The most effective workout: moderate runs

Do you know the most common mistake amateur runners make?

That is ‘train hard or stay home’. I know, this is a little bit radical case. Usually, ‘train hard or jog’ is the most common mistake amateur runners make. In other words, a lot of runners underestimate or simply miss how effective moderate runs are. Today, I’m going to explain you what moderate runs are and why they are so effective.

What are moderate runs?

Moderate runs are endurance runs with moderate effort. It is not easy, but it is not hard. My definition is very clear and simple. Moderate runs are the fastest running to the extent that your blood lactic acids level does not go up (not higher than 2mmol) or you do not hear your breathing.

Other indicators are approximately 80% of your maximal heart rate or 40-60 seconds slower per kilometer than your 5000m race pace.

Other coaches call this type of workouts also medium runs and some coaches define moderate runs or medium runs are 70-80% of your maximal heart rate running. And I’m not against that because it is better to run a little bit too slow than run too fast.

However, my definition of moderate runs are the fastest pace without feeling hard. Here is why.

First, for me moderate runs are not recovery running but training. Many coaches and top runners use moderate runs for recovering from hard workouts. For this purpose, you need to run 70-75% of your maximal heart rate pace. In other words, some coaches and athletes use moderate runs for recovery and training at the same time. So, a little bit faster than easy runs but still little bit slower than my moderate runs.

If the first priority is recovery, I’m not against this idea at all.

However, I use moderate runs for training.

The reason is, the slower you are or the farer you are from your potential performance or the more you are a beginner, you will get faster by using easy runs and moderate runs and most runners I coach now are amateur runners, in other words, not top runners.

It is very difficult to improve your marathon time from 2:10 to 2:08. In this level, you hardly improve your performance by increasing number of moderate runs or easy runs. Still, it could be possible. But it does not play a big role anymore.

While if you are a 4 hours marathoner, you can improve your time from 4 hours to sub 3 hours by doing lots of easy runs and moderate runs dramatically.

Do you think that a 5000m 16 minutes runner is fast?

Probably, he is so fast for amateur runners who work 40 hours a week. However, if he is still 30s, he can improve his time a lot by doing moderate runs. Considering male human beings genes, running 5000m 16 minutes is not so fast.

And also, this is a very important idea that you can maintain your fitness level by doing only moderate runs and some easy speed workouts. My personal best time of half marathon 63:09. For me it was not easy at all to run half marathon 63 minutes. I sacrificed so many things in my life for achieving that.

However, once I reached there, I ran half marathon 64-65 minutes several times by doing only moderate runs and short Fartlek like 20-25 times 1 minute fast and 1 minute slow. In other words, I ran half marathon 64-65 minutes without any hard workouts.

This is a very important thing when you are so busy for your work, when you are tired and not willing to do a hard workout or when you are coming back from a break.

So, there is a big difference. Some coaches and athletes use moderate runs when they want to recover from hard workouts, but still want to add a little bit aerobic stimulus and I use moderate runs for training instead of doing hard workouts. You need to think these two things separately. Never compare these completely different ideas.

And again, the reason why I use moderate runs for training is, if you have never run marathon under 2:30 for men and 2:45 for women, you can improve your time dramatically.

Another reason is, most runners I coach work 40-50 hours a week and have a kid or kids. They cannot have mega time for running and concentrate on running as much as professional runners do. Imagine, if you are a professional runner and earn more than the average, what does your wife do?

Yes, she supports you so much.

On the other hand, what if you are a normal worker who earns around the average income, have two kids and run every day after work and at weekends?

What does your wife do?

Many wives try to ask husbands security numbers of their credit cards and bank accounts and then kill their husbands. I need to avoid that situation.

That’s why I needed to think about workouts that they can do relatively easy and effective. From that point of view, combining a little bit longer easy runs, moderate runs and supplemental speed workouts is the best idea.

This is not what I think but the truth which comes from my experience as a coach.

You don’t need any hard workouts at all?

Well, you still need hard workouts to reach at your potential performance. But understand that 70-80% of your improvement comes from non-hard workouts. Also, I use an idea of periodization. Periodization is, changing what you focus on according to which period you are in now.

For example, in the fundamental period, you focus on absolutely moderate runs. This is the most important thing in the fundamental period.

While in the specific period, you better focus on race specific workouts. For example, when you are preparing for a 5000m race, 5x1000m with one minute jogging recovery at your goal 5000m race pace is one of the most specific workout in your preparation.

Another example is, when you are preparing for a full marathon, 40km at 90% of your race pace is one of the most specific workouts in your preparation.

I use an idea periodization, in other words, the farer you are from your target race, you focus on moderate runs and the closer to your target race, you better focus on specific workouts.

Also, the less you have run in your whole life, you better focus on moderate runs and the more you have run in your whole life, you better focus on specific workouts.

For example, most runners I coach have less than 5 years experience as a runner and run around 300km a month, the total mileage of their whole lives is not so many. They can improve much by doing moderate runs. While I have been running for 20 years, I constantly ran around 600km a month sinch I was 15 years old and often ran more than 1000km a month. I have done lots of moderate runs in my whole life. At this level, it is more difficult to improve my time by doing moderate runs. Obviously, I need more intense workouts to improve my time than a beginner.

