Training by Miles vs. Minutes

Miles or minutes – that is the question.

Coach Hayley explains whether it’s best to train by distance or time in today’s daily podcast. Listen in!


Audio Transcript

Coach Hayley: Hey Runners Connect fans. Welcome to the Runners Connect – Run to the Top Extra Kick podcast.

Today’s question comes from Douglas. He says, “This might sound like blasphemy to many, but I hate running with a GPS watch.

It means that I often run on times rather than by mileage, and I rarely know my pace unless I am running around a marked loop.

On easy days, long run days, is it okay to run by time, or should I suck it up and wear a watch so I know exactly how many miles I am running?”

Coach Hayley: That’s a great question Douglas. It’s not blasphemy at all; trust me, I am a fellow let’s say, GPS-resistant runner, or at least I was.

I spent my first few years in running without a GPS watch. When I ran my first marathon, most of my training was done without a GPS watch.

Running by fuel is such a great way to train, and if you listen to your body, you won’t go far wrong pace-wise.

Running by fuel takes into account how you feel on the day, how fit you are currently, the weather and the terrain.

Besides, how did runners in the past get by without GPS? Some of them run pretty fast. There is a drawback to running without a GPS watch such as, trying to run at a pace that doesn’t seem suitable for you on the day, and you might stress over the pace and in trying to achieve it.

We can’t always run at the pace we should be able to run at; stress, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, all of these things might mean that our true tempo pace, on a particular day, isn’t what it was last week.

If you run by fuel, you’ll likely be in the tempo zone, regardless.

As for training by time, your body doesn’t really understand miles anyway. It knows about time, how long you’ve been running for, and the intensity you’ve been exercising at.

I used to train solely by time; it’s easy to convert any runs that are measured in miles, with time-based run.

For example, if you have a run of 8 miles, 10 minute-miling, easy pace, just run easy for 80 minutes. It’s only worse if you only know how to fuel your pace, and don’t use it as an excuse for running too hard on your easy days, as some people do.

However, fueling your pace comes easily with practice, and given you’ve been running without a watch for a while, I’d imagine that you’re a pro.

Remember that easy runs should feel completely easy and fully conversational.

Long easy runs should feel like this too, although later on you may start to feel a little tired. However that’s more from the distance covered, and you should still be able to talk, rather than straining for breath.

If you’re using the fuel method for tempo runs instead of your state runs, that’s fine too.

Tempo runs should feel comfortably hard; it’s a pace you can keep up for around an hour. You should be working hard, but still in control.

With practice, this pace becomes easy to find.

Steady runs are a little bit easier than tempo. You should be able to keep this pace up for more than an hour, more like two.

You’re still fairly comfortable, but you are working to maintain it.

Intervals, or hard runs, you’re pushing yourself hard. I often do this on a track, or a measured loop without a GPS, and that’s fine.

Race pace work is one of the sessions where it is beneficial to know your pace, as you want to practice running a race intensity.

However, a measured loop or track is just fine for this.

I’ve graduated to wearing a GPS now, but I still run by fuel. That’s mainly because I like to keep track of my weekly mileage, or try to, though that’s not necessary of course.

You can keep track of minutes run. What I do is have an alert that tells me when my mileage for the run is up, but I’ve changed my watch screen so that I can’t see my pace, only my time.

If you’re aiming for a marathon, it might be confidence boosting to know at least for a couple of your runs, exactly how much distance you’ve covered.

If you want to get in a run of say, 16 or 18 miles, then it might be good for your confidence to know that you’ve done that.

Makes the marathon seem a little more manageable; but you could easily do that using your loop, or even plotting out a route online – and there’s some good tours that do that for you – and then there’s no need to be exact.

A rough route of the distance that you want to run is fine. So I think you can see that running without GPS is pretty okay, and I really enjoy it.

For those of you listening that want to have your questions answered by one of the Runners Connect coaches, head over to runnersconnect.net/daily and click the record button to send your question over.

Finally, a word from our sponsors.

Running with music just isn’t for me.

However, I love listening to a good podcast like this one. But lately, I have discovered that I really enjoy listening to a good book. That’s why I decided to give Audible a try; it’s got a ton of great running and non running-related books.

What I love is the flexibility to adapt your choice to your mood.

You can listen to something lighthearted to keep your spirits up, or you use your run to learn something new.

I am currently listening to Once a Runner; it’s one of my favorite books – a classic, inspirational running story – and listening to it definitely makes the time go quicker.

I find I look forward to going out on my long run even more.

Audible has a free 30-day trial, so that you can test it out and see what you think. Check out Audible’s extensive running selection, and start your free 30-day trial at runnersconnect.net/audible.

Hope you enjoyed today’s episode. If you haven’t already, consider heading over to iTunes, or your favorite podcast directory and subscribing, or leaving your review.

It’ll help us to reach more runners like you. Have a great day whatever you’re up to, and be sure to tune in next time.

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