A Training Idea That Looks Too Simple But In Reality It Completely Rules Despite What You May Feel About The Simplicity

So what are we doing? I'm kinda stupid so could you re-phrase that for me. What are we doing?

We are training for middle distance. We are enjoying simple, non destructive training. We are racing well.

You're going to do this everyday? Wow, I thought I was a bit boring...

The royal "we"??

Yes, every day. Except for race day, and no running on the day before race day. Too many training programs are an exercise in maximizing variety. This is wrong. Last time I checked, all my races were between 800m and 3000m. Not 100m to Marathon.

Well... good luck! At least you're trying to think of something new. Thats how Lydiard started.

Next try training by Lunar cycles. and for women, by their menstral cycle.

Lunar and menstral cycles do not reflect the demands of middle distance events, addressed in this simple training idea. The daily anaerobic capacity dosages here prevent staleness and destruction. A daily hint is much better than 2-3 workouts weekly. In the future, world class training will follow this concept.

Combining workouts can be good in some cases, but in others the training of two systems that have "opposite" effects really doesn't work at all. In essence, the training effects negate themselves.

A quick example:

You combine a session of anaerobic capacity training (which has the effect of increasing anaerobic capacity and decrease the aerobic power) with aerobic power training (which has the effect of decreasing the anaerobic capacity while increasing the aerobic power) The net result is that these two types of training work against each other. So the workout doesn't do much at all, and you spent time working hard for minimal gains.

Good point. But in my simple idea, there is only aerobic conditioning, which also serves as warmup and cooldown running, thereby killing two birds with one stone, and anaerobic capacity. My structure is not counterproductive. My structure rules.

I like where you're going here, even if I don't think doing exactly the same thing every day is such a great idea.Swimming training is, frankly, miles ahead of running in terms of targeting race-specific energy systems every workout. Check ut Swimming Technique online for interiews and sample workouts featuring Phelps etc. One thing to note is that mixed workouts should have sprints/speed early on.Retooling the same plan. I would put the faster stuff sooner in the workout, not after the 10k.1 mile up2 miles100/200s400/800s5-10k

kuntibollox wrote:

Daily:

5km to 10km + 4x(100m to 200m) + 400m to 800m + 1500m to 3km

kuntibollox wrote:

Daily:

5km to 10km + 4x(100m to 200m) + 400m to 800m + 1500m to 3km

Similar to Paavo Nurmi's training.

Well if you would like to improve (for longer than a year or so) then you will have change your training. Ultimately you will have to increase your volume to actually improve. You will stagnate. I guarantee it. People have tried this type of thing in the past and it didn't work.

Speed not volume. I get faster by adjusting the intensities. Why why why must the answer always be more running instead of faster running? My distance considerations are covered.

Well now is the time for you to start testing it. No matter how good or bad it looks on paper, there's only one way to find out if it will work for you. We'll be interested in updates.

Life is the best teacher. When you and your team end up stale or injured because of daily anaerobic capacity training you'll have to reconsider your methods.

When will this be? I've used this for years. Are you absolutely sure that 4x(100-200) + 400-800 daily is so damaging, Tinman? Have you asked me exactly how hard these efforts are? Has anyone asked me how I'm doing with this yet?

how are you doing with it?

Intriguing idea. Better still...

Daily 4 miles to 8 miles at aerobic conditioning pace, and 800m to 1600m at anaerobic capacity pace, all of this in ANY desired combination / permutation.

Francis Urquhart wrote:

Intriguing idea. Better still...

Daily 4 miles to 8 miles at aerobic conditioning pace, and 800m to 1600m at anaerobic capacity pace, all of this in ANY desired combination / permutation.

This is basically what I do, but all of my workouts are continuous, almost like simple fartleks. The distances and paces are all based on feel. I have loops that range from 4-8 miles and are composed of two parts: the aerobic run and anaerobic surge (usually a sprint finish). For example, if I'm doing my 6 mi loop, I might run 5 mi at 6:30 pace, have intermittent cruise 100s, and finish with a 5:15 last mile. On another day, I could do 4 mi at 5:45 pace and sprint the final 800 for a total of 4.5 mi.

I'm not really training for anything in particular right now, just trying to maintain decent running fitness and enjoy myself. Sometimes I’ll do a slow 10 mi run or take the day off. This program has put me in 4:40/10:00 shape on about 35 mpw. I’m not necessarily advocating low mileage or a lazily simple program such as this—I’ve done two-a-days and cracked 100 mpw before—but I am pleasantly surprised with the results.