Episode 243: The Winter Running Project – A Framework To Improve Running Performance for All Levels
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In this episode of the Purple Patch Podcast, IRONMAN Master coach Matt Dixon presents the Winter Running Project, a tried and true method for improving next year’s running performance regardless of your running level or overall goal.
The Winter Running Project is a chance for triathletes, fitness enthusiasts, injury-prone athletes, or those frustrated with the results of their running performance to improve their running technique and overall performance without getting depleted or shackling themselves with rigid structure in the postseason.
(18:20) "What we're looking for in a project like this, again, is not burning up at the edge of our capacity, but we're looking for simple wins and a mindset of preparation. And so most athletes tend to thrive on a project like this, if they have a target, a goal, but that goal is built more around accountability and consistency, rather than a quantifiable, race-driven executional goal. And so I tend to not have athletes focus on training for an event here. Instead, you make something really fun and accessible. But the reward of it is by simple implementation of the program."
Matt applies the method he uses to help athletes break through their running performance and breaks down the nuts and bolts of how you might put a winter running project into action by focusing on a simple, consistent, and soul-filling approach to running and training that will leave you primed for the coming season.
(23:20) "A lot of your training week can act as a decompressor as a little bit of emotional relief, a little bit of simple joy of being outside, running, feel good from the endorphins that come with it. And we can shine the light more in this project on that aspect without actually losing the structure, the progression and specificity to actually improve."
With the Winter Running Project, you will not only emerge an evolved runner but also build a platform of health, daily energy, resiliency, and a sense of enjoyment while running.
Episode Timestamps
00:00 - 04:41 - Welcome and Episode Introduction
04:42 - 42:14 - The Meat and Potatoes - Episode 243: The Winter Running Project - A Framework to Improve Running Performance for All Levels
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Full Transcript
Matt Dixon 00:00
I'm Matt Dixon and welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. The mission of Purple Patch is to empower and educate every human being to reach their athletic potential. Through the lens of athletic potential, you reach your human potential. The purpose of this podcast is to help time-starved people everywhere, integrate sport into life.
Matt Dixon 00:21
Hey, guys, this week's show is all about running. And in fact, we investigate a winter running project, it all fits under the banner of our focus of training right now, which is to facilitate some deep rejuvenation as we talked about last week, allowing yourself to restore physically and emotionally for the hard grind performance in the year ahead, but also get really preparatory in nature. In other words, set up the body from a systemic and fitness level, as well as the tissue resilience level to really accelerate our performance over the course of the coming year. And this combines really nicely with the opportunity for you to take a look inside. Yes, we want to set up our strategy for a platform of health. And by assessing your biometrics via InsideTracker. And combining it with the hosts of insights and recommendations from the team of scientists and experts at InsideTracker, you can get really strategic on how you're going to leverage your approach to nutrition, recovery, and even some additional supplements. It's very, very simple. All you have to do is head to InsideTracker.com/purplepatch, and using the code purplepatchpro20, that's purplepatchPro-two-zero, you get 20% off everything at the store. This is a wonderful time. In fact, I just got off a call assessing one of my athletes, biometrics, and having a little bit of a strategic conversation of the path ahead. And so I recommend you do it too. You don't need to be a Purple Patch athlete, all you need to do is head to insidetracker.com/purplepatch and use the code. Remember, purplepatchPro-two-zero, you get 20% off. All right, enjoy the show today. It is all about the winter running project, take care.
