How Much Speed is Enough? Deconstructing 80/20

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The 80/20 Rule, popularized by Matt Fitzgerald, is a great way of understanding what percentage of your total mileage should be "hard."
But within that 20%, how much running should be tempo vs. 10k pace vs. 5k pace vs. even faster paces? Well, it depends! It depends on your goal race distance, the timing of your season, and your level of ability.
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Jason Fitzgerald is a USATF running coach, 2:39 marathoner, and the host of the award-winning Strength Running Podcast. He's the 2017 Men's Running Magazine's Influencer of the Year and his work has appeared in Runner's World, Health Magazine, The Washington Post, Lifehacker, and other major media.
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[@user-kl3lg7tf3n-anx1ous]

All valid points Jason (as usual). In an ideal world 80/20 running would indeed be somewhat aggressive for year-round training. However given that in real life the vast majority of recreational runners follow a...20/80 distribution Seiler's philosophy does make sense to avoid injuries and burnout. Everywhere I look I see runners running somewhat hard all the time and constantly trying to find that elusive "magic" workout to get the breakthrough they've been searching for.

[@dkmchui]

I only do 3 runs a week. So it is always LT and Intervals session in the weekday, and LSD in the weekend. It is 50/50. 80/20 works only for people runs high weekly mileage.

[@1sockdown12]

Great video Jason, pumped to my my training plan from you this week!👊🏻

[@lillystark2296]

Hitting all the questions I’ve had about dispersing my run schedule throughout the week adequately - thank you ✨🏃‍♀️

[@JasonFitzgerald]

Have you got my training journal?! You're going to love it.

[@Snerunseasy]

Thank you, this is very informative as I prepare for my marathon in October.

[@kanishkverma9385]

But what about those who don't have enough time to run large weakly mileage?? Like i run about 40km a week.. so should i follow 80/20?

[@paulmccrone6516]

Very helpful Jason. If we go for 20% fast running, is there an optimal spread throughout the week? I guess most people might do 2 fast sessions but is there anything to be gained by having more but shorter speed sessions - even maybe having 20% of each run at speed? I am a 56 year old runner and not sure what if any implications that has.

[@JasonFitzgerald]

That strategy would likely sacrifice specificity, as well as no speed session being hard enough to prompt enough adaptations. Let's not reinvent the wheel! 1-3 hard workouts per week, making up 10-20% of overall weekly volume.

[@paulmccrone6516]

@@JasonFitzgerald thanks Jason. Loving the podcast and videos!

[@Alecmcq]

Jason, are you including lactate threshold training as “hard”?

[@StrengthRunning]

Yes, I think it deserves to be in that category!

[@juliana8113]

As I approach a marathon I try to move from 80:20 to 50:50 marathon pace / easy

[@JasonFitzgerald]

IMO, that's just causing fatigue. It's not preparing you well.

[@juliana8113]

@@JasonFitzgerald ah ok thanks - I mean over the 3 months before the race, to get my body used to that pace, then I taper over the couple of weeks before. Normally I do about 80:20 easy to hard

[@aabc84]

That’s actually a very dumb question

[@StrengthRunning]

Thank you so much for your insight. You must be proud of yourself