just out of curiosity sake, about how much a week do you run and what paces do you try and hit typically?

theres A LOT to be said for slow running. slow running gets you a lot of low impact, pain-free mileage in (just like youre seeing) and a lot of easy miles absolutely builds your base. theres no way that the pros can run race pace for 40+ miles a week.

that aside, youre spending time with the wife. sharing that time with her doing something you both enjoy is irreplaceable.

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80/20 Endurance Ambassador

I think there is a lot to be said for slow running, I still run most of the year in Zone 2. If you have ever looked into Maffetone, much of what he espouses is in line with what you discuss re: injury prevention and recovery. That is how I got started doing it, in fact I had to walk in order to keep my HR in check.

Additionally, I agree with the above poster on spending time with the wife. My wife got into cycling last year and spinning at 95rpm to hold 80 watts to stay with her was ridiculous, but packing up the bikes, riding, grabbing a bite and generally hanging out was the highlight of my year. I don't know that it helped me with my fitness, but certainly helped my marriage.

I don't think slow running gets enough love tbh.

It’s not slow running it’s easy running that has huge gains. And there is a huge difference between the 2. What y’all are describing is easy running.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

It would seem that you need quite a long lecture . . . it is one I have given myself a number of times, and that others have helped and continue to help me with. This may be long and repetitive, but you need it! Note, I am not a coach or physical therapist of any type (I'm a lawyer :-)), just an athlete who has been doing this a long time.

I'll bet you're about half my age and a pretty good athlete. You enjoy going fast . . . speed is fun. However, you get in a binge and bust cycle that you keep repeating. You need to stop that, and the knee pain will also stop (I complained of knee pain for years when I was in that cycle). Someone had a quote on here a long time ago something like we all like frosting but don't like the time it takes to make cake. Speed is frosting, and base fitness is cake. You have never taken time to bake the cake. You need to back up, slow down, and get an appropriate base before you try to go fast.

Most folks in your situation and not just "injury prone," they have habits that lead to injury. You have to realize that and break that cycle. From the little you revealed I think I can see exactly where you are because I was there.

This is going to get repetitive, but I think you need it. So, another way of describing cake/frosting is looking at the typical 5 training zones. Your description of yourself is that you like to run in zone 3 and above. You can google Jack Daniels training zones and see what I mean. You need to spend much more time in zone 2 (1 with wife is just fine), and then 10% or so in zone 4 . . . . just a tad in 5, and stay mostly out of "no mans land" of 3 (which is where I bet you are currently spending a lot of your time. You need much more base training, and less speed training (at this point).

You actually described part of your problem yourself. Your cardio and muscular aspects actually develop quite rapidly. You feel this so you *think* you can go faster. You do, and then can't figure out why you keep having pain. You are right back in the binge/bust cycle. Connective tissue (ligaments, tendons, etc), cartilage and other structures develop and strengthen much more slowly than cardio/muscle. You need to back up, slow down and take time to strengthen and develop all of those supportive structures. Consistent execution over time always prevails. You can't be consistent if you are in the injury cycle.

Remember, I am 50% looking in the mirror (both rear view and side view). I think a lot of this is probably personality driven. Take several years (really) to bake some cake and then worry about getting faster. If you do that you will then be both faster and have much less injuries/pain. You must get out of the binge/bust cycle if you really want to solve the issue. I've seen a lot of folks come and go over the past 40+ years. The ones who have maintained a healthy fitness lifestyle over many, many years have established a very strong base that continues to support them.

The coaches and physiologists may butcher me a bit, and my terms may be a bit off. But, I assured you that I have been around a long time and I have seen (and lived) your story over and over.

Back to your question - yes, run with your wife. BTW, I've got to go because I am doing a 2 hour run with my wife. It will be slow but I have to continue making the cake because I still really like frosting. Wishing you the best. Please report back.

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David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

Best education of the year on the second day of the year! I may print this and put it on my wall to remind me.

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Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Quote:

For reference I used to be able to run a 5K in about 19 minutes and could train pretty consistently at 8 minute mile pace when I was training for Tri's.

