Fastest Female Marathoner Ever – Paula Radcliffe – How She Trained
[article by Scott Larsen of Sweat Elite]
Paula Radcliffe had an esteemed running carrier. Her resume boasts being the three time winner of both the London and New York Marathons, with additional wins in the Helsinki 2005 World Championship and Chicago Marathon, as well as World Cross Country and Half Marathon events. Still to today, Paula holds the female Marathon World Record at a time of 2:15:25.
Hailing from Barnton, Cheshire, England, Paula simply was a dominating force to be reckoned with through the years of 2002 – 2015. Her official retirement from professional running occurred at the 2015 London Marathon.
Paula was recognized by many running fans by her unique head movement. As a topic of much debate for many years many sports scientists weighted in on the unique style stating; that the up and down effect could have potentially helped with her balance and breathing. No matter the outcome Radcliffe was a recognizable figure often running in gloves and occasionally in knee high compression socks.
Paula’s Training Method
Although there is not a whole lot of information about the specifics surrounding the training of the world’s fastest ever woman marathoner she did give glimpses into her training and racing through the years at the top levels.
To start she had some pragmatic and sensible thoughts on staying injury free and healthy:
“Invest in some decent running shoes, and go to a proper running shop so they can watch you run and tell you what type of shoe you need. I always make sure I get vaccinated against flu to help prevent any setbacks it can cause during my winter training.” – Paula Radcliffe
Radcliffe started running, and training, at a young age. Born with an intensely competitive personality, her first major race was as an 11 year old, at the national cross country championships – she finished 299th.
“I don’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t run” – Paula Radcliffe
Typical of most elite Marathon runners, Paula was known to take the weekly training volume up to 200km+ per week (or 145 miles approx.) during hard marathon buildups. She felt that once this average of 200km per week had been reached, that there is no point in increasing this further and that it is smarter to increase the quality. Given this philosophy, Radcliffe performed intense aerobic work all year round when compared to many other famous marathon runners. In fact, it was reported that a lot of her aerobic workouts were above her anaerobic threshold. For example, a lot of her sessions leading into a major marathon were at paces between 10,000m to half marathon pace and even her easy days were run quite fast. Perhaps this style of training was captured best in her quote:
“From my training I can get a good idea of what I’m capable of” – Paula Radcliffe
Her training also did not differ during her winter (off season). What she stated through these colder months was:
“It’s the weather that makes it harder. Treat yourself to proper running gear including waterproofs and decent reflective clothing. Spice it up and change your route so you don’t get bored, or run with other people, either friends or join a running club. And reward yourself, and celebrate the small things after your runs.” – Paula Radcliffe
Paula always maintained a big focus on altitude training. Perhaps due to the need to keep up with altitude based athletes out of the Kenya and Ethiopia regions, Paula felt training at altitude was preferable, but she also slept in an altitude tent quite often.
Alongside, heavy, quality training, Paula also was vigilant around her pulse every morning, taking it without fail. It was usually 38-40 beats per minute. During hard training it might be 42bpm. If it slipped up to 45bpm or above, then it signified that she had not fully recovered and she either modified her training or took a day off.
“It’s so important to listen to your body” – Paula Radcliffe
One very interesting phase of Paulas training was through the times of her pregnancies. Her experience is a rare one, says James Pivarnik, director of the Human Energy Research Laboratory at Michigan State University and one of the few scientists who have studied athletes during and after pregnancy.
“As far as I know, no one has ever done what she’s done,” Pivarnik said.
Here is an internationally competitive athlete, at the pinnacle of her career, who continued training during pregnancy at a level most runners who are not pregnant would find daunting. For the first five months, she ran twice a day, 75 minutes in the morning and 30 to 45 minutes in the evening. Then she cut back, running an hour in the morning and riding a stationary bike at night. She even did training regimens like hill repeats — repeatedly running up hills to build strength and endurance. She was closely monitored by her doctor.
Perhaps one of the reasons Paula decided to train at these levels through her pregnancy is the hypotheses that; pregnancy is good for elite runners because of the physiologic changes that mimic blood doping. Blood volume does increase by about 60 percent during pregnancy, which may make it seem that a woman would have so much extra blood after her baby is born that it would be the equivalent of blood doping — getting extra blood to carry oxygen to muscles. Pivarnik noted, blood volume returns to normal within four to eight weeks after a woman gives birth.
“If your question is, would a woman’s enhanced blood volume from pregnancy possibly help her in a race performed two to three weeks postpartum, I would say yes,” Pivarnik said. But that is not the situation for Radcliffe.
“If I’m happy, I train better and I race better,” Radcliffe said. “And the fact that I’ve got a little angel in my life makes me run better.” – Paula Radcliffe
A typical training week:
“I never plan to run at a certain pace. All my career my motto has been ‘no limits.’ I don’t try to run with a set time in mind, sticking to set splits, because what happens if you’re ahead of your splits – are you going to slow down?” – Paula Radcliffe.
Once again a detailed training week was unable to be found, however here are some key points that we could find about detailed sessions each week.
- Paula ran her main session in the mornings. Per week she had a total of 4 hard sessions. An example of a typical hard session was a tempo run at goal marathon pace for over an hour
- These hard sessions would be fitted around an eight-day cycle, including two long runs, a hard session every other day and a rest day, with the goal of averaging 200km per week
- She tried to have a nap at 2pm most days. These naps lasted roughly 2 hours. At 5pm she ran her second session for the day, which involved mainly mileage.
- She always tried to have an ice bath after these hard sessions, whether it be in a lake or a bath.
- A healthy meal was always consumed within half an hour of finishing a session. Common foods included banana, cereal, fruit, rice, salmon, toast and peanut butter.
- Core workouts were vital, and she tried to do core exercises every night.
“For an athlete, the biggest pressure comes from within. You know what you want to do and what you’re capable of” – Paula Radcliffe
