In high school I was more 400/800 (49/1:55) who moved up to 800/1500 (ran 4:02 in the 15) in my freshmen year of college. I'm about the third best guy in both events, however my easy run paces are ungodly slow, like 20-30 seconds slower/mile, compared to the rest of the guys on the team, who are mostly 15/5k. Is this normal to expect? Is my fast-twitch muscle build making me slower over longer distances?
Stop braggin'
You already know the answer
About 2:15 into video Symmonds talking about easy run pace. You might want to watch and learn from a PRO.
I don't, otherwise I wouldn't ask the question. I'm one of the fastest milers on the team, but have the slowest easy pace. I just find it weird, how does one reconcile this.
The answer is no! Fast-twitch muscle cells can be trained to function like slow-twitch....but not the other direction. Slow-twitch can`t be transformed to Fast-twitch.
The Wizard
Fast twitch guy here wrote:
In high school I was more 400/800 (49/1:55) who moved up to 800/1500 (ran 4:02 in the 15) in my freshmen year of college. I'm about the third best guy in both events, however my easy run paces are ungodly slow, like 20-30 seconds slower/mile, compared to the rest of the guys on the team, who are mostly 15/5k. Is this normal to expect? Is my fast-twitch muscle build making me slower over longer distances?
Slow twitch runners can usually handle a faster easy run because they have more pace-specific muscle fibers to recruit. JS is not incorrect that FT fibers can be trained to become slow twitch but that takes a long time.
COACH J.S å ä ö wrote:
The answer is no! Fast-twitch muscle cells can be trained to function like slow-twitch....but not the other direction. Slow-twitch can`t be transformed to Fast-twitch.
The Wizard
This is both incorrect and irrelevant.
Fast twitch guy here wrote:
Is this normal?
Yes
No! It`s not!
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=2375989&page=3COACH J.S å ä ö wrote:
No! It`s not!
Absolutely. Just like fast-twitch guys can handle more intensity in workouts. One reason why runners should run alone on easy days.
J.S. is revealing his immaturity and ignorance here. Useless as a coach until he learns his trade.
J.S - You are correct somewhat, but your point is entirely irrelevant.
Your post that "slow twitch fibers cannot become fast twitch but fast twitch cannot become slow twitch" is somewhat correct. In reality, ST cannot be converted to FT type fibers, but some research has shown that with neural recruitment training, one can painstakingly increase the force with which ST fibers contract. Similarly, the oxidative capacity of FT fibers can be greatly improved, and this process is generally referred to as type IIx converting to type IIa fibers.
All of that is still completely irrelevant to the OP's question. He asked whether FT people have a slower easy pace than an equivalent ST person.
Say two milers both run 4:30. One has an 800 PB of 2:00 and a 5k PB of 16:30, but the other runs 2:05 and 15:30. Clearly the latter is ST and the former is FT. The ST athlete is relatively more competitive as the distance increases, while the FT athlete is the opposite. Easy running is the pace at which one can run for a very long time, so for a ST runner that would be a faster pace. On the flip side, the FT runner could pop off 60s quarters without too much difficulty, but the ST runner would be struggling since that's only a couple seconds off his PB for 400.
To answer the OP directly, your situation is completely normal, and never feel bad about your easy pace. It's called easy or conversational for a reason. You can help increase your aerobic strength with lactate threshold and steady state runs, and as your LT improves your easy pace will come down. The speeding up of easy runs should be a product of increased fitness, not the other way around.
Fast twitch guy here wrote:
In high school I was more 400/800 (49/1:55) who moved up to 800/1500 (ran 4:02 in the 15) in my freshmen year of college. I'm about the third best guy in both events, however my easy run paces are ungodly slow, like 20-30 seconds slower/mile, compared to the rest of the guys on the team, who are mostly 15/5k. Is this normal to expect? Is my fast-twitch muscle build making me slower over longer distances?
It's certainly advisable. As a fast-twitch runner you need to run the weakest part of your physiological spectrum more carefully. You are going to find things like 200 and 400 reps much easier than your 1500/5000 team-mates, and they would probably not do themselves much good trying to run 8x200m in 25/26 seconds with you (which I'd imagine you'd find quite comfortable).
On the other hand, you are not going to find things like lactate threshold or long runs as easy as those guys, and it's going to take more out of you if you try and stay with them.
The rule of thumb is to work on weaknesses early in the program - but go cautiously with your weakness - and then work on your strengths later on.