Mileage in the Bank: Can you Really Run More Now to Make up For Missed Runs Later

Jeff Gaudette [00:00:00]: I think if anybody really thinks about it, if anybody thinks about, like, when they were in their best shape ever, running wise, fitness wise, whatever, health wise, it's been through consistency. It's been like, oh, I I did six months of, like, I was on point for six months. Like, you come out of that, and and you probably link back and, like, oh, I never really did anything crazy. I was just consistent for six months, and you're you're probably in your best fitness.

Cory Nagler [00:00:23]: That intro clip comes from the founder of Runners Connect and the guest on today's show, coach Jeff Gaudette. It probably wasn't the first time you heard about the importance of consistency. But sometimes, life just gets in the way. What if you know though ahead of time that you're gonna miss some training? Should you throw in extra runs to make up for it? This is a strategy I like to call banking mileage. And today we're unpacking how it works, and whether or not it's an effective strategy to implement in your own training. But first, I do wanna apologize as during the recording, one of Just Neighbors actually left their dog outside, and you might hear just a little bit of barking in the background. I don't think it's too noticeable, and I really hope that you enjoy today's conversation. So on that note, let's get into the interview.

Cory Nagler [00:01:13]: Hello, runners, and welcome to the Run to the Top podcast, where our goal is making you a better runner with each and every episode. I'm your showrunner, Corey Nagler. And I'm not an elite runner, but together, we'll explore new strategies and topics to take your running to the next level. This podcast is created and produced by the expert team of coaches at runnersconnect.net, where you can find the best running information on the Internet as well as training plans to fit every runner and every budget Jeff, happy to have you back with us on the podcast How are you doing?

Jeff Gaudette [00:01:45]: Fantastic. It's great to be here First podcast of the year for me So, excited to be with you guys

Cory Nagler [00:01:50]: That's true. I totally forgot. We're all the way in February by the time this airs, but it's been a little while.

Jeff Gaudette [00:01:56]: Yeah. Absolutely. I'm excited to chat with you.

Cory Nagler [00:01:58]: I think we're going to get a little bit more into this concept of banking mileage throughout the episode, which is really our focus today. But it kinda hit me before I hit the record button. I don't even know if this is actually a technical term or just something I thought of. So let's start there. Is this actually something you've heard before?

Jeff Gaudette [00:02:15]: I would say that it is. I don't know that it's, like, super technical, but I definitely would say that I've heard of it before, and I I know people do it. So, definitely you're definitely thinking in the right direction for sure.

Cory Nagler [00:02:26]: Alright. Yeah. And I think a lot of people listening, their heads will probably go right to banking time, which I think is definitely a concept runners will have heard of.

Jeff Gaudette [00:02:33]: Yeah, absolutely.

Cory Nagler [00:02:34]: Cool. Well, maybe I'll just spell it out a little bit before we fully get into a definition later on in the episode. But I think really the focus here today is this principle of trying to fit in more miles to make up for maybe not training as much in the future, which I think is probably particularly relevant to our audience. A lot of which are not professional athletes who have all the time to run. So it's you're probably gonna have some workouts over the course of a training cycle that you miss. Mhmm.

Jeff Gaudette [00:03:01]: Absolutely. Yeah. I definitely think, in the case of the athletes that we work with and, like, maybe you said, like, non elites, I definitely think banking mileage or having parts of the year where you're training harder or more than others just because of the way your schedule allows is definitely a much more common situation than you'll find in the quote unquote elite circles, people that do this professionally.

Cory Nagler [00:03:22]: Do you think you could almost think of the extreme of this as being the weekend warrior, like trying to bank mileage for the entire rest of the week?

Jeff Gaudette [00:03:29]: Yeah. So there's definitely there's definitely that side of it. I think what we'll talk about more is more like periods longer periods of of training where you're kind of doing more than you might normally. But there is, you're right, like, the more the weekend warrior where it's like, I have three days to train, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then, like, the rest of the week, I really can't train. That's a little bit of a different situation, and we can kinda get into that a little bit. But, you know, my concept of banking mileage is more along the lines of anywhere from a two to six week period where you're putting in more training than you might normally would and part of it being planned, in that in that way.

Cory Nagler [00:04:06]: Yeah. So let's talk about what it actually means to get an increased mileage. And to do that, we have to start with what mileage even really is. Are we talking about distance, time, or something entirely different here?

Jeff Gaudette [00:04:17]: Yeah. So I think it doesn't matter how you quantify it. So I would say that most people use volume, so mileage, kilometers, to track their training. But you can also do it in terms of time. There's benefits to doing there's pros and cons to both tracking by time and tracking by volume. I prefer the volume method. I think it's just a little bit cleaner. It's a little bit way it's a way to, I think, stay a little bit more accurate.

