Runners: Use the Principles of Exercise to Optimize Your Training & Performance

Last Updated on July 2, 2022 by Heather Hart, ACSM EP, CSCS

Confession: I have been an exercise science nerd likely longer than many of you have been running. The Principles of Training – often referred to as the Principles of Exercise – have been akin to my very own 10 Commandments or Bill of Rights (take your pick) ever since I sat down for my first exercise physiology undergrad class back in 2007.

I’ll be the first to admit, I don’t always follow them. I just like to shout about them loudly whenever the occasion arises. (Hey, it’s what people do with Commandments and Constitutions.)

Jokes aside, as an exercise physiologist and running coach, I regularly use the principles of exercise prescription to help guide my programming, and thus not only help keep my clients safe, but help them reach their running and training goals.

In this post I’m going to briefly break down ten of these training principles and apply them to the sport of running, since the majority of my audience is made up of runners.

That said, these principles apply to training for all sports, as well as exercise for general fitness and health purposes.

It’s my hope that even the most basic understanding of the principles of exercise/training will help you make the most of your training, as well as improve the likelihood that you’ll nail your running (or any sport) goals.

What are the Principles of Exercise & Training?

The principles of exercise and training are well established concepts that have come from endless decades of exercise and sport science research and practice. Adhering to these training principles is the best way to optimize your training in order to make the physical gains and improvements you seek.

10 Principles of Exercise & Training for Runners

The actual number of principles varies depending on what book, article, or governing body you refer to. But, many are somewhat repetitive or overlap, so for this post, I’ve chosen what I consider to be the top ten most important guiding principles.

1. Individuality

The Principle of Individuality states that individuals do not possess the same inherent ability to respond to exercise or training, nor have the same capacity to adapt to exercise or training. Much of this is due to heredity, but there are a number of other variables that can affect individual training response.

I won’t lie, this particular principle of exercise can be frustrating and feel wildly unfair. But as it turns out, you really can blame your parents for this one…at least partially.

When it comes to exercise or training prescription, the Principle of Individuality reminds us that a training program should acknowledge the differences in each athlete’s abilities.

How the Principle of Individuality Applies to Runners:

The principle of Individuality means that you simply cannot compare your running, training, or racing outcomes to that of any other runner.

Just because your friend took 30 minutes off of her marathon time and qualified for Boston by only running 3 days per week in training, doesn’t mean you will too.

Or just because your co-worker ran two 100 milers a month apart, and is seemingly no worse for the wear, doesn’t mean your body will allow you to recover quickly enough between the two to do the same.

As cliche as it sounds, your running journey really is yours alone. Don’t compare your journey to anyone else’s.

2. Specificity

The Principle of Specificity states that physiological adaptations in response to training are highly specific to the mode, intensity, and duration of the training activity.

Further, the Principle of Specificity explains that a chosen training program must stress the physiological systems that are necessary for optimal performance in a given sport, in order to achieve the greatest training adaptations.

How the Principle of Specificity Applies to Runners:

1. If you want to become a better runner, the majority of your training should consist of running.

Sure, cross training has its time and place. But while numerous studies have shown plenty of ways that cross training can help improve running performance, the studies almost always also show that those improvements are not as good as running alone.

2. Your specific run training should mirror your specific running goals. For example:

• Mode: If you’re training for a gnarly, technical, mountain race, you should do some of your training on gnarly, technical mountain trails. Spending the majority of your time on your flat, neighborhood roads will not give you the best training results for that type of running
• Intensity: If you’re training to PR your 5K time, then some of your training needs to be done at that pace or faster. Spending 100% of your time doing long, slow runs will not lend to an improvement in pace.
• Duration: Training for a 100 mile ultramarathon? Then you need to spend a lot of training time on your feet. Maxing out at weekday runs of 3 miles or long run of just over an hour or two will not prepare you adequately (in any way) for running 100 miles.

3. Stimulus-Recovery-Adaptation (SRA)

The Principle of Stimulus-Recovery-Adaptation states that adaptations to training are not made in the training setting, but rather that adaptations are stimulated in training and accrued during recovery.

