The Science of Running

If I was to ask Club members about what should your training comprise, most would answer :

a long steady run,

an interval session, and

a tempo run.

And, of course, they would be right.

Some would add that 80% of runs should be easy and the rest intense.

So here’s the question - why?

Why not all intense or all easy?

Why not 50/50?

Ok, this may sound like an academic exercise (pun intended) but perhaps an understanding of what the different types of training do, may help runners make choices when their time is constrained, or they’re returning from injury, or are just not “feeling at it”.

In the following articles, I will look at the running elements within a balanced training programme for endurance runners, not 400m runners, and explain what each element does and why it is important that it is in the training programme. So, more about the "science" and less of how they should be done.

I will save how you should do the various training elements, the “art”, so to speak for future articles.