Matt Dixon 02:13
And welcome to the Purple Patch podcast. As ever, your host, Matt Dixon, and for you guys that are watching the show today rather than just listening, yes indeed I am wearing the brand new Purple Patch trucker hat. Doesn't it look cool? We have some very cool fashion designers that help us with all of that. But the mission of today we are talking running. And in fact, I deliver a winter running project for you. For you folks that are based in the Northern Hemisphere, the days are looming, folks are beginning to hibernate, we've got a whole bunch of endurance athletes that start to go random. And then they try and pick up the pieces of their performance journey as they emerge into the new year. All fraught with disappointment and struggle straight ahead. And just as bad on the other side, we have folks that are over-obsessive, driving in towards their training mission, keeping up, nudging against their capacity, and time-starved life. So how about today, instead, I give you a little idea for a fun and really valuable project for you. I'm going to label it a winter running project. It is a method for you to improve your running next year, for absolutely all levels of runner. That's my mission for today. And so we're going to outline a nice little framework that we tend to use at Purple Patch to help folks break through in their running performance. Now, these are chasing results that are not identified over the course of the coming two or three weeks, or even the next two or three months. But instead set you on a journey that when we hit the end of March, we say wow, I can't believe how fit I am, how strong, how resilient, and ready to take on the world. This is real performance as we might say. And the good news is it's really accessible for all levels. Even if you're someone that thinks I'm just not a runner. I hate running. I can't get over the injury curse. I'm stuck in the cycle in the vortex of repeated injuries. We want to break that mold. On the flip side. If you really want to improve running off your bike or you want to qualify to the Boston Marathon, it doesn't matter. I think that this is a fantastic running project for you. And it's really simple to implement. I want to outline it today. So what we're going to do is we're going to bypass Matt's News-ings. We're not going to do Word of the Week, even though I have a wonderful Word of the Week. We're going to bypass that till next week. Instead, Barry, let's get right on with it. Yes, it is the Meat and Potatoes.
Matt Dixon 04:42
Yes folks, the Meat and Potatoes and it is all about the backbone of a winter running project for you. So I guess as we dive into this, we should First, identify, who is this for. Who is this appropriate for? So if you're listening, and if you're a triathlete, perhaps someone that wants to improve their running performance off the bike, or maybe you're a frustrated runner, where you just have plateaued consistently year after year, or you're really injured as a runner, or you're someone that's really looking to take their performance in running to the next level, you want to improve your half marathon time, 10k time, maybe you want to qualify to the Boston Marathon, whatever it might be. Or even, you're that fitness enthusiast that would love to integrate running into your overall puzzle and project, but you just find it a real struggle. This is for you. A winter running project. Before you find it daunting, before you think I'm gonna lay over a whole bunch of hard work and intervals, it ain't like that. It's really accessible. And it's even pretty fun. And so we want to lay the groundwork today that could propel your running performance. And I might add your overall performance for the whole year ahead, running off the bike qualifying for Boston, getting out of the armchair to do loops in Central Park, we want to make you successful. The good news is that the lessons we're going to outline here, and the approach is pretty much the same. And we're gonna get pretty granular a little bit later and give you a case study of a more serious runner and baby or more recreational runner, and you're going to see how it's different, but also exactly the same for each of those runners.
Matt Dixon 06:33
So let's define our mission here. This is going to be short and sweet and really accessible today. But let's first define our mission. So what I would like, no matter where you fit under the broad spectrum that I outlined, what I would like by you taking this journey on is for us to arrive at the middle of next year and you quantifiably qualitatively be an absolutely evolved runner. Now, we want to define that in your own context. So you should see it displayed by you improving your run performances off the bike if you are a triathlete. You should be able to see your PBs or PRs, your splits your pace, be improved if you're a standalone runner. You should get to enjoy running. Some people have a hard time linking that word enjoyment and fun with running. But we want you to actually get to enjoy running and feel like you are a runner because everybody can be a runner. And ultimately, we want to ensure in the middle of next year that you have a platform of better health from a system standpoint, but of course from a musculoskeletal standpoint. And we want that to parlay into better daily energy. And so we're seeking to build a platform of resiliency, that will enable you to go on your quest of performance with running, no matter what that is. And it's pretty clear by now it's a pretty broad spectrum. But under there a reduced risk of injury. And this is important. So that's what we're trying to get to by the middle of next year.
