Lucho posted a little (well, not so much) something on his blog that any endurance athlete needs to read. As I jog a little bit, folks will ask me, usually in June after that little race in town, how they can improve their performance. I should remind them that since this is free advice, they ought to consider the value of the advice they are getting but ... I usually ask them what they are doing for training in terms of volume, speed, long run, etc. But it almost really does not matter because the answer is nearly always the same: run more. And this is true for the 10 mile a week person as well as the 90 mile a week person. It is certainly true for nearly everyone I know. And yes, this mileage increase needs to be done intelligently. You don't go from 0 to 100 miles a week overnight (unless you are Henry Rono). You build the mileage over months, years. It takes that sort of time to build the infrastructure to handle it. Most, myself included, don't have that sort of ability to focus that far out. But we should run more anyway. Just be smart about it. By the way, run more does not mean run slow all the time. I do beleive you need a good dose of turnover as well. When you run long and slow all the time, you will effectively teach your body to run long and slow all the time.And NO - I am not a coach. You should not consider my advice coaching advice. Remember how much you paid me to read this.
Thanks for posting the link to Lucho's post... I had not read that one.
ReplyDeleteCoach or not I think you advice is on the money. I think adding the intensity/harder runs HAS to be done sooner than later in a training plan. Once a person is "fit" and steadily increased their mileage how much benefit do can they get from logging tons of slow miles?
interesting link....hmmmmmmmm....i think though in the end you have to know what works best for you. i could never run serious mileage, but then again, that is maybe why i'm not an olympian ;)
ReplyDeleteI agree you have to do what is best for you. But generally speaking, doing more volume in terms of endurance sports is going to be a separating factor.
ReplyDeleteVery few of us have the genetic make up to be Olympians. That is beyond our control. But we can control an increase in the workload we take on ... and that may not make us an Olympian, but it may make us better if done smartly.