Does the long slow miles method work?

Yes

I haven’t tried this method personally, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work. If the hard days are hard, and the easy days are easy, there is room to fluctuate.

And besides, when you get in better shape, easy runs will probably feel better, and you could run faster.

last year beginning of season 2 mile: 12:00

this year: 10:34

what changed:

ran lots more miles

lifted

yes, it works

Sand Dunes wrote:

Yes

The easy/hard rule has been beneficial for me. My easy runs prepare me mentally for my harder runs.

It depends. The majority of runners respond well to an hard/easy routine but some thrive with an "all moderate" approach.

The latter works well for me but i'm a low mileage guy and i've found that i'm mechanically more efficient at faster paces.

Give a try to hard/easy and see how it goes.

Unless you have the brains of a cat, there is no 80/20 rule. No magic formulas other than good decisions, individualized training plans and long term orientation. A good coach can get you faster with no hard days or no easy days. A mediocre coach can't succeed with any approach.

If you run 17:30 5000, the odds are good you have to improve your speed and your stamina both, not one or the other.

Slow is relative but for an easy run 8-830 isn't really slow.

its all relative and based on periodization

each person has a different ideal training cycle

but the idea is that you go hard on one day and stress one part of your running ability whether that be aerobic, anaerobic, recovering, hill strength, and so on and then you rest. you let your body recover from that workload then next time you do it you can do more, go longer, do it off less rest, go faster. rinse and repeat.

but to answer your question. on easy days go real easy. recover so you can run the hard days hard. not every hard day should push you to digging deep but feeling like you could do more. some you want to push the envelope but not every hard day. Other hard days are just that. harder but in control

train to race. dont train to do insane workouts