TRAINING TERMINOLOGY

When it comes to communicating training to athletes, I understand that most will not have the same understanding. It is my job to break down these larger concepts into digestible pieces. So below you will find a series of vocabulary and definitions to get you started:

Warm-Up/Cool-Down/Jog: There is no intensity requirement for this type of running. Many new athletes feel the need to show off and “win” the warm up. Keep comfortable and save it for the hard running. The warm up the body for intense running, and cool down is used to flush out the body with active recovery. Warm ups usually are 10-15min while cool downs are about 10min.

Recovery/Easy: This type of running should be considered faster than your warm up and cool down paces, but this should still remain comfortable. We use the talk test as a way to gauge our efforts. You should be able to speak in full sentences with your running partner. If one cannot carry a conversation, it means they are going too fast. Overrunning will result in a short but unmaintainable fitness boost, which often trips up younger runners. I keep a high frequency of intensity in the training program, so these runs are meant to simply build aerobic capacity and elicit structural changes (greater capillary and mitochondrial density, muscular strength, and endurance).

Long Run: These runs are often “time-on-feet” efforts with no pace direction, but should be more challenging than an easy or recovery run, but still well short of a threshold effort. Due to these being our longest efforts in terms of time, these runs are foundational to aerobic development. I consider these runs “workouts” and should be approached with focus and readiness.

Threshold: Some people refer to these as “tempo,” and I will even do the same on occasion, but it is simply a more intense, continuous run following a warm-up. While we could break this activity down as far as taking individual blood samples to ensure accurate blood lactate levels, that is just not feasible in this situation. Instead, we use breath as as our guide. It sounds complicated, but here is how I break it down: if you can speak in a complete sentence, you are running too slow; if you are gasping for breath or unable to get a couple of words out to your training partner, you are running too fast. This effort takes some practice so I do not expect people to nail this right away. This pace fluctuates throughout one's career as fitness improves and declines, so effort is the name of the game here.

Interval: This workout has a near infinite amount of combinations, but simply put, it is a series of faster running mixed with bouts of rest. This is often going to be an intensity that closely mirrors race effort as we work to raise our ability to run faster for sustained periods. These workouts are often the most intense we execute in the program, but they are not always the same. I like to mix interval distances, or do things like dictate that the rest be continuous instead of stopping and standing. These are workouts that you need to be physically and mentally ready for when you come to practice.

Strides: These are simply short, fast runs we usually do at the end of easy runs or in between the warm-up and workout on our quality days. These are very important as they are our best tool for developing and maintaining foot speed throughout the year. These efforts can be run daily as a form of maintenance and injury prevention.

Fartlek: Swedish for “speed play,” fartleks offer us a more flexible iteration of interval training. Often these runs will be something like 90 seconds of fast running followed immediately by 90 seconds of jogging (or those fitter folks, a “float”); and repeat. Fartleks are an excellent way to introduce faster running with the malleability to adjust to one’s current fitness level.

Float: This is something I will use during interval or fartlek training as a form of active recovery. A float is employed when we want to maintain a strong but easier rhythm in between intervals, and you can think of it as something that should be like your easy run pace or a touch quicker, but refers to a definite change of pace between harder bouts of running. This is NOT a jog.

Hills: Hills refer to a workout in which we run hard up a hill for a specific time or distance and flip and jog back down. Hills allow us to more safely build leg strength and turnover without the risks and mechanical stress of running fast on a flat surface.