Every RunningTrax Personalized Training Program is a roadmap to running success customized to your ability. Here’s how we build a training plan just for you. All you have to do is grab shoes and hit the road!

Number of Weeks

All RunningTrax programs are adjustable from 4 to 20 weeks of training, except some 5K and 10K plans that last up to 15 weeks. Whether you simply need a pre-race tune-up or a comprehensive training plan, we’ve got you covered.

Number of Workouts

Programs range from 3 to 6 days per week of running, depending on your TraxScore. New to running? Some plans will even include walking.

Type of Workouts

Every program uses a mixture of workouts that are customized to your level of ability. One runner’s program might call for a combination of long runs, steady-state runs, hills and other workouts, while another runner’s plan might schedule more cross training and run-walk workouts. It all depends on you!

Speed of Workouts

We all have good days and bad days. RunningTrax gives you a pace range for every workout that keeps you in your ideal training zone. If you’re feeling great, shoot for the faster end of the range. If you’re feeling sluggish, try to hit the slower end. As long as your times are within your RunningTrax pace range, you’ll be reaping the benefits.

Adjustability of Workouts

You can update your TraxScore any time. When you do, your program will automatically adjust to match your new score. As your TraxScore improves, you’ll see faster pace ranges and more challenging workouts to match the new, faster you. The same thing goes if you need to take things down a notch.

Level of Workouts

In order to get faster, you have to challenge your body with tough workouts. But your body doesn’t adapt during the hard workout itself. It’s during your rest and recovery periods that you reap the benefits of training hard. So your RunningTrax training program alternates tough workouts with rest or easy workouts. With hard work followed by rest, you will get faster!

Optimizing Workouts

The most common error runners make is pushing as hard as they can most of this time. Don’t try to “beat” your plan by running faster than your pace range. RunningTrax is designed to put your body in the optimal training zone—fast enough to improve your fitness, but not so fast that you risk injury, fatigue and burnout. Never push yourself to exhaustion. Save it for race day!

Schedule of Workouts

Your training schedule is a work in progress. Adapt it as you see fit! Have a late night at work? Planning a family outing? No sweat! Follow the general flow of the program, alternating hard and easy days, long and short days. Focus on the amount of time you run, not the amount of ground you cover, and don’t stack tough workouts back to back. You’ll still be on track for success!

WORKOUT DETAILS

Endurance Workouts

Our programs use three kinds of endurance workouts: recovery runs, long runs and easy runs. Each serves a different purpose: to help you recover from a previous workout, to improve your endurance, and to maintain your aerobic fitness and maximize your aerobic capacity.

Recovery Runs

These are slow jogs. How slow? S-L-O-W. Resist the urge to speed up. What’s the rush? Taking it easy is important to improve. Recovery runs should do nothing but get the muscles warmed up, get blood flowing to them and work out any tightness left over from harder workouts. Our programs use short recovery runs of 15 minutes to one hour the day or two after a hard workout.

Long Runs

Long runs are about punching to clock and logging time on your feet. Pushing your body to run for longer periods of time improves your endurance. Long runs should be done at an easy and steady pace. We know, the faster you run, the quicker your long run is over with. But resist the temptation to push your pace. Long runs done correctly now will serve you well later.

Easy Runs

Easy runs are likely to be the bulk of your training. That’s good news because easy runs develop and maintain your aerobic fitness. Again, resist the urge to run too fast. Keep them steady, and keep your breathing slow. Easy runs last anywhere between 15 and 90 minutes.

Stamina Workouts

Stamina workouts introduce medium paced running into your program. They develop your ability to run a steady pace for long periods of time by increasing your lactate threshold, the point where exercise goes from aerobic to anaerobic. You know the point where your muscles start to really burn? That’s your lactate threshold. A higher threshold means faster race times. Stamina workouts should be run at a moderate effort. Running faster does little but shorten the amount of time you are training. It’s better to challenge yourself to go longer than to run faster!

Steady-State Runs

Steady-state runs are one of the best types of workouts for your base training. They’re not slow, but they’re not fast either. What make them tough isn’t the pace, but the length. The runs should last between 25 and 75 minutes, followed by a recovery day.

Tempo Runs

Tempo runs are slightly more intense than steady-state runs. You improve your running tempo or rhythm with these workouts. They’re shorter—between 15 and 30 minutes—so avoid running them too fast. They are meant to be “comfortably hard,” not too hard.

Tempo Intervals and Cruise Intervals

Tempo intervals are slightly faster than tempo runs and should last between 8 and 15 minutes. Broken into two to four repeats, tempo intervals have short recovery jogs between each repeat.

Cruise Intervals are shorter and slightly more intense tempo intervals. Lasting 3 to 8 minutes, they’re also followed by short recovery jogs. It’s easy to run these too fast. Keep it under control and work on a smooth, fast rhythm.

Speed Workouts

Feel the need for speed? Well, Maverick, here’s where we get to the fast stuff. Aerobic capacity intervals are what most runners think of as speed workouts. Running at your maximum aerobic capacity—your VO₂ max if you want to sound fancy—trains you to maintain