Forums >Running 101>Junk miles
are you guys sick of me yet?
ive been researching what junk miles actually are...as usual there’s no clear answer.
when I do my easy miles, should I not increase speed (gradually) and then sprint at the end? When I do, it’s usually the same amount of time or less as I spend on my slowest pace. (Especially if I’m not increasing miles much on every slow run and just running slow for the sake of recovery or for the first day of the week).
for example, every first run of the week is a slow paced 3 mi.
Run lots, mostly easy -- sometimes hard.
Don't overthink it -- it's just running...
And you can quote me as saying I was mis-quoted. Groucho Marx
Rob
There is an old thought on running fast the last minute or two of a regular run (aka junk miles, easy days, garbage miles, mileage padding), totally unverified or studied afaik.
The concept is that it creates "muscle memory" for running at faster pace, essentially tricking your body that you ran the whole 5 miles at 5:00 pace and not just the last 200m. Seems dubious to me.
Shooting from the hip, I think it might work as some sort of ballistic stretching, moving muscles beyond their range of easy running.
60-64 age group - University of Oregon alumni - Irreverent and Annoying
not bad for mile 25
Run lots, mostly easy -- sometimes hard. Don't overthink it -- it's just running...
+1
+1 - No such thing as junk miles.
Please see the following
http://www.logicoflongdistance.com/2009/02/keep-it-simple-yo-distance-training.html
SMART Approach
Once you are fit and seasoned, you may want to choose two days per week to do hard work outs. The other days of the week are focused on easy running and putting miles in the bank while you are recovering from the harder days. You don't want to stack hard days on top of each other. Always ask yourself what the purpose of this run in and also.....am I recovered from my last run.
Run Coach. Recovery Coach. Founder of SMART Approach Training, Coaching & Recovery
Structured Marathon Adaptive Recovery Training
Safe Muscle Activation Recovery Technique
www.smartapproachtraining.com
.....am I recovered from my last run.
I use my warm up/first mile pace as a guide to see if I am recovered to do a hard run. The answer unfortunately too often leads to me to yet another easy day, but that has kept me running without major injury issues for over 12 years now.
Stotan Disciple
+1 - No such thing as junk miles. Please see the following http://www.logicoflongdistance.com/2009/02/keep-it-simple-yo-distance-training.html
I once sat with and spoke at length with Joe Vigil during the 2007 olympic trials. He said there is no such thing as junk miles.
That meeting changed my life. It was also the most knowledge I have ever gained in a single sitting.
Thinking should be done first, before training begins.
#RunEveryDay
Great read! Thanks for posting it.
Half Fanatic #9292.
Game Admin for RA Running Game 2023.
I once sat with and spoke at length with Joe Vigil during the 2007 olympic trials. He said there is no such thing as junk miles. That meeting changed my life. It was also the most knowledge I have ever gained in a single sitting.
I'm angry/regretful with myself because he was my neighbor during the peak of his coaching career, and I didn't give a **** about running at the time.
Interval Junkie --Nobby
I'm not sure how you manage to get out of bed in the morning. They have a mandatory waiting period in your state, right?
2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do
Don't count on it.
RIP Milkman
Similar for me, but it’s the second mile that tells me whether it’s a recovery day (very slow) or easy day (normal slow). The first mile of any run is always crap, but the second mile will vary by 45+ seconds some days.
5K: 16:37 (11/20) | 10K: 34:49 (10/19) | HM: 1:14:57 (5/22) | FM: 2:36:31 (12/19)
Are we there, yet?
Interesting read and similar to my own experience; I set my mile PB 3 weeks before setting my marathon PB. But it says nothing about junk miles. Junk miles don't exist only if you narrowly define them so that they can't. If you use the definition that junk miles are any that serve no purpose and may even be detrimental to your training, they are very real and the cause of many disappointing races or even injuries through running too much or throwing your training schedule out of balance.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
There are totally junk miles, just not in the sense people may think.Junk miles: doing a specific workout inappropriately, therefore wasting the benefit of the workout AND perhaps biffing you for other workouts. Examples including doing speedwork too fast or too slow or with way-too-long recovery times between intervals.