Many of you are now following BT RunClub personalised programs to prepare you for specific events. You’ve got programs that tell you what to do on particular days. You even have prescribed pace bands for each of these runs: target paces to keep in order to realise the purpose of the session. Here, I’m going to unpack the rationale for those sessions and then break down each ‘kind’ of session, so you not only know what you’re doing, but why you’re doing it!

A balanced diet, a balanced running program
You’ve probably seen a food pyramid. It shows you foods that are good to eat in large quantities and other foods that you should eat sparingly. You may enjoy chocolate, but you shouldn’t live on it. By the same token, plenty of rice may be good, but you can’t live on rice for too long either (although probably a lot longer than chocolate!).

A well conceived running plan is like a balanced diet; it has variety. And it’s not simply for the sake of keeping life interesting, it’s about the ‘training effect’.
The ‘training effect’ quite simply, is the ongoing improvement in speed, strength and endurance that comes from an accumulation of solid, balanced training. Training that backs up intensity with recovery so that you can enjoy gradual improvement.
Your body responds to different types of sessions in different ways. The fatigue you’ll experience from a 30-something kilometre long run is different from the fatigue you’ll have from a session of 10 x 500m…but both will leave you tired! A balanced diet of running is about taking into account the training effect to optimise the body’s adaptation to volume and intensity increases.

If you’re on a program, there’s an end in mind. Whether it’s a distance goal (‘I want to run a marathon’) or a time goal (‘I want to break 40 minutes for 10km’), it’s about creating a training regime that allows your body to adapt to new training and performance loads inthe pursuit of your goals.
Spend all your time running 500s and you may increase your speed and 500m prowess, but you many not have the endurance to make it around the bridges. Spend all your time chugging ‘round and ‘round the bridges in first gear (whatever first gear is for you) and you may be able to run all day, but you’ll have added no speed…and have likely dug yourself a large trench of mono-paced running that’s difficult to extricate yourself from.

A balanced diet of running—one that incorporates endurance, speed, strength, over-distance and recovery is the best diet for moving you towards your goal. It enables your body to maximise the training effect. It stops your body from making lazy form modifications or from slipping into ‘one way’ of running. And it increases the possibility (maximised with specific training drills) of recruiting the full artillery of muscle involvement, sequencing and activation in order to move you longer and faster.

Every run has a purpose
Bottom line? Every run has a purpose. That recovery run/session that feels like a diary filler is to help you recover from intervals you ran on a Thursday and help prepare you for your long run on Friday. Bypass that run and you’ll likely drag the delayed muscle soreness and fatigue (and accompanied lactic build-up) of the Thursday intervals that you didn’t deal with on Friday into Saturday’s long run. So it goes…
Just before we go on, I’m totally aware that stuff happens. Training is neither meant to control your life nor be the centre of it. If you want to ge fitter, stronger or faster, you need to give it appropriate priority but, as the source of ultimate meaning in your life, it misses the mark by a long way! So, while ideally, you’ll sail through a program without missing a beat, you may also miss the occasional session—whether through circumstance, soreness or the random water buffalo barricading the front door and preventing you from getting up in the morning. Don’t fret and don’t drop the bundle, just get back on the horse. Don’t try and make up for loss ground by cramming your lost sessions – that’s a recipe for injuries. Get back to your program. Do what you’re meant to be doing. If it’s a chunky lay-off, re-entry may not be that easy, but be wise with what you’re doing. Or call/email/FB me!

Another thing. While every run has a purpose, every week will have ‘key sessions’, the sessions around which the program is built. For me, it’s generally the Tuesday long intervals, Thursday short intervals, Saturday long runs and a medium-long midweek run. Other times, it could be a long run with a chunky marathon-pace section or a race. The rest of my running week is about trying to maximise the benefit of those sessions. Get a sense of what the biggies are in your week and, if you have to do some shuffling because of travel or whatever, bear that hierarchy in mind. For example, if you’re training for a marathon, your hierarchy might look something like ‘long run/long intervals/medium long run/short intervals’. If you can’t run your long run on the prescribed day then, given it’s your most important run of the week, do your best to re-arrange your training week to make it work (with appropriate recovery etc.)

One more thing! If you’re a triathlete/ironman/duathlete, there’s obviously some other considerations. The same principles of load and recover still apply, but you may be dealing with them across different disciples. I won’t talk about that here.

The Sessions
Ok. If you’re still reading, gidiup for hanging in there!
Here’s a breakdown of the balanced diet that likely make up your program with the rationale for each of those sessions.

Endurance Workouts
While Endurance is the overriding theme behind endurance training, there are actually three distinct purposes for endurance workouts. The first is to recovery from a previous workout or race. The second is to improve your endurance – the ability to run for longer and longer, and the third is to maintain your aerobic fitness level and maximize your aerobic capacity.

