This is another law that has been included by Noakes although it wasn’t one of the original laws set out by Newton. I remember having a very animated debate in a running forum over exactly this point. I am strongly in favour of what Noakes is saying however unpopular it may be among some members of the running community.
When Newton was running, there was little or no information about how other runners trained. Nowadays, there is a huge amount of information – how accurate it is can be a matter of debate. Recreational runners see the schedules, and more particularly the mileage, that elite runners are covering and think that this is the best way for them to train too.
There are several crucial factors they have disregarded:
• Elite runners have a genetic predisposition to run long and fast – that’s why they are elite
• Elite runners have, in most cases, spent many years building up to running 100+ miles a week
• Elite runners do not have jobs that conflict with their running
• Elite runners can adopt nutritional and recovery strategies to enable them to train longer and harder
I am not saying that it is not possible for a club runner to develop into an elite athlete. I can think of several British examples from a few years ago – Paul Evans, Dave Long, Keith Anderson, but all of them developed late in life, after years of training.
Many runners keep increasing mileage month on month aiming to build up their mileage to whatever point they think will result in a PB (PR for our US friends). Whether this is 50, 70, 90 or 120 miles a week, the likelihood is that if they continue to increase their mileage by 10% a week (as is recommended in many running books) within two years they will be injured. By applying this rule, the runner would only increase mileage once they stopped improving at their current mileage. When this happens, increase mileage by 10% and see what happens. If, after a month at the increased mileage, there is still no benefit in performance and provided there is no injury scare, increase again. Once an increase in performance occurs, maintain that mileage until another plateau is reached before increasing again.
Following this strategy will decrease the amount of time you are injured and increase your running longevity.
Train Smart!