I’ve been doing this for a long time, 25+ years long time
Yes, at one time in my running journey I attempted to deal with all those running terms…….speedplay, pace, tempo, long slow distance, intervals, fartlek, whatever….
During my run yesterday afternoon, i thought about all that…aerobic, vs anerobic, and decided, you know what? I’ve always just liked to run….and yes, I’ve run 400 and 800 meter repeats on a track, both indoor (BORING) and out-door (a bit better)……but as for all of that, the one truth I’ve gotten around to, is, during a lot of my runs, I pretty much do that….depends on the run, but farlek/speedplay…..yeah, every run has a bit of that……speed training, intervals, yep….so do need to restrict my weekly training to anyone type of training or workout……at one time, I thought so….but maybe not?
one of my running friends, and local coach once put things easily in perspective, and simply…if you wanna run….you have to run…if you wanna run fast…you need to run fast……..and if you wanna run far, well, it’s kind of obvious you need that distance training…
Obviously, if you’re going to, or are training, that changes things….but even then, what’s the difference between running hill repeats, or just on a route that has a lot of hills…?
I’m going say nothin’…..if you run 10 hills, or you run a course that has 10 hills on the route……..you’ve still run 10 hills, or stairs, or a combination of both…..and benefited from that training….and probably enjoyed it all a lot more…
I think, that the only two terms that really make a difference….aerobic or anerobic…
aerobic is the key to those longer training runs…as long as that pace is comfortable, effortless, you get that benefit, those benefits……as soon as you go into anerobic, you’re doing something else……speed, pace, tempo…or something that you cannot do for very long, or often…..
right now, for me….I’m not really training for anything…I want to say I’m just having fun….the goals will come in 2022…..after I turn 63?……for now…..I just run what I run…lots of 10Ks….some quicker, some comfortable throughout…some with hills, actually everything has hills……more cross training…biking and swimming mixed in to help me recover and not hammer those legs continuously and risk an injury..and to have fun….
the next post…I’ll talk/write more about aerobic, vs anerobic……but even during yesterday’s 6K….I started off slow, as soon as I found one..up hill to increase that heart rate…….and at one point, kicked a picked up the speed……an interval…a a couple of walks to hydrate, add some nutrition….and to enjoy the ride….
