How "normal people" can train like the worlds best endurance athletes | Stephen Seiler | TEDxArendal

"When we slow down on most days and maybe go longer and then go harder on some days, when we have the energy and motivation to do it, then performance gets better" ~ that's the key sentence in the whole presentation.

*David Goggins has left the chat

My best marathon times started happening when I got into doing triathlons. My weekly mileage went from 40-50 miles per week to about 35 miles. However, I was cross training with bicycling and swimming. Before that my marathons were averaging 4+ hours. With cross training I began doing 3:15 and 3:30 marathons. I'm now in my late 70s and still cross train with no injuries to speak of.

"Find YOUR green zone" - that was THE SENTENCE of the entire lecture.

Eliud Kipchoge's "green zone" is my red zone.

Three principles of training 1 consistency 2 avoid injuries to get consistency 3 individualized. Everybody is different

I'm a cyclist, have been now for 25yrs. Most of my saddle time is spent moderate intensity. Once a week, I like to do in a short-and-fast. I also will drop in a high intensity section on a ride, but that's not every day or every ride. Year after year, I've watched my friends fad diet, join gyms, take up the newest crazy. They burn out and give up. Train like the pros... every day just do some moderate exercise as a habit. The results will come

Since the pandemic I work as a part time bike courier. And the first thing they told me was: "Don't go hard - go smart." I thought they are crazy...like: "I can do more when I go faster..." on my first day after 3h I was totally done.. It's a turtle race...today I can go 150k on my bike - every day. No problem.

This basically supports the idea of Zone 2 training. It's interesting that this is apparently so common with elite athletes, yet as a someone who basically just exercises in my limited free time for fitness/health, the message I've been presented since I first started was that I should be pushing myself to the limit every time I exercise if I want to see results. I'd say in general, popular fitness culture glamorizes brutal heart-pounding pouring-sweat exercise, and pretty much ignores anything less intense unless it's like some therapeutic stretching.

The best training block I ever did as a runner was religiously using heart rate to stay under a certain effort on all my runs, none of which got over marathon race pace effort (so majority green zone, then 30% lower half of yellow zone). It was what you'd call a 'base' period, specifically aimed at increasing aerobic endurance and not speed. It was without doubt the most enjoyable and rewarding 3 months I've ever trained. The majority of my runs were at very slow conversational pace but conversely, at the end of the block I was finishing 18 mile long runs with 4 miles at marathon pace and with a big smile on my face, feeling exhilarated. Also, one or two weekly one hour marathon race pace efforts and feeling great afterward. After a long break from running (back injury) and multiple false starts (where I started training too hard too early and got injured) I am now using HR again to regulate my effort as my body ever so slowly builds back the strength and resilience necessary to run further and faster. I no longer force runs...I'll walk it in now if it feels too off. It started off feeling very awkward to run so slow but now I've gotten used to it and enjoy the feeling of not being wrecked when I finish my runs but still being able to tick off the weekly mileage without periods of injury. Sometimes we have to let the body slowly catch up to the brain's plans.

Most people don't dare to train more easily...this great talk hopefully convinces them to change their minds. Kudos for this, and a big THANKS

"...from sofa to the red zone...often return to the sofa!" - I liked that.

His recommendation is exactly how I have trained for years and it's brought me great, fast and long-lasting progress.

This makes so much common sense!!! I was the team massage therapist for the USA Olympic Speed-skating team the last two months before the 2002 Winter Games In Salt Lake City Utah. Those last two months before the games I helped the team focus on not over training and relaxing into the event, getting focused without creating injuries. If you are getting injured your not training right. Some of the team was more receptive to this kind of message than others. The ones that insisted on pushing themselves to the breaking point broke down and lost. Those that nurtured themselves into their greatness, who rested up and kept in balance and learned to just enjoy it excelled, they were able to call forth the energy that was stored up in reserve when they needed it at the end. This stuff works!

Love this! Easy does it, people. As a running coach, one of the first things I always discuss with new clients is the importance of EASY running. Just because it's easy does not mean it's not beneficial!

Loved this insight and loved your conference in Vitoria! Really good info to develop a foundation in training periodization! Thanks and keep it up doctor

I spent years training unknowingly in my green zone. My half marathon times where always between 1h45 and 1h48. Once I learnt and mixed it up and added interval sessions and hard 5ks once a week my times went steadily down to 1h30. My 10k from 48m to 40 and my 5k from 25 to 19. This is so true.

Totally agree with this philosophy. When I found out about this a few years ago from watching running channels, I slowed my easy runs way down to actually easy. It enabled me to increase my race distance from a slow sad 5K to a respectably fast half marathon. She's still out there doing sort of fast 5km training runs every few days and never really progresses...but still doesn't want to go on easy runs with me because they're too slow for her, and she keeps getting injured. I wish more people would learn this.

Such an important lesson learnt today! I'll definitely read up more on the subject but boy will this change my marathon training! Thank you so much!

I’ve been trying to tell my mate this for years. He is a personal coach and makes his clients push high into the red in every training session. I myself train 80% zone 2 and 20% zone 3-4