Twice this week I stopped a workout a bit early with the thought “these are just junk miles, so I’m stopping now”.
In case you haven’t heard the term “junk miles” – in short, they are miles you put in working out simply because you think you have to do them, or your plan says you have to do them.? But in reality, you aren’t gaining any endurance or speed out of them.
Earlier this week, I was swimming a long hard set, and my shoulder started hurting.? If I swim too much, that’s what happens.? I had about 600 meters to go, but made a choice to quit to save my shoulder.? I don’t think I was being lazy (tho the thought certainly ocurred to me!)
Today, I was doing a track workout.? It was noon and really hot.? I had finished my 4x800s and was cooling down.? During my cooldown, I had decided to try and “practice my pace” of 9 minute miles to see how it felt.? (I’d like to do a pace of 9 at Lake Logan).? My legs felt like lead and I was really hot, so again, I quit with the term “junk miles” in my head.? I especially didn’t want to overdo it just one week before my 1st race.? Sometimes less is better because your body needs to recover in order to become stronger.
Here is an excellent article that explains this much better than I:
http://thesportfactory.com/site/trainingnews/Elimintate_The_Junk_Miles.shtml
I have read a bit about Junk miles and appreciate training should be focused on increasing speed endurance etc.
But as a not too slim trithlete I think this ignores Junk miles as a weight management tool neccessary to create the calorie deficit.
i.e. if you are a skinny athlete already then yes junk miles may be unneccessary but if you have a few pounds to lose any excercise is better than none.