Health and Fitness

Whether you want to run a race this season, or you are just looking to improve your daily run, try these techniques to improve speed, endurance, and recovery.

Types of Runs for Training

Tempo

The tempo run is used for endurance. This is the run most hobby runners do everyday. Pick a comfortable pace, and maintain it for the chosen amount of time. If you are training for a race, your tempo run may be very long, and only performed once a week, or even less. For the daily jogger, this run can be more often, for up to an hour.

Sprints

Sprints improve your speed and power. Sprint training involves running as fast as you can, for short distances, and then walking for recovery. Sprints may be repeated many times in a single training session.

Intervals

Intervals improve the time it takes for your heart rate to decrease. Intervals are a mix of fast running, followed by jogging or walking for recovery. Interval training can have many combinations. It can be a gradual incline in speed such as: walk 4mph 1min, jog 5mph 1min, run 6mph 1min, and then taper back down the way you came. Or they can be sudden: walk 3mph 2 min, run 7mph 1 min, walk 4mph 1 min. Intervals really make you sweat! Many treadmills have set interval programs. These are beneficial because you will do them without having to plan and think too much about it. Just pay attention to your timing, so that the machine doesn't speed up before you're ready!

Hills/Incline

Training on an incline is a good way to increase cardiovascular fitness, work your hamstrings and glutes, and improve overall runs. If you can run up a hill at 6mph, you can run a lot faster on level terrain!

Putting it all together

When you do all of this training, you want to start merging them while sticking with the individual methods of training. For example: After you speed increases, you increase the pace of your tempo run. After endurance improves you shorten recovery times in intervals.

Training with these methods is a sure fire way to become a very strong runner!

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Kaleena Lawless
Personal Training Specialist
http://www.kalisthenixfitnessblog.com