Polarized Training | Runner's World

At least a few times a month, decide what route you’re going to run, and then leave your watch at home. Other days, run wherever, guided by total time on your watch. The thing to mostly avoid is timing yourself over the same courses day after day. That way lies the madness of beating yourself up for running slower than you “should”

Not every “hard” workout has to be a killer session. You can sneak in more quality without going to the well by stopping at a track, on a hill, or an obstacle-free stretch of road toward the end of a run and doing a few up-tempo repeats between 200 and 800 meters.

“Run lots, not too much, mostly easy.”

While running can take up much of your time, strength training is a quick and easy way to potentially boost performance and ward off injuries.

One of the major downfalls of existing marathon training plans is that they lack balance. There tends to be a standard emphasis on the long run, with the rest of the days of the week spent recovering from that one workout.