Should you base runs on distance or time?
If you’ve read a few of my blogs before, you’ll know that I’m a firm believer in individuality within the boundaries of what we know scientifically.
To be honest from the start, there’s not really a right answer or any evidence I’ve seen to point to one or the other. People generally have preferences, but what I’ll do is show you when and where you might want to use tactics you aren’t right now.
Marathon long runs
The best example of a discussion around distance or time that I’ve seen relates to the longest run for marathon preparation. Some people say 3 hours cut off no matter what, others say 20 miles. This really depends on the athlete, as well as the intensity of that run.
My view is that the marathon is a set distance, so preparing for that would generally be best. This isn’t true for everyone though, so for runners looking at 5 hours or more for the marathon, I’d stick to around 3 hours of long run.
Intervals based on time or distance
The way we look at something is key. A time is more easily judged than a distance, so for some people that may well work better for motivation.
A client of mine who’s also a running coach and gives great feedback for me to work with, and suggested that instead of 2 x 3km at her target 10k pace, running 12 minutes of her pace may work better for her.
In my training, it depends. I usually use distances, but when I’m running hard efforts or late in a long run, mentally I’m thinking about the time left even though I’m working on a distance still. This could be as “Yes, just 5 minutes!” if I’m feeling good, or “How on earth am I going to keep this up for 5 minutes?!” if it’s a bit of a struggle.
You can use both
My advice would be to interchange based on your preferences and the session type. Cruise intervals for instance are generally set on time at set paces, but there’s no reason you couldn’t base it on distances, although getting the sessions difficulty right might be a bit trickier.
If you like using distance, you can try setting a total distance for the run and intervals overall, then times for each section. E.g. 4 miles of intervals, 3:00 at 10k pace followed by 1:30 easy jog recovery. Instead of a set number of rounds, you run until you’ve completed the distance.
Know your mind and be aware of your thoughts, but if you make these changes you’ll be able to make minor improvements to your training which will pay off big on race day.
Written by Kyle Brooks, Running Coach based in Norwich, Norfolk
