high school sensation Jim Ryun was doing, and Coach wanted us to be like Jim. Trouble was, we weren’t Jim, and most of us couldn’t even do 400 metres once at Jim’s pace.Runners don’t need random, isolated sessions; we need individualised, realistic

Amby Burfoot is Executive Editor of Runner's World USA, and the 1968 Boston Marathon winner Imagine that there was an exercise programme that could guarantee to get you in shape with only three identical 30-minute exercise sessions per week. I

as many words as the Eskimos have for snow. You might have read or heard about some of the following: anaerobic threshold, ventilatory threshold, lactate threshold, lactate turnpoint, Conconi pace, or even OBLA (onset of blood lactate accumulation). All

further. (Isn’t 26.2 miles far enough?) Instead, they want to improve their speed endurance – the pace at which they can cover substantial distances.Fortunately, you can have it both ways. You can follow training plans that build the length of your long

oxygen uptake by 4.8 per cent and their lactate-threshold running pace by 4.4 per cent. In other words, the three workouts had led to better fitness and race potential. FIRST was up and running.In the summer of 2004, FIRST advertised a free marathon

further. (Isn’t 26.2 miles far enough?) Instead, they want to improve their speed endurance – the pace at which they can cover substantial distances.Fortunately, you can have it both ways. You can follow training plans that build the length of your long

likely to experience runner’s high when you run just a little slower than your 10K race pace. Slow down more than that, and you don’t produce enough stress. Run faster, and you become overwhelmed by the effort. At your 10K pace, you’re in the zone. You

of running – not mileage totals, not your marathon PB, and certainly not the percentage of VO2 max you can maintain when running at lactate-threshold pace while holding your breath on a treadmill set at a six-per-cent-incline in a hypoxic tent. These Zen

the most embarrassing incident of her career. Waitz set a torrid pace through the first half, and looked ready to establish another world best. She worried about Heartbreak Hill – the climb at mile 21 was the only thing people had warned her, over and over

knowing when he will be called upon for a maximum effort," he says. "Days that are supposed to be easy can turn difficult." It's enough to make you feel thankful for even-paced marathons. Not that Lucia thinks it's easier to win the London Marathon. "It