Mary Cain does her easy days in 6:30....Whaaaat !?!?!?

Joshua Brickell.

asdfasdf wrote:

I ran with two 9:15 two-milers in high school and we did most of our easy runs at 7:30 pace or so. If they were training alone, could they have gone a lot faster? Sure. But what I worry about is the impact stress of training at a fast pace all the time.

That's how it is for a lot of distance runners, but every runner is different, and mid-distance runners (like Cain) tend to need to run a little faster pace on their normal runs than true distance runners (like someone who will likely end up at 5k/10k+).

As Hotlanta Master mentions above, training pace and mileage is a very individual matter.

How does 50 girl miles = 70 boy miles?

What is the difference between an easy run and a recovery run? If you are not needing to recover why run easy?

Seriously, where do you guys come up with this stuff??

might be wejo wrote:

How does 50 girl miles = 70 boy miles?

I thought that was weird, too.

might be wejo wrote:What is the difference between an easy run and a recovery run? If you are not needing to recover why run easy?

Seriously, where do you guys come up with this stuff??

I think by "easy run (day)" they mean a normal training run (base mileage, for example). And "recovery run" meaning, well, a recovery run - what you need after a hard workout/race when your body still needs to recover.

That definition of "easy day" is what I'm pretty sure Salazar was talking about in the video.

50 miles a week is 50 miles a week regardless of gender, age, or fitness level. she is however is a more than exceptional athlete.

Elites run around 7 min miles on easy days! I know plenty that run slower than that! My say, run how the body feels on that given recovery day, good luck if she can keep that up for awhile

6:30 is very fast for someone of her ability. I can't imagine I was running much faster than 7:15 pace when I was as fast as she was. This is like your typical 14:30 collegiate guy doing his easy runs at like 6:00-6:10 pace or thereabouts. Not out of the question, but very tough to do on a consistent basis in addition to workouts, even if you're only doing 50 miles per week.

Nowiknow wrote:

Elites run around 7 min miles on easy days! I know plenty that run slower than that! My say, run how the body feels on that given recovery day, good luck if she can keep that up for awhile

Some of you are really having trouble reading my post. Easy days and recovery days are not the same thing.

People get so sensitive about easy day pace. For some people, running slow works. For others it doesn't. Running slow made me slow. I wanted to get faster so I started running faster more often. And I got a lot faster.

kdkdk wrote:

Some of you are really having trouble reading my post. Easy days and recovery days are not the same thing.

Most people treat them the same and it's a big reason why they suck.

yesstiles wrote:

I always thought it quite odd that elite wowmen ran their average training runs at a faster pace than elite men. I've run with several elite women who could run in the 15's for 5k who ran 6:20 pace on regular runs, whereas a male that runs 15's for 5k usually runs closer to 6:50 pace on regular runs.

Yes, women appear to easily be able to run closer to their race pace in practice than men do. Why is that?

It's because in most cases the woman is stronger aerobically. Mary Cain runs a 4:30 mile. So do a thousand high school boys. But what does she run for 400 and 800? Maybe 56 and 2:06? I'm just guessing. But take those thousand high school boys at 4:30 and I'm guessing 55 and 2:06 is below average for them. You're more likely to see 52/53 and 2:00.

Being more aerobically fit, Mary can do her daily runs faster than a guy of comparable speed.

for truth wrote:

It's because in most cases the woman is stronger aerobically. Mary Cain runs a 4:30 mile. So do a thousand high school boys. But what does she run for 400 and 800? Maybe 56 and 2:06? I'm just guessing. But take those thousand high school boys at 4:30 and I'm guessing 55 and 2:06 is below average for them. You're more likely to see 52/53 and 2:00.

Being more aerobically fit, Mary can do her daily runs faster than a guy of comparable speed.

Cain has run 2:03 and 55. I think 52/53 is a little fast for a 4:30 guy, I think something like 54 would be the average.

d3 wrote:

Girls also seem to be able to run a faster relative pace on their easy days. Has anyone else noticed this?

I've noticed this, but I've also noticed that those girls don't run as high of mileage. As long as you're not running huge distance events, though, it works all right. It does make them more susceptible to iron deficiency, though, if they are working a little harder even on their easy days.

might be wejo wrote:

How does 50 girl miles = 70 boy miles?

It's like human years -> dog years. There's a conversion factor somewhere I'm sure

Is 6:30 pace really that fast for a 4:30 miler? Just because some of you like to go super slow on easy days doesn't mean everyone does or should.

RainCloudBaby wrote:

Cain has run 2:03 and 55. I think 52/53 is a little fast for a 4:30 guy, I think something like 54 would be the average.

Close enough. Even with your revised numbers we still have your average male 4:30 guy being faster for short stuff than Mary Cain. That still supports what I was getting at.

There are loads of undertrained 4:30 milers out there who manage to muscle their way to that time based on good natural speed. We all probably know a few guys like that, and they would tend to train slower than Mary Cain.

yesstiles wrote:

Yes, women appear to easily be able to run closer to their race pace in practice than men do. Why is that?

A few thoughts: (1) In some cases, women run lower mileage, so less accumulated fatigue? (2) Men could do that, but don't. (3) "Could" is not the same as "should."

cray cray wrote:

Isn't that a little bit too fast, even for her? That's faster than a lot of ELITE high school boys run their easy days. AlSal also mentioned that she can do this because she ONLY runs 50 miles per week. But 50 is not exactly low mileage for a high school junior girl. 50 seems to be equivalent to about 70 for boys. She is obviously very successful so I guess it works for her.

and you nailed it with your last sentence there. if you were her coach, she'd be stuck in mediocrity for fear of doing too much or running too fast.

6:30 does seem fast for easy runs; however, most young star female athletes usually run their easy runs too fast. I have never understood why, but I have found that to be the case pretty consistently. Kim Gallagher who was never crazy about training said she felt awkward running slow.

I trained with a top H.S. female athlete over the summer between H.S. and college and she once said that she did not see the purpose in training if it does not hurt at least a little bit. Ritz, Pre, Webb and a few others were known for not being able to run slower than a six minute pace no matter the distance, although, most boys at Cain's age are quite happy to run as slow as you will allow them to on easy days.