Matt Dixon 08:15
And as I outline this program, this project, as we're calling it, I think it's important for us to join hands, and accept that it's really difficult to implement this type of project if you're very race driven at the time of doing it. Because you're just going to get distracted, you're going to feel the necessity to start to ramp towards race-specific intervals, getting your body ready to actually successfully achieve running throughout the course of the event, get ready for the distance as you might call it. And so this is a project that is best implemented when you are far away from actually focusing on an event per se. So with that in mind, as you go across this winter, if you were, for example, a triathlete saying great, I really want to improve my running, I'm going to train for a marathon. That's not already what we're looking to achieve it. And that will come clear as we start to go through the details and build out the framework. But I think that the best thing that we can do here is take on a winter project without the shackles of performance expectations in running. And also without the demands, the cognitive demands, the emotional demands of actually getting ready for racing. It doesn't mean that you can't go and do a fun 5k at Thanksgiving, or maybe hop into a trail running race over the course of the winter. Those are all there, but not training for the specific demands of the race are going to set you up for much greater success. Ultimately, we want this to be really fun. We've talked a lot over the last weeks around postseason and deep rejuvenation, ensure that you're facilitating with really good recovery for the body, but also, for your system and your mind. We want to reconnect with others. And so this project fits under the Ark and umbrella, it's really quite simple. It shouldn't be something that shackles you, that creates too much rigor. In fact, there's a whole bunch of freedom in it. And it's really quite loose in structure. But it is, that's why I said call it a framework, but it's very, very important that we nail it right. And so this fun project, what we're labeling a winter project can be the very thing that sets you up for success.
Matt Dixon 10:36
Now, I want to come back to this one more time, deep rejuvenation. In last week's show, we talked about that. And I talked about at the end of a season for you competing athletes, it's really important that you get to decompress a little bit, you have some time that you have a real break, but then we transition to a phase of training that's preparatory, so getting your tissues, tissue, muscles, and ligaments ready for the hard season at work, but also still provides capacity for you to rejuvenate on an emotional level or mental level as well as the systemic level. I should point out that this project fits nicely into that mindset. So this actually enables that, and that should go some way into helping you understand how we should implement it and how simple and in fact, lower stress it should be. One other component I talked about during the deep rejuvenation, is the fact that no matter what your total capacity is, when you think about all of the non-negotiables in life, you think about work, life, family, all of the commitments in a typical training block when you're driving towards events or races, we tend to nudge up against our capacity. And that capacity should fit within the context of our life. But I talked about the preparatory phase, what we call postseason at Purple Patch, we should try and limit or reduce our total training to give us a little bit more freedom, flux, and capacity. So in other words, we don't want to nudge up against our ultimate capacity within context of a time-starved life. Again, this winter project fits within that, and you're gonna hear me talk about running, you're going to hear me talk about multi-sport, you're going to hear me talk about strength and conditioning. And all of those want to wrap up into our weekly recipe of training, and still have more time to give theoretically, of which we are instead going to use that greater amount of time to go away and restore, connect socially with friends and family have a little bit more downtime and rest. So I don't want you butting up against your total capacity within context of life, in order for you to go and take on this winter project. Okay, so clear as mud. We want this to be highly accessible, to not notch up against our capacity, it should be fun, it should be specific, but at the same time, pretty low cognitive load. And that seems very, very accessible no matter what level of running you might be.
Matt Dixon 13:18
Now let's go on to our components. When we think about developing a toolbox, what should this focus on? Where should we shine our light? Well, as you go through this project, you should be thinking quite a bit about improving your form and technique in running, developing really good habits around posture, making sure that you're improving your running technically and, in fact, even going down to the level of identifying the right shoe choice for you. And so form is a really important component. And it fits within that. In fact, as you go and run, we want to have a mindset all the way through the coming months with this project of I'm not going to take a bad step of running. Of course, we leverage a tool in there, which is walk breaks, but we'll get more of that later. So that's the first sort of component that we're looking to develop.
