Running for Time vs Distance

At this point I’m about half way through the Tactical Barbell Base Building phase and one of the things about the program that I have never rigorously tried in a training phase before was implementing the concept of running for a set amount of time vs a set amount of distance. I always went out for runs with the idea of completing a certain route or a certain number of laps and not a time goal.  While I know phases that involve distance are essential at some point, I really like the concept of running for time as part of a phase geared around building an aerobic base.  Building an aerobic base is largely centered around performing runs (or other cardio) for a minimum of 30 minutes in zone 2 (although I set longer time goals).

At least for me, having a time goal seems to make it psychologically easier to stick to zone 2 even if it means slowing down on or walking up a particularly steep hill.  The goal is to maximize time in zone 2 and this takes away the inherent pressure to try to perform better than I did at a previous attempt of the same distance which can drive heart rate into higher zones.

The best part is the adage run slow to run fast really does work.  While I still have a lot of room for improvement, I am seeing improvements in my per mile time after the first month of this block and I am looking forward to seeing more improvements over the 2^nd month and in future training blocks. I think in the past I often ran too fast, and spent too much time in higher heart rate zones to see this benefit.