A Prescription for a Long Life on the Long Road.

or 26 years, I have seen people get into endurance sports, quickly make the

jump into ultradistance events and training, and then pile on the miles and the finish lines, only to wind up back on the couch, never to be seen again—all within a few short years. That is a long sentence describing a short career as an endurance athlete. Don’t let this be you! Whether you are fresh out of college (or high school) or an empty nester looking for a new challenge, developing as an endurance athlete takes several years to learn and a lifetime to master.

STEP ONE: DON’T BE A BURNOUT

There is no better way to get sick of something than to do it too much, too hard, and too often, to the exclusion of other pursuits and activities. Yes, endurance sports require time and commitment, but they do not require that you take on the monastic or ascetic life. Regardless of the age at which you start in the sport, take your time and don’t hurry things. There is no need to do several marathons in your first year of running, or even in the second or third year. Likewise for competing in ultras, adventure races, triathlons, and such. A few solid years of 10Ks, half-marathons, training with a club, and exploring what the sport has to offer will serve you well in the long run. Building layer upon layer of high-quality training, rest, information seeking, and experience is an integral part of a healthy, fulfilling, and balanced lifestyle. With that approach, you will be running across finish lines for many decades to come!

STEP TWO: PROGRESS, INTELLIGENTLY PLANNED

One of the beauties of endurance sports is that the various events are measured in specific and consistent distance or time increments. This creates a simple, logical, and smart path for progressing through a season and through a career. Thus 5Ks lead to 10Ks, and half-marathons lead to marathons. Beyond that, 50Ks lead to

50-milers, and 100Ks lead to 100-milers and beyond to 24-hour races and 135-mile events such as the Badwater Ultramarathon.

When I first got into long-distance cycling in the early ’80s, my theory was that you can always race twice as far as you have gone before—and this proved true over time in cycling, running, and triathlon. But while it can be reasonable to jump from a half-marathon to a full marathon or from 50 miles to 100 miles with many sound weeks or months of training in between, running requires adaptation to the pounding of the pavement. This requires, for most, training runs at 80 percent or more of the intended race distance (at least up to 50-mile events). Use the doubling rule of thumb cautiously, over time, and you will find ever-further horizons within your reach.

STEP THREE: THINK AND LIVE SEASONALLY

It is impossible to maintain maximum fitness year-round, year after year. That is why top endurance athletes build their seasons (years) around one or a few key events and vary their training in cycles of weeks or months at a time to reach peak fitness for those events, a system called periodization. There are many reasons why such an approach is beneficial and productive. Each cycle brings new challenges and rewards. Then the next cycle builds upon the one before to make you better, faster, stronger, and perhaps happier. Then at season’s end, you can take a break physically, emotionally, and otherwise to recharge your batteries. (Just don’t get fat in winter.)

STEP FOUR: CHILL, WOULD YA?

There is no need to adopt Olympic-team training methods to have a fulfilling career as an endurance athlete. Time and again, I see athletes taking things way too seriously, downloading every workout into their computers for scrutiny, stepping on the scale every day, keeping mammoth training logs, and never missing a workout under any circumstances. Most egregiously, most athletes do the same workout or route on the same day of the week, week after week, year-round. Boring! Where is the adventure in that? How does that develop adaptability? Where is the challenge, the taste for the unknown? The life of an endurance athlete should be fun, first and foremost, and should open up the world in a literally awe-inspiring way. As long as you get in the variety and intensity of training necessary, it really doesn’t matter which workout you do on any given day, as long as you recover in time for the next workout or event. Finally, don’t skip training days during the week with the intention of making up for them on the weekends. On a consistent, regular basis, use your sport for exploring the inner and outer universes, as a tool for self-discovery, for exploring all the geography of your life. Bring diversity to your training, and it will bring you a wide panorama of experiences and greater fitness.

STEP FIVE: DON’T SKIP THE SPEED WORK

One common endurance-training mistake is just putting in the miles. The mentality is that if you put enough miles in the bank in your training, you can withdraw them later as endurance, maybe even as miraculously fast endurance. But this approach is boring and a waste of time, and you won’t get substantially faster.

Simply put, you get faster only by running faster! In practical terms, you need one or two days a week focused on high-intensity speed training. Though hill repeats or intervals against the clock can be effective speed training, the best way to increase your speed is to run with those who are faster than you are. Ideally, join a coached track workout at least once a week. (If none is available, find some fast runners to meet weekly.) The coaching you will get on your form, posture, and other subtleties is another great bonus of group workouts. Be forewarned, though: it can be humbling for a while, if not for a long while. But you will get faster and stronger for the long haul.

STEP SIX: NO MORE SLOW DISTANCE

“LSD” doesn’t stand for “long, slow distance,” it stands for “long, steady distance.” LSD runs will allow you slowly but surely to rebuild your body. You will increase the efficiency of your cardiovascular system and get in touch with your heart rate and breathing patterns. This is particularly important in the early season, when you are laying the foundation for the year. Most important, don’t confuse “steady” and “slow” and just put in the long miles at an easy intensity. This is a waste of time, because the only thing accomplished physiologically by running slowly is learning how to run slowly. A decent to hefty amount of endurance running is necessary to train for endurance races, but while you are putting in those miles, do so at a good, steady intensity with occasional bursts of power over hills or while play racing your friends.

STEP SEVEN: DON’T DILLYDALLY, BUT DO SMELL THE ROSES

Life is short, so “Keep it steady, and keep it moving” should be the mantra while training or racing. Don’t dillydally while refueling, tending to blisters, or reading a map. Don’t bog down your pace, either, whether on the hills or flats. Use your heart rate monitor to see how low you can keep your heart rate while maintaining a challenging average speed. If quicker runners pass you, pick up the pace; running steadily for long miles doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t push the pace sometimes, too. But along the way, allow yourself the indulgence of stopping to enjoy the view. If you are going to stare only at the trail or road right in front of you, you might as well just run on a treadmill!

STEP EIGHT: EAT LIKE A CHAMPION

Food and drink choices for road and trail won’t reveal their effectiveness until you get way out there. Use your long training runs to see which fuel and hydration systems work for you. Whatever you eat and drink should be portable, go down well, provide consistent energy (no highs and lows), and keep you hydrated. Even if drop-bag delivery is provided at your intended race, it won’t usually be for all the checkpoints; find out what the event promoters will serve and train on that, too. Then, when you do the event, you won’t need to carry all your own fuel for every section of the course. (But if the event is going to serve Danishes and hot dogs, as some do, you will want to carry your own fuel at all times.) By the way, the majority of top endurance athletes use a primarily or exclusively liquidbased (or liquid-, pill-, and gel-based) fueling system while training and racing. Of course, above and beyond your athletic fuel plan, even more important for the lifelong athlete is a proper, mindful, healthy diet, 24/7/365.

STEP NINE: DO SOMETHING ELSE

Tharp on this all the time, but it is always worth repeating: Don’t just run! If you get away from your chosen sport and into yoga, Pilates, spinning classes, the weight room, the pool, or out on a bike, you will become a better runner and a fitter, happier human being.

Frankly, I am amazed at the number of overweight endurance athletes I see. Either the extra weight is a result of poor dietary habits—fast food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?—or these runners are stuck on a plateau, no matter how many miles they train or how many long events they finish. They need to incorporate more intensity into their training and they need some cross-training to shock their bodies into pushing to a higher level. So do the rest of us!