Battling Fatigue + Grant Fisher is a Good Dude

GRANT FISHER IS A GOOD DUDE

I listened to a Grant Fisher interview a few days ago. It’s always refreshing to listen to someone that’s extraordinary at what they do and also just a kind person. And Grant definitely foots the bill for both of those things.

He set not one but TWO WORLD RECORDS during this last Indoor Track & Field season. He ran 12:44 for 5000m and 7:22 for 3K. This is after a Summer that saw him win not one but TWO OLYMPIC MEDALS. He won the bronze in the 10,000m and 5000m at the Paris games.

I’ll give you a few little bits that Grant shared.

He knows that great recovery is what allows him to do the great training he needs to do. Sleep is absolutely essential. He runs about 100 miles a week when he hits max volume. So, he knows without that sleep he’s got no chance to consistently train at the level required to be the best he can be.

He also mentioned that he needs to eat enough or he gets fatigued, doesn’t recover as well, and eventually gets run down. He didn’t talk about what he was eating. That was secondary to eating enough. I loved hearing that. You can eat all the right foods but if it’s not enough food you’re not going to recover. And when you’re training at a very high level I’d rather you get enough of anything than not enough of something.

He also talked about the joy he has when he races. He loves to race. And that’s what motivates him to train. Without that love for running he would never be able to run what he needs to run so he can race the way he wants to race. It always comes back to love my people. All the good stuff comes back to having enough of it and all the bad stuff comes back to not having enough of it.

Click to watch the 3000m world record

(You can see one of Grant's workouts here. That is USAFA graduate Sam Gilman training with him. Hamilton Arizona High School's track is a bit nicer than ours.)

Here is a great article by Cody Jones on last weekend's races.

Battling Fatigue

The old view on how to calculate a runner’s predicted finishing time was to measure an athlete’s:

VO2 max
Lactate threshold,
Running economy (or efficiency)

A new insight is that a runner’s final miles depend on how steeply these 3 factors have declined over the course of the race. This is called “fatigue resistance.”

Since the 3 main factors change more in some people than others, having a good “fatigue resistance” is an important 4th element of performing well in endurance events.

How do we improve our fatigue resistance?

Heavy weight training and explosive plyometric training: Heavy weight training such as 3-6 rep sets of resistance exercises like back squats, single-leg presses (we do Bulgarian Split Squats) and seated isometric calf raises (we do toe elevated heel raises). Explosive plyometric exercises like pogo jumps and drop jumps as well as horizontal exercises like hopping and bounding. Both heavy weights and plyometric training improve fatigue resistance by making fast-twitch muscle fibers more efficient and improving strength to maintain good running form for longer.

Increase training: Improve fatigue resistance by going on more long runs (while including sections at race pace) and participating in more intense interval sessions.

Super shoes: Heavy cushioning of super shoes reduces muscle damage and enables smooth strides through the later stages of a race. Since the shoes allow for training mileage to increase safely, they improve fatigue resistance over time in more ways than one. (But studies and anecdotal are also showing that training in super shoes too often - no more than twice a week is the current guidance - can weaken the feet and lead to injury.)