Long Run
Long runs, which should comprise 25 to 30 percent of your weekly volume, deplete your muscles' store of carbohydrate (glycogen). This stimulates a greater storage of fuel and increases your endurance because carbohydrate is muscles' preferred fuel. Long runs also improve your ability to transport and use oxygen in your muscles.
Good: Run 20 miles at an easy pace.
For beginners, the most important part of long runs is time on your feet.
Better: Run 10 miles at marathon pace.
For intermediate runners, adding some quality to the long run improves your endurance.
Great: Run 14 to 16 miles, with the first 11 to 12 miles at an easy pace and the last 2 to 4 miles at tempo pace (about 10K race pace or slightly faster).
For advanced runners who have a history of long runs on their legs, making the long run of higher quality helps you break past plateaus. While a long, slow run plays a valuable role in a marathoner's preparation, running at a faster pace trains your muscles to become more efficient with their selection of fuels.
More: Marathon Training: The Long Run
Training Program
Whether you want to run around the block or the Boston Marathon, how you train can have a dramatic effect on your performance. While running just to run may make you fitter, training gives you the plan for success. It's the difference between building a house by placing bricks here and there and having a blueprint laid out beforehand.
Good: Go out the door every day to run.
For beginners, the most important part of running is to make it consistent.
Better: Add one quality workout per week.
Once you have developed a running habit and have a solid base, it's time to add some quality to your running to increase your fitness.
Great: Follow a planned training program that highlights your strengths.
Rather than follow a generic plan, look for one that is skewed to your strengths. If your strength is endurance, focus more on mileage and tempo runs and less on interval training. Run longer intervals, trying to get faster with training, such as 1,000-meter reps at 5K race pace, increasing speed to 2-mile race pace or decreasing the recovery as your training progresses.
If your strength is speed, focus less on mileage and more on interval training. Run shorter intervals, trying to hold the pace for longer with training, such as 800-meter reps at 2-mile race pace, increasing the distance to 1,000 meters or increasing the number of reps as your training progresses.
Work your strong points and train using the whole continuum of paces, from slow running speeds to very fast speeds to enhance both your aerobic (endurance) and anaerobic (speed) abilities.
If you want to get the most from your training, it's time to make some changes. And if you train great, not only will you break past plateaus, you'll get rewarded with new personal records.
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