How to Use the Stress–Rest Cycle to Improve Endurance Running
Thomas Solomon, PhD.
Use a stress–rest cycle intentionally: Add training stress, recover hard, stay calm and patient, and always keep it fun.
Keep it simple: Run a lot of miles, frequently, consistently, and sometimes hard; eat well, sleep a lot, and rest from time to time. And, don’t do too much, too soon, too hard, too often.
Train “range”: Include a range of activities in your training to nurture the full range of skills and attributes you need.
Stay evidence-informed, not fad-led: Keep learning, let the approach evolve, and only try new methods when the evidence quality is high and the real-world results back it up.
But, don’t stop there! Scroll down to fully educate yourself on the details, nuances, and nerdy bits.
Stress. Rest. Adapt. Grow. While being patient, staying calm, and having fun.
To kick off my educational content, I will outline my coaching philosophies and how they have been shaped. This will help set the scene for future articles related to the training approaches I use in my coaching methods. So, stay with me, and you may learn how to plan, understand, and then improve your own training.
Let’s go…
As a coach, my training philosophy is quite simple: Provide stress, rest hard, stay calm, and if it isn’t fun, make a change. This has been nurtured since being a skinny, ginger, four-eyed 12-year-old, racing in circles around the tartan in 1992. My coaching education has been fueled by several inputs: Coaches who advised me as a youngster, my own athletic development, academic study on the principles of training and the philosophy of coaching, original research at world-leading institutions, independent reading, accreditations, certifications, continuing education (through journal/grant peer-review, conference attendance, journal clubs, seminars and webinars), empirical observations of my own coached athletes, asking them the right questions and listening to their answers, and from becoming well-versed in the decades of efforts of coaches in various disciplines of sport.
For running, I have studied the approaches of the greats, including: Mihály Iglói, Arthur Lydiard, Frank Horwill, Harry Wilson, Jack Daniels, Peter Coe, Renato Canova, Gjert Ingebrigtsen, and Patrick Sang.
For strength training: Louie Simmons, Boris Sheiko, Greg Nuckols, Eric Trexler, Brad Schoenfeld, Menno Henselmans, and Sebastian Oreb (coach to Hafþór Björnsson).
For climbing and grip strength: Jake Bromley, Shauna Coxey, Climbing Team Japan, the large numbers of world-class climbers who train at my local wall in Innsbruck, and from the approaches used by Alan Milway in Motocross and Downhill MTB.
For sports nutrition: Nancy Clark, Louise Burke, and Asker Jeukendrup (who was one of my PhD supervisors many moons ago).
For psychology and mindset: Amos Tversky & Daniel Kahneman, Steve Peters, Scott Barry Kaufman, Charlie Boscoe, Michael Gervais, Bruce Li, Jens Voigt, and Eliud Kipchoge.
And, for leadership, thoughtfulness, and general inspiration: Alex Ferguson, Phil Jackson, Eddie Jones, Jake Humphrey & Damian Hughes, Greg Nuckols & Eric Trexler, David Epstein, Stephen Seiler, Steve Magness, Ross Tucker, and the Māori cultural principle of Whakapapa.
I also take inspiration from other sports, including motocross, climbing, ski-mountaineering, cross-country skiing, and chess. There is much to learn and much inspiration to take from those who have been through it all before. As the old adage goes: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
As a scientist, I pride myself on being “evidence-informed”, which, when applied to practice, takes two forms: evidence from the vaults of rigorous scientific study and evidence from my own years of empirical observation. However, evidence-based approaches must also change with time as advances are made. If one’s approach has never changed, then one cannot at all claim to be “evidence-based” or “scientific”. None of us knows everything, so constantly learning and developing one’s approach as a coach is essential. What we did in practice 10-years ago should not be the same as what we do today, just as it won’t be similar many moons down the road. To me, science is beautiful, but there is one single ingredient without which my overall approach would not have been shaped into anything but successful: the nuances and anecdotes of experience in the field with all of my former and current athletes. Observation teaches us incredible things, and this is where art meets science to produce well-informed coaching decisions. So, open your eyes, become a knowledge sponge, and never stop learning.
While experience counts for a lot, there is indeed a baseline of training principles honed by academic research over the last 100 years. The classic buzzwords, “specificity”, “overload”, “recovery”, “adaptation”, etc., etc., ring true from every textbook on the subject. But, after literally a century of great scientists chiselling away at such topics, we do not have, and never will have, a formula that works for everyone.
Lydiard preached ubiquitously about high volume (although there were many other important facets in his approach), Daniels has his VDOT zone-based “running formula”, while Friel is a lactate threshold junkie. People debate about who is best and what is correct but, in reality, we still have no idea precisely how many kilometres per week we should run, how many sessions we should be doing, how long the intervals should be, nor how hard we should run them. That said, most running coaches would agree on some common truths that produce results:
Run a lot of miles, frequently, consistently, and sometimes hard; eat well, sleep a lot, and rest from time to time.
