Just…Run
Let’s Be Real Here…
…none of us is training for any kind of high-level endurance event. No one reading this post reasonably aspires to break a 2-hour marathon, nor do any of us have the time to go chug along for 350 miles of unbroken suffering.
I’d argue that for the average person (military or otherwise), running is a lot like eating your vegetables. Most of us don’t do it, and the ones who DO probably don’t do it enough. Sure, there are a handful of oddballs who go vegetarian and eat vegetables exclusively (by that I mean run exclusively, if you’re still with me in this metaphor), but by and large I think that the majority of people who stumble across this article could do…better. And for transparency, I’m including myself in that mix.
In corners of the fitness ecosystem such as ours, I think the focus oftentimes ends up getting a bit skewed. We lose the forest for the trees, as it were. Because the topics of conversation so often revolve around performance and achieving specific outcomes, we subconsciously begin to believe the narrative that training itself should exclusively be about (capital P) Performance. We see this through the lens of military PT tests. For lack of any kind of personal intrinsic reason for exercising, the PT test BECOMES the reason. It justifies the training and, thus, the training itself begins to look an awful lot like the PT test. We lift weights to achieve a certain number in the “lifting weights” events, and - specific to this article - we run intervals and distances to achieve a certain time in the “running distances” events.
This is bad.
Why? Because constantly having a specific Performance as the outcome necessitates Training that is inherently complex. And complex training, whether we realize it or not, creates barriers to entry for folks who legitimately need to just…
…run.
The Perfect Running Program
Ready for it? Here it is:
Run at least 3 Days a week
New to this? Accumulate 30 minutes…total…for the week
Been around for a bit? Shoot for 60-90 minutes
Really good at it? Aim for 120 or more
That’s it. Copy it, paste it, share it with your friends. Hell, you don’t even have to give me credit for it…and honestly, credit for this framework is due to Michael Blevins at OLLIN anyway! This is what “programming” looks like when we strip away pretense, ego, and the instinctive need for coaches to pursue complexity at the expense of simplicity and actual results.
Now, with our program laid out in front of us, I’m going to say something that might seem counterintuitive if you’ve ever heard any of my podcast ramblings or read my previous articles on running (here, here, and probably somewhere else I’m forgetting)…
Don’t Worry About Progressive Overload
(gasps in Vo2max!)
What we must understand here is that every single program you find online (including ours) is designed to progress you towards something, and in so doing, works towards an inevitable peak. Programming in this way is effective for achieving the aforementioned Capital P “Performance”, but it’s not necessarily the best way forward for general health and well-being. For the latter, what we’re most interested in is a program that is sustainable, and a sustainable running program is one that you can continually do, every week, for multiple months, without getting injured. Write this down:
If you can run three days a week, for six months, you’ll be far ahead of anyone trying to build “the perfect run program.”
In fitness nomenclature, we often refer to this type of training as “Building the Base.” Seems simple, right? It is! The problem is, as soon as we say the phrase “building the base,” we dive deep into the rabbit hole of Heart Rate Drift, Aerobic Thresholds, Zone 2, and myriad other obscure-sounding physiological terms designed to make these things seem harder than they actually are.
So Now What?
I’d refer you back to the aforementioned programming quip about running three days a week…six months…etc. If we assume that you have achieved said goal, you’re likely at a fork in the road and need to choose from one of two options:
1) There is an event on the calendar that has piqued your interest and you’d like to do it (i.e. a Thanksgiving 5k)
Or
2) There are NO events on the calendar that have piqued your interest, but you don’t want to be lazy.
Let’s address the first one first
Person With Event On the Calendar
If you decide you want to accomplish something running-related, it stands to reason that, over time, the programming should start to reflect the event. This is where we get into conversations about interval structures, speed, speed-endurance, VO2max, blah blah blah. The point is this:
Speed Work: take one of those three days and make it faster and shorter than your event. Rest a bit between efforts, and repeat a bunch of those efforts. Over time, add more efforts. For example, run a bunch of 400m intervals. Rest a few minutes between each one of them.
Tempo Work: take another one of those three days and run at the speed you want to run for your event. Naturally, because we’re training, the distance you run will be shorter than your goal event. Over time, keep that same speed and add a bit of distance.
Aerobic Base Building Work: for that third day, just go run for a while and do it at a pace that allows you to breathe through your nose. Don’t overcomplicate it. Over time, add some distance. Or don’t. But you probably should.
Person Without Event On the Calendar
If you have nothing to train for, just keep doing the three-day-a-week thing. If you want to move faster, run a bit faster sometimes. If you want to go longer, add a bit of distance sometimes. That’s it.
In Conclusion
It’s hard to break something down this plainly and not sound like an ass…so if you’ve decided that’s what I’m doing, then I apologize. The whole point here is that training shouldn’t be complicated.
Training CAN be complicated, but it doesn’t have to be.
Referring back to the earlier point about trees and forests, I think that complexity is more often than not the biggest barrier to entry for folks interested in trying something new. Considering that for many of us non-runners, running is that “something new,” it stands to reason that we should try to eliminate as much complexity as possible. Getting out and running at least three days a week for more than zero minutes is about as simple as we can make it. So start there, stick with it for a bit, and when it comes time to get complex, you’ll at least have a significant amount of training volume under your belt that we can build off of.
And hell…it’s a lot better than doing nothing, right?