Guys back in the day ran 130mpw hard, how did they recover?

I am Sam wrote:

Keely Dan wrote:

They didn't have GPS back then, so they just rounded up. Yeah I know, you measured the route with your car odometer sometimes, but admit it, back then, everyone rounded up a little bit. 100mpw in 1970 is the equivalent of about 83mpw in 2026.

Also, a lot of times they may have been doing "reverse badger miles", that is, using time watch time to measure distance, and assuming they were going about 7:00 mile pace the whole way.

Are you one of those era or are you imagining how life must have been pre Garmin? Usually you odo would have been out by max 2% depending on tyres etc, but there used to be km (or miles) check distances, usually 5km, you still find a few but not so common, to 'check speedo'. Then you also had races and time trials measured by wheels which gave runners asense of pace. That is something you dont find in modern runners, no sense of pace, they need garmin to tell them.
You are really saying that someone would run 8.3miles at say 6mim and write it down as 10miles at 5min!!

Back in early 80's I ran an '18.4km' tough mountain race in 62:20 and placed 3rd. I've always thought it may have been short because it equilibrates to 71:20 HM, and I was probably in 70min flat course shape

I measured it with Garmin in 2010, and guess what? 18.4km...that was probably my best year of running, most of PB's from that time

this and this wrote:

Not much of that running was really hard/fast. Many of those miles were comfortable steady state as fast as they wanted to go at that time. Fast continuous runs like 10 miles easing into it, and then maybe under current half marathon pace for the last half.

It was time efficient running- just get out the door and get your miles in sometimes at a quick but sustainable pace. None of this get in a car to drive to a nicer place to run, warm up easy, stop and take off some clothes/get a drink and a gel, maybe change shoes, do repeats constantly glancing at your GPS watch, change shoes and clothing again to warm down, then drive home.

There were fewer people then and traffic was not as bad, so you had road training loops you could do directly from your home without risking injury or death.

A good fit runner could sustainably average over 120 miles a week like that devoting 15 hours or less to running every week.

There were no cell phones, no home computers, no cable TV, no internet. network tv was limited, few distractions.

Kvothe wrote:

I am Sam wrote:

Are you one of those era or are you imagining how life must have been pre Garmin? Usually you odo would have been out by max 2% depending on tyres etc, but there used to be km (or miles) check distances, usually 5km, you still find a few but not so common, to 'check speedo'. Then you also had races and time trials measured by wheels which gave runners asense of pace. That is something you dont find in modern runners, no sense of pace, they need garmin to tell them.
You are really saying that someone would run 8.3miles at say 6mim and write it down as 10miles at 5min!!

Back in early 80's I ran an '18.4km' tough mountain race in 62:20 and placed 3rd. I've always thought it may have been short because it equilibrates to 71:20 HM, and I was probably in 70min flat course shape

I measured it with Garmin in 2010, and guess what? 18.4km...that was probably my best year of running, most of PB's from that time

The most impressive part of this story is that you remembered some "almost 30k" race route for over 20 years

List O\'Maniac wrote:

1. Running was truly blue collar and hardscrabble back in those days. Most athletes came from working class backgrounds and were not the progeny of country club suburbanites. There was a tougher work ethic already baked in from watching their parents and grandparents toil to put food on the table.

2. Lydiard was the basis of all training. Run a lot of miles, do some strength and speed, go race. No one was worried about heart rate, Zone 2, threshold, cross training, etc.

3. You succeeded as a runner by age 24, or you quit. Winners and record holders were celebrated. There was no feting of local heroes, age group winners, also rans, inspirational stories, and the like.

4. There was virtually no money in the sport. Some under the table cash, plane tickets, a few pairs of free shoes were the best that you could hope for. Athletes did it for the love of the sport and to be recognized as a great champion. Today, if a post-collegiate runner gets some gear and a small stipend, they swagger about calling themselves a professional runner. Back in the day, you won a marathon and then went back to your job on Monday morning. Rodgers didn't make much until he opened a shoe store and created his own clothing company.

5. Depending on your point-of-view, the shoes were better or were absolute crap. The Altra Escalante or the New Balance Minimus would be considered plush by 1970s and 1980s standards. Shoes were designed for athletes, not chunky people in midlife crisis. One school of thought is that those hard soled shoes strengthened feet, joints, legs, and built greater bone density than today's bouncy house footwear. They also enforced efficient running form. You got better and more resilient or you wrecked yourself.

6. The crap diet of that time was probably more nutritious than our highly processed convenience-based foods today. Fresh fruits and vegetables were cheap and more widely consumed. People consumed more water and milk back then.

7. Athletes and coaches labored mostly in isolation. You might hear rumors or see a magazine article that Finns were doing something new, that Japanese were running insane mileage, or that East Germans were hitting the weights hard, but you trusted your process and took that into race day. You were not bombarded with Internet rumors, studies of recreational runners getting better results with HIIT, or self-appointed charlatan coaches claiming that their system produced better results with half the workload.

8. Life was simpler. Run, eat, work, run some more, eat some more, sleep. No mindless scrolling, social media posting, video games, online porn, streaming, binge watching, and such. This left more energy and time to pursue excellence.

runn wrote:

List O\'Maniac wrote:

1. Running was truly blue collar and hardscrabble back in those days. Most athletes came from working class backgrounds and were not the progeny of country club suburbanites. There was a tougher work ethic already baked in from watching their parents and grandparents toil to put food on the table.

2. Lydiard was the basis of all training. Run a lot of miles, do some strength and speed, go race. No one was worried about heart rate, Zone 2, threshold, cross training, etc.

3. You succeeded as a runner by age 24, or you quit. Winners and record holders were celebrated. There was no feting of local heroes, age group winners, also rans, inspirational stories, and the like.

4. There was virtually no money in the sport. Some under the table cash, plane tickets, a few pairs of free shoes were the best that you could hope for. Athletes did it for the love of the sport and to be recognized as a great champion. Today, if a post-collegiate runner gets some gear and a small stipend, they swagger about calling themselves a professional runner. Back in the day, you won a marathon and then went back to your job on Monday morning. Rodgers didn't make much until he opened a shoe store and created his own clothing company.

5. Depending on your point-of-view, the shoes were better or were absolute crap. The Altra Escalante or the New Balance Minimus would be considered plush by 1970s and 1980s standards. Shoes were designed for athletes, not chunky people in midlife crisis. One school of thought is that those hard soled shoes strengthened feet, joints, legs, and built greater bone density than today's bouncy house footwear. They also enforced efficient running form. You got better and more resilient or you wrecked yourself.

6. The crap diet of that time was probably more nutritious than our highly processed convenience-based foods today. Fresh fruits and vegetables were cheap and more widely consumed. People consumed more water and milk back then.

7. Athletes and coaches labored mostly in isolation. You might hear rumors or see a magazine article that Finns were doing something new, that Japanese were running insane mileage, or that East Germans were hitting the weights hard, but you trusted your process and took that into race day. You were not bombarded with Internet rumors, studies of recreational runners getting better results with HIIT, or self-appointed charlatan coaches claiming that their system produced better results with half the workload.

8. Life was simpler. Run, eat, work, run some more, eat some more, sleep. No mindless scrolling, social media posting, video games, online porn, streaming, binge watching, and such. This left more energy and time to pursue excellence.

That's pretty accurate. I'd argue about the shoes- I wish I had today's more "protective" shoes.

And I think this is important for the younger runners- you didn't come out of college in crippling debt, if any at all.

You could take a few years with low income and chase your dream, so to speak.

I remember never worrying about retirement or buying a house.

For me, the limits were injuries and when they started making better shoes I was able to train more.