Jeff Gaudette [00:04:44]: But time is definitely helpful as well, especially if you're somebody who becomes numbers obsessed, whether that be, like, always needing to hit a certain mileage total or running too fast. So that kind of stuff. Like, if if you've struggled with that, I definitely think running by minutes or time is better. Whereas I I think usually mileage is a little bit easier to track, especially if you're kinda do, like, a super compensation, cycle, like, kind of what we're talking like banking mileage. I think it's a little bit better if you track mileage, just because it gives you a little bit more accurate picture of, like, what you're actually doing.

Cory Nagler [00:05:20]: Yeah. And I think not to detour too much here, but presumably, if we're talking about sort of getting in a higher fitness stimulus in advance of the period where you might gonna be potentially doing less, that might even apply to something like biking or cross training where you're not doing mileage. Is that fair?

Jeff Gaudette [00:05:37]: Yeah. Absolutely. So I think I think sometimes that's where I think as runners, we just kind of quantify everything as running as that's training, and then everything else we do outside of that is not training. But I've always looked at it, and I think I can't remember what coach explained it to me this way, but we kind of have to look at our energy totals as like a gas tank. And so everything that we do, whether it be training whether it be the running training, whether it be cross training, strength training, and even stuff outside of training itself, all of that depletes our energy in some way. And so and there is a finite amount that we have. And obviously, we can have more energy if we focus more on sleep and recovery and etcetera. But all of that stuff does add up.

Jeff Gaudette [00:06:18]: And so you have to keep it you have to take it all into account when you're when you're especially when you're increasing your trading volume like this. You do need to keep that all into account that everything starts to come into play. So absolutely, it's not just running.

Cory Nagler [00:06:31]: Yeah. Let's maybe hone in a little bit more on what distinguishes banking miles from maybe just going out and doing more. And and you used some words like planned, I think, but what exactly differentiates those two things?

Jeff Gaudette [00:06:44]: Yeah. So I think it's you know, that's definitely a definition where it's very fickle, you know, or there's a very thin line. And so I think, you know, the way I kind of describe the way I think about it is you in order to in order for banking mileage to be effective or something that's gonna work well and not lead to burnout, injury, that kind of thing, it has to be planned in the way where you are going to have a period after you, quote, unquote, bank the mileage where you have a reduction in training. And the reason for that is, you know, if we look at a normal training cycle, we want to, kind of impose a little bit of a trainings apply a training stimulus, which in effect breaks us down. And then we wanna have a recovery period where that builds us back up. And so in a normal kind of training phase, it's a little bit of breakdown, a little bit of build up, you know, kind of like this. In this type of training, like, if we're looking at doing, like, a mileage block, we're gonna do a lot of breakdown. And then, because of that, we need a lot of time to recover and a lot of time to allow our body to build back up.

Jeff Gaudette [00:07:48]: And so when we say planned, it means you're not just going out there and doing more training and then kinda go back to status quo. It needs to be something where there is a planned recovery period, after this, whether it be forced in the sense of because you're going on vacation, work, not gonna be able to train for something. That needs to be kind of, applied to this principle, for sure.

Cory Nagler [00:08:14]: Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And is there sort of a minimum increase or duration of time if you had to put, say, like, a percentage on it?

Jeff Gaudette [00:08:23]: I don't think that I don't think there's something that's gonna universally apply to everybody. But I think a good rule of thumb would be you would want equal time recovery for the amount of time that you're doing, you know, extra mileage or super compensation period. So if you did, like, three weeks of, mileage banking or super compensation, you would probably want two to three weeks of extra recovery, to kinda try to make up for that. So I would say anywhere from 75% to a % of the time that you took, building or or going into a period where you're banking mileage.

Cory Nagler [00:08:58]: Yeah. Okay. That makes sense. So maybe I'll get into some of the reasons why a runner might choose to bank miles, which I think usually comes back to knowing that you're gonna be missing training for one reason or another. So what is the actual impact of missing, say, a single workout and then compare that to, you know, maybe you know there's a week where you're gonna be doing less training or missing training entirely?

Jeff Gaudette [00:09:21]: Yeah. So that's a great question. So I think it's to start. I think one thing to ear ease the fear of almost all runners. And even when you know this data, it's still hard to apply. But, like, missing a single workout or or even three or four days, from a physiological perspective does absolutely nothing to your fitness. You don't lose any, any of the physiological markers that we would look at, generally speaking, when we think about training. Like, you don't lose really anything, especially one workout.

