Go buy Noakes' book 'Lore of Running'. All the scientific evidence you could ever want regarding running.
Go buy Noakes' book 'Lore of Running'. All the scientific evidence you could ever want regarding running.
I did the same thing, only I went in slight reverse:
Fr: 4:39, 10:30, 17:52 2xworkout per week, mostly 2ez 4'Hard' 2ez, or 800's or 60sec on;off(XC), and 8-12x200min 28-32 off 30 sec. rec., and either 25x400 or 10x800 with LOOONG (aka super full) rec.
Soph. 4:33, 10:00, 17:45 New coach. same 20-50mpw, but run at 6-7 min. pace (monitered by those damn Garmins...) Same workouts, but 25x400 now= 4x5x400 w/100 rec. jog between reps and 400 set jog. 67-69 pace was requisite
Jr: 4:28, 10:00, 16:41 Same coach. Stay 40-55mpw. Same workouts, though more 60 sec. on, off during XC. Same coach. Tried to stay 6-645 pace now.
Sr. 4:16, 9:23, 15:34 New coach. Bro #1's dad who had watched me fail for 2 yrs took over. Ran 40-50mpw w/60 max a couple times over summer at camp. Totally diff. Workouts (cycle of 800m paced SHORT days (700-1200m total), 1600m pace (1600-3k) of work) and 3200/5k work (3k-3M of work). Easy days were between 7:20 and 8:20--often starting on teh easy side of that and working down if things were feeling bouncy.
College:
Fr: 25:15, 8:28, 14:47 Jump to 60-80mpw. 3xworkouts. Most mileage between 6:45 and 7:10. Long runs killed, longer easy runs killed.
Soph. Hit it hard during the summer, trying to run 80+mpw. Barely got in tempo's/workouts; to the point where I couldn't walk up stairs to classes during track. Overtrained...HARD. Raced twice all year.
JR. Got overtraining undercontrol. Diagnosed medical condition cause by it treated. Ran 75-80 mpw all summer, getting 6 weeks at the end betwen 92 and 108. Couple of tempo's per week. Neuromuscular shit every few weeks or so. Now running over 100 for last 4 weeks. Most mileage between 6:50 and 8:00 pace barring 1-2 days per week when I feel frisky or get suked into something. Feeling good, ready to race.
An interresting note: We've been ranked Top 10 by T&F News and a few others for XC already, and with a changing of the guard, it is the more 'legit' etc. among us who are most often lagging 10m behind on the warmup/on the run.
My point, besides that I'm bored before practice, is that--for me at least--running easily and focuing on workouts/recovery seemed to help greating. I'm really hoping I don't f*** up this XC season...or esp. this track season. Want to race and fufull some potential I think I haven't touched yet! Good luck all!
I am a mid-low 15:00 5k guy when fit (I am almost 39 years old) and I do all my non workout runs slower than 7:00 pace and always have. I am coming back from hernia surgery and just starting back tentatively with some tempos and the other day I did 11 miles doing the first 5.5 miles at what felt like normal easy day pace and it was over 7:20 pace (granted, I start my runs very slowly, first mile is sometimes 8:00). The second 5.5 miles I did at my current out of shape tempo effort and it was 5:34 pace. That seems about the right difference between easy and tempo to me. For me, easy days should be close :90-2:00 slower than tempo pace, which is like 10 mile-Half Marathon race pace. If that feels too easy, then run more mileage. I have friends who are mid-low 14:00 guys and their ratio is even greater - I run easy days with them frequently, they simply run more mileage than I do and their workouts are harder.
and plan on spending the next couple years reading it
turkey leg wrote:
I wonder if so much of the disagreement is caused by a difference in training focus. Many of those defending 9 min paces talk a lot about recovering from workouts, as if the workouts were the focus. Great. But what if you're not having 3 hard sessions a week and don't need that extra rest - like during a base building block? Then there is little reason not to run on the faster side of easy. Different "easy" speeds for different phases in the season.
This is consistent with Renato Canova's opinion. Medium distance and medium pace during the fundemental period so that each day is not too hard or too easy, then during more race specific phases, the pace slows down on these continuous runs to aid recovery from the hard sessions.
Exactly right.
I think a big problem is that the original poster asked about "Easy runs" and everyone's gone off on RECOVERY runs.
Are all of these posters telling me that there are only two types of runs: hard workous and recovery? Sorry, but there are other types of runs as well, including medium paced runs and, as the original poster asked, easy runs.
I think one thing I've learned from this thread is simply that different things work for different people. I have a friend who ran 1:05 for a 1/2 marathon and 2:16 for a marathon- he ran everything at 6:00 pace....and if it was slower than 6:30, he only counted it as half distance, because he felt like it wasn't really training. It worked for him.
At the same time, we have someone a few post ago claiming a 5k pr well under 14:00 who couldn't handle sub 7:00.
Too fast, too slow wrote:
Hm, thanks guys! I'm getting a little more confident now that I'm not crazy.
Are there any articles about the physiological reasons of "slower on easy runs is often better", or are there any examples of great runners or coaches who do this? It feels like there are just two types of people, and neither of them really explain why slower or faster easy runs are better. I mean, is there evidence?
Nourredine Morceli (sp?) was the mile WR holder before El G and he reportedly did his easy runs at 8-9 min pace.
VadoMeedsor
ybef
Awaiciavy
Bwgd
Fieviagma wrote:
VadoMeedsor
ybef
Awaiciavy
Bwgd
Merci beaucoup for your input, friend. However, I didn't quite understand all of it. Could you repeat it in simpler terms?