Barry P running plan (Page 2)

I tried this and ended up with shin splints. I took my current 4x/week mileage and split it up over 6 days via the 3:2:1 ratio and after the first 2 weeks my legs just couldn't deal. It felt like they just didn't recover in time to be stressed again the next day. I seem to do much better doing longer runs with a day off in between. Currently I do monday-long, tues-short, wed-off, thurs-long, friday-off, saturday-longest, sunday-off. It works out to about a 2:1:0:2:0:3:0 ratio and my legs feel better (shrugs).

I am a novice runner though so I think I'll try it again when I get more of a base built up and see how it goes.

I can't say your experience is wrong, cause it happened... but it seems to me you were running too hard then. I came from the same mentality that a day off was best for me... but I am fine 6 days a week and really don't need the 7th off other than a "treat".

It is explained that the right exertion is if you feel like you can comfortably turn around and do the same work out again... and the next day if you are still sore... then it was too hard the day before. I started out at 10 m/m that felt real easy, but was a normal slow pace. Now I'm at 9:30 as my normal slow pace and the next day I am ready to go. If during the week I feel run down... then I'm doing to much... and I have been there. When  got comfortable with pace and mileage, I started throwing in some tempo runs... but that was too much... but I will be able to do tempo runs with a little more time under my belt. I was pushing it before.

The weight could be an important contributor. A few years ago I reached the point where I reluctantly concluded that my running days were over, as I simply couldn't avoid getting injured all the time, generally after barely 15 minutes of running. After losing a lot of weight, things were very different.

Just curious, but I got injured and want to stay healthy.  So I am going to do this 10% plan.  My question is, can I do the same distance 5 times a week?  I thought I read somewhere here that running every day is more beneficial than running just 2 or 3 days.  Rather than doing 3 short, 2 medium, and 1 long, just do 5 shorts?

For example:

Week 1 - 1 mile each day for 5 days

Week 2 - 1.1 miles each day for 5 days

Week 3 - 1.2 miles each day for 5 days

etc...adding 10% total miles spread over 5 days each week.

Also, how fast should you run?  Should speed be bumped up at times as well?  I currently do about 6.5 mph. 

This is really something I've needed to read and re-read and re-read many times.  I know we see this so often on here, and Scout and others constantly preach this.  But as competitive people it's so hard to really slow down - something inside us says we can't possibly get faster running so slow.

I'm basically a beginning runner, and I've gotten some incredible running advice from this site recently.  One important piece is that you have to go slow enough that you can repeat the run every day, without feeling like you're pushing it.  Speed will follow as a natural side effect if you stay patient and keep at it long enough.  I love the feeling of going fast, (well, relative to my definition of fast), so it's easy to catch yourself speeding up.  Maybe this changes for experienced/super-speedy runners who are trying to drop from 40:00 10k to 38:00, but I'll have to wait to contribute to that thread.

I've embraced this 3:2:1 running concept and I've really changed my mindset that training is not the competitive part of what we do - it simply prepares us to compete and race.  I'm coming back from a spring/summer of almost no running due to Achilles issues so we'll see where it leads, but I can state with certainty that getting an injury will ensure your running never improves!

This is the part people really need to hear:

"One important piece is that you have to go slow enough that you can repeat the run every day, without feeling like you're pushing it.  Speed will follow as a natural side effect if you stay patient and keep at it long enough."

I believe the key to the "Barry P." plan for struggling runners is to build a base....for MONTHS.  Don't read the 1:2:3 three thing and think you should start increasing your distance using 10% right now.  The more important thing is to comfortably and reliably run 6 days a week for a while....a long while.

If you don't feel like running the next day, it means you have been running too hard or too long.  If you develop shin splints, it is most likely because your body wasn't ready for the work load you where putting on it.  Back off, run slowly, run shorter, but be sure to get 6 runs in a week.

I am doing this right now and am loving it.  It's fun to go out for a quick run that doesn't take a large amount of mental fortitude.  I finally understand that "be able to hold a conversation" while your running thing.

I am confident that the biggest impediment to me making gains in the past is that I always ran or biked or swam harder than I should have for my fitness.  This increased the likelihood of being demotivated or getting injured.

I am definitely not a coach, but I do have two 14:2XIM's in me (yep, to the minute the exact same time twice and I now know why I am so slow.  I tackled this big thing without enough base and then spent the whole time training for IM while being exhausted.  Don't get me wrong, training for and completing IM was a blast.  But I now know that completing IM is not really all that difficult (IMHO) if you don't mind being slow.  Completing it fast is a whole other thing!

Brad

Thanks for the links.  It looks like something I could use.  Maybe I could use the same principles cross platform.

Be careful here.  The BarryP principles work for running mainly because the potential for overuse injuries are so high in running.  You can, and should, swim hard and bike hard without that same injury potential, generally.

I've embraced this 3:2:1 running concept and I've really changed my mindset that training is not the competitive part of what we do - it simply prepares us to compete and race.

Excellent point worth repeating!! 

So to the OP, did you get your initial question answered?  This thread seems to be going all over the place.

I'll add my experience in here.  Barry is actually one of my friends buddies who he ran with in college at Universtiy of DE.   I had the opportunity to pick his brain and email him in person last year when I was getting hurt all the time.  Starting in February of 2011 I switched to the 1:2:3 plan.   Prior to that I was running maybe 3-4 times a week and constantly hurt.  I was even doing over half of my running on a treadmill as I thought it would lessen the pounding. I don't think I've been on a treadmill 5 times in the last year.  I train by both pace and HR and use my short runs as easy aerobic no more than 143 Avg HR.  My medium runs with no more than 145 Avg HR and my long runs I allow myself to go into the mid 150s.  By example when I started this in 2011 I was running ~7:45-8:00 min/mile pace pending the distance of the run.  As I absorbed fitness and my body became able to handle more and more work my paced dropped and I am currently using roughly the same HR zones for the three sets of runs but my pace has dropped down to ~6:50-7:15 min/miles.   Don't get to hung up on all the running is slow running.  There's nothing slow about running 6:50 pace for a 12 mile training run.  It's not blazing but it's not slow.  There's a lot of work and a lot of consistency that needs to happen to make this training effective and beneficial.  It's also a LONG TERM plan.  Years not weeks. 

Post Feb 2011 I've missed only 1-2 weeks where I didn't do 6 runs a week.  1 week was a partial week due to illness and the other was I took Christmas week off to clear my mind.  From my experience I can say that when I take my day off (Monday's) my body needs it.  But, when I start again on Tuesday my body seems to have missed that day of running. It takes me the entire run on Tuesday to get back to a good comfortable feeling.  I've been able to run more miles per week than I've ever run with out injury.

1. I am not hurt

2. For 70.3 events the most I've built my weekly volume to is a 40 mile run week on this plan. The longest run being only 12 miles.  I only did this maybe 1-2 times this year.  I've PR'ed every race I've done at every distance since starting this plan in 2011.

3. I am not hurt.

4. In 2011 I repeated lots of weeks until my body was ready to absorb the work.  Then I would gradully increase my volume no more than 5%-8%.  Then again repeat the volume until I felt I was ready to up it again.