The Three Habits of Highly Effective Runners: Have a plan, pay attention, do the math Published April 19, 2011 By Lt. Col. Kenneth Rose Air Force Reserve Command Citizen Airman/Apr 2011 -- Editor's note: Veteran runners know their capabilities and limits. The habits experienced runners have in common may surprise you, but learning them may help you run faster and reduce the likelihood of injury. The common habits of seasoned runners are distilled into eight words: Have a plan. Pay attention. Do the math. This article illustrates how a good plan, good self-feedback and some key computations can help runners make informed decisions about their training.) People who are avid runners accept the fact that eventually they are going to get dinged up, beat up, laid up, banged up or otherwise hurt or injured as pretty much the price of doing business, so to speak. According to a Runner's World survey, two out of three runners were injured in 2009. Depending on the source, studies estimate a range of 45 percent to 70 percent of runners are injured each year. That's a lot of athletes on the sidelines. These numbers include recreational joggers as well as athletes who train regularly. For war fighters, training isn't recreational. It's anything but. The ability to run is a condition of employment. However, as many mid-career Airmen aren't hardened athletes, the transition to high-stakes training has been difficult and painful. The result is we have Airmen, who are essentially part-time runners, pushing hard to improve their run times. In order to get in shape, they push the limits of what their bodies can take. Doing so greatly increases their risk of suffering an injury, and getting injured results in more downtime. The need to improve may conflict with the need to remain healthy. Sound familiar? It's an age-old runner's dilemma. Conventional wisdom says to avoid overuse injuries, runners should take it easy, except that taking it easy gets runners out of shape. On the other hand, applying the physical stress theory, which states that the body adapts to the physical stresses it's exposed to, running more, not less, is what protects runners from injury. So how does anyone thread this needle? What separates seasoned runners from the rest? As it turns out, the differences aren't complicated. Seasoned runners have a plan. They pay attention. They do the math. Interestingly, none of these behaviors relate to footwear, nutrition, mileage or even talent. There's little agreement among runners in these matters. In the end, what is common to virtually all veteran runners is that they know themselves, their goals and their limits. More importantly, the actions they take are within the reach of anyone committed to improvement. Habit #1: Have a Plan If we aspire to improve our running and do it safely, we should take note. Veteran runners think strategically. Today's run is part of the weekly plan, and the weekly plan is part of the seasonal plan. The seasonal plan is built around specific events or goals. It's a continuous cycle of building up, maintaining or recovering, where nearly every run contributes to a larger goal or purpose. If this sounds like overkill, remember the old coach's saying: Games aren't won on game day -- they're won at practice. It's especially true for running. The clock is soul-crushingly honest. No amount of willpower or good luck can make up for skipped runs due to random training. The objective of every good plan is to get the runner to the next event in the best shape possible without injury. Many injuries result from runners doing too much too soon. Planning ahead gives runners a roadmap that allows time to build strength and cultivate speed on a safe, controlled schedule. That's worth restating: A good plan helps runners become stronger and faster gradually and without getting injured. Consequently, for many Air Force runners, it is the calendar -- not the stopwatch -- that figures largely into success or failure. Runners who meet their training milestones in the months, weeks and days leading up to their personal fitness test have every reason to believe they'll be at their best when they get to the starting line. But don't lose that stopwatch. You'll need it later. The ability to run 20 minutes without stopping increases leg strength and aids not only protection from injury but also the initial development of speed. Runners who are unable to run 20 minutes slowly should start with a walk-run combination three times a week for the first few weeks. In the beginning, the plan is to run for two minutes, then walk for two and repeat for a total time of 20 minutes. After a week or two, the amount of time running may be increased and the number of walk breaks reduced; the total time will remain 20 minutes during this build-up and should include a rest day (no running) after each workout as endurance increases. Dramatic increases are to be avoided. The runner's calendar should have "quality" workouts scheduled occasionally. There are two basic types of quality workouts: long runs and speed training. When it comes to quality workouts, elite runners are tempted to do them too much, developing runners too little or not at all. Quality