In the last post, we discussed the importance of building a strong aerobic base, one on which everything else can solidly rest. That post sparked valuable feedback. Many readers asked, “So, what comes after the boring stuff?”
Now that the foundation is in place, we build on it to get stronger and faster. Opposed to “the boring stuff” is what we Iâve heard called as “The Sexy Stuff”.
Speed over long periods/distances cannot stand alone. Adding speed work doesn’t mean abandoning the easy miles. It means balancing them with strategic sessions designed to improve strength, efficiency, pacing, and recovery.
Speed work isn’t a shortcut; it’s a complement. When done correctly and in harmony with your base mileage, it helps you become the strongest, smartest, and most resilient version of your running self.
Now that we have a base, it is time to work on speed (Image by CoPilot)
There are many types of speed workouts, each one with its own merits to help you run faster, with purpose, and without risking injury. The key is understanding that speed development isn’t about hammering every run to exhaustion. It’s about running with intention. Your easy runs remain the backbone of your training. But now, we are layering specific efforts designed for growth. To get faster, you need to run faster, but only when the time is right.
Examples of “sexy stuff” are the following:
1. Interval Training – Alternate fast running with recovery periods. They challenge your body to hold higher intensities and then bounce back. An example is short bursts of 200 or 400 meters at strong effort, followed by slow jogging. It’s tough but builds both strength and endurance quickly.
2. Fartlek – Fartlek means mixing in bursts of speed during a steady run. There’s no set structure. Just pick a landmark and push the pace, then ease up. It’s a fun, flexible way to teach your body how to change gears mid-run.
3. Tempo Runs – This is your chance to run at a challenging, steady pace that builds endurance and raises your limits. You should feel strong but unable to talk easily. These runs help you sustain faster efforts over longer distances without crashing.
4. Progressions – They are all about finishing fast. Start your run at a relaxed pace, then pick it up gradually. The goal is to finish the last stretch of the run feeling strong and in control, without gasping for air.
5. Hill Running – Short hill sprints build explosive power in your legs, improve form, and speed up your heart rate. They’re good for runners who want to boost their cadence and efficiency. Hills are strength work in disguise.
Other workouts such as Vo2Max, lactate threshold, double threshold etc., require a deeper knowledge of the science and physiology behind them before being tackled. Focus on what you know and understand, not on what the elite Kenyans are doing.
Cross-training is key to remaining healthy while running, especially as you age (Photo Pexels)
But that’s not all there is. To get faster and remain injury-free, you must do work beyond running. Some examples are:
6. Strength Training – Incorporating 2â3 strength sessions per week will make you stronger and, thus, faster. Full-body and compound movements will help with running economy and injury prevention. Think of squats, lunges, deadlifts, and core work.
7. Cross-training â Non-running activities like cycling, swimming, or yoga improve fitness, build strength, and reduce injury risk by working different muscles without the repetitiveness of movement and pounding of running.
8. Plyometrics – These exercises involve jumping and explosive movement to help improve your power and coordination. A few well-timed sets of bounding, hops, or box jumps before your run can sharpen your stride and reduce contact time with the ground.
9. Prioritizing Recovery –Your body needs time to adapt. Without quality recovery, your speed won’t stick, and you’re more likely to burn out or get injured. Sleep well, eat right, foam roll, and stretch as necessary. Gains don’t happen during training, they happen during recovery, where your body adapts and grows stronger.
10. Mental Strategies – Running fast requires mental fortitude. Breaking a tough run into small segments, repeating a mantra, visualizing success or adjusting your thought process may be just as important as the way you train.
Speed work is the exciting part of training, but it only works when done right and is well supported by your solid base. Both elements must work in harmony, complementing each other rather than competing between them. As you start integrating faster sessions into your week, keep your easy runs sacred, your recovery intentional, and your mindset focused on progress, not perfection. When done right, it is this balance what will make you a faster, stronger, and more injury-resistant runner.
