Brazier: "Yeah, sure. I still don’t really count my mileage to this day,"

There have been high mileage people too who didn't count their mileage. Benji Durden, (though wasn't that high in mileage) said on here he was on and off keeping a training dairy and I remember reading somewhere that Mark Nenow didn't keep one. What matters is that you train and are consistent. There is no magic number or elaborate training formula. Just cover all your bases in training. As a side note, I have noticed I am able to train more if I forget to track my training. Shows how much is it more mental than physical.

It's simply not that important, sometimes difficult and really misleading for 800 m runners to count their mileage.

What about a sprint session like 6 x 150 m? That's 900 m, add a mile of warmup and cool down each and some drills, and the total might be less than three miles. A 500 - 400 - 300 - 200 at 800 m pace and faster is just slightly more. In terms of mileage this is very much insignificant. Would it be better to do an easy ten miler instead?

Partridge wrote:

It's simply not that important, sometimes difficult and really misleading for 800 m runners to count their mileage.

What about a sprint session like 6 x 150 m? That's 900 m, add a mile of warmup and cool down each and some drills, and the total might be less than three miles. A 500 - 400 - 300 - 200 at 800 m pace and faster is just slightly more. In terms of mileage this is very much insignificant. Would it be better to do an easy ten miler instead?

And what is happening for the rest of the time?

TeeDb wrote:

Partridge wrote:

It's simply not that important, sometimes difficult and really misleading for 800 m runners to count their mileage.

What about a sprint session like 6 x 150 m? That's 900 m, add a mile of warmup and cool down each and some drills, and the total might be less than three miles. A 500 - 400 - 300 - 200 at 800 m pace and faster is just slightly more. In terms of mileage this is very much insignificant. Would it be better to do an easy ten miler instead?

And what is happening for the rest of the time?

An 800 m runner usually does more sprint/interval workouts than a longer middle distance runner (1500/5000) or a long distance runner (5000 - marathon).

Whereas these other types often do something like just two interval sessions a week and mix it up with plenty of easy running, a real 800 m runner can sometimes do intervals/sprint sessions almost every day and just very few, very short continuous easy runs. In this case counting mileage does not mean anything. In fact I think this is exactly the point with Donovan Brazier.

You make sound sinister, like they're lying.

They say they don't count their miles because they don't.

They are more into the quality of their workouts than quantity of distance run.

They are thinking about the 2x2x400m workout or 5x300m workout and what times they hit for each rep.

They may track how many morning runs they do but not the totals.

And they will have a long run each week but that may be 8 or 9 miles.

There are a lot of 35 mile weeks that aren't worth adding up.

if i had a coach i wouldnt be counting my own mileage either. massive benefit of someone else being responsible for your training is that you dont have to worry about it at all. just see what you're given for the day and go do it

coached wrote:

if i had a coach i wouldnt be counting my own mileage either. massive benefit of someone else being responsible for your training is that you dont have to worry about it at all. just see what you're given for the day and go do it

That doesn't mean you can't log your workouts, which could include writing the total mileage for each day.

It's a matter of choosing to track the miles or not.

You may just write the track workout or hill workout without considering how far you ran to warm up and then warm down.

If the mind set is not volume then there isn't a thought to write down the daily mileage totals.

I don’t blame him. Seems unnecessary to be sucked into the high mileage propaganda these coaches are into.

coached wrote:

if i had a coach i wouldnt be counting my own mileage either. massive benefit of someone else being responsible for your training is that you dont have to worry about it at all. just see what you're given for the day and go do it

Yeah. You can just be a moron so that when someone doesn’t want to coach you anymore and you’re on your own, you’ll know exactly how to train

If he's not planning on coaching some day, why SHOULD he count his mileage?

coached wrote:

if i had a coach i wouldnt be counting my own mileage either. massive benefit of someone else being responsible for your training is that you dont have to worry about it at all. just see what you're given for the day and go do it

This is, I think, the correct answer. I don't know why people are ripping you for it, but for what it's worth, this is exactly how I used to operate. A lot of elites are like that, and that's the God's truth.

Look, some people are into tracking all their numbers and having a pretty training log. Alan Webb was like that. Others just want to show up, do the workout, and go home. Both approaches can lead you to success. It sounds like Brazier has found a routine that works for him, but of course the Let's Run posters think they know better.

A better question is, why do the hardcore joggers on LRC think running, let alone counting mileage is necessary for the 800m? Is it that they’ve devoted their lives to their mileage fetish and cannot now stand to consider the possibility that this training phlilosophy could be wrong?

iflyboats wrote:

A better question is, why do the hardcore joggers on LRC think running, let alone counting mileage is necessary for the 800m? Is it that they’ve devoted their lives to their mileage fetish and cannot now stand to consider the possibility that this training phlilosophy could be wrong?

If he runs zero miles per week, his 800 wouldn't be that fast. So it is false to say mileage does not matter for the 800.

So, he should be worrying about adding mileage to reach a predetermined number every week when the heart of his work week was, say, the 2x400 in 48, and 300s in 34-35?

RE: Brazier: "Yeah, sure. I still don’t really count my mileage wrote:

There have been high mileage people too who didn't count their mileage. Benji Durden, (though wasn't that high in mileage) said on here he was on and off keeping a training dairy and I remember reading somewhere that Mark Nenow didn't keep one. What matters is that you train and are consistent. There is no magic number or elaborate training formula. Just cover all your bases in training. As a side note, I have noticed I am able to train more if I forget to track my training. Shows how much is it more mental than physical.

In fact there really is a magic formula, and you don`t have to count the mileage . Just follow the formula! ))

it is false to say mileage does not matter for the 800. wrote:

If he runs zero miles per week, his 800 wouldn't be that fast. So it is false to say mileage does not matter for the 800.

People aren't saying that mileage doesn't matter for the 800.

They are saying it is not necessary to count mileage in the 800.

You do accumulate miles training for the 100 also but you wouldn't count them.

It's not wrong to count miles in 800 training either.

Yep. Most athletes in most sports just show up for training and do whatever workout they are instructed to do without writing anything down or recording anything in a log. I get that some distance runners like to document their training, but it really isn't necessary for success.

To quote Marty Liquori:

After 30 years being a national elite runner, 4 years being a coach,.... I can simply tell you Marty Liquari is wrong! And that "secret" is not about a shortcut, more about a smart scientific progressive approaches. :)