Hi Reader,

120,000 runners completing 150,000 marathons can't be wrong, can they? How can we look at a large group of runners and link that to the most frequent question I am asked as a coach, "How do I run faster?" The answer is pretty simple and not what some people want to hear or might think.

By reviewing the training data of non-elite athletes and looking for any indications and what variables predict the best marathon times, based on a runner's performance, a recent study was able to do just that.

Looking at data collected in the 16 weeks before their marathon races, to grade performance, the data set was grouped into 30-minute finishing groups. The fastest were the ones running under 2:30, yep that's quick and the slowest, grouped between 6 hours and 6:30. What did all that data tell us?

First up, the average distance people were running prior to the marathon was 45km. Now this is an average and is highly likely the distance was longer in the back end of training compared to the first few weeks. There are some big differences based on finishing times and here lies the answer to that most frequent question.

For the faster runners who went under 2:30, their weekly mileage was over 100km a week! This is about three times as much as those finishing under 4:30 and even 60% more than the sub-3 finishers. The following graph shows it quite clearly, with the 4 different lines representing different 4-week blocks before the event:

Back to my original question:

The picture is pretty self-evident, run more and you can race faster, nice and simple. There's another thing the researchers found as well, and that's how those faster runners, ran more! It was not simply a case of scaling up in comparison to the slower runners. It was nearly entirely how much more easy running they did.

Looking at the running intensity for each of the groups, from the slower runners coming in at over 6 hours to those sub 2:30 runners, all trained a similar amount of relatively harder and threshold sessions. All the differences (the 3 times amount) in overall training volume predominantly came from very easy running. Yep, all they did was a heck of a lot of easier running. With all the 120,000 runners doing a similar amount of harder training.

We can have an in-depth conversation about training intensity distribution, but I think the key thing here is pretty simple and one you can take away and action as a runner. If you want to get faster, run more and that more should be very easy running! Add an hour or 2 to your weekly volume and likely over a consistent time, you're going to get faster!

Have a good week wherever your running takes you,

Ash