on it 🤣
Excellent video 👍
If you're only running twice/week how often should you be doing slow runs?
Thank you
Thank you very helpful !!!!
Every run is a slow run, every run is also at a HR >150 😂
Kcal in vs kcal out is all that matters for losing weight. If you burn more than you consume by burning more or consuming less makes no difference.
For example, some elite Kenyans do 280 km weeks (not some meager 60 miles per week). They can eat whatever they want without gaining weight.
Use the watch data for calories burned from your runs and through steps as a place to start. I found that number to be pretty damn accurate, I would maintain my weight if I consumed calories based on that number and would reliably lose weight if I chopped 300-500 cals from it.
Your best yet 👌
Coros ❤
Most of my races are road races so far but for good reason >50% of my training is not on roads or concrete ;).
What about 5 vs 6 days per week? Given your advice, how about this for a week: easy, easy, threshold/tempo, easy, easy, VO2 max/hills, rest? Or potentially reversing the VO2 day with threshold?
Thanks Marshal Eriksen
I actually got stress fracture from shin splits now, It's been 2 months and the pain is still there
How long have you've been running before that?
@@Xpecialist I started in March with slow run for 3km 4 days per week, April was the month I incorporated long runs of 10k once a week but in May where I added speed run twice a week along with long run and tempo run for a total of 6 days a week...I have been having problems with my shin and thus stess fracture
What is your height body weight if you don’t mind me asking? Sorry to hear that.
@@goodfractalspoker7179 5'9 and 65kg( I know skinny bro)
@@yeahyeah9869 ok we have similar builds I thought it might have been weight related. Did you just push too hard through the pain? I am a new runner myself at 32.
Hi @james I do run marathon first half of the year 2024 but recently got pain in my lower ankle of left leg which was checked with sport science doctor about it and it was suggested to use a arch fit shoes and okay to back running! I am scared now to begin bcoz still feel pain. I have remembered your couple of video is about how to make more strength those part of leg and well, it’s worked somehow but however still nowhere that pain or numb go away. Here is my question to you that is your training program could customize for those who comes from the such injury or your training mainly focused on as mentioned by you every post “bullet proof running” work my condition? Look suggestions to sign up program
If I’m not running every day (almost every day) at low heart rate will I see the benefits.
I’m thinking I need minimum 4 days a week of it to see improvements
Great summary James! It’s hard to summarise some of those points it can get so technical! Being older and injury prone, I really feel like you know me and are giving me a bit of a lecture! 😉😆 Balancing the pain/injury thing is always challenging as I am constantly managing ongoing niggles. Bottom line is ease in, be patient and listen to your body!
I was wondering about the 10% thing. I will watch your video on that.
Thanks again, for the pragmatic, quality content!
I enjoy participating in trail run events & i rarely join road running events. I do see the benefits of trail run.
However i don’t agree with one thing . Trail run actually will give you higher risk of getting injured .
knee pain & ankle sprain are quite common.
You need to know the right technique when doing trail run & must do strength training to improve your leg and core muscles.
The right trail shoes is very important as you tend to underestimate the terrains .
You're correct. But you are less likely to get overuse issues like shin splits on trails, which are a much softer surface. Also lots of trail "running" involves walking as well which helps to break up the pounding. A lot of trail runners, however, I know are dealing with ankle issues due to the constant sprains especially those that run on technical trials
Great video and really good points! Thank you. My biggest issue seems to be my cadence. I run about 20 miles a week right now. Don’t feel any discomfort after my runs even my long run of 10 miles on Sunday ( I know that may be nothing to some but for me it’s my long run right now haha ) my best go in the past 3 weeks of consistent 10 miles on Sunday has been 8:19 pace @ about 1 hour and 20ish minutes with avg cadence of 158 which apparently is slow. Yesterday I went for an all out mile / speed work and I was able to do a 6:29 mile & avg cadence of 164 which is not far from that 158 for the 10 miles. I guess my question is can one eventually get faster times with those type of cadences or is that something I have to work on? Honestly in my mind when I do my all out miles I feel like I would naturally have a way better cadence but it’s not that much of a difference if I’m running at a slower pace . Hope this made sense 😅
I also was running in the high 150’s with my cadence. It was causing bone growth in my tibia. I had to go see a physical therapist in April for 5 weeks. I’ve since been working hard on getting cadence to 180’s or higher. My wife is 5 foot and runs exactly at 180 cadence so I run with her a lot. I also know how to count in my head quickly to 8 to keep a high cadence, this was learned with a metronome app. It was very hard at first because you’re increasing your steps a minute to go up 20-25 more which causes your heart rate to go higher. I have to focus it constantly unless I’m with my wife. Now I can go much faster cadence, my heart rate isn’t spiking anymore with the extra steps. I got a 51 second 5k pb 3 weeks ago and another 16 seconds today (19:41) I’m 49. I’m also landing mid foot instead of heal striking. When I race now I focus my form and cadence. I feel mentally I’m just making the same amount of steps at 180 cadence when I’m running slow so I can also do it when I’m trying to pace myself going faster.
Speed Workouts; what about strides? When to add them?
Heard a professional runner says once "I add strides to each of my workouts unless it's a hard interval or hard long run workout. I just throw in two to 6 strides near the end so I cannot "forget" to do them." Blew my mind because I "happened to forget" strides all too often. Since hearing this piece of advice I do strides more often. Sorry I cannot recall the name of the runner or the exact source video, wish I could!
@@dresden_slowjogIs it good if I do 12-15 strides or it is too much?
Running form is crucial to avoid injury. Its how you hold your chest, shoulders, core, hips and ankles. As a PT, I use running form to check for bodily imbalances and yes there is a correct way to run, just like there is to swimming or any sport. The optimisation of form helps efficiency and injury prevention. Basically if you can fix your form via conditioning you're likely going to run more consistently while being less prone to injury.
Great genetics + years of extremely hard training + coaching + diet + physiotherapy + PEDs
Tren hard, Anavar give up!
Great content, but recommend increasing the playback speed to 1.25x
ahhh, I wish I didn't have EDS so I could actually run. I'll just stick to cycling as it's as close as I could get safely.
I'd love to hear some stuff about relationship with food some day if you're comfortable. I struggle big time with overeating and junk food which has been the biggest barrier towards achieving my running goals as the lack of nutrients and increasing weight really impacts my ability to progress in my training
You need to address the behaviours of eating. It could be driven by mood, depression, compulsion and so on. More than likely it is a habit rather than anything else.
10k race pace isn't tempo! 10k race pace is upper threshold! Tempo would be marathon pace/effort.
So where are the excercises that will build stronger knees in the video?
Key. Strong legs, run hills and eat msny, many carbohydrates. Adapt and overcome.
There are no hills where I live
I'm stuck in this weird place where I can go for long durations at the highest intensities on cardio machines but I cannot run for more than a minute. Whatever the muscles/tendons on the outside lateral ankle are just get so swollen up and I get gassed so fast that I can't figure out what to do..
Wobble board
You need to work on running technique. I would suggest seeing a doctor to ensure there are not issues there such as an injury.
Do you ever slow dowwn to a jog pace?