im 52 years old...nothing beats strides for an older runner. My go to for getting race ready. Never get burned out and the best way to be injury free while getting faster. He is spot on with this,,,
In one of your other strides videos, you talked about adding them to long runs and easy runs. Maybe I'm being too technical here, but would adding strides to an easy run change it from an easy run to a "workout"? Or could it still qualify for a base training run?
@@rileeb848 When I was coaching high school runners, we did strides after every easy run or long run. There is so much benefit to adding them in after every easy workout. Obviously, we did not do them after an interval workout.
Ive been training for my 3rd marathon and never really heard strides explained. I guess I have been doing them but now I know I need to be more consistent with them. This is helpful for sure.
Awesome! Good luck at your next marathon. Yeah strides are a great tool. With my runners we focus on getting these at least to a 1:1 ratio strides to miles per week and most go to 2:1 ratio if we have enough time in base training. Outstanding results just with that (and other base training). Keep them easy (so enough recovery, slow, between) and good luck
When I was in the Army (over 10 years ago) we did 60 , 30's sec. Walk 60 full sprint 30's, I went from a 24 min 2 mile to 13 min 2 mile in 4 months. I think it was partly because we trained at high altitude it allowed for better O2 blood saturation but I was shocked and I'm striving for that pace today.
You made strides sound superior to intervals like 12 x 400. I agree there is a big benefit to strides but not as a replacement for intervals. I use strides at the end of easy runs as they help activate my neuromuscular system and prepare me to run fast the next day if I say have a race or a session. That said, I’m not an ultra runner.
I don’t think he’s saying it’s the only way. He only uses strides but He mentioned how Kenenisa Bekele does one threshold/tempo/interval day but does 30 100M strides 4 times a week (that seems like a lot to me lol). I’ve only done strides before a tempo run to warm up. I thought that doing strides on me easy days goes against the whole “keep your easy days easy”
@@josephgonzalez_ I’m going to have to give that a shot! I’ve been just doing two tempo/threshold runs a week plus throwing in some faster intervals during my Sunday long run. I can use all the help I can get so thanks for the info!
Strides aren’t a replacement for intervals. They are not in the same category. Like you can have easy runs, long runs, intervals, strides. The strides are intended to allow you to rack up a lot of neuromuscular development while not taxing the anaerobic system too much. This allows you to build a huge BASE of not just easy running, but with speed too. Then later in you cash that in for intervals done at a much higher level. Essentially the strides prepare you to be able to do more intervals later. If you just try to stack on more and more intervals, you’ll plateau or burnout. I have a full training in this that’s free. Link is in the description. Also a book coming out next year breaking down all of the details of this
Interesting, I’ve found that my muscles seem to be my main limiting factor in distance running, whereas my heart usually feels super chill even on hard long runs. I’ll be striding more for sure!
Awesome simple video thank u. This is perfect for my temperament. I'm a lazy Labrador so this sounds perfect. Put pressure on my self though to do better so push beyond limits too soon so this sounds perfect. The long run and the tempo run could get me in trouble. But but but doing just slow runs with strides for awhile sounds good. What do u think of the maffetone method? Maffetone then ignore it for 30 seconds every 5 minutes seems my plan for the moment...
In short Maffetone method uses heart rate for training. But if you have a PACE goal for your race, you must train your muscles to work efficiently at that PACE, regardless of where your heart rate is. So it's a tool for sure, but it's not as specific as training the muscles first, supporting energy systems secondary.
Greetings from Uganda, East Africa. Am a sixty one year old recreational runner. Thank you for your insightful presentation....i have realized my major weakness.....doing lots of zone 2 running and thinking that it was enough to run a marathon pace.... I have been in a comfort zone for so long to scared to do intervals.... strides.....
I tried strides for a week or two. I loved them, but could feel injury creeping in. They don't cause much systemic fatigue, so in that sense they just enhance the quality of your training. For me at least, they caused problems with tissue specific recovery. At the moment i may have something like 5 weekly strides in me. The focus for me needs to be on enhancing my durability before i do high volume at speed
I think strides are useful. However, it’s a supplemental staff. What definitely makes you faster that is working on your core and muscle strength with your body weight.
