In a shocking new study researchers showed that running more than 1 day a week in preparation for a marathon had no correlation with performance. “We were shocked by the outcome, but it has caused us to rethink our entire approach here at ZAP,” remarked head coach Pete Rea. For years the ZAP team had preached that people should run more than 1 day per week in preparation for their marathons. ZAP had gone so far as to have their professional team run nearly every day during the week.
“It’s hard to believe we’ve had it all wrong this entire time,” says Rea. While there was no statistically significant difference between the groups running 1 day per week and 6 days per week in the study, the implications for injury risk are enormous. It’s comforting to the ZAP team to know that all the training they’ve done in the past hasn’t necessarily been negatively impacting their marathon performances, but being able to reduce their training to 0-1 days per week of running should dramatically reduce the risk of injury during the marathon build-up.
Rea concluded, “I’m incredibly excited to put this new discovery to use with our team. Like many training groups, we have had our fair share of injuries over the years. But now that we effectively don’t need to worry about training I believe we’ll see a big reduction in injuries going forward.”
The level of consistency with this new model of not training should lead to massive success for the On ZAP Endurance team through 2021 and beyond.
For a non-April Fools’ Day article on Tristin’s 5k PB at the Raleigh Relays click here.