Everything you said was clear, and as well good post.
Long runs- i do find them quite boring. I dont find them hard in anyway, as long as i let my body find the proper pace and not force a certain pace from a table for example. This is where i feel people use tables wrong they try to force a written pace when in reality i feel you should follow your body and this accounts for day to day variables (energy levels, accumulated fatigue, weather, course, other stresses of the day or training period, experience, fiber make up ect ect.) And this relates to all runs within reason. I do have a bigger build and from everything i know am built for speed. The fact my long runs are run at an easy pace (with occasional strides thrown in) and at the moment are really even ‘long’, im going to keep them as is. Though as i said this is definately ine of the first places i will look at if my energy levels start droping and causing adaption problems. I have no problem droping to 3 hard sessions if need be w/ the long run being one of them. This may happen when my long run gets up there.
JD and Horwill- i understand what you are saying comparing franks vs JDs systems. You inspired me to look in to Franks system when you first wrote me of him a week or 2 ago. Its sounds simple and effective (2 huge ingredients to successful training i feel). Im curious how he suggests spreading his 5 paces over a micro in general (still applies to “3 pace training as you describe”. I say general because i understand everyone is diffrent, ie trainee A maybe only to handle 2 ‘hard’ sessions / week and trainee B mayne able to handle 4 ‘hard’ sessions / week. Im assuming each of the 5 paces would be each a ‘hard’ session, and stick to hard/easy repeat schedule at the very most.
I enjoy your running approach you conjured up. Just looking at it i know it would be effective. The time trials hit hime to me as well in your approach. I have done weekly Time trials (1-3mile) in the past for cycles and they honestly worked like magic for me. My times improved significantly weekly in most cases.
Question related to buiding a base:
As far as i know the traditional base building phase consists mostly of easy mileage and building up to peak mileage. I say mostly easy mileage because i have seen examples things like fartleks, thresholds, long runs, aerobic threshold thrown in to base as well. Now i say traditional base building because i have read material describing this as the old less effective method and conventional wisdom is that all facets (depending on the needs of the particular sport of course) should always be present (speed endurance, speed, threshold, aerobic cap, V02 max, power, strength ect ect) only in varying volumes depending on the where you are in preperation. This makes sense to me, and i can see this in Charlies vertical integration model, which is genius. I say all this because im curious on your thoughts about this as well as relating it my training. (Ie how i do weekly LT, ‘speed’, long run, v02 max) and i am holding intensity stable on all of these while building volume (like building a base). My thoughts are positive on this setup. I was curious as to what you thought if you had the time, or anyone else who would like to give their view.
Again thank you for all your help and time
