to four. To their surprise, they didn’t slow down in local road races. So they cut back to three days of running. "Lo and behold, our 10K, half-marathon and marathon times didn’t suffer at all," says Pierce. "The more we discussed this – and we discussed

This extract is from The Runner's World Complete Book of Running by RW USA Editor Amby Burfoot. You can now preview it, free, for two weeks without risk or obligation. All running programmes for beginners are the same: they move you from walking

was running 30 minutes at a time, and by last autumn he had completed his first half-marathon in 2:12. But Beesley didn’t stop there. He kept running outdoors through the winter months, despite temperatures that dropped to well below zero, and last spring

three work-outs a week.Thirteen weeks later, Beesley was running 30 minutes at a time, and by last autumn he had completed his first half-marathon in 2:12. But Beesley didn’t stop there. He kept running outdoors through the winter months, despite

, an assistant professor in the faculty of kinesiology and head of the Running Injury Clinic at the University of Calgary, says that he sees a lot of newly injured runners during that third month of marathon training, when a 16-week programme pushes the mileage

Yes, runners sweat a lot. Yes, they need to consume water, sugar and electrolytes (ionised salts in blood, tissue and cells) when they run for 90 minutes or more, particularly in warm weather. But unless you're training for a marathon this spring

give up.The way to improve your lactate threshold is to train at your LT pace (see column three of the table, below). These LT paces are calculated at 85 per cent of your VO2max, or just a little bit faster than your marathon pace.Your weekly schedule