Jack Daniels' Running Formula isn't working for me.

anEconomist wrote:

Wow, your experience and your body's response to training sound exactly like me.

I used to think just run through everything, being tired was all part of it.

I still probably don't back off enough at times... i hate the fact that I can't deal with more than 50 mpw and 2 workouts a week but after years of fighting these things i've learned i simply only get faster when i backoff and let my body recover between workouts

NYCmaster wrote:

I have used DRF for years, and I think it is an excellent guide.

I have learned that

1) I need to run my easy days way slower than the guidelines based on my racing. I can run 5:10 in the mile, but my easy days are mostly 8:45 to 9:30 pace;

2) I can't do three quality sessions in a week. Did it in 2002, ran fast once, and ended up trashing my immune system and was out of racing for over a year. But if I combine my Sunday long run with a tempo or intervals, I can usually get in two such sessions. Every few weeks I will ease back to just one session. The key is *never* to run a quality day until you feel completely recovered. And, as Daniels points out in the book, if you are getting slower you need less stress, NOT more.

jtupper wrote:

It is impossible to write a program that applies best to everyone, but that is often what people want to hear about. How does a person coach? (1) doing what was done to him her as an athlete? (2) doing what the current champion does (which is what many tend to talk abut at coaching clinics)? (3) doing what the current world-record holder does? (4) following the "eggs-against-the-wall" theory, by pushing everyone as hard as possible and hope that one now and then doesn't break? Other ways also I am sure. So, I have tried to explain some principles related to stressing the body in different ways to hopefully achieve some improvements in body function. How often, how much, how hard to do the various things must be tailored to each individual, so you take the principles and apply them in the way that brings the most success for each runner. I am a big believer in treating each runner as an individual, while trying to follow some basic principles of training. As far as specific workouts while at Cortland, I had quite a variety of runners, including a girl who won XC nationals never having totaled 30 miles in any week (also won 10k on the track that spring). Another (national champion) ran 70 a week every year. Another arrived with a 2:38 800 PB and went on the win Penn Relays 10k in 33:01 (and never went over 40 a week throughout college). Then there were Lisa and Ken Martin who ran more mileage and Lisa got Silver in the marathon in Seoul & Ken ran 2:09 in NY City. Jerry Lawson liked mileage and often did 160 and had good success with a couple 2:09 marathons at Chicago. Peter Gilmore and Magdalena Lewy Boulet are both inclined to run a lot of mileage. I think you have to be in touch with what the runners like and what they respond to, so you are constantly revising and adjusting, while trying to stick with some solid principles.