80/20 Running

LONG RUNS WITH FAST FINISH A long run with fast finish is an extended run at low intensity with a relatively short effort at moderate intensity tacked onto the end. Like long runs with speed play, long runs with fast finish serve to further increase fatigue resistance toward the end of a training cycle after you’ve already developed basic endurance

If currently you run only three or four times per week, set a goal to run six or seven times per week. According to the World Health Organization, daily aerobic exercise is required for maximum all-around health. As a runner, you might as well meet this requirement by running. Not only will your health improve but your running will too.

TEMPO RUNS A tempo run is a sustained effort in Zone 3 sandwiched between a warm-up and a cool-down. Tempo runs are a very effective means of enhancing a runner’s ability to sustain relatively aggressive speeds. They are emphasized in the peak phase of training for races of all distances from 5K to the marathon.

MIXED INTERVAL RUNS Mixed interval runs are intended to sharpen runners up for racing after they’ve already built a solid foundation of fitness. Including efforts in Zones 3, 4, and 5, they serve to maintain the fitness gains that have been accrued through workouts individually focused on each of these zones.

If your ultimate goal is to become the best runner you can possibly be, then you’ll want to continue to increase your running volume until your current limit merges with your final genetic limit. This is the point beyond which there is no possibility for further improvement by means of additional running.

way they were programmed to do it. They could not learn to do it better or alter their movements in response to changes in their environment (such as encountering a slope). Also, the movements of the first walking robots just didn’t look human. They were missing a certain grace and fluidity.

Thanks to the pioneering work of Stephen Seiler, Jonathan Esteve-Lanao, and others, we know the best method is aiming to do 80 percent of our training at low intensity and devoting a fair portion of the remaining 20 percent to high-intensity efforts.

HILL REPETITION RUNS A hill repetition run is essentially an uphill interval run, featuring short segments of uphill running in Zone 5. Hill repetitions offer many of the same benefits as interval runs (namely, increased aerobic capacity and high-intensity fatigue resistance, as well as improved running economy). But hill repetitions are less stres

Arthur Lydiard believed that high-volume training was the secret to developing relaxed smooth ease, which he correctly identified as the visible mark of skillful running.