80/20 rule -- 80% easy / 20% intensity (and February/March training summary)

One of my teammates asks me if I really think that the easy runs are essentially "worthless", and that we should just focus on quality training and drills such as the bounding that I had mentioned in the earlier post.  

I tell him that my sense is that training follows the 80/20 rule - intensity (speed, quality) should be no more than 20% of weekly mileage and the other 80% should be at an easier conversational pace.  Moreover I have felt that 80% of my training benefit comes from the 20% quality sessions - and so the easy runs are not "worthless" - just generating less benefit for the time spent.  

I was under the vague impression that I had come upon this keen insight myself,  but then I googled "80/20 endurance training" and it turns out there are whole books on this subject --

I check out a digital copy of 80/20 Running from the Mukilteo Library, skim through it, and learn about the copious research going back to Arthur Lydiard suggesting that this 80/20 training ratio is the optimal formula for improved race performance. The book's author, Matt Fitzgerald, is much more fervent than I have been regarding the benefits of slower runs for depleting glycogen, releasing IL-6 and building cognitive strength.  I have been focused mostly on run training over the past year or so and ask myself whether given my prioritization of group camaraderie, racing frequently and enjoying scenic routes am I at all close to this magic ratio.

Granted, as noted in previous blog post, I have always been the most "polarized of runners" - in fact a coach had pointed to me as an example of extremely polarized training, pointing to all my markedly slow 6 or 7-minute per kilometer sessions posted on Strava juxtaposed with my intense hill repeats and track intervals at a pace bordering on race speed.  

Given my low mileage along with fact that I have been doing all those bounding drills and adding speed at end of a weekly longer run in recent months I wonder if I have started doing too much speed?

So here is a snapshot of my recent training --

 The yellow and dark green bubbles of “intensity” above entail:

- my customary mid-week track intervals - roughly 6k of intensity
- hill repeats (incorporating bounding and sprint) - roughly 2k of intensity
- longer run pick-up pace on about the final 25%  - roughly 4k of moderate intensity

So (taking into account warm-up and cool-down), I am pleased to see that at least for the moment I seem to be hitting this golden ratio, doing 12k of actual intense running out of about 55k of weekly mileage or 22%

The Frugal Triathlete

My payment software generates slick and detailed output (note that I used to work for this financial software company back in Silicon Valley), and I feel compelled to put my triathlon and running costs in US$ into this keen Sankey flow diagram:    

The main observation is that 2017 was a remarkably low budget year — a few years ago when I did an ironman I am sure that I spent at least three times this amount due to the expensive race entry fees, lots of coached group swims, and peer pressure to invest in pricy bike components.  In 2017 I only competed in two relatively smaller and less expensive triathlons in the US. 

The other observation is that running shoes are increasingly expensive as noted in an earlier post despite buying several pairs at half-price and getting a free pair from Brooks.   

Running is supposed to be such a natural, low-cost activity relative to cycling or swimming.. or golf or skiing or sailing.  (Though for lots of runners I know all the physical therapy to deal with running injuries makes the sport quite expensive indeed). 

Other notes:

• I had to add some rough estimates of cash expenditures (Japan is not like China or Sweden with respect to evolving into a cashless society).   
• I am not including certain travel costs associated with participating in my various far-flung triathlon and running events  — travel costs would wildly inflate these figures and I am sure that I would travel anyway 
• Nor did I bother to amortize the cost of my bikes since they are so old and technically fully depreciated