s5/e21 Training Load: Too Much, Too Little, or Just Right? with Coach Elisabeth
The Running Explained Podcast
Running Explained
4.6 • 534 Ratings
🗓️ 3 July 2025
⏱️ 76 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this solo episode, I'm FINALLY tackling one of the most important (and least sexy) topics in training: training load. What it is? Why should you care? And how can you make sure you're living in the "juuuuuuust right" zone!
Most of us are so focused on paces and mileage (or kms) targets that we miss the bigger picture: how much stress your body is actually experiencing and accumulating from your training. And if you’re stuck in a cycle of “train hard → crash → repeat,” this episode is especially for you.
I break down everything from acute vs. chronic training load, to how wearable devices, like your Coros running watch, calculate your load using things like "TRIMP" and heart rate, and to how to use heart rate variability (HRV) as a recovery gauge. We’re talking spreadsheets, ratios, metrics, and yes: how your “just right” is totally different than someone else’s!
What training load actually means (and what it doesn’t)
How to avoid the dangers of "too much too soon" (even if your mileage says you should be OK)
Why intensity (and training intensity distribution) is more important than distance alone
How the acute:chronic ratio of your training load tells you when you’re on the onramp to the highway to the danger zone
What the 10% “rule” misses (and why it’s not always that simple!)
The difference between “I ran 10 miles!” and “I worked HARD for 10 miles!”
Tools like TRIMP, TSS, and HRV: what they tell you and how I use them
The deets on my own quick & dirty training load spreadsheet before I had fancy tools
Why managing training load is especially important for self-coached runners!!
TOP SOUNDBITES:
“Your body doesn’t track distance; it tracks stress.”
“That hero week you’re so proud of? It might be the reason you need a nap for the next 10 days.”
“This is about learning what ‘just right’ looks like for you—because too much breaks you, and too little stalls you.”
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🌟 This episode is brought to you by my friends at Coros, who make amazing watches ⌚ that have all the tools you need (with none of the fluff) to manage your training like a pro, no matter WHAT your goals are!
If you're looking to upgrade (or you’re just tired of guessing), check out the Coros Pace 3 (that's what I wear!), and don't forget to use code RUNEXP at checkout for a FREE second strap when you buy your watch! 🌟
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Join the Patreon: patreon.com/runningexplained for bonus episodes, book club, and more!
Join the Road to Race Day: Philly team if you’re training for the Philadelphia half or full marathon!
Curious about HRV or training load tools? I’m always happy to chat more—DM me on Instagram or shoot us an email!
Research & production assistance by Sophie van Leeuwen
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, my friends. Welcome back to another episode of the Running Explains podcast. I am your host, |
| 0:08.8 | Coach Elizabeth. Very excited to have you here with me today as we are finally tackling one of |
| 0:13.9 | my favorite topics, training load and training load management. Might not seem that exciting or sexy or important that I think training load and training |
| 0:25.7 | load management. |
| 0:26.6 | I know. |
| 0:27.6 | I think it's interesting. |
| 0:29.3 | I know it's important. |
| 0:31.0 | Understanding your training load and how to manage it is one of the most important things you |
| 0:35.2 | can do as a runner to keep yourself injury-free |
| 0:37.9 | and progressing in the way you want to be progressing. So we are going to talk all about that. |
| 0:43.8 | Before we get started, though, I am very excited to remind everyone with the approach of the |
| 0:48.7 | Philadelphia Marathon finally selling out very early. Does not usually sell out in July. |
| 0:56.0 | But if you are running the Philadelphia Marathon or the Philadelphia Half Marathon |
| 1:00.1 | and you are looking for a really exciting, awesome, tight-knit team training environment |
| 1:06.4 | where you're going to have training specifically for your goals, |
| 1:09.3 | you're going to have all your questions answered, you're going to make new friends, you're going to have a sports dietitian. You're going to have all your questions answered. |
| 1:10.9 | You're going to make new friends. |
| 1:12.0 | You're going to have a sports dietitian tell you exactly what you should and should not be doing for the training cycle. |
| 1:17.5 | Then you are looking for the Road to Race Day Philadelphia program. |
| 1:20.5 | So this is a small team group training program. |
| 1:23.9 | It is four months. |
| 1:25.2 | We start August 4th and we train for four months for the Philadelphia |
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