We all have problems with running at some point. For example, many people, after they have been training for a while, have a couple, which then are the same, or rather two sides of the same coin: they want to increase endurance but do not have a very specific program. Or rather: they know approximately what they have to do but are not sure in what manner. Well, what are we doing here? Here is a very simple and effective workout to increase your endurance, and thus to go the extra mile, especially with less effort.
How to train distance
Running makes the body fatigued. The more you run, the more fatigued you become. There are several ways to limit this very annoying but unavoidable phenomenon: one is, for example, to improve your running technique so that it becomes more efficient (i.e., so that you use only the energy you need, without unnecessarily wasting any of it), and another is to get your most important muscle used to carrying you as far as possible without over-fatiguing. And what is this muscle? The heart, that’s right!
In fact, the secret to increasing distance is to raise the heart’s endurance threshold, and you can do this by getting it used to working at higher speeds. That’s what repeats, stretches, hill repeats and many other training techniques (or torture, whatever) are for.
How to do it?
This training is super simple but challenging. You don’t even have to write it on the palm of your hand to remember it because it requires very little memory. Know that it is not painless, it is tiring but it is short-lived. And you don’t have to do it all the time: let’s say once a week or every 10 days can be enough to see good results already.
It is called “600m breakdown workout,” which we could translate to “600m breakdown workout.” 600 m is in fact the first distance you have to cover while subsequent distances decrease in length.
Its segments are composed as follows:
– First: 600 m
– Second: 400 m
– Third: 300 m
– Fourth: 200 m
How to perform them? First by using the proper surface, and in this case the athletic field is perfect because it allows you to figure out distances without having to measure them with a metric string. And then warming up, with a light jog of varying duration depending on your training level (we’ll see this later), then sprinting at 90 percent of your maximum speed for a hundred meters and then running the 600-400-300-200 circuit, obviously interspersed with recovery depending on your training status (and how much strength you have left). And here comes the most important part, and that is: how fast should you do them? At your highest, but just a little below your limit. Which is subjective (for me, for example, it’s a moment before I get sick). In short: it has to be challenging but not devastating, and the important thing is to give it your all, or at least 99 percent. At the end you should feel fatigue from the effort and in equal measure exhilaration from the speeds you have expressed.
Do you want the multiplication tables? Here they are.
For beginners
1. Warm-up of 10 minutes of light running
2. Circuit 600-400-300-200 to be repeated once and interspersed with light running or walking recoveries in between
3. De-fatigue: light running for another 10 minutes
For advanced
1. Warm-up of 20 minutes of light running
2. Circuit 600-400-300-200 to be repeated 2 to 3 times and interspersed with light running recoveries in between
3. Defatigue: light running for another 20 minutes
As I told you, it’s not rocket science, you don’t even have to print it out, it’s easier to remember than a new phone number, and most importantly it helps you tremendously to increase your endurance to fatigue and thus to travel longer and longer distances.
Shall we try?
(via Women’s Running)