In Peter Snell's book, he said it takes about 2 years to develop your aerobic capacity. I think it's probably best if there isn't much in the way of racing and hard workouts during that period.
In Peter Snell's book, he said it takes about 2 years to develop your aerobic capacity. I think it's probably best if there isn't much in the way of racing and hard workouts during that period.
This was my experience. I didn’t start running seriously until middle age.
The first year of training I made substantial progress. The second year, significant. By the third year I was close to the top of the learning curve and was only making marginal gains.
Now everytime you want to be in PR shape you got to run 100 MPW.
That's very tedious.
Back in the day I used to jog 70 mpw. The injuries started happening when I did workouts. I can't imagine running 100 mpw every week. I would have to run fast to get it over with quicker.
The key to enlightenment in running is the acceptance that no one cares about your running.
this very well might be the greatest post of all time
I really do like this. I'm considering putting it as my facebook "statement" under my profile picture. But I have a lot of hobby jogger friends who post Trilogy Novels as their race reports for every 30 minute 5K. LOL
Now everytime you want to be in PR shape you got to run 100 MPW.
That's very tedious.
Haha. When you set your prs at 100 mpw
, you're going to have to run 120 to PR again.
Not necessarily. Let's look at the 100 mile week in the Lydiard system. It was the phase that enlarged your body's ability to deliver oxygen. Once it fulfilled its purpose you moved on to other things done with lower volumes. Once each stage had been milked for most of what it could be you move on to something else. But Arthur would tell you that as you went through these phases and did fewer miles your aerobic capacity was decreasing. So when you completed the cycle you needed to go back to the 100 mile weeks for awhile to reload that capacity before once again moving to the other phases.
The point of the 100 mile weeks was to improve your endurance which was supposed to allow you to do more of the faster work that was coming later. It was really, in Arthur's view, the later phases that got your best performances and to get you ready to do that you did not need to increase the miles in the base phase continually once you were able to manage the hundred. Arthur experimented with all sorts of volume levels, as high as 200 a week, and found that he didn't improve as much when he was well over 100 as when he was at about that level. At some point you'll have reached a mileage level that will give you as much as it can, for some it can be less than 100 a week and for others more. But once you've reached that level you can continue to improve just by staying at or near that level.
Or look at Ron Clarke. Ron resumed serious training in 1961 and got up to about 100 a week pretty quickly. Once there he stayed there but he got faster at different distances for the next seven years without increasing his mileage. But he was running most of his miles faster as the years went by. Of course at some point everyone gets as fast as they'll ever be even if they keep running more and more miles.
The thing with the 100mpw runners is that they are overdoing it if you think about perfectly maximizing current/short/mid term fitness, but they are putting in work that will pay off over the next couple years.
You might be able to optimize around a lower mileage point, and run just as fast on your "next" marathon (depends on the athlete/history, etc), but for sure if if you want to have a sustained trajectory of getting to 2:40 and then 2:30 and then 2:15, etc. you need to have all that mileage stacked up.
At that point after multiple years.... well, another 80-100mpw isn't going to make a big difference in you because you've got such a huge base anyway.
Those of us mortals that try to follow their mileage plans for short periods of time? Definitely making a mistake.
This post was edited 39 seconds after it was posted.
Not necessarily. Let's look at the 100 mile week in the Lydiard system. It was the phase that enlarged your body's ability to deliver oxygen. Once it fulfilled its purpose you moved on to other things done with lower volumes. Once each stage had been milked for most of what it could be you move on to something else. But Arthur would tell you that as you went through these phases and did fewer miles your aerobic capacity was decreasing. So when you completed the cycle you needed to go back to the 100 mile weeks for awhile to reload that capacity before once again moving to the other phases.
The point of the 100 mile weeks was to improve your endurance which was supposed to allow you to do more of the faster work that was coming later. It was really, in Arthur's view, the later phases that got your best performances and to get you ready to do that you did not need to increase the miles in the base phase continually once you were able to manage the hundred. Arthur experimented with all sorts of volume levels, as high as 200 a week, and found that he didn't improve as much when he was well over 100 as when he was at about that level. At some point you'll have reached a mileage level that will give you as much as it can, for some it can be less than 100 a week and for others more. But once you've reached that level you can continue to improve just by staying at or near that level.
Or look at Ron Clarke. Ron resumed serious training in 1961 and got up to about 100 a week pretty quickly. Once there he stayed there but he got faster at different distances for the next seven years without increasing his mileage. But he was running most of his miles faster as the years went by. Of course at some point everyone gets as fast as they'll ever be even if they keep running more and more miles.
excellent counterpoint. More mileage isn't always the answer. It's something to try if you plateau and don't think you can get more out of your workouts.
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