Perhaps. But Marky's statement (as you've bolded) is in regards to swim & bike. His objectives in the L6 swim/bike work didn't seem to focus around improving economy.

Well, I'd imagine at certain extremes it would, but I would expect, just like with crank length, theres some sort of happy medium that is best (ie...a 2" crank is bad just like a 30" crank is bad).


In general, long legs/short upper torso are good for running, as are really short muscles.

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-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants
-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485

Dev, FWIW (and possibly his point), I've stopped talking to triathletes in terms of mileage and more in terms of training time. 40mpw for you is, what, 4.5 - 5 hours of training? Someone whose a 50+ minute 10K runner would be training at 10 min/mile....think a less talented woman...4.5 yo 5 hours of running for them is 27 - 30 miles a week.


Looking up the results of a local sprint tri, 17% fit into that range (sprint 5K of ~9 min). 71% were 7 min or slower (8 min training pace at 4.5-5 hrs a week = 34-38 mpw).


I'm disagreeing with you that most people don't run enough. I just wanted to give a little perspective. 40 mpw to you or me doesn't sound that daunting, but its a little more challenging for your average triathlete. I typically tell people that most people with a modicum of endurance talent should be able to build to 4-5 hours a week of running within 6-9 months. For a vast majority of the population that's under 40 mpw. It takes a few years of consistent running, IMO, for most people to get beyond the 5 hour mark.

Do you have the stats handy? I wonder what % of people in the 100/100 are below 30 mpw.

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-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants
-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485

First of all, just to be clear, 70 kpw (~43 miles per week), is a big load for me given that I am doing other sports. When I am just running 50 mpw is a huge load (beyond that I break down whether I am just running or mixing in othe sports). Also for the guys that I work with, noting the slightly slower average run paces, we go by 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 hours of running per week depending on what we're doing in the other tri sports...so yes, I agree, miles per week is not the only gauge (which is why in the 100/100 we track time too). In the 100/100 out of 553 registered, we have ~100 averaging 30 mpw, or just under 20%.

I still think that for what many hope the achieve they are not running that much. Once they up their mileage they are generally surprised by how much better they do. The 3 swims, 3 bikes, 3 runs cookie cutter plans year round that many fall into just end up giving bad results on account of ending up walking on the run. As Fleck says at different times of year, it is OK to focus or emphasize specific sports to up the game there.

I like the German approach (the ones that stay in Germany)....pile on the swim and the run miles in winter when you are far away from your races. Swimming needs miles and effort to develop the technique, run needs it for the base the slowman keeps hammering on us in this thread.

Then when the weather gets better, run can flip to more of a quality focus (cause you have the base) and free up time for bike bike bike, putting the swim into maintenance mode....then a few weeks of overload in all sports, then go to intensity taper in all sports and you are ready to go :-)

Yeah, that's a little more telling. I would think that number should be close to 50-70%.


FWIW, I'm averaging 1 mile a week. I just ran my first mile of the year today. It sucked! I'm thinking of adding a minute a day until March. We'll see. Febuary will be about getting into some kind of shape....any kind....and then March begins the long quest to another Half Mary in September.

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-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants
-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485

It is telling cause in theory, these guys are on a run focus. I am not saying that 553 people represent the typical triathlete population....in fact, in general, I would think that those on ST gravitate towards being more serious about triathlon racing than the overall average, so this is the top 20% of a sampling out of ST and my gut says if you just took 553 randon participants, you'd get perhaps 5% doing more than 30 miles per week over a focused period.

Good luck with bouncing back...don't let yourself go too many times in your 30's cause that's what makes you slow in your 40's....the guys in the 40's that are fast were consistent through their 30's as they established careers and started families.

Dev

Thanks for the advice. This was a planned break due to excessive stiffness after my half mary in November. It was either take the time off now, or endure really crappy training for several months until I finally recover.

Speaking of which, I've decided to ditch the flats for longer races. I'll take a 1-2 second per mile handicap if I can gain them back by not missing 3-6 weeks of training after a race.

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-----------------------------Baron Von Speedypants
-----------------------------RunTraining articles here:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/...runtraining;#1612485