Become a better Athlete with Rob Denmead

On Friday 22nd March our club Star of the Sea put on a talk with full time athletics coach Rob Denmead, which Rob had titled 'Become a better Athlete'. I wasn't sure what to expect in advance but in a talk that lasted over 3 hours we certainly got great value for our €10 along with a hell of a lot of knowledge shared with us.

Below are some of the topics covered and also some information given to us as handouts. I'll warn you now there is a lot of information, hence the time it has taken me to do up this post but I think most of it is relevant for athletes at any level:

Goals/Plans:

• Every runner should have an annual plan so they know what they are training towards. This should contain goal races (maybe only one big goal race) and also other races that they will run but maybe prepare slightly differently for (no taper etc.).
• Your training plan should include 1 rest day per week minimum.
• A runner should do no more than 2/3 sessions per week and each session should be followed up with a recovery run the day after the session.
• Every 4th week should be a step back week where the mileage is reduced to give the body a chance to recover.
• Be sensible when resuming training after illness. Your tendons and ligaments get weaker when you are ill.
• Generally Rob will begin a training plan specific to a goal race with an Athlete up to 10 months beforehand.

Training Phases:

• Base Period - Phase 1
• Easy Running
• Progressive Runs (e.g. 2 miles easy, 2 miles steady, 2 miles threshold).
• Long Runs
• Hilly Runs
• Strengthen Legs & Core
• Some strides/sprints
• Transition - Phase 2
• Transition to faster paces over 2-4 weeks
• Fartlek runs
• Long runs with last 20 mins at steady pace
• Hilly runs & hilly reps
• Phase 3 (may last 6-8 months)
• Specific sessions for goal race.
• 10K early in phase
• HM or Marathon late in phase
• 10-14 day taper before goal race
• Specific session, time trial or shorter race 7 days before goal race.
• Plan your races with aim to peak at goal race.

Training Paces:

Rob is an advocate of training a lot by heart rate and giving his athletes a session based on time and not miles. He feels if you tell someone to run x number of miles they may run them at too quick a pace just to get them done but if you tell them to run for an hour they will run at the prescribed effort. Below are the different training paces and reason behind them:

• Easy Pace: Should be no more than 75% of your Max HR and you should be able to hold a full conversation at this pace. Recovery runs should be run at this pace, as well as Warm Ups & Cool downs & Long Easy runs. Running at this pace teaches the body to burn fat as a fuel and strengthens the heart.
• Steady Pace: This pace is approx 5-10 seconds per mile slower than Marathon pace. Good pace for clearing lactic acid from the muscles and it is a good idea to run the last 20 minutes of some of your long runs at this pace.
• Anaerobic Threshold: This is a pace you should be able to hold in a race for 60-70 mins. Below this pace and the lactic acid produced is very low. When you go faster than AT pace there is a big increase in the lactic acid produced in the blood. Training at AT pace trains the athlete to be able to sustain a fast cruising pace and is great for 10K, Half Marathon & Marathon. Example training sessions for this include 30 mins at this pace or a session of 15 mins, 10 mins, 6 mins with 1 minute recovery between each interval.
• Vo2 Max: This is the pace you would be expect to be able to hold for 10-12 minutes race pace (approx 3-4K). Doing intervals at a range of paces from 3K - 10K race pace helps to improve your Vo2 max over time.

The important thing with any of these paces is that your  training paces should be based on your current times and not a time you aspire to do. These can generally be found by putting a recent race into something like the McMillan Calculator but Rob also had a spreadsheet giving details based on 10K time. The below paces are relevant for someone with a 10K time of 45:28 mins (my PB) & 44 mins just for comparison.

10K time    Vo2 Max     AT Pace     Easy Pace

45:28       6:46        7:43        9:33
44:00       6:33        7:29        9:16

For me that 10K time was from last June and not really relevant as I ran a HM at below the suggested AT pace since then but the times suggested by McMillan are along the lines of the above.

