Train at the Right Intensity Ratio

Elites spend 80 percent of their miles going easy. Why you should, too.
Intensity. Its one of the most fundamental and important variables in the training of
distance runners. In lay terms, intensity is simply how hard youre running relative
to how hard youre capable of running.
Intensity can be classified into three general zones: low, moderate and high.
Exercise scientists place the border between low and moderate intensity at the first
ventilatory threshold, the point where you have to start breathing harder, which is a
bit slower than lactate threshold. The border between moderate and high intensity
falls at the second ventilatory threshold, which is slightly higher than the lactate
threshold.
Each intensity zone affects a runners fitness differently. Every training plan
prescribes workouts of various distances or times in each zone. So heres the key
question: What is the optimal balance of time spent at low, moderate and high
intensity for runners seeking maximum fitness?
The only way to answer this question definitively is to rigorously compare the
effects of different intensity distributions on real-world running performance. Such
studies are difficult to do, so few have been done. Recently, however, a handful of
researchers have completed experiments that have gone a long way toward pinning
down this optimal balance. Specifically, these new studies have shown that runners
of all ability and experience levels seem to improve the most when they do
approximately 80 percent of their training at low intensity and 20 percent at
moderate and high intensity.
A look at training logs of runners of different abilities shows that nearly all elites
follow the 80/20 Rule, but most other runners donta discrepancy that is familiar
to coaches who work with both elite and recreational runners. You would assume
that maybe most people wouldnt train hard enough, says Pete Rae, who coaches
post-collegiate runners and hosts running camps for recreational runners at ZAP
Fitness in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. But what I find with the overwhelming
majority of adults who come to our camps is that they tend to do their daily runs too
hard.
Research confirms this observation. According to a study by Muriel Gilman at
Arizona State University, the typical adult competitive runner does only 46 percent
of his or her training at low intensity and another 46 percent at moderate intensity.
Chances are you, too, are caught in the moderate-intensity rut without realizing it.
If so, then the surest way for you to race faster is to train slower.
The 80/20 Rule

In the early 2000s, Stephen Seiler, an American exercise scientist based in Norway,
embarked on a mission to determine how elite endurance athletes really train. He
found a remarkably consistent pattern: World-class cyclists, Nordic skiers, rowers,
runners, swimmers and triathletes all did approximately 80 percent of their training
at low intensity.
Seiler knew it was very unlikely that this pattern was the result of either random
coincidence or copycatting. The only explanation that made any sense was that this
particular balance of training intensities had annihilated others (such as the
interval-heavy approach that was dominant in the 1950s) because it did a better job
of increasing aerobic capacity, a goal shared by elite athletes in all endurance
disciplines.
The ubiquitous reliance of elite endurance athletes on the 80/20 training approach
does not itself constitute conclusive proof that it is more effective than the
alternatives for athletes of all abilities. In search of such proof, Seiler collaborated
with Jonathan Esteve-Lanao, a club running coach and an exercise scientist at the
European University of Madrid, to conduct a series of experiments. One of these
studies involved 12 high-level male runners from Esteve-Lanaos club who had
clocked 10K times between 30 and 35 minutes. Half of the subjects were placed on
a training program that required them to do 80 percent of their training at low
intensity and 20 percent at moderate and high intensity for five months. The other
six runners did 65 percent of their training at low intensity and 35 percent at
moderate and high intensity. Both groups averaged 50 to 55 miles of running per
week. All 12 runners completed 10.4K time trials before and after the training
period. On average, the runners in the 80/20 group lowered their times 36 seconds
more than those in the 65/35 group.
Intrigued by these results, Seiler and Esteve-Lanao conducted a follow-up study that
was designed to determine whether 80/20 training also worked better for slower
runners who trained less. This study involved 30 runners who ran fewer than 40
miles per week and had 10K times of just under 40 minutes. Half of the runners
followed the 80/20 Rule while the other half maintained a 50/50 split (as most adult
competitive runners do). After 10 weeks, the runners in the 50/50 group had
lowered their 10K times by an average of 3.5 percent, while the runners who
followed the 80/20 Rule most faithfully improved by double that amount.
In future research, Seiler and Esteve-Lanao hope to learn why an 80/20 intensity
balance is optimal. Existing evidence suggests that training above the ventilatory
threshold is just too stressful to be effective in large amounts, whereas low-intensity
training has a much higher point of diminishing return. A 1999 study Veronique
Billat, a professor of Sport Sciences at the University of Lille, France, found that
middle-distance runners who did three easy runs and three interval runs per week
for four weeks exhibited higher levels of stress hormones and a decline in VO2 max

compared to when they did five easy runs and one interval run per week for four
weeks.
Escaping the Moderate-Intensity Rut
If the 80/20 method clearly works best and is practiced by nearly all elite runners,
why do most adult competitive runners complete approximately half of their
training at moderate intensity or faster? Seiler suspects one reason is that the lowintensity zone is much broader for elite runners, hence making is easier to stay
below the moderate threshold. A 2:10 marathoner is likely to be below the first
ventilatory threshold when running at 5:40 per mile, whereas a 3:30 marathoner
may be above this threshold already at 8:05 per mile.
Escaping the moderate-intensity rut and falling in line with the 80/20 Rule is a threestep process. Step one is to learn the difference between the three intensity zones,
especially the line between low and moderate intensity. The table below provides
guidelines for heart rate, breathing and perceived effort that will help you
distinguish the three zones from one another.
Why no guidelines for pace? Its best not to monitor pace in easy runs, says
Bobby McGee, a veteran coach of runners and triathletes who now serves as a
performance advisor for USA Triathlon. Pace data has a way of making runners
want to go faster. I find that perceived effort and particularly heart rate are much
better tools for holding runners back.
Heart Rate
Breathing
Perceived Effort (on 1-10 Scale)
Low Intensity
<77% max HR
You can comfortably breathe through your nose
14
Moderate Intensity
7792% max HR
You can comfortably speak in short sentences
56
High Intensity

>93% max HR
Youre breathing as hard as you can after a few minutes
710
The next step is to plan your training so that it adheres to the 80/20 Rule. This is a
simple math game. For example, if you run 5 hours per week, thats 300 minutes.
Eighty percent of 300 is 240, or 4 hours. Heres how a 5-hour training week with 1
hour of moderate- and high-intensity training might look:
MON
TUES
WED
THURS
FRI
SAT
SUN
OFF
15:00 LI
30:00 MI
15:00 LI
45:00 LI
45:00 LI
10:00 Li
6 x (5:00 HI/2:30 LI)
5:00 LI
30:00 LI
90:00 LI
LI = Low Intensity, MI = Moderate Intensity, HI = High Intensity
The final step is execution. Its one thing to plan the perfect 80/20 week and
another to actually do it. If youre like most adult competitive runners, you already

intend to do most of your running at low intensity, but when you get out on the
road, you do something elsewithout even realizing it. Fixing this problem requires
what Seiler calls intensity discipline.
The effort has to be lower than you think it should be, because youve essentially
made abnormal normal, says Greg McMillan, author of YOU (Only Faster). What is
really a moderate effort, youre calling easy. So when you feel like youre running
easy, run easier.
Practicing such restraint can be surprisingly difficult at first. But if you take a leap of
faith and follow through with your plan to slow down, your intensity discipline will be
well-rewarded. The first thing you may notice is that youre less fatigued from day
to day, Rae says. Youll also find that you are able to run faster and more
comfortably in higher-intensity workouts.