Thoughts On Run Training: Principles Or Genetics?

Training methods have a long history of being based on anecdote. The anecdote typically comes from a coach or athlete who have applied their “theories” to the training realm and succeeded. Of course, this success could be due to any number of factors, most of which may have nothing to do with the actual physiology underlying the training itself.

But then these training approaches are applied to various populations, and invariably athletes end up with varied results. They get injured. They get burnt-out. They start to think that if it worked for Athlete A, why doesn’t it work for me? And then they start to wonder if they just don’t have “the right genetics”.

One of the best excuses for the inability to perform, or to train, or to compete, or to attain lofty goals, is genetics. It has become the perfect self-limiting, self-fulfilling prophecy. You don’t have the right alignment. You aren’t talented enough. You aren’t smart enough. You just don’t have the genetics to do this sport. Go ahead, give up now. Don’t waste your time.

I have always maintained that if you understand the mechanisms that are underlying human physiology, then you have the ultimate training tool. I like to call it “evidence-based exercise physiology”. Training principles, applied to Homo Sapiens (and his/her genetic structure, gender notwithstanding), should provide consistent results IF they address the mechanisms by which the human body develops and adapts. Although many variants exist within our individual perceptions, beliefs, and self images, the means by which the central nervous system functions stays the same from person to person. Though we may have individual differences in hair color and eye color, how we actually function physiologically on the planet, metabolically speaking, shows little variation for the vast majority of people.

We know that Form Follows Function. The human body will adapt to the specific imposed demands given the environment (cellular, metabolic, psychological) in which to do so. If we know what training response we desire, we can derive the appropriate training stimulus to apply.

If you have the appropriate training principles, you should be able to apply them to any variety of populations – male or female, young or old, “talented” or not – and get a very consistent training response, given an environment (again – cellular, metabolic, psychological) in which this can occur.

So here’s a thought – perhaps this isn’t about genetics at all. Perhaps you simply aren’t training optimally.

We have for years assumed that the training principles of the highest level athletes are, in effect, “the best”. We use these as a sort of gold standard that, when combined with “genetics”, give us the “optimal training” for any given sport. But perhaps we have been misguided in this regard.

If you have the correct training principles that address the correct mechanisms of performance, you should be able to utilize one consistent sports sciences-based training approach to all, and to do so over a broad range of event distances (such as the 800 m or the ultra-marathon). Those that continue to believe the circa-1980 theory that energy systems and aerobic capacity and lactate threshold are the limiters of performance have continued to say that this type of approach cannot possibly work. But if you ascribe to the current thinking – that the central nervous system is the limiter to performance – then you open the possibilities in countless ways.

Over the past few weeks, I have watched two athletes – one male, the other female - compete in two very different events. They have used similar training plans. Both ran four days per week, did two sessions per week of high load-low repetition strength training, actively worked on their running mechanics, and did a significant percentage of their training at high velocities relative to their goal race pace. Both were actively involved in “training the brain” as well.

Lo and behold, the results are in. In an event lasting less than 3 minutes, to an event lasting a full day, training principles are consistent. Methodical planning, progression of loading, and recovery-centered training are the cornerstones to performance. In the meantime, don’t accept the self-limiting and self-fulfilling prophecies that genetics propose. Dare to dream. There is an untapped athlete, simply needing the correct training principles, to be found in each and every one of us.

Photo credits: SanFranAnnie