This extract is from Hal Higdon's Smart Running. You can now preview it, free, for two weeks without risk or obligation.

Training is a foreign word to many runners, most of whom simply want to run. Whether a mile or 10 miles a day, they only want to head out the door, spend the required time running through the streets and parks or indoors on a treadmill and finish with smiles on their faces.

Only when they begin to enter 5-K races and encounter the world of personal achievement do they realize that they have been "training" without realizing it. They also realize that to continue their improvement, they must begin to alter their training. At first, increasing commitment (either mileage or time) guarantees improvement. But as in many activities, runners eventually reach a point of diminishing returns, where training not only has to increase in volume and intensity but also has to increase in sophistication.

Runners who began their careers on high school teams usually learned how to train from their coaches. Those whose routes into the sport of running were from another direction often ask me questions or turn to books or friends for advice. I even get questions from school-age runners, particularly in the off-season. Training properly can not only make you a faster runner but also it can make you a healthier runner, which in turn will contribute to not just fast times but good times.

• Milo and the Bull
• Farther and Faster
• Quantity versus Quality
• Intervals
• Overtraining

Milo and the Bull

Q I have recently begun a running program. I cover 4 miles about three times per week. I would like to increase my mileage without injury and want to run 10-K and beyond. With those goals in mind, how often should I run and how many miles each time?

A There is no magic formula for increasing mileage, but consider the legend from ancient Greek times of Milo and the bull. Milo of Croton had ambitions of being an Olympic champion in wrestling, so he began by lifting a bull when it was only a calf and weighed very little. Each day, the bull gained weight, and Milo lifted it atop his shoulders. By the time the bull reached maturity, Milo had gained in strength and went on to victory in the Olympic arena.

Distance runners follow the lead of Milo when they increase their training a little bit each week, if not each day. Four miles a day is probably an ample training load if your only goal is to finish a 10-K race. But as your fitness increases, you may want to stretch your longest distance to 5 to 6 miles, if only once a week. Like Milo lifting the bull, you will improve your endurance.

The other approach would be to increase your weekly mileage by running more often. Instead of running three days a week, increase the frequency of your training to four, five, six, or even seven days a week. At the top levels of our sport, elite athletes run twice a day (morning and evening), and some do triple workouts.

I don't recommend such excessive training even for those with Olympic aspirations, but running more miles is not the only route to improvement. Vary those workouts. Instead of running 4 miles every day, run 5 to 6 miles one day and 2 to 3 miles the next. The days on which you run fewer miles become your easy, or rest, days. Or, you may want to alternate your running with other fitness activities such as walking, cycling, or swimming. That approach is known as cross-training.

There are many ways that you can train with only your imagination to limit you.

Farther and Faster

Q I have run for 18 months but have not been able to progress beyond running 2 to 4 miles at 10:00 pace three times a week. I can't seem to go any farther or any faster. What sort of program should I use to get to the next level? I would like to be able to run 6 miles, three or four times a week.

A One way to improve is to gradually build your mileage: going from 5 to 10 to 15 to 20 miles a week, and so forth. That's known as developing a base. While you're doing that, you can also focus on the quality of those miles, attempting to develop your ability to run those miles progressively faster. One way to achieve a faster pace is to run shorter distances. This is known as building speed.

Here are two ways in which you can improve your distance and your speed. Distance. On one of your 4-mile days during the week, begin to gradually increase your distance. Run 4.5 miles. To cover this extra mileage, slow down from your usual pace to 11:00 or 12:00 miles, or even walk in the middle of the workout if necessary to go the extra distance. The following week, go 5 miles, then back to 4 miles the third week. Then move to 5.5 miles, and finally, 6 miles in similar slow progressions. If this progression seems too difficult for you, try adding a quarter-mile instead of a half-mile to your longest run each week. Use this distance workout one day a week.

Speed. On one of those 2-mile days, include some running at a slightly faster pace. On an out-and-back course, jog the first mile easy—even slower than your usual 10:00 pace. Turn around. Run back at a slightly faster pace (9:00 mile). Keep this up for 1 minute, then slow your pace (11:00 mile) to recover. Run slowly for 1 minute, then speed up again. Run 4 ¥ 1:00 fast/slow in this manner, then finish by jogging the final distance, if any remains. Use this speed workout one day a week.

Most runners at the Olympic level train by combining base with speed training. They may run faster than you, but the training principles are the same. You don't need to train with the same volume or intensity as an Olympic athlete, but you can improve your ability to run faster if you train using a similar pattern combined with one more important item: rest.

Try this variation in your running routine and see if it improves your ability to go farther and/or faster. Once you accept the idea that every workout does not have to be the same distance run at the same speed, you are on your way to becoming a serious runner.

Quantity versus Quality

Q I have heard a lot of talk about the quality of training versus quantity of training. Some training programs emphasize mileage buildups as one way to improve fitness. Others emphasize speed training as the most effective approach. I have a friend who favors quantity. Last year, he logged 341 days (out of 365) in his training log. To me, this is the route to burnout, since I only run five days a week to allow me time to concentrate on other activities. Which approach is best?

