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Junk miles (Read 1003 times)

    Can someone tell me what junk miles are? On another forum i was told my 9 - 930 minute mile easy runs are junk miles and i should be running faster. I always though junk miles were runs of 1-2 miles. opinions?
    Scout7


      Pace is not the determinant. I don't know if distance is, either. "Junk" miles are miles done with no purpose. If you're going out to just "put in the miles", I would classify that as "junk". There is no real good description of it. I think it's a loose, fluid term.


      Think Whirled Peas

        Pace is not the determinant. I don't know if distance is, either. "Junk" miles are miles done with no purpose. If you're going out to just "put in the miles", I would classify that as "junk". There is no real good description of it. I think it's a loose, fluid term.
        But if you're running low avg. weekly miles, aren't any/all miles (at any pace) beneficial?

        Just because running is simple does not mean it is easy.

         

        Relentless. Forward. Motion. <repeat>


        Why is it sideways?

          You might check out this thread.
          Ed4


          Barefoot and happy

            On another forum i was told my 9 - 930 minute mile easy runs are junk miles and i should be running faster.
            Whoever told you that was ignorant. There's no harm in going very easy on your easy days. That's the whole point. You still get all the benefits.
            Curious about running barefoot? Visit the new barefoot running group.
            Scout7


              But if you're running low avg. weekly miles, aren't any/all miles (at any pace) beneficial?
              Exactly. That's why I didn't really give a mileage amount, either. It depends on the person.
              Ed4


              Barefoot and happy

                But if you're running low avg. weekly miles, aren't any/all miles (at any pace) beneficial?
                Yes. "Junk miles" is a term that really only applies to obsessive types who go beyond the point of diminishing returns. Your easy runs needs to be really easy so that your hard runs can be really hard. Being stuck in the middle all the time is running junk miles.
                Curious about running barefoot? Visit the new barefoot running group.


                Think Whirled Peas

                  You might check out this thread.
                  You da man Jeff! I remembered the discussion but didn't search for it, thanks!

                  Just because running is simple does not mean it is easy.

                   

                  Relentless. Forward. Motion. <repeat>

                    Pretty relative term. Many variables. I log all my miles--are some "junky"? I guess that depends on your definition. As I review my running logs over the last 31 yrs I have no entries for junk miles. I have some entries that read "I should have stayed in bed". I proudly claim my 65,508 miles as miles I have logged on foot. Some of them were walk/ run--but who would quibble?. Never have I considered them junk. I will also note I never made an Olympic team--running or otherwise. Though I have coached some 2:20 marathoners as well as folks who were going to run/walk a marathon in 6+ hours. For some a 9:30 mile might be a dream. Just run. I can tell you the miles will kind of blend in over the decades. Too many folks worry about how fast they run. Not many of those folks are still on the roads and show up and compete into their fourth decade of running. Relax. Have some fun with your running. I was going to tell you "just do it" but, I won't. Nick
                    rlemert


                      I really don't like the term. It suggests that all running should be for the purpose of improving your race performance, and ignores the fact that many of us run just for the fun of it.
                      Mr Inertia


                      Suspect Zero

                        The only junk miles are miles that you do incorrectly "I started off too fast on my long run and burned out at mile 12 of an 18 mile run" sort of thing. All correctly run miles have benefit.
                          To me, Junk miles would be miles I do when I know I'm not putting effort into my run. Like, if I run while I'm under the weather or when I'm sore from hard runs/workouts from the days prior and most likely shouldn't be running at all.

                          Michelle



                          ashares


                            personally, i think all miles are good miles. no such thing as JUNK MILES. as long as ur out there, its for the best, even if its slowwww.
                            Pammie


                              To me any training you do is worthwhile certainly not Junk I rarely run under 10 min pace so what would this person think of me If i had to label a mile as junk it would be i ran to the shops, or down the road to catch the bus if you are including runs like this to bump your mileage up, unless of course your nearest bus or shop is 3 miles away
                                In Zen, there's a term called "unnecessary necessity". When you walk on the floor, all you need is a line of about a foot wide (or even narrower is all you need). So the floor actually out of your reach "unnecessary"? Without it, in other words, if all you have something like a balance beam, it would be so much more difficult to even walk. So-called "junk miles" are a lot like that. As far as I'm concerned, there NO such thing as junk mile. However, there are miles run incorrectly! ;o) As Jeff described on the other thread that he posted here, any miles you do wrongly can be classified as miles run incorrectly. If your resting pulse is more than 10% higher and stay this way for a couple of days...it would be much better if you just go for a nice easy walk than pushing to run. But if you come home late and you can only squeeze 15-minute jog around the neighborhood and you go so slow your heart rate is barely beyond 100...you're still doing some good. I was in Houston in December and it was flipping 80F with high humidity. I was to leave in the afternoon and I wanted to go for a run in the morning. I could barely made 20 minutes and I intentionally made it very easy because I didn't want to stick drenched T-shirts in my suitcase until 9 at night... Well, it made me feel good and I know that did me some good! I read a book written by Toshihiko Seko--of course, he was nicknamed "Zen Runner"--and he said that majority of your training would be "jogging", which some of US exercise physiologists might term as "junk miles". He said, if you don't take them seriously, you're not going to make it as a competitive runner. In other words, just because it's a quick 15-minutes jog, just put some cross training shoes or don't even care about your form or stuff like that... Training, in the end, is all the accumulation of those miles. You take one mile lightly, that would become a "junk mile". Okay, that's a very Japanese like thinking... "Junk miles" are something exercise physiologists started saying in the late 1970s and 1980s. What followed was almost 2 decades of US distance running draught. I'm sure when those Kenyan kids are running to school, whatever the pace that could be or whatever their heart rate might be, they won't be thinking about "Geez, are these junk miles???"
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