For the next few weeks, On Zap Endurance Head Coach Pete Rea will be providing a weekly “quick tip” for River City Races newsletter readers, beginning this week.

Coach Pete’s tips are simple and can be embraced by runners beginner and veteran alike. Enjoy. We at ZAP hope you can grab a nugget or two for your summer training.

Weekly Coaching Tip #6

SET GOALS (2 kinds)

At first glance “set goals” might seem to be the winner of the most trite suggestion from a running coach you’ve heard all week, but here’s the kicker …… many don’t.

From beginning runners to even the most competitive age groupers, few take the time to sit down and target specific outcome goals based on previous performances, reviews of training as well as a path toward achieving those goals (however, that part is a separate coaching tip for a future week). We see this time and time again here at our summer running vacations as well. This year break that cycle and take the time to sit down with your coach/advisor/training partner or whoever you use as a sounding board for your running and lay out some goals for your coming training block, year and beyond. As with sales goals in the corporate world, all available research shows that those who set goals achieve more than whose who do not. Wait … we’re not done. Bear with me and read below for a type of goal equally as important and rarely discussed.

In 2007 I attended the “Podium Education” lecture series sponsored by USATF and the IAAF in Las Vegas. One of the keynote speakers was the late Dr Keith Henschen, renowned sport psychologist and the man widely known as the “architect of increased shooting %” for many NBA teams. I decided to attend. Verbatim from my notes … from Dr Henschen “everyone wants to perform better, run faster, place higher, set records but what are you doing today to make those outcomes more likely ? Are you sleeping 9 hours nightly? Are you eating quality proteins and whole grains and staying hydrated with specific amounts of fluid and electrolytes ? Are you acquiring massage work weekly ? Executing your weight room routines ? These check list items folks are goals as well. They are not outcome but process goals. These types of goals are 100% achievable goals, and when you check the boxes of process goals, the outcome goals become more likely.”

Don’t just set outcome goals in 2022. Set process goals as well you can - literally - write down and box check each and every week. By doing so you will make your outcome goals more likely to occur.

Weekly Coaching Tip #5

Bounce Your Training Off Someone

In 30 years of coaching I’ve seen very few athletes, even veterans on the professional level, successfully coach / advise themselves. And while I believe athletes should indeed have a greater degree of autonomy & input into their training (veteran athletes know what they respond well to and what types of sessions they are passionate about) as time passes, it is the rare individual who can be objective about their own daily, weekly and annual blocks of training, regardless of age or ability. In fact the greatest mistake we see as a coaching staff at ZAP is the simplest of all mistakes: pushing too hard on a day to day basis with no one to advise otherwise. Does this mean everyone needs a professional coach? Certainly not.

For most distance runners simply having someone knowledgeable about the sport with whom you can bounce ideas off of will go a long way. What questions might a club leader or someone who has been around the sport with experience answer ? …….

Is a 20 mile run 2 weeks into marathon prep too early ?

Is the calf sorenesss I’m feeling normal or should I back off ?

How many times should I race leading into my goal race?

How much slower will be sessions be amidst hot humid summer conditions as opposed to cool dry days ?

Am I better off with intervals or hills this week ?

These and hundreds of other questions are ones the coaching staff here at ZAP field each year. As athletes you are correct to be curious and ask them; however, with only a handful of exceptions - even amongst the very best - few do a great job of answering those questions about themselves.

Coaching Tip of the Week #4

Expand Your Week !

Most of us exist in a 7 day week. Work commonly begins on Mondays, ceases on Fridays and the weekend is our transition. It is our set calendar and one many of us live by religiously. Runners too commonly live in the pre set 7 day week - - Sundays are long run days, Tuesdays are tempo day and Fri / Sat is the window for intervals or a race. The following week becomes more of the same and so goes the typical cycle.

More and more, however, particularly on the collegiate and post collegiate scene, competitive distance runners are setting up training blocks of 9 - 12 days rather than 7. Put simply this is a schedule with the same outline of a. something longer b. Something shorter and quicker and c. Something steady and sustained aka tempo ……….however, unlike the traditional 7 day training window it allows for an extra 1-2 days between longer or quicker days.

The late Ron Clarke of Australia (owner of 17 World Record runs) was one of the first athletes to openly work with a 10 day week. He told “Inside Sport” Magazine in 1994 “Most driven athletes like me don’t recover readily enough between the days they are really hitting it,” said Clarke. “By expanding my week to 10 days with a day extra between the tough stuff I stayed healthier and was more effective on those quicker harder days.”

Scheduling can be a bit of a challenge in setting up a 10 day week. Could you do a long run on a Wednesday morning if it fell mid week ? What about a Sunday interval session? For a while an expanded week might feel unusual for those set in their system, but over time rest assured you will feel better, recovery more quickly and have more effective harder sessions.

Week #3 Quick Tip - Slow Down Your Recovery Days

It is indeed a paradox (and one difficult for many even in the “endurance athletics” world to grasp) that working less intensely on recovery days will, more often than not, yield higher performance peaks and greater long term consistency. But believe us here at ZAP when we say this one minor shift will affect you positively and allow your days of intensity to be more effective.

It is unequivocally the single most “fixable” tweak we see here at ZAP with our summer adult running campers from around the world: commonly we have runners who have recovery day paces a mere 25-35 seconds per kilometer slower than their 5k race pace (aka too fast).

The late great British Coach Harry Wilson was one of the first global coaches to specifically recommend recovery paces for athletes with whom he worked. His “formula” was to keep recovery running between 1:30 - 2:00 slower per kilometer than your current 5k fitness. For example a runner in 24:00 5k fitness (4:48 per k) would look to run relaxed easy recovery runs at approx 6:18 per k (31:30 5k pace) to 6:48 per k (34:00 5k pace). For many reading this you might be surprised to see paces this far removed from race pace.

Former world marathon record holder Derek Clayton (2:08.33) used an almost identical formula during his career always keeping what he called “down days running” at almost 1:45/2:00 per k slower than his tempo or interval days.

Every runner is an experiment of one, and while no one change will benefit everyone, dialing back your easy days is a small change worthy of your experimentation.

Train intelligently and with intention !

Week #2 Quick Tip - Wait a Day

Distance runners, by nature, tend to be type “A” individuals. If a harder session (long run, intervals, hills, fartlek, tempo etc) is set for a certain day, most runners - come hell or high water - like to stick to that planned schedule.

As all of you know, however, niggles happen. Be it a muscle strain or a small imbalance, much of success in our sport unfortunately is the management of small physical issues. When these issues occur, take our ZAP advice and be open to waiting a day (or even to eliminating that harder session entirely)!

Too often runners feel the need, regardless of their body’s signs, to stick to their “on paper” schedule even when things are slightly off, commonly resulting in a larger more significant injury. You will lose little to no fitness by skipping or moving a workout. You are far better off with the consistency associated with long term healthy running than risking injury by “managing” something small during a hard session.

When in doubt take our advice - WAIT A DAY !

Week #1 Quick Tip

Take the watch / Garmin off a couple of times each week and simply run on feel.

We live in a world where virtually everything in training is tracked. Be it heart rate, cadence count, pace per kilometer, daily steps, status of recovery, and numerous other metrics, runners today are flooded with daily computerized data.

On occasion, particularly recovery days, buck this “must know everything” trend and go back to childhood basics by simply heading out the door for your favorite run with ZERO feedback other than the sounds of your breathing, your footsteps and the nature around you. The “Mindful” part of your personality will thank you.