By Megan O’Brien Duerring

Distance runners are an entirely different breed. What drives us to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to complete our long run? How can we subject ourselves to countless hours of training and grueling races when it can be so painful that we swear it will be our last?

Each runner may have his or her own answer, but can still shift in an out of the mind frame that established the original race goal. Is it extrinsic motivation- recognition of our achievements among family, friends and other runners by winning awards, or is it intrinsic motivation- a sense of self gained through training, the pure joy of running to run or participating in a race simply to be a part of the sport? Or perhaps it’s a bit of both.

Whatever your motivation may be, most runners experience times when it seems to disappear. We struggle to get out the door. When life, weather, family or work get in the way, even the thought of lacing up your sneakers seems monumental.

Hard days are definitely part of the process of growth, but you can push through lulls in motivation. Follow any or all of these six steps to persevere and remember your fundamental reasons for being a distance runner.

1. Set your goal: Decide what is right for you and make a commitment to go for it. Be specific. Simply saying “I want to run a marathon” is not a specific goal. Pick the marathon, register and set your sights on the race.
2. Design a program to achieve that goal: Months break down into weeks and days. Create monthly, weekly and daily goals. An example of a monthly goal would be to choose two weekends that you do mini races to ‘get used to racing.’ A weekly goal would be to designate Tuesday and Thursday as your harder workout days, Monday/Wednesday/Friday as easy days, Saturday as race day, and Sunday as your off day. As a daily goal, you may choose to simply implement your run in a more timely fashion. For example: “Today I am going to run as soon as I wake up so that I have more time to run errands after work.”
3. Get good advice: Training programs and coaches can help you stay motivated because they provide structure — a specific sequence of workouts to follow. Simply running to run is certainly fun. But if you are trying to reach a time goal or cover a certain distance, you should really be following sound advice.
4. Shake it up a bit: Make your routine less routine. Try to vary your runs by choosing roads one day and trails the next. Play games on your runs, too – pick up the pace betweens mailboxes or make it a point to lengthen your stride when you see a certain color car. Shifting your focus during your runs is sometimes a great way to have some fun.
5. Spread the word: Tell people about your goal. Not only will this hold you more accountable, but it is a great conversation starter! You never know when you will meet someone working toward the same goal who and who knows- they could turn into a great training partner. Running with others is an excellent way to vary your pace or go that extra mile. It’s also nice to share your triumphs (and your failures) with others, as well as your downs. Sharing experiences with fellow runners is essential to helping you get through the bad times or getting even more pumped up for your next race!
6. Enjoy the journey: I don’t need to tell you how quick race day goes! You spend weeks and months in preparation for your event both physically and mentally. The build up to race day can you leave you almost mourning a loss when the race is over. You might wonder where the time went, or what your training purpose is now. So while some days are tough during your training cycle, focus on your purpose and goal. And remember that it’s not and ending point; it’s merely a short stop on a long and wonderful journey.

In addition to some coaching stints, Megan O’Brien Duerring is a much-accomplished runner. She twice won the Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon and in 2005 won the Steamtown Marathon in 2 hours, 47 minutes.

By Megan O’Brien Duerring

Now that you have declared yourself a runner, you want to do things that runners do! You’ve probably heard other runners talking about track or interval workouts- and think that you would like to try them, but aren’t sure what they entail or why you should do them.

Before we get into the specifics, keep in mind that while there are certain basics to running track workouts, each person approaches and responds to them differently. Take your progress and measure it against yourself. A little competitiveness can certainly go a long way, but you need not compare yourself to anyone else.

Track workouts, intervals or repeats all refer to the same thing and they take place at, well, a track! The purpose of track work is to prepare your body to run faster during races. It trains your body and mind to hold a quicker pace with less effort. Think about it: if you want you want your body to go faster during races, you have to train at a faster pace during your training cycles.

A track workout consists of a series of laps (also called repeats or intervals) at a pace that is quicker than your normal training pace. One lap is 400 meters or about ¼ mile, while 4 full laps is 1600 meters, or almost one mile. (Side note: a GPS will not measure accurately going in circles. I was training a friend for her first marathon, and she set her Garmin while starting her first mile repeat. She stopped about 50 meters shy of the finish line because her Garmin read one mile. It’s best to use the track’s analog markings.)