workouts focus on the two critical components of running: leg strength (long run) and cardiovascular development (speed). These components complement each other. Speed is built on leg strength; leg strength is essential for speed. Elite runners often do two quality workouts a week. Developing runners may schedule one quality run a week, alternating types from week to week. Long runs are an important means to improving leg strength and resistance to fatigue. They are a sure-fire way to improve one's overall running ability, even for shorter endurance events. Nearly every good running plan uses long runs. A rough estimate for long runs is 150 percent of an average daily run. For example, if a person runs 20 minutes per session, a long run would be 30 minutes in duration. Remember the 10 percent rule and build to this distance gradually week by week. Run at a normal pace or slower; the focus is on distance, not speed. Speed work teaches the body to run well when it's tired. When Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile, he trained by running the quarter mile in sixty seconds so his body would adapt to the pace he'd need to set on race day. He would run a 60-second quarter mile and then catch his breath for 60 seconds before repeating the cycle over and over, striving to hold pace each time. Modern speed work isn't much different. If the goal is to run 1.5 miles in 12 minutes, a sample workout would involve running the quarter mile in roughly a two-minute interval with two minutes of recovery or less. If the goal is 14 minutes, a good interval pace would be approximately 2:20. Again, the objective is to hold pace for six to 10 quarter-mile intervals, so it's important not to overdo it on the first one or two intervals. If no track or treadmill is available, running fast two-minute "pick-ups" in the neighborhood is an option, too. Running more than a few intervals on the first day is not recommended. Quality workouts such as long runs and speed work challenge runners to exceed their usual distance or speed, but never do both in the same workout. While the potential for injury exists, quality workouts are simply controlled increases in intensity and are much safer than indiscriminate changes in training. Runners are encouraged to consult a physician, make only gradual increases and stop training when sharp pain occurs. In summary, a good plan will have weekly goals with quality workouts mixed in throughout. Sample plans for a variety of distances are available at runnersworld.com or coolrunning.com. Most importantly, a plan will allow time for gradual increases and be a custom guide for consistent and controlled training. Habit #2: Pay Attention Some runners have the ability to remember their training in great detail. Veteran runners have an eye for the minutest details, it seems. As a result, they are attuned to listening to their bodies, knowing their capabilities and making informed decisions. Feedback is good. Runners who are totally checked out may fail to properly assess their workout, if they assess it at all. While many experienced runners enjoy running with music or partners, no one runs with their brain on autopilot. There's no shortage of things to pay attention to. How's my form? How is the time? What's my pace? Am I working too hard or feeling too good? Is this pace working for me? Shouldn't my Achilles tendon be loose by now? What if I relaxed a bit now and pressed later? Why does my hamstring act up on the third mile? Many runners go as far as to write down their observations in a log. For starters they may track their time, the distance, the overall pace, the temperature, their weight, their fuel intake and anything else they consider to be the basic facts about each workout. When it comes to keeping a log, many runners agree it's worth a try, although some will say it's overkill. The idea behind the log is that over time, runners will notice certain trends will break out, and they'll be able to make a fair reckoning of their capabilities with data squarely in mind. Other runners say after years of running they "know their numbers" intuitively and don't need to write them down. Some of the numbers worth knowing may include: * Average time and pace for daily run in the summer/winter. * Average time and pace for long run in the summer/winter. * Quarter-mile interval times and reps in the summer/winter. * The weight at which run times are best. * The amount of water weight lost on a hot run. In addition to knowing their numbers, veteran runners pay close attention to their physical well-being. This includes such elements as their perceived exertion during the run, onset of pain and soreness, hydration and fatigue, perceived body temperature, breakdowns in form, etc. So how does paying attention actually work? Let's take a breakdown in form, for example. First of all, perceiving a breakdown is tricky, but let's say Natalie is an experienced runner who runs 45 minutes four times a week. Natalie expects all of her footfalls to be clean and light. No scuffs, stumbles or wobbles. Late in her run she hears a little scuff -- a slightly rough step. A few seconds later, another scuff. She wonders, what's the deal? Well, she