Joe Rubio and racing yourself into shape

drquirky

http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/always-ready-race?page=3


This article is a great read and lays out a way to race loads and maintain an "endless season". I've been reading a good bit of Joe Rubio lately and really like his approach.

Many elites have prospered on this "endless season" approach. In the 1970s and early '80s, many runners would get themselves into pretty good shape, race fairly often and remain in this mode for months on end. Although these athletes had strong bases from which to draw, they didn't really have much of an offseason or a buildup base period; they always seemed to be fit and they showed it by racing often and placing well.

If you look at the resumes of some of the better U.S. runners of the era, such as Bill Rodgers and Greg Meyer, you'll see an incredible number of races throughout the years. Not all were top-level races; in many cases they were low-key fun runs. But races were part of their overall training program, and it worked well for them. Why did they race so often? They probably didn't think too much about it; odds are they just liked to race and they adapted their training around that reality.

I receive a number of messages from runners looking for feedback on their detailed training plans as they prepare for a coming race, usually a marathon. The one thing I rarely see in their plans is consistent racing. I see four to six months of carefully planned workouts, but zero races; they're in constant base-building mode. The first thing I suggest is scheduling a race at least once every two to four weeks to provide feedback on how their training and fitness are progressing. Racing provides immediate feedback. Racing lets you know if you're heading down the right path or if what you're doing needs a tweak.

Do you need to race every week? Probably not, but a race every two to three weeks helps immensely. Additionally, racing is a skill, and to become proficient at any skill, you need to practice it repeatedly to show improvement. If your goal is to earn a particular place or run a specific time in a race, it only makes sense to run lead-up races to help you achieve those goals.

What do people think about the idea of racing yourself into shape? I've been thinking about it and pretty much anytime my build up goes well, I'm racing into it. I find the traditional peaking plans like Daniels too tedious for me and too similar to the American College approach which I know from personal experience can completely wreck runners (though sometimes gets good results season to season).

I've been looking for a straightforward, fun approach and this article really hits the nail on the head for me.

Enduro

If my season is injury free (broken bones in springtime for the last two years) then I would definitely have a "lots of smaller races" approach, for pretty much exactly the reasons outlined in the article. Racing is fun, but it's also a skill which can be honed.

Mostly its the IMRA races for me, which double up as being more fun and require higher skill levels. Pushing yourself to max effort on technical descents can't really be done in training. In terms of training I'd regard them as being equivalent to a short intense training run or speedwork / a fartlek run.

drquirky

Bill Rodger's running log from back in the day is pretty funny reading but it underlines the amount of races he was running....3 in January, 3 in February etc etc...

http://www.bunnhill.com/BobHodge/Rodgers/TrainingLogs/br75traininglog.htm

TFBubendorfer

It works for some, not for others.

If you do follow that approach, make sure you recover fully from race to race. If you race frequently and continue to train hard, you are probably overdoing things.

nerraw1111

Works for me.

Interesting article. Like Enduro (ha!) I raced a lot of the IMRA races last year over a short period of time. I never felt fitter, you push yourself much harder than you would in training, lashing down descents, getting good leg turnover speed. But mainly they were a lot of fun, which is why I run.

I plan to do the same this year. They double as short intense runs/intervals/hill work.

drquirky

TFBubendorfer wrote: »

It works for some, not for others.

If you do follow that approach, make sure you recover fully from race to race. If you race frequently and continue to train hard, you are probably overdoing things.

Yeah totally agree- the key for me is I drop a session in lieu of the race. Suppose I just find nothing builds my fitness quicker

EauRouge79

This approach certainly works for me also.
I generally have 2 goal marathons a year spring & autumn. I have found that I tend to perform better in the Autumn marathon having run a good number of local races from 5k to 10miles, privately organised or BHAA events generally.
I find it easier to really push myself in a race environment and use these as my speedwork.

ecoli

Have to say I am a big fan of Rubio's training methods also have found them fairly successful when incorporating them into my own training though If you look at this he does mention that Races should be treated as tempo's which is kind of contradictory to the race often he mentions here (though mind you that training was a 1500m plan and the races mentioned were in winter phase)

I think racing can be a great tool for training every few weeks and really does help bring you on and get you out of your comfort zone if used correctly (as was mentioned recently sub sessions for races and target particular races as opposed to tapering for every race) I have had success in the past with this method especially early season

The only word of caution I would make a note of is the fact that some runners thrive on their confidence and as such racing regularly can be detrimental. Some runners arent happy unless they are PB'ing every race and if you are racing regularly this can become impossible and as such they can become disillusioned to the point where it impacts there training