In his opinion, even if someone has only five hours per week to dedicate to training, he wouldn’t change the ratios all that much. Of course, the average recreational runner is likely not running 200 kilometres each week, and Couzens addresses this later on in the discussion thread. A lot of time and attention is given to speedwork and tempo runs, and while both are important aspects of training, Seidel’s stats prove that when it comes to success at the marathon distance, slow easy miles are king. She only ran another 13 per cent (about 25 kilometres) at race pace, and half of her total training volume was dedicated to slow, easy running.įor most of us, this approach may seem counter-intuitive. Out of her typical 193-kilometre training week, she only ran three per cent of that volume at 5K pace or faster - that’s less than seven kilometres.

Physiologist and Colorado-based endurance coach Alex Couzens broke down Seidel’s training stats on his Twitter page, and the results may come as a surprise to many runners.

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