It's counter-intuitive and counter to the fitness zeitgeist of hard and fast interval training. But if you want to speed up – running, cycling or swimming – you may want to slow down your training.
"What's the point of doing 50-metre sprints, 100-metre sprints if you're doing a 14k race," asks Ben Lucas, owner of Flow Athletic. "It's the ability to sustain pace for a volume of time, and you can only do that with a strong aerobic base."
In 2011, Lucas trained 101 beginners to run their first marathon.
"A big challenge for me was getting them to slow down in their training because they wanted to go too hard, too quick but couldn't maintain for the distance," Lucas explains. "For any race that's using your aerobic system – that's any race longer than, say, one kilometre, so that's pretty much every race – you do that by slowing down."
The aerobic system plays a primary role in all physical activity, says Phil Maffetone, coach to athletes including Mark Allen, a six-time Hawaii Ironman Triathlon Champion.
"For example, between 95 and 99 per cent of the energy used for endurance sports, including competition, is derived from the aerobic system," Maffetone explains. "In addition to the traditional endurance events such as running, biking and swimming, aerobic-based sports also include tennis, golf, basketball and most others."
Maffetone says that building aerobic fitness takes about three months and longer for those who are beginners or returning after illness or injury. Once they have built a solid base, however the results often speak for themselves.
"Some athletes have learned that training aerobically is all they need to compete better than ever," he says.
Lucas adds that training slow is beneficial for several reasons.
"If you're an inexperienced runner and you're going straight into sprints, a couple of things are going to happen. One: You're just going to reinforce that poor technique. Number two: When you're doing poor technique at a high velocity it's going to lead to injury. I think you need to slow down the running to work on the form and then once you've got the form you can build up the pace."
An experienced runner does slow training for other reasons, Lucas says, including the mental edge.
"It's a disassociation technique, so it's kind of like active meditation. You can hold a speed for longer," he explains. "I used to love going for a long, slow run at 4am on a Sunday morning when it's dark and cold out – it was like a 90-minute meditation session."
Plus, he adds it builds up the strength in the joints and tendons.
Jim Owens, owner of Jorg Fitness and coach to elite athletes including 2016 City2Surf winner Harry Summers, says it is his go-to training technique.
"I like to train my guys smarter rather than harder, I like to keep them as fresh as possible," Owens says. "We do very little anaerobic work."
Slow training promotes red blood cells which supply oxygen to muscles, meaning an athlete can run faster, with greater efficiency and less effort.
"When Harry is running three-minute ks he's not sprinting," Owens says. "He's going fast but he's aerobically fit so effort-wise he's stronger – he's got that capacity to lift."
While 75 per cent of the training Owens' athletes do is aerobic, there is a catch. Doing the same long, slow run five days a week will very quickly lead to a fitness plateau.
"That's why we mix up the pace, to get the levels up a bit," Owens says. "When my guys go out for an hour, I tell them 'the last 15 minutes, pick up the pace just slightly'. Don't run at a continuous pace all the time or you'll just be good at that pace and there is nothing in the muscle fibres and brain that's going to allow you to run any quicker – if I ask you to pick up you can't do it."
There is an important place for explosive speed work and pushing ourselves hard, but it is not what will make you faster and last the distance – in race or body, Owens insists.
"I think it's a recipe for disaster and it's why so many people are getting injured. No pain, no gain doesn't work," Owens says. "There's a new physiotherapy opening up every day."
Rather, aim for the long run.
"Personal trainers who start up run cubs – and it's all 'go, go, go' – it's irresponsible and that's why people are getting injured and not keeping up with the sport because it's too hard and they don't like it," Owens says. "I want people to enjoy it. It doesn't happen over night – you do it gradually because you want to do it for the rest of your life. You want it to be life changing."
Training slow to run faster in your next race
With this year's City2Surf less than three weeks away, you're better off relaxing right now if you've entered and not prepared.
"Pretty much where you're at now is where you're going to be on race day, so you're better off going in a bit under-trained," Lucas advises. "Don't try and fit in 12 runs between now and race day. You still want to get a couple of runs in but, that last week, lay off so you go in fresh."
He suggests some yoga and strength work and reducing the running volume until race day.
"You don't really need to carb load for a 14 k run," he adds. "Hydration is the important one."
There's still time before the Sydney Running Festival, on September 17, to work on your fitness and there are regular runs around Australia if you want to give one a go.
"For those who have never run before I would get them to start out with a walk/jog – it might be 30 seconds on, one minute off," Lucas says. "That 30 seconds is still slow, it's not about increasing the intensity of the work period it's about increasing the volume."
Once you can do the 30 seconds, gradually increase the running period to one minute on, one minute off then two minutes, three minutes and so on until you can do five kilometres, seven and eventually 10 kilometres without stopping.
"If I was to get someone on a training plan who's new I'd get them to pick up the pace just slightly at the end of any run," Owens adds. "I always promote that finishing strong. Definitely that last four ks you really have to start working and you have to have that bit in reserve."
Incorporating speed work
"I would increase speed work when you feel like you've got your running technique down pat, you're injury-free and when you're looking to go for a time in a race rather than just finishing," Lucas suggests. "If it's your very first race, you don't need to focus on getting your sprints in, your goal should just be getting over the line. Once you've proven to yourself that you can complete a race, then you can look at adding those other bits in."
For a relative beginner, Lucas suggests a 2:1 split between slow sessions and sprint sessions and inverting that split for intermediate to advanced.
"It's important to incorporate some slower running at every ability level," he says, "and that's a skill in itself; learning to slow down."
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