Matt Dixon 14:12
The second component is tissue resilience. If you do it really well, you should improve the resiliency of your muscles of your tendons of your ligaments. In other words, the chassis, if you want to call it that using the metaphor of a car, you should be really stable and resilient. And that is step one for you to become more resistant to injury, less prone to getting injured. So that's going to, of course, include some patients to get there, but that's one of the components is to have a really good amplification of resiliency and therefore resistance to injury. Good.
Matt Dixon 14:53
The third component that we're looking to develop is capacity to adapt to a greater training load. So really what that is, is if we do this right, we should exit the winter running project and say, great, we're gonna rub our hands together, and I am ready for anything you can throw it at me, my body is an adaptation machine. And I can absorb the load from a musculoskeletal standpoint, because I've developed resiliency, but also from a systemic standpoint that I can take the stressor of the harder work that's coming, and I can respond to it and adapt. And of course, what that means is a pathway or a runway to improve running performance globally, all very nice. That is, for me a simple word - potential. And that's really the backbone of the components that we're looking at, speed and power potential. Now notice something here, when I talk about this project, I'm not saying that I want you to improve your speed and power. Instead, what I label is I want you to improve your speed and power potential. And that is very, very different because it is preparatory in nature. And that encompasses a different mindset when you approach this, because it's not about tangible results, immediately. It's about laying the groundwork, something that so many athletes fail to do. But then when you do dance forward into the heavier training load, no matter what your mission is, the body's equipped to do it. Okay, that becomes important potential. It's such a driver for your mindset. And then behind all of that tissue resiliency, building up power and potential, we do want to almost like slipping a piece of paper under the little doorframe, where you're just sliding it through, we want to almost in an imperceptible way, gradually and patiently improve your cardiovascular conditioning, and your muscular endurance. And that's gonna develop in a very specific way, in an almost too easy fashion that we layer it on, over the days over the weeks, over the months, without ever having any great risk of creating traumatic fatigue in the muscles, which of course, can be a catalyst to an early onset of injury that we don't want.
Matt Dixon 17:27
And so really, what I'm looking for throughout this project is a little bit of a sneak attack. You can think of yourself like a spy, we're looking to develop very patient gains in conditioning, rather than actually chasing them as a primary driver. And that's the components of this whole project. Now you getting excited, aren't you? You're getting all primed? All right, let me know how to do it. And so without further ado, why don't we get into the nuts and the bolts of how to put it into action?
Matt Dixon 17:58
So I think the first component here is, it can't be aimless, you need to have a framework. And I like structure and progression. But I also think that all of us thrive if we have a little element of a goal-driven approach to it. You want to have that as a barometer, a target, and a reward. What we're looking for in a project like this, again, is not burning up at the edge of our capacity. But we're looking for simple wins and a mindset of preparation. And so most athletes tend to thrive on a project like this, if they have a target, a goal, but that goal is built more around accountability and consistency, rather than a quantifiable, race-driven executional goal. And so I tend to not have athletes focus on training for an event here. Instead, you make something really fun and accessible. But the reward of it is by simple implementation of the program. So let me give you an example here, and this is up to you and your coach. Or of course, if you're a Purple Patch athlete, under the guidance and stewardship of us, the coaching team at Purple Patch, but I'll give you a random example.
