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Running: The Numbers

Avoid tying your training to arbitrary numbers. As Olympic marathoner Don Kardong once noted in relation to weekly mileage, 88 is a much rounder number than 100. (Besides, can you honestly say that all your courses are precisely calibrated?) This notion also applies to numbers outside of weekly volume. As I noted in chapter 1, “one mile” and “10 percent” are meaningless constructs to your body, so why would “Increase your mileage by no more than 10 percent per week” have any relevance to how you can safely progress? Similarly, 8:00 or 7:00 or whatever number you’ve decided is the pace per mile at which anything slower is a waste of time might mean something to your head, but not to your body.

: Stacey cramp