In praise of a maximalist approach to sub-3 running

A quiet orthodoxy has taken hold in amateur running. A belief - often passed down by cautious coaches and cemented in mainstream training plans - that the smart thing to do is the minimum required. Run three or four times a week. Don’t overtrain. Keep it sustainable. Stay injury-free.

This approach is not without merit. Life is busy. Bodies are fallible. Not everyone wants or needs to make running a central pillar of their identity. But for those chasing something ambitious - sub-3 or far beyond - it’s worth asking whether the minimalist mindset is enough. Or whether it quietly erects a ceiling just above our heads and calls it safety.

There is another way. One that doesn’t ask how little you can get away with, but instead invites you to find out what might be possible if you gave more. Not more for its own sake, but more with purpose. More commitment, more consistency, more honesty.

This is the maximalist approach. It doesn’t mean reckless mileage or training through injury. It means taking your goals seriously, aligning your life accordingly and refusing to coast. It’s about seeing running not as something to squeeze in, but as something to build around.

It’s not a new idea. In fact, it’s an old one. In Today We Die a Little, Richard Askwith describes how Emil Zatopek’s intense, pioneering training was dismissed by many of his contemporaries as excessive - not because it didn’t work, but because it challenged the prevailing norms:

“In any case, it was not just a lack of time that prevented Emil’s rivals from training as hard as he did. A lot of them simply didn’t believe in it. In Britain, for example, the prevailing orthodoxy was that athletes should train sparingly, resting several times a week and saving themselves for races. According to Gordon Pirie, one of the few Western runners to see Zatopek as a challenge rather than a freak, ‘his training methods seemed quite fantastic. They were derided by the take-it-easy British school.’”

That phrase - the take-it-easy British school - still echoes today. You hear it in advice not to overdo it. You see it in the quiet scorn sometimes levelled at runners who structure their lives too rigidly, or race too often, or dare to chase more than what’s deemed sensible. There’s a fine line between encouraging healthy boundaries and enforcing mediocrity.

Even parkrun - a format that began as a weekly time trial - has slowly stepped away from celebrating performance. Course records and sub-17 results have been removed from public view in the name of inclusivity. This isn’t a criticism of accessibility. But in making space for everyone, have we stopped encouraging anyone to push for excellence?

Runners like Lasse Virén, Ron Hill and Steve Way all remind us of another ethos. They trained with intent, made sacrifices and lived for the craft. They weren’t perfect, and their paths aren’t always replicable. But they represent a mindset that deserves defending - one in which striving hard is not a flaw to be managed, but a virtue to be respected.

Not everyone can or should live like a maximalist. But those who want to shouldn’t be told to temper their ambition before they’ve even begun. If running has taught us anything, it’s that effort - sustained and sincere - tends to reveal far more than it breaks.

5 things sub-3 runners can take from the maximalist ethos

1. Don't train to get away with the minimum
Sub-3 isn’t casual. You may need to run six or even seven days a week, and in many cases build towards 100km or more. Higher mileage builds resilience. It doesn’t guarantee results, but very few achieve sub-3 without volume.

2. Make racing part of training
Zatopek used races to sharpen his fitness and test his limits. Race regularly enough that you're comfortable with discomfort, but not so often that it derails your block. Parkruns count. So do hard club sessions with a bib on.

3. Innovate, adapt, stay engaged
Maximalists aren’t mindless grinders - they think. Experiment with fasted runs, fuelling protocols, heat adaptation or high-cadence drills. Don't wait for perfect conditions. Training is never ideal - it's just the environment you make progress in.

4. Align your life, not just your diary
A sub-3 training plan doesn’t stop at the watch beep. Nutrition, sleep, hydration and even stress management all affect how you absorb training. Think of running as a system, not a task.

5. Treat effort as a teacher, not a threat
When things get hard, don’t retreat. Lean in and observe. Many breakthroughs begin on the edge of fatigue. As Zatopek said: “When you can’t keep going, go faster.” He didn’t mean suffer needlessly - he meant stop running away from effort.