Yesteryear Training. (Read 1358 times)

That's your approach, and its great that it works for you. Other people will find more success taking a more focused approach. Call it complex, call it strict, call it whatever the hell you want (personally, I consider it a form of min-maxing), but whatever you call it ... the fact remains that it is the best approach for some people.

Again, I'd like to rail against the HRM/GPS computer thing. It simply does not make you a better runner. OK, so you are training, and you have an incredibly focused and detailed plan. You know every run, planned, including time of day, distance and pace goals for 6 months out. (I've done this.) Only one day, you have an easy run, and your Daniels book or whatever says it should be at an 8:15 to 8:33 pace. And you are wearing an HRM, and you know your run should be 4.0 miles. Why not 3.5, why not 5.5? If your legs are incredibly stiff, you may be running 9:40/mi. at the same HR. So do you hold HR, or pace? What if it's hot? What if it's nice and cool? What if it's sunny? These all have an effect. You need to know what easy feels like. I've used the HRM. I've had runs where I'm averaging less than 120bpm, and 6:50/mi. I've had runs in the high 140bpm, and 8:40/mi. The body is a much more precise instrument than the GPS. It's not less scientific, it's more. It is not less scientific to "listen to your body." It is not less focused when you "keep it simple." I'm singing this tune because I've done that, tried it, and found it to be a bog that feeds on itself and does not produce results. I think these tools can be used "for good." But they are often used by people like me, who go nuts obsessing about the numbers and woring about average training pace and enless planning and worrying and no connection with reality amymore. I'd like to encourage people to use the most complex instrument they have, and not rely on gimmicks. I also undestand that people must vehemently rally to defend their big electronics spending. OK, full disclosure, I own about 120 running shirts, maybe 20 running shorts, about 20 pairs of active running shoes (most of which are flats and spikes... because, well, I need them, yes?) I understand the mad obsessing over data. But I also understand it is (mostly) pointless. It took me a while to learn. But in the meantime I created a mathematical model which exactly predicts what the temperature and humidity will do to my race pace. Surely, this will make me a better and faster runner. Right?

Wow, Berner. Just wow. Like an hour and a half after my post you have a multi-part quote parsing rebuttal deployed. Have you been camped out here for 24 hours waiting for a member of the "simplicity crowd". Nice label by the way. And you still missed my point totally.

Ridiculous statement. With a Garmin 305/405 I get instantaneous pace and heart rate feedback on my training performance. Whatever my goals are for that workout, whether measured by pace, time, distance, or effort, the watch helps me achieve them. And achieve them exactly as I intended to achieve them when I walked out the door. Or if I fail to achieve my goals, I have scientific feedback to help me understand why.

So you call my statement ridiculous and then you go on to support it. While I guess it's nice that you can collect an analyze data about your workout while the workout is still going on, you haven't made it at all clear at all how it helps you become faster. And I'm not sure what terms I changed and don't really care that much but I still don't see how an irrefutable scientific correlation between improvements in VO2 and LT resulting in improvements in performance matters to a runner. It's not nearly as strong as the correlation between training and improvements in performance.

I hate it when guys get in a pissing contest and use all those WORDS. dayum. I'm going to have to collect some man cards. You've broken ALL the rules. entirely too many. I'm going to politely request you keep responses down to a 5 word minimum. if this means resorting to one word insults or nonsensical you tube links, so be. at this point, inappropriate pictures would suffice.

I was trying to decide what was my favorite line from this thread. I was torn between this:

The body is a much more precise instrument than the GPS. It's not less scientific, it's more. It is not less scientific to "listen to your body." It is not less focused when you "keep it simple."

And this:

I also undestand that people must vehemently rally to defend their big electronics spending.

I still think its the former. I certainly dont' think my own training is any less focussed than most of the technocrats.

Too often for my liking, if I ran by "feel" alone, my workout might be cut short or made unnecessarily stressful due to the "feedback" breakdown. However, a quick check on my Garmin, and I have additional factual data that can help refute or corroborate the feedback from "feel" -- collectively allowing me to make smarter training decisions on the fly.

A Garmin will record data that tells you what you did. But it will not tell you is anything about....you. On that day. Under the conditions you faced that day. Were you adequately rested? Hydrated? Hung over? Were you under mental or emotional stress? Relaxed or up tight? Were conditions conducive to a good, mediocre or really bad workout? Are you bordering on overtraining? Maybe even past the border? "Feel" provides feedback on all of those variables. An "unfeeling" mechanical device doesn't. Should a Garmin refute what "feel" is telling you, or vice versa? IMHO. one of the biggest mistakes runners make is becoming slaves to training charts, pace calculators, watches and GPS devices, intsead of simply using them for what they really are....not masters but tools.

Sorey...going back to the body paint thread now...

link?

MTA: I've been running and racing since I was 17 and have tried a gazillion different things in training, but I get better only when I increase my mileage, do at least one day of faster running a week, take easy days easy, do a long run, and maintain consistency. If it begins to feel like a job, I take a break. That's the science that's always worked for me.

I like this one. Change the 17 to a 33 and it fits me perfectly.

Sorey no linkey. Swamp. Monument to stupidity.

I left when the anarchy left. I was only there for the anarchy. Long live anarchy.