I’m Following a Training Book But I Have No Idea If It’s Working
The book isn't the problem. The missing feedback loop is.
A reader messaged me last week.
He’s running 25 miles a week. Training for his first half marathon.
Following a running book that gives him workouts to do every day.
And he still has no idea if any of it is working.
He told me he likes to nerd out over the data. He loves performance, likes to learn, and wants to get better.
But somehow, he now feels less certain than when he started.
I know this athlete. I’ve coached a dozen of them.
The book isn’t the problem.
Here’s what info I gathered immediately.
Zone 2 pace: 10:30 to 11 min per mile
Miles per week: averaging 25 to 30 this year
Training Goal: first half marathon this summer
I looked up his recent runs on Strava. His cadence is 158.
That cadence - at that pace - tells me everything before I even look at his training plan.
Heavy stride, bouncing up instead of driving forward, sinking into the ground with each landing.
He’s spending energy going vertical instead of horizontal.
If this athlete improves his form with higher cadence, pace drops without adding more miles, more fitness, or buying the next training book he sees posted online.
That’s where I start.
Not with - “How do we run more?”
With - “How do we run better?”
I know this because I lived it.
I made this video breaking down exactly how I shaved 15 minutes off my marathon by fixing my cadence - the same thing holding this athlete back.
Watch: How I Shaved 15 Mins Off My Marathon With Increased Cadence
Let’s say he’s running four days a week, 30 to 75 minutes a run.
Here’s what I’d change today:
2x interval runs
1x easy run with strides
1x long run at 10:15 to 10:30 run pace, but with frequent 60 second walk breaks to keep HR low
That’s it.
He doesn’t need endless Zone 2 runs.
He’s training for a 2 hour race, not a 15-hour Ironman.
The aerobic demand is generally light.
Now there was one other thing he said stuck with me…
“I have no one to talk to about this stuff with.”
That’s the real problem.
Not the book. Not the plan. It’s that he has no one to bounce ideas off of.
And I’m not even talking a Coach. He has no Team.
That makes the constant consumption of information just a lot of noise.
Here’s another way.
In June I’m opening a new cohort within Tribal Training, my endurance Team of dads, ambitious professionals, and every day guys chasing challenge in fitness.
It’s for athletes like him.
Guys with young kids, a high pressure job, and 5 hours per week to move their fitness forward.
You get a program built around your life, hands on help with your own data, and the training secrets you need to make your goal reality.
Plus - a team of guys to share it with, learn from, and get better together.
If that sounds like what you’ve been missing, click the link below to learn more.
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— Ryan