Rob Krar won the 2014 Western States 100. Runner’s World published an interesting profile of Krar, and I was interested to learn that he does feeling-based training.
By necessity, Krar’s mileage during work weeks stays relatively low, around 75. [He works as a full-time night-shift pharmacist.] Krar runs more during his off weeks, as much as 110 miles, which he does entirely by feel. He has no coach. “I don’t know why I write down my mileage,” he says. “I’ve never looked at it.”
Krar’s success belies the standard myths about training by feel – that’s it’s airy-fairy, cowardly, unreliable, etc. Fact is, it takes huge self-discipline to train as the body suggests. Successful runners have to be able to interpret their body’s signals and react accordingly, in the moment, all the time.