Forums >Running 101>Why does weekly mileage matter so much?
Everybody wants some.
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"If you have the fire, run..." -John Climacus
Giant Flaming Dork
Maybe the 9 minute pace runners putting in 60 miles per week would be running an 11 minute pace if they were only putting in 15 miles per week. Maybe they have no interest in going faster. Maybe... Maybe this thread is a train wreck. Maybe...
Maybe the 9 minute pace runners putting in 60 miles per week would be running an 11 minute pace if they were only putting in 15 miles per week. Maybe they have no interest in going faster. Maybe...
Maybe this thread is a train wreck.
Maybe...
Hey, I run 15mpw at 11 minute miles. You must be talking about me specifically.
And you must be elitist because you're the one running more miles and faster.
http://xkcd.com/621/
I seriously don't understand why people would be offended by it. Let me give you some background on why I was asking this. This is a phenomenon that happens in tennis...basically there are people who play tennis as much as 6-7 times a week, yet they get stuck at a very low level of play no matter how much they practice. It has to do with the fact that they don't hit with proper strokes and/or they don't spent their time practicing with a purpose. Instead they do whats comfortable over and over and never develop into a highly skilled player. It is widely known in the tennis community that only about 25% of players will ever reach a level where they actually can be considered skilled (ie. a level that actually takes a couple years to reach), even though many of the 75% play and compete for decades. Due to my inexperience with running, I wanted to know how to avoid this same type of problem, basically training to become a faster runner, but never reaching my goals because I'm doing something wrong or ineffective. So one of my questions would be about runners who run quite often but hover around a 9 to 10 minute pace, barring injury or disability, are they doing so by choice as in they have no interest in running sub-8, or is it because their training isn't intense enough or did they hit a plateau?
I seriously don't understand why people would be offended by it.
Let me give you some background on why I was asking this. This is a phenomenon that happens in tennis...basically there are people who play tennis as much as 6-7 times a week, yet they get stuck at a very low level of play no matter how much they practice. It has to do with the fact that they don't hit with proper strokes and/or they don't spent their time practicing with a purpose. Instead they do whats comfortable over and over and never develop into a highly skilled player. It is widely known in the tennis community that only about 25% of players will ever reach a level where they actually can be considered skilled (ie. a level that actually takes a couple years to reach), even though many of the 75% play and compete for decades.
Due to my inexperience with running, I wanted to know how to avoid this same type of problem, basically training to become a faster runner, but never reaching my goals because I'm doing something wrong or ineffective.
So one of my questions would be about runners who run quite often but hover around a 9 to 10 minute pace, barring injury or disability, are they doing so by choice as in they have no interest in running sub-8, or is it because their training isn't intense enough or did they hit a plateau?
That's fine. But you're assuming/implying that people who train at 9-10m/m are slow and can't run sub-8 (take a close look at my log file and be aware that I can run a half marathon in the low 1:30s). We can't really make any comment on the training of some mythical runners that are not improving and all we have is your observation fo their training to go by.
have a nice day
This thread has better legs than I ever expected. Awesome.
Oh, and OP, phenomenal job. I have a question for you:
Why do people play so much tennis? I mean, I see people going out, spending all kinds of time playing tennis, but they basically suck. I can hit pretty good already, and I spend maybe 2 hours a week playing tennis. So, does amount of time spent practicing really matter a whole lot? I mean, how much time does Federer play?
assuming
My patience is wearing thin.
better legs
For real, people?
Hey, my legs are real, and they're fantastic.
Why do you hate on people with artificial legs
Feeling the growl again
Being good at tennis is a skill. Being good at runninig is conditioning. Yes you need conditioning in tennis, but the difference is more to do with your form and swing.
This is why runners make terrible swimmers. Runners know that volume of work will make up for many deficiencies in other areas; it is the best bang for the buck. Only when you have maximized volume will many of the other training attributes really make a difference in what level you reach. This is the polar opposite of swimming, where you can have extraordinary aerobic conditioning but get beat by a 70-year-old man with impeccable form (don't ask me how I know this).
Stop drawing tennis analogies to running. Maybe training 6-7 hours a day will not help you if you never learn good form, but running 40-90min/day WILL help you dramatically regardless of what else you do with it. Volume is the prerequisite to everything else; it establishes the performance range you will land in, and then all other training pushes you towards the upper end of that range.
When I ran 20-30 mpw, I ran 17+ for 5K
When I ran 40-50 mpw, I ran mid-16s for 5K
When I ran 60-80 mpw, I ran mid/high 15s for 5K
When I ran 80-110 mpw, I ran low-15s for 5K
I did all the right speedwork etc at every level, but no amount of tweaking got me to the next level. If I wanted more than 15sec or so movement in my 5K time, I had to add volume.
You run fast times for the training you do. Perhaps you are just much more talented than people running more but racing slower. If you did as much volume as them, just think what you could do.
"If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does. There's your pep talk for today. Go Run." -- Slo_Hand
I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills
I've got a fever...
...running 40-90min/day WILL help you dramatically regardless of what else you do with it. Volume is the prerequisite to everything else; it establishes the performance range you will land in, and then all other training pushes you towards the upper end of that range.
+1e9
On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.
Because I am faster than most of them. And better at tennis.
Prince of Fatness
Not at it at all.
Well I was accused of being unwilling to listen during my attempt to provide my initial case on why I'm skeptical that I need to run as many miles as sources say I should. Then I was sidetracked by all the negative responses and while I was able to read the legitimate advice, I haven't had a chance to comment on any of it. Nothing was just ignored except for all the 'popsicle' posts and those being overly condescending.
Well I was accused of being unwilling to listen during my attempt to provide my initial case on why I'm skeptical that I need to run as many miles as sources say I should.
Then I was sidetracked by all the negative responses and while I was able to read the legitimate advice, I haven't had a chance to comment on any of it. Nothing was just ignored except for all the 'popsicle' posts and those being overly condescending.
Some folks read your original posts as condescending. You don't like it done to you, don't do it to others. And stop explaining that they weren't... because they kind of were, at least to the readers. Many of which actually have tried to help you anyway.
At least I own being a smart ass.
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