Don't Settle For Just Any Training!

Friday, February 22, 2019 · Mike Davis

Good morning!

Grab some coffee and pull up a chair.

I apologize for my absence, life sometimes directs my opportunities and lack thereof. Nevertheless, I am here this morning and happy to be chatting with y’all.

One of my goals in life, is to not let things bother me, no matter how much they bother me. For the most part thanks to my faith I am successful. Then I see a Facebook post for a seminar on how to run faster using some formula based on numbers. MY resolve to not get bothered goes out the window!

No doubt you do not see a reason for my being bothered, who does not want to run faster, right? As a running coach and personal trainer, I have worked with many runners and very few have ever resisted the idea of seeking to get faster.

How about I ask you this: “Would you like to get injured while training?”

Quite the dumb question and may be even dumber on my part to insinuate training to run faster will result in getting injured.

I have attended courses on running form, read many studies on injuries and taken formal classes in the health and science field, and the prevailing educated belief is that over 80 percent of running injuries, are the result of poor training. The phrase “overuse,” is thrown around a lot and yet runners choose to ignore its importance. “Overuse,” essentially means we overuse our bodies without really knowing how each step is affecting us. Overuse is considered the cause of most running injuries. For e.g., our hip flexors are consistently tight due to excessive sitting and this tightness pulls the pelvis a bit forward when we run. We may not have any problem when we run low mileage or at an easy pace, but as we ramp up the mileage or speed up our pace, the effect of our pelvis tilting now manifest itself on the lumbar spine and our lower back starts to hurt. We foam roll, take anti-inflammatories, or pay a visit to a chiropractor and do our best to keep following a training plan, because we like training. Not a good long-term plan for sure.

Back to my being bothered

Jack Daniels is one of the greatest running coaches in the history of the sport and he wrote a book that I initially used to develop my coaching philosophy. I believe his book is still relevant today and has much value. Over the past few years, he has been the face of a formula-based training approach to getting faster, (also used to make money). Once upon a time I might have utilized this program, but I have come to believe there are real dangers with such programs. Most the individuals whom tout Daniels program are not running coaches, but just a middle man fronting a training program based solely on previous results.

As a running coach, I definitely like using data to help me create an affective training program, however because I care about both the success of a training plan and long-term running health, I believe it is paramount to know far more about a runner than their running data. I will not give my science-based training plan to an individual without a comprehensive orientation which tells me information that race results and other running number will not.

We runners want to run further, faster and forever. Statistics and studies are clearly indicating we may not be successful long-term. Right now, the studies all lean toward “poor training” as the major reason for running injuries and yet we continue making the same mistakes with our approach.

I cannot promise my runners they won’t get injured, but I can use my resources (gait analysis) and knowledge to design a training program based on the whole them (not just their data) and give them the best chance for lasting success. Our injury results have been far superior to the average percentages of injured, so we appear to be getting it right. Training matters.

Now I feel a little better, thanks for letting me get my angst of my chest this morning.

Have a great finish to your Friday! God Bless!

Mike