Nothing... And I Mean NOTHING...Tops Easy Running!

You’ve certainly read into the biological chemistry behind easy running very well.

Definitely the most detailed post I’ve seen about it’s biological process on this site or otherwise.

Of course it’s very, very important. It builds running economy and also aid long term durability. I will note with mitochondrial and capillary density growth that; in order to take full advantage of the milage a non-acidic muscle state is ideal. That speed workout is more anaerobic and would certainly hamper growth killing it with an acidic environment. 10second explosive strides x6 with 2-3min recovery using ATP as energy would be more effective at maintaining speed whilst keeping muscle PH neutral. Think of easy running like depositing money and more anaerobic race ready work as taking it out to buy a fast time. Anaerobic work decreases aerobic ability but also makes you faster by complementing your running with an alternate energy source. That’s why elite runners have different training cycles with peaks and troughs. The science goes on forever with different techniques and methods. Easy running is imperative ingredient yes it improves your aerobic threshold and running economy. (Speed, plyometrics and strengthening do too) Don’t forget about your anaerobic threshold (lactate threshold), Speed or muscle peak lactate.

The thing is there are three main predictors of running performance: Vo2 max, Lactate thresholds (both of them) and running economy.

I’d like to add structural fitness (durability) to that list however. It’s definitely overlooked.

Now these predictors are improved by various training methods, (ezy running certainly being a very important aspect) just hope you have the genetics to go as far as you wish........

yep. the key imo is to run your easy runs easy, not slow. Sometimes that means that you'll be running 8:30 pace because you're tired, other days you will feel good and run way faster.

You can maintain a low acid environment without your bulk of training being comprised by slow easy runs. But, maybe we have the same definition of what easy means?

The kid needs to answer my next series of questions on page 2 before I give him credit where “it is do”

Honestly I think that's a misleading title. I love running and taking a nice long easy run is great but I'd take easy (or hard) sex over any type of running every day and twice on Sunday.

No no, the slower stuff is aerobic so it doesn’t create acidic muscles. I was relating the the anaerobic work he mentioned. 200m-600m reps.

The kid certainly does deserve credit for his aerobic knowledge.

Easy runs are probably the most important component, but they're just one component. You need a lot more as well. You should try to build your mileage a little each year, and gradually increase the volume of easy running AND fast running. A guy like Eliud Kipchoge when he's fit is running workouts like 15 x 1k in 2:50 with 1 minute rest or 5 sets of 2k (5:45-5:50) and 1k (2:50) with 100m walk between for recovery. 15k of fast running is no joke, but takes years to build up to that. As a young athlete he probably only did 2-3 miles of fast running in a normal workout when he was a newbie, just like the rest of us when we were new.

fastboy77 wrote:

He didn't roast me, he made HIS point.

By the way, it's easy to tell by the way that you speak by the way that you're 12 years old. Try to at least hide it next time.

If anything, let the two superiors discuss and step back.

chill it with the superiority complex mr 5:27 miler

I would agree. At 54 I have done 3 interval sessions in past 6 months. Most of my runs are on trails with dog over 5-7k at 6min kilometer pace. Just ran 18:30 for 5k. Not bad I would say for some old guy who hasn't run a 5k since 2019.

That was in my first year of cross country, at my first practice ever. Dumb comment.

What type of intervals were you doing?

I do other stuff.

Common things I do include: 800 repeats for strength hence I keep them high intensity but aerobic, 400 reps that are ran faster than mile pace and are definitely not only aerobic, tempo runs or a run to the barn style run, short 100-150 sprints.

^The magic formula, baby.

I'm not sure who it was on this site, but somebody told me this:

" you run one lap to get your legs used to the ouchy, you run two-four laps to get your lungs used to the ouchy, you run easy to recover, you run easy-medium so you get less of the ouchy, and you run short sprints to put your race pace into perspective and make it feel more controlled."

That might be one of the best comments I have ever seen.

Now, that is essentially what I do. I do hard 400s, aerobic 800s, easy runs, tempo/steady/run to the barn type runs, and 100-150m sprints often times after a run or workout.

I never said to ONLY do easy running, I was simply stating that most people look at their quality sessions as being the most important and I was just making a point for why easy running might be more important despite how easy and insignificant it may feel. I advocate for all of the other things discussed above that someone on here mentioned (not in this thread though).

With that being said, fast boy will continue to do fast boy and become FASTER boy.

Goodnight, peeps.

+1

fastboy77 wrote:

I'm not sure who it was on this site, but somebody told me this:

" you run one lap to get your legs used to the ouchy, you run two-four laps to get your lungs used to the ouchy, you run easy to recover, you run easy-medium so you get less of the ouchy, and you run short sprints to put your race pace into perspective and make it feel more controlled."

That might be one of the best comments I have ever seen.

It's in your other thread:

Session 1 10x400 w/100 jog

Session 2 3x3/2/1 min efforts with 1 min recovery and 2 minutes between sets

Session 3 1k threshold +6x300m hill on 3min and 30 second cycle.

These are a few sessions I give my athletes and I like to see how hard and remind myself what I'm having them do. I have a good stable of athletes.

Alright signor 5:27

@OP, what are you PRs?

Who have you coached? What success have you had in running or coaching?

Just curious. Not meant to be a smart comment.

Give me an example of how you use each of those components.

Nice username btw.