No disagreements here. Our super power in the animal kingdom is the ability to run distance, so we should do what we're designed to do.
Good news though - seems to be a general consensus that the best running to do to burn fat AND improve overall times is to run in zone 2 - basically the speed at which you can carry on a normal conversation. It's literally like 10-11 miles for some. I would google and read up on it.
For me, it took away the "guilt" of thinking I had to always be sub 8, and actually makes the runs more enjoyable. I haven't been able to go that slow, but feel like a 9.5 gets me there.
You can't always bang you head against the wall every run even it feels good when you stop. Some runs have to be enjoyable. A lot of pure distance runners like to do one long day a week. Many make it enjoyable by going out long but slow.
A great little book about Long Slow Distance was written by Joe Henderson in 1969 I believe. He was a college track distance runner. He got burnt out with all the work and said fuck it. He just wanted to enjoy the runs and he said no more races. He went out long and at an enjoyable pace. Every day he did that. Soon he was enjoying his runs again. After awhile he thought about racing again but since he did no speed work he thought he wouldn't have the spring in his legs. He raced and I forget the distance, maybe a 10K, and he ran faster than he ever ran before. I think the moral to the story is that a steady diet of LSD runs isn't great training for racing but he allowed himself to recover from the grueling college track team training and he returned with great results.
I wish I could apply that to lifting but it seems it's always balls to the wall with me. I would have gone a lot further if I knew easy weeks were important. I think it's was Robby in his prime would do his three day split hard and the next three day split was moderate. That might be a good approach. Others cycle down to intensity. They hit the wall then begin another cycle.
Today I did something I rarely do these days. Having some health problems but I felt decent and pushed it hard. I did 8 x 440 yards increasing the intensity each set. My shirt weighed about 5lbs when I finished, lol. Then I did some heavy bag work. Tomorrow I will do some distance. Hope the intervals put some spring in my step for a good run.
I'm always torn in my fitness journey because I split my time between lifting and running. That way I ensure I'm not good at either, lol.