Matt Dixon 19:17
Imagine if I had an athlete that was pretty consistent in running and we say what do we want to do over the next three months? I might say I want you to execute 100 runs over the course of the next three months. So you've got 90 days, and I'm going to have you run 100 times. Now that sounds absolutely bonkers. We've got some travel, we've got the holidays, and hang on. If I'm doing my math medicals. Correct that's more than once a day. But as you'll see, a lot of those runs are going to be itty bitty runs. Really short. They might be 5, 7, 10 minutes, or 15 minutes. A more established runner 20, 30, 40 minutes. It's okay to run more than once a day occasionally. But we're looking on to develop a recipe of consistency. Now a less established runner, that might be too much. So you might extend that out, you might look for a four-month project where you're trying to achieve 100 runs, or perhaps over three months, you're looking to do 50 or 75 runs. You have to find something that's tangible, but not just a blunt instrument. I will say that I'm not a fan of any project, where it's absolutely pass-fail. Over the course of 3 months or 90 days, whatever your mission might be, I'm going to run every day. Because you might get the sniffles, you might get sick, you might have a family emergency, whatever it might be, and immediately you fail. So I prefer to have a little flex, but something with a little bit of a target. And it's built on execution and consistency, rather than I'm trying to improve my run this pace. I'm getting ready for this 10k, whatever it might be. So a goal in this type of event is a consistency goal, and that really helps.
Matt Dixon 21:08
It also is really useful then to get engaged with others. Because if you share this journey, and you infuse a little bit of accountability, it's going to be more fun and more helpful. In fact, over the course of December, Purple Patch tends to do challenges like this, let's hit a December consistency challenge often anchored around a winter running project, or strength and conditioning, but a consistency challenge where we can get all of the athletes engaged on a shared journey from someone that say very fast, elite runner, all the way down to people that just say I'm not a runner. And they can still participate with a goal that is suitable for them. And that's the mission, that's how we can best engage with others, infuse a little bit of accountability that we know is really important for athlete's success, and also share the journey to ultimately make it more fun, because that's part of it. And so that becomes a really good anchor point of how to go about this. You then, by implementing the project, you want to have your fitness and your success almost creep up on you. In fact, by the end of March, you want to have it go whack and whack you on the back of the head and say, goodness me, I've actually improved. And I can't believe that happened almost. How did that happen? So we're not chasing quantifiable gains over the course of the coming month, 6 weeks, or 2 months, we're just doing with a whole degree of flex. And the nice thing about this is a large amount of this can be what we call soul-filling, really simple. And I think this is where it's important, before we just dive into the actual tangible details of the training, to remind ourselves that training should have, for a time-starved athlete, should have two roles.
Matt Dixon 23:07
Number one, high specificity, building out cardiovascular conditioning, muscular endurance training you for the demands of your race, and everything else that we identify with a smart training program. But also, a lot of your training week can act as a decompressor as a little bit of emotional relief, a little bit of simple joy of being outside, running, feel good from the endorphins that come with it. And we can shine the light more in this project on that aspect without actually losing the structure, the progression, and specificity to actually improve. And so that becomes really, really accessible. So let's get to it. I want you to get your pen and paper ready. And let's get down to the dirty details. What's the approach of a winter running project?
Matt Dixon 23:59
Number one, and it might not surprise you too much. But number one, it's wrapped all around strength and conditioning. Simple. Yes. For every athlete, elite professional athlete, recreational fitness enthusiast. Strength sits at the center. We want to improve your posture, your stability, your core conditioning, your movement patterns, and your power potential. And so I highly encourage you that you commit to it, you engage in it, and you put it very central as a focus over the course of the next three to four months. Now as you go through into the summer months, strength and conditioning will retain its place in the program. It still - will be important, but it will become more supplementary, more therapeutic, more of a retention on strength and movement patterns. But now the endurance training components take the shining light. But right now we build our endurance training around that strength and conditioning. Very important. So your winter running project begins with strength. And I'm going to break this down in case studies in a couple of moments. But that's number one. Alright, scribble it down.
