80/20 Running

What’s more, the margin of improvement was even greater among six members of the 80/20 group who had adhered most faithfully to the instructions, completing an average of 78 percent of their training at low intensity. These runners had lowered their 10K times by an average of 7 percent, which was statistically significant compared to the 50/50 grou

way they were programmed to do it. They could not learn to do it better or alter their movements in response to changes in their environment (such as encountering a slope). Also, the movements of the first walking robots just didn’t look human. They were missing a certain grace and fluidity.

gave perceived effort ratings close to 12.79. It may seem odd that runners do not naturally choose to train at an intensity that feels more comfortable. The reason, I believe, is that humans are naturally task oriented. When we have a job to do, we want to get it done. Of course, a twenty-minute workout is a twenty-minute workout, regardless of how

The other key lesson of this study is that athletes generally get more out of time spent at low intensity than they get out of time spent at moderate intensity. The subjects in the polarized group had the greatest imbalance between low-intensity and moderate-intensity training, and again, they improved the most. This lesson in particular should hit

First, they teach us that high-intensity training is essential, but that a little goes a long way.

They figure that running thirty miles per week mostly at moderate to high intensity will make them just as fit as running sixty miles mostly at low intensity.

brain can be fatigued at rest in a way that increases fatigue resistance and physical endurance. In 2012, Samuele Marcora, an exercise scientist at the University of Kent, tested the effects of sedentary brain training on physical endurance. He created a video game that was designed to fatigue and thereby strengthen the anterior cingulate cortex—th

There is a popular belief that Kenyan runners do much more training at moderate and high intensities than do elite runners from other places, but the hard data does not support this myth. In 2003, top French exercise scientist Veronique Billat collected training data from twenty elite male and female Kenyan runners. A subsequent analysis of the dat

The ultimate compliment for me in my peak training years was being passed on my easy runs by a runner who had a marathon time more than an hour slower than mine. I’d say to myself, “He’s wearing himself out today. I’m building myself up.” All too many runners wear