What would happen? Say if the pace was 7:40 and previously you’ve been running 5 miles at 32 minutes? What could you expect to gain from this if it was just solid 1 hour running per day?
What would happen? Say if the pace was 7:40 and previously you’ve been running 5 miles at 32 minutes? What could you expect to gain from this if it was just solid 1 hour running per day?
I asked a similar question before. I assumed comfortable pace would get faster little by little. But some here said no improvement would be made. I guess it would depend on whether you're upping the pace as fitness improves. I did do something close to this when I returned to running 5 or 6 years ago. The result wasn't that great. Very little improvement.
Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you're gonna get.
Might get really in shape compared to the shape you are in now and feel the best you have in your entire life, or maybe you get injured or die.
I imagine you would be really at running an hour at a comfortable pace. Problem is, for something to be a comfortable pace, you occassionally have to run faster than the comfortable pace.
Run for an hour and try to go further
OR
Run 10 miles and try to lower your time (I think this is superior)
Why do you think most races are distance and not time?
Trying to run a distance faster rather than further in a set time.
Who travels the farthest in an hour would be an interesting race though.
A Brilliant Hypothesis wrote:
Run for an hour and try to go further
OR
Run 10 miles and try to lower your time (I think this is superior)
Why do you think most races are distance and not time?
Trying to run a distance faster rather than further in a set time.
Who travels the farthest in an hour would be an interesting race though.
I like this philosophy!
Like what others said, you might improve but not likely, you'd probably lose some speed over time while getting really good at running for just 60 mins everyday at exclusively a comfortable pace. Just like lifting weights how strong will you get if you only curled a 10lb dumbell 10x for 3 sets every day but never increased weight or reps over time?
ForrestGump wrote:
Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you're gonna get.
Might get really in shape compared to the shape you are in now and feel the best you have in your entire life, or maybe you get injured or die.
Es wurde alles gesagt.
You’d get really really good at running an hour a day at a comfortable pace.
Your improvement will really depend on what you're doing in addition to all that easy mileage. All that mileage will lay a good foundation. Whether you'll build on that foundation just depends on the workouts you add on top of your daily easy hour.
3:11:48 marathon
You'd slow down if you were previously running 2 hours a day
Helppp wrote:
What would happen? Say if the pace was 7:40 and previously you’ve been running 5 miles at 32 minutes? What could you expect to gain from this if it was just solid 1 hour running per day?
Why just run slow? When you can run 5 miles in 32 minutes in training, you're not exactly slow. Why not start slow and speed up and finish fast? Still comfortable but getting more training effect.
Helppp wrote:
What would happen? Say if the pace was 7:40 and previously you’ve been running 5 miles at 32 minutes? What could you expect to gain from this if it was just solid 1 hour running per day?
Wait, wait, wait.
Your title and your post don't quite match. "Comfortable pace" is variable while 7:40 is not variable. The point of training is that you feel comfortable at faster and faster paces.
So, say, on day 1, you run based on "comfortable" and after the run look at your watch and find your pace was 7:40. Do this everyday for 6 months, running at "comfortable" pace. It's likely that the pace would be faster than 7:40 after 6 months.
By the same token, on day 1, if you run at 7:40 and at the end decide it feels "comfortable" and continue to do that everyday for 6 months, your evaluation is likely to no longer be "comfortable." More likely it'll be "really freaking easy."
So, way back in the early aughts, I was a college soccer player and former 400/800 guy. I started lurking on LR because I was interested in becoming a real runner. The advice I saw overwhelmingly focused on mileage as the most important determinant of development, with faster running as mostly useful for peaking. Basically Lydiard.* So I took it to heart and started running a lot, eventually getting up to about 2,500/year over the next couple of years. I got SLIGHTLY faster, but really not all that much. My easy run pace stayed over 8 minutes/mile. Then I stumbled into a track training group. I added two workouts per week to my schedule, and within 8 weeks my 5k was under 16:30 and, far more surprising, my easy run pace was 7:00-7:30. Speed work made my easy runs way faster. (Admittedly, the morning after a hard track workout I sometimes shuffled along at 9-minute pace, but that wasn't my "easy pace"; it was my "legs are pulverized" pace.)
I realize that was an experiment of one, but I took the lessons to heart. Every speed supports every other speed, and although mileage is key, long term aerobic development also requires fast, hard running. You absolutely will not "build your aerobic house," as Canova would say, just by running comfortably.
* I realize that Lydiard isn't long slow distance, though it isn't as fast as a lot of people claim either. Back then I actually read his books, as recommended by a number of LR posters, and I was running a good portion of my mileage at a decent, high-aerobic clip. I don't mean my experience to be a knock on Lydiard, who got so much right at a time when people were getting so much wrong. I don't think Lydiard ever contemplated someone doing his base phase for years, without ever building towards competition. If I'd done a couple of competition phases, I might have gotten the missing stimulus that I needed. True, it would have been in the context of a more rigid, linear periodization, which is the main difference between Lydiard and modern training, but the benefits of non-linear periodization are mostly practical (e.g., the ability to quickly peak for multiple racing seasons in a year).
You would get good at running an hour at a comfortable pace
I'm waiting on a triggered MAF disciple to reply.
Specificity wrote:
You’d get really really good at running an hour a day at a comfortable pace.
QED
Helppp wrote:
What would happen? Say if the pace was 7:40 and previously you’ve been running 5 miles at 32 minutes? What could you expect to gain from this if it was just solid 1 hour running per day?
Cats and dogs would become friends, peace in the middle east, the obese would lose their weight etc.
You would probably be a very competitive marathoner if you were able to maintain this training regimen for a year. Very few athletes are able to withstand the physical stress imposed by running an hour a day at a comfortable pace. Have you ever heard of Bruce Jenner? Before he became a she it was a good athlete and he/she could not maintain this workout schedule. So put that in your pipe and smoke it!