Talking about our great workouts and spectacular results is a favorite topic of runners’ conversation. “Johnny’s mile repeats are spot on for a 5K PR!”, “Jimmy is crushing his track workouts.”, “Helen swears by her Fartlek sessions.” So, why am I not doing any of this stuff? Why does my coach have me doing boring stuff?
If you are training for long-distance running, your base is the key. The aerobic base, that is. A skyscraper stands on a solid footing for the same reason the pyramids have stood on their wide bases for 4500 years. They both have a solid foundation to bear the load. The same principle applies to a long-distance runner. Your aerobic base is the foundation of your running. It’s what every training block builds upon, and what ultimately supports your ability to perform. What good comes from running 400 meters in 62 seconds if that is all you can hold, but you are racing a 5K?
To understand the importance of an aerobic base for a long-distance runner, know that even the fittest and fastest Kenyan elite runner runs a marathon 99% aerobically. Even Olympic 5000-meter champions require about a 90% aerobic effort to compete at that level. You’ll likely never be there, but this doesn’t preclude you from the reality of human physiology.
In his “Guide to Coaching”, Coach Steve Magness states: “We have a temptation to want to skip to the ‘cool, sexy’ stuff. It’s boring to do endless easy runs or to spend hours working on the starting position in the sprints. But the ‘boring’ work serves as our foundation. We need a firm understanding of the basics before we move on to the next step. And once we have moved on, we must continually go back to the basics to ensure that they are ingrained.”
Is this clear enough?
The Boring Stuff
It is counterintuitive to accept that you must run slow so you can run fast. Yet this is one of those things you must accept, trust the science, and move forward with if you aspire to become a successful long-distance runner.
The slow (boring) stuff is the key to becoming a strong runner (ChatGPT Image)
Training at slower paces is the foundation of endurance because, among other things, it enhances mitochondrial density (improving oxygen delivery to the muscles), enhances capillary development, and increases fat utilization as fuel, which will make you a more efficient athlete. Low-intensity training also stimulates aerobic enzymes without overstressing the body, allowing more consistent training and better recovery. Over time, these physiological improvements will enable you to maintain faster paces with less effort.
Structured properly within your training, slow runs support speed, stamina and contribute to a better race-day performance. And this takes time. It doesn’t happen by running slow for a week or a month. If you trust the process and keep a written record of your workouts, before you know it, you will be running longer, easier and faster with the same effort. What once was your pushing pace, will now be your warmup pace.
The Sexy Stuff
Now that you have a strong base, we build on it.
Do you want to enjoy the runner’s highs? Build a base (Photo Pexels)
I often compare runners with F1 engines. They can do amazing things, but they require a lot of work, constant modifications and adjustments. The engine is the base, which is solid, but it can’t perform at the expected level without testing, tweaking and failures.
Short intervals, long intervals, Fartlek, mile-repeats, track, threshold, VO2Max, progressions, and so many more are part of the arsenal of workouts you have at your disposal to become a faster runner. These workouts will leave you pleasantly exhausted, provide you with that exhilarating feeling we have learned to love, and get you to enjoy the sweets of a runner’s high.
But be warned. These should be just a fraction of your workouts. You shouldn’t do them day after day after day just because you built a solid base. Maintaining and solidifying the base is a lifetime pursuit. The base of the Eiffel Tower has been constantly maintained since 1889, and thus, still stands strong.
Speed work is essential to becoming a faster runner, but easy recovery runs in between hard workouts and the ubiquitous long run should not be skipped. It should all be in balance.
So, next time your coach asks you to slow down, be patient, or play the long game, understand he/she is not doing so because he/she is mean. There are proven scientific and physiological reasons behind it. So, embrace the boring stuff and become a better, faster runner.
Can you share your slow running experience in the comment box below?