Agreed that it's not the only training that should be done. And I'll add that running strides IS doing body weight resistance training...it's just doing it in the most specific way possible for runners. Thank you :)
I have that book on your shelf "Advanced Marathoning" the only thing that bothers me about that book is the one guy on the cover that is looking at the camera while all the others aren't. :)
Strides are a very good way to stimulate progressive muscular adaptation. Little faster, little longer , few more reps. If you track this it can be a good tool. It isn't a substitution for everything it's just another tool.
Strides are indeed often underappreciated. As far as I remember, even Jack Daniels recommends in his book adding in light speedwork before any harder blocks. This is because if you're transitioning from pure easy running and want to add, say, hard intervals, you'll likey add two stressors at the same time: speed and anaerobic. But it should be safer to add just one at a time. So you can start with 200m repeats with very long recoveries, but a similar effect can probably be achieved with a lot of strides. After some time, once you adapted to new speeds, it should be much safer to now add harder efforts, which will introduce now only one stressor - anaerobic. All this is of course very simplified, but the point should be clear. Building and maintaining speed is quite important, even off season.
Yes, Daniels was the first coach that I was aware of who suggested near-daily strides. We have a LIVE video from inside our facebook group this past week that highlights the top coaches and top US and International runners who use strides. It's quite a laundry list, so go check it out in there (it's a free group. see description). But the short list is: Jack Daniels, Brad Hudson, Renato Canova, Mihaly Igloi - for coaches Dathan Ritzenhein, Alan and Shayne Culpepper, Deena Kastor, Jore Torres, Kenenisa Bekele, Bob Schul, Gerry Lindgren, Des Linden
Good question. Check out my video on "don't waste time at the gym" for a full answer. But in short, you can take as long as you like. You should not do them so close together that they are becoming increasingly difficult. This is not an interval workout. So depending on how many you're doing, take about a minute or so between strides. The best way to do it is to just throw one in every mile or so during your run. That way you get loads of recovery between strides
Either one is good. The point is to accumulate strides throughout the week, and training cycle. They are very useful as part of a warm up for intervals, but you can't likely get enough that way, so do them on easy runs too
Yes. We want to swing the pendulum in training. Super easy, pretty fast, during base training. It should all feel easy though. So take as long of a recovery after each stride as you need to keep the run easy. You may start with just one per mile until you maintain that for a few weeks then you can go up to two per mile
Thanks for your input. Strides are not done at goal race pace. They are just "fast" and a step down from a sprint. So depending on your race, these are much different than goal race pace. For example, if you want to break a 3:30 marathon that's a 8:00 min per mile, but I'd suggest that that runner be doing strides at closer to one mile race pace, or roughly 6:00 per mile.
Good question. YES! - If you're racing distances of over 2 miles, then strides should almost always be faster than goal race pace. So this certainly applies to marathoners. The reason is to develop the neuromuscular efficiency, and that is done by running at paces at, or slightly faster than, goal race pace. Afterall, if you're a marathoner, and run only 100m at slower than marathon pace...it's just a very easy run, and not a stride.
Silly question. When you say take a break. Does that mean like full recovery or recovered enough. I know a stride shouldn’t take much out of you. But if your just doing Ez running and then do strides is why I ask.
I've done quite a few sessions of 100m repeats, ranging from 15 to 50 reps. I think you are dramatically underestimating the aerobic benefit. 50x 100m at 20 seconds per mile faster pace than 5k race pace has provided a significantly better aerobic boost than the 3x Mile at 5k pace that is a very common 5k specific workout. Just because a repetition is cut short before it gets difficult doesn't mean it isn't working the aerobic system, and it's possibly a valid argument that the first half of a 400m repetition works the aerobic system more than the second half, since the second half could be tapping into other (anaerobic) energy systems as the body is pushed beyond pure aerobic capacity.
it definitely works the aerobic system too. I have trainings on this, and how to maximize that through strides. It's how Bob Schul trained, the only American to ever win the Olympic 5,000m. The point of this video is to maximize fast twitch development, while keeping the effort level low, so it can be repeated. There are many additional benefits, aerobic, sure...but anaerobic too...soft tissue integrity too...elastic recoil too. The list goes on . Point is - strides are good. Let's do them!
