@tommyrunpt: Most running advice comes from people who are nothing like you. The average runner, if we’re talking about the actual population isn’t highly trained or operating anywhere near a top 20%. They’re someone who runs a few times a week, covers fairly modest mileage, and hasn’t yet built years of consistent, progressive training. It matters that we think about this when we offer training advice online. We should absolutely learn from elite runners and their coaches, that’s not up for debate. But advice is often shared through the lens of bodies that have already adapted to years of training. And this is an important distinction and where things start to go wrong, particularly with intensity. A lot of runners struggle because, when they start taking their training more seriously, they end up doing too much too soon. Over half of runners get injured each year, most of those injuries come down to a mismatch between load and capacity. One of the biggest drivers of that is intensity. Top performing runners do a lot of volume, and they can afford to throw in a lot of intensity too given their superior load tolerance. If the average runner were to simply copy this, risks of injury are higher. We should take the principles from elite training, but we need to apply them to your reality. Be careful of letting easy runs become workouts.Be careful of chasing pace instead of managing effort, of stacking intensity when your volume is still relatively low. and of thinking more suffering = more progress. Most elite advice assumes a body that has already earned the right to train that way. Most runners are still earning that right. Be patient with your build.You want to get fitter, but you also want to actually stay healthy long enough to see what you’re capable of.

TommyRunPT

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Tuesday 24 March 2026 23:43:56 GMT