While there is no magic workout, the long interval workout is mandatory if you want to run longer and faster. There are many iterations of the long interval, but to me, there is nothing like the mile-repeat. It is challenging yet not unconquerable. It is long but not unending. You can start with a few reps and progress to as many as you can handle. If performed at the right pace, you can recover and do it again right away. And if all that wasn’t enough, it hits all the systems.
Mile-repeats can be executed on track or road and properly executed, it will do wonders for your speed and endurance (Photo: Ernest Flowers, Pexels)
I remember reading Alberto Salazar’s autobiography many years ago. He was adamant that this was his key workout from his high school days to his time at the top of the world’s elite marathoners. Since then, I have performed it and prescribed it to my trained runners. The results have always been palpable.
 A mile repeat improves your cardiovascular system while upgrading your endurance and speed. Cadence is increased, mental toughness is developed, and physiological indicators such as VO2Max and lactate threshold are enhanced. Because you are performing at a high rate of energy consumption, the brain ensures that wasted movement is kept to a minimum, resulting in better running form.
 Mile repeats are more than hauling ass one mile as fast as you can go. Anyone can do that. The key is to understand the purpose of the mile you are running. This will determine the pace and effort in which it should be performed.
 Benefits of mile repeats include:
 âș Speed Increase: When performed at race pace or even faster, you are stressing your multiple systems and teaching your body to withstand harder efforts for longer. You are also teaching it how to recruit additional muscle fibers when the usual ones are beaten up.
âș Pace learning: Because we run mostly at an easy pace to maintain and improve our aerobic base, learning how to reach, feel, and maintain our race pace is key. Mile repeats are a perfect way to get there before starting to extend the race-pace mileage. The key is to be constant at the desired pace and not believe that faster is necessarily better.
âș Endurance improvement: Running roughly at the pace you could sustain running all-out for one hour (Tempo) will improve the amount of oxygen you can consume at max effort (VO2Max) and push the line in which your body is unable to use lactate to fuel itself and become unable to clear it, thus triggering fatigue (Lactate Threshold).
The keys to the mile-repeats workout are being constant and keep the movement going (Photo: Mikhail Nilov, Pexels)
In a recent article in the Marathon Handbook website, Amber Sayer stated a great point to be considered when executing this workouts: “The longer your race (half marathon or marathon, for example), the earlier in your training program you can do mile repeats at race pace, because a mile is a significantly smaller percentage of the overall distance.”
And mile repeats don’t need to be performed on a track necessarily. I wrote a post on that issue, which you can read by clicking here.Â
 Executing your mile repeat workout safely and properly requires certain preparation:
 âș Know and understand your workout: It is imperative to be prepared for a difficult workout, so you won’t have the mental space to improvise. Know how many reps you have, what your recovery time is, what is the pace and what is the purpose of this workout. This will predispose you to a successful effort.
âș Warm- up properly: You will be performing a hard workout. You must prepare your body for it not only to avoid injury (as if that weren’t enough reason) but also to make sure you can reap maximum benefits. If you want to read more about the value of the warm-up, click here.
âș Keep it constant: Running the first 400 meters in 1 minute, 2nd 400 in two minutes, 3rd in 3 minutes, and 4th in four is not a 10-minute mile. It is a shitty, worthless mile. Maintain your effort and pace as consistently as possible. This is what’s going to make you better, not a one-off 400-meter stretch at world record pace. Consistency and frequency are what will reap the most benefit for your effort.
âș Continuous movement: You will be tired once your mile is done. Of course, don’t stop, collapse, or sit down. Keep moving. This is the closest you will replicate the demands of a race. I recommend a light jog in between miles, but if this is too much, walk until you catch your breath and then jog. The point is to continue moving forward as you recover and get ready for the next rep.
âș Focus on your current rep: Stay focused on the mile repeat you are executing right now. Don’t dwell on the last one being too fast or too slow. Don’t think about what will happen after this one. You are executing this one now, and it must be executed properly. Thus, it is the only one that matters.
