A good place to start is running regularly for fitness, since the most important building block of running is consistency.
A better approach, once you have a solid base, is to add one “quality” workout per week to increase your fitness. But to take your running to your highest level, it’s best to follow a training plan skewed to your strengths. For instance, if endurance is your strong suit, find a plan that focuses more on mileage and tempo runs and less on interval training. If speed is on your side, focus on interval training and less on mileage.
Applying the principles of good, better, and best to your workouts will help you improve your fitness, avoid plateaus, and get closer to where you want to go wherever that is.
Key Workout: Tempo Runs
“Tempo training raises your lactate threshold velocity, the running speed above which fatigue sets in quickly,” says varsity lecturer of health and science, Paul Greer.
These runs should feel comfortably hard: For recreational runners (those who run fewer than 30km per week), that means a pace 5 to 10 seconds per kilometer slower than 5-K race pace; for speedy racers (those who run faster than 20 minutes for a 5-K), it’s about 15 to 20 seconds per kilometer slower.
Good Run 5km over rolling terrain, changing your pace from slightly faster than easy, to comfortably hard, too hard. Mixing it up teaches novices how to run at different speeds. Experienced runners coming back after injury or a layoff will relearn what a comfortably hard tempo feels like, without overdoing it.
Better Do 4 to 5 x 1500m on flat terrain at tempo pace with a one-minute recovery jog between each effort. This will improve your ability to hold a hard pace.
Best Run six to eight km’s at tempo pace. “Continuous tempo runs are excellent for developing stamina, confidence, and sense of pace,” says Greer. Keep the pace consistent. “Don’t allow your pace to fluctuate,” says Veronique Billat, director of the Exercise Physiology Lab at the University of Evry-Val d’Essonne in France.
Key Workout: Intervals
Of all training runs, interval workouts are the most potent for improving your fitness. Short, hard efforts beef up your cardiovascular system by increasing the volume of oxygen-rich blood your heart pumps with each beat. With more oxygen feeding muscles, they can work harder.
Good Run repeats by time, rather than distance, and do them hard (it should be difficult to talk); for example, 4 x 3 minutes hard with two minutes easy running between each effort.
Better Run 4 to 6 by 800 meters at 5-K race pace. More formal workouts help you practice running at race pace.
Best Match the speed of the hard efforts with the purpose of the workout. To enhance endurance, run 800- to 1,000- meter repeats at slightly faster than your 5-K pace, says Billat. To increase speed, run 8 x 400 meters fast with a two-minute recovery jog, or 5 x 400 meters very fast with a three-minute recovery jog.
Key Workout: Long Runs
Running long drains your muscles’ supply of carbohydrates (glycogen). Nearing empty signals your body to stock even more glycogen, so you have more fuel to draw on in the future. “Long runs also develop your ability to transport and use oxygen, which allows you to run longer before becoming fatigued,” says Billat.
Good Run one and a half to twice as long as your average run at an easy pace. When it comes to improving endurance, time on your feet is more important than the number of kilometers you run.
Better Log 15km at marathon pace (or moderate pace). For intermediate runners, endurance isn’t just about running longer it’s about being able to hold a slightly faster pace.
Best Complete 25 to 27km, with the first 19km at an easy pace and the last six to eight km’s at tempo pace (about 10-K race pace or slightly faster). Marathoners with a history of going long should make the long run more specific to the demands of the marathon.
Just Enough
Know when to add quality and how much to your schedule.
Novice runners should follow the recommendations below for at least two months before adding additional workouts to their weekly routine. Intermediate and advanced runners may add more sessions as their bodies adapt.
Novice
Tempo Run: Once a week
Intervals: Every other week
Long Runs: Once a week
Intermediate
Tempo Run: Once a week
Intervals: Once a week
Long Runs: Once a week
Advanced
Tempo Run: Twice a week
Intervals: Once or twice a week
Long Runs: Once a week