Hey Yabba. No, they're different. Fartlek is a Swedish term for "speed play" meaning that you could do anything really. Short, fast, long, uphill, on grass, accelerating, top end speed, really anything. Strides are just short accelerations. What they have in common is that they're largely unstructured, meaning that you often don't prescribe a certain recovery. The main difference is that fartlek runs are generally continuous, whereas strides can be done intermittently. Good question. Thank you :)
I see fartleks as what the Europeans do and strides as what's most advocated in the west. Don't know which came first but to me with the broadness of fartleks, strides fit into it as well. It is essentially a speed play. What I get confused about is whether to do them after or during a run where I have heard some people say they do it during their easy runs and at that point to me that becomes a fartlek.
Hey Lionheart. I hear you., We'll put references in upcoming videos. All references for these videos can be found in my book coming out next year. 300 citations in there already, and these videos are based on those. Stay tuned, and you can always join our free FB group and ask for any clarification there too (see description)
Yes. Much more even. In my Facebook group we're currently doing a strides challenge, and many of the runners in there are doing one stride per mile run each week. I have a woman in her late 40s who just did 120 strides. Is that a lot? not for her, she's been doing about 70-90 strides per week for months now. She's healthy, running her best, and keeps going. remember that 20x100m strides every other day is just the equivalent of running 1,000m average per day of kinda-sorta-quick running, with big recoveries and never very hard. Not a big deal at all. Give it a try! One of the main benefits is that it'll FORCE you to have to slow down on the easy parts of your runs. That's a good thing. Most runners run too hard on their easy runs. Have fun
Strides do not replace intervals. I am sure Bekele does some interval work Getting fatigued is part of training. 100 meters even 50 times does not replace intervals of longer distance Strides are good for warm-ups and long runs just to reinvigorate fast twitch muscles. 20 100s is not the same effort as one hard mile.
He sure does intervals! the point is that he doesn't do them early in the season. The strides are part of "base" training, and there are very few intervals done during base training
This has got to be the best explanation of strides I've found on youtube. Thanks a ton.
Wow, thanks! Glad to have you getting value from these :)
im 52 years old...nothing beats strides for an older runner. My go to for getting race ready. Never get burned out and the best way to be injury free while getting faster. He is spot on with this,,,
Thanks. Glad to hear you're having such success with strides!
In one of your other strides videos, you talked about adding them to long runs and easy runs. Maybe I'm being too technical here, but would adding strides to an easy run change it from an easy run to a "workout"? Or could it still qualify for a base training run?
@@rileeb848 When I was coaching high school runners, we did strides after every easy run or long run. There is so much benefit to adding them in after every easy workout. Obviously, we did not do them after an interval workout.
Strides are the most underrated aspect of training.
What he said
Ive been training for my 3rd marathon and never really heard strides explained. I guess I have been doing them but now I know I need to be more consistent with them. This is helpful for sure.
Awesome! Good luck at your next marathon. Yeah strides are a great tool. With my runners we focus on getting these at least to a 1:1 ratio strides to miles per week and most go to 2:1 ratio if we have enough time in base training. Outstanding results just with that (and other base training). Keep them easy (so enough recovery, slow, between) and good luck
When I was in the Army (over 10 years ago) we did 60 , 30's sec. Walk 60 full sprint 30's, I went from a 24 min 2 mile to 13 min 2 mile in 4 months. I think it was partly because we trained at high altitude it allowed for better O2 blood saturation but I was shocked and I'm striving for that pace today.
