When you run, you naturally want to set goals and make progress. Maybe you want to start running, run to lose weight, break the 3-hour marathon barrier, go longer in trail running, and more. Or simply enjoy yourself. Everyone has a good reason to run. If you want to run longer or run faster, a personalized training plan and a few smart tips will help you level up.
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Running: Patience, Progression, Perseverance
To improve your running, do you know the 3P rule: Patience, Progression, Perseverance? There’s no magic trick, you need consistent training. Set short and mid-term goals. You’ll have phases where you improve quickly, then you’ll hit plateaus where it feels like you’re stuck. Progress isn’t always linear, so you need patience and perseverance.
Patience: “I was 12 when I started running and 34 when I achieved my dream, that should give you hope.” Kelly Holmes, Olympic champion in the 800m and 1500m in 2004
Perseverance: “Perseverance is not a long race, it is many short races one after the other.” Walter Elliot
You will inevitably face challenges in your running journey. There will be days you feel flat, days you don’t hit your target. What will make the difference is learning to push through and keep showing up.
Progression: “It’s so important to listen to your body.” Paula Radcliffe, former marathon world record holder in 2:15:25
It’s essential to increase your training volume and intensity very gradually. Your body adapts, but it needs time. You don’t jump from 2 sessions a week to 5 sessions a week, the injury risk linked to training load would be too high. With the right training and proper gear, especially shoes, the benefits of running far outweigh the risks of knee or tendon injuries.
Mix Up Your Running Workouts
Many runners go out three times a week, run the same 10 km loop, at the same pace. It’s repetitive, it increases the risk of injury and boredom. You’ll enjoy training more, and improve faster, by varying your sessions with different distances and intensities.
Easy Endurance Runs (Zone 2)
Many runners train at a pace that doesn’t match the right physiological zones. The foundation of endurance training is fundamental endurance, meaning running at a pace where you can hold a conversation. Aim to stay under 70% of your maximum heart rate (HRmax), usually below 130 to 140 beats per minute.
This is also the pace to prioritize if you want to lose weight by running or when you run fasted.
Intervals: vVO2max Sessions and Race-Specific Workouts
Doing interval training helps improve your physiology (cardiovascular fitness, breathing, muscle efficiency) and your mental toughness. Running faster than during easy runs also improves running economy and stride efficiency.
The goal of intervals is to run at faster paces so your body becomes comfortable there, and to trigger positive physiological adaptations. You alternate hard running segments with recovery phases.
To keep it simple, you’ll find vVO2max sessions (or HIIT in English) designed to boost your maximal aerobic speed, with workouts like 10x400m or 12x300m. These sessions are run at your vVO2max pace, meaning the fastest speed you can typically sustain for about 4 to 7 minutes without stopping.
Then there are race-specific intervals to prepare for a 10K, half marathon, or marathon. For a 10K, typical sessions include 8×1 km or 4×2 km at your target 10K pace. For the marathon, you might do 3×20 minutes at marathon pace with 5 minutes of recovery.
This helps you lock in the right race pace on event day and trains both your body and mindset for that specific effort.
Before every interval session, remember to do a proper warm-up. And possibly some stretching after the workout.
Strength Training for Runners
For strength training, you can do general strength and conditioning or more sport-specific work that targets certain muscles. General strength work can be done several times a week with planks, core exercises, and push-ups. It’s a useful routine to build into your overall training plan.
Hill sessions are also a great way to build running-specific strength. They develop power and improve your form, because you focus on strong posture and solid mechanics during these workouts.
How to Choose the Right Running Training Plan
If you don’t have a personal coach and you want to break through to the next level, you need a personalized training plan. It should give you varied sessions that prepare you for your goal.
You can find marathon training plans online, for example, but it’s easy to get stuck if you miss a session, and it can be hard to know what pace you should run for each workout.
You can also download the RunMotion Coach mobile app for free. Your personalized training plan is built from your experience and your target goals. You’ll get your precise training paces, based on a scientific model recognized worldwide (and your heart rate too if you want).
Our goal is to help you improve as a runner. With a plan that fits you, all that’s left is to run.
Created by coaches and high-level runners, we want to make structured training accessible to everyone. Your plan matches your level and adapts every week to your schedule. No need to wait for the last 12 weeks before race day, you can follow a structured training program all year long.
In Premium mode, the RunMotion Coach app helps maximize your chances of success through interaction with a digital coach, offering personalized advice on workouts, recovery, strength training, wellbeing, nutrition, and more.
RunMotion Coach is designed for everyone, from beginner to advanced, for 10K training, half marathon, marathon, trail running, weight loss, and more.
You can find the user success stories of the RunMotion Coach app here.
Whatever training approach you choose, we’re wishing you the very best in reaching your running goals. There’s nothing more rewarding than hitting your targets through hard work and strong legs.