Mostly easy running

Mostly easy

At least 75% of planned running time is in zones 1–2. For a threshold test or a race-pace long run, only the hard part counts as hard time.

Hard runs every other week

If you run on fewer than 4 days each week, your hard run comes every other week. The other week has easy runs with strides. When you do all the runs in a block, your next block has a hard run every week. Coach also does this for one block when your fitness stays the same and your fatigue goes up for 4 weeks. Coach chooses these responses to balance training with your recovery.

Easy or not easy

Each planned run is easy or not easy. A run that is not easy can be moderate, such as race pace, or hard. For spacing, both count as a hard day.

Hard days have space

The plan allows up to 2 hard days per week, with no back-to-back hard days and none in the 24 hours before a long run.

The gray zone

Gray zone describes many runs in zone 3, between easy and hard, and few easy ones. It does not mean that any time in zone 3 is a mistake.

Research and limits.

Training-distribution research

Mostly easy, with a little genuinely hard

The plan separates easier volume from harder work. The exact percentage and spacing rules are app defaults.

A 2019 review compared polarized and threshold-focused training in experienced endurance athletes. Three trials in its meta-analysis favored polarized training for time-trial performance. This supports separating easy and hard work, but does not validate each of Coach’s exact limits.

What this does not show

The research involved experienced athletes and a small set of trials. Coach’s easy-time percentage and hard-day spacing remain app defaults.

Rosenblat et al. 2019 meta-analysis

Continue reading.

Fitness

Your hardest runs show what you can do now, and how that is changing.