A simple statement, but be aware that “lots of miles” is relative to your ability to absorb, recover, and adapt to training load. And, also be careful not to fall victim to the sweat devil, who will be prodding you to do too much, too soon, too hard, too often. Be sensible: train smart.
Also, from a running perspective, there is a popular theme that can be seen throughout all great coaches, past and present: Range. By this, I mean implementing multi-paced running combined with supplementary exercises aimed at improving flexibility, mobility, balance, and (explosive) strength (power). I have observed that the non-running side of athletes’ training plans is often neglected. A large percentage of folks who have come to me for help have proclaimed that they do not feel that they gain fitness if they are not running, working hard, or sweating.
While the experimental evidence to support the use of flexibility, mobility, and balance training to improve running performance is equivocal, there is a clear body of evidence suggesting that increased strength and power can improve running economy and running speed. The utility of using a range of training modalities is proven in the results of the above-described coach’s athletes’ performances, as well as in the results of self-coached athletes who have excelled at the highest level.
For coaches like Mihály Iglói, Arthur Lydiard, Frank Horwill, Harry Wilson, Jack Daniels, Peter Coe, Renato Canova, Gjert Ingebrigtsen, and Patrick Sang, multi-pace training combined with supplementary exercises is embedded in their approaches, and the results are indisputable: Seb Coe, coached by his father Peter Coe, ran 1:41.73 for 800m in 1981 (a WR that stood for 16-years). He was also a low 13-minute 5000m runner. Jakob Ingebrigtsen, coached by his father Gjert, has run under 13-minutes for 5000m and under 3:30 for 1500m. Eliud Kipchoge, coached by Patrick Sang, has run under 13-minutes for 5000m but also holds the fastest ever marathon at 1:59:40. Jon Albon, a self-coached athlete, is a multiple world champion at obstacle course racing over distances from 3 km up to 25 km but is also a Trail running World Champion and Sky Running World Champion at distances up to 80 km with up to 4000 metres of vertical gain.
While these are just anecdotal examples, it may be hypothesised that these athletes’ enviable abilities to perform across a range of events are driven by the adaptations imposed by the range of modalities they have implemented in their training approaches. The basis for this hypothesis is derived from my observations of said athletes’ training plans, details of which can be located in books, documentaries, and online exercise logs. Yes, be specific to your sport, but also…
Include a range of activities in your training to nurture the full range of skills and attributes you need.
In his latest book, Range, David Epstein poses that “embracing range, experimenting, and gaining a breadth of experience is a better way to success”. He neatly presents several examples to support his theory, including a certain swoosh-clad Swiss gentleman who dabbled in many sports as a teenager and only began to focus on tennis in his early 20s before his total domination of the sport over a 15-year period. I also recently learned from the Clean Sport Collective podcast that Mirinda Carfrae, a 5-time podium placer at the Iron(wo)man World Champs, was a basketball player throughout her teens and wasn’t even interested in swimming, cycling, or running. Furthermore, Jon Albon, the obstacle racing and mountain running star, was a roller hockey player throughout his youth until finding running in his early 20s. Epstein’s approach to embracing range requires patience and open-mindedness, and he claims that if we can nurture and bolster such traits, “major world innovations and advancements will be made”. Systematic reviewsA systematic review answers a specific research question by systematically collating all known experimental evidence, which is collected according to pre-specified eligibility criteria. A systematic review helps inform decisions, guidelines, and policy. and meta-analysesA meta-analysis quantifies the overall effect size of a treatment by compiling effect sizes from all studies of that treatment. by Güllich et al. (2021) and Barth et al. (2022) support his observations.
While specificity is indeed a key tenet to success, implementing a range of stimuli sets a solid baseline for anything specific while keeping the mind challenged, excited, and fresh from monotony. From my own coaching experience, I’ve worked with many athletes who dedicated a prior sporting life to rugby, soccer, gymnastics, cycling, and boxing, only to find that their skill sets were highly transferable to high-performance outcomes in track running, trail running, marathon running, and obstacle racing. If you have always been a runner, you might consider honing a full repertoire of skills. But that is not to say that, having always been a runner, you will not improve. Furthermore, one must not consider that if you trained exactly like Coe, Ingebrigtsen, Kipchoge, Federer, Carfrae, or Albon, that you would have the same outcome. It is very important to realise that all of the “famous” coaches I’ve name-dropped above have also coached many athletes who have not become superstars, just as there are tremendous numbers of self-coached athletes who have never succeeded. Furthermore, if Kipchoge had been coached by Elder Coe or if Albon had chosen to continue roller skating, we may never have had the pleasure of knowing who they are. That said, no doubt someone else would have filled their void.
There are so many physiological and environmental factors that contribute to maximising an athlete’s genetic potential, including a bit of good fortune in the opportunities that present themselves. So, yes, embrace range and leave no stone unturned when sculpting your machine while being realistic with your goals and performance expectations.