Jeff Gaudette [00:09:46]: Even up to three to four days, there's really no fitness loss whatsoever. The way I like to describe it to people is if we took our fit if we imagine our running fitness as a big bucket. So every time we did a workout or a run or whatever, we were adding a drop to that bucket. So you know? And that's where it can kinda consistency comes into place. So if you imagine over the course of months and months and months, you just continue to drop buckets into that drops of water into that bucket. And missing one drop of water is gonna really have no effect on kind of what that bucket looks like when it comes to race day. You'll still be able you'll still your bucket will still be almost as full as it would have been, or negligible if you missed a workout or two. Where you do start to start seeing some loss in physiological parameters is, you know, when we start getting into, like, seven, ten two seven days, ten days, two weeks, that kind of stuff.

Jeff Gaudette [00:10:39]: And so there is actually some data on kind of what that what you would might what you might lose like that in in particular time period. So, again, one to seven days, you're probably you're gonna lose negligible reduction in in really any physiological biomarkers or any measurements that we take, from ten to fourteen days. So if you miss ten to fourteen days and this would be like no running at all. You a lot of the studies have shown you know, combination of studies have shown that there's about a six percent reduction in your VO two max. So to give you an idea of what that means, so, you know, 6% percent is a lot, and it isn't a lot. And I'll get into why it's not a lot in the end. But so for example, if you are a twenty minute five k runner, so if your PR is twenty minutes, a 6% reduction in your VO two max would put you in about twenty one zero five shape. So, you know, you're losing about a minute if you took fourteen days off of your five k.

Jeff Gaudette [00:11:33]: So if you took fourteen days off and then had to go run another five k, you'd be about a minute slower. Now if you take about thirty days off, so anywhere from, like, twenty five to thirty days, there's a 12% reduction in VO2 max. So you'll be going from a twenty minute five k to about a twenty three minute five k. So losing three minutes. Now that sounds like a lot. And from a pure time perspective, it definitely is. But you have to remember that it's not gonna take quite as long to build that get back into that twenty minute five k shape or to get back into your peak fitness. I know we we're planning to talk about this, but generally speaking, it's about half the time to get back to where you were.

Jeff Gaudette [00:12:13]: So, like, I think there were some studies done on this. And, like like I said, the studies show that it takes about 70% of the time or, I guess, 30% of the time to get back to where you were. So if you took so let's say that you're again, even at fourteen days, you lost 6% of your view to max. It would probably take you about seven day anywhere from seven to ten days to get back into twenty minute five k shape or to regain that fitness that you lost. So even though it sounds like when you look at the time, like, it sounds like a a pretty big reduction in your fitness, it's really not because of how quickly you can get it back once you're able to come back. And and all these studies are on people that did no running or no physical activity during that time off. So this really it mostly applies to, like, injured people. So, like, if you had a period where you just reduced your volume and reduced your training, obviously, the effect the impact is gonna be even less than it would be if you were injured and had to and took two weeks off completely.

Jeff Gaudette [00:13:14]: So I know that's kind of a lot of numbers to throw out there, but, hopefully, people could follow along a little bit with what I was trying to say there.

Cory Nagler [00:13:21]: Alright. I think that's a pretty cool insight that you actually get fitness back faster than you lose it. So just to use a practical example of a runner taking, we'll say, two weeks completely off, does that mean it only takes a few days of running in order you for you to get back to where you were fitness wise before?

Jeff Gaudette [00:13:40]: Yeah. So like I said, in in the example that I was trying to give with the data, if you took up to fourteen days off, you lose about a minute from your fitness, like, as a twenty minute five k or so, you lose about, 6% of your fitness. But you would get about 75% of that fitness back within, like, half the time. So with, you know, again, trying to apply numbers to it, you'd be back at, like, two twenty shape, within half that time. So within within a few days, really, within a week. You'd be pretty much back to where you were. Maybe, you know, a slight reduction in your that would be peak fitness. So really not quite as long as I think we all fear when we take time off.

Jeff Gaudette [00:14:16]: Like, you know, we kinda and part of and the reason for that, why it feels so much worse than than it really is from a physiological perspective is that when we look at, like, the physiological parameters of, when we measure, like, what you're losing in fitness, most of it comes from VO two max. Like, that's the that's usually, like, in physiological terms. Like, when we measure fitness, like, that's kinda what we look at VO two max. But fitness, there's a lot that goes into running fitness. So it's not just v o two max. There's a lot of physiological parameters that go into that. But the biggest one in terms of, like, why it feels so crappy is because, a lot of it comes from, like, neurological from our muscles' brain connection. So that deteriorates really quickly.

