Lessons from speed and distance

The high mileage/low mileage, quantity/quality argument goes on for ever if given the chance and at the end of it neither side is convinced.

Dr. Nicholas Romanov, developer of the Pose Method, just made me laugh with his view of the Long Slow Distance philosophy:

"Imagine you want to be able to high-jump 2m, and to achieve that you practice high-jumping 1m 50cm"...

to which I would add....

very slowly and for 2-3 hours at a time.

Whenever I am tempted to get involved in one of these discussions, I remind myself of a couple of things.

First, the elites constitute, what?, maybe 1 percent of all runners. They are genetically gifted. The elite of the elite, the world record setters and Olympic champions, are genetic freaks. The reason that some of them run 150 miles a week is because they can. The reason that some of them run sub-4 miles in training off 40 miles a week -- is because they can. They have the genetics, the physical ablity and the mental capacity to take extreme and/or intense workloads. (Thank you Richard Gibbens of the amazing www.powerrunning.com site for pointing this out to me.)

Second, despite their gifts, their training is HIGHLY INDIVIDUALISED and planned hour-by-hour by master coaches.

Third, they are supported by the best sports medicine care money can buy.

Fourth, most of them don't work or have lives outside of running.

Fifth, a lot of them are done with running before they reach 30. Heck, one African superstar retired at 19; Herb Elliott was finished with it at 24.

Sixth, without exception, the elite elites whose names are trotted out as indisputable evidence that such and such a system works are a self-selected sample. They've stuck with that system because it happened to suit their physiology, not because they read all the books and studied the research and figured out it was THE system that would work for anybody. We never hear about the hundreds or thousands of runners who get chewed up in the meat-grinder of a system and are spat out injured and/or disillusioned. Put enough bodies through ANY system and you can guarantee to get a sprinkling of ... mind-boggling runners out of it.

So ... this has all taught me that it's pointless for me to look at what great runners are said to do or have done and then try to decide whether running 200 miles a week at 15-minute pace up sand dunes wearing army boots is a better path to "glory" than doing 50 x 400m in 55sec four times a week. :)

"All" you need to do is try these various methods. In a couple of seasons you'll know what works for you and what doesn't. A couple of clues: if you're built like a sparrow, were born at altitude, have been running fast since you were a kid and take 5 miles to get going -- see what lots of miles can do for you. If you tend towards a Russian tank type of build and have a similar ability to withstand bursts of acute punishment, hit the track and feel the speed.

You will need the courage to change what you're doing if you don't get the results you want. For that you'll need acccurate, objective feedback -- an experienced coach is better for that than friends, relatives and training partners, who love you whatever you do.

You will also need the discipline to stick with one thing long enough to give it a fair trial, despite what Runner's World and the rest of them are telling you is the can't-fail method this month.

The other thing I realised (eventually) was that if you want to drastically shorten the process, find a coach who will work with your strengths and weaknesses and help you find what works for you given your age, ability and goals. He or she will have to be a coach who is not attached to any particular system, but only to what works -- for you. That can be difficult.

But first ... above all else ... invest most of your time and energy developing a running style that enables you to stay healthy, injury-free and that feeeeeels gooooood.