Chapter 22: Case Studies of Athletic Development

Level 2 - The Recreational Athlete: Fiona Funrunner

Level 2 – The Recreational Athlete: Fiona Funrunner

We started our case study chapter with the proverbial “straight from the couch” athlete Metabolic Melvin. Our focus for Melvin was to establish a strong metabolic and movement base that would form a strong foundation for his future athletic endeavors that will keep him in shape and able to enjoy a long life with his family.

A large part of the first phase was to reshape Melvin’s metabolism so that he could achieve body composition changes and general health changes that would facilitate this long, athletic life. We ended this first phase with a celebration of Melvin’s newfound fitness in the form of a return to participating in some races.

For our next phase of development, we’ll take a look at “what’s next” - when the goal moves from getting back to some movement and being able to participate in some race to getting faster. This time, following the story of Fiona Funrunner.

Fiona is a recreational athlete who, with the stress of college, after putting on the typical “Freshman 15” & seeing her weight increase from her normal 135lbs to ~150lbs (at 5’5”), decided that she needed to recreate herself and return to her childhood love of morning runs through the park for both her physical and mental health.

After a few months of resuming her largely unstructured fitness routine, coupled with a greater attention to her nutrition, she was able to lose a significant amount of weight, getting down to a lean ~125lbs.

Starting to feel quite fit, on a whim, she saw and signed up for a local 5K. She surprised herself with how much fun the race was, bringing back memories of her High School cross-country days. Now that the competitive spirit has returned, Fiona wants to get back to some more structured training to get better and set some new PR’s, but is unsure where to begin.    

Fiona’s current routine…

Fiona’s current routine is largely unstructured. She has an 8K (5mi) loop and a 10K (~6mi) loop that she alternates between most mornings, i.e. 45-60min of running 5-6x pw, amounting to a total of ~45-50 km (27-30 mi/wk) run in ~5 hrs. Most of the running is what she calls “easy”, though if an upbeat song comes on, it may become a little more “moderate” 😊

She doesn’t currently monitor heartrate or pace or any of that, but is open to do so as she returns to some more competitive running goals. She recognizes the importance of strength training and does 2 strength workouts each week. She also enjoys group fitness and will often throw in a BodyPump class or a spin class or a yoga class each week. All in all, amounting to 8 or 9 hrs of total exercise in a typical week.

Unfortunately, the typical weeks haven’t been so typical of late with some nagging knee pain that has limited her consistency as the mileage has increased. This initially prompted her to add strength training to her routine, but she still has sporadic issues. This has frustrated Fiona and is also one of the reasons she is seeking some professional advice on the best route forward for her running.

She did her first 5K in 22:12, a result that placed her towards the front of the field, but still a long way from the winner, who finished a little under 18 minutes. Now that she has seen how much fun racing can be, she wants to continue doing these fun runs and would like to improve her time. Her big short-term goal is to go under 20 minutes for a 5K and, eventually, she would love to be at the front of the race challenging the sub-18 woman for the win!

Now that Fiona wants to take her running a little more seriously, our first port of call is to get Fiona into the lab so that we can identify her strengths and weaknesses and set her initial training zones to ensure that she’s training at the right intensity…