Types of Run

The main fitness building sessions of a workout come in two forms, firstly there are those which are very specific and targeted like ‘Flying 30’s’, which require some set up and planning. There second type is where when you want to ‘go for a run’, whereby you have one long period of nonstop running. It is commonly believed that there is not much you can vary other than pace, when in fact there are many different approaches you can take to this to develop any areas of the technical framework, energy systems or components of fitness. Here we set out our top 5;

Long slow run

The length and speed of a ‘Long slow run’ depend on your fitness levels, for some it is a 3 hour run at 6 mins/mile and for others it is 45 minutes at 12 mins/mile. The key is to run at a pace around 60 seconds per mile slower than either your goal pace or the pace you are capable of running for as long as you can.

This means you can run for longer than you are used to, allowing your body to develop muscles, bones, tendons, ligaments and joints due to stress over a longer timeframe and help you handle musculoskeletal discomfort. When this type of run is coming to an end, runners often gradually increase the pace and hold it as long as they can to ensure to touch on more than one energy system.

Set distance

A ‘set distance’ run is what it says on the tin, you pre plan what distance you would like to run and pace yourself accordingly. The idea is to run this distance in the quickest pace you are able to, often aiming to set a new personal best. This is commonly done when someone either has an upcoming race at this distance they want to practice for, belief that this is the longest distance they are able to run.

However, it is in fact not appropriate for either of these common reasons, firstly if you are aiming to run a race at one distance, lets say 5km, then running 5km over and over again won’t achieve much. You should use the ‘Pincer’ concept and attack the distance from both sides. Run shorter distances to improve speed and longer to improve endurance.

So if you are training for a 10km, a ‘set distance’ run of 5km as fast as you can is going to be useful, a 10km run not so much. In the circumstance where someone runs this distance as it’s the longest they think they can run, the distance should be marginally increased and the pace lowered to allow for this idea to be proven wrong.

Race pace

A ‘Race pace’ run is simple, it is running any distance at the pace you would like to run an upcoming race you are training for, or achieving a set distance at a set pace. The idea is that you hold this pace as long as you are able to and then repeat this very week, where you will be able to hold it for longer and longer each time, eventually resulting in you being able to hold it as long as you need to, to run your race in your goal time.

It adheres to the principle noted in the ‘set distance’ run overview that you should not repeat the same distance over and over again to achieve improvements at that distance, you will actually be running a longer distance each time and it is the pace that stays the same.

Threshold

We’ve already covered the concept of your ‘lactate threshold’ and this is what the threshold run refers to, which is running at a pace where your body is still able to get rid of most or all of the lactate from the body as it is produced. The quicker you go above your lactate threshold, the faster it builds up and brings your run to a premature end.

You can either go to a fancy exercise lab to get an expert to check you out or you can find this threshold by running at different paces over different distances, where you will soon become familiar with where your threshold lies. So if you are setting out for a threshold run, the aim is to run as quick as you can below this threshold so that you can keep on running and train the body to gradually push this threshold ever higher, allowing you to keep going faster as part of long term training.

In other types of run you are free to and even encouraged to run faster than your lactate threshold, for example if you are running a 5km, the last kilometre will be run much faster than this as you don’t have to worry about running for any longer after this point so it doesn’t matter if lactate stops you. It is likely that you will find your threshold around the pace you can keep up for around 50 minutes.

Threshold and Tempo runs are often used interchangeably and in fact there is no universally agreed definition of a tempo run. At RunClever we define it a run at threshold pace, held for a set period e.g. 20 mins, before resting by running at a slower pace and repeating the same time running at the threshold. The aim of this isn’t to increase the lactate threshold as a threshold run would, but to train how you run at this pace tactically.

Fartlek

There isn’t much we can say on fartleks, other than the concept is to go out for a run and just do what you feel like doing as long as your speed changes often. A great way to do this in practice is think of some features or landmarks you are likely to see or run past on your route and assign them to speed changes for example;

Passing a lamppost = Sprint 20 metres

Seeing a dog = Slow to marathon pace

Seeing a yellow car = change to 1-mile pace

Alternatively you can just speed up when you feel like you’re full of energy and slow down when you tire. The problem of doing it this way is that as the run goes on you feel like you have less energy and you never speed up again after slowing down.

One of the advantages we see for runner who this properly is that it gives you the knowledge and ability to realise how different speeds of running affect one another. For example you’ll realise if you’ve run 10 miles slowly, you’ll still have a sprint finish in you, or if you’ve done lots of sprinting you can still run a 10km. It’s all about the interplay of different energy systems and just having some fun.