But don’t misunderstand. Moderate runs still play a big role for building or maintaining my base. I still do moderate runs.

First of all, I am working around 60 hours a week. Sometimes more. When I am too tired to go for intense workouts, I do moderate runs.

Second, moderate runs play a big role to maintain my aerobic base. Getting something and maintaining it are completely different. If you are married, you would know that. Getting your spouse and maintaining a good relationship with your spouse are different things, right?

Third, sometimes I get injured or sick and when I am coming back from a break, moderate runs play a big role. Most my improvement after a break comes from moderate runs and easy runs.

How long moderate runs should be?

It’s depending on your fitness level of course. In terms of intensity, there are easy, moderate and hard. Also, in terms of volume, there are short, moderate and long. What is the moderate volume for you?

That is the average volume that you are able to run without any problems. For example, you run 300km a month regularly without having any problems. Running is a part of your life, you love running and if you do not run, you feel like you do not brush your teeth or you miss a meal. Then, 10km a day is your moderate volume.

Probably, 6km is your short run and 15km or longer than 15km runs are your long runs. Increasing your moderate volume in the fundamental period is also a key of success.

However, if your goal is running sub 2:50 for male and 3:05 for female, 300km a month is enough many. It should not be so difficult. Of course, it depends on your life style though.

While if your goal is running a full marathon sub 2:10, at least you need to run 600km a month and often more than 1000km a month.

Anyway, you see now the improvement comes from increasing the number and volume of easy runs, easy to moderate runs and moderate runs. The best way of increasing your total mileage is increasing the number and volume of easy runs. You cannot increase your mileage by doing more intense workouts. Our bodies are designed in that way. I can explain why it is physiologically, however I don’t know why a god designed our bodies in that way. Maybe it’s because our gods were not the king of a car Henrry Ford.

Once I heard a story that Henrry Ford and a god met in the heaven and Henrry Ford said to the god ‘Women which you created have a lot of faults’ and the god answered ‘Well, but what I created are loved by men much more than what you created’.

Our bodies are not able to run as fast and long as what Henrry Ford created, but yeah that is true.

Anyway, how long moderate runs should be depending on what is your moderate volume and which race you are preparing. A general guideline is 30-40 minutes daily basis and 90-120 minutes 2-4 times a month.

How often you should do moderate runs?

It depends on which period you are in. When you are in the fundamental period, you better do moderate runs 3-4 times a week. And remember, most improvement comes from the fundamental period.

So, basically, doing moderate runs 3-4 times a week is a good idea. And the harder workouts you do, the less chances you have to do moderate runs to adjust the total training load of a week or month.

Once you start doing hard workouts, you better focus on maintaining your moderate ability. To achieve this, I recommend you decrease the frequency of moderate runs or do easy to moderate runs which some coaches and athletes call moderate runs. My definition of easy to moderate runs are very simple. You start running with easy pace and according to your feeling, you increase the pace up to moderate pace. I also like this workout because it is easy enough and fun enough at the same time.

I just give you an example, you do a 10km easy to moderate run, you start running with 6 minutes per kilometer pace and as you warm your body up, you increase your pace and the last one kilometer 5 minutes per kilometer pace, the average pace was 5:30 per kilometer and your average heart rate was 75% of your maximal heart rate. This is a kind of easy to moderate run.

This is all about moderate runs. I hope this blog post helps you a lot. Lastly, if you want to run a half marathon sub 90 minutes, I have something good for you, so please keep reading through to the end. If you don’t, please read other blog posts, they would help you too.

Now, I wrote 12 weeks training program for half marathon sub 90 minutes for an amateur runner. If you already run half marathon sub 90 minutes in an effective way, already run 200-300km a month (50-80km a week), and coach yourself (creating your training plan by yourself) and willing to pay as much as two cups of Starbucks coffee (5 USD) for an effective training, this program is perfect fit for you.

Let me tell you why and what it is.

I have coached hundreds of amateur runners to help them to run half marathon sub 90 minutes, marathon sub 3 hours, 2:50 etc to achieve that and they really achieved that. From my experience, I know how a typical training program looks like for running half marathon sub 90 minutes. So, I want to share it with you.

Once you know how a typical training program looks like, you know which direction you need to go and approximately how hard you need to train so that you don’t train too hard for your goal. Also, you don’t do unnecessary things and know what kind of workouts you need to put on your whole training program, so that you can go for a shortcut.

Also, I explained the terminology in this 12 weeks training program, in other words, I explain what supplemental speed workouts are, what tempo runs are, what test races are, so you do not get lost and understand what I mean. And once you know the concept of each workout, you can think about your training more by yourself.

One of the goal of long distance running and marathon is creating the best training plan for yourself and you get one step closer to it.

A lot of runners who got this program knew which direction they needed to go without getting lost or thinking so much. So, their thought got clearer and were able to focus on their training more. So, they just went for half marathon sub 90 minutes straightforward.

