FEEDING THE ENDURANCE CAT
Speed Based Distance Training the Knudson Way
By Dan Betz
My journey toward speed-based distance training has been a long and winding path. In the summer of 1996, I was a young 24-year-old coach in my second year of coaching cross country. I had the opportunity to take a couple of athletes to the USATF High Altitude camp in Granby Colorado. I was fresh out of college and I was teaching at a very small rural school in Western Kansas. There were approximately 60 kids in the whole high school. I was hired as the middle school/high school track coach, and I had just started a cross country program because we had 2 sisters transfer from Leadville Colorado that loved to run. I didn’t know much about training beyond running recreationally in college, I had been a sprinter/hurdler in high school. Basically, that first year I trained the kids through articles from Runner’s World magazine. We had some success the first year, but it was not through my coaching. That winter I had received a flyer from a guy named Lyle Knudson for a camp. Excitedly, I told the team, and 2 of my 5 kids signed up to join me for the late July camp. This proved to be one of the most important coaching decisions of my career.
Little did I know that I would come in contact with a coach that was a generation ahead of his time. Lyle Knudson (1941-2017) with his shock of almost white, blond hair and impossibly carved calf muscles organized the Granby camp. Lyle opened my eyes to what training should look like. Sandwiched between morning runs and afternoon hikes, he would lecture the athletes and coaches about training. To me, his training program was incredibly easy to understand and implement. This training plan became the basis for my program for many years. By the time I moved on from that small Western Kansas school, we had 2 state distance medalists. Prior to that, no athlete had ever placed in a distance race at that school. In fact, there are still four distance records standing after 23 years at that school.
I used Lyle’s training program at my next job at a charter school in Greeley Colorado as the head high school track coach, I do not coach high school cross country. Our school had 240 students when I arrived in 2001 and now has about 600, so it is still a fairly small program. We had good success, sending multiple athletes to state and placing in approximately 9 distance events from 2001-2007. In 2007, I had a disastrous season of injuries with my distance runners. It was at this point that I moved on from Lyle Knudson’s program to Daniel’s Running Formula. We continued to have success, but with the exception of my top few kids who were very talented most were not running very fast.
By 2014 after my studs graduated, the wheels came off. The kids could pound out great 13 mile runs, but their leg speed was non-existent. The average 1600m time (at 5,000ft elevation) for my top 4 athletes changed from 4:55 to 5:11. For the first time since my early coaching career, I did not have a sub 5:00 miler. On the way home from state that year, my very frustrated distance coach and I discussed what we needed to change. He and I both felt that the kids needed more speed, and that even though we did speed workouts throughout the season it did not seem to really help. They were volume junkies but could not shift to the next gear. I told him about the Knudson training program I had used early in my career and we decided to dust it off and incorporate it for the next season. This change has made all the difference. In just one year, with the same athletes our average 1600m time dropped from 5:11 to 4:59. By 2019 our average time was 4:52, and we had averaged 4:53 or faster for 3 years in a row. In all, we have had 25 state places since 2001 in the distance events.
Lyle’s program is based on speed development and training the kids to run fast. He was adamantly opposed to the principles of long slow distance. He felt that VO2 max was a poor way to measure distance running and establish training. Lyle believed that aerobic conditioning could be developed by running fast over specified distances and was adamantly against including a mesocycle of aerobic base work during the training year. He directly challenged the methodology of a pyramid macrocycle of training. He believed that athletes need to train faster than the paces that they were expected to race. As a coach, Lyle trained 7 Olympians including only the 2nd American woman at the time to go under 2:00 in the 800m. According to his son Jason, Lyle’s program was used by Jenna Hutchins to set the U20 5k record on only 35 miles per week of training!
As a car nut this makes a lot of sense to me. I love Ford Mustangs and one of the best, the 1968 428 Cobra Jet had a 428 cubic inch big block engine that made 335 horsepower. This car with its monster engine could race 0-60 mph in 5.4 seconds. Fast forward to 2020 and the new Ford Mustang ecoboost Mustang with a 2.3 liter (140 cubic inch) engine makes 330 horsepower and runs 0-60 in 5.5 seconds. Just because the engine is bigger doesn’t mean that it is better. The aerobic distance runner is like the 428 big block. The engine is big, but it is inefficient. The ecoboost 2.3 liter can accomplish the same performance with a third of the size because it is made to run fast with high rpm and more efficient architecture. Why run 100 miles per week when you can run a third of that and achieve the same result? Mileage is a poor indicator of performance if the miles are completed slowly. I have no idea how many miles the athletes in my program log per week. Lyle would say at camp that long slow distance running makes long slow runners.
The basis for Lyle Knudson’s training plan, which he labeled “Speed, Speed Endurance, & Specific Endurance Based Training” is that athletes need to train constantly faster than the pace which they are to race. He organized his training into 2 week (ideal) or 1 week microcycles where athletes would run at paces over and under their ideal training pace. They would also work on speed development and sprinting form. This program does not believe in a pyramid method of training at all, but that athletes should be training speed in a year-round macrocycle.
The first step in the system is to determine the training pace. He believed that athletes should start with a lower training pace (800m or 1600m) and increase it as they get older. He felt that speed development was much more important than volume or miles and that volume could be added after speed was developed. Here is what a sample training cycle would look like for a high school 1600m trained athlete.
Step 1: Determine ideal training (race) distance. It is better to start with a lower training distance and work up. For example, do not start your cross country team with a 5k training distance. The volume of running would be detrimental to speed development. Work toward that as the athletes get faster and more experienced.