Jeff Gaudette [00:14:59]: And so but it also comes back really quickly. But it's so when you first get out there, there's a lot of, like, neurological degeneration that happens so quickly that the first few runs that you come back, it feels terrible because your body is trying to kind of bring that system back. But the good thing is that system comes back really quick. It really only takes, like, two or three days or two or three runs to kind of get that out of your system. And then you can get back more into the, I guess, the more deeper physiological values, v o two max, that kind of stuff. And that, again, takes a little bit longer, but, to degenerate, but also a little is is faster is pretty fast to come back. So

Cory Nagler [00:15:36]: And I'm gonna take a small detour here, which could really be an entire podcast in and of itself. But is it fair to say that that principle you just described of kinda the the neuromuscular memory or whatever the term was going quickly, is that why you often feel so crappy during the taper?

Jeff Gaudette [00:15:53]: Yeah. Exactly. Yep. So that's a big part of it. Is and especially if if you do the taper wrong when you kind of take two when you when you drop your miles too much or take a few days off before the race, like, that's a big reason that people feel so terrible sometimes on race day is that that neurological system deteriorates so quickly. But, again, it's not really a fitness thing. It's just more like how you feel.

Cory Nagler [00:16:14]: And does it go the other way too? Like, is it possible to think that you're you're doing exactly the right taper because you feel really good, but actually be working too hard?

Jeff Gaudette [00:16:24]: Yeah. I would I would say that not tipping enough is not a problem we encounter too too much, honestly. Like, we usually see it on the other end. But, absolutely, that can happen.

Cory Nagler [00:16:33]: Interesting. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. And then one other thing in terms of how quickly you lose fitness, you pretty specifically called out that that's for a runner who's doing absolutely no training. And I think we've talked a lot on the show and how those rates of losing fitness vary depending on whether you're doing no training or a little bit of training. But on the other end of it, is there any research to indicate whether you get fitness back at different rates depending on what that rest period looked like?

Jeff Gaudette [00:17:00]: I don't think so. I don't think there's any specific research. But I would definitely say that the fitness will come back faster if you are able to do something, you know, in terms of why you took time off if you were just completely on the couch or injured and couldn't do anything, or if you were able to there's a big difference if you were able to cross train. And, again, that gets back into the fact that most of what you'll be, like, missing or needing to get back is that neuromuscular fitness if you are able to cross train. So if you're able to do pool running or biking or something like that, you're not gonna lose a lot of the, like, aerobic, anaerobic components of your physiological fitness, so you can you can maintain them pretty easily. What you'll kinda just need to get is, quote, unquote, your legs back under you, that neurom that neurological fitness. And so that will come back in two or three days, and then you'll be able to you know, the the losses from the physiological factors, v o two max, lactate threshold, that kind of stuff, is gonna stay pretty consistent if you're able to do cross training.

Cory Nagler [00:17:55]: Yeah. And say the break itself is a lot of cross training. Do you even need to super compensate, or is it really just the neuromuscular piece that you're losing?

Jeff Gaudette [00:18:04]: Yeah. I wouldn't I wouldn't say that you would need to supercompensate if you're gonna be able to cross train because I don't I I yeah. I don't think you're gonna be banking that much fitness to make it worth the risk. So there is a risk to banking fitness, and so you kinda have to to weigh the risk reward there of, like, what's gonna be the risk if I do this versus the gain. You know? So it kinda depends on what your situation is.

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Jeff Gaudette [00:21:33]: Yeah. Exactly. So you're right. That that this is one definitely one of those times where a coach is really, really helpful because they can really they can be an objective look, at your data and your yourself and say, this is what might this is gonna work work for you. I would say that if you're gonna make that decision, you really have to be honest with yourself about your injury history, how, how easily you get injured, you know, what you're gonna be able to do in in the time period that you're off, like banking mileage, like, what you have coming up. So there's a lot of factors that go into it, but I think the the most important thing is to be honest with yourself. So if you're somebody that is often injured or coming off a period where you were in a really bad injury cycle, the risk I think the risk reward probably isn't there. If you're somebody who is generally healthy, hasn't had a major injury in a long time, and then you're coming into sit you're going into a situation where, let's say, you're trying to qualify for Boston and this is, like, one of your best opportunities, then the risk might be worth it in that in that particular case.

Jeff Gaudette [00:22:29]: So you kinda have to measure a couple different variables there to think to see what's gonna be the best for you. But, yeah, I would I definitely think that's when it just comes down to being honest with yourself.

Cory Nagler [00:22:39]: I used to have a coach who told me the best prediction of your future risk of getting injured is your past injury history. Is that a fair statement? And then if it is a fair statement, does that mean that this whole banking mileage thing is really only more applicable to runners who don't get injured a lot?

