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.

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