to get your breath back! This might make interval sessions sound terrifying, but once you get used to them they’re one of the best ways of getting quicker.An example of an interval session would be 6 x 400m (or around two minutes) with a couple of minutes

features. One of those is the interval training function, which allows you to set 30 different interval times to run consecutively. Its big, rubberised buttons are easy to hit, and the overall memory stores 100 laps in multiple sessions (the total time

as he does from seeing his charges battling for major medals.“As long as a runner is committed to their goal – be it breaking an hour for 10K or making the Olympic squad – then I’ll train them,” says Baldaro. “So at club sessions, I try to provide

-in-week-out, and repeating exactly the same runs and sessions on the same day of each week. While that may feel comfortable and familiar, it’s not actually the best way to improve. Mix up your training, try new sessions, enter races of wildly varying distances and you

, as you may find that your base rate pace feels barely quicker than walking. But, if Gardener is anything to go by, sticking it out for a few months before adding harder sessions is well worth trying. She completed her 2004 marathon, before she'd trained

. She completed her 2004 marathon, before she'd trained with an HRM, in 4:05. One year later she'd improved to 3:47, now boasts a best of 3:31 and is aiming to run under 3:15 at the Abingdon Marathon in Oxfordshire this October. "I've graduated from base

of running shoe that fits neatly into a similar ‘hybrid' category: performance trainers.They're light enough to slip on for a speed session on the track, but offer enough stability and cushioning to cope with all but the longest Sunday training runs. They

Whatever type of runner you are, you should give serious consideration to investing in a heart rate monitor. From as little as £40 you can add a whole new dimension to your training. Strap on a heart rate monitor and you’ll never run too quickly

timer, as opposed to stopwatch, tells you how long you've been running. A scan feature shows you your maximum, minimum and average heart rate, as well as time spent exercising. You can even recall the details of the previous session. Best for New runners

that all of our hard work came together and we flew to a personal best. Likewise, they can take us back to the race in which too many late nights and too few speed sessions lead to early retirement. That's why we keep greying and fading race T-shirts. As we