How to Become a Better Runner with a Multi-Sport Approach to Training
There is no shortage of successful running coaches and training plans in the market. Unfortunately, most amateur running training programs are designed as diluted versions of what works at the elite level. This approach is also why there is no shortage of running injuries. If you review most training plans that aim to prepare you for anything from a 5km to a marathon, the program’s core is built around accumulating running volume. Sure, several weekly runs might include intervals or hill work, but a run program is always just that. Run, run, run. It is no wonder that so many runners navigate their journey with repeated injuries and frustration.
We often hear ‘I cannot run’ or ‘my knees won’t let me run,’ but it doesn’t have to be this way. There is a path for you to improve your running while finding joy, lowering injury risk, and even getting results that you could scarcely believe possible with a traditional running program.
It is time to rewrite the script on what it takes for amateur runners to succeed by using a multi-sport approach to training. Multi-sport run training is a proven strategy, not a theory.
Let me show you how:
What is the Multi-Sport Approach to Run Training?
First, let’s clear the decks of any confusion – this isn’t triathlon training applied for runners. This is leveraging multiple disciplines and strategic walking to improve running and prepare for events of all distances. Many elite athletes have leveraged our approach with great success, as you will read later. There is even a growing trend of professional runners integrating multi-sport elements into their training. This program emerged after seeing a trend of massive performance gains and reduced injury prevalence in those who combined multi-sport training. I became more and more interested and applied it to broader groups. The positive response continued to the degree that it has become cemented in how Purple Patch prepares all types of runners for competition.
Here are the main components of the program:
Running: To improve at running, we must run. Therefore, running remains the center of the program. The key is ensuring that the run provides a high yield, doesn’t cause injury, and can be enjoyable. We often integrate walking as a supporting tool, either in hilly terrain or on the treadmill.
Strength: We integrate strength training into the training program, not as an afterthought dumped on a training plan. Almost every strength session focuses on joint health and mobility. We then apply this practice to running performance by adding a quick run or walk immediately following the strength training.
Cross-Training: We primarily utilize cycling, but rowing and the elliptical trainer are options for athletes who prefer these training modes. They aren’t considered ‘running alternates’ only used when injury strikes. These non-weight bearing training modalities provide powerful cardiovascular stimulus and deliver muscular and tissue resilience.
Walk Breaks: The final piece of the puzzle is leveraging walk breaks as a critical part of stress management and speed optimization in training and racing. The most significant muscle damage and speed decline occur in most athletes’ final third of training and racing. At this point, fatigue accumulates, form declines, and muscle damage peaks. Typically, amateur runners' most significant performance limiter is mechanical fatigue instead of cardiovascular fatigue. The legs just are not doing what you want. We can reduce this impact with early and frequent short walk breaks to reset form and recuperate. The speed lost early in running sessions is gained later in a lack of decline. It is the genesis of our mantra: Run as well as you can, for as long as you can, as often as you can.
When we put these puzzle pieces together, they form a clear strategy. At Purple Patch, we also bring a balanced approach to supporting habits, including nutrition, sleep, and recovery for the entire 360-degree system. With all these elements in place, we have an effective program that can be pointed toward both running enjoyment or breaking your PR in the distance of your choosing.
Benefits and Case Studies
The benefits of a multi-sport approach to running extend well beyond faster running splits. Here are the main advantages:
Healthier: Both physically and mentally, this approach ticks more boxes than running training alone. You challenge your body and mind through various mediums, creating a more well-rounded performance profile. In addition, there is a drastic reduction of unhelpful tissue damage that occurs when the only tool in the toolbox is running training.
Reduced Injury Risk: Integrating strength training improves running performance and significantly impacts tissue health, posture, and muscular resilience. Additionally, removing the damaging effects of high volume running training and replacing it with less muscle-damaging alternate sport training results in a dramatic drop in injury prevalence. This helps pave the wave for the magic word in performance: consistency.
It’s More Fun: Multi-disciplinary thinking is a critical component of overall performance. In addition, most folks who adopt a second endurance activity are inexperienced in that activity. It is sometimes scary, but improvement always comes, and with that arrives a sense of achievement and enjoyment. To top this off, there will be less accumulated fatigue from only running, which tends to amplify energy and excitement in the sessions you run.
This may seem too good to be true, but these are proven practices.
Below are a few of the many case studies of recent Purple Patch athletes that have leveraged this multi-sport approach for their success.
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Co-CEO of Purple Patch and my wife. Kelli has never self-identified as a runner. In fact, with no meniscus left in her knees from a competitive youth gymnastics career, she declared herself ‘unable to run.’ But when a friend asked her to run a marathon with her, Kelli was keen to support. The approach? Strength training, twice-weekly bike trainer sessions with intervals, and integrating walking into every single run workout. Race day included consistent walk breaks from mile one, and while many folks ran away from her in the initial miles, Kelli finished the marathon with a negative split, 45 minutes faster than she was hoping, and a massive smile on her face. The best news? There was no additional damage to her knees.
