Random Running Questions

Cost isn’t my major issue here - just don’t think I’d be get the same feeling on satisfaction at this point if I got Vaporflys. I’m not against them at some point in the future but I feel like it would be a short cut at this point as I’ve been gradually moving towards the time I want anyway.

Interesting point Ceepo re pronation as I was just thinking the other day I’ve been buying these shoes for years based on what some lad in Lifestyle told me 7/8 years ago. I’ve had calf niggles over the last year but don’t know if that is down to training overload or the wrong shoes. Although I need a quick 10k barefoot on the beach one day and was very sore for days after so perhaps that tells me I do rely on support from shoes.

It's important to remember that the cause of injury's can be multifactorial. But there has never been a shoe that prevents injury.

While I'm an advocate for some barefoot running, doing 10k of the bat wouldn't be recommended ;), especially coming from such a high heal to toe drop trainer

Is it preferable to pace using Miles rather than Kilometres even when working on a kilometer event? I presume miles give you a slightly more even pace as it is over a longer distance.

I can’t see the logic about running in miles. Embrace the metric system people!

debatable..theres a lot to be said for being proficient in both...Generally I work in miles but I ain't running 7 x 0.62miles in training. I'm running 7 x 1k. Id work miles in easy and long runs. Id race a 5k and 10k in kms. Mix and match.

Also, not being smart here, but have another read of the book - threshold pace (the 6:03 you mentioned) is not within the range of a typical marathon pace run. It’s a completely different workout - much more difficult than marathon pace. Good luck with it all!

I wouldn't fully agree with this. Why do people always think they need to train harder to get better. Sometimes they need to train smarter.

I constantly see/hear about people saying nothing beats getting the miles in, or pushing yourself harder in speed sessions.

Yet these same people are running with very poor form, weak core, never think about doing drills or any other type of training other than go out and run.

Even within clubs the mentality is often to push yourself harder, increase mileage.

I see this all the time, a person slips off a small bit in there times and straight away it's, I'm not being pushed hard enough, I need to train with a faster group.

Why not introduce some drills into your warm up. Something that might improve your economics of running.

Joe, I see where you're coming from but I'm not talking about training harder. I said consistency and hard work are the basic elements of improvement and focussing about the intricate detail of training should be way down on the priority list. Training smart is assumed, everyone knows they should train smart but unfortunately a lot just don't don't know how to.

Kind of off the point but from my personal experience and witnessing improvements of others, nothing does beat getting in the miles in. You're training to run long distances and building your aerobic capacity, it makes sense. Where people go wrong is the intensity and volume of their miles. It takes years for most people to be able to run consistent 70-80 mile weeks yet I see some thinking they should be running 80 mile weeks and sure enough they get injured. That's been me. That's not due to a lack of drills or cross training, it's an error of judgement and lack of experience. Eventually, through running consistently you will build strength and resilience. For those weak people with poor form you talk about, I could similarly show you a lot of very high calibre runners who don't do drills or gym work but just focus their energies on the basics. They're training to run, so they run. The differences is that these people know their limits, they train so they can train tomorrow. They train within their limits. They don't obsess over diet and they don't worry about ground contact time, cadence heart rate, Vo2 max, the killer session etc. Bizarrely enough, I think it's the elites who focus less on all this stuff and it's the amateur runner that focuses more on it.

I don't agree with your claim that within clubs the mentality is often to push yourself harder and increase mileage. It may be the case in some clubs but the opposite is true in my club where we're drilled to relax in workouts, recover between hard days and the absolute priority is not getting injured. Hard work is a given if you want to improve but harder is not always better. Nobody is saying you should finish a workout on your back, that's not good training. Caution is exercised by our coach, who himself is a former olympian but knows himself knows how simple running should be but at the end of the day it's all about the individual having personal responsibility and honestly assessing their ability. By the way, we are a fairly successful distance running club by national standards and we do not do drills as part of our warm up or otherwise. I'm not saying they don't have their place, they do but more so for the explosive track events. I myself do weekly core and mobility work on areas I feel are weak but for the most part when it comes to distance running, just run.

Superior knowledge? doubtful, just my opinion formed over the years and through my own observations and failings. I also see the same poor running styles and an unwillingness to compromise on mileage but like all walks of life, some people are just resistant to any sort of common sense or taking on advice.

I switched to kms for marathon training this year. All previous done in miles and found the kms better all round. Ill be sticking with the kms.

For people who like to distract themselves whilst running a combination of both measuring systems is essential....I spend my runs unnecessarily mentally calculating various different arbitrary paces and targets in both systems :-)

The only one I’ve done is Donadea and it’s probably the best place to start. 2022 is sold out but worth planning for 2023. It’s a pretty friendly event. There’s supposed to be a five hour cutoff but it doesn’t seem to be applied too rigorously, and there are always plenty of runners around that time and beyond. Lapped course makes nutrition, gels, drinks etc. easy to organise.

I'm glad it's not just me. I wouldn't get through marathon training without spending oodles of time on long runs playing with the numbers in my head.