I have a wonky left knee that gets injured incredibly easy, normally by training at a high intensity. It tracks weird and doesn’t have full range of motion like my good knee. If I only train slow (or most of the time), can I still pull off a good 5k or 10k?
I’d rather be healthy and slower than pushing the limit and injured.
if your knee isn’t condusive to doing fast races why not do longer distances instead.
I think it would be better to run for life than risk injury all for a fast race.
ocd-there’s a quote attributed to Lasse Viren (that I tried to find quickly on Google but was unable) that states to the effect that if you only train slowly then you’re likely to race slowly. Any chance that an evaluation by the medical team in your area, your local running shoe store guy, PT, etc. that these collective minds can give you at least a partial fix to your knee problem and maybe let you get closer to your dream?
I have a wonky left knee that gets injured incredibly easy, normally by training at a high intensity. It tracks weird and doesn’t have full range of motion like my good knee. If I only train slow (or most of the time), can I still pull off a good 5k or 10k?
Assuming your body won’t break down during the race when you run faster, yes. But it will take a lot of slow miles to get there.
The abnormal tracking can likely be solved. Send me a PM… I’ll try to help you tomorrow.
Lots of long, easy miles are actually a really good way to build run fitness.
if your knee isn’t condusive to doing fast races why not do longer distances instead.
I think it would be better to run for life than risk injury all for a fast race.
Unfortunately I’m just not into races longer than olympic and I’ve had competitive success at short races. Long stuff doesn’t interest me, I like to train with workouts less than an hour.
John: I’ve been looked at by PT’s and by a foot doctor. Tried orthotics with some success. It’s difficult to describe, but I was born with a knee a little bit out of whack. It’s always clicking and inflamed for no reason even when I’m not working out. I might try training slow and see how much I can train at a slow pace and see where it takes me.
Tiger: I’ll PM you sometime, I’m away most of the weekend. I’m interested to hear your suggestion but don’t have a lot of hope. You aren’t going to suggest medicinal mariuana are you?
This might just be a re-statement of the obvious, but if you have a knee problem might treatment be best rendered by a knee doctor? I live near the University of Virginia and one of our most valuable resources is the Universities “Speed Clinic.” The head runners doc is a gent named Bob Wilder, MD who sees exclusively athletes and almost exclusively runners. Think of the wealth of knowledge available to patient with a wonky knee in that setting.
I have to imagine that such a resource exists in your area and that a visit would be worth it’s weight in gold. Potential answers exist for…Is my problem definable? Is my problem treatable? Are there implications for my future, good or bad? Are there implications for my offspring? That sort of thing. Ask around and see what you find.
i set my road 5k pr (17:14) while training for a marathon and only doing one “speed” workout a week (800’s around 2:50) so for me at least its possible. I’ve also had my fair share of injuries (probably from running too fast when Im not ready), so you should probably get to the root of your knee problem before you think about running fast.
Do “workouts less than an hour” really allow you to do “long, slow runs”?? Or enough to really build up enough residual fitness to nail the shorter runs?
First: it seems that there has got to be something that can be done to improve your knee…stretching/strengthening/running stride adjustment.
Second: Yes, you can race fast with **almost **all slow running. You will need some fast stuff, but the amount that you can get away with will be much less than you or most runners think.
Give it a shot this year and find out for yourself. You get all the overall aerobic and anaerobic training you need from swimming and cycling…your running is still necessary to develop muscular and mechanical efficiency. I think being a triathlete and doing anaerobic and threshold training in the pool and on the bike gives us the ability to do far less of that type of training on the run.
You WILL need some race-pace running. As the knee allows, try to do up to a mile of race pace running each week on an outdoor track. Pick the direction that is easiest on your knee - you don’t have to go counter clockwise.
Also, do some pick-ups. I do this workout a lot and love it (warm-ups and cool-downs ommited): At the local 400m track, do 4 laps slowly jogging the curves and doing a pick-up on the straights. During a pick-up you slowly accelerate from the beginning of the straight and reach full-sprint about 10-20 yards before the end of the straight.
In your case, modify the pick-ups as needed if your knee can’t handle a full-sprint.
Try these 2 things (1 mile at race pace and then another mile of pick-ups…on different days) each week this summer and see how you race.
Make sure to put special emphasis on intervals and hard, fast stuff in the pool and some on the bike.
This is great general running advice for most people on here - not just the OP.
This is great general running advice for most people on here - not just the OP.
Thanks. Just to be clear I would suggest a ‘healthy’ runner do at least twice that much. Then more, ala a typical runner’s training program, will continue to yield improvements, but I would predict at a diminishing return.
I went to a talk that Bob Kennedy gave at a local running story a few years back, and he said the NUMBER ONE problem with most recreational (non-pro) runners is that they run too fast TOO OFTEN. There’s a reason that even the pro’s do their slow runs SLOW. I’ve heard and read stories that Frank Shorter did his long and/or easy runs somewhere btwn 7 and 8min per mile pace (I’m sure many other pros did/do as well, that’s just the one that sticks out the most).
I agree with yeager, you only need 1 fast workout a week to maintain good fitness as long you keep supplementing it with training for the other disciplines. My best racing season BY FAR was when I was trying to finish up grad school. I did 1 speed workout a week (usually 3 miles worth of speed), and all other runs (one long and one medium length) were with my fiancee at 8 to 10min per mile pace. Cycling 2 to 3 times a week on top of that. I thought it wouldn’t be enough, but it worked great. I can’t remember who said it (Gordo maybe), but I always remind myself that “It’s better to be 10 percent undertrained than 2% overtrained.”
Good luck!
I was always mid to back of the pack…still loved to run though I was so slow.Decided to do a 100 miler.Gettingready for that I just started piling on the miles.Zero organized speedowrk,but Id do pick ups from time to time. 2 months after the 100 I ran a marathon and qualified for Boston,and it felt almost ‘easy’…and also started winning or placing AG in 5kms and 10kms…and PRd a half marathon by half an hour. All just through mileage. Never was injured…til I thought-If I did organized track maybe I could get really fast! and wound up injured all the time.
But hour longruns,sorry those aren’t ‘long’ runs. I think you’d need to run longer than that…unless you are doing doubles too.
If you wanna run slower miles, then you gotta run a lot more miles. By slow I mean 7min/mile-7:30min/mile. If all your runs are at this pace you should be running at least 40 miles a week. At these paces, and with at least 40 miles a week I think you could get enough fitness from this to run a fast 10k, 5k on the other hand may be a little hard to throw down a fast time without a little bit of speed work. It might also help if you post some of your previous running times.
Yep, that’s the biggest improvement I’ve made to my training in the last 3 months since working with a coach. He has got me to slow my easy runs WAY down to 1.5 to 2 minutes slower than marathon pace. I’ve already knocked big chunks of time off my 5k race times from two recent TTs.
Obviously I’m doing quality speed work, but only one session per week.
“can I still pull off a good 5k or 10k?”
Good as in what time?
If I only train slow (or most of the time), can I still pull off a good 5k or 10k?
Obvious question: what is a good 5 or 10k?
General answer: you are faster with fast training. Simple as that.
Essentially the brain rules. It rules by recruiting muscles for you to run. If you dont do any fast running the brain will not recruit those fast muscles and you will run slow. Make sure you do a once a week speed workout of no more than 10% of your weekly volume to recruit those fast muscles.
Simply put.