Recovery periods – both short term (like the number of hours between two-a-day sessions) or full days off from training- need to be incorporated into training in order to not only maximize the adaptations to training, but help minimize injury or the potential of overtraining.

Further, hard training during recovery periods can actually interfere with adaptations, meaning you won’t see maximal improvements from those previous workouts.

How the Principle of Stimulus-Recovery-Adaptation Applies to Runners:

Adaptations to running are not made while running. The adaptations are stimulated during your run, but the actual adaptations happen during recovery.

Can you run every day and avoid injuries? Sure, a percentage of the “run streakers’ do this all of the time. But chances are, the lack of true recovery diminishes the potential effects of their training on their running.

Point being? You can’t constantly run every day and expect to improve.

You have to balance hard training runs with easier training runs, and be sure to take rest days as well.

4. Progressive Overload

The Principle of Progressive Overload states that in order to elicit maximal adaptations to training, the presented stimulus must be greater than past stimuli (but still within the athlete’s abilities) and that systematically increasing the demands on the body is necessary for continued improvement.

In normal, healthy, well rested and well-fed conditions, our bodies adapt quickly to training. That’s the whole point of training after all: we present a physical stress to our body, the body breaks down, but then recovers and adapts by repairing and rebuilding to the extent that this “stress” is no longer stressful.

In order to continue improving, we have to continue presenting a greater training stimulus than before. However, it must be done progressively: too big of an increase in stress may result in injury or overtraining.

How the Principle of Progressive Overload Applies to Runners:

In order to continue to improve as a runner, you have to continuously push and increase the demands of your training, whether that’s your pace, the distance you can cover, or the type of terrain you run on.

Remember when you first started running, and covering an entire mile without stopping felt nearly impossible? I do. But these days, running a full mile without stopping is seemingly as routine and simple as brushing your teeth. That’s because your body has adapted to the stress of running a mile.

But if you stop increasing the difficulty beyond what you’ve adapted to, you’re never going to get any better. It falls right in line with elite cyclist Greg LeMond’s famous quote: “It never gets any easier, you just go faster.”

Remember: Progressive & Gradual Increases

Most runners have heard of the “10% rule” – a commonly suggested guideline that your training volume or time at intensity doesn’t increase by more than 10% (in time or distance) per week.

In practice, however, many runners are able to safely tolerate an increase greater than 10% with no negative outcomes, whereas other runners fin a 10% jump to be too much.

Therefore, when following the principle of progressive overload, be sue to remember the “progressive” part, and make sure your increases in running mileage, time, or intensity are done at a rate your body can safely tolerate.

5. Variation

The Principle of Variation states that training in a similar manner for too long reduces the amount of adaptation gained from any stimulus, therefore strategic variation is necessary.

For sport-specific training, the volume and intensity of training should be varied over a macrocycle. This allows athletes to develop different aspects of strength and endurance that are targeted by training within different energy systems.

How the Principle of Variation Applies to Runners:

When it comes to running, the Principle of Variety doesn’t mean that you should include strength training and other modes of cross training in your training cycle (although, there’s plenty of reason why you should, but that’s not what we’re talking about here. Rather, it means that your running workouts need to have variety within them over the course of a training cycle.

There’s no doubt that some runners prefer a certain type or effort of running over others. As a coach, I’ve worked with ultrarunners who absolutely loathe speedwork or hard intervals. And I’ve worked with short distance runners who want to make the transition to ultrarunning, but really despise endless hours of long, slow, ultramarathon specific training runs.

But, the hard intervals are highly effective at adaptations like increasing aerobic capacity, strengthening type II (fast twitch) muscle fibers, and increasing power. On the other hand, those long, slow, ultra type of workouts are absolutely necessary for increasing mitochondrial density, improving glucose utilization, as well as fat oxidation.

And to truly reach your potential as a runner, you need to train both of these systems. So it’s important you include variety in your running training.

Using the FITT Principle to Ensure Variation and Overload

FITT is an acronym used in the exercise science world that stands for Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type. The FITT Principle is used as an outline to design training workouts.