Awesome story. That's a huge improvement. Yes, speed (raw speed) is so overlooked in the distance running community. Very powerful stuff.
You made strides sound superior to intervals like 12 x 400. I agree there is a big benefit to strides but not as a replacement for intervals. I use strides at the end of easy runs as they help activate my neuromuscular system and prepare me to run fast the next day if I say have a race or a session. That said, I’m not an ultra runner.
Yeah strides vs a 3 mile workout are totally different
I don’t think he’s saying it’s the only way. He only uses strides but He mentioned how Kenenisa Bekele does one threshold/tempo/interval day but does 30 100M strides 4 times a week (that seems like a lot to me lol).
I’ve only done strides before a tempo run to warm up. I thought that doing strides on me easy days goes against the whole “keep your easy days easy”
@@drstreetrunner3438 easy days are easy. But strides serve a purpose after some easy runs. I’m talking about 70m strides say 4 times, nothing more.
@@josephgonzalez_ I’m going to have to give that a shot! I’ve been just doing two tempo/threshold runs a week plus throwing in some faster intervals during my Sunday long run.
I can use all the help I can get so thanks for the info!
Strides aren’t a replacement for intervals. They are not in the same category. Like you can have easy runs, long runs, intervals, strides. The strides are intended to allow you to rack up a lot of neuromuscular development while not taxing the anaerobic system too much. This allows you to build a huge BASE of not just easy running, but with speed too. Then later in you cash that in for intervals done at a much higher level.
Essentially the strides prepare you to be able to do more intervals later. If you just try to stack on more and more intervals, you’ll plateau or burnout.
I have a full training in this that’s free. Link is in the description.
Also a book coming out next year breaking down all of the details of this
Stride Challenge! Heck yeah. Glad I saw this in time to join.
Glad to have you in the group 🎉
Simple point, but worth emphasizing. Good vid
Much appreciated. Sometimes mastering the simple things in running are what unlock higher performance. Thanks for the props Dino
Strides are great and easy to add into the end of an easy run 🏆
Yup! You can add them at the start too, or even in the middle! The sky is the limit, they're very versatile.
Thanks Guru
@@runelitecoach fantastic!
Great channel, cheers 🎉. Great to see your suggestion of every other day @ mile pace.
Thanks for the nice explanation
Interesting, I’ve found that my muscles seem to be my main limiting factor in distance running, whereas my heart usually feels super chill even on hard long runs. I’ll be striding more for sure!
Spot on! Yes it's the muscles which are the limiting factor. The heart and lungs just fuel the muscles.
Awesome stuff! Love your content
Much appreciated @punisher87100. Love having you in the audience :)
Awesome simple video thank u. This is perfect for my temperament. I'm a lazy Labrador so this sounds perfect. Put pressure on my self though to do better so push beyond limits too soon so this sounds perfect. The long run and the tempo run could get me in trouble. But but but doing just slow runs with strides for awhile sounds good. What do u think of the maffetone method? Maffetone then ignore it for 30 seconds every 5 minutes seems my plan for the moment...
In short Maffetone method uses heart rate for training. But if you have a PACE goal for your race, you must train your muscles to work efficiently at that PACE, regardless of where your heart rate is. So it's a tool for sure, but it's not as specific as training the muscles first, supporting energy systems secondary.
Greetings from Uganda, East Africa. Am a sixty one year old recreational runner. Thank you for your insightful presentation....i have realized my major weakness.....doing lots of zone 2 running and thinking that it was enough to run a marathon pace.... I have been in a comfort zone for so long to scared to do intervals.... strides.....
Yup I hear you. Strides are easy don’t forget. They’re not intervals or speedwork. So very little risk.
Amazing stuff man! Liked and subscribed 👍
Thank you :) Glad you're enjoying. See you on the next one. We release a new video at least every Sunday
@@andrewsnow5007 you guys need to upload content more often bro!
Thank you. We have a ton of content coming your way. Glad you’re enjoying
Thank you. Great advice.
