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Ok, fellow distance runners, share you training philosophy.

I'm more distance than middle distance. I'll race down to 1500m, but I'm primarily a 5K, 10K, half marathon guy. That is a good thing, as I've found my body can't handle the kind of speed work I used to do.

My coach tends to believe a masters runner who already has a lot of miles under thier belt doesn't need to emphasize mileage as much as higher intensity and lots of rest. I believe he would typically have a masters runner take complete rest days or cross train instead of running many easy days. But this isn't the program we are using for me personally.

I'm doing relatively low volume - 60 to 70 mpw typically, maybe 80 peak when I'm really fit. I'm rarely on the track (never this time of year) but usually doing long tempo runs and long fartlek runs twice a week, plus a semi long run. A normal hard run this time of year might be 3 x 3 miles or a 10 mile progression run, in both cases working down to half marathon race pace. By early summer I'll be doing stuff that is shorter and faster, but still long/slow by many people's standards - like 4 x 2K, 10 x 1K, 6 x mile, 8K tempo, etc.

Thanks for the info, Craig. You have a very structured serious program. I didn't realize that 60-70 mpw is "low volume".

Yeah right!?! That's crazy volume to me. But then again, I fancy myself more of a 400m guy, maybe an 800m guy this yr. But can't argue w/ success. Craig won the last local 10K at a 5:27 pace (or something close to that).

As far as volume goes, I'm a young master (43) and concentrating on the longer distances (10K to half marathon). 60-70 mpw certainly isn't low, but it is lower than I used to do, and lower than what a lot of guys in my situation do. But there are huge variations.

Looking at truer "middle distance" runners than myself, Maggie Vessey has run 1:57 for 800m, and only does 10-15 miles a week. Andrew Wheating was just talking a few days ago about running 70+ miles a week in college. Both are at similar world class level in the 800, but Vessey is a 400/800 runner and Wheating an 800/1500 guy (actually 5K in high school). Especially at 800, there is a big difference between a sprinter going up (Vessey) and a distance runner going down (Wheating).

Up at 1500/5K there aren't quite the two distinct categories of runners like there are at 800, but still substantial individual variations. 1500 or 5K are sprints for me, and I'm a strength runner who simply doesn't excel off fast intervals. So I need to be putting in the volume and long, grinder workouts to race well at those distances. A speed guy might race far better by concentrating on speed than volume.

I'm no expert on physiology (BMo is the MD here) but there is some evidence to support that older runners generally get more benefit from intensity vs. volume than a younger runner. There are bio-mechanical benefits, plus high intensity work helps stimulate testosterone production which otherwise drops off substantially as we age. That just doesn't work for my specific situation at the moment (age, specific strengths and weaknesses, training history, injury issues, etc.).