Run hard everytime...?!? thoughts...???

How do you know those people run hard every time?

I seldom run hard.

How can you determine they are running hard?  Simply by their pace in relation to others?

There are some BTers whose "easy" pace is in the 7:00 per mile range.  That would kill others to try and even sustain that for a short race.

"Running hard" all the time = recipe for injury and/or burnout.  Not a good strategy.

Like Rick said, running hard every time, even if it's just three times a week, is not a good idea.

Most elite runners who put in 100+ mile weeks don't run high intensity more than two, occasionally three times.  But they run a heck of a lot more than most people here, and have a heck of a lot more miles behind them.

Even with FIRST, you're not going as hard as you can on those three days.  And even then, there is supposed to be A LOT of crosstraining on the non-run days to build you up.  Additionally, FIRST is supposed to be used as prep for a specific race, and not a long-term strategy.

My opinion is that if you're running 20 miles a week, you shouldn't be doing speedwork; your focus should be on increasing your miles per week.

What is your goal distance for triathlon? If it's Olympic, you are probably on the short side of sufficient run volume. If you are a sprinter, then 2-3 miles a week of speedwork is right on track. So to speak. :D

John 

At the risk of disagreeing, if he's focused on sprints only, then 20 miles is decent. I'd recommend 4-5 days of running rather than cramming it in 3 days, but it's still not a bad amount for a sprint only.

John 

Personally, I disagree, but I believe that mileage is king, and you'll see greater long-term gains by pushing mileage over intensity.

Well that definitely changes things. Keeping in mind the knee recovery, definitely you need to be upping the mileage. 20 mpw is way low for a HIM.

John 

Interesting. So if you have an athlete that is focused on sprints, how much would you up their mileage from 20? From my point of view, 20 is a bit on the low side for short distance tri, but still an acceptable total. (Although I would recommend more, shorter runs rather than 3 longer runs.)

John 

Yes you could follow this approach running only 3x a week and make those run more intense (like threshold and VO2 max) and the premise works around training load = duration/volume + intensity. The higher the training load the greater the fitness, if you can get the load higher via volume/duration (running more miles) then you can accomplish that by running less but harder. Also there is medical research evidence that intensity per say is not the main factor in terms of running injuries (see references below) but more volume and experience, hence this type of program has potential and in fact it has worked. 

However there are a few big caveats about this: 1) specificity for your main event and 2) current fitness level. First, if your are training to race an IM for instance and you only run 3x a week (avg 20 mpw) even thought your power will most likely improve and you could run a bit faster farther, you will be lacking the specific training adaptations such as muscle resistance fatigue to allow you to translate that power over the duration of the event. Secondly, fitness level will be a deceive factor as to how well you can adapt to this training approach. Usually we get cardiovascular/metabolically fitter than that of what our muscles/soft tissue can adapt to. Hence it is normal to feel we can run longer/faster but when we actually do we risk injuries  because our muscles hasn’t adapt to the stress induced by the distance/speed. 

If I was to recommend this approach to one of my athletes I would take into account his/her fitness, goals (main) event, limiters, etc and if anything I probably would use it wit be very experienced runner, I would start up conservative and gradually increasing the intensity, I would encourage the athlete to take care of the details (warm up + cool down, stretching, running at the right pace, refueling, daily feedback after every session, etc) and just do this for a training cycle as a focus phase to improve speed specifically and through that pahse swmi/bike intensity would remain on the easy/steady/moderate side. With a beginner or a less trained athlete I would avoid it...

References:

Walter SD, Hart LE, McIntosh JM, Sutton JR. The Ontario cohort study of running-related injuries. Arch Intern Med. 149:2561–2564. 1989.

Burns et al. Factors associated with triathlon-related overuse injuries. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 33(4):177-84. 2003.

Macera CA, Pate RR, Powell KE, et al. Predicting lower-extremity injuries among habitual runners. Arch Intern Med. 149:2565–2568. 1989.

Jacobs SJ, Berson BL. Injuries to runners. a study of entrants to a 10,000 meter race. Am J Sports Med. 14:151–155. 1986.

James SL, Bates BT, Osternig LR. Injuries to runners. Am J Sports Med. 6:40–50. 1978.

Wen DY. Risk factors for overuse injuries in runners. Curr Sports Med Rep. 6(5):307-13. 2007.

Lysholm J, Wiklander J. Injuries in runners. Am J Sports Med. 15:168–171. 1987.

Marti B, Vader JP, Minder CE, Abelin T. On the epidemiology of running injuries: the 1984 Bern Grand-Prix study. Am J Sports Med. 16:285–294. 1988.

RPE.

Use the talk test. If you can carry on a conversation in a fairly normal way while running, you're "running easy". If you are panting while you talk, you're running moderate to hard. If you can't talk at all, the finish line better be in sight. :D

One thing about having been in and out of triathlons since 83, is I've noticed that triathletes LOVE their toys. Garmin, powertaps, HR monitors, etc etc. So many people rely on these toys and don't know how to listen to what their body is telling them.

One of my heroes, Prefontaine, could go out and run 400's at any speed you asked him to. No gimmicks, just a lot of miles and time spent running and learning to listen to what his body was telling him.

John