For runners, using the FITT principle can be used to ensure you are including variety and creating progressive overload.

• Frequency: How often are you training? If you are new to running, and you’ve become comfortable running three days a week, bumping the number of training runs per week up to four is a great way to ensure overload.
• Intensity: How difficult are your runs? If every run is an easy run, incorporating speedwork or tempo sessions, depending on where you are in the training cycle, may be an appropriate way to ensure variety.
  
  When it comes to overload, you need to be sure that those speed or tempo intervals get progressively faster/more difficult overtime.
• Time: Progressively increasing your long runs week after week is a perfect example of progressive overload. On the other hand, total time spent training can be indicative of variety in your training. Naturally, harder workouts are going to be much shorter in overall time, whereas endurance training lasts much longer.
• Type: Not all running is created the same, which is a perfect example of variety. You can increase the stress load of your training by changing the type of running you are doing. Workouts like hill repeats, or leaving your treadmill for a more technical trail, are both ways to add a new stimulus in order to increase overload.

6. Phase Potentiation

The Principle of Phase Potentiation states that in order to get the best long-term results from training, certain phases of training must precede others in order to improve the results of later phases.

In other words, the order of the training phases (and the variety of workouts, mentioned above) in a training plan matters.

How the Principle of Phase Potentiation Applies to Runners:

The order of training phases varies by sport, and even within sport, depending on your ultimate end goal.

The easiest way to think of Phase Potentiation is to often transition from least specific to most specific training during a training cycle. Let’s use ultrarunning as an example:

• Early in the training cycle, I want to focus on building maximal aerobic capacity (VO2 max). This is done with short, fast/hard intervals that utilize the anaerobic energy system.
• Next, I am going to focus on improving my lactate threshold. This typically involves longer tempo intervals run at just above my lactate threshold.
  
  Even though they are different, it’s important to note that lactate threshold occurs at a percentage of VO2 max (typically LT occurs at 80-90% of VO2 max, but this can vary by individual). The amount your lactate threshold can increase is dependent upon the ceiling of your VO2 max. So by raising our VO2max first, we leave room to improve our lactate threshold next.
• As we get closer to the goal race, it’s time to focus on the long, slow, aerobic efforts that are specific to ultrarunning. And here’s the great part: when you improve your maximum aerobic capacity, everything underneath has the opportunity to improve as well, including your ability to utilize oxygen at ultra paces, as well as how fast you can run while staying within your aerobic energy system (and not approaching the lactate threshold.)

In short: don’t just randomly throw workouts together with no rhyme or reason. Make sure your big picture training order makes sense based upon your goals.

7. Interference

The Principle of Interference states that training to improve different components simultaneously may result in compromised gains or improvements in one of those components.

In other words, focusing on two very different training goals at the same time will likely hinder the outcome of both goals.

There are a few reasons for this:

• Training Modality Compatibility: Our bodies have different metabolic pathways responsible for recovery based on the different energy systems used during training. These pathways can interfere with each other, resulting inhibited adaptations.
• Training Time Availability: By focusing on more than one specific goal, you’ll likely be underdosing the amount of training time needed to make the biggest improvements in performance, as you’ll have to split training time between both goals.

How the Principle of Interference Applies to Runners:

In a recent post, I explained how the gym-bro myth that “running will destroy your gains” is mostly unfounded. However, it is important to remember that it can be more difficult to truly improve aspects of running are very different from each other.

For example, trying to train to improve your speed in order to set a massive 5K PR while simultaneously training to run your first 100 mile ultramarathon isn’t the best training approach.

And, while you absolutely should strength train throughout your run training, trying to set a 1RM personal best on your deadlift while also deep in the trenches of high mileage, peak marathon training could prove very difficult.

8. Fatigue Management

The Principle of Fatigue Management states that hard, successive training builds purposeful fatigue, however, if left unchecked, fatigue will interfere with performance, adaptation, and safety. Therefore training programs should account for cumulative fatigue.

You might be thinking “Wait, how is this different from the Principle of Stimulus-Recovery-Adaptation mentioned above?” I’m glad you asked.

