Training Tips

We are less then 6 months away. Here are some training tips to start working on in the coming months.

If you are like the majority of recreational runners, you probably do the same workout day after day. You need to add some variety to your tired old workout routine before boredom and/or burnout kills you.

Alternating workout routines teaches your body varied lessons. The long run teaches endurance, speed work trains fast-twitch muscles how to accelerate, and hills teach strength. Training workouts that hit upon speed, strength,endurance, and pace will help you improve your running form, condition your body to handle the discomfort of faster speed, give you a sense of correct pacing, and build your end-of-race kick.

Long Running/Endurance Training
Run long 2 out of every 3 weeks. Long run training will boost your endurance while the week off allows you to recover both physically and mentally. Your long run should be approximately 150% of your longest normal weekly run whether you measure that by distance or time.
Run at your normal training pace or even a little slower. Your long run training goal is distance, not speed. Gradually increase your mileage.

Interval workouts are made up of a set of short, faster paced runs over fixed distances from 220 yards to one mile, interceded with periods of light recovery jogging. Although there are many variations of intervals, the three basic types are:

1. Repeats - the distance of the repeating running segment does not change (ex: four 440 yard repeats with a 220 yard recovery jog in between each)

2. Pyramids - the distance of the repeating running segments peaks and then returns to the beginning distance (ex: repeats of 220 yards, 440 yards, and up to 1 mile before returning to 440 yards and then 220 yards)

3. Ladders - the distance of the repeating running segments either steadily increases or decreases (ex: 220 yards, 440, 880, up to 1760 yards or run in the reverse order of 1760 yards down to 220 yards)

Fartleks
Sounds like an intestinal disorder, doesn't it?
Actually, fartlek is Swedish for speed play. Fartleks are an unstructured, fun way to introduce speed training into your workout and consists of bursts of speed in the midst of a training run. There are a variety of ways in which to do fartleks and they can be run almost anywhere.
To complete a fartlek workout you need to:
Warm up.
Run at an easy trainng pace.
Interject bursts of speed for differing distances throughout your run.
Speed should vary as well as burst times. Bursts should be maintained from 15 seconds up 2.5 to 3 minutes.
Recovery time should equal two thirds of your burst time but needs to be faster than an interval recovery jog.

Tempo Runs
Tempo runs are the easiest of all the speed workouts to implement. No distances to keep up with and no split times to remember. Just run faster than your usual training pace and maintain a single sustained effort. Once you have warmed up, pick up your pace to a level you can maintain for predesignated time or distance. Your pace should be 80-85% of your maximum heart rate (if using a heart rate monitor) or your 10K race pace.

Hill Repeats
Hill repeats are basically what you believe they would be, fast-paced efforts to run up hills. They are considered strength training and are typically implemented following the completion of a base/mileage-building stage. After reaching the top of the hill, walk or lightly jog back down the hill and repeat the process.