that produce big results, because it doesn't take much to make the first fitness gains," says Paton who works at the University of Waikato, in Hamilton, New Zealand. Paton is a former international cyclist who gave up his dream of the pro tour when he realised

that produce big results, because it doesn't take much to make the first fitness gains," says Paton who works at the University of Waikato, in Hamilton, New Zealand. Paton is a former international cyclist who gave up his dream of the pro tour when he realised

This week's question comes from a club runner whose coach thinks that cooling down defeats the object of speed work. Our correspondent isn't so sure. Let's just say that you knew where you stood on this one, and it wasn't with the coach..."I wonder

sustain speed, such as the digestive organs or the kidneys. How much speed improvement can you make? By working hard on the five key variables (VO2max, LT, economy, strength, and power), very experienced runners may improve your average race speeds by 2

to improve my pace, I added a special ingredient to my training. Hard work! Hard work in the form of group speedwork sessions every week. And during my training for the London Marathon this year, while adding a speed session or two, my office nickname

work your aerobic engine by increasing the recruitment of capillaries to the muscles and improving your ability to utilise oxygen more efficiently. You should increase the time of your long run by no more than 10 per cent each week to avoid overtraining.Speed

and confidence in your ability. Once you have done two to three weeks of building up the distances you should be able to focus more on speed and become more specific with the training.➌ While you are doing this you should work on developing your technique in all

of your working heart rate is ideal for outright speed, while 85 per cent is good for speed endurance.—Bud Baldaro, RW Contributing Editor

’s also because, in terms of performance, real stand-out shoes are the exception to the norm in its range (the £55 Flow and £80 Rejuvenate Plus are two of these exceptions). That’s not because of a lack of technology – its cushioning systems work well

at nearer eight-minute miling should feel easy.If you’re up to two minutes slower than your target: You’re close enough to the target not to panic, but you may need to work harder in your speed sessions to improve your speed endurance.If you’re more than two