Wendy Thomas competes at the 2012 Olympic marathon trials. She earned her spot with supercompensation training.
In the fall of 2011, Wendy Thomas looked at her training schedule and grimaced. On the agenda was 31 miles for the day, most of it at or near marathon pace. Scott Simmons, her coach at the American Distance Project, explained that the morning portion of this "special block" workout would be highlighted by 8 × 1600m. The afternoon featured a lengthy fartlek. Both sessions would be preceded by a steady 6-miler. To make the special block even more specific to the demands of the marathon, Simmons added, she would not be able to eat many carbs in between workouts.
This type of training might have intimidated even the best runners in the world, but Thomas hardly considered herself in that group. She only picked up the sport seriously in 2009 as a 30-year-old stay-at-home mom with no running background. The jump to the American Distance Project only occurred because she saw an online ad. Now, without even a half marathon race under her belt, Thomas was about to tackle the ultimate supercompensation workout.
At its core, supercompensation training is a simple, if radical, idea: on top of already consistent training, overload the body with several mega-mileage weeks and intense, extensive workouts. The goal is to push a runner beyond a training plateau. This process of adapting to stress by becoming stronger underlies all training--Simmons' planned overload simply took it to a new level.
Thomas survived that workout and three other special blocks like it in the three months leading up to the U.S. Olympic trials. She believes those workouts not only allowed her to qualify for the trials (achieved with a 1:13:48 half marathon that November), but to thrive on race day. "Everyone else talks about hitting the wall," says Thomas, who placed 12th in her marathon debut at the trials in 2:34:25. "I've never experienced that, and I think that's because I'd already done days where I'd run 30, 32 miles. My body knew how to get past it."
But are all bodies alike? And is what happened to Thomas a fluke or a style of training that can reap benefits for anyone looking to make a racing breakthrough?
A SHARP CONTRAST TO PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD
Serious runners dream of taking two weeks off from work, renting a cabin in the woods and training to their hearts' content. Surely there would be immediate benefits, right?
Maybe not. David Costill, who has a doctorate in physical education and physiology, has studied elite runners and swimmers for almost 50 years at Ball State University's Human Performance Laboratory and pioneered research on the effect of doubling swimmers' training loads for short periods of time. The results showed no improvement for the extra-high-mileage group. "This is true for runners, too," Costill says. "You have an upper limit to how far you can adapt. Once you get to a level where your cardiovascular fitness is optimized, you can do all the work you want, but you're not going to improve upon it. I would say the idea that it will supercompensate is bogus."
But experiential evidence calls Costill's conclusion into question for those runners seeking the extra competitive edge. Former U.S. 10,000m record-holder Gerry Lindgren reported he performed best when upping his mileage as high as 300 miles per week. Even more telling, recent marathon stars such as Olympic silver medalist Abel Kirui and Moses Mosop, under the guidance of Renato Canova, both make frequent use of special blocks and well-placed high-mileage weeks to take their training to the next level.
Coach Renato Canova advises Moses Mosop to implement high-intensity, high-mileage blocks in his training cycle.
SUPERCOMPENSATION MODELS
If you're a durable, fit runner who is stuck on a training plateau, experimenting with supercompensation workouts might get you over the hump. Below are three models to experiment with that could help you make a big leap in your running.
LOWEST RISK: INCREASED INTENSITY
This is the most established form of supercompensation training and the most familiar to runners. After months of building a solid aerobic base with long runs and tempos, insert a block of higher-intensity workouts that overload a particular energy system. Pete Rea, ZAP Fitness head coach, likes to challenge his 5K and 10K athletes with a series of four workouts that push the upper limits of their anaerobic (lactate) threshold and VO2 max three to six weeks before their goal race.
"If we do those, and they come off fairly healthy, they'll have a big breakthrough eight times in 10," Rea says. An example of these workouts is 2 × 2-mile, 2 × 1-mile, and 2 × half-mile. The pace starts about 10 seconds faster than anaerobic threshold and finishes at 3K pace or faster. Costill agrees that runners who want to target improvement in a short period of time would do best by increasing the specificity of their workouts.
You can also amplify the effect of a workout by increasing the length of intervals while maintaining a steady pace. If you've mostly prepared for half marathons by doing 4-mile tempo runs at your goal pace, consider increasing the training effect by building up to running 2 × 3-mile or 2 × 4-mile at that same pace with a short rest in between. Doing so teaches your body excellent pacing and increases the supercompensation effect. The special block workout Thomas tackled is an advanced version of this idea.
