The best training for distance runners

Hi guys!

How are you doing?

Today, I just want to tell you the best training for long distance runners.

I’m not gonna beat around the bush.

The best training for long distance runners is, consistent training. Seriously.

Many runners discuss which workout is the best.

But first of all, there is no workout that gets you reach your potential because you need several factors to reach your potential. Only one type of workout does not make you the best runner in the world.

Second, no workout makes you the best version of yourself by doing it only once. Basically, you need 10-20 years to be the best version of yourself.

The conclusion is, if you cannot keep training at least 10 years, you’ll never see how talented you are. But if I say this, most people reply ‘Everybody cannot do that. Only a part of people can keep training for 10 years’.

And I will give you the following two answers.

The first answer is, ‘That’s right. That’s the reason why most people cannot reach their potential and run faster than I do’. This is the truth. I will never give you a fake news.

Whether you think this is a good news or bad news depends on how you think. I basically think that this kind of truth is good for me because I can be at top 1% whatever I do if I keep doing for 10 years.

Only girls call me a stalker if I keep chasing the same girl for 10 years.

But other than that, if I keep doing and working hard for one thing for 10 years, I can be at top 1% whatever I do. And long distance running is no exception. You don’t need a special talent and/or special environment. All you need to do is to keep training. This is my first answer.

But also, here’s the second answer.

In terms of training consistently, non-hard workout is the best workout. Many people especially we men tend to think ‘The harder training is, the better’ or like the idea ‘Give it all or stay home’.

But reality is, you should not try to train as hard as possible. You should know the line that is easy enough and effective enough.

As an amateur runner, I keep training with working 60 hours a week as the CEO of my company, 7 days a week. And very often this type of a busy person wants high intense and short time training because they think that it is effective.

But based on my experience, these intense and short time training are not effective for two reasons.

First, you cannot get faster so much if it is less than 30 minutes, especially if you are a half marathoner or full marathoner. We do endurance sports instead of sprinting. No matter how well you concentrate on that training, you cannot get faster very much by doing only 20 minutes workout.

I’m not saying that 20 minutes running has no training effect. Rather, if you can keep doing it consistently when it’s only 20 minutes, just keep doing 20 minutes workouts. But my point is, even that workout is hard, you cannot get as fast as someone who trains 100km a week consistently.

From this point of view, short intense workout is not as effective as most people think.

Second, based on my experience, short intense workout takes much more energy from me than long easy run.

For example, if I do 5 times 1000m with 200m jogging recovery at my 5000m subjective race effort, I need at least 24 hours until my brain starts working properly. Also, very often, I cannot focus on my work well before this workout because I need to be ready for this workout.

To defend my honor, let me say this. I’ve never said ‘I cannot work well because of the intense workout which I did today’. I do what I should do without any excuses. But even so, I cannot deny that my productivity reduces after an intense workout like 5x1000m.

While, after 15-16km easy run, I feel great. Often I go for 15km easy run when I am tired and after 15-16km easy run, I’m refreshed and I can focus on my work more than before easy run. So, for me it’s easy to do 15-16km easy run twice a day.

Of course, if your basic endurance ability is not as high as mine, you cannot do 15-16km easy run twice a day on a normal workday.

But here’s my point, no matter how high level you reach at, 5x1000m with 200m jogging recovery at your 5000m subjective race effort takes a lot of energy from you and decrease your productivity.

Also think about this. To keep training consistently means also you train frequently. It’s OK to take a rest sometimes. But, no top runner reached at the top level by doing only 5 times a week training. Meaning, frequency is a very important factor for long distance runners even if each workout is not so hard.

Can you do 5x1000m with 200m jogging recovery at your 5000m race effort every day?

If you do that, I’m 100% sure, you would be getting slower and slower if you really do it with full concentration.

If you think that I am lying to you, just try it. Then you’ll see what I mean.

And also, people very often miss a psychological factor. We are human beings and all of us have emotions if you are not abnormal.