Jeff Gaudette [00:22:56]: So I would say, so I would definitely say that that's true. I think if you're somebody that's often injured, like, there is probably a reason for it. And until you kind of fix a lot of those underlying issues, I think the obviously, the chances of you getting injury injured again increase. That said, I wouldn't say that banking fitness isn't an option for people that are often injured. I would just say that it's a training concept that you probably have to use a little bit more sparingly. Whereas if you're somebody that doesn't, you can probably get away with it a lot more. So I think that kinda goes to to both ends. Like, again, you just have to be honest with yourself about whether this so, like, let me actually bring this back to, like, more of a macro thing.

Jeff Gaudette [00:23:37]: Like, there are just some training concepts, workouts, work training styles that just won't work for some people. It could be an injury. It could be your lifestyle. It could be whatever it is. Like, there's just some things that just won't work quite as well for you as they as they will for somebody else. So, absolutely, banking fitness might just might not be a situation that is worth the risk in particular cases. Just like, honestly, like, even training for a marathon, and for some people, just isn't isn't the right time. They're just not they shouldn't be doing it at this particular point in their training cycle or history, whatever.

Jeff Gaudette [00:24:10]: So

Cory Nagler [00:24:11]: Yeah. Really interesting to hear you say that because so much of our our clientele here at Runner's Connect are training for a marathon. Do you sometimes make recommendations to runners to step down in distance depending on their training schedules?

Jeff Gaudette [00:24:21]: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. So we do we do get a lot of people that initially sign up, and they say, oh, I'm gonna do the marathon in twenty weeks or whatever. And we look at, like, where they're at. And it's just like, you know, we we you know, as any basically, the way we approach it is we tell them. We say, look. I don't think that, this is gonna be the best mileage progression for you. We will certainly help you and try to get you there as safely as possible because my outlook on it is that people are probably gonna do it regardless whether they have our guidance or not.

Jeff Gaudette [00:24:49]: And our hope is that by, giving them at least a smart program, we can at least get them to the starting line healthy, and being able to to finish the race strong. So we try to do we try to balance, like, okay. This is your goal. And then we try to balance that with, okay. This is the, what we call is taking the next logical step. So this is the next logical step in your progression, and we try to balance those two and try to get them where they need to be. But I would say absolutely there's happens quite a bit.

Cory Nagler [00:25:15]: So for that runner maybe who's not in a position the way their lifestyle is set up to train for a marathon, if they come to you and say, hey. I'm gonna miss the next two, maybe three weeks. How do I get enough training to to make it worthwhile now? Is your response sometimes, no. Just do less. It's not worth training for the marathon?

Jeff Gaudette [00:25:32]: Yeah. That and I would say that the, I think the first conversation we always have with people that is, like, we need to adjust your expectations what your expectations are for this race. I think that's the biggest thing is, like, just making sure that the athlete, has has, their goal or their expectations for their late race are aligned with where their fitness is at and the time that they're gonna have to train. I think those are two big things. So as long as it's aligned so, like, we'll sometimes we'll chat with the athlete and say, look. You know, I don't if you're expecting the PR, probably not the right situation. Like, it's probably better to put yourself in a situation, like, if you want a PR, to put yourself in a a at a time period where you can train the right way. But there are certainly a lot of people that just wanna finish, or this is, one of those destination races.

Jeff Gaudette [00:26:21]: There's a thing where, you know, maybe they don't need to necessarily PR. They just wanna have a good time, whatever. So there's a lot of different factors that go into it. But, absolutely, yeah, we you just I think you need to manage expectations about what your goal is versus, what you're able to do in training.

Cory Nagler [00:26:35]: I think that's great advice. I do wanna transition over to that runner who's in PR mode and maybe in the right life circumstances to gun for that PR. We're talking today about banking mileage, which you've said it it's kinda used in the running community, but maybe not a scientific term. But there are some adjacent terms that I think are very related that are maybe, more specifically defined in the running community. And a couple that come to mind are super compensation and overreaching, both of which have to do with this idea of putting in extra training and and maybe even beyond what you can do at a a sustainable level. So I guess Mhmm. Reflecting on those terms, how would you define them each and how do they relate or differ to this concept of banking fitness?

Jeff Gaudette [00:27:17]: Yeah. So I think when I think the most common term would be, like, super compensation training. I think the biggest difference in my mind is that when I think of somebody saying banking fitness, I think of them as saying that doing extra mileage, volume, whatever, because they're going to need some type of time off afterwards. Like whereas super compensation training is a little bit more I guess I wanna say it's, like, more structured in the sense that it's really more focused on the physiological principles. So, like, you're targeting something specifically physiologically and not and not doing it just because this is what the schedule kind of forced on you, kind of, if that makes sense. So there I think there's just slight differences. You're just attacking you you're kinda doing somewhat of the same thing, but you're just kind of attacking it in a little bit of a different way just because based on, like, the reason that you're doing it, really.

