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

The other key lesson of this study is that athletes generally get more out of time spent at low intensity than they get out of time spent at moderate intensity. The subjects in the polarized group had the greatest imbalance between low-intensity and moderate-intensity training, and again, they improved the most. This lesson in particular should hit

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.

Typically, these adjustments are achieved by increasing and decreasing overall running volume rather than by fiddling with the balance of intensities.

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.

in the case of interval-type workouts that feature relatively short active recovery periods between high-intensity efforts, the entire interval section of the workout, including recovery periods, is counted as time spent at high intensity.

Also known as microcycles, these recurring seven-day workout schedules typically include three designated hard days, which are buffered on either side by at least one day of lighter training. Two of the three hard days feature moderate-intensity or high-intensity runs while the third is reserved for a longer run, which is done mostly or entirely at

CRUISE INTERVAL RUNS A cruise interval run features multiple long intervals in Zone 3 separated by Zone 1 recoveries. These runs offer essentially the same benefits as tempo runs, but because the Zone 3 running is divided up, they allow more total work to be done at moderate intensity.

SPEED PLAY RUNS A speed play run is a cross between a foundation run and an interval run. Like foundation runs, speed play runs are done mostly in Zone 2. But this low-intensity backdrop is punctuated by short bursts at high intensity,