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Runners often swear by the 80/20 rule for organizing their training—but there’s no relation to the Pareto principle of the same name. Let’s talk about where the 80/20 idea comes from, how to implement it, and when it is and isn’t a good idea to train this way.
What is the 80/20 rule for running?
Briefly, it’s the idea that 80% of your running should be low intensity, and only 20% at medium or high intensity. Recreational runners (like you and me) often run closer to a 50/50 split. The 80/20 rule suggests that we should take some of those faster runs and slow them the heck down to reach a better training balance.
The 80/20 rule was popularized in a 2014 book, 80/20 Running, by Matt Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, in turn, based his recommendations off research by Stephen Seiler, who found that elite athletes
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