To Run those Junk Miles or Not?!

'Junk Miles' are those easy conversational pace long runs which you cannot boast about and which are treated like the excrement of hard runs. You don’t feel like running slow miles because what is the point in running slow when the plan is to run fast on race day/every day/alternate day (choose your poison Mr. I’m Barry Allen In My Area).

Unfortunately, Junk Miles is the high-quality meat in a sandwich, as per this April 2019 study --- World-Class Long-Distance Running Performances Are Best Predicted byVolume of Easy Runs and Deliberate Practice of Short-Interval and Tempo Runs (Article in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research April 2019 DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003176).

The objective of the study was to understand how much of a contribution to performance is made by, (i) specific hard runs (short intervals, long intervals and tempo runs); and (ii) easy runs (Junk Miles), for elite-standard long-distance runners. Eighty-five male elite- and international-standard long-distance runners took part in this study. The age range was between 18 and 43 years, with a mean age of 28 years. All subjects were specialists in the 5,000, 10,000 m, half-marathon (21.195 km), or marathon (42.195 km) events.

Sprinkle some tempos in that junk

Results from the study, which you can use, showed that:

a. total volume of distance run in training was a strong predictor of performance;

b. tempo running and short-interval training improved performance;

c. tempo runs improved performance more than short intervals and long intervals;

d. long intervals were the worst at improving performance; and

e. high level athletes need to run over considerable distances (more than 100 km per week) to compete with world-class athletes and even with those who are below this highest standard.

As the findings of this study may be, it is important to note that as per other studies, running more than approximately 56-65 kms per week leads to negative hormonal changes in the male body. Check this article to know more.

In addition to other issues which arise, in case of excessive running in females, one extreme bodily malfunction is Athletic Amenorrhea (missing periods and baby making machine kaput!). Pro Runner, Tina Muir, has written a lot about it here. However, if you go deeper down the rabbit hole and read some evolutionary psychology, then one way of interpreting excessive running in females is that the female runner has deliberately/subconsciously chosen to run excessively to voluntarily eradicate/temporarily suspend her reproductive capabilities since, (i) she has simply decided not to mate, for eg: due to lack of resources to raise a child; (ii) she dislikes her current mate; (iii) she is under constant trauma which is not conducive to raising an offspring; or (iv) she has past trauma due to which her brain has signaled her to not mate.

So, run those Junk Miles for increased performance in running but decreased performance overall in life (if done excessively).

-        -  Aman Yadav