These goals are consequently represented by three distinct types of workouts: Recovery Jogs, Long Runs and Easy Runs. (In more recent times I’ve called these Easy Runs “Endurance Runs” simply because I dont want others deriving subjective/comparative meaning from the word ‘easy’ but they’re one and the same. We’ll discuss each in detail so that as you seem on your program, you’ll know how to train optimally for the particular workout you are doing.

Recovery Runs
You might find it helpful to think of a recovery run as a slow jog. Your heart rate should stay below 65% of maximum (though it’s okay for it to reach around 70% by the end of the run). Believe me, you’ll find it difficult to run this slow at first, but you must. If you want to improve and get more from your training you must keep the effort very, very light. Running these recovery runs faster than the prescribed pace (no matter how great you’re feeling) is to deny the prescribed purpose of the session.

Recovery jogs should be used the day (or two) after a hard workout or race. Many find these runs counter-intuitve to their ‘hard core-ness’. They’re smart…exercise the discipline. Remember, the goal is simply to get the muscles warmed up and blood flowing to deliver essential rebuilding nutrients to the muscles. These jogs work out the tightness that occurs from hard running. There is no other goal of a recovery jog. Therefore, these runs last only 15 to 45 minutes – the shorter the better. Longer than that and they’re probably no longer a recovery run but an endurance run. If that’s what you’re program calls for, sure, do it. But call a spade a spade. You need recovery runs.

Long Runs
Long runs need no introduction as most of us include one every seven to 21 days in our training programs. The purpose is simply time on your feet. Challenging your ability to keep running improves your endurance and is a cornerstone of distance training. While there are debates on just how long and fast your long run should be, the general recommendation is that you keep your heart rate around 70% of maximum. The appropriate pace is 30 seconds to one and a half minutes slower than your estimated marathon race pace with the runs lasting at least an hour and up to three and a half. They are endurance runs with the challenge of simply running a steady pace for the entire duration of the run. Keep the effort easy and resist the temptation to increase the pace just to get home sooner. Give the body time to really feel the stimulus of a long run. It will reward you with greater endurance adaptations that will serve you well in later workouts and races.

Endurance Runs/Easy Runs
The final true Endurance workout is the easy run (the one I’ve called the ‘endurance run’). The majority of your training is likely to be comprised of endurance runs and the purpose is to fully develop your aerobic fitness and then maintain it. The pace for easy runs can be as fast as 30 seconds slower than marathon race pace and as slow as one minute slower than marathon pace. Your heart rate is around 75% of maximum though it can reach 80 to 85% near the end of the run. Easy runs last anywhere between 15 minutes and an hour and a half. Again, one of the common mistakes we make is running our easy runs too fast. Keep them steady but don’t get into a pace where your breathing becomes noticeably faster.

Marathon-Pace Runs/’SHIFT’ Runs
While not a true Endurance zone workout, I’ll touch on it here nonetheless. If you are training for a longer race, it’s very important that you spend some of your training time practicing your goal race pace. These workouts help the body become more economical at your goal pace and establish a neuromuscular rhythm that you’ll want to be very familiar with come race day.

The obvious pace for these runs is your target race goal pace, though a 5 second differential (either way) is okay since you’re likely to face hills, wind and other distractions during your workouts. The goal isn’t to ‘smash’ your target time, it’s to run it. It’s also the plan to run it having already run a reasonable distance before you start your marathon-pace/SHIFT segment. I’ve found that SHIFT/marathon goal pace runs are most effective when they occur toward the end of a moderately long run. For example, say one weekend you run a long run of 30km as you build toward a long run of 32k miles during your training plan. On the next weekend, it’s a good idea to run a moderately long run of around 22km but build your pace steadily over the run so that the last 7-10km are at your goal race pace. This gets you used to running your goal pace while tired which is essential for a successful distance race.

If you can build to doing 50-60% of your race distance at your goal pace (within your long run) without excess effort, then you can be very confident that you will reach your goal time.

Tempo Runs
Tempo runs are slightly more intense than steady-state runs and are designed to increase your stamina. As the name suggests, you really improve your running tempo or rhythm with these workouts. They last between 15 and 30 minutes and are run between your 12K and half-marathon race pace. Tempo runs are meant to be “comfortably hard” so don’t push the pace. Your heart rate will likely be between 85 and 90% of max.

Like the steady-state run, tempo runs are continuous efforts but you must preface them with a thorough warm-up.

NB. Some of you will notice these incorporated in your Tuesday long-interval sessions from time to time. Longer intervals that are based on the 3x3km base but aim at steady state by running 2x5km or something similar.

Tempo Intervals (aka “BTRC Long Intervals”)
Tempo Intervals are like fast tempo runs broken into two to four repeats with relatively short recovery jogs. The appropriate race paces for tempo intervals are 10K to 15K race pace and they should last between eight and fifteen minutes. Unlike the previous workouts, Tempo Intervals are the first workouts to allow for a recovery jog between hard efforts. In this case, you jog two to five minutes between each repeat then start the next one.

