Workouts are imperative for competitive distance runners, as they help build the aerobic fitness, VO2 threshold capacity, and underlying strength and endurance required to race at a desirable level. As a result, there are many different types of workouts compatible with most running-based regimens, each serving a unique purpose and supplementing a runner’s foundational mileage.
Continuing from part one, here are a few more common yet highly beneficial distance running workouts.
Progression Runs
The progression run is a much-practiced workout that can take numerous forms depending on a runner’s goals. In most cases, this workout involves beginning a run – or a section of a run – at an easy to moderate pace and gradually quickening that pace in designated steps (usually every one or two miles or after a specific time interval has passed). By the workout’s climax, runners often arrive at their aerobic threshold pace, goal race pace, or quicker. Progression runs yield benefits ranging from pace control and aerobic mindfulness to biomechanical strength building, training runners to push harder on tired legs.
Fartlek Workouts
A cousin of sorts to the tempo workout, the fartlek (roughly translating to “speed play” in Swedish) is an exercise in mental cadence and physical consistency. Fartlek workouts entail pre-planned segments of hard running (“on cycles”) that alternate with easy to moderate moving rest periods (“off cycles”). Like the descending steps of a progression run, these sections may be specific distances or time periods, but regardless, the overarching goal is consistency; runners should commit to a reasonable effort during the on cycles and back off to a comfortable pace on the off cycles, keeping this rhythm central to their physical and mental approach. In completing fartleks, runners can boost their aerobic efficiency and mental stamina.
Fast-Finish Long Runs
Long runs are, themselves, a crucial harder effort within any balanced training block, helping runners build invaluable aerobic fortitude over an extended distance or time. Fast-finish long runs take this process a step further by adding a quick segment to a long run’s final stages. For instance, a runner may complete 10 miles of a 15-mile run at their usual long-run pace, then drop to their threshold workout pace for the final five miles (or four miles with an easy cooldown mile). Such long runs are particularly helpful for longer races like the half-marathon, marathon, and ultra-marathon, as they promote channeling one’s fastest running into their most vulnerable physical state, which can be incredibly beneficial in a race’s concluding miles.
