Quality vs. Quantity - Summer Edition

Let's have a pro and con for quality of miles vs quantity of miles in the summer.

QUANTITY:
PRO:
Minimally invasive training mentally and physically.
Lower chance of overtraining.
Prepares for the volume and duration of the school year.
CON:
Missing the middle steps between 6:30-7:30 pace summer miles and 5:00-5:30 pace Fall workouts.
Less effective at developing aerobic capacity.

QUALITY:
PRO:
Makes transitioning to Fall workouts more natural
Allows for bigger workouts in the Fall, and an improved ability to recovery from them.
CON:
Chance of burnout if taken too intensely.
Higher chance of injury.


Obviously neither extreme is correct. Don't run 25 miles a week at 5:45 pace, but don't run 140 miles a week at 8:00. The 2-3 quality days per 8-10 days I was talking about are days with a regular run, maybe 8-10 miles, a few steps faster than the usual 6:45-7:15 clip, working down to 6:00 or so for the last half hour. I really think the benefit is huge of having a run like this every week. They are completely aerobic, the way our tempo runs SHOULD have been over the summer and during the year last year. As I've said to Nick a few times this year, no one should ever DNF a tempo run (which I've stupidly done my fair share of times). If you do, it's not a tempo run. Tempo running is pushing up and improving your aerobic limit, maximum aerobic output, threshold, whatever you want to call it. To do that, we run at or just below that limit. Running just below that limit, we're still completely aerobic, meaning you should never ever feel a drop of lactic acid build up when running "tempo pace." The benefit of this kind of training throughout July and August is better preparation for full on tempo runs and tempo /cruise intervals, which are the 8k paced stuff like 5xmile, 3x2000, 5-8x1200 type workouts, as well as developing your aerobic engine over the course of months and years. Those of us looking toward the marathon in a few years (which is basically all of us based on who's been posting) should be very interested in this. Uptempo running is pretty close to marathon/half marathon pace, which I think Corey mentioned in his post. I think HM pace is the ideal middle ground pace where you can stay minimally invasive, while still increasing the bounds on your maximum aerobic output. OK someone else take over.


That, and running a lot on hills a few times a week. This will be another post once I'm home. We did no hills in September October or November last year, and I think we, or at least I, paid the price by sucking monkey nuts at Mt. Greylock last year.

Today's Workout 8/28

Today's Workout: medium distance run at up tempo pace. Harvard/2 Bridges/Real Deal. ~4 200's to open up. 6-8 strides on the grass.

What did you guys think?

I think this is one of the best workouts I've done in a while. Talking to RoJo and Mark Davis in the last 2 weeks has really affirmed my belief in long term development of distance runner, and this workout is what that's all about. Hitting runs that are faster than comfort zone like this are an awesome way to slowly but progressively build a body into a better distance runner. A lot of people have said thing along the lines that interval workouts and repetitions are quick fixes to get in shape, but the long term "fix" of being a better runner overall is developing a stronger and more solid aerobic delivery system and building more strength. Today was an excellent step in the right direction.

Personally, I felt fucking fantastic today. A little under the weather from last night, but yesterday was really easy, and everything in my legs was falling into place for the workout. I ran 2 Bridges with Lena and we clicked off probably a few 6:10 miles or so. It was also nice not running on mile marks. Not worrying about slowing down for a few seconds at an intersection is way more relaxing than trying to hit exact tempo times at each mile. Awesome, in short.

You?