Or the equivalent of only running 6 days a week. Most runners will see big benefits from increasing their mileage up to that point. The next tier of improvements will come from adding workouts at 60 mpw.
Okay if we want to cherry-pick people that do a lot of cross training then we can add the caveat of 60 miles per week and the equivalent number of hours cross training.
If you're going to add cross training hours to count as running miles, you should also consider certain types of cross training be categorized as workouts: plyos, strength training, etc.. You don't consider those activities worthwhile if running less than 60 mpw?
This post was edited 8 minutes after it was posted.
I'm pretty sure Americans are the the only people in the world that refer to every run (even just a recovery jog) as workouts.
The only runs that are considered workouts anywhere else are runs with intensity thrown in.
In fact, in Australia, we never even called these runs "workouts", but rather "sessions". It's only been since the introduction of Strava - and the Americanisation of running - have people started to refer to sessions as workouts.
It’s not an American thing, it’s a Malmo thing. We call them runs, too
I don’t know. Heard plenty of teammates go they workout 2x/day except Sunday when they go once. You never heard anyone talk about doing a zone 2 workout?
in the end you have to describe what we can’t do? If 8 do 8x100 @ 1500m is that a workout? What about if I call them strides? A 6mile tempo workout is bad. What about if I call it an 8 mile progression run? Not a workout right?
I sort of doubt it makes any sense to skip workouts. I doubt the benefits of being able to do slightly more mileage are going to make up from the benefits of doing some 10k-mp running.
Depends on the goal.. If you are a non competitive runner trying to run a marathon 60mpw is unfortunately higher mileage for your average marathoner.. infact most humans that can run 80mpw consistently for your typical 12 week marathon cycle would have no problem BQing.. infact I can't think of someone that runs 80mpw thaht hasn't BQed (if they were training for a marathon).
But there is a physical and psychological reason to do speed work.
It takes some people years to get to 60mpw doing no speed for years then getting to 60mpw then doing speed will increase likelihood to hurt tendons/ligaments or muscles.
Phycological: the marathon is what most people try to run and try to PR at... If you tell them they can't run a marathon till they run 80mpw won't keep them motivated and they will likely just quit running. Running a marathon off 50mpw keeps them motivated and allows you to slowly get them to 80+ mpw
Agreed. Weird how some people use "workout" to mean one particular kind of training session.
Exactly. As a child at 15, barely 100 pounds, the game changer was my 3 mile morning workouts. Within weeks I became a giant killer, regularly beating the older, bigger and stronger competition.
From then on, you could say my most important workouts were my morning runs. At every level, it was those early morning runs -- between 5:30 and 8 am -- cold, dark or rainy -- that made the difference.
Instead of everyone arguing about what the term "workout" means or whether or not Amby Burfoot was any good, why isn't asking about this? I know Malmo has covered doubles and morning runs before, but for anyone new, why were the 3-mile runs/sessions/workouts/whatever a game changer? What did they constitute? Looking back, would you have changed anything about them?
And, for the record, if a person is running 60 miles a week, I'd have to think some faster running would happen organically, whether it's picking up the pace at the end of a run, running hilly routes, or just throwing in some random pick-ups because they feel good. (I didn't say "fartlek", so put away your torches and pitchforks.) Running slow all the time gets boring, does it not?
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