THE ULTRA DISTANCE ATHLETE'S STRENGTH PROGRAM PART 1: IT ALL BEGINS WITH BASELINE TESTING
Whether you’re embarking on a strength program to overcome a current injury or to take your training and racing to the next level, if you want to get the most out of your training you have to strip things back and define what it is that you really need. This two-part article will give you all the information you need as an ultra-distance athlete to get started on the right track.
GETTING STARTED
When starting a new training program or working with a new coach, as an ultra-distance athlete, you’ve got to start with some qualitative and quantitative baseline testing. Some say that running is 80% mental and 20% physical - but regardless, you’ve absolutely got to be strong everywhere.
Baseline testing is fantastic way to really identify your individual needs and highlight specific areas that you need to work on the most. Your coach will need to establish where you are coming from, what state you are currently in, your injury and health background, whether you are working around some sort of rehab, or just wanting to get yourself to a consistent place. This should be your main focus as you begin.
YOUR SPORTING BACKGROUND
Understanding your sporting background will give your coach a greater insight into any sport related injuries and imbalances you may have and will give them a greater idea of your athletic build.
Have you grown up doing sport your whole life?
What was that sport?
Was it a particularly one-sided dominant sport, like tennis or hockey?
Do you have any impact injuries from playing sports?
Is it equally important if you’ve never taken part in any sports growing up, but then got into running in your 20s and 30s. It’s not a bad thing, but there will definitely be that lack of athletic build that you get from a childhood of playing sport. You need to understand all of this because that's going to give you and your coach a nice baseline as to what your physical qualities are, and to what you need to potentially work on.
Why ARE baseline strength tests so important?
By establishing your baseline and building up that data, it will help you work out where your imbalances and vulnerabilities might be. This is why testing your body is super important! Your program shouldn’t just be a template-based training plan, and instead should be tailored to you and your individual needs.
You may already know that you struggle with the downhill or that you have more confidence running uphill knowing that your body’s got you. You might have recurring niggles below the knee and therefore need to make sure you’re working on your ankle, lower calf and Achilles area. Taking this all into consideration as you build out your baseline is crucial, because it’s going to give you and your coach a nice direction to start layering and building your program, prescribing the right exercises for you.
Your baseline data will help you work out where your imbalances and vulnerabilities might be. This is why testing where your body is super important! Your program shouldn’t just be a template-based training plan, and should be tailored to you and your individual needs.
No matter what distance you’re running, the methods remain the same!
You’ve got to iron out the creases to make sure that you’re on top of your weaknesses, no matter what the distance. Whether it’s 5k or 250k, it doesn’t really matter – if you’re weak or vulnerable in an area, you’ve got to work on it. And that’s where strength training comes in.
It’s the perfect working space to allow your coach to really dial in on those areas or weakness, bully them, and then strengthen them so you’ll become more resilient. So, where are you vulnerable? Where are you weak?
Your running skillset is going to be built by being able to get out into the hills. However, before that, you need to know you’ve got the resilience in your joints, muscle tissue, tendons and ligaments to be able to cope.
Baseline testing is a fantastic way of really identifying what you as an individual need, and to ensure your coach prescribes you with a specific set of exercises tailored to you and target your weaknesses. Putting a little bit more focus on it in from day one will help you see quicker improvements!
For more information about developing your strength training program and what it should include, stay tuned for part two, or get in touch to see how we can help.