Basically, what is good for our body feels good and what is bad for our body feels bad.

For example, if you eat something when you are hungry, you feel good and if you keep eating after you are already full, you feel uncomfortable, right?

If you eat breads, noodles, rice or Sushi, you feel good while you feel uncomfortable if you eat sand, rocks or papers.

Sure, in a modern World, there are foods which taste good and are bad for our body because we human beings invented many things which didn’t exist 150 years ago and as a result our instincts cannot follow the scientific development. Science develops very quickly in 50 years while our genes do not change in 100 years.

In terms of genes, I’m completely the same as a Samurai who lived 200 years ago. But society changed dramatically in these 200 years.

But this is a bit different story. Basically, we feel good to what is good for our body and we feel uncomfortable to what is bad for our body.

Here’s question.

Do you feel good when you are doing hard workouts?

I know you are the top of the World after a hard workout. But during hard workouts, you feel good?

If you keep doing hard workouts every day, do you really feel good about it?

I mean not on a logical level or reasonable level, but on a pure physical sensation level or your pure instinct level.

In most cases, we feel good with moderate runs, easy to moderate run and easy runs. But not with hard workouts, right?

Meaning, if you do only easy run, easy to moderate run and moderate run, you feel good everyday and you can enjoy running everyday and that means it’s easy to keep training in a long term vision with high frequency.

And that means, you’ll get faster without subjective efforts although other people call it an effort. You don’t work hard, you just enjoy your running and you get faster and faster. This is the situation we want, right?

Also, I want all of you think about this.

Many people think running harms your body unconditionally. Many people think if you run, you get tired more than before.

Partially that is right, of course, but often we feel good after easy run and muscles are more loosen up and also we are more relaxed mentally, right?

Remember, what is good for our body feels good. Meaning, easy run or jogging is good for our body and mind.

Many CEOs, scientists and artists come up with good ideas during running or after running.

Non-hard running workouts stay us healthy mentally and physically.

That means, we don’t need hard workouts at all?

Well, if you want to reach your maximal potential and perform the best in races, you need some hard workouts. In a sense, hard workouts are something like doping.

You cannot get fast by using only illegal drugs. More than 90% (very close to 100%) of your performance is determined by your training, recovery and mindset. But probably you can add a little bit more by using illegal drugs like EPO or testosterone or carbon plate shoes.

Hard workouts are something like this, approximately 90% of your performance is determined by non-hard workouts, but you can add a little bit more by doing hard workouts.

I think this is because sports are unnatural things in a sense. Our ancestors didn’t run at the maximal effort in a certain distance for no reasonable reason.

I mean, our ancestors would run for moving to the next village, chasing animals, running away from enemies etc. But in those cases, they didn’t know how long they should have ran. So, they should have kept reserves always. They should not squeezed everything in 5000m.

We are doing something unnatural and that’s why we need a little bit unnatural things to win this unnatural game. But even so, 90% of our training should be something natural.

And also, think about this way, try to make your hard workouts closer to moderate load.

Here’s my point, you definitely need speed workouts to reach your potential ability. But don’t make it as hard as possible.

Run a little slower than your maximal effort, make one fast running session shorter or make recovery sessions longer to avoid that workout becomes your maximal effort. This is my point.

Many people think, at least in Japan, interval workouts are something for forcing you to give it all and get you exhausted as much as possible. But no, don’t think about it in that way. Interval workouts are getting more speed surely with less effort.

If you want to do the hardest effort, why don’t you do time trials instead of putting recovery sessions in-between?

To make things as simple as possible, today I drew the clear line between hard workouts and non-hard workouts. But in this real world, it is impossible to draw a 100% clear line. So, there is a gradation in hard workouts. There are relatively easier hard workouts and relatively harder workouts. And choose easier hard workouts in most time.

All right, today the lesson is over. I hope this article helps you a lot.

Lastly, if you want to learn more about training, please click here to download my free Ebook ‘The things you should know to get faster dramatically without any injuries and overtraining’.

Thank you for reading!