I really don't know why this is so controversial, every run used to be called a "workout" until recently. Some workouts/runs were hard, some were easy. Why people wanted to stop calling easy runs a workout is kind of dumb.
What do consider recently? I’ve run for 35 years and have never heard an easy run referred to as workout.
We get caught up in the semantics.
That said, the more accurate term would be “Aerobic Base Run,” or something similar.
I ran 2:38 Marathon when I was running less than 60 miles a week and every Tuesday afternoon I was doing intervals on the track
This is a bad example because, especially for the marathon, what the OP describes is the most true. You’d probably run a faster marathon with higher mileage and dropping your Tuesday intervals.
What do you mean by that? Does hard interval training have a purpose in marathon training? Is 2:38 fast enough that you have to include it or can you just include some strides three days per week? "I think you can train too hard." These are questions that need answering but depend on the individual and his prior training record!
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.
I've been a competitive runner for 50 years, and other than a couple of times when training for a marathon, I would hardly have ever run 60 miles a week. I can't imagine running nothing but 60 miles of steady mileage.
I wasn't a superstar by any means, but did win regional championships in England at 3000m s/c, and compete for the region in the national championships (both in high-school and open age group).
Won a lot of road-races in the US after coming here in my late 30s, have age state records at 10k on the road, and placed in US Masters Championships at 3000m indoors, 3000m s/c (twice) and 5000m.
Mostly training, apart from base phase, was three interval sessions or two sessions and a race per week, and probably running about 50 miles per week (less as I got older).
The sentiment that mileage matters is not false, but this is a stupid take. Mostly in that 60mpw is a completely arbitrary number. Finding the balance between mileage and workouts depends on a runner’s build, event, training history, age, and many other factors.
Above all this just sounds like lazy coaching, I hope the only person you coach is yourself.
There’s no point in running 60mpw unless you’re already doing workouts. Running lots of miles gets you really good at running slow for a long time. Nothing else.
I really don't know why this is so controversial, every run used to be called a "workout" until recently. Some workouts/runs were hard, some were easy. Why people wanted to stop calling easy runs a workout is kind of dumb.
What do consider recently? I’ve run for 35 years and have never heard an easy run referred to as workout.
I have been perusing one of my high school training logbooks from the mid-1990s and see that I referred to a 5 mile easy run as a "workout".
Not Sure why these threads gain so much traction constantly, running is a relatively simple sport. I do agree with the OP's sentiments partially in that the more volume you do, the more bang you get from your workout bucks, you can run the workouts better and recover from them better so volume helps you with quality.
I personally just run in cycles. I start a cycle by building the volume as high as I can with low end aerobic work(basically just all very easy running and strides, very low intensity stuff with the goal just to get my body acquainted with higher mileage, when I feel like I've adapted to that, I start adding some moderate days with aerobic tempos, steady runs and progressions and I also add in 150's and 200's alternating between the track and hills bi-weekly.
Then about 6-8 weeks out from goal race(I mostly run the 5 and 10k), I'll cut my volume by about 20-25%, I'll have two higher intensity workouts a week, one focusing on over-distance endurance like threshold work(alternating broken up T work and continous threshold runs) and the other focusing on under-distance starting at mile pace and gradually building them up to 5k/10k pace.
Then after I go back to just focusing on base volume and base speed again. I do put a premium on getting volume in though here, I could be running 5k+ 3 minutes per mile most days in early base while increasing it. But that volume pays huge dividends when you've adapted and first, add moderate work and then later quality work. Quality and endurance aren't isolated from each other, the more endurance you have, the better you can run your quality work and the faster you can recover so one of my pet peeves on here is seeing people say "running slow makes you better at running slow". There's a time and place for everything, training is a continuum.
It's impossible to run 60 miles a week without doing workouts.
This is a silly take and did not need to be posted. You may call every run a workout, but that vast majority of runners use the term workout to describe intervals, tempo runs, fartleks and other sessions with an elevated level of effort. It’s really no point in derailing the thread so you play a semantic game that adds nothing.
I know you’re accomplished but ask yourself: how did your post contribute to the thread?
George's point is that it's silly to ascribe zero value to your everyday training mileage.
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