And, always remember that training and racing are like games of chess — there are multiple journeys to achieve your goal, and you are unlikely to become a GrandMaster.
In my coaching approach, I implement “range” by including an array of paces and distances, strength sessions to develop muscular power and resilience, run-circuit combo sessions for simulating race fatigue, and balance sessions aimed at improving neuromotor skills and mobility. For obstacle racers, I also include various load-carrying sessions and grip strength sessions, often integrated into runs, and flexibility sessions to increase mobility and range of motion. I do not use tricks or gimmicks, I do not advocate fads. There are no short-cuts, and there is no single uniform approach for each person. My knowledge, which was developed through reading, experimenting, observing, learning, and doing, has helped many of my athletes improve their performances moon-after-moon. My philosophies and approaches are embedded in my coached performance programmes and training plans. Furthermore, since I am passionate about optimising people’s fitness while helping to empower them to one day lead and manage their own journey, my coaching and training plans include educational components related to all aspects of the training journey.
Lastly, being open-minded to new approaches is an essential trait for forward-thinking and progression in any area of life, including coaching. Some say that curiosity killed the cat. Scientific curiosity, on the other hand, a trait that coaches and athletes alike should embrace, is an evidence-based way to sort the good from the bad and the ugly. Now, carelessly trying every new fad is not a good use of energy, time, money, or resources. Personally, I’m an inherently curious person, and this behaviour partly fuels my desire to acquire knowledge. However, I do not jump on fads, and I never advocate new practices unless there is a high quality of evidenceA high quality of evidence means that, in general, there is a small range of effect sizes between studies, effects are consistent, and there is a low risk of bias (due to a large number of studies, large numbers of participants, good study designs, appropriate methods, etc). When the quality of evidence is high, there is a high level of confidence that the overall effect size reflects the true effect; furthermore, the current evidence is so strong and consistent that future studies are unlikely to change conclusions.. When an anecdotal observation is supported by several lines of experimental evidence and the likelihood of a false positive is low, then my curiosity turns from mild interest to full-on raging intrigue — aka, “I’m gonna read every paper on this topic, experiment, implement, observe and build my empirical evidence”. If, after many hours of investment in that process, I’m convinced that something could be successful, a new approach might get implemented in my coaching programmes and training plans. So, be open-minded and curious, but evaluate and be certain.
So, that’s a little insight into my thought processes behind the training philosophies and approaches I use at Veohtu (pronounced: vee-oh-two, as in V̇O2maxV̇O2max is the maximal rate of oxygen consumption your body can achieve during exercise. It is a measure of cardiorespiratory fitness and indicates the size of your engine, i.e., your maximal aerobic power, which contributes to endurance performance.). No doubt my philosophies and approaches may change because they are continually shaped by my ongoing learning, observing, and practice.
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Who is Thomas Solomon?
My knowledge has been honed following 20+ years of running, cycling, hiking, cross-country skiing, lifting, and climbing, 15+ years of academic research at world-leading universities and hospitals, and 10+ years advising and coaching in athletic performance and lifestyle change.
I have a BSc in Biochemistry, a PhD in Exercise Science, and over 90 peer-reviewed publications in medical journals.
I'm also an ACSM-certified Exercise Physiologist (ACSM-EP), an ACSM-certified Personal Trainer (ACSM-CPT), a VDOT-certified Distance Running Coach, and a UKVRN Registered Nutritionist (RNutr).
Since 2002, I’ve conducted biomedical research in exercise and nutrition and have taught and led university courses in exercise physiology, nutrition, biochemistry, and molecular medicine.
And, with my personal experience of competing on the track (800m to 10,000m), the road (5 k to marathon), on the trails, and in the mountains, by foot, bicycle, cross-country ski, and during obstacle course races (OCR), I deeply understand what it's like to train and compete — I've been there, done it, and gotten sweat, mud, and tears on my t-shirt.
Disclaimer: I occasionally mention brands and products, but it is important to know that I don't sell recovery products, supplements, or ad space, and I'm not affiliated with / sponsored by / an ambassador for / receiving advertisement royalties from any brands. I have conducted biomedical research for which I’ve received research money from publicly-funded national research councils and medical charities, and also from private companies, including Novo Nordisk Foundation, AstraZeneca, Amylin, the A.P. Møller Foundation, and the Augustinus Foundation. I’ve also consulted for Boost Treadmills and Gu Energy on R&D grant applications, and I provide research and scientific writing services for Examine.com. Some of my articles contain links to information provided by Examine.com, but I do not receive any royalties or bonuses from those links. Importantly, none of the companies described above have had any control over the research design, data analysis, or publication outcomes of my work. I research and write my content using state-of-the-art, consensus, peer-reviewed, and published scientific evidence, combined with my empirical evidence observed in practice and feedback from athletes. My advice is, and always will be, based on my own views and opinions shaped by the scientific evidence available. The information I provide is not medical advice. Before making any changes to your habits of daily living based on any information I provide, always ensure it is safe for you to do so and consult your doctor if you are unsure.
