My copy of "Daniels' Running Formula" is dog-eared and marked up with text I've highlighted. I can open the book to a random page and almost immediately find Coach Daniels telling me something that emphasizes or clarifies running lessons I've learned along the way. Paging through the book now, here are some of my key 'take aways' from Coach Daniels' book. The following material is quoted or paraphrased from Coach Daniels' book, from pages indicated.
- No one has all the answers, and one plan will not suit all runners (page x)
- There are four kinds of distance runners 1) high ability and motivation 2) high ability but not motivated 3) lacking ability but highly motivated 4) lacking ability and motivation (pg xv).
- Training Principles (pg 8) Some of them are ...
-- The body reacts to stress of training by adapting to perform better
-- Specificity: You get better at the activity that provided the training stress. Over-training has a negative effect on ability to perform the activity that provided the stress
-- Diminishing Return (and accelerating setbacks). As training increases in duration and intensity, the benefit gained increases more slowly, while the chance of over-training/injury increases
- Your current best performances can be used to determine the training intensity necessary to improve (pg 31)
- The basic goals of training are: (pg32)
-- improve ability to transport blood/oxygen
-- increase ability of muscles to use oxygen
-- shift lactate threshold to higher running speed
-- increase VO2 max
-- improve speed
-- improve running economy
You can see where this is going ... a training plan is a mix of training activities of the right duration and intensity, selected to make progress against the goals. He describes a system of assigning points based on training activity time and intensity. This is interesting because it 'handicaps' ability to the extent that runners with very different abilities can compare their training efforts, and he observes that novice runners might consider a weekly total of 50 points, advanced high-schoolers 100 points,and collegians 150 points. Elite runners might be working 200 points or more a week. (pg 41)
- A season long training cycle might have four phases (pg 68)
-- FI. Foundation and injury prevention - building the base
-- EQ. Early Quality - running mechanics, running economy and speed (primarily reps)
-- TQ. Transition Quality, the toughest phase, focusing on long intervals
-- FQ. Final Quality, threshold running, some reps and intervals, and racing.
Over the long term (many training cycles) Coach Daniels believes that it's better to develop speed (skill) before endurance (aerobic conditioning) (pg 80). Note that on page 81, he points out that older runners running for fitness might want to flip this around ...
- To avoid over-training and injury, slower runners might have to run less total mileage than faster runners. (pg 92)
- Re: Individual limits and weekly mileage (pg 95) There is a wide range of answers to the question of how many miles/week a distance runner should be running ...
- Stride rate. Almost all elite distance runners tend to stride at about the same rate: 180 or more steps per minute. (pg 93) The main change that occurs as runners go faster is in stride length.
- Breathing Rhythms. Most elite distance runners breathe with a 2-2 rhythm (pg 116)
- The ideal intensity is the least stressful intensity that accomplishes what you want (pg 123)
- Losing weight / changes in body composition (pg 150). It's hard to tell how much improved performance is due to leaner frame rather than the fact that quality training can be carried out more effectively with a slimmer body. Some cautions here ... losing body mass for the sake of weighing less can be counterproductive.
- Marathon Training (chapter 20)
-- If you get beyond about 50 miles per week, you should probably consider running twice a day most days of the week
-- I think the guidelines given for runners training to complete a marathon (pg 268) may apply just as well to beginning ultra-runners.
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