The Best Kind of Training Run

Whether youre a beginner who has never run except to catch a bus, or a veteran runner with years of road races under your belt, theres a race training regimen thats right for you. And no matter what your level of experience, or what type of race youre training for, youve got to know what type of training run to do and when.

When it comes to planning a training run, there are many factors to consider. The most crucial rule to keep in mind is that you do not want to do the same training run every day of your training! Experienced runners and rookies alike tend to make that mistake, but to do so will jeopardize your race fitness. You will not run as fast or as well as your potential, if you do the same training run every day.

The trick to running training is to vary up your routine on a daily and weekly basis. There are several types of training runs youll need to incorporate into your training schedule.

The first type of training run is the endurance run. For the endurance run, you want to run for time, not for distance. Set a time for yourself, usually about 30 minutes. Try to run at a consistent, comfortable pace for the entire 30 minutes. As you build endurance and get closer to race day, you might want to extend the time to 40 minutes or even an hour. The key is to run steadily for the entire time period. Endurance runs should be done about 2 3 times per week.

Endurance runs, however, will not do much to help you with increasing your running speed. Thats where the second type of training run comes in: the interval run. During an interval run, you should run for short distances at a speed that is faster than your goal race pace. Interspersed between the fast intervals should be periods of slow, relaxed walking or jogging, to recover. Speed intervals are best done at a running track, where you can measure your distance easily and accurately. Interval runs should be performed about twice a week during race training.

The last type of training run you will need to incorporate into your regiment is the distance run. During the distance run, you want to run farther than you normally would during your regular endurance run. Start with whatever distance is comfortable for you. Then, each week, add a mile or two to your distance run. If youre training for a 5K (approximately 3 mile race), be sure to work up to a training run that is longer than 3 miles. If youre training for a much longer race, for example a marathon, there is no need to run the entire 26 miles during training. But you will want to work up to a 20-22 mile training run by the last month of your training. The distance run should be performed once a week.