Quote Originally Posted by mr brightside View Post
Different session tonight as I felt I needed a steadier run out, so it was my first ever track 10k at a steady zone 2/3 pace. Went through 5k at 23.30 and crossed the line in 46.40, so a good level paced run. My calves are killing.

The old sage coach guy was there with his runner and asked how many slow sessions I do, I told him none at all at the moment and I prefer to race a lot when fit anyway. He was quick to point out I won't get any better this way and should be doing only 15 percent of my training at a fast pace. People keep leading the old horse to water like this, but alas it refuses to drink!
He is of course right - if our slow twitch fibres are under-developed, they call on our fast twitch fibres to help them out at too low a work rate, resulting in lactic acid leaking into our system which limits performance - we can only cope with so much lactic acid for so long. It is not just about "slow runs being too fast making us tired so fast runs are too slow".
But - but - if other issues significantly limit our mileage, then the rules need to be bent a bit, if not broken.