Run-Down Forums

[Micah Ward]

I ran across a mention of a "one pace" training method used by a California High School coach named Jack Farrell. Basically he has his distance runners run 45 minutes a day at a pace 45-60 seconds slower than they race. That's all! And he has won a couple of state championships and had one Foot Locker National Champion. He coached at Thousand Oaks High School.

The details are at www.coacheseducation.com

When you get to the site there will be a menu on the left. Click on the tab that says running and then just read the articles by Farrell. The first one is near the bottom of the page. I would be interested to hear what you all think of Farrell's theories.

Conway, have you heard of this school? I don't think it is in your part of the state but I know you follow the high school athletics pretty close.
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[Dan]

That general approach has merit, but it's too conservative for my taste. I think it works fine to do half the training that way (good pace for medium to long runs), but how much can you hope to improve if you're never training close to race pace? Without researching it, my guess would be it's a fairly large team that doesn't place heavy emphasis on young runners stepping up early. Just slow, steady development.

Dan
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[Micah Ward]

I would agree that this is a system that puts a premium on gradual long term improvement. What really got my attention about it is that I trained almost exactly like that when I was setting my PRs many, many, many years ago. And even though my training and racing paces have slowed down, the ratio of racing 60-80 seconds faster than training pace has remained. This year I have trained mostly with steady runs between 10:00-10:30 pace and I've raced 10K at 9:03 and 8:45 and a track 5K in 8:30.

I think that where the improvement comes from is the gradual speeding up of the training pace. If you notice, Farrell sets the training pace depending on the recent racing pace. So each time the race pace gets faster so does the training pace. So if the ratio beteen training and racing pace holds true then the improvement comes from training faster.

BTW, at the track meet where I ran the 5K I got to see a 69 year old lady from Atlanta set a world record by running a mile in 7:00 flat!!!!!!
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[Dan]

If the ratio remains fairly steady by increasing the training pace, then it makes sense there would be some improvement. My question is whether it's an optimal amount of improvement. Seems to me it's in the ballpark of just running regularly to improve fitness.

Dan
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[Paul]

I'm 57, I wonder how long it will be before I can't break 7:00 for the mile?? I'd still like to think I can fool Father Time for a little while longer.
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Paul

"Gaunt is Beautiful" Cassidy's T-shirt

[Dan]

At Paul's urging, I've been reading through some of the articles in Micah's link. There's some good stuff there by various coaches. Lots of opinions that the type of training you do doesn't really matter, so long as everyone fully believes in it. I've often wondered the same thing, but to admit to it would instantly weaken one's training philosophy...

Another thing I was struck by is how many coaches aim for undertraining. I was expecting the reasoning to be so as to allow continued room for improvement in college, but it turns out they're concerned with developing life-long runners. Too intense of training will burn kids out and turn them off to the sport. I'm not sure I agree with that, however. When the pendulum swings too far the other way and replaces intensity with very conservative, easy running, I think you lose just as many to boredom. I don't understand why intensity needs to be an all or nothing proposition.

I like the team building articles down toward the bottom.

Hard to argue with Farrell's success at Thousand Oaks (I knew the name sounded familiar, but I didn't connect it with Kim Mortensen), but they weren't exactly lousy before. Gradients of greatness.

Dan
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[AM_Runner]

I am going to rely on the others reading for now but fully plan to get through these articles - seems like a good concept - and I would guess that the success of the program breeds that sort of thing but I personally woul dhave a very very hard time following a program like that - yes that the bulk of the training coul dbe that but I would need more variation.
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[Conway]

[Micah Ward]

Farrell has been retired a few years. In fact his articles that I refered to date from 2001. Could it be a coincedence they aren't up at the top anymore? Who knows?

As with all the discussions about the pros and cons of different training systems I am reminded of a comment one of our defensive tactics instructors uses.

"This is not THE way...it is A way."
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[Conway]

I agree with that ... Training is almost always indivuidual specific ... What works for one doesn't necessarily work for another !!! Gotta find what works for you ...
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Conway
Speed Thrills