Matt Dixon 25:20
Number two, your running itself, it is consistent. It is frequent. It is nearly all easy. And most of your runs can be short, whatever that means to you. and can even be almost snuck onto or attached to other training sessions. So if you're still swimming, or riding, or utilizing the rowing ergometer, or cross-country skiing, whatever it might be, you can even layer it onto strength. But a whole host of your running, we want to, and I don't want you to over attach to this, but you want to run almost daily. And those runs, as I say, are easy, simple, Soul filling, and short. The vast majority of these are low-stress and shorter duration. Now, of course, there's a wide arc there, what does that mean to you? And you need to actually take a pause and really reflect on the type of athlete that you are. For a professional athlete, it might be a whole bunch of 30, 40, 50, 60-minute running sessions. But for a more recreational or highly time-starved athlete, it might be 5, 7, or 10 minutes of running, snuck onto little sessions that are still really productive, and they may even include walk breaks, despite being really short. So your relationship with what short, easy, and frequent means - well, that's really up to you to work out relative to your own personal situation. So we have 2 core components so far, strength and conditioning, and then really frequent, easy running.
Matt Dixon 27:07
The third element is, I believe you must or at least you should, lean into multi-sport. It is a potent addition to a running project. Your heart is a pump. That pump pushes blood around the body to circulate to deliver oxygen to the muscles. So you can facilitate energy production, and offload lots of nasty byproducts. So then recycle Express out through the lungs. And it goes around and around, hopefully in a closed system. That heart benefits from conditioning from all sorts of disciplines. Your running muscles are just that - muscles. And they can also leverage from parallel type of disciplines that cross-pollinate into your running performance. So what are some of the disciplines that you might leverage? It could be cross-country skiing, it could be cycling, particularly indoor cycling over the winter, elliptical trainer, rowing ergometer, walking on a treadmill of a grade. Those are all really good multi-sport disciplines. And we're leveraging these to mix up your skill acquisition and muscle recruitment. Create a variance to your challenge. So in other words it's more fun. But also foster a development of cardiovascular conditioning and muscular endurance at a much lower risk of injury. Now, there are so many runners now, so many runners, there are very very good runners that already know this. In fact, it's the very premise of our run squad program. This is how we achieve great results. In fact, just last week, at the New York Marathon, an athlete that's leveraging this same multi-sport approach - amateur, time-starved father of four, 2 hours and 35 minutes at the New York Marathon, integrating walk breaks - Seriously? Yes, integrating walk breaks with a multi-sport approach. It really works and is highly effective for all levels of runner.
Matt Dixon 29:14
So those are your components. Lean in, strength, frequent, a lot of easy running a component of once or twice a week multi-sport approach to help. Now in addition to this, I think that you should open up and broaden your perspective. Don't be afraid this is a dirty word for many runners, but don't be afraid of walking. Yes, hiking. It is powerful. Low intensity, hopefully against a grade whether you're utilizing a treadmill, whether you're outside in nature, of course, that's always preferred, where you're developing that tissue resilience that we talked about, and low-level cardiovascular conditioning. It is really really healthy.
Matt Dixon 29:59
So the fourth element - this is simply walking. It's really powerful. And of course, as you go to the lower end of the performance level, this can become a more dominant part of your program, maybe less engaging for a professional runner. But certainly for amateur runners across the spectrum, a really useful tool. The nice thing about hill-based walking is it tends to promote really good posture and posterior activation. In other words, your glutes, your hamstrings, your calves, toe push-off, it's a really good transfer into improved running form, one of the components that we're looking to develop. And so that becomes a great component. So now we're four in.
Matt Dixon 30:45
Number five is trail running. If you have access to trail running, it's powerful, it's got a much lower risk of injury, assuming that you keep your awareness up, and you're looking for where you're stepping. It's a wonderful tool to develop tissue resilience. And there's also an opportunity for foundational conditioning, but also the idiosyncrasies of you running on the trail, it starts to develop more of a 360-degree muscular stress. There's a lot of proprioception that tends to need to be utilized over the course of trial running. And in fact, all of us tend to carry a few little technical idiosyncrasies into our running form. And what we see with athletes that embrace trail running is naturally the running gait tends to improve. And so this becomes a really useful tool. On top of it all, it's really fun, it's enjoyable, it removes many of the metrics because we're not chasing a pace or thinking calm, running so much slower than I was before. And so leaning into trail running is really useful. Let's not forget, if we take our triathlete friends, and we stand them up, and you get them in their running gear, and you ask them to take their finger and put it onto their nose. Most triathletes will poke themselves in the eye. I'm sorry to be cruel, but that's kind of true. So trail running helps with overall spatial awareness, and, of course, a little bit of coordination. And it dovetails into your primary focus of strength and conditioning.