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Tim is a multi-time IRONMAN Hawaii finisher, Leadville trail 100 finisher, and Boston marathon qualifier. He wanted to take on the most formidable running race out there, the 135 mile Badwater ultra. This race is completed in Death Valley heat and goes from below sea level to over 14,000 feet. Tough. Tim deployed the multi-sport approach, only running 3-4 times weekly but embracing cycling intervals, strength, and a little supportive swimming. He finished the race in the Top 10 as the fastest finisher over 50 years of age and the heaviest finisher ever at Badwater.
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Two friends desired to complete an IRONMAN, but were severely limited by knee pain and injury risk. The goal was to get across the finish line within the 17-hour cutoff. Our training prescription included the required biking and swimming training, but instead of the traditional running training program, we prescribed hiking, power-walking, and short running bouts. Their longest continuous run to prepare for their IRONMAN? 2 minutes. You read that right. Race day saw a solid and consistent swim and bike, then a marathon that was even across every split and included power-walking with short running bouts never over 2 minutes. James finished in under 14 hours, Angus in 15 hours. No damage was done.
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Last year, Purple Patch pro, Cecilia Davis-Hayes, wanted to try something out of the box – a standalone marathon. She wanted to race a marathon to qualify for the Olympic Trials standard of 2 hours, 44 minutes, and 59 seconds. We didn’t assume it was probable, but we decided to mix it up. At the start of the training, my coaching guess would have seen Cecilia hitting about 3 hours for an excellent marathon performance, and my deal was that we wouldn’t train for a marathon in the traditional way. Instead, we focused on strength training and hard bike intervals, then ran frequently but mostly in shorter sessions. All longer runs included walk breaks. On race day, things flowed, and Cecilia flew, nailing a 2 hour and 45-minute marathon, missing the cut by 20 seconds. 20 seconds! The most successful ‘failure’ I have ever coached.
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Iggy, as I call him, decided to enter the New York Marathon. He’s a talented triathlete, strong runner, and a busy executive and family man. I was keen to keep Iggy healthy and persuaded him to train for New York using a multi-sport approach. He stayed very consistent but often mentioned he wasn’t sure if he was ready, as he never felt the typical profound fatigue associated with marathon training. Race week came, and he questioned if he was prepared to run a 2-hour 45-minute marathon (I told you he was pretty fast!). I asked Iggy not to track splits and run by feel – go with the flow and whatever the day gave. He didn’t finish in 2 hours and 45 minutes. Instead, he finished in 2 hours and 35 minutes. His fastest miles? The final 10 km, where it is mostly hilly. And yes, he even added 5-6 short walk breaks.
These success stories illustrate a few of many who benefit from a multi-sport approach.
Our unique multi-sport training strategy can offer breakthrough performances for anyone, from beginners to professional athletes, and it does so with a much lower tendency for injury. Plus, this approach to training is a lot of fun, and we think that that is a big bonus.
Applying the Lessons
The most important aspect of successfully applying this approach is shifting your mindset from being solely event-driven toward lifestyle-driven. Simply identifying a race or event, then training for it for 10-20 weeks is a losing strategy. Instead, the better path is to successfully integrate running into life as a part of the multi-sport approach. We consistently discuss the performance journey, and there is no greater example of how powerful it can be than this multi-sport approach to running.
It is also important to realize that this approach takes a lot of bravery. If you consistently look around you at more traditional plans, you may understandably worry. Athletes often wonder if they are doing enough running miles and if they can expect positive results when others are doing more. The results will come, but it takes patience and consistency. The strategy will also break down if you simply maintain a traditional running program then dump strength and an additional sport on top. That isn’t a program; that is a soup of fatigue. Finally, it is worth noting that implementing the run-walk strategy is relatively simple and easy in training but takes steadfast commitment in racing. Even Kelli, who had limited time goals, found it tough to walk only 2 miles into a marathon, especially when faced with other competitors and spectators urging her on and to get running again. Many struggle with strategic implementation in the early part of racing, but it is the surest path to success.
Example Running Sessions
If you want to experience the benefits of training, try the following exercise over two running sessions.
Choose a loop that will take about 60-75 minutes to run (less able runners can do 20-40 minutes). Aim to choose a loop with limited stop signs. Run the loop at a controlled pace (around 7/10 effort), but do not look at pace/time/heart rate. You can record for later review but complete the run ONLY on feel. We call it ‘running blind.’
A week or two later, re-trace the same run loop (exactly). Perform at the same perceived effort, without looking at your pace/time/heart rate. This week, integrate a 15-20 sec walk break every 4th or 5th minute. The running pace feels like a 7 out of 10 but power-walks for 15-30 seconds at designated walk breaks.
You should record your total time for each run (including the walk breaks), your heart rate if you are capturing, and your average pace. I would also consider how you feel in the last quarter of both runs. Let’s see how slow you go in the second run, including walk breaks. You might gain some insights, but no peeking at pace in the middle of either run.
A final thing to remember is that any training program is most successful when integrated into life and supported by key habits. Therefore, we continuously discuss the Purple Patch Pillars of Performance, consisting of endurance training (run and other sport), strength training, nutrition, and recovery.