Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Mileage vs. Intensity

Recently I have seen a wide variety of training methods used by those around me.  I have close friends who live off a steady diet of mileage making sure they get out everyday running at least 5 miles and always have 1 or 2 runs over 10 miles each week.  While I have others that will train three to four days a week  but at a much higher intensity usually with the week broken up into 2 longer runs and speed work.  Both of these training methods are drastically different yet I have seen success in both. 
This brought up the question of whether one is better than the other.  A question I inadvertently answer regularly when asked what the best way to get faster or run farther is.  The answer is actually very simple. It all depends on the person.  No two people are alike therefore the same training is unlikely to work for two different people.  I find that when I review someone’s history and see gaps and lots of short 2-3 mile runs with speed work I have an easy answer.  When I look at a history that has consistent mileage whether it be 10 miles a week or 100 with limited specialized training I have an easy answer.  It is an easy answer in these situations because usually these athletes have been consistently training this way for months or years.  There for the majority of the time the answer is do what you haven’t been doing.  Add more steady running if you’re training at a higher intensity.  Add more intensity if your always pounding away at the same steady aerobic pace. 
The question becomes more difficult when you have someone who has a combination of the two training history’s mentioned above.  This is when more work needs to be done to figure out if a low mileage high intensity plan is best for the athlete, or a high mileage lower intensity plan is better. It all depends on the person.  It is in a way trial and error to find which method suits an athlete best.  One thing is common among both and that is consistency is the key.  Whether you’re doing high mileage or low mileage a consistent training plan will take you much further than a 3 day a week plan as mentioned above.  For example say we have an athlete running 20 miles per week (mpw) over 3 days, say with a speed work day of 5 miles and easy day of 6 miles and long run of 9 miles.  If this same athlete where to stay at 20mpw but change their plan to a 5 day plan set up like
Sun:  7, long run Mon: 3, easy Tue: 3, easy Wed: 3, speed work/tempo Thur: off Fri: 4, easy Sat: off
This would be a much better training plan in my mind which would lead to better running and faster times.  This is because with a 3 day a week training plan there is only 3 days of muscle stimulus a week to tell your body to grow stronger.  In the modified plan there are 5 days of stimulus.  Though the daily totals are lower there is a greater stimulus being presented to the body because of the 5 day cycle.  This consistent stimulus and growth leads to an increase in efficiency because the body adapts to having to perform on a daily basis.
So whether you do 3 miles a day at a high intensity or 10 a day at low intensity the real key is that you do it consistently day in and day out to see performance increases.  Once this is accomplished is when fine tuning and specialized training should truly come into play.
As a side note when I say high mileage slow and low mileage high intensity this is different for everyone.  High mileage for one may be 20 miles a week while its 100 for another.  Same for Intensity, high intensity to my self is around the 5:10-15 per mile or faster range while say for my father it is at the 8-9 minute per mile range. So there is no standard for intensity levels or high mileage. It should always be based off your know ability.
What do you think about the mileage vs intesity debate? Does one yield better result than the other in your mind?