Cory Nagler [00:28:11]: And how does super compensation then differ from just doing more training? Because surely if I just go out and run a 20 miles every week, that's not super compensation, is it?

Jeff Gaudette [00:28:21]: Mhmm. Yeah. So yeah. You're right. So I've it it's definitely a more structured and more planned approach than even banking fitness. Like, when I think of banking fitness, I think of it more as just, like, mostly mileage. Like, you're not gonna necessarily probably increase the intensity or volume of your workouts. It's more just you're increasing mileage.

Jeff Gaudette [00:28:40]: Like, that's how I think of banking fitness. Whereas super compensation training, one thing is generally speaking, oh, probably a little bit, short of a time period. But also it's more, again, focused on a trying to get a specific physiological outcome. So, it could be a mileage thing where you're just trying to get your mileage up, like, trying to break through a plateau in mileage wise. A lot of times, it's centered around intensity. So doing a pretty high bout of intensity. So, like, ten days, maybe two weeks of, like, super high intensity training. But then, like I mentioned at the start, it's balanced by a equally, super compensation recovery.

Jeff Gaudette [00:29:23]: So you're kind of building that in, generally speaking. And, you know, and, again, you probably and you're because you're trying to get that specific physiological outcome, whether it be breaking through a mileage barrier, breaking through an intensity barrier, putting in something specific intensity wise, that kind of thing. Those are the kind of how I think of the differences. So a little bit more structured, I think, in the supercompensation side.

Cory Nagler [00:29:46]: Yeah. And you touched on it not being just mileage. Can you supercompensate using only intensity and actually not touch your mileage at all?

Jeff Gaudette [00:29:54]: Yeah. Absolutely. So, you see this a little bit with elites. We'll do this often, especially elites that in the track season that are going to Europe well, from The US going to Europe, or doing some type of like, a lot of the track races early on are close together. So if you're running in the Olympics, and you got heats and rounds and things like that, you'll see athletes do a a lot of times, we'll do a super competition period before they leave to go overseas or while they're there before the competition starts. And that way, they use the time when they are in between races. So let's say over two weeks span, they may have a bunch of different races. Like, they won't be training much during that period.

Jeff Gaudette [00:30:37]: It's mostly race and recover. So they did the super compensation part beforehand, in order to get their fitness kind of where it needed to be. And then they use the almost the racing cycle, or plan as, like, a recovery period.

Cory Nagler [00:30:52]: I I've heard this before because you are kind of forced to taper a little bit or skip some workouts when you're racing, but it still feels kind of bizarre to think of your racing season as being something you have to super compensate for just because those races are that one time where you're really fully tapping into your energy stores and using a % effort.

Jeff Gaudette [00:31:11]: Yeah. And especially in the case of, like, elite track athletes where again, especially something special like the world championships or Olympics or things like that, where you have three races and or two three races in five days or two races in four days, something like that. You know, you you kinda the taper for that or the the lead up to that is a lot different than than a marathon where it's just you you're really just training for one day. You know? Or a lot of cases, again, like, people will go to Europe and over a three, four week span, they may race, you know, like, eight times. You know? Especially milers, things like that. So it's a little bit different than I think a lot of, probably recreational adult athletes will will get into, but there are definitely times where that that applies.

Cory Nagler [00:31:57]: Yeah. And how much in terms of the fitness level of an elite does banking fitness still apply? And the context I'm coming from is I wonder if you're actually more fit and you've done more training, does that affect the rate at which you're going to lose fitness then if you take a a break or a reduction in mileage?

Jeff Gaudette [00:32:15]: Yeah. That's a good question. I don't there's definitely I I've never seen anything with data on it. But I would say that, yeah, that would probably you probably would I don't think it's necessarily that you lose fitness slower, or at a less rapid rate. I think it's just it allows you to extend the period from which you can maximize your fitness or you can maximize the the results that you put in. So I think I think that's where it comes in. So it's not like you do a super compensation period and then all of a sudden you're, like, much fitter than you've ever been. That's kinda not how it works.

Jeff Gaudette [00:32:44]: You're actually probably in, quote, unquote, worse fitness because you're you just need to recover. So it's one of those things that you're you're almost taking advantage of the effect that you need to recover or that you need to have time off because during that super compensation period or that banking fitness, you are putting yourself in a hole literally. Like, you're you're digging yourself into a hole, and you're coming out of that hole by recovering and either not doing as much training or being on the taper, that kind of thing. So it's kind of almost, almost like the opposite. You're just not fitter. You're just you're able to extend the period at which you're declining your fitness.