You need to warm up before your workout. Jog easily for 5-15 minutes to allow for the body and mind to prepare for a faster and more taxing pace. You can either visualize your workout – or disengage entirely – whichever will get you ready to pick up the pace.

How fast should you run? There are definite heart rate measurements to go by, but most runners go by perceived effort. Your intervals should be hard, but not so hard that you cannot complete all your repeats without slowing down. You should not be able to hold a conversation during each interval but you should not go all out either. For most runners, your workout pace will be between your 10k race pace and a little faster than your 5k pace.

You should recover between your repeats. You can do a few different things: walk or jog one brisk lap, rest at the starting line for about 2-3 minutes, or pick a point to pace to and from while waiting to start your next repeat.

Now for the actual workout. The length of your repeat, number of repetitions and pace depend on what distance you are preparing for. A good workout for any race distance is 800 meter repeats. This distance of two laps is short enough to target a 5K and long enough to prepare for a half marathon. For either distance, your goal is to increase your tolerance for speed. Aim to complete 3-4 800-meter repeats. After your warm up, run 800 meters, rest for 2-3 minutes then repeat this sequence a total of 3-4 times.

Timing your intervals is a good way to stay honest and measure your progress from workout to workout. After completing an 800-meter repeat, simply double your time to determine your pace per mile.

As you progress, you can add more repeats to your workout, or you can try a slightly faster pace. Or you can make them longer or shorter. It’s up to you.

Just as important as the warm up is the cool down: 5-15 minutes of easy jogging after your repeats. Pace is not important. Your goal is to bring your heart rate down and mentally evaluate your workout. Think about how you felt, how you were able to hold a faster pace, and what you might want to tweak with your next set of intervals.

Interval workouts can be grueling. If you are just starting out, do only one per week and make sure to take a recovery day the next day with some light running or even cross training. You may also experience some soreness. After all, your body is adjusting to a speedier you! Each time your body recovers from a workout, it becomes a little bit stronger. And your mind becomes a little more confident. Together, they’ll lead you to the finish line faster than ever before.

In addition to some coaching stints, Megan O’Brien Duerring is a much-accomplished runner. She twice won the Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon and in 2005 won the Steamtown Marathon in 2 hours, 47 minutes.

By Megan O’Brien Duerring

As a runner of 25 years I have accumulated a lot of knowledge on the sport of running.  I have read quite a bit about training methods, personal running philosophies and coaching philosophies.  And I have gathered tons of information which has allowed me to make great gains.  Of course, I have also made my fair share of mistakes along the way, but that eventually helps in the learning process!

But there is one training strategy that remains constant: you must keep it fresh!  If I had to rely on the track to keep me in shape all of these years, I never would have maintained my fitness, which could be the case for many of you. If you do not have easy access to a track or simply aren’t inclined to step foot on one, or are merely looking for alternative routines, today’s tip will focus on workouts that you can run on the roads or trails—right outside your front door.

Always start with a warmup to get your muscles ready to go.  (This will also elevate your heart rate slightly and lessen the shock of the fast running about to come…) Simply run at an easy pace for 10-15 minutes.  Then choose one of the methods from below, one for each workout. Try for 2-3 workouts per week depending on your present fitness and realistic goals. It is also important to cool down at an easy pace for about 10-15 minutes.

Hills are a perfect way to add strength to your training. They make you fight gravity by lifting your body weight with your legs. Hills serve as a great way to work on your fast-twitch muscle fibers—the very ones that help hone your final kick to the finish line! (Frank Shorter, the 1972 Olympic Marathon champ, once stated: “Hills are speedwork in disguise!”) Many runners hammer out hill repeats — run up a hill, then coast back down it, and repeat. But I recommend finding a hilly course so your hill workout has variety. Run strong up the hills and coast down the backside.  You could also find a valley and go back and forth pumping up one hill, back down, and then–reversing direction–retracing your hilly route.  Usually the elevation and length are slightly different; again, a little variety to keep training from getting stale.  There are no rules here, so depending on what your goal is, you can do 10 hill repeats or 5 (fewer, of course, as you introduce hills into your workout regimen), whatever makes you feel accomplished.

