Training simplified

I enjoyed the opportunity to talk running last night with members of the PaceSetters of the Fox Cities, a group that has been organizing races and group runs for about 26 years.

With several hundred marathons of experience in the room, we shared training ideas and experiences and knocked around the reasons for the big surge in marathon participation. One of the races in their area, the Cellcom Green Bay Marathon and half-marathon, sold out all 8,000 slots, in February.

A few PaceSetters were interested in the high-intensity work I put in a year ago to boost my VO2 max and my anaerobic threshold. Looking back at those stories, I thought again about how chemistry and physiology can make training complicated.

I prefer the kind of advice PaceSetter Ann Scholl had shared earlier in the day, via a link to a Runner's World summary of tips from the coaching guru, Jack Daniels.

Written by editor Amby Burfoot, the list of principles includes this: Do the least training you can to get the best results you can. One of Jack's favorite lines: "If I could get you to a 5-minute mile with 30 miles a week, or with 60 miles a week, which would you choose? (And if you choose 60, c'mon over to my house and I'll give you 20 hours of yard work at $5/hour instead of five hours at $20.)"

Be sure to click the link above to check out the rest of the Jack Daniels principles.