Drew Hammond, CSCS

My name is Drew Hammond, and I currently serve as the strength and conditioning/movement specialist on Project Unreasonable. Alongside the rest of the team, my job is to help balance the high volume of endurance training with targeted, surgical strength and coordination prescriptions. The only way to succeed at such a high level is to ensure that the training plan is well-rounded, countering the high repetition endurance work with resistance that helps to build robustness and resiliency across key joints and movement patterns. While the endurance volume is undoubtedly the star of the show in this marathon train-up, we would be remiss not to include a healthy dose of bilateral, unilateral, and multiplanar movements in the gym to help support the base upon which we can build overall training volume.

What I'm working on right now

John's strength training is really designed to achieve two goals simultaneously. First, it's to build robustness in the areas that are most often targeted in high-volume endurance training plans. Oftentimes this includes things like foot strength, ankle strength, hip mobility, midline/core/chassis development, and plenty of upper back work to support a strong running posture across long distances.

The second emphasis is on John's overall enjoyment of the training process. For someone with his extensive gym-based training background, switching entirely to an endurance-specific training plan can be somewhat of a psychological shock to the system. To counteract this, we try as best we can to get him in the gym no more than is necessary to help him feel as though he's still maintaining (and even building) strength. It's a fine line that we walk, but through frequent touchpoints and readiness-based programming constraints, we're able to constantly tailor the training volume so that it meets John exactly where he is at on a given day.

Looking ahead

The biggest challenge as we get closer to our goal will be managing additional training variables as the endurance volume inevitably increases. It is all too easy to ratchet up everything alongside the mileage; however, this can oftentimes be a recipe for disaster. As we get closer to our goal, the focus of the strength work will be less about *building* strength amidst everything else and more about *maintaining* the strength we've already banked so that we don't cross the finish line in a worse place than where we started!