The Fartlek The funny name literally means “speed play” in Swedish. It is one of my favorite “speed” workouts. It is actually a great starter workout for those who aren’t used to speed or interval training. Instead of hitting the track, take to your usual course. Then choose a landmark and run hard to it, followed by a short recovery jog. Then choose another landmark and run hard to that, and so on. I like to use mailboxes or telephone poles to vary my pace and distance.  Sometimes the mailboxes are far and sometimes close.  This makes it sort of fun because you never know when your hard effort or rest will be extended or shortened. Sometimes the distant landmark forces you to push it when you are tired. Mentally, the fartlek prepares you to go when tired legs set in during a race.  It is a great strength builder for both mind and body.

The Park Path Workout We all have lives that revolve around others. When your kids (or spouse) have games or functions and you have to be there, just do some investigating and you will likely find a place to run some repeats.  Bring your running gear. Warm up, then choose a good ‘back and forth’ place on a path around the field or park.  Run at a hard effort for two minutes. (You will be checking your watch early; this workout is tough!) After your two minutes of running hard, rest for about two minutes by walking back 15 steps or so. Then, run back on the same path that you blazed the first two minutes on.  Try to start and stop at the same place each time so that you are maintaining a steady and quick pace.  Run about eight repeats, then cool down.  It is a major time saver and your body won’t know that the repeats weren’t hammered out on a measured track.  If the effort is there, your body will remember.

The main goal is to have fun and stay stress free during your training.  As long as you are putting forth the effort, your runs will consistently improve and personal bests will become easier to achieve. Believe in the process, smile and just run!

In addition to some coaching stints, Megan O’Brien Duerring is a much-accomplished runner. She twice won the Lehigh Valley Half-Marathon and in 2005 won the Steamtown Marathon in 2 hours, 47 minutes.

A tempo run is a great workout to add to any training program. Tempo is a faster-paced run that is used to boost endurance (both physical and mental) and lactic threshold (a muscle’s ability to flush out lactic acid). It should be harder than an easy distance run, but not as fast as race-pace.

A simple example might be this: Someone who can race three miles in 21 minutes (i.e., 7-minute per mile pace)–but typically runs 8-minute per mile pace for easy distance runs–might shoot for 22:30 (or very slightly faster) for a three mile tempo run.

Ideally, a tempo run should last between 20 and 30 minutes. After a good warm-up, settle into a pace that is faster than your easy run pace–but not so fast that you cannot talk. If you cannot get out at least a few words without gasping, then you are running TOO FAST–a common mistake made by first-timers taking on a tempo run.

If 20 minutes seems too long, you can break the session into smaller sections–but keep the rest breaks short to get the most benefit. For example, if you break a tempo workout into four parts (each tempo part lasting 5 minutes long), you should take only about a 1 or 2 minute recovery jog between each of these “little” tempos.

Tempo can be a powerful addition to your workout arsenal. Try one once a week, or once every other week, especially early in a training program. It can dovetail nicely with shorter speed sessions on the track and also your long run on the weekend.–Jamie Hibell

Jamie Hibell coaches indoor track at Easton High School. He is a former All-American runner at DeSales and won Berwick’s prestigious “Run for the Diamonds” 9-miler in 1998.

by Todd Etters

Adding “striders” after some of your regular distance runs is a quick and easy way to include a speed element in your training. Striders are typically short fast runs (but not “all out” sprints) that are typically about 100 meters long. These type of efforts will improve your running mechanics (your running “form” and running action) and will provide you with some neuromuscular changes that will allow you to run at a faster speed. The key is to concentrate on proper form (square shoulders, eyes straight ahead, active arm swing) and to give yourself enough recovery in between so that you can repeat the previous effort at the same pace.

At Lehigh we typically run 6 X 20 second striders at approximate mile race pace (this means if you can run a mile in at least 5:20 flat, then 20 seconds per 100 meters is right on pace; or 22-23 seconds per 100 meters would be about right for a 6-flat mile runner) with about one minute of recovery in between. These striders can be utilized at any time of the year (in addition to other quality workouts you might do) and I would recommend running them three times per week after your easy distance days. Again, these need not be all-out, edge-of-death sprints; however, for productive results, they should be run at least faster than 5K race pace. There are variations of this workout–even some than can be conducted up and down hills–but I find they work best when run over a flat, semi-soft surface with good footing, such as closely-cut grass or a smooth path.

Todd Etters coaches the men’s cross-country team at Lehigh University. In his competitive days, he was a captain for the Mountain Hawks. Last fall he coached Evans Kosgei to a runner-up finish in the Patriot League championships.