A tempo interval workout that I’ve had particular success with is 2-3 times 3kms at 10K race pace effort with three minute recovery jogs between repeats. Following a thorough warm-up, these provide a great training stimulus to prepare you for an upcoming 10K race. These are tough sessions mentally and physically. The effort required, the pace judgement and the mental discomfort all help immensely when race time comes.

Cruise Intervals (eg. 6 x 1 mile intervals)
The Cruise Interval workout was popularized by the running coach, Jack Daniels. They, like the other Stamina workouts, are meant to increase your lactate threshold pace. Cruise Intervals are like shorter and slightly more intense tempo intervals. They last three to eight minutes and the pace is between 8K and 12K. Like tempo intervals, they are followed by short recovery jogs (30 seconds to 2 minutes). You’ll probably find that it’s easy to run too fast on these. The tendency is to treat them like regular long intervals. However, keep it under control and work on a smooth, fast rhythm. Control in training is key to improvement.

Speed Workouts

Aerobic Capacity Intervals (eg. 500s, 4x500m/2000m x2)
Here’s where we get to the faster stuff. These workouts are what most of us think of as “speedwork”. They last between 400m and 2000m and are run between 3K and 8K race pace. The goal here is to spend time at your maximum aerobic capacity (or VO2max). Because the pace is faster, you must take a recovery jog of about half the distance of the repeat (or jog for the same duration as the faster running). So if you run a 1200m repeat, you would jog for about 600m to recover. These workouts allow you to maintain your speed over a longer period of time.

Anaerobic Capacity Intervals (eg. Deek’s 400s)
Anaerobic Capacity Intervals comprise the first workout. Like the Speed Workout described above they are repeated hard efforts with recovery jogs in between. They last only 100m to 400m and are run at about your mile race pace effort with very long recovery intervals. It’s usually recommended that you take two to five times the duration of the fast running as a recovery jog before starting the next hard effort (or one to two times the distance of the repeat). For example, if you run repeat 200m, then you would jog for 200 to 400m before beginning the next one.
The goal is to flood the muscles with lactic acid and then let them recover. Your leg strength and ability to buffer lactic acid will improve, allowing you to sprint longer. In the case of the Deek’s 400 session, the goal is to keep your body bouncing between just under and just over lactate threshold.

Strides
You’re probably familiar with “Strides” though you may call them windsprints, pickups, striders or stride outs. They’re not unlike the fast accelerations that you do right before a race. Strides work to improve your sprinting technique by teaching the legs to turn over quickly. It’s really the neuromuscular system that we’re trying to develop here which is why they are shorter than anaerobic capacity intervals. They last only 50-200m because unlike the anaerobic capacity intervals, we don’t want lactic acid to build up during each stride. This inhibits the nervous system and interferes with the neuromuscular adaptations that we want. Accordingly, after each stride, you must jog easily for a minimum of 30 seconds and up to a minute and a half to make sure the muscles are ready for the next one. Not allowing for sufficient recovery after each stride is a common mistake. Take advantage of the longer recovery. It will allow you to put more effort into each stride which really helps develop your speed.

As you might imagine, the pace for strides is very fast – 800m to mile race pace. Note that this is not all-out sprinting. Run fast but always stay under control. These are quick efforts where you practice good form. You’ll be amazed at how much your finishing kick improves with these workouts.
You can incorporate some strides or “pick-ups” during the middle of your run or at the end. To perform, run fast for 15 to 25 seconds then jog easily for 30 seconds to a minute and a half before beginning the next one. Begin with four strides and build up to ten to 20.

Other Workouts
Hill Repeats (the ‘Dyson Street’ Hill work out)
It’s rare that you find a great distance runner who didn’t get fast by training on hills. Kenyans and Ethiopians all train on hills. Hill training is one of the best workouts that you can do. It provides great stimulus to the cardiorespiratory system, develops your ability to buffer lactic acid, strengthens the legs, practices leg turnover that matches common race distances like the 5K and 10K yet avoids the pounding that is associated with traditional speedwork. When hills are encountered during races, they pose no threat to you and you can run them better and more efficiently than other runners, both uphill and downhill.

To perform a hill workout, find a hill with a medium slope that takes between 45 and 120 seconds to ascend. Run up at an effort equivalent to your mile to 5K race “effort” and about 5K to 10K race “pace”. Focus on good form with powerful push off and strong arm swing. Jog down the hill slowly to recover. You can also practice your downhill running technique by running down the hill occasionally at 5K race pace. Keep your body under control and add these descents in gradually as you will undoubtedly be sore afterwards.

While the above Hill Repeats outline the common type of hill workout, I also recommend running on hilly courses often, especially during your base and stamina phases of training.
—————————–

That’s pretty much it for now. I’ve just tried to cover the ingredients of your program here. Hope it helps.

Run with endurance!

Simon Elliott (with some thanks to Greg McMillan)