Matt Dixon 32:25
The final component, as we leaned into, or talked a little bit about before, is I want this to be soul-filling. In fact, I want you to develop a really positive relationship with running. This is decompression. And so for you folks listening, that tend to fall on the lower end of the spectrum of performance, or love for the sport itself of running, I want you to lean into walk breaks, and really reposition your relationships and your mindset around walking with running. So many folks think about walk breaks as just elements of failure. I couldn't keep going, so, therefore, I'm going to have to walk. Instead, reposition it. It's not weakness. It's not failure. It's a tool. And it's a tool and a strategy that you're building in, so that your walk before you have to, to ensure that the running that you are doing is done with the best form that you can do, and strung together over many, many minutes, develops a really successful experience.
Matt Dixon 33:34
And those are the components. That's how to do it, take it on, look at every week of training, and say, I'm going to develop around my strength. I'm going to run almost daily, whatever that means, for me. I need to ensure that I'm infusing some multi-sport in here because that's going to be an addition on so many variables. The running that I do is going to be mostly easy, soul-filling, and if it means I'm going to be implementing walk breaks, that's smarter. And I should also look at my fabric of my running training, and think it's okay to actually go on a hike, embrace some trail running. And so the things that you wear on your watches, and those elements that you wear around your chest to monitor the beating of your heart, don't worry about them too much in this. Go have fun, be free, develop consistency, and nothing that you do in running should elicit great fatigue.
Matt Dixon 34:32
This is how we do it. This is a winter project. So let me just paint to finish this a couple of performance levels of how this might look. Let's first imagine someone that's on the stronger end, the faster end, the more established element of running performance. This program for that type of athlete, they might be focused on almost daily running. Really good frequency 30, 40, 50-minute running durations. And still, the majority of those running sessions are lower stress. Soul filling. Don't worry about pace, don't worry about heart rate, go out and enjoy it. They might implement at the weekend an over-distance run. Now, hopefully, that's on a soft surface, preferably on a trail. But yeah, get your juice get a little bit of over distance. But again, just building in resilience, be okay if it's really steep to lean into some walking. And then on the week, during the week, yeah, maybe you just keep touch with some of your intervals. Perhaps you're doing some high-speed stuff, or you're doing a little bit of strength-based hill running. Just enough to remind the system. But don't make that an anchor session where you're driving towards validity of the project working. That becomes important. Now this runner, still remember, we started with strength, at the center of the program still is strength twice weekly. And that's going to probably include for the higher level runner, some heavier strength work - deadlifts, squats - actually putting real resistance and greater load against it. And then finally, they're going to leverage one or two multi-sport sessions a week that are absolutely critical. And those are going to develop cardiovascular conditioning and muscular endurance. So they might lean to perhaps twice weekly bike trainer sessions. Super. Now over the course of the next two to three months over the course of this project, that stronger runner is not chasing running speed gains. They are still preparatory in nature, they have high flexibility in their total hours that they're chasing total miles of running, that's very dependent on the athlete. And it's more of a foundation or mindset. They're looking to improve strength, they're looking to improve their form, perhaps they're looking to improve performance in the multi-sport elements. But they're not chasing running speed. Three-month program, super. Now let's compare to a newer runner, or perhaps someone that's injury prone in running, perhaps someone that really struggles with that relationship with running. It's pretty similar but a little bit different. The first of that for them is absolutely strength. And depending on their experience in strength, it might be a heavier load, if you're actually used to doing strength, or it might be more foundational in level getting used to muscle patterns, getting used to movement patterns, getting used to stability, core, and coordination. So that's very athlete dependent. But strength is number one. The second component is probably the multi-sport. And for the sake of argument, let's keep that just twice weekly sessions, bike trainer sessions, very important, they can improve in cardiovascular conditioning, they can improve in muscular endurance, super. And then this athlete is going to look to wrap their running around this program in a really sensible and accessible manner. So that might include a hike on the weekend, maybe with the capacity to go and run little sections of that hike. And then they're going to sneak running in - 5, 7, 10 minutes, post strength, before after a bike session, whatever it might be, and then just have two or three runs each week that are really easy and low stress. And every step of their running is going to be a good step. And the way that this runner, let's call it the lower-end runner, the injury-prone the frustrated runner, every step is going to be good. And the way to achieve it is with walk breaks, strategic walk breaks, and your walk before you're desperate. And you finish. Here's your barometer of success. You finish every run without great muscular fatigue. A three-month program the same.
