80/20 Running

Typically, these adjustments are achieved by increasing and decreasing overall running volume rather than by fiddling with the balance of intensities.

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

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

LONG INTERVAL RUNS A long interval run features repeated efforts of three to five minutes in Zone 4. Long interval runs maximize high-intensity fatigue resistance.

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

If your ultimate goal is to become the best runner you can possibly be, then you’ll want to continue to increase your running volume until your current limit merges with your final genetic limit. This is the point beyond which there is no possibility for further improvement by means of additional running.

RULE #6: PRACTICE STEP CYCLES Step cycles take the hard-easy principle to a broader time scale. Also known as mesocycles, step cycles are multiweek training blocks in which the running workload is intentionally varied from week to week. In a step cycle, each week of training is slightly more challenging than the preceding, until the last week of th

SHORT INTERVAL RUNS A short interval run features repeated efforts of sixty to ninety seconds in Zone 5 separated by jogging recoveries in Zone 1. Short intervals enhance aerobic capacity, high-intensity fatigue resistance, and running economy.