The Right Training for Endurance Running

I see people running all the time. With the high obesity rate in US it’s not a surprise. What I also see is if they are just running to lose weight then that’s great. But what about the other people, the people that want to improve their running skills? How are they training? Are they training the right way? Nine out of ten they probably are not. So I’m going to fill you in on how to train the right way and improve your running speed in less than four weeks. Take it from some who also got caught in the trap on training running the wrong way.

I ran for months and over that period of time I did get faster. After I reached a certain point I just couldn’t get any faster. Why? Because I’m setting a goal that is the same every time! For example, if you are going to run a mile in eight minutes and that’s your goal, if you keep running the same speed how are you going to get any faster? You can’t just magically run a six minute mile if you only practice an eight mile run. There’s no way for you to get faster. You need to increase the length and speed of your run periodically.

To gain greater endurance you need to push yourself to the limit, approximately 70-80% of your max output. That’s if you can’t take the pain, if you can’t, start off with a lower amount. I’m going to list a training plan that works for me. It might vary from person to person.

1. Run a mile as fast as you can. Try not to give 100%. About 80% would be good.

2. Rest for half the amount of time it took you to run the first mile (yes, you have to run more than a mile)

3. Repeat steps one and two for another two times.

You only need to do this twice a week. You don’t have to even run everyday unless you want to improve your speed also. After each week, cut 30 seconds off each of your rest time. By the end of the fourth week your endurance would have doubled or even tripled.

To gain speed is a whole other training routine. It’s totally different from endurance. The best way to train speed is to do sprints. Here’s a plan that I found worked for me.

1. Find a path that is straight and long, about 1/8 of a mile.

2. Run as fast as you can down the path and stop at the endpoint.

3. Jog back to the point where you started your sprint. (Should take double the time it took to complete the sprint)

4. Rest for about 2 minutes.

After you completed steps 1-4 three times it’s called a set.

5. Do three sets and call it a day.

Perform this twice a week. After each week cut down the amount of rest time you take after each sprint. When it reaches zero, should it every does, increase the length of your sprints.

Both of these are excellent ways to improve your endurance running. It not only teaches you something but improves something as well. This is the little bit of information most people miss while training endurance running. They just run and run without ever think what they are doing and how it is affecting them. Now you know better. So get out there and train like a pro!