Matt Dixon 38:54
So in both of our case studies here both athletes have leveraged strength and conditioning, they are leaning into consistency. They embrace multi-sport training. Both athletes get to enjoy the most of their running been really easy and soul-filling. And the more serious runner gets to accumulate some pretty good mileage but built over the fabric of consistent running. And they're still not pressing against their capacity, both in terms of their ability to absorb training or in the capacity of life. And a more recreational athlete, they're being successful because they're integrating walk breaks and sneaking those little runs in. And so at the end of this program, they've both developed cardiovascular conditioning. They've got a really strong chassis, and they've got great tissue resilience. And for both of these athletes, they are therefore prepared to go and take on the next step in their journey. That might be qualifying to Boston. It might be about running consistently throughout the year without massive injury. And neither of these athletes, over the course of the winter project, are trying to answer the question, Am I getting faster? Because right now, that's irrelevant. This project is about preparing to get faster.
Matt Dixon 40:10
I hope this helps put it in perspective, Purple Patch athletes listening, we integrate this into our programming, you, of course, can reach out to us and we'll help you to make sure that it's appropriate for you. But it absolutely aligns in your vision. If you're non-Purple Patch. Well, firstly, get involved, we've got the run squad, we've got the tri squad, it embraces it all. But if you prefer to go your own journey, not a worry, it should be fun. It should be successful to integrate, and it should be helpful. It is your winter running project. Get on board, and you can enjoy the outcome. Remember, March 31, you can say, goodness me, I can't believe what I've become. I'll see you next time. Take care.
Matt Dixon 40:56
Guys, thanks so much for joining. And thank you for listening. I hope that you enjoyed the new format. You can never miss an episode by simply subscribing. Head to the Purple Patch channel of YouTube, and you will find it there and you could subscribe. Of course, I'd like to ask you, if you will subscribe, also share it with your friends. And it's really helpful if you leave a nice positive review in the comments. Now any questions that you have, let me know. Feel free to add a comment and I will try my best to respond and support you on your performance journey. And in fact, as we commence this video podcast experience, if you have any feedback at all, as mentioned earlier in the show, we would love your help in helping us to improve. Simply email us at info@purplepatchfitness.com or leave it in the comments of the show at the Purple Patch page and we will get you dialed in. We love constructive feedback. We are in a growth mindset as we like to call it. And so feel free to share with your friends. But as I said, let's build this together. Let's make it something special. It's really fun. We're really trying hard to make it a special experience. And we want to welcome you into the Purple Patch community. With that, I hope you have a great week. Stay healthy, have fun, keep smiling, doing whatever you do. Take care.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
running, athlete, project, runner, improve, strength, conditioning, component, develop, performance, patch, winter, capacity, training, purple, important, injury, cardiovascular conditioning, walk, fun