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  • "...efficiency and effectiveness are two different things. In the context of competitive sports, the contest is to see who is fastest, not who spent the least amount of time training."

    I've got 20 years of experience now with run training, specifically to get me to the fastest overall triathlon time, especially in Ironman, although I really like shorter races, too.

    With this being my final year doing Ironman, and one last time through IM Hawaii, at the suggestion of Coach P, I went back through my races and my training in the 3 months prior to each. I discovered that, at least in the last five years, as I have aged, volume has become a bit more important than intensity. Meaning, I've had to decrease both the amount and speed of "intensity" work in an effort to keep my legs functional. But when I did the volume which used to work for me ten years ago, my IM marathon suffered. The time I increased the volume, I had a satisfactory result.

    Obviously, the answer to the question is, "It's highly individual". But either extreme (only volume, meaning 40+ maw vs a lot of speed work, with lower volume) is probably counterproductive, as both methods would probably increase the risk of injury more than trying to find the middle ground which works for you. Its taken me about 4 years now, but I think I've found that sweet spot for me.

    Specifics: I used to be able to get a good IM run (e.g., hitting the BQ time in and IM) with about 25 mow running, and a weekly session of 6 x 1 mile (2') @ a 10k clip. Now, I seem to be doing better @ 28-29 mow, and one session of 4 x 1km (1') @ the same speed, with 1-2 x/week of 4-8 strides at the end of a short LRP run.

  • Hate I missed the Boomer talk last night. I don't think it's one OR the other. It's both and finding what works best for you is a iterative process. I think weekly speed sessions are important as well as the weekly progressive long run. I think it's also important to do 1-2 runs (or segments of runs) each week at your goal pace or slightly faster, especially for HIM and shorter triathlons. Pushing your body to run a faster pace in a race than ever run in training is a receipt for disaster.

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