The Less is More approach - does it work? (Read 2185 times)

I have almost no cartilage left in my knees and when I started running again all the docs told me not to. The more I run the less they hurt. I would do what feels right to you.

I did a marathon last year on the 3 day a week plan and am currently training for one on the six day per week plan. Here's what I learned: 1) The 3 day a week plan is great for staying healthy. I beat the crap out of my self on those three days, but I never got hurt. But if you're willing to work harder for those 3 days per week, yup, I think it works great.

I would argue against this logic until the cows come home. This is a recipe for injury and I beleive you are very lucky to have avoided one. Easy or slow runs between harder efforts protect the body against injury rather than promte it.

Chenille: Racing longer events such as half marathon or a marathon, you'll need muscular endurance. There's no way around it; you've got to work the working muscles (in this case, legs) for a long period of time. There have been many elite runners who substitued long runs with cross training or shorter, faster running; consequently they didn't succeed in the marathon (there, of course, had been exceptions). You're taking absolutely the right approach by alternating the distance and getting those longer runs in. Good luck with your half!

Thanks, Nobby. Energy levels still adjusting to the longer runs, but once that levels out, plan on adding a 2hr+ bike ride on the weeks opposite the long runs. Appreciate the feedback

The only way a less is more strategy will lead to better race performances is if it allows you to avoid injury problems and consequently be more consistent with your training. There is no shortcut in running, for most people your performances will continue to improve up until the point where you either A) start getting injured, or B) are no longer recovering between workouts or due to excessive volume. Given enough time to acclimate, the threshhold for B is much, much higher for most individuals than they may think. I don't tend to injure easily at all. As I acclimated I was able to continue progressing until I was consistently over 100 mpw. This is certainly not the case for everyone but it was for me. I have tried all types of training and workout schemes to continue high performaces on reduced overall mileage, like more hard workouts, faster workouts, etc. I have found that the #1 predictor of my conditioning is my weekly mileage -- workout type, length, and intensity are all secondary. In other words, there is absolutely no training that will make me in better shape averaging 50mpw than 80mpw (assuming I was doing SOMETHING for workouts at 80 mpw). FIRST is particularly bad. Volume strengthens joints, ligaments, tendons and muscles to make you more resilitent to intensity. If you are reducing volume/frequency because you get injured, going out and hammering it the few times you do run is about the worst thing you can do. Indeed, most (not all) people I know who tried this program either got injured again or found that they could not complete the workouts given the low amount of running they were doing.

There is no reason that you cannot improve fitness on 4 days running as long as you do the right workouts on the right days, at the right intensities. Most everyone will agree that you can effectively substitiute various cross training for what might usually be your "easy" days. The role of the easy days in many running programs is mostly about allowing your body to recover so that you can perform the "key" workouts at the proper levels to continue to improve fitness. For example, if your 4 running days per week are a) one day of intervals or running at faster than goal pace, b) a day for a tempo run at or near goal pace for 50-75% of the race distance, c) a long run, and d) a run that starts out easy, but the last 25%-50% are done at your tempo run pace. These are the kind of workouts that will improve running performance. Just allow some recovery between them.

It's like I heard my name. Thanks Nobby, of course I agree with you. You just say it better.

Yes, but cutting back usually means increased intensity. If you want to heal the intensity level must stay low, otherwise, you just hurt yourself more. You go from injured and running to cross training only. You do not want to be around a runner who can't run. it's just not pretty. If the intensity is low the mileage might as well be up there. It's not like you have anything else to do. Now don't go crazy hitting new mileage highs while healing, but keeping pace with the old and maybe increasing as you feel better is perfectly fine. Let's face it, most of the time people are injured, it's because they were doing too much too fast too soon. Sometimes slowing down is all it takes to get the body back in shape. The FIRST program does not slow things down. It is very intense even with the cross training. The program is not for the injured or the faint of heart. Definitely not for me either. I go the route of having a huge base. I do so many easy miles that people can not understand why or how I do them. But I use those miles to my advantage when I care to peak. And I have run on small injuries like twisted ankles or the beginnings of PF. They heal as long as you stay slow. The basic rule with training programs for running is kinda simple. If it looks like it might be a short-cut, it's probably not a good plan for most of the population. The best thing to do is to educate yourself on the different types of workouts, fully understand what they accomplish and use a basic plan as a base of operations. If you know why intervals are important, you generally also know when they are most effective and you do them correctly. Most people now-a-days just pick up a plan and do it without figuring out the whys or hows. They think it must be an ok plan because it was in whatever magazine or so-and-so's website program generator so even the paces given must be just perfect. But usually, if you have just an even basic idea of what workout accomplishes what goals, you can pick out errors made in these mag-based glam programs. Yep, I am writing books again. Nobby, I blame you.