Building Blocks of Distance Running

This article describes the five varieties of strength- and speed-building workouts, along with the benefits of each and the most productive ways to use these tools.

Before we begin, though, a plug for an unofficial sixth workout: the easy run. Too many runners, are hell bent on increasing speed and mileage, completely overlook the importance of the easy run, often running themselves into injury.

Your body needs a chance to rest, so make sure that somewhere between those killer hill workouts and gutsy interval sessions you manage to squeeze in some rest -- and plenty of it. Give yourself at least one or two easy days per week. Run a relatively short distance, at a pace that seems almost too slow. Or just take the day off altogether. And above all, listen to your body. When your legs feel like dead weights, which means they need some time to recover. Recovery (i.e. the easy run) is probably the most important piece of a good training program, and it should not be dismissed. However hard you push yourself during your other days of "quality runs," make sure you give yourself a chance to recover.

The big five building blocks are: fartlek, hills, intervals, tempo runs and the long run.

Fartlek
It's true: fartlek is almost as fun to do as it is to say. "Fartlek" is Swedish for "speed play" and consists of bursts of speed in the middle of a training run. Essentially, it's an unstructured interval session, the track without the rules. Fartlek gets your legs used to a variety of paces and in the process gives you an enhanced awareness of your ability to keep up those paces at various distances.

After warming up, run at an easy training pace, throwing in bursts of speed for various distances throughout the run. Vary the speed and times of the speed sections, from as short as 15 seconds to as long as two or three minutes. Between these bursts, allow yourself enough recovery time to match roughly 2/3 of the effort time. The recovery pace, though, should be faster than the recovery jog you might do during intervals on the track; keep it moving at an easy training pace.

It's a good idea to pick out a landmark -- a tree or a fire hydrant or a bend in the path -- where a speed section will end before you start picking up the pace. In other words, you have to know how far you are running for each section. Because the idea is to keep up a constant face until you reach that landmark, it is important to pace yourself at the beginning. Don't tear off so fast that you cannot keep up the pace through the end of each speed section.

A fartlek session can be as easy or as difficult as you wish to make it. Use fartlek for anything from a light recovery run to a grueling workout. As always, however, start out easy. Your first fartlek sessions should contain distances and paces that you feel comfortable with and that you feel you can gradually increase in future sessions. A twenty to thirty-minute fartlek session should be adequate for most runners. There is very little reason for them to go as long as an hour. Take it easy, be patient.

Hills
For many runners, hills spell trouble. Fortunately, much of that sentiment is more in their heads than their legs. Running hills is an acquired skill, and a little practice can give any runner the confidence to overcome her hill phobia and make peace with the dreaded incline. And not least, a consistent regimen of hill workouts goes far to build leg strength.

The rather obvious benefit of hill workouts is that they make you better at running hills. Even better, you will see benefits on the flats, too. The muscle groups you use to overcome hills are virtually the same as those you use for sprinting, so hillwork enhances your speed. This strengthening effect is supplemented by the fact that hill workouts help increase both the frequency and length of your stride -- you get even faster. As a final added bonus, hill training also strengthens the muscles around your knees, helping to reduce knee injuries.

You should, however, be cautious about hillwork if you have an injury in your calf or Achilles tendon. Even if you do not, you should still be sure to stretch these areas of your legs especially well before starting.

While speed work programs are built around running sprint repeats on one hill, there's no particular reason that you should stick to this. Running a rolling course with numerous hills will also do the trick while adding the change of scenery that makes running so pleasurable. Wherever you choose to run, make sure that the course will give you the opportunity to run at least five or six hills 300 metres long or more.

Remember that the idea of hill work is to negotiate the hills efficiently, with as little disruption as possible to your rhythm. Think of yourself rolling over the hill, almost as if it isn't there. Concentrate on keeping your upper body relaxed, while you let your legs do the work. While you don't have to attack the hill, you should still work it and pour on some effort. On gradual inclines, try to run a bit faster than you had been running on the flat before the hill. On steeper inclines, concentrate on lifting your knees and pushing off hard with every step. This attention to your "vertical" motion is at least as important as your forward motion up the hill. The steeper the hill, the more you should lift your knee; on the steepest inclines try to lift your knees so high that your thighs reach horizontal. The strong push-off and high knee lifts will increase both your stride length and the range of motion in your hips: voila, you've increased your speed.

Even for very long hills (1500m or longer), try to maintain the exaggerated knee lifts. The benefits will make themselves known soon enough. The knee lifts, incidentally, are not easy. But even with the extra workout, your legs take less of a pounding running uphill than when running hard on the flat or downhills - you're not hitting the ground as hard.

