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Lessons Learned From Marathon Runners

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Marathon is a classic distance of 42,195km and is the ultimate challenge for a runner. I have run Hamburg Marathon a couple of years ago and I learned some lessons from the experienced marathon runners that I think many cyclists can take advantage of: 

1 - Focus on a main goal

Marathon runners are very selective when they plan their season. They choose two or three main goals during the year and use all their effort to make a top performance on race day. I know that cyclists do a lot more races than runners do, but it is recommendable to select specific races to peak in.

One of the big differences between Lance Armstrong and other riders is that he used to focus on the Tour de France as his main goal, where his opponents had several other goals during the season (World cup, Pro Tour, World Championships, Olympics). With only a few main goals it is possible to reach a higher level of performance in these hand picked races.

2 – Make a training plan with a specific goal

Marathon runners have a training plan focusing on peak their form at the main event of the season. I believe it is easier to stick to a training plan when there is a goal to achieve. That is exactly what marathon runners have: The last day in their training calendar is the marathon itself.  

3 – Use a tapering protocol

Marathon runners use different kinds of tapering protocols the last two or three weeks before the marathon race day. Again, these runners are very selective and are not afraid of deselect races as a part of preparation for the big event.

4 – Train with higher intensity

Even though marathon is a long distance event most training is performed at a relatively high intensity compared to long distance cycling. By training with a higher intensity marathon runners achieve better results in less time.

Learn more from marathon runners: Important lessons from marathon runners.

More Lessons To Be Learned From Runners

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I have previously described what cyclists can learn from marathon runners. Effective use of training planning, goal setting and tapering protocols make marathon runners look more serious in my eyes than many road cyclists. There are more lessons that cyclists have to learn from runners so keep reading!

In my recent posts about VO2 max training, I have written about how well trained athletes can benefit from difficult VO2 max workouts. If you haven’t read the arguments yet, have a look at why VO2 max is crucial in road cycling.

Runners train less, but have comparable high VO2 max
The best runners and cyclists are some of the athletes with the absolutely highest VO2 max. Thus, you would expect them to have equally high training amounts, but for different reasons that is not the case.

Runners train significantly less hours per week than cyclists. I guess that professional runners spend less than half the time training compared to professional cyclists competing at a similar level.

I would like to emphasize that both runners and cyclists train very hard and push their bodies to the limit of what they are capable of. Bottom line, though, is that runners train significantly less but still manage to perform VO2 max results similar to cyclists. Thus, runners training is more time effective and that is quite interesting.

What are the secrets we can learn from these time effective runners?
It is well accepted among scientists that well trained athletes need training intensity close to their VO2 max to secure further progress. That will say an intensity from 80% up to 100%. Most runners do quite a large amount of intervals, speed sessions or races at this high intensity. It should be clear to everyone that these high intensity workouts compensate for many hours of long slow distance training (Read more about LSD Training). I guess it is also obvious that runners train with a relatively higher intensity than cyclists on average.

I believe cyclists like runners can achieve the great results with less training if they spend more time on intervals and speed sessions close to their VO2 max.