Roots to Branches

Reading Daniels' Running Formula - Chapter 4

Daniels has five buckets of workouts that he uses to training distance athletes:

These workout types increase in intensity (going down the list), and they all serve a different training purpose.

E runs are paced at 59-74% of a runner's VO2 max value. Individual runs should be somewhere between 30-150 minutes, and those single runs should be no more than 25-30% of the total weekly mileage for runners who run 40 miles a week or less. 30 minutes should be the minimum of an easy run.
"E running does a good job of strengthening the heart muscle because the maximum force of each stroke of the heart is reached when the heart rate is at about 60 percent of maximum." (50)
"Another benefit of E running is an incrase in vascularization (opening of more tiny blood vessels that feed the exercising muscles)." (51)

This is training at your predicted marathon pace, typicall at 75-84% of VO2 max (or 80-89% of max HR). Invidual runs should be limited to the lesser of 110 minutes or 18 miles, whichever comes first. (55 - see chart in book for various runs.
"The physiological benefits are really not different from those gained during E running." (56)
Primary use seems to be for runners actually training for a half or full marathon to bring confidence in the ability to run at this pace for long distances, and also to train for taking in calories/water during that time.

T runs should be "comfortably hard." Performed at 80-85% of VO2 max (or 80-86% for lesser trained runners). Roughly equal to 88-92% of max HR. A single session should not total more than 10% of total weekly mileage.
"The purpose of T runs [is to] improve your endurance -- teaching your body how to deal with a slightly more demanding pace for a prolonged period of time, or increasing the duration of time you can hold at a specific pace." (56)
Daniels recommends two different kinds of T runs: 1) tempo runs (longer sustained efforts, around 15-20 minutes) and 2) cruise intervals (a series of runs at T pace with short rests, giving a longer total time at desired threshold intensity).
A tempo run can also be done during what's called a "progression run" -- i.e., a run started at an E pace and then a gradual increase to T for the final miles.
Recommended work/rest (W/R) ratio for T runs is 5:1, so if doing cruise intervals, you could do 5 minutes cruise, 1 minute rest (doesn't have to be full rest, can be 1 minute E jog).

Intervals should be "hard." Performed at 95-100% of VO2 max. A max single session should be consist of the lesser of 10K or 8% of total weekly miles (so a 30 mile a week runner should run no more than 2.4 miles of intervals in a single session). Daniels also denotes another kind of run called "H" runs (Hard) for determining Intervals by time rather than distance.
"The most logical purpose of I training is to maximize aerobic power (VO2 max)" (60)
"It is good to normally use 3- to 5-minute work bouts durin gan I workout because you are guaranteed some time at max even when it takes a minute or two to reach max." (62)

Repetitions should be performed at 105-120% of VO2 max, and should be the lesser of 5 miles or 5% of total weekly miles in a single training session.
"The primary purpose of R (repetition) training is to improve anaerobic power, speed, and economy of running." (66).
Due to the purpose of these runs, the W/R ratio should be 1:2-3, and the max time per repetition should be around 2 minutes.
"Most true R sessions will be made up of repeated 200s, 300s, 400s, 500s, and 600s for most runners." (67)
"It is always best to think in terms of time spentn running at various intensities, rather than distances covered, or else the slower runners on a team end up spending considerably more time doing the workouts than do the faster runners." (67)

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