Should We go the Distance?
Should We go the Distance?
Quite an interesting debate on one of the forums I frequent about the The Furman Institute of Running and Scientific Training (FIRST) schedule and its suitability for use in training for a marathon.
My feelings are that in running, you get out what you put in, which basically means to get better at running a long way i.e. marathon then you have to train yourself to run a long way which involves regular long runs and a good base mileage every week around which you do the other stuff such as speed, tempo, marathon pace training etc. That being said, everyone responds to training differently and that may mean an individual’s mileage may not be the same as another person’s. The optimum mileage and training loads per person will be a little different but I believe the main theme is the same. If you train like a 400m runner then don’t expect to excel at marathon! If you run a good chunk of miles each week though, you will become aerobically fitter and thus your times for all distances will benefit.
One person I met recently on a UKA course exemplified this; she is a working Mum and just fits in the running when she can. When she first began training for a marathon she admits that she didn’t have a clue really nor did she have time to ‘read up’ so she just went out and ran, building up quite quickly to running 20 miles every day! She recently ran a 2:45 marathon off this training and is a none too shabby 17:56 5k runner! When asked she said she did no speed work as such – she just went to races. The rest of the time she ran nice and easily paced because “she doesn’t like running too hard!” You’ll be relieved to learn that the runner now has a coach and is benefiting from a structured training programme!
Basically I think the message is that it pays to build up a good base and if you are a new runner then spend the first year or so at least just enjoying running and building that base with plenty of easy miles – that’s my take on it anyway! Enjoy the article – CLICK HERE!
Not that your advise is flawed, but I would advise being very careful about drawing conclusions based on one runner’s experience. This woman sounds like she has a lot of natural ability, and she probably would be very good regardless of her training. In my experience, LSD training will not work for everyone.
Ken, I’m not advising anyone apart from maybe saying I think it’s a good idea to build a decent aerobic base. I wasn’t citing this one person as evidence that long slow running works for everyone, merely describing an extreme example of a runner who does little else and has improved her running through it. My main point in this post was to put forth my opinion regarding long slow runs (I advocate them yes because I and a lot of people I know benefit greatly from this approach) and draw attention to the article as an item of general interest. And as you say this woman has got very good results regardless of a structured training programme just like some folk will doubtless get good results from the FIRST schedule. Who’s to say that these people couldn’t go any quicker? Naturally I agree that everyone is different but I think we have to balance this against what works for a large percentage of people.
My own beliefs are that long (relatively) slow runs help but they should be mixed with other running too as part of a schedule which includes running at different paces. The bottom line is though that most people do seem to thrive up to a point on higher volumes of training. That volume and the ratio of that to intensity differs between individuals. Thanks for the comment and for the link.