I have heard nothing but good things about the book Run Less, Run Faster. Finally, I decided, “I’d like to run less and run faster,” so I bought the book to check it out for myself.
The premise:
You run 3 times a week. One run is intervals, one run is a tempo run, one run is a long run. Each run is done at a specific pace based on a recent race PR. You do two days of cross training. The book gives you specific suggestions of activities and paces. The other two days of the week are for rest.
The marathon novice training plan.
The book has training plans for a variety of distances and has charts, charts, charts of pacing information. They even include information on stretches, strength training, specific Boston Qualifying plans for every age group, nutritional information, and more.
Things I liked about the book:
The book is comprehensive! You could read just this book and no other running-related literature and be set for life. Some of the information is stuff I won’t use (metric conversions, tips for aging runners, the nutritional info), but it’s good that it is there. They really thought of everything.
The pacing they suggest is scientific and based off tons of research. This isn’t stuff that they guess about; it’s tried and true. I also like that they have pacing information for everyone from 15 minute 5kers to 45 minute 5kers. That’s a range!
Things I less than love about the book:
The book includes two marathon plans, one of which has you run five 20 mile runs. Whole running insanity! I will not be doing that. They say that you can do the novice plan, which only has one 20 miler, but they strongly recommend the other plan. It might work for some people (or most people!) but I know myself well enough to know that I won’t be doing that.
Like all the workouts, they give you a specific pace to target for long runs. It’s slower than your actual marathon pace, but it’s faster than other plans recommend. I’m a big fan of running long runs slowly. (I firmly believe that it helped me get faster between my first marathon and my second.) Not sure how I feel about running the long runs faster.
The speeds that they have you running at are very specific. As in, they say that deviating by 5 seconds is too much. Specific! I’ve only attempted one workout from the book so far, and it was really tricky to hit that pace while running around the neighborhood. I’m sure it’d be easier on a treadmill, but I don’t plan to do all my runs indoors. Plus, sometimes don’t you just wanna run? You just want to hit the pavement and zone out and not make the workout so much work.
They included letters/e-mails from runners who have used the plan to great success. I liked hearing from runners about their own success, but most of the letters they included were from people who qualified for Boston. I wish they would have included letters from people of all abilities who saw improvement. (Not a huge negative, just me being nitpicky.)
My goal is to run so fast that I’m just a blur.
Conclusions:
When I first heard, “run less, run faster,” my brain interpreted that to mean “easier.” Now that I’ve read the book, I don’t think it is easy at all! I don’t think this is a plan for everyone. If you’ve only run one or two marathons, you could keep doing what you are doing and see improvements. If you have hit a plateau, if you are aiming for a goal a little out of reach, if you want to BQ, if you have been running for a long time and need to try something different, you should totally follow this program.
Despite the things I don’t love about the book, the good outweighs the bad. I really believe that if you do what they tell you to, you will run faster! That’s enough to get me to sign up. Now, if only I had a race.
How many days a week do you run when you are training for something? Do you prefer to zone out and not think about your pace or are you all up on your Garmin when you run?*
Reblogged this on calmyourbeans.
Great review. I may give this book a try sometime. My buddy is into these running plans and is very religious about them. I sorta do the best I can and keep pushing myself. He is off the road with a hip fracture until December. I’m planning my holiday 5Ks.
I think I do need to look at some sort of a plan though, if I want to make any further and significant improvements.
I think you can get by just doing what you are doing and seeing improvements. (They even mention that in the book; the earlier on you are in your running career, the more you will naturally see improvements.) But when you are ready to take it up a notch, the book is a great resource!*
I was with you in thinking that meant easier but then I read the book… and realized my legs would explode if I tried to do speed runs for ALL my runs. I really only like running when there is no pressure and this plan seemed too stressful for me right now! Maybe next year I will attempt a modified version of the half marathon training program and see how that goes. I would have to replace one fast run with a just for fun run every week or I would start hating it, I just know it! Now find a marathon to sign up for girl – haha!!
I agree that running minus the pressure is more fun. I think that’s why I try to be chill when it comes to my goal times. Alas, when I show up on race day, I’m really competitive and care a lot about how fast I go. And I think any speed work is better than none in terms of seeing improvement. I like your idea of following the plan, but modifying it. It might be a good idea to incorporate just the intervals into my running, but run the tempo run at a normal pace and still take my long runs slow. *
The group I run with uses an adapted Run Less Run Faster plan to train to. We only hit 2 20 milers but our long runs keep up in the 14+ miles from pretty much here on out. We also don’t have the super long tempo runs, more moderate ones. I did read Run Less Run Faster and I enjoyed it but I agree with you, it might not be for the beginner. Also, I so wish I didn’t buy the Kindle version, not worth it.
Two 20 mile runs sounds so much more sane. I know plenty of people who do that many. When I was running with the DRC, they did a 20 miler and a 22, but the 22 mile didn’t fit into my plan because my race was a little early. I was really glad I missed it; I’m still stuck on the idea of one 20 miler topping out a marathon training plan.*
This sounds so intense!! Not sure I could handle that.
I’m not sure I can handle it! The main appeal is that it’s about as close to a guarantee as you can get when it comes to getting faster. That appeals to me, big time.*
Great review! Five 20 mile training runs sounds like a recipe for injury – at least for my body!
I’m not sure how my body would respond to five 20 milers, but I think it’d be a huge mental battle for me. That’s just so dang far! I think I’d have to be at a different point in my running; one where what currently is a long run for me (10 miles and above) is more like an average run. I’m not there yet.*
I am not a runner, but back in the olden days I did distance cycling and the thought was u train for the distance and 2 weeks out from a ride, u would go a distance of 75 percent, so if u were planning on going 25 miles, u would ride 20 and that should be relatively let u know that u were ready for the 25 miles. But I don’t remember ever being told I should have to do that 5 times before the planned ride. That would have been too much.
Sounds like biking follows the same premise as running! Just about every training plan I’ve ever seen has you run 20 miles as your max distance before a marathon. And most have you do it once or twice. This plan is a little extreme. But the idea is to make you fast, fast, fast.*
I only ran three times a week while marathon training: one tempo or speed day, one regular run and one long run. Craig did the same. I’m not opposed to running more, I just wanted to make sure I saved room for some of my other favorite workouts because I would have lost my mind, otherwise. I also did two 20 milers. Five might be over kill. But, I also know people who have run 24+ mile training runs. Blah to that.
I’m intrigued by the run less run faster thing, but I would absolutely have to do all the speed runs on the treadmill because it’s hard to maintain speed. But I’ve been running without my garmin lately and I’ve been thinking about running for time for long runs as opposed to running for distance when I do another marathon so I won’t be a slave to the pace read out. I’m still thinking about that.
24 miles training for a marathon? I think anything over 20 merits a medal. Maybe I’d go to some kind of supply shop and buy myself a medal if I did a 24 mile training run. Ha!
Your three days per week training plan sounds perfect! Plus, we know Craig is a speed demon, so the plan must work.*
I did 3 days a week for both of my marathons and that worked for me. If I do it again, I’m shortening my 5 month training plan to 4 months. Maybe 3.5. I did three 20+ milers and that was way too much for me. I think two was good enough. I even had a friend that has run a ton of marathons and for her first one, she only ran one 18 miler before her marathon it’s still her PR race after 2 years.
I think 4 months is all you need, maybe even less. Especially for someone who is constantly running, like you are.*