Path dependence, critical thinking and curiosity

Too often, we think of coaching as blindly following a weekly training plan. Our coach (or ChatGPT) outlines a 6–12 week program to take us from weekend warrior to podium contender. We have been led to believe that attaining fitness is as straightforward as following a recipe in Jamie Oliver’s 30 Minute Meals.

Very few people stop to think about why we even follow a 7-day weekly training cycle. Outside of most people working weekdays and having weekends free to do longer runs, there is no physiological reason to do so. The entire construct of most training plans we come across is based on the simple premise of convenience and path dependence. Path dependence is just a fancy way to say that current outcomes and future development are heavily influenced by historical events, past decisions, and established institutions, even if those past choices are no longer the most efficient or rational.

We can take the argument further and look at why, within this 7-day training cycle, most people believe it essential to fit in a long run, a hill workout, a tempo run, and a track workout. The likely reason is that those are the workout variations most people believe are required in order to get faster at running. There is historical precedent for these workouts, of course! However, there is limited critical thinking in understanding how these workouts might fit together, how much space is required between them, and how we can schedule them so that training looks more like a time series of training stress followed by periods of relative recovery, opposed to the running equivalent of Grandma’s infamous Christmas cake (a whole lot of ingredients that shouldn’t ever really be mixed together).

Let’s get back to first principles. What are we trying to achieve with training, and how best can we structure that training to allow the body to create stable adaptations for the specific demands of the event we are training for? Specific means understanding and appreciating not only the metabolic qualities required but also the biomechanical, neuromuscular, and psychological capacities we need for the race we are preparing for. Being in great 5 km shape is not the same as being in great marathon shape, and vice versa. There is a reason you don’t see world-class marathon runners spending endless time running 400 m repeats at their 5 km race pace in the last couple of months prior to racing. And similarly, why you are unlikely to see the best 5 km runners out doing 40 km long runs, spending significant amounts of that time at marathon race pace.

One of the factors that is least understood by runners is what constitutes general fitness versus specific fitness. Once you are able to distinguish this, we can then look at how to periodise our training: working from the extremes towards the specific capacities we are wanting to build. We also need to appreciate the timelines required to do so. These are not achieved in weeks, and for high-level athletes, seldom even months. Famed Italian distance running coach Renato Canova talks about a foundational or general training block lasting 10–12 weeks, followed by a special block (essentially transitioning from the extremes in the direction of specific) lasting 8–10 weeks, and finally a specific training block lasting another 8–10 weeks. At its shortest, we are looking at 26 weeks in order to properly prepare for a race.

So now that we have an outline of what we are looking at, we need to consider the most important piece of the puzzle—and that is the individual. Having a thorough understanding and appreciation of their training age and history, as well as being able to identify any clear kinks in their pipe. Said another way, where is the low-hanging fruit? What has the athlete done a lot of, and what have they avoided? We also need to factor in what type of athlete we are dealing with. If we are looking at a 400m/800m runner, then how we coach them will be very different from a 1,500m/5,000m runner. Muscle fiber orientation plays a big role in what training stimulus an athlete is likely to respond well to and what might actually make them worse.

This is where critical thinking and problem solving are key. As coaches, the training we prescribe can also be viewed as a ‘hypothesis that we are proposing to the athlete’s body’. The feedback we get, either from what the athlete tells us or what we observe in body language and data, helps us refine that hypothesis over time. The better we know the athlete, and the more honest that feedback loop becomes, the greater our ability to refine that hypothesis for the athlete. All workouts are simply tools in our toolbox. There is no one workout that is better than another. In fact, most workouts can be tweaked to achieve anything we want simply by manipulating the underlying variables such as pace, rest, and volume of work. One could use short intervals with short recovery to mimic the metabolic profile of a 20-minute tempo run, or longer hill reps to create a similar VO₂ stimulus as standard 1-mile repeats on the track. Here, we can take inspiration from swimming coaches who have shown it is possible to work across the intensity spectrum in a 25–50 m pool using only intervals and their individual creativity.

If history has shown us anything, it is that there have been athletes and coaches who have problem-solved their way to gold medals from the 800 m to the marathon using a myriad of methodologies. Ultimately, unless the athlete believes in what they or you are doing, it is unlikely to be successful. Equally, there are many times you look back with little real understanding of how something might have worked—until you realise the power of belief. Not only belief in one’s own training but also in the support of those around you. The body is complex; what will work for one individual will be different for someone else. This shouldn’t be viewed with trepidation but instead with the curiosity of a toddler moving his or her way through the world. Running can be a beautifully creative sport if we allow it to be. Let go of the shackles of 7-day training cycles and your standard weekly training schedule. Take the opportunity to assess your training with the help of a new toolbox—one that doesn’t only contain a hammer and a nail, but also a paintbrush and a calligraphy pen. Get curious, be creative, and find your own way.