Why run by feel? (Read 1311 times)

Running by feel is something of a dogma in this community. This post is intended to articulate some reasons why running by feel is a better approach to training than basing a training program off of concepts like LT, VO2max, or even pace and heart rate. First, what is "running by feel?" I think there are three related features to this approach to training: 1. "Primary experience" is privileged over "secondary experience." What does this mean? It means that when there is a conflict between the immediate experience of running and the reflective experience of thinking about running, the immediate experience is given priority. For example, I might decide after reflecting on my running that what's best for me to do tomorrow is to 8 x 800 at 10k pace. I head to the track and try the first one at 10k pace and struggle to make it. The immediate experience is telling me that this pace is too fast. Instead of clinging to the idea that I have to run 10k pace, I back off and listen to the primary experience of the workout. The reverse is sometimes, also, fortunately true. We can have good days and beat our expectations. For running by feel, the "problem" of training is always to bring the secondary experience of reflecting about running in line with the primary experience of running. A physiological approach reverses this direction. 2. Running by feel is radically experimental. This is the sense in which running by feel is more scientific than physiological science. Physiology can only deal with the human species as a whole. Training requires a more radically experimental method because each runner is a singular individual. What works best for me, today, most likely won't work best for you--and might not even work well for me tomorrow. The runner must be willing to try new paces, new intervals, and new intensities on a daily basis. In order to measure the effects of this radical, ongoing experimentation, the runner needs an instrument that is as singular as his or her running. This instrument is "feel," and it is built up over time through experience with the multitude of possible sensations that running brings. Training is an experiment of one and needs an instrument that is adapted to that singularity. 3. Running by feel is comfortable with uncertainty. The great attraction of physiological science is that it pretends to certainty. Everyone has a clearly defined and measurable VO2max. Easy running means keeping your heart rate at exactly 140. Tempo runs should be 20 minutes at 10k pace because that leads to the greatest gains in LT. However, because running is an experiment of one--and that one is constantly changing, sometimes developing, sometimes not--there is no certainty to be found in running, and for this reason any training methodology that pretends to certainty is a bad methodology. Paradoxically, running by feel more precisely measures progress in running because it is vaguer. What does an easy run feel like? How much should a 5k hurt? No one can tell you; it can't be done perfectly. But sometimes, by chance, we capture glimpses of how it feels when it's damn close to being right. We hold onto those glimpses and use them hopefully and uncertainly to guide our training. Running by feel respects the mystery and risk of running by not demanding that it conform to the demands of certainty.

The great attraction of physiological science is that it pretends to certainty.

Great, great post. Great line quoted above.

Running by feel respects the mystery and risk of running by not demanding that it conform to the demands of certainty.

Whew - his is all really academic to me... ....but I'll give you my take for the little that it's worth... I run by feel - I define that as going out and running whatever pace and distance feels good to me that day... If I have on my running plan a 3 miler at a quick pace and get on the street and realize that I really feel like a 5 miler at a slow pace, then I go with my feel.....it happens the opposite way also. I never look at my watch to see if I'm making my splits and if I decide I don't feel like something, then I run what I feel (with the exception of Wed afternoon Interval training on the track with a running coach - on that time and day only, we run based on a very structured plan). This approach makes running a lot more fun for me, and it takes the structure out of it....keeps it from being boring....and make the running plan more of a estimate then a road map. I do use a running plan or programs, but really only as a guidline and not a strick program. As I often say, I like to run like 'Luke Skywalker' I just use the force.....and when I do, it works for me. I'm not sure that I can answer to your post - but I know that I 'run by feel' and since I started doing this, my running is getting better and I like it a lot more....

I post by feel. And since I feel like being a jackass most of the times, that's pretty much what come across.

This approach makes running a lot more fun for me, and it takes the structure out of it....keeps it from being boring....and make the running plan more of a estimate then a road map. I do use a running plan or programs, but really only as a guideline and not a strict program. As I often say, I like to run like 'Luke Skywalker' I just use the force.....and when I do, it works for me

Some people may feel that they like the structure of a program, feel that VO2max or heart rate are the best option for them, feel that strict adherence to the Higdon plan is what they need to meet their individually chosen goals. I would say that 95% of the people here are "self coached" in that there is no official person dictating and overseeing their running schedule. For some, following a printed regimen dictating daily miles and pace is comfortable and not boring. There is a comforting factor in following a program that has worked for other people. For others, we may follow principles of training programs without strict attention to detail. Others cobble their weeks together based on available time and energy. Everyone chooses what works best for them. Everyone chooses the amount of time and effort that they put into learning about different training principles and experimenting to see if something that someone else is doing will work for them. There is no global truth that can be applied to an individual's capacity and interest. But there is desire, effort and curiosity causes us to look for what works. I am not at all structured. I run by available time if it is a morning run. I run by "feel" that can turn a 6 mile run into a 9 mile run or a easy run into a fast run. I also try to run by experimenting with the principles and examples that I have learned along the way. I do not feel that anyone could tell me that what I am doing is right or wrong nor would I ever dare to tell anyone that they are wrong. I am having fun. I am getting better, more comfortable in my stride, getting faster and running farther than I did when I first took up running 30 years ago.

Dude! Preach on, Brother Jeff!

* Why run by feel? Too easy -- b/c I'm too lazy to figure out all the LT & VO2 stuff.

See, I think you've got it backwards, and that this misconception was at the heart of the Stupid-Minded versus Super-Debate last month, as Jeff explains - to me at least - perfectly in one sentence:

The great attraction of physiological science is that it pretends to certainty.

I don't think you're being lazy by not figuring out the numbers. I think you're taking the HARD way. Trying to apply certainty where there is none is the easy way.

I've never tried running by feel. I used to run by taste, but that didn't work out well. I always have a taste for spicy food so I kept running toward chili parlors. That, of course, led to running by smell. Running away from a smell, to be precise. But sometimes it would follow me so I would have to run faster to get away. Then I would have to slow down because my stomach was making weird noises. Then I'd have to run faster again. This is how I discovered interval training.