Stoic

Sam - make sure to pad speedwork with easy miles before and after. That said, until you are running at least 40 miles a week consistently, speedwork is anywhere between unnecessary and harmful.

Sasha--I'll pipe in on Sam's behalf. He's running our Black Sheep workouts and there is plenty of easy running before, during and after the workouts, it's just not included in his easy miles total. We ran about 3.5 easy miles today on top of the 1000s we ran. Sam is a very strong runner and held a great pace today. You'll see good things in his race results this year.

Sasha,

Thank you for your comment. I mistakenly entered the total miles as threshold. I'll try to be more precise in the future. I am curious as to how speedwork could be harmful if I don't run 40 per week. Thank you, -Sam

Sam - when training for a longer race, aerobic fitness can be compared to your ability to earn an income, while your anaerobic fitness is like being able to borrow money. Anaerobic fitness is not very helpful without a solid aerobic foundation. There is some evidence and opinion among coaches that anaerobic training inhibits aerobic development. I believe anaerobic and aerobic training work very well together once you have a certain level of aerobic fitness. Additionally, anaerobic training by its very nature will require greater exertion of the muscles, and put more strain on your bones and ligaments often leading to injuries without proper preparation. Your body becomes prepared to handle this stress during aerobic conditioning when you consistently run at a comfortable pace over a period of a few months.

My test for when you need anaerobic speed work - if you start to feel stuck in your races and tempo runs, you feel you can go longer, but not faster.