Cory Nagler [00:33:20]: Do you typically think of that sort of five to three weeks out from marathon as being a period where you want to be super compensating just because you have that rest coming up? Or is that kind of a different concept than than super compensation?

Jeff Gaudette [00:33:34]: Yeah. So that's that's kinda how that's how kinda how we do it. From about six six to three weeks is, generally speaking, when we have the hardest block of training. I wouldn't say that it's super compensation, only in the idea that, to me, super compensation is like going out of the ordinary. I would just say that during that period is when you're doing the most of your you're gonna have the most volume, probably your hardest workouts, etcetera. And then you're right. And because then during the we're able to as soon as we usually around we hit that three week mark, we start to taper off the volume or the intensity a little bit, More the intensity than the volume. And so, yes, you're able to you're almost you're building in we're building in the fact that over the next three weeks, you're gonna really take a a pretty significant recovery.

Jeff Gaudette [00:34:16]: And that way, you're gonna able to maximize that fitness. So I think everybody always thinks that, you know, marathon training, especially if you're doing it at a high level, is really a tight rope walk the whole way of, you know, doing just enough not to get into that overtrained injured area and just enough that you can still recover from it. And so because we know we're taking that break at the end, we can push it a little bit.

Cory Nagler [00:34:39]: Yeah. I think a lot of runners who have done multiple marathon blocks know that feeling where you you can almost feel that the training you're doing is unsustainable, but you you do it anyways knowing that you have that taper at the end before race day.

Jeff Gaudette [00:34:51]: Exactly. Yeah. That's kind of the idea. You're trying to get to that that point where you can recover and absorb all that training that you put in.

Cory Nagler [00:34:57]: Yeah. Alright. So let's let's help any well, myself, but also runners listening, figure out if this whole banking mileage thing is is actually for them and their circumstances. And, really, whether you're talking about that or super compensation, it seems to all come down to this idea of sort of mileage fluctuation or distribution. Because ultimately, if you're putting in more training, you need that rest at some point. So what what is it really that matters most in your training? Is it how much volume you're getting in? Is it just how high you can get that peak training? Or is it really consistency in that distribution that matters most?

Jeff Gaudette [00:35:33]: Yeah. To me, it's the consistency. So 100%. Like, a month of consistent, like, average training, if if you're consistent with it, will will outdo two weeks of really awesome training and two weeks of crappy training every time. Consistency, is definitely better. And even that, that's a short I like, that's still, like, a short time period. Like, a month that's obviously long, but not that long. Like, the more the the more you lengthen it out so when you start getting to, like, years or three months, four months, five months, six months, like, they can that the consistency over time matters more and more and more and more.

Jeff Gaudette [00:36:09]: So the longer the time frame, the more consistency becomes the greater the importance you put on consistency. The shorter the time frame, the more you can play with the fluctuation and have less overall impact on your fitness. So I I think if anybody really thinks about it, I think that probably makes sense. Like, if anybody thinks about, like, when they were in their best shape ever, running wise, fitness wise, whatever, health wise, it's been through consistency. It's been like, oh, I I did six months of, like, I was on point for six months. Like, you come out of that. And and you probably think back and like, oh, I never really did anything crazy. I was just consistent for six months, and you're you're probably in your best fitness.

Jeff Gaudette [00:36:46]: Whereas if you think back to the times where you probably went a little crazy with your training or did something crazy, but then had to take two weeks off for an injury or whatever. Like, you can at the end of the day, you're always like, yeah. You always feel like you're on that line. Like, I don't know if I'm really fit or not. Like, you know, sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. So to me, consistency is 100% the way to go. That would always be my first choice, would be consistency. But then again, we don't live we definitely don't live in a world where that's always possible for everybody.

Jeff Gaudette [00:37:13]: So sometimes we just have to do the best with what we're what we're working with.

Cory Nagler [00:37:17]: Yeah. I was gonna say there's probably some runners listening who might be thinking that they they they've taken months or years off, but at least he's super compensated with the years before that. But I guess it doesn't work that way.

Jeff Gaudette [00:37:28]: Yeah. Exactly. Anytime you start lengthening the time periods like that, it gets more difficult.

Cory Nagler [00:37:32]: My my dreams of taking my thirties off and still running crazy fast marathons have been dashed.

Jeff Gaudette [00:37:37]: Yes. Definitely.

