A different perspective on training for distance

E C N A R U D N WHY E S F B D E E N S E T E L H AT Mountain View High School in Utah excels in distance running and was featured in our March 2011 issue.

A different perspective on training for distance BY KIM GOSS, MS a 45-minute time trial and in their rate check out YouTube, you’ll see a video t’s been said that the most sportof force development; the control group clip of Lance Armstrong performing specific training an athlete can do is did not make these improvements. their sport itself, and endurance ath- power cleans, dumbbell step-ups and lunges – that’s a strong testimonial right Further, the weight training group letes have taken this to heart – often to decreased their fat mass by an average the extreme. After all, if you look at the there!

of 2 percent, compared to the control It’s been proven that weight trainbody types of distance runners, swimgroup, which lost an average mers and cyclists, often 866SHHGVNDWLQJSKRWR of 0.8 percent. they don’t display much muscle mass. For this reason, many distance The Speed Equation athletes and their coaches Consider that aerobic don’t see the value of capacity is only one aspect pumping iron. of performance for an Years ago, it was endurance athlete. Another understandable that critical factor is being able endurance athletes were to apply large forces for unaware of the benefits longer periods. In fact, this of weight training for is exactly what the research their sports.

In fact, in on Lance Armstrong’s trainthe 1980s, when I was ing reveals – that it enables an editor at Runner’s him to generate a higher World Publications, level of leg power for longer there was very little periods. scientific research availThe relationship able about the benefits between speed and the of weight training for ability to apply more force endurance athletes. As for a longer period is not such, the strength trainlimited to endurance events.

ing programs at the time Take, for example, one of were not very aggressive, the most famous sprintand many athletes and ing events in history: the coaches did not believe 100-meter sprint final in they needed to invest the the 1988 Olympic Games. time and effort in a more In that competition Ben serious weight training Johnson ran 9.79 and Carl program. Lewis ran 9.92, but when Today, however, you break down the race Olympic champion and world record holder Chris Witty has comconsidering all the relyou find that the fastest peted in five Olympics, four in speedskating and one in cycling.

evant studies that have 10-meter sprints for both been done in the last men was 0.83 seconds – ing can improve aerobic capacity. In 30 years, it amazes me that so many what made the difference was that a study published in the December endurance athletes still do not accept Johnson could maintain his top speed 2011 issue of Scandinavian Journal of weight training as an essential method for a longer distance. Although Usain to improve performance and also reduce Medicine and Science in Sports, cyclists Bolt did run a 10-meter split of 0.83 participated in a 16-week weight trainthe risk of injury. Distance runners, seconds at the 2008 Olympics when he ing program.

The cyclists who weight swimmers and cyclists will all benefit ran a world record of 9.69, that was for from pumping some iron. In fact, if you trained improved endurance capacity in only 10 meters – again, the difference

From BFS Magazine — July/August 2012. Part of the BFS Magazine Archive (1980–2014).