Miles vs. Minutes

I'm not sure where you all run but it sounds like a lot of roads. We run trails so those runs are hilly and distance is predetermined. So one loop might be 8.6 another 9.3. It is what it is. Trails and hills slow the pace you know about how far 60ish minutes is. You run by feel for what the day is. Recovery, pick up at end, etc.

I usually have different routes for different purposes and have premeasured them with GPS so I can do my runs with only a simple watch. For instance, I know it's .5 mile to the park and .75 miles per loop on the grass for easy days so I'll either time the entire run and get an avg pace or look down at the time each grass loop to make sure I'm not going over a certain pace. Then I know from there it's one mile to the nearest trailhead and I measured and memorized different routes so I can restart the watch at each new segment of my workout or like I said if I'm lazy that day I'll do an avg pace for the entire run. This works great with trail days with various speeds... 90 min fartlek at x'x" avg pace.

Then long runs or tempos I do take a gps to scrutinize the splits.

The kenyans & ethiopians use minutes unless they are doing a specific workout

Your body doesn't know what a mile is. It only knows duration & intensity. For easy days, I think minutes is better. That way you get in the same amount of time spent running every day. On the days you feel better, you'll go a bit farther, and if you're tired, the overall distance will be a bit less. But it doesn't really matter.

For specific workouts, use miles/meters.

I prefer miles. I can compare how many exact miles I've ran week after week. You can't compare preseason minutes to competition season minutes.

"But coach, I shouldn't feel tired! I've been keeping all my runs at 50 minutes!" When the kid has been increasing his pace throughout the season to unreasonably fast clips.

Best way to do it is use both, or at least by mileage. "Hmm, I've been running 7 miles faster than I did a month ago, I should back off to avoid peaking early."

It's weird, and it's tough to explain, but I like the precision in mileage-based training.

Just run baby

I run in minutes,log in miles and minutes, but only total miles.

With a few exceptions, most races are contested over a specified distance rather than a time.

What if I started quoting my PBs like this, 'My 20 minute PB is 3.47 miles'?

It is like people doing this heart rate training crap. There are no points for lowest, or highest heart rate at the end of the race.

No one cares how far you can run in a certain amount of time.

More beers less fears. wrote:

I run in minutes,log in miles and minutes, but only total miles.

Same for me. Personally, I prefer minutes. A good individualized training program will specify both, but when presented in minutes only, it becomes a training plan that can be used by someone of any talent/fitness level. I think there is a short anecdote about this in the Lydiard training book.

We run loops.

What I mean is when I take my team to a park an we run a certain run it is predetermined for me. "South Rim Loop" is a trail 7.3 miles long. That's the run. At another park "Upper Wilcat Loop" is 8 miles.

We run the loop. I have an idea of how long they take, hills, mileage, etc. if you feel good and go 59 great. 63 min? Ok.

Feel real crappy turn back...

gerard123 wrote:

With a few exceptions, most races are contested over a specified distance rather than a time.

What if I started quoting my PBs like this, 'My 20 minute PB is 3.47 miles'?

It is like people doing this heart rate training crap. There are no points for lowest, or highest heart rate at the end of the race.

No one cares how far you can run in a certain amount of time.

False they actually do have races for time. There are world records for farthest distance run in 60 minutes.

beginners and people coming back from injury should use minutes. That way they aren't constantly comparing their pace and distance to what they were capable of before.

here is what I am planning for after coming back from a lon lay off due to injury: go by minutes until I can comfortably run an hour easy everyday then switch to miles.