For the sake of posterity, I edited @BarryP original thread from the old forum. Let me know if you find some of the missing threads, or if you find an error.
Happy to help. I’ve referred so many people to them over the years, and its such a valuable resource. It would be a shame for it to disappear into obscurity simply due to the change-over.
Its still the single best collection of actionable, practical advise I’ve ever seen on the topic.
I know this goes into a bit more detail. My advice on this sort of theme was even simpler - take a month, preferably 2 months. Try and run a little bit every day. Don’t over-think it or complicate it. Just run for a minimum of 15 min. and maybe up to a maximum of you can of about 45+ min but with the caveat that you HAVE TO run the next day. Run most of the runs at an easy pace - but when feeling good, pick it up for a few minutes here and there. If any niggling pains come up, pay attention and take some time to deal with them. If you make it through 30 days or 60 days - target a local 5km race. Taper for a few days and go and have a really good go at it. For most, particularly those relatively new to running - almost assured you will run a PB for 5Km. 5Km is a great test distance - pushes all the key physiologic buttons and touches all the systems, but does not beat you up - even when you go all out!
Anyone using BarryP this year? I’m an injury prone runner, so I’m looking to build mileage very slowly. A-race is IM CHOO. I used an 80/20 endurance plan last year, but I don’t think it gave me enough run volume (peaked at 4.5 hours per week).
I use it every year. I had a stress fracture in my lower leg last year. I’ve used the BarryP approach with a more conservative build rate (~5% / week) to rebuild to 50mpw / 6 days.
Thanks @Tom_hampton . We just had a talk about this. ST et.al tend to get so fixated on the details that someone entering (any sport, really) has a hard time actually figuring out the nuts-and-bolts of what they should do. LT1,LT2, threshold, sweetspot, VO2.
At this point I’m just looking to build mileage in Z2 without a stress fracture or other injury.
I started out running just 15 minutes a day, and now I’m up to 20/40/60 minutes in the 3/2/1 format. I’m already close to last year’s peak volume without the soreness. Very happy with that.
Yeah, right tibia early last year. Took about 3 months off to heal up, then built up for 2024 IM CHOO. Had a less than stellar prep even with the 80/20 plan being pretty light on run volume. Ended up walking about 1/4 of the race and struggled getting back to the hotel afterwards haha.
Roger. I had a left medial-tibial stress fracture last April (3" above the ankle). I also took a full 3 months off. Ramped up slowly from Mid-August. Started using the c25k run/walk approach, in August/Sep. Full continuous running in October, taking a complete day off every 3-4 days. Also take a calcium supplement, and some vit-D. I hit 25 mpw / 6 days per week. in November. I’m up to 50mpw now, and a regular BarryP program. Ramp rate has been closer to 5%, along with deload (about 50% less volume) weeks every 4-5 weeks.
Hope yours stays gone too. I get phantom paranoia every once in a while where I have to feel for it to see if there’s any incling of it coming back.
How are you tracking the volume? Mileage vs. time? I started out with 80/20 Endurance pre-made plans so I’m accustomed to structuring workouts based on time.
I think 30/60/90 minutes might be the max I can fit into my schedule without moving things around to run in the morning more. That should put me close to ~30mpw. Did you find that you simply started to run faster during the time you had available? 50mpw would put me at ~9 hours of just running per week.
I’m thinking I may just stick with 30/60/90 as a base simply due to timing constraints, then up the long run to prep for IM Chat.
Mostly, I plan based on time just like you describe. Time is really what matters physiologically. Weekly mileage is mostly just for curiosity.
Yes, you will slowly start running faster at the same RPE and heart rates. I find that happens slowly when everything is easy. Once, I start to add a harder run, paces start improving at a faster clip.