As you reach the top of each hill, focus on running all the way over the top until your reach the flat, and pick up your regular running rhythm again. Use the flat or downhill on the other side for recovery. As always during the easy portion of any speedwork, keep running - even if at a gentle jog. Go carefully on the downills - they can dish out a nasty pounding, particularly to your quads. The best way to run downhills is to lean into them, to the point that you feel you're about to fall on your face. Try to get your legs turning over as fast as you can with short, quick strides. Not only does this help reduce the pounding on your legs, but it also helps you increase your stride frequency. With a little practice, you'll find yourself running down hills with less effort, less pounding, and more speed. Not a bad combination. Those just beginning hill workouts will likely find hills a struggle at first, but before long hills become more of a friendly challenge than a mortal enemy. The more you run hills, the more you'll find yourself adjusting to them automatically and your stride shifting to "hill mode" without any thought or effort. It's a useful edge in races.

Intervals
The track. While most elite runners get their start there, many of us came to running by way of local roads, sidewalks and forest paths. For the average runner, the track seems all too intimidating, almost scary. Fact is, though, that the track is not simply the domain of the elites. Any runner at any level can improve her performance with a little help from the 400-meter oval. This is what intervals are about.

Interval sessions are the most formal of speed workouts in that the distances and target paces are precisely fixed before you run. The idea is to run a series of relatively short repetitions over distances from 200m to 1600m, with rest periods of slower running in between. Because of their very nature, intervals involve a shorter period of effort than your usual run of, say, 45 minutes at a steady pace. This allows you to run much faster than you usually do, adapting your body to higher demands and your leg muscles to faster turnover. Over time, you become more physiologically efficient.

Because of the clearly measured distances, the track is an ideal place to do intervals, but some may find the never-changing scenery to be, well, maybe just a little dull. In that case, you should feel free to do your intervals on the road, using permanent landmarks to measure distance.

The various distances, as you might guess, are each best suited to runners with specific goals. The 200m run (1/2 lap) is best for short-distance training (5K and under) to improve speed. The 400m (one lap) helps improve overall conditioning at slower paces, and at faster paces is good final race preparation. The 800m (two laps) is used to develop speed when training for races 10K and under and to condition form and pace when training for longer races. Finally, the 1600 - 2000m is used most often to train for longer races, from 10K to marathon, to help improve pace judgement and overall conditioning.

Tempo Runs
This is hands-down the least complicated variety of speedwork. There are no distances to keep track of, no split times to remember, no hassles. All you have to do is run faster than your usual training pace, somewhere right around your 10K race pace. Unlike most speedwork which consists of relatively short bursts of high effort, tempo runs call for a single sustained effort. The result is that your body learns race economy: running at a fast pace for relatively long periods of time. Tempo runs will give your top speed a boost, too. By running nearly at race pace, your body becomes accustomed to running close to its upper limit (though not exceeding it). In doing so, you actually increase that upper limit, and you become gradually faster.

After your usual warm-up routine, run at your easy training pace for at least ten minutes. Then pick up the pace. As mentioned above, this speed should be right around your 10K race pace (around 80%-85% of maximum heart rate, if you use an HRM). The time, distance and pace of your tempo run, as with all phases of your running, depends on you and your ability (not to mention your goals). For the distance you choose (5 and 8 km are popular tempo distances), find a pace that is not so fast that you cannot sustain it for the distance, but not so slow that you do not feel challenged toward the end. Tempo runs should be tough, but not impossible. Depending on how you feel on any given day, how much spring is in your legs, and how far you are running, your tempo pace may vary from session to session. That's fine. The consistency that counts is the pace within each session. Try to keep your speed level for the full length of each tempo run.

Don't worry too much about figuring out the exact distance of your tempo run. It's really not terribly important. 5 to 10 km is probably a good range. The one value of knowing how far you are running, though, is that you are able to gauge your improvement over time. Still, this is easily done by doing most of your tempo runs on the same route. You may not know the specific distance, but you can still compare your times for that same fixed route.

The Long Run
In your rush to build speed, don't forget the all-important long run. Especially for the distance runner but also for short-distance speedsters, the long run is the essential foundation for building and maintaining stamina. Don't give it short shrift.

Build a long run into your routine every other week (weekend mornings are perfect). Make the distance anywhere up to 150 percent of your regular midweek runs, and trot along at your normal training pace. If a 10 km run is de rigeur during the week, for example, then 15 km should be the upper limit of your long run. You have to build km's gradually and give your body a chance to adjust to the pounding of those extra km's. As long as you are not picking up your speedwork very suddenly at the same time, you should be able to add 2 - 3 km to your long run every two weeks. This may seem like a painfully slow rate of increase, but it's a lot less painful than the injury you might otherwise risk. Take it slow, it's better than being sidelined for several weeks.

As always, keep in mind the oft-repeated 10-percent rule. Your mileage should not increase more than 10 percent from week to week.

Article by Dave Spence

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