Easy Running - Building Your Base
It is the foundation of your running. As a building relies on a structure and solid foundations, the quality of your running also depends on your base.
Easy running is very important to make sure that you have got sufficient depth and should always come before building speed.
Tempo running is another great way to train your body as well as your mind for a race
A tempo run will effectively help your body get used to moving at a constant reasonably fast rate for a period of time. Tempo running is also known as lactate threshold pace, because it will increase your lactate threshold.
Interval running is running at anaerobic pace. Interval running is taxing for the body. Interval workouts bring results however, so you should incorporate them in your running program!
The main reason behind doing interval runs is to train your muscles in taking up oxygen from the blood. At high speed, your heart is required to work harder. It pumps more blood (with in it oxygen) to your muscles. Your muscles then need to make sure they absorb that oxygen as well as possible, so they can continue functioning well.
Before you start doing intervals, my recommendation is that you should be able to run at easy pace for at least one hour.
Fartlek is a good introduction to running speed workouts for beginners.
The principle of fartlek is that you just go out there, warm up, and then start running.
You run at varying speeds for varying periods of time.
You finish up with an easy paced cooling down.
Running strides is a relatively easy way to increase your running speed. Many runners have come to realize that adding a few strides to their easy runs is beneficial. Strides are short runs of 60 to 100 metres in which you considerably pick up the pace. They are not all-out attempts, but definitely fast.