Step 2: Determine over and under distance paces and distances
| Training Type | Abbreviation | Pace | Training Distance |
| Over Over Distance | OOD | 4800m | 1.75 x 4800m = 8400m |
| Over Distance | OD | 3200m | 2 x 3200m = 6400m |
| Training Distance | TD | 1600m | 2.25 x 1600m = 3600m |
| Under Distance | UD | 800m | 2.5 x 800m = 2000m |
| Under Under Distance | UUD | 400m | 3 x 400m = 1200m |
Step 3: Set up 14 day cycle – The pattern is very set by Lyle’s system. I vary it a little in real life to give the athletes Sunday off, and to account for more than one meet every 2 weeks.
| Day | Training Type |
| SU | Aerobic (AR) |
| M | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) |
| T | Over Over Distance (OOD) |
| W | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) |
| TR | Under Under Distance (UUD) |
| F | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) |
| SA | Over Distance (OD) |
| SU | Aerobic (AR) |
| M | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) |
| T | Under Distance (UD) |
| W | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) |
| TR | Training Distance (TD) |
| F | ½ Anaerobic Threshold (1/2 AT) |
| SA | Competition or work at weakest pace |
Step 4: Determine workouts for the cycle
| Day | Training Type | Sample Workouts |
| SU | Aerobic (AR) | 45-75 minute AR run |
| M | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) | 6-12-6 (6 min. AR-12 min. AT-6 min. AR) |
| T | Over Over Distance (OOD) | 7 x 1200m @ 3mile pace (3-4 min. jog btwn) |
| W | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) | 6-12-6 (6 min. AR-12 min. AT-6 min. AR) |
| TR | Under Under Distance (UUD) | 16 x 75m @ 400m pace (full recovery btwn) |
| F | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) | 6-12-6 (6 min. AR-12 min. AT-6 min. AR) |
| SA | Over Distance (OD) | 8 x 800m @ 3200m pace (2-3 min. jog btwn) |
| SU | Aerobic (AR) | 45-75 minute AR run |
| M | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) | 6-12-6 (6 min. AR-12 min. AT-6 min. AR) |
| T | Under Distance (UD) | 10 x 200m @ 800m pace (2 min. jog btwn) |
| W | Anaerobic Threshold (AT) | 6-12-6 (6 min. AR-12 min. AT-6 min. AR) |
| TR | Training Distance (TD) | 9 x 400m @ 1600m pace (2-3 min. jog btwn) |
| F | ½ Anaerobic Threshold (1/2 AT) | 6-6-6 (6 min. AR-6 min. AT-6 min. AR) |
| SA | Competition or work at weakest pace |
One of the most basic principles of this program is that an athlete should train at a pace faster than their current PR pace. For example, if you are a 5:05 miler, you should train at 5:00 pace to teach your body to go at the faster speed. Lyle also recommended that instead of using distance as a marker for intervals, one should use time. For example, for the 9 x 400m workout above you should change the distance to a time and have the kids run the determined pace for that time. If your athlete is training at 5:00 mile pace have them run for 75 seconds. That way they focus on the pace and not just completing the 400m distance. They may run 395m or 405m or something else, but they are running the time interval prescribed. This really makes sense because if a set distance is used the athlete runs less time as they get faster. If you use time as the marker the athletes keep the stressor the same no matter how fast they get. It is possible to use Daniel’s VDOT tables to find pace, but just make sure that the kids are running faster than their current PR. For example, if the table says that you have a VDOT of 58 (5:05 mile) then use the VDOT number of 60-61 for pace (4:57-5:00 mile).
Lyle also recommended doing the workouts off of the track and was a proponent of downhill running. He felt that going downhill would force the athletes to increase their leg turnover which would also increase their speed. Lyle was good friends with Tony Wells, who was possibly the best sprint coach the United States has ever produced. Tony’s fingerprints are all over Lyle’s training plan. The plan recommends doing speed development to increase stride frequency and/or stride length. This would be in addition to the training listed above. Many things can be used to increase max velocity and “speed reserve”. This is where the “Feed the Cats” training can be incorporated. I tend to use plyometrics, weights, wickets, and max velocity sprinting on AT days or UD/UUD days. It is not a good idea to do speed development on endurance days. Keep the speed on the speed days.
I realize that this type of training is controversial and maybe even heresy to the traditional distance gurus, but Lyle proved that his methods work and trained athletes at the highest levels. I also know that my programs have not had the same success at the state and national level that some more traditional aerobic programs have had, so the traditionalists may disregard it. I do know however, that it has worked for me at an average school with normal kids. As an example, I coach the middle school cross country program at our school, and we have had the team and/or individual league champion every year since 2015. In 2019, we had the middle school individual state champion with a margin of victory of over 18 seconds. This past fall due to COVID, we had an abbreviated cross country season and no football. Consequently, 3 of my top 5 boys this year were football players looking for something to do. We had an undefeated season, both individually and as a team with boys that don’t run distance at all. I also had the privilege to develop the training program this fall for the school in Western Kansas where I began my career. A former athlete of mine reached out and asked if I could help her with the training. She was restarting the cross country program which had been eliminated about 20 years ago. She only had 5 athletes, but they performed exceedingly well. At the end of the season, she had a freshman finish 3rd at the state meet and rank #1 among 9th graders in her classification.
This is just a brief overview of Lyle Knudson’s training program. Much of what I have done is based on his camp and my research online. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to contact me. I have a PowerPoint that Lyle created that I can send to anyone who is interested. I may or may not be able to help but I will give it my best shot. My hope and goal are that the program that Lyle Knudson developed reaches a larger audience and that recognition is given to a man that has influenced who I am as a coach.
By Dan Betz
Track Coach, University School, Greeley, Colorado
dbetz@universityschools.com
Lyle was a great man.