SRA refers the inhibited adaptations that may occur as a result of putting too many hard workouts together, or training when you should be taking a rest day.

Fatigue management, on the other hand, refers to the purposeful planning to induce a certain level of fatigue as a result of training, as well as planning adequate recovery periods so that the fatigue doesn’t result in decrements in performance, overtraining, or injuries.

Fatigue management is the difference in an athlete achieving functional overreaching followed by supercompensation, or an athlete landing in nonfunctional overtraining, or worse, overtraining syndrome.

You can learn more about this topic in the post “Overreaching vs. Overtraining: Running Burnout Explained.”

How the Principle of Fatigue Management Applies to Runners:

If you want to ensure you get the most out of your run training plan, make sure it keeps fatigue management in mind.

There should be purposeful periods of induced fatigue: weekly, in a monthly mesocycle, and a peak training phase over the entire training cycle.

And there should be purposeful periods of rest to help manage that fatigue: easy or full rest days, cutback (deload) weeks, pre-race taper, and post-race recovery periods.

9. Diminishing Returns

The Principle of Diminishing Returns states that as fitness increases, the relative and absolute improvements in fitness made with training will decrease, even with continual overload.

In other words: the closer you get your genetic potential as an athlete, the harder it will be to make improvements in fitness and performance.

How the Principle of Diminishing Returns Applies to Runners:

There are a number of reasons why running improvements are made faster and easier when you start training. Much of it is because you have so much room and potential for improvements. Physiologically, you are making neuromuscular adaptations that make exercise feel easier.

But, thanks again to mom and dad, we all have a “ceiling” to our running abilities determined by genetics.

This is why we often see elite runners train for years just to take a few seconds off of their mile time, or why it took Eliud Kipchoge multiple attempts to break the 2 hour marathon.

But here’s the good news: one of the reasons elite athletes are elite is because they have the skills – and arguably the resources – to train to get as close to that genetic ceiling as possible.

The rest of us? We’re probably far from close to our ceiling, for a number of reasons.

Maybe we don’t have the psychological ability or pain tolerance to train hard enough. Perhaps we don’t have adequate time available to commit to training volumes necessary for optimal adaptations. Or maybe we don’t quite understand how to piece training together in a way to lend to maximal performance gains.

But why is that all good news? Because it means you probably have plenty of room left to grow as a runner.

10. Reversibility

The Principle of Reversibility states that if training is decreased or stopped altogether, the physiological adaptations that caused improvements in performance will be reversed.

It’s science’s way of saying “use it or lose it”.

How quickly you lose the fitness depends on a number of factors, including but not limited to, training status (the more fit you are, the more likely you are to retain fitness), genetics (no surprise), and lifestyle habits such as sleep and diet. But in general, research points to a decrease in cardiovascular endurance beginning around 2 weeks without training, and muscular strength around 4 weeks without training.

Reversibility can be paired with the Principle of Continuous Load Demands, which suggests that the longer an athlete has trained, generally the more stable their performance outcomes, and thus, long term interruptions in training should be avoided.

How the Principle of Reversibility Applies to Runners:

While we know periods of rest, recovery, or even “off season” are important, avoid taking long periods of time completely off of running.

Recent research shows that some training is better than none. A 2021 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning research found that endurance performance can be maintained in general running populations for up to 15 weeks when the number of training sessions is reduced to as little as 2 sessions per week, or when training volume is reduced by 33-66% (as low as 13-26 minutes per session), as long as exercise intensity is maintained.

Incorporating some shorter, lower volume workouts a couple of times per week maybe a better idea than skipping running altogether during your off-season, if at all possible.

Principles of Exercise & Training – Final Thoughts:

Hopefully this post shed some light on how to best structure your training plan to elicit the biggest improvements in your running. But, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by all of these concepts, don’t worry – we can help.

Have basic questions? Leave a comment below, and I will gladly respond and help you find an answer!

If you have more specific questions about your own training and running goals, reach out to our team at Hart Strength and Endurance Coaching via email ([email protected]) or through the contact form on our website. We’d be more than happy to chat with you and discuss how we may be able to assist you in reaching your running goals.