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The Basics of Any Running Program
You can run just for fun and get in great shape
and lose weight. But there are many who need extra motivation,
structure, or are competitive and need to work towards something. If
you would like to prepare for a race or just improve your route times,
you should be aware of the 3 components of a training schedule. All
are equally important and it is vital that you don’t forget about one
when you move to the next step. The three components of any training
schedule are:
-
Base training
-
Strength/Hill training
-
Speed work
To get the maximum effect, it is important
that you progress through these components in the order listed above.
Here’s a quick review of what you need to know about the different
steps:
Base Training
Base training is to help
your body get used to running and/or increase your stamina. Base
running consists of 3-4 weeks of slower paced running, with a steady
increase in distance. The purpose of base training is just that- to
provide a base for your body to build on. You body will adjust to
running and make the necessary physiological changes in your body to
support the next two components. Skipping this step will often result
in many chronic and lingering injuries. To work on this component,
don’t worry about your pace, just go out and run for a fixed amount of
time or distance. This isn’t something you do for 3-4 weeks and then
forget about- this will be the “bread and butter” for your training.
Hill Training
Hill training is to help
your body build strength in running. It is exactly what it sounds
like- hills! In your base running, you may have run some hills and
that’s okay. Hill training is a deliberate effort to run up and down
hills- a lot. The best way is to start sprinkling in some hill
workouts once or twice a week after you build your base for at least 3
weeks. This portion of your training should add a variety of short
and long hills; gradual and steep hills. The best way is to run
repeat intervals up the hill. If there are no hills around, stairs
are a good substitute. Go to the local high school and run up the
football stadium steps over and over. It is important to not get over
ambitions and over do it at the beginning. The hill work outs improve
your strength, injury resistance and cardiovascular load handling.
This portion of your training should last 3-4 weeks with workouts
about 3 times per week.
Speed Training
Speed training is
designed to help your body activate its fast-twitch muscles. This is
the portion of your training that you will see the most improvement in
your times. Many people will hit a plateau and then improve by 20% in
just a week or two after some good speed workouts. This portion will
teach your body about acceleration and help improve your casual pace.
It is important that you ease into your speed workouts, because it is
easy injure yourself if you don’t. I would recommend working in some
faster paced surges (75% of top speed) in at the tail-end of your hill
component of training. You will want to do longer “sprint” intervals
at the beginning and work to shorter intervals. Start with running
800m as fast as you can. Take a walking break and do 3-4 intervals.
As your body adjusts to the increase in speed, reduce the distance,
and increase the pace and number of intervals. Other important notes:
remember to warm up, stretch and cool down a lot with speed work;
don’t do more than 2 sessions a week; remember to keep doing
longer/slower runs and your hill training. |