knows she's tired, but how tired? She remembers she started off really fast. She passed her first landmark 25 seconds earlier than normal -- that's a lot for her. Her overall time is a few seconds slow. She concludes her form is showing the first signs of breaking down, and the fast start is the likely cause. She resolves not to press her luck by forcing a fast finish but rather to attempt a more controlled start next time as a means to help her hold her form throughout. And what if those scuffs came early in the run? Natalie would need to search her mind for causes. Is she sore? Is it super cold outside? Was her warm-up sufficient? Did she get enough sleep last night? Or is sloppy running normal for her until she gets her rhythm? It is possible that a scuff is just a scuff. Natalie need not act on every little observation, but there's no reason she shouldn't keep her eyes and ears open and make notes. In the end it is the very act of paying attention that helps runners notice those trends that point to their capabilities and help them know their limits. Habit #3: Do the Math For runners who pay attention and know their numbers, "runner's math" is the means by which many decisions are made. With the exception of some high school athletes and some other young runners, most trained, experienced athletes are extremely conversant in projecting finishing times, computing goals and splits, and calculating pace. It's almost second nature. The math problems help runners obtain information on their run while they're running. To wait until the end for feedback is akin to running blindfolded. When it's time to remove the blindfold, it's too late to make corrections. Invariably, the purpose of math is to assure a well-conceived plan for pacing throughout the run. Nearly every practiced runner strives to run at an even effort throughout most runs, especially races. It's one of the principal running commandments. Running like a lunatic in the beginning in an effort to "bank" time is a notoriously bad practice and may lead to injury, but even imperceptibles surges too early in the run may backfire and cause runners to run out of gas early. There's a tendency for runners to experience a false euphoria in the first part of a race -- the 1.5 mile run is no exception -- that causes them to overreach and spend the latter portion of the run fighting the effects of muscle fatigue. To run at an even pace ideally should feel easy in the beginning and difficult at the finish, with the last drop of gas at the very last step. Running even splits helps runners run well to the finish. But to do so, the splits have to be computed first. The first step is to compute a goal finish time. If one's training has been consistent, the last 1.5-mile time is an excellent benchmark. If one's training has improved, then a (slightly) faster goal is warranted. If not, then the opposite is true. Interval training is a good predictor workout. Remember Roger Bannister? A speed workout involving quarter-mile intervals may be a better predictor than running a 1.5-mile trial run (nearly everyone runs trials slower than the real thing). The pace at which runners can run quarter-mile intervals is usually just a smidge faster than what they'll do on race day. As a rough example, a runner who can run six 1:30 intervals for the quarter-mile (with 1:30 rest in between) should run a little slower than 9:00 for the 1.5-mile run. With a rough goal computed, the next step is to compute an average pace (see chart below). For the 1.5-mile run, the chart provides the necessary information. For those not running at a quarter-mile track, it's not against the rules to obtain a global positioning system device and set up quarter-mile landmarks. After a goal pace is computed, a little addition will tell the runner what his watch needs to say at each quarter-mile split. Example -- 12:30 goal (2:05 splits) Lap 1 (first quarter mile) = 2:05 Lap 2 = 4:10 Lap 3 = 6:15 Lap 4 = 8:20 Lap 5 = 10:25 Lap 6 = Finish by 12:30 For runs of other distances, runners must arrange to do the math themselves. The basic idea is know how fast one is supposed to run. For those who are slightly "math impaired," an excellent running calculator for longer races may be found at www.mcmillanrunning.com. Another option is to search for "running calculators" to find online tools to help project finishing times and calculate pacing. Putting It All Together Having a plan, paying attention and doing the math. These three habits complement each other in a continuous cycle. A new plan may require a new focus and new computations. New observations may warrant a revamped strategy with recomputed goals. For every runner striving to improve, the landscape is in continuous flux. If the first step toward mastery is understanding, it behooves every runner to understand himself and his limits. A good plan and a strategy for good feedback will help Airmen build strength and speed safely. (Colonel Rose is an air reserve technician with the 84th Test and Evaluation Squadron, 926th Group, Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. He is a long-time running enthusiast and has a 100 percent lifetime average on the personal fitness test.)