In cycling we refer to “junk miles” as those miles through relatively ugly scenery, for example areas with lots of stoplights and commerce before getting to pretty countryside.
I don’t think that miles are wasted. Every mile increases your endurance, when you run fatigued, it helps your body adapt to fatigue and over time increases your resilience and ability to run when tired. Everything doesn’t have to be according to a training program that taxes your body. I don’t think that I would be the runner I am if it weren’t for running a 55 mile a week.
Jason, hit the nail on the head with this one. Increased my weekly mileage to 70 in prep for a spring marathon. Problem is I ran too many miles at pace or near mp. Now I’m injured. Inflamed bursa on my heal. Going to back off speed and rehab for a week. I’m 8 weeks out. I think I can get the train back on track before then. Thanks for the insight and motivation!
Great talk as always and plenty to think about. As a relative beginner I have have really struggled over the last few weeks with pacing. As I am improving I am finding it hard to keep my easy runs easy, I still feel what is a comfortable pace and cadence doesn’t always reflect a suitably low HR.
I just finished a junk mile 5k run and I'm well aware of it. This one wasn't about progress. I just felt like doing it and it felt good to exhaust myself a little more in an unstructured way
So refreshing to hear. I thrive on high mileage. It's what I enjoy. I am, however, often told it's too much or not necessary. I feel having that big base actually helps my fitness though and the extra endurance helps me get through my speed workouts. Now they are what deplete me, those speed sessions!
Honestly, as someone who is not a naturally gifted athlete, I'd get so stressed out if every run had to be "quality" speed/heartrate/perfect form. Sure, if I did that I might get better more quickly, but I also think I'd mentally burn out. To even get to my current level of fitness, as someone who can run an easy 6 miles without feeling like it's effortful, I had to run a lot of unsexy junk miles to build my endurance.
I always saw junk miles as a good thing, but used to avoid discussion with those who are against it. Your vídeo will help me to arguy with my friends. Cheers
You mentioned a track coach using the term “junk miles”. If a runner is focussed on the 800, 1500, 3000 or even up to 5000 then there is a more obvious case for identifying certain miles as junk. To get really fast you don’t need to do big mileage. But if you’re a marathoner then absolutely- more miles definitely helps. In that case there is no such thing as junk miles.
Most people do need to run big mileage to reach their potential (I'm not persuaded by, "you don't need to" - that's irrelevant to what's in your best interest). It's why every world class middle distance runner trains at 60-70+ miles per week.
@@StrengthRunning I guess we should define our terms. When I say big mileage I mean 75+ miles per week. I don’t consider 60 miles as particularly big mileage. I’d agree 60 miles a week is good for a middle distance runner. That’s what I did for 1500-5000 last season. I personally feel I need 80+ miles to do the marathon justice.
Junk miles are simply miles that outcome could have been achieved in a shorter amount of time. Yes, you gained XX fitness with that 1hr exercise. But, should you have decided to use a structured program, maybe all you could have needed was a 30min workout. Or better yet, just not run and hit it harder the next day. In short; exercise is hard and painful. Why work hard any more than necessary by wasting time on less than optimally efficient workouts?
Enjoyed your video very much, thanks. I just spent a year maximizing mileage for backyard ultra training. Just under 4000 for the year. Had some overuse injuries, so some junk miles in there for sure. Not sure if that was the best use of my time. But how do you push limits really without finding them? How do you prepare for as far as you can go. I think your video addresses this beautifully. If you can do it heathy. Thanks again.
There is no such thing as junk miles… if anything the low aerobic zone1/2 miles are where growth occurs… turns out you get better by slowing down… #science
"Junk miles" never made much sense to me. That description is way too vague to be meaningful. Saying you're running too far, too fast, that's meaningful. Endurance training is about running for endurance. By definition, we need to run a LOT. So "junk miles" is an antithetical idea to the goal. My problem with running slower is that I find I hurt more when running at slower paces. I've never gotten comfortable with it. Of course, now I'm trying to recover from an injury, so clearly I'm still doing something wrong.
As with the concept of fartlek - the freedom & fun of shifting gears at will, I constantly messed around changing surface (too much of an unchanging road camber is a killer = injuries), gait, rhythm, style = Japanese low crouch "shuffle" to a full, long "African stride" with kick. A front-of-the-pack "semi-pro" triathlete for more than a decade, I never used a HR monitor, log book, or disciplined training regimen, and I won & placed consistently. I had intimate knowledge of my machine & didn't need modern telemetry to tell me so. That and fortunate to be a natural runner & having, @62, still two good knees which have never let me down. I liked & understood what you said about slowing down hurting. Making yourself go slow has consequences in that most people when they do this simply truncate their normal gait which becomes really just a protracted isometric. Do a press in a doorway for an hour - or even 15 minutes. Same result. When I did slow steady distance I willfully (actually trance-like blissfully) got lost in thought tinkering with styles as mentioned above with one key limiter, closing my mouth & breathing through my nose only. You can imagine how I laughed when years later when the gimick training masks came out. "Sheesh! Just close your mouth!" People are so funny. Anyway, this stuff will feel weird at first. But that's the idea. Make yourself get used to it. But keep a sense of fun & exploration in your mind. The Zen of it. I'm a former SAR/Research Diver & life-long free diver - achieving a comfort level in harsh, chaotic environments while tolerating/functioning well within the constant hindrance of heavy, cumbersome, "fiddly" gear, to me requires a very similar mindset. Combine the nasal breathing with a Japanese Shuffle. An easy, simple way to achieve this odd crouched run is to concentrate on your eyes (your head really). They should not bounce - but subtly slide from side to side. Just play with it. But stress and impact will be greatly reduced and you may get to where you can't recall the last time you were injured. I hope this makes sense & I didn't insult of bore you with this ramble. Good luck & Aloha from Kona.
PS- I forgot to mention. The secret advantage of this is you're able to take it easy while still improving breathing & recovery rate. It's hard to do at first, but that's the point.