You were in ~7:15 min/mi open marathon shape but 8min/mi was your consistent training pace? My immediate reaction is that you ran your easy stuff too hard, and if that is your reference point, of course running with your wife feels 'slow.' I suspect you now are running a properly easy pace relative to your fitness when you run with your wife. Think of it as a way that you are able to maintain a better run frequency and run durability and reap the benefits.

Quote:

What I've noticed is that my wife's pace is so slow that I've been able to actually run pretty consistently without feeling pain. I always feel like my issue with running is that my body is never used to the general ground and pound that running introduces.

What's the problem here? :)

Use the easy runs with your wife to build run frequency and run durability. Do a quality session and a longer session on your own each week to work your top-end and add more volume. Voila.

I do something very similar with my wife. Her normal run pace end up being about 4 min/mi slower than my open marathon pace. But it's quality time together and it's all just run durability/ supportive and supplemental sessions for me.

Running with your wife is time on your feet and time with her...both of which will benefit you.

I say stick to running with your wife for your base days and do some interval/tempo work on your runs without her. The current trend in many endurance sports (like cx skiing) is high volume at low intensity and it has shown some impressive results. My girlfriend is a professional skier and her team's plans are about 70% zone 1+2 and a mix of upper end intensity for the rest (approx 10 hour weeks total). I also highly recommend interval work. I enjoy doing a variety of intervals from 1-5 minutes at tempo or threshold with equal resting time. I know a few sports physiologists who swear by interval work since you can get your hard work in but keep training stress and acute training load low.

I've had similar knee pain issues and found that it was due to my incredibly fragile masculinity insisting that I can't be seen running slowly 😂 slow runs and interval work on my tempo days set me free.

Look at your HR while you are running with your wife. If it is at least 50% of your max HR, I think you are getting decent base miles in. If you are time constrained, is it the most efficient use of your time? Probably not. But if you otherwise can't consistently run without pain, enjoy the time with your wife.

Similar situation to Tri2GoHard - my 16 year old daughter is training for her first half-marathon and I have been running with her on the weekends to give support and carry water etc for her on her longer runs. These runs are in the 12 min/mile range so a lot slower than I normally run. They have been really fun to do and we have had great chats as we go, but are a lot slower than I normally run. What I have been doing is treating these as a warm-up and going straight back out and running another set. This way I have been adding decent extra mileage without feeling additional strain and getting the bonus father/daughter time - a win-win. So I say run slow and enjoy the time and then gradually add in some slightly faster runs.

Do you run on roads or trails? 12 minute miles on hilly trails are very different than 12 minute miles on flat pavement...

That sounds familiar, at least for a 500hr/yr programme for XC skiing. Marit Bjørgen (reasonably good skier) said in an interview that of her 800-1000hr/year

-90% was endurance. 90% of this again easy and 10% hard. AND competitions were included in those 10%. She did all disciplines and distances so competition is a big part of those 10%
-10% was speed, strength etc

and yet another preaching to the crowd moment.

With a side of gratitude.

I cautiously joined up with the 100/100 challenge.

First time doing this, so, I wanted to err on the side of caution.

Meaning most running done at 10 minute mile pace (my ave. IM run is 4 hr).

Today, I did run number 60. Seem to be getting stronger. No injuries.

Stay the course laddie!

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http://www.fitspeek.com the Fraser Valley's fitness, wellness, and endurance sports podcast

My wife is not slow (former high school track runner) but I've broken every PR at every distance once I started running my easy runs at her easy run pace. My HR for a given pace dropped, I could up my mileage without injuries, and I enjoyed the best quality time with my significant other. Win win win.

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ZONE3 - We Last Longer

Can you expand on this?

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

Slow doesn’t automatically = easy running

Easy = Easy

You can be fatigued and run “slow” but it actually still beat up your body or still be fatiguing due to being harder on body than it should be.

Ever done a run super tired and fatigued from volume? You go and run that day if you think “why am I slow today” chances are you’ll be pushing yourself even though it’s “slow”.

What this thread is discussing is easy running. Yall think it’s “slow” because your reference point is in pace. A better reference point in training is effort level in regards to how the body is stressed. You can’t stress your body going easy (or shall I say stress level is very low) but you can going slow.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II