RunningAHEAD - Topic: Junk Miles

ChrisCaputo

posted: 12/28/2006 at 9:09 AM

I think I recall reading that anything less than 2 miles is considered junk miles/has no benefit. I'm between 24-28 miles a week and am curious if there is a rule of thumb for the minimum miles a run must be to not be considered junk? (i.e. 10% of your weekly mileage per run)

Wingz

Professional Noob

posted: 12/28/2006 at 10:47 AM

I'll bet it depends on where you are in your running. Surely for a beginner 2 miles has a huge benefit. Wink

What I've heard more of as "junk miles" has been when the effort level is such that your HR is too high to be in the aerobic zone, but too low to be anaerobic... just kind of in a no-man's-land in between. This supposedly has the least training benefit.

Roads were made for journeys...

Scout7

posted: 12/28/2006 at 10:53 AM

http://mysite.verizon.net/jim2wr/id26.html Jim talks about this exact subject. There's various definitions out there. Bob Glover calls anything less than 2-3 miles, or anything run over 60% of Max HR (which is outside training range) as junk. Daniels has "quality junk". Those are runs that are done at an intensity that doesn't train any specific system. That would be what Wingz was talking about. It also depends on where you're at, and what you're training for.

Junk Miles (Read 526 times)