The important thing I took from the discussion on paces was that it was more beneficial to train at the actual pace than at a quicker pace (some very good examples give on athletes making greater levels of improvement compared to when doing sessions too fast). It is also important that everyone does sessions at their own paces/effort level and doesn't try to speed up/slow down to match someone else.

Sessions to improve your Vo2 Max (Oxygen Uptake):

10-12 x 400m @ 3K race pace
8 x 600m @ 3K race pace
5-6 x 800m @ 3K race pace
5 x 1000m @ 5K race pace
4 x 1200m @ 5K race pace
4 x 1 mile @ 6K race pace
3 x 2 miles @ 10K race pace
Down the clock session of 1 mile, 1200m, 1000m, 800m, 600m, 400m, 200m, 100m

Recoveries for the above should range from 75 seconds for the shorter intervals up to 2 mins for longer.

Specific Marathon Sessions:

800m @ 5K pace going straight into 1 mile cruise @ marathon pace.
Long Run with last 20 mins at Marathon pace or faster.
Fartlek sessions with cruise recoveries.
Strong Hilly runs for 30 to 60 mins.

Hill Sessions:

The below sessions should all be done at approx 85% effort.

4-5 x 3 minute hills.
Hilly run of 30 - 40 mins.
10 x 60 second hills.
6 x 2 minute hills.
20-40 second hills x 20.


9 Things you need to know when you are a runner:

1. A lack of Iron will have a detrimental effect on your performance. Ferritin stores important to be > 40. Haemoglobin Males 14-16; Females 13-15 per 100ml of blood. Too much Iron in the body is a medical condition called haemochromatosis.
2. Teeth - A tooth infection will poison the body.
3. Sleep - Human Growth Hormone is released during sleep & naps. Makes you stronger.
4. Fuel up - Carbohydrates straight after training. Drinks, bananas, raisins after hard sessions. A meal (potato's, pasta, rice, bread, vegetables, red meat, liver, chicken, fish) within 90 mins of finishing training will help you replenish the muscles and aid recovery. Porridge for breakfast. Eat less carbs when you are not fuelling up. Carbo drinks during hard sessions will help you sustain pace. Home made "Carbo Drink" 500ml bottle, 2 soup spoons of glucose, pinch of salt, fruit juice & water.
5. Hydration - water, carbo drinks, milk (protein), fruit juice, beetroot juice all aid recovery and keep the body working properly. Water binds to carbohydrate. Dehydration will severely hamper your performance - 4% dehydration leads to a 2 minute 48 secs dis-improvement in a 35 min 10K athlete. 4% = 4.5lbs in an 8 stone athlete. Drink 1kg of fluid for each kg of weight lost. Tea, coffee, alcohol and coca cola can cause dehydration. Sip water on the morning of a race. Urine should be pale colour.
6. Dynamic warm-up is done prior to a race or fast training session. Static stretching done after you have showered and eaten. Static stretch should not be held for too long, usually 3 secs.
7. Upper body tightness will have an effect on your legs and stride length.
8. Replace worn out shoes, runners, spikes, racers. Niggles - treat them immediately with ICE. Pulled muscles should be iced for 2-3 days, left settle and then massaged gently after 3 days. Cross train if possible when injured to maintain fitness.
9. Head colds, runny nose etc. Use Neil Med sinus rinse to clear sinus congestion. You won't beat illness so respect it and give it time to recover. Check your mornings HR's (lying and standing) when you are ready to resume training.    Antibiotics - Take acidophilus tablets (probiotic) or natural yogurt to replace the good bacteria in your gut.

Fat Burning Strategies:

Half a lemon in a glass or warm water will kick start your metabolism in the morning (not too often as it is very hard on tooth enamel). Use a straw.

Green tea in the morning before a slow run will kick start the process of utilising fat as a fuel.

Mental Preparation & Race Preparation:

Visualise your race and various scenarios during the week of the race. In the race itself, try to stay relaxed and focused. Don't go off too hard (20 secs gain in first mile could turn into a 60 secs loss over the rest of the race). In training practice getting faster as you go on.