Tortoise training to rabbit in a race

I thought it was about time that I added a running post on here to add some balance, as much as I love low carb and how well it has helped me to lose weight I am not focusing on running and trying to build speed and endurance and just being the best runner that I can be. After all I am not a professional but I am very competitive and when I think I can be good at something that I want to be the best that I can be. 

Don't get me wrong I don't think I can be an amazing runner but I think I can be good like I was when I was a child. 

The title of this post is: 

Tortoise training to rabbit in a race

This is very much based on the book 80/20 running which I will get round to reviewing once I have finished it, hopefully in the next few days. 

So what am I talking about. 

Well the basic idea is that in order to run faster you need to run slower in training for 80% of your runs and these runs are not just slow they are SLOW. This is because you do less damage and teach yourself to maintain form and build endurance through time on your feet. You can still do 20% of your running as tough running. 

So what is easy running, I think that somewhere around 50% to 70% of your 5k pace is somewhere to start. It should feel like you can breathe through your nose and at most 4 out of 10 effort. This may seem counter-intuitive but I think it is starting to work for me after 2 weeks! I went for a 10k run the other day, my longest run in 18 months and decided that I wanted to make the end a bit harder so I build up the pace gradually and ended up running the last 2 miles in a very good pace for me and I was still thinking that I was taking it easy and had loads in the bag. 

In my experience your hard runs should be intervals and or hills, I am starting to like the idea of running as much as possible without having to look too much at my watch and for this reason I am tending towards do farltek running. These are intervals but basically done how you like, they allow you to listen to your body but still get in the vital speed work. 

Before I started this plan I was running hard 3 times a week, one hill, one interval and one long run at a good pace... This was hard work and I could feel every run the next day and could not see how I was going to build up the miles for the half-marathon next year. I took a step back, started this plan and running is now so much easier but I am running volume rather than pace. For me I think this is working but whether it will work for you I don't know. 

If you think you have hit a block in your training then perhaps you might think that this is worth a try, from what I have read so far I really recommend the book linked to above. Of course the aim is that when it comes to the race you have the endurance to run like a rabbit and smash your personal best. 

My Review of 80:20 Running

80/20 Running: Run Stronger and Race Faster By Training Slower by Matt Fitzgerald 

The basic idea behind this book is fairly simple, in order to run faster in a race you need to run slower in training. As odd as this may seem this is exactly what the professionals have been doing for years and it is thought to be the best training method for beginners and elite alike. 

The book takes you through some of the science and rationale behind running this way and then gives you some different plans and different types of session that you should do. I don't want to go into too much detail but these principles have been tested not only in running but many other sports. 

The book itself is mostly well written but the plans did not come out well on the Kindle edition, nevertheless the actual body of the text was useful. 

The problem that I have with this book is that it is basically a basic principle, run 80% of your training at a very slow pace, run 20% at a moderate or ideally high intensity and the book is really evidence to try and convince you that this is what you should be doing. Who is going to read this book though, well only people that are really getting into their running like me and even then most of them probably won't read it. So it is left to coaches who probably already know what to do. 

Where this book does redeem itself is in the principle, the principle of 80 / 20 works or at least that is my belief after only a few weeks. 

Me and Running and 80/20:

After reading an on-line article I shifted to this principle of training and thought it might work for me, I want to increase my mileage but knew I was going to get injured, the key it seems was to slow down. Having now slowed down in most of my training my legs are feeling fresh and my body is recovering quicker than ever and I can run 5 times a week, previously I struggled with 3 (hill, interval and ok pace long run). 

I was sceptical about how this might impact my speed but having put in 2 miles at the end of my last 10km at only 30 second off my 1 mile PB I am optimistic that I will smash my 5k PB this weekend. Best of all is that as I am running slowly I don't feel any niggles and if I do I adjust slightly and feel fine, before my knees and ankles would be clicking and aching but it is no longer a problem. 

Rating: 2.5 / 5

Overall it is a good book and it is based on a solid premise, however I do not think that there was really enough here to make a book. A couple of on-line articles and a pod-cast (like the author has done for Runner Academy) are enough to get you going with this principle.