A I'm not going to declare a winner in the argument between you and your friend, since I think that each of you has the right approach. He obviously has come up with a training system that works for him, and you have a system that works for you.

It appears that your friend averages only one day off every second week. You average two days off every week. Why should either of you change unless you have some specific and urgent goal like qualifying for the Boston Marathon or getting ready for some specific race where you want to post a fast time?

If you or your friend want to achieve success with your running schedules, you each need to include both quantity and quality in your routines. In fact, what I usually tell runners who are stuck on a plateau is to do something different, regardless of what that something different might be. But you don't always want quantity and quality at the same time. Why not embark on a program where you focus for several months on quality (while cutting back on quantity), then do the reverse. Go for a period where you do follow your friend's lead and run almost daily. Variety often is the secret to long-term success. Your friend should heed this message, too.

Intervals

Q I am a 50-year-old male who consistently runs 8:00 miles. I want to be able to run a 7:00 mile within six months. What is the best way? Should I run fast 400s?

A Yours is seemingly a very simple question, and I could give you a very simple answer: Either train longer or train faster. But cutting 60 seconds from anyone's time resists simplistic solutions. Sophisticated training may be necessary.

Before suggesting a training program, I need to know more about you. Have you been running only a few months, or have you been running many years? Is the limit of your distance that 1 mile run in 8:00, or do you run that pace in longer workouts? And most important for anyone past the age of 30: What is the state of your physical health? If you haven't had a full physical exam (including possibly a stress test) in the last two years, you need one before embarking on any training program of which the aim is to improve performance. The reason is that in seeking to cut your mile time, you need to start doing speed training, and that will put extra stress on your cardiovascular system.

That's okay if you don't have heart disease—and actually will help prevent heart disease—but it can be risky if you haven't had a recent physical exam. Assuming that you are in good health, and the limit of your training is that 1 mile a day, I would begin by gradually extending the limit of your mileage over a period of three to four months. You need to build an aerobic base before you can begin speedwork, the interval training program that I am about to outline.

In the final two to three months of your six-month training plan, go to the track once a week and do some interval training. Run 4 x 400, walking during the interval between each 400. (That's where "interval training" gets its name.) Go back in succeeding weeks and do 5 x 400, then 6 x 400, 7 x 400, and 8 x 400. Run these 400s at 8:00-mile pace, or 2:00 per 400, what some coaches would call race pace. Resist the urge to go faster at this point. The most important goal is consistency week after week.

Then, having reached a maximum of 8 x 400 in 2:00 each, each following week, run the 400s slightly faster: 1:57.5, then 1:55, then 1:52.5, aiming toward a goal pace of 1:45, or the pace you would be hitting if you ran a 7:00 mile. The way to do this more easily is to begin cutting the number of repeats, going backward the way you came: 8 x 400, then 7 x 400, 6 x 400, 5 x 400, and then 4 x 400.

Your final goal would be a workout where you run 4 x 400, walking between, with each 400 in 1:45. Put those four quarters together in a continuous run, and you'll have your 7:00 mile. I don't guarantee that you'll be able to achieve that goal any more than I could guarantee that a 5:00-miler could drop to 4:00 using the same schedule, but the principle of gradual overload remains the same.

Overtraining

Q What exactly is overtraining? How do I know if I am overtrained, and how can I avoid it?

A I define overtraining as doing more than the optimum amount to ensure maximum fitness. You train so hard that you become fatigued, and your performances start to slide. Judging from the slogans on the backs of T-shirts that I see at high school cross-country races, a lot of runners (and their coaches) believe that more is better. Such is not always the case. A rather obnoxious commercial that aired frequently on TV showed a mountain biker who trained so hard that she ran into a tree and knocked herself out. Overtraining is like running into a tree. Knowing what overtraining is and avoiding it are two separate items.

Prevention is not easy, particularly since some of our most successful runners get where they are because they were highly motivated. Todd Williams is the perfect example. Williams is the only American distance runner who qualified for the finals of the 10,000 meters at the 1992 Olympics and 1993 and 1995 World Championships. He thought that with just a little more training, and a little more dedication, he could be on the medals platform at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. Instead, he blew up in his qualifying race and failed to finish. With the 20/20 vision of hindsight, Todd now realizes that he overtrained. Here are some symptoms to guide you.

• Elevated pulse rate before getting out of bed (assuming you take your pulse each morning)
• Restless sleeping
• Lack of appetite
• Your weight drops below normal (this will actually make you slower, not faster)
• Frequent colds and the flu
• Sluggishness while running
• Minor injuries that seem to take longer than usual to heal; the same with sore legs
• Deteriorating performances

Of course, by the time many of these symptoms appear, the damage has been done. To avoid overtraining, take regular breaks, get plenty of rest, eat a nutritious diet, don't race too often, and keep a training diary so if you do crash into that tree, you'll know what not to do next time.