This I believe

One of my favourite running writers is former Runners World editor Joe Henderson. In a short piece titled ‘this I believe’ (sadly now seemingly no longer available online) he identified a relatively small number of ‘facts’ about running training that he believed to be absolutely true. In my opinion, this piece is excellent and there is nothing in it with which I disagree. However, based on my own experience / research /thinking and plain old hunches, there are a few things I would add to the list:

• Pacing is as relevant over the career as it is over a single race. You can be fast for a short while or have a long moderately successful career. Very few remain fast for the long haul.
• Whatever measure of training ‘load’ you choose to use, the average is relatively meaningless. Far more important is the range.
• ‘Clustering’ of high load days is superior to spreading the work out evenly.
• Related to the above, individual long runs are more important than high volume per se.
• It is a mistake to attempt to train physiological variables (eg VO2 max, lactate threshold) in isolation. Rather, if you focus training on improving the ability to run further and faster you can be sure you are training the ‘correct’ Physiology.
• Extensive interval training is a very potent endurance stimulus but is also a ‘high risk’ activity.
• Being slightly ‘under trained’ is FAR preferable to being slightly overtrained. If in doubt don’t!
• Occasional very brief, very intense sessions (eg. 10 second maximal hill sprints) are extremely beneficial.
• The most important training to do is whatever you are not currently doing.
• There is no recipe.

In a nutshell, that’s it in terms of what I absolutely believe to be true. Of course, others may disagree and I have opinions about a lot of other aspects of training, but these are not held with the same degree of certainty.