Of course, sometimes they wanted to consider some things. Then they go back to this 12 weeks training program and then their thought got clear again and go back to their training with 100% focus. Literally, they went to the fastest way to half marathon sub 90 minutes.

Getting started is very very easy. You just choose your payment method from a credit card, Paypal, Apple pay, Google pay and Alipay, type your name and your e-mail address which I am going to send the program to. It takes only 5 minutes and you’ll get the 12 weeks training program by an automation e-mail.

So, literally you’ll get the 12 weeks training program in 10 minutes from now. And one hour later or one day later, you will already appreciate your decision and motivated so much to go for running every day.

The only problem you’ll have is that I didn’t start coaching in English 3 years ago and you started then. Does that sound fair enough?

Getting the fast ticket to half marathon sub 90 minutes now!

Do you want to think about it more?

I totally understand how you feel because many runners said ‘Let me think about it more’ before I started coaching them even though now they appreciate my coaching so much and some of them call me ‘master’.

Now, let me ask you a question. Does the idea make sense to you?

This 12 weeks training program sounds good to you?

If not, probably this training program is not for you. Please close this page and I will try to write something for you next time.

While if that sounds good to you so far, let me say ‘You are a smart person who knows the value of this program’.

The true beauty of this program is, not only giving you 12 weeks training program but also explaining what you understand before you start this program. I explain also the idea of periodization and test races. So, you will know the right process to half marathon sub 90 minutes, first you do this, second you do this, third you do this and on and on.

Imagine the recipe of Sushi. Even the materials are same, if you change the order of procedures, a completely different thing is made. You don’t know what Sushi is?

Oh my god, OK, imagine how to cook a scramble egg. What if you put egg into a frying pan before cracking the egg?

Or what if you ask an woman to marry you before asking her a date?

Changing the right order of procedures makes a wrong result even if you do all necessary things.

Training is same.

Not only understanding what you need to do but also the right order of what you need to do is so much important. And you’ll know the right order that most people don’t know if you buy this program.

Let me ask you another honest question. Are you comfortable with me right now?

I mean, I have 10,000 customers only in the last 5 years in Japan and have never met most of them. So, in the beginning they were uncomfortable with me for only one reason that they have never met me in face to face even though most of them respect me and trust me so much now and some of them call me 'master' just like I told you.

And I totally understand that feeling too.

So, let me introduce me a bit. I’m Ikegami Hideyuki and have been running daily since I was 12 years old. My seeking was running as long as 3 minutes per kilometer pace. When I was 14 years old, I ran 3000m under 9 minutes, I ran 5000m under 15 minutes at the age of 15, I ran 8.5km under 25:30 at the age of 18 and ran 10000m race under 30 minutes at the age of 18, I ran half marathon 63:09 at the age of 19. And then unfortunately 30km 1:31 and full marathon 2:13 are my personal best time in my life so far. I have never sustained 3 minutes per kilometer pace until 30km. My dream is sustaining that pace until 42.195km and still chasing it.

On this way, I have read hundreds books about running which were written in Japanese, English and German and heard hundreds top coaches and athletes all over the world including Japanese, German, English, Norwegian, Kenyan, Austrian, Australian, French etc. Some of them ran under 2:10 for male runners and under 2:25 for female.

The fastest guy I talked with daily was 2:06 male marathoner and 2:18 female marathoner even though we did not always talk about running or training but also family, friend, love, job, education though.

After 18 years old, mostly I trained alone. So, I knew I was able to help amateur runners who trained alone or coached themselves. I made my company Well-being Ltd 5 years ago with no capital investment with my goal ‘Helping 10,000 amateur runners to achieve their goals, dreams and solve their problems’. And I already did it with Japanese amateur runners.

So, I made a decision to do the same thing in English.

Additionally, I hired 5 employees who are still running or were running in the past. Three male employees ran full marathon around 2:30 with my coaching and two female runners ran 1500m under 4:30 and 3000m around 9:30 without my coaching.

Plus, the vice president of my company who ran full marathon 2:30 trained junior high school students now and one of them became a junior high school champion with the time 1000m 2:30. Now he is 16 years old and already ran 1500m 3:52 and 5000m 14:22.

As long as my company goes, we support you too if you commit yourself. Remember, this is not the end, but the beginning of our relationship. Finally, you found a person who teaches you the right information about running.

Now, what if my product does not help you at all and you are not satisfied with my product?

In that case, I will give you money back without any hesitation. Let me honest with you. Approximately, 0.3% of my customers are not satisfied with my product for some reasons and in that case I always paid all money back to them because I’m proud of my coaching. If I help runners, I get paid without hesitation and if I do not help runners, I pay them back without any hesitation too.

However, the simple truth is that more than 10,000 amateur runners are satisfied with me in the last 5 years and the next is your turn.

The only problem you’ll have is that I started this business in 3 years ago and you started then. Sounds fair enough?

Getting the fast ticket to half marathon sub 90 minutes now!