Over the last few years, one of the most successful running groups in the United States has been the Hansons Running Team. The Team boasts many Olympic Trials qualifiers and Olympians such as Brian Sell and Desiree Davila. Hansons is known for taking good runners and turning them into elite runners. How2RunFast has an interesting post about the Hansons’ training principles in a recent book titled Hansons Marathon Method What is their secret to running success?
Well, to be honest, there isn’t much secret about the Hansons method. It relies on tried and true principles of a diverse array of workouts to target the different energy systems of the body. The range of workouts include:
- Easy runs: These make up 50% of the weekly mileage for Hansons runners. Easy running is necessary for building muscle and cardiovascular strength in order to run the fast workouts below.
- Long runs: The group focuses on long runs of approximately 16 miles for marathon training. The goal is to run the last half of the long run faster than the first half.
- Speed Workouts: The team focuses on 400m-1600m intervals in order to increase anaerobic threshold and increase turnover. Generally, these intervals are run at 5k pace.
- Strength Workouts: In order to increase VO2Max (the body’s ability to process oxygen), the group runs 1-3 mile intervals at about 10 seconds faster than the per mile marathon goal pace. For marathoners, the speed workouts come in the first half of a training plan and strength workouts come towards the end of the plan.
- Tempo Runs:Hansons runners also focus on the all-important tempo run at marathon pace in order to train their minds and bodies to withstand the goal race pace for a long period of time. Generally, these runs range from 5-10 miles.
Learning from high performance running groups like the Hansons is a great way to expand your knowledge of training ideas. However, I think that the most important lesson from Hansons is the absolute necessity of working hard everyday, and having a long term plan that focuses on the patient, incremental growth instead of short-term fixes. I believe that these attributes are the real secrets to the Hansons’ success.