Cory Nagler [00:37:40]: Alright. So let's let's kinda tie this in an eat bowl. We we've gone through a lot of concepts here and sort of what are the net impact of a rest period and taking time off and and then maybe trying to bank mileage before that. But in general, for for runners who have the circumstances to get in the training, is it an effective strategy to try to bank fitness? Or should your ultimate goal to be to be consistent across the training block?

Jeff Gaudette [00:38:05]: Yeah. So I think the ultimate goal should just be as to be as consistent as possible. I think that's what every athlete should strive to do with their training. I also find that to be more sustainable. But that said, banking fitness does have its its use cases for when I see this a lot if people are going into, like, a surgery that's not, like, running related or something like that. Like, if they have a health thing that's not serious, but they're gonna be laid up for a week, banking fitness going into that. Or like you said, if there's if you know you're gonna be on a a week long work trip where you're just not gonna be able to train quite as much, to bank a little bit of fitness going in so that you use that week, as a super compensation to recover. So there are time periods where it makes sense, but the goal should be consistency.

Cory Nagler [00:38:50]: Yeah. And I think one thing I like to do a lot in my training blocks is to have sort of two to three week builds and then a week off. So when you talk about being consistent in a training block, are you better off sort of being completely consistent? Or is your definition of consistency sort of moving throughout a training block?

Jeff Gaudette [00:39:09]: So that's a great question. So we I've always referred to that as, like, a scheduled down week. And those are that's a little bit of a different like, that's one of those nuances, but and I think that's different. That's not being that is still being consistent. Because in those cases, like, it's not like you're doing nothing during that week. Like, you're just reducing the volume, by a smaller percentage, reducing the intensity, that kind of stuff. That is different. And in the case and and, actually, in some in a lot of cases, that actually helps with consistency because it allows you to maintain the high the more intense weeks of training.

Jeff Gaudette [00:39:43]: So, again, it gets into that over the course of, let's say, twelve weeks. If three of those weeks were a little bit less intense, or a little bit less volume, that's a small drop when it comes to being when it comes to being completely consistent for twelve weeks. So, yeah, I I consider those a little bit different than and intentionally banking fitness and then for time that you're not gonna be able to train.

Cory Nagler [00:40:09]: Alright. One more thing I wanna do is use a specific example because I think it's helpful to illustrate how this might look for a runner. So let's say, you know, John Doe has been training super consistently trying to get ready for the Boston marathon in April. And then I think as we're recording this, the next break usually, is sort of the March break period if if you have kids. So say say John Doe is planning to take a vacation in March, not planning to bring running shoes and do any training. How would you kind of tweak the schedule versus if it was just gonna be status quo?

Jeff Gaudette [00:40:41]: Yeah. Great question. So I would probably do something where anywhere from ten to fourteen days, before he goes on his break, I would definitely, have a more intense period of training. Obviously, the the exact numbers would be would be based on what he would be able to handle and what he was coming from. But, absolutely, I would bank that fitness. Like, do maybe some extra intensity or I shouldn't say extra intensity, but volume. Yeah. Definitely have some intensity and more intense workouts than we may be used to.

Jeff Gaudette [00:41:13]: And then use that week where he wasn't training as as a, quote, unquote, super compensation recovery. And then when he comes back, we would just try to get back to that same consistency.

Cory Nagler [00:41:23]: Cool. Alright. Well, I think that's super helpful, especially myself included. I think a lot of people listening are gonna be training for spring races. And probably at some point or another, you're gonna have some some some breaks in there. Sometime you're gonna miss training. So, Jeff, this has been great, and appreciate you sharing some insights on, how to spread that mileage around and stay as consistent as possible.

Jeff Gaudette [00:41:43]: No problem. Always happy to chat, and sorry for everybody listening for the dog. Hopefully, it wasn't too too annoying, but it happens.

Cory Nagler [00:41:51]: You're lucky I'm a dog lover.

Jeff Gaudette [00:41:53]: Yeah.

Cory Nagler [00:41:55]: Alright. Thanks, Jeff. Pleasure having you on.

Jeff Gaudette [00:41:57]: Thanks, Corey.

Cory Nagler [00:42:12]: Thanks for listening to the Run to the Top podcast. I'm the showrunner at Runners Connect, where as always, our mission is to help you become a better runner with every episode. You can connect with me on Instagram at Corey underscore Nagler or through Strava by searching Corey Nagler. And please consider connecting with the rest of our team at runnersconnect.net. If you're loving the show, you can help us reach more runners by leaving a rating on Spotify or Apple Podcast. Lastly, if you want bonus content, behind the scenes experiences with guests, and premier access to contests, then consider subscribing to our newsletter by going to runnersconnect.net/podcast. I'll see you on the next show, but until then, happy running, everyone.