LOWEST RISK: INCREASED INTENSITY
Upping your typical weekly volume 15 to 25 percent is one way many athletes and coaches attempt to overload their aerobic systems. A runner who consistently hits 60 miles a week might benefit from periodically increasing the usual volume to 70 or 80 miles, then backing off for a recovery week before returning to his or her usual volume.
You can also consider upping this mileage for a longer period of time if your body adapts well. Randy Ashley, a private running coach at rarunning.com and a two-time U.S. Olympic marathon trials competitor, overloaded the mileage of his top runner, Caroline White, by 20 percent for six weeks. As a result, White ran 2:37, a 7-minute PR. "This bump in mileage increased her aerobic strength, and she was able to hold her goal marathon pace from mile one to the finish," Ashley says.
Why Running Volume Matters
Increasing the intensity of workouts and weekly volume simultaneously is by far the riskiest way to make large fitness gains, but for a select few it can be highly rewarding. This includes Thomas, whose brutal special block workout was folded into a 110-mile week. Prior to joining Simmons' training group, the most she'd ever run was 70. To minimize injury risk, be sure to listen to your body and adapt the workouts or training volume as necessary. And definitely don't jump in unprepared.
"If you haven't been running high mileage for a good long while, you are going to be in real trouble from something like this, and you won't get any improvement from it," says Nate Jenkins, a 2:14 marathoner who credits this type of training with spurring his greatest leap in performance when he was competing. Jenkins, who was running 144-mile weeks already, says that special block weekends "would still leave me dead on my feet for days."
RECOVERY RULES
No matter what type of supercompensation training you try, the biggest key is adequate recovery. Supercompensation only occurs during the resting period. Pushing too hard, too often, can only lead to sub-par performances and injury. "The thing people don't understand is that when we were doing those crazy high-mileage special blocks, the next couple days weren't that bad," Thomas says. "They were actually less mileage than usual."
One way you can ensure recovery is by slowing down in the days after a supercompensation workout. "I view it like ocean waves," Rea says. "When you do this kind of work, the tops of the waves (the workouts) are much higher, so the recovery days need to be much easier." Jenkins, whose marathon race pace was under 5:10 per mile, often did his recovery runs at 8:30 pace immediately following a supercompensation cycle.
Another key is upping your carbohydrate intake. Your glycogen stores will be heavily taxed by this kind of work, Costill says, so you need to maximize your carbohydrate intake in the hours immediately after this type of workout. Super-compensation workouts should definitely not be viewed as a way to lose weight, and they are not compatible with low-carb trends like the Paleo diet.
"You have to remember that you don't get better by doing one of these supercompensation weeks," Jenkins says. "You get better by fully recovering from one."
Controlled Overload
Your training background plays a large role in the type of supercompensation training you can safely try. Below are some guidelines to consider before tackling any big workouts or weeks:
| <30 to 25 percent increase, once every 3-4 weeks INCREASED INTENSITY: Add set of 5K race-pace intervals (such as 5 × 800m with equal recovery) once a week INCREASED VOLUME: 10 to 20 percent increase, 1-2 times per 12- to 20-week training cycle INCREASED DENSITY: Not recommended |
| 30-45 to 25 percent increase, once every 3-4 weeks INCREASED INTENSITY:: Add set of 5K race-pace intervals (such as 5 × 1,000m with equal recovery) once a week INCREASED VOLUME:: 10 to 20 percent increase 2-3 times per 12- to 20-week training cycle INCREASED DENSITY:Not recommended |
| 45-60 to 25 percent increase, once every 3-4 weeks INCREASED INTENSITY:Increase usual workout length by 25 to 50 percent, keep pace constant, or add an additional interval, progression or fartlek workout to your week INCREASED VOLUME:: 15 to 25 percent increase once per month INCREASED DENSITY: 1 high-volume, high-intensity week in training cycle, followed immediately by a recovery week |
| >60 to 25 percent increase, once every 3-4 weeks INCREASED INTENSITY: Increase usual workout length by 30 to 60 percent, keep pace constant, or add an additional interval, progression or fartlek workout to your week INCREASED VOLUME: 15 How to Run Twice a Day Without Injury INCREASED DENSITY: 1-2 high-volume, high-intensity weeks in a training cycle, followed immediately by a recovery week |
| >80 to 25 percent increase, once every 3-4 weeks INCREASED INTENSITY:: Increase usual workout length by 30 to 60 percent, keep pace constant, or add an additional interval, progression or fartlek workout to your week INCREASED VOLUME: 15 How to Run Twice a Day Without Injury INCREASED DENSITY: 1 MODERATE RISK: INCREASED VOLUME |