You are so welcome!
I tried strides for a week or two. I loved them, but could feel injury creeping in. They don't cause much systemic fatigue, so in that sense they just enhance the quality of your training. For me at least, they caused problems with tissue specific recovery. At the moment i may have something like 5 weekly strides in me.
The focus for me needs to be on enhancing my durability before i do high volume at speed
I think strides are useful. However, it’s a supplemental staff. What definitely makes you faster that is working on your core and muscle strength with your body weight.
Agreed that it's not the only training that should be done. And I'll add that running strides IS doing body weight resistance training...it's just doing it in the most specific way possible for runners. Thank you :)
I have that book on your shelf "Advanced Marathoning" the only thing that bothers me about that book is the one guy on the cover that is looking at the camera while all the others aren't. :)
How perceptive of you. I will never look at that book the same
excellent!
Thanks!
Strides are a very good way to stimulate progressive muscular adaptation. Little faster, little longer , few more reps. If you track this it can be a good tool. It isn't a substitution for everything it's just another tool.
sounds elite to do a whole 2mi road that you measured at 6min mile!
You know it! :)
Strides are indeed often underappreciated. As far as I remember, even Jack Daniels recommends in his book adding in light speedwork before any harder blocks. This is because if you're transitioning from pure easy running and want to add, say, hard intervals, you'll likey add two stressors at the same time: speed and anaerobic. But it should be safer to add just one at a time. So you can start with 200m repeats with very long recoveries, but a similar effect can probably be achieved with a lot of strides. After some time, once you adapted to new speeds, it should be much safer to now add harder efforts, which will introduce now only one stressor - anaerobic. All this is of course very simplified, but the point should be clear. Building and maintaining speed is quite important, even off season.
Yes, Daniels was the first coach that I was aware of who suggested near-daily strides. We have a LIVE video from inside our facebook group this past week that highlights the top coaches and top US and International runners who use strides. It's quite a laundry list, so go check it out in there (it's a free group. see description). But the short list is:
Jack Daniels, Brad Hudson, Renato Canova, Mihaly Igloi - for coaches
Dathan Ritzenhein, Alan and Shayne Culpepper, Deena Kastor, Jore Torres, Kenenisa Bekele, Bob Schul, Gerry Lindgren, Des Linden
how much time do you recommend in between each stride?
Good question. Check out my video on "don't waste time at the gym" for a full answer. But in short, you can take as long as you like. You should not do them so close together that they are becoming increasingly difficult. This is not an interval workout. So depending on how many you're doing, take about a minute or so between strides. The best way to do it is to just throw one in every mile or so during your run. That way you get loads of recovery between strides
walking back seems to do nicely
Do I need to add strides during intervals training or just on easy runs ?
Either one is good. The point is to accumulate strides throughout the week, and training cycle. They are very useful as part of a warm up for intervals, but you can't likely get enough that way, so do them on easy runs too
When I add strides into my easy runs, 25-30% of my run ends up in zone 3. I throw one in every 5 minutes. Is that ok?
Yes. We want to swing the pendulum in training. Super easy, pretty fast, during base training. It should all feel easy though. So take as long of a recovery after each stride as you need to keep the run easy. You may start with just one per mile until you maintain that for a few weeks then you can go up to two per mile
Goal pace repeats has been used for many years. Middle distance runners will run faster then GP repeats. 12 sec 100m
Thanks for your input. Strides are not done at goal race pace. They are just "fast" and a step down from a sprint. So depending on your race, these are much different than goal race pace. For example, if you want to break a 3:30 marathon that's a 8:00 min per mile, but I'd suggest that that runner be doing strides at closer to one mile race pace, or roughly 6:00 per mile.
Should the strides be at race pace or faster?
Good question. YES! - If you're racing distances of over 2 miles, then strides should almost always be faster than goal race pace. So this certainly applies to marathoners.
The reason is to develop the neuromuscular efficiency, and that is done by running at paces at, or slightly faster than, goal race pace.
