My first real understanding of endurance didn’t come from running. I wasn’t taking it seriously back in high school (much to my coach’s chagrin). No, back then I was more into weight training and strength exercises. I decided to go for the school’s women’s push-up record. In order to break it, I needed to do 50 push-ups. It doesn’t seem like much and I can certainly do a lot more now but back then I was only 17 and have been strength training for less then a year. I knew I was definitely stronger than most girls in my body building class. None of them could go past 30 push-ups. Not sure why but most girls are not really good at push-ups.
I knew I had a shot so I decided to train for it. My dad, being a former power lifter, of course had some valuable advice that ended up being something I still view as relevant, not just for push-ups but for endurance building in general. He said to me that it’s not necessary to do 50 in practice. What you need to do is build up to 20, rest, 20, rest, 20, rest, etc for as long as you can. You rest just enough to recover but not too much either. Your muscles need to be under constant pressure. And so I trained just like that. When I couldn’t do 20, I would do 10, rest, 10, rest, until I couldn’t do any more.
Well, competition day came and everyone was counting as they surrounded me. I went ahead and did the 50 with ease. I was amazed because I never actually did 50 continuously in practice so I had no idea that I’d be able to do it. It was easy. My arms were like springs. And so the lesson in endurance was born. As I apply it to running, it’s actually the same principle. You never have to run 26.2 miles in practice when training for a marathon. Some do, but what I’m saying is it’s not necessary. Keeping your legs under constant pressure of 6 miles, 8 miles, 10 miles, occasional 12-13 miles and of course a long run 18-20 miles will build all the endurance you’ll need to go non stop for 26.2 miles. As a side note, doing that many miles doesn’t leave much opportunity for fast running and I’m not even sure you need to do crazy fast mile repeats.
The truth is, I don’t train like the others with all the carefully planned out intervals, hill repeats and speed sessions. I just can’t be tied down like that. It’s not for me. I’m a passionate runner. I need to be inspired. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy some moderately fast running for many reasons. I’m always up for a little friendly(or not so friendly if you’re annoying!) competition in the park. Sometimes I just need to feel the wind in my hair. Or maybe to pretend I’m a sports car or a wild animal. Who said running was boring? It’s the complete opposite! When you’re healthy and running wild, it’s exhilarating! What I’ve noticed is that constant pressure (regardless of pace) day in and day out, that truly gets the results. Interestingly, if you do that and then take a few days off to recover before a race, speed just appears out of nowhere. I hypothesize that it was being worked along side of endurance. As the legs get more and more conditioned, it becomes easier to run faster.
So, the moral of the story is, in order to build endurance you need a consistent effort over a particular period of time (weeks, months, depending on your base level). Don’t forget to have fun or it’s not worth a dime. And don’t worry about the speed. If you do a great job with your endurance work, you will get a fantastic surprise on race day. You may even scare yourself a little.