Differences Between Elite Road and Trail Runners with Frederic Sabater Pastor PhD | KoopCast Episode 164

Episode overview: Frederic Sabater Pastor is a CTS ultrarunning coach with a PH.D. in Exercise Physiology and experience coaching athletes for a variety of challenges. He is also a Postdoctoral researcher at the Inter-university Lab of Human Movement. His area of focus are  running, trail, performance, physiology and fatigue.

Episode highlights:

(32:02) Training differences: road runners 20 hrs/week, trail runners 10 hrs/week, road runners cross train and strength train more, overall road volume is double despite race duration being up to 10x less

(37:11) Why are trail runners stronger: do runners self-select, is trail running innately better strength training, strength training is a broad term

(51:38) Specificity of running economy: train for specificity, changing protocols from road training, strides over technical terrain, differences in strength training

Our conversation:

(0:00) Introduction: setting up the study, re-introducing Frederic as a CTS coach

(1:57) Comparing marathoners and ultramarathoners: Guillaume Millet’s 2011 presentation

(3:46) the research environment, getting access to elite training camps, study outline, limited testing around athlete training

(7:18) The traveling lab: logistics of studying training camps, appreciation of research limitations

(8:38) Study design: comparing elite road and trail runners, hypothesis and strength testing

(10:10) Measuring “eliteness”: comparing French national level champions in both the road and trail scene, discussing reasonable similarity, ITRA scores

(14:27) Strength tests: Isometric strength test, force-velocity profile, avoiding sprinting tests due to skill discrepancies and risk of injury

(18:14) Running economy: cost of running, treadmill testing and paces, using consistent sub-threshold paces to compare male and female runners, biomechanics measurements

(20:53) Training metrics: training questionnaire, recap of variables tested

(21:48) Strength test results: no differences in isometric strength per bodyweight, trail runners produce higher force despite road runners strength training more, importance of dynamic tests

(24:04) Biomechanics results: no differences in flight time or contact time, measurement limitations, discussing the graded exercise test

(28:39) Running economy results: road runners have better economy at 7 min/mile pace, no differences in uphill running at 10% grade, differences likely appear at the extremes, challenges of transporting treadmills

(32:02) Training differences: road runners 20 hrs/week, trail runners 10 hrs/week, road runners cross train and strength train more, overall road volume is double despite race duration being up to 10x less

(34:42) Professionalism in road vs. trail: athlete occupations, examples, impacts on training

(37:11) Why are trail runners stronger: do runners self-select, is trail running innately better strength training, strength training is a broad term

(40:36) Strength training speculation: muscle mass complications, diet, recovery, discussing potential programming errors from a coaching lens

(43:11) Athlete takeaways: training strength, future research on durability

(46:18) Relevance of running economy: importance in the road versus trail space, why road runners focus on running economy

(49:14) Discussing road versus trail economy: examples, studying running economy on trails and track, there are more variables in trail running

(51:38) Specificity of running economy: train for specificity, changing protocols from road training, strides over technical terrain, differences in strength training

(55:16) Banter: can road runners succeed in the trail space, ultramarathon running is more than running examples, differences in physiology and skills

(58:47) Koop’s 10% conjecture: trail specificity is worth at 10% or more in physiological terms, examples

(59:50) Frederic’s specificity conjecture: training physiological durability, DNF factors

(1:01:31) Wrap-up: deriving practicality from research

(1:02:00) Outro: giving thanks, the value of talking to researchers, strength running takeaway, share the podcast

Additional resources:

Frederick’s paper  

Trail Runner Magazine’s coverage of this paper

Fred’s CTS Coach Bio

Fred’s Researchgate profile

Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible

Information on coaching-

www.trainright.com

Koop’s Social Media

Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop

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Physiological Testing with Renee Eastman | KoopCast Episode 163