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Oct 2021
3:21pm, 29 Oct 2021
15,924 posts
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larkim
Brunski - it's a distraction from working 
I post here in the day, run in the evenings. I've got a few races lined up, but actually focus for me is marathon in March. 10ks and HMs along the way. P&D plan locked and loaded, and in the meanwhile plenty of easy running with the odd parkrun and local club race, which isn't a million miles of what would be suggested through a polarised approach, just won't have huge amounts of structure to it. But it should put me in good stead for cranking up into a P&D programme in January.
Work will inevitably get in the way between now and the New Year, hence my interest (real) in whether a polarised approach would allow someone to actually drop some of the easy miles when life gets in the way and I need to sacrifice an hour or two from running to work or family life instead. Or whether I would really need to think about dropping the parkruns / league races too when the overall time budget gets squeezed as I'm pretty confident they won't injure me; so there is a real question in there for the 7 hour a week runner.
If I'm running below my physical capacity to run (e.g. lets imagine my body can take somewhere up to 80mpw, if only I had the time), then is the ratio of easy to hard important (at all?).
Or is it like baking a cupcake vs a victoria sponge. They both need the same proportion of ingredients in to get the best tasting outcome?
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Oct 2021
3:45pm, 29 Oct 2021
1,917 posts
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Brunski
The sorts of volume you're talking to the end of the year I wouldn't have thought it'd harm you to miss a few easy sessions, and as you're not really training for something until the marathon next Spring I'd suggest enjoying a parkrun or local race would be better for the running mojo than feeling tied to running 'easy' to keep it to the 80/20 rule.
Think with all running it's just a case of getting a good blend of efforts and listening to the body. Think most on this thread are now past the 'run as fast as their body allows every day until they get injured' mentality.
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Oct 2021
3:55pm, 29 Oct 2021
3,895 posts
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J2R
Brunski: "Think most on this thread are now past the 'run as fast as their body allows every day until they get injured' mentality."
Yes, I like that. I get people asking me for my advice from time to time on how they can get faster, and I have come down to a very simple (and rather tongue-in-cheek) programme for them. Run at least 35 miles per week, mainly easy but some fast, and do it in such a way as to minimise risk of injury (i.e., don't do back to back effort sessions, always stop one or two short of the maximum number of reps you could do, etc). Once you've been doing that for a while, up it to 40 mpw, then 45 mpw.
I'm a great believer in polarised training but I don't believe it is the only way to do things. Just, for me at least, a rather safer and more pleasant way of getting to the level of performance I want.
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Oct 2021
4:07pm, 29 Oct 2021
1,223 posts
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Big_G
I remember Gobi saying similar years ago over on Runner’s World. Something like:
- Run 40 miles a week, all easy, except race a parkrun once a week.
- Continue doing this until you stop getting PBs
- When you stop getting PBs, up the volume to 50 a week and repeat.
- introduce some structure/speed work when you’ve got no more time to train.
Probably he’ll correct me if I’m wrong but it was along those lines and the simplicity of it chimes with my simple brain
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Oct 2021
4:24pm, 29 Oct 2021
15,925 posts
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larkim
I suppose I'm in search of a precise answer where none exists. Agree with all three of those posts above, and if anyone was ever to ask my advice (as if!!) that's exactly what I'd come up with!
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Oct 2021
4:28pm, 29 Oct 2021
11,038 posts
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jda
There is simply no way you’ll ever get a really precise answer. You’d need vast armies of willing athletes at whatever level of ability and experience you happened to be interested in on that particular day, all following various plans for weeks to months, to have any hope of teasing out the sort of differences you’re looking for. The best you can hope for is a plausible theory that ties together a lot of experience and understanding, that generates the sort of framework discussed here.
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Oct 2021
6:05pm, 29 Oct 2021
75,056 posts
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Gobi
I did indeed say something along those lines Big_G
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Oct 2021
6:06pm, 29 Oct 2021
75,057 posts
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Gobi
Larks - just consistency on an approach would see benefit.
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Oct 2021
6:43pm, 29 Oct 2021
3,896 posts
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J2R
I agree with Gobi. Pretty well any approach which mixes some fast stuff in with the easy and has a decent weekly mileage will pay dividends if you're able to stick at it long term. I think I may suggest adding in some speedwork earlier than Gobi would, but I don't think it makes sense to be too picky about the exact nature of that speedwork until one is doing a decent enough weekly mileage. (Having said that, I've never been an especially high mileage runner myself, topping out normally at 50-55mpw. Then again I've never been an especially high achievement runner either!)
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Oct 2021
11:19am, 30 Oct 2021
2,472 posts
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Canute
I agree that running 40 miles a week, all easy, except race a parkrun once a week, and then increase to 50 MPW when you stop improving, is a plan that will allow most people to perform well at all distances from 5K to HM. You will probably perform moderately well on the marathon with that programme, but I suspect that you might do better in the marathon with more mpw.
The greatest elderly distance runner of all time (Ed Whitlock) holds about twenty-five age-group world records over distances from 1500m to marathon over the age range 65 to 85. His training for most of that age span consisted of approximate 3 hours very easy running most days of the week together with a large number of 5K and 10 K races.
If you want a simple programme without the need to spend much time thinking about it, I strongly recommend a programme along those lines.
However people do differ and that programme is not likely to be best for all. To find what works best for you, it might be worth exploring the different aspects of fitness (VO2 max, vVO2max, muscle resilience, metabolic efficiency etc) and adopt specific training sessions to address your weaker points.
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