Afterall, if you're a marathoner, and run only 100m at slower than marathon pace...it's just a very easy run, and not a stride.
Silly question. When you say take a break. Does that mean like full recovery or recovered enough. I know a stride shouldn’t take much out of you. But if your just doing Ez running and then do strides is why I ask.
I am 52 years old. Can you do strides for 200meters?
You can if you like. There aren’t too many rules to strides other than don’t do them too hard
Oh I do parkrun every week, which is a 5k race every week
I've done quite a few sessions of 100m repeats, ranging from 15 to 50 reps. I think you are dramatically underestimating the aerobic benefit. 50x 100m at 20 seconds per mile faster pace than 5k race pace has provided a significantly better aerobic boost than the 3x Mile at 5k pace that is a very common 5k specific workout. Just because a repetition is cut short before it gets difficult doesn't mean it isn't working the aerobic system, and it's possibly a valid argument that the first half of a 400m repetition works the aerobic system more than the second half, since the second half could be tapping into other (anaerobic) energy systems as the body is pushed beyond pure aerobic capacity.
it definitely works the aerobic system too. I have trainings on this, and how to maximize that through strides. It's how Bob Schul trained, the only American to ever win the Olympic 5,000m.
The point of this video is to maximize fast twitch development, while keeping the effort level low, so it can be repeated. There are many additional benefits, aerobic, sure...but anaerobic too...soft tissue integrity too...elastic recoil too. The list goes on .
Point is - strides are good. Let's do them!
Isn’t strides also known as fartleks?
Hey Yabba. No, they're different. Fartlek is a Swedish term for "speed play" meaning that you could do anything really. Short, fast, long, uphill, on grass, accelerating, top end speed, really anything. Strides are just short accelerations.
What they have in common is that they're largely unstructured, meaning that you often don't prescribe a certain recovery.
The main difference is that fartlek runs are generally continuous, whereas strides can be done intermittently.
Good question. Thank you :)
I see fartleks as what the Europeans do and strides as what's most advocated in the west. Don't know which came first but to me with the broadness of fartleks, strides fit into it as well. It is essentially a speed play. What I get confused about is whether to do them after or during a run where I have heard some people say they do it during their easy runs and at that point to me that becomes a fartlek.
2020?
Yup. The Olympics were still called the 2020 Olympics even though they were delayed until 2021. Too much marketing put in to change it I guess
@@runelitecoach I got confused when you said he's training for the 2021 olympics right now.
Would be great if there was reference not just anecdotal evidence.
Hey Lionheart. I hear you., We'll put references in upcoming videos. All references for these videos can be found in my book coming out next year. 300 citations in there already, and these videos are based on those. Stay tuned, and you can always join our free FB group and ask for any clarification there too (see description)
Have you actually done training periods with 20x100m every two days? Sounds unsustainable
Yes. Much more even. In my Facebook group we're currently doing a strides challenge, and many of the runners in there are doing one stride per mile run each week. I have a woman in her late 40s who just did 120 strides. Is that a lot? not for her, she's been doing about 70-90 strides per week for months now. She's healthy, running her best, and keeps going.
remember that 20x100m strides every other day is just the equivalent of running 1,000m average per day of kinda-sorta-quick running, with big recoveries and never very hard.
Not a big deal at all. Give it a try! One of the main benefits is that it'll FORCE you to have to slow down on the easy parts of your runs. That's a good thing. Most runners run too hard on their easy runs.
Have fun
@@runelitecoach may try it.. the idea is interesting. It's very against the polarized training orthodoxy..
Strides do not replace intervals. I am sure Bekele does some interval work
Getting fatigued is part of training. 100 meters even 50 times does not replace intervals of longer distance
Strides are good for warm-ups and long runs just to reinvigorate fast twitch muscles. 20 100s is not the same effort as one hard mile.
He sure does intervals! the point is that he doesn't do them early in the season. The strides are part of "base" training, and there are very few intervals done during base training