âș Cooldown: You performed a hard workout. Your body is in overdrive. You are tired, exhilarated, most likely amid a runner’s high. This is not the time to jump in the car and go home. A mile or two of easy running will help blood flow. Muscle recovery, and removal or metabolic byproducts. If you want to read more about the value of the cooldown, click here.
 Make sure you add this workout to your training repertoire. The benefits will surprise you.
As I write the title of this blog post, I feel like the answer to such silly questions is, âDuh! Of course, I should run with a GPS watch. How Am I going to know what Iâm doing if I donât.â Yet, there is a reason why I chose this topic for this weekâs post. The answer is not so simple.
For a few hundred bucks we have more computing power on our wrists thatn what NASA had to land Apollo 11. Letâs use it wisely (Image by WIndows Copilot)
Our GPS Watches, generically called Garmin as it is the dominant brand in the market, are nowadays as ubiquitous as our smartphones. They are an extension of our smartphones, and they canât work if they are not paired with them.
Iâve written before about not letting our watches become the directors of our runs instead of the recording devices. Also, about the data overload ruining our experience. But this is about what type of runner may benefit or be affected by the use of a GPS device on their wrist.
You should use a GPS Watch if:
âș You understand the data you are looking at and know what to do about it should it need adjustment in the middle of the run. Worrying about your right foot oscillation or maximum power is futile if you donât know what it means, let alone how to fix it or if it even needs fixing.
âș You are running on perceived effort. The pace and all the stats will be the result of how hard you are running, not the other way around. With time, the data will allow you to measure progress.
âș The first thought when you check your metrics in mid-run is, âHow does this reconcile with my running plan for today?â instead of, âWait until my friends see this posted in my social media feedsâ.
âș You can complete an entire easy run without looking at your watch once, regardless of how many times it beeped to let you know data was available. An easy run is about putting in some easy effort miles (hence the name) regardless of your pace.
âș Your self-worth as a runner or as a person is not linked to the number of marathons you ran, your weekly mileage or your average pace.
âș You can maintain your running as your primary focus while receiving feedback from your watch. If the feedback impairs your brain function, makes you wish you were a mathematician or makes you unable to enjoy what you are doing, it may be time to give it a break.
There is no need to connect all this stuff to your wrist when you are running (Photo: Obsahovka Obsahovka, Pexels)
You should ditch the GPS Watch if: âș Knowing your pace is a few seconds off makes you anxious. Sure, we all want to hit specific paces and at certain times. But if running that split in 2:02 instead of 2:00 feels like the end of the world, you are better off running watchless.
âș You feel the need to stop your watch at a traffic light, or a water stop, or to tie your shoe because it will ruin your averages. Races donât stop the clocks when you stop at the port-a-potty. The stoppage is part of the deal. It doesnât matter if it adds a couple of seconds per mile.
âș You see your splits, and the thought of seeing it published on Strava for the world to see worries you to the point that you must make up for it. Especially on training runs.
âș You feel dodging traffic at an intersection or beating a freight train to avoid extra time is a risk worth taking.
âș your need for hyper connection to the world is so endemic that your watch constantly beeps with texts and emails, and you canât help but check them.
I am not advocating against the GPS watch. I am advocating against it ruling our running. We donât need another smartphone-type device sucking the joy of something we love and controlling our lives. We are not professional runners. We run because we want to, and if the GPS watch is hindering such enjoyment, why allow it?
The physiological benefits of your training will be realized whether the mileage is posted on Instagram or not. It is not like that last 20-miler wonât help you on the marathon because it doesnât show on Strava. You can also apply a revolutionary concept: keep the watch running and not look at it. Then you can analyze the data later instead of during. What a revolutionary concept!
A GPS Watch is an extraordinary tool. One that, for a few hundred bucks, provides you with more computing power than what NASA had at its disposal to land Apollo 11 on the Moon. If you can use it as a collector of data to be analyzed at the appropriate time so you can become a better runner, go for it! If not, then rethink its use.
Please like this post and share any recommendations from your previous experiences in the box below. Letâs build a community of informed and prepared runners.
As you prepare to reap the benefits of your hard weeks of training. Or you may be wondering if you have done enough to hit the starting line in PR shape. Or as you realize you have screwed up your training and will have to wing it. If you plan to race hard, or long, you will need to taper.
Taper (or tapering) is the label commonly used to identify the short training cycle between the end of our race-focused training cycle and race day. The word taper is an intransitive verb. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it means “to become progressively smaller toward one end. To diminish gradually.” In running, that’s exactly what we are referring to. We start reducing our workload as race day approaches. But why?
Our bodies usually take 14-20 days to adapt to whatever we do in training. If we ran 20 miles today, we are not better for it tomorrow. As our body recovers, it adapts to the benefits of such stressful events and thus becomes stronger. This is why whatever we do in the last two, maybe three weeks before race day, will be of little or no benefit.
There is nothing to gain during taper, but everything to lose. Many races have been ruined by not taking the taper seriously. Don’t become a victim.
Meb Keflezighi has a great quote that epitomizes the last few paragraphs: “It is better to be 90% ready and make it to the starting line than panic and become overtrained or be unable to start the race.”
According to Jess Movold, in a 2024 article in Runner’s World magazine: “Tapering is one of the most critical parts of any marathon training plan, but in many cases, it’s also one of the hardest to implement. Ever heard of the taper tantrums?”
In my personal experience, I’ve felt better with a 2-week taper. But if the fatigue accumulation really beats you up and feel like another long run will destroy you more than help you, an additional week is beneficial.
Theories abound about how to handle the taper, but the scope of this blog post does not include analyzing any models. It wants to point out a handful of errors and misconceptions you may incur that will eventually negate your training gains.
While on taper, be on the lookout for the following so you don’t ruin your race:
I know I picked this up from Instagram, but I donât know the source I should credit.
1.   Follow the original plan: If you got here with your plan, then this is not the time to improvise, regardless of how confident you are or not about attaining your goal.
2. Don’t try one more long run: There is no place for it. It will add to the fatigue, hinder your recovery, and won’t produce adaptations in time for race day.
3.   Focus on nutrition: Avoid detoxes, new supplements, weight-shedding schemes, carb unloading/loading protocols, and indulgent eating. Eat clean and enough.
4.   Tapering means you are still training: You shouldn’t think you can stop because it’s tapering. It is still part of the training program, and it requires work.
5.   Manage your excess energy: With the decrease in activity, as your body rests and recovers, you will bounce off the walls. Expect it and control it.
6.   Take the extra sleep: Your body is repairing itself, so it may ask for more sleep than usual. Don’t skimp on sleep. It is the best recovery tool.
7.   Control your training effort: Because you’ll feel energized, compared with the last few months, it is easy to push harder and even perform your race effort before the actual race. Don’t!
8.   Focus on the main goal: Everything you do must serve your race. This is not the time to try new stretches, foods, gels, shoes, or routines. Stick to what has worked so far.
9.   Strengthen your immune system: Your body is working overtime to repair itself, so your immune system is low. Be proactive. It is no time to get sick.
10. Tread carefully: Be extra cautious as you transit through life. Don’t take unnecessary risks. Don’t climb ladders, jump the sidewalks, text while walking, or rearrange furniture. All that can wait.
Please like this post and share any recommendations from your previous experiences in the box below. Let’s build a community of informed and prepared runners.
![\"\"](\"https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c2e49f525bf02ce9657df92/d13a8388-7942-4237-a5d4-64740d3c22a2/Photo+2.png\")
Our bodies usually take 14-20 days to adapt to whatever we do in training. If we ran 20 miles today, we are not better for it tomorrow. As our body recovers, it adapts to the benefits of such stressful events and thus becomes stronger. This is why whatever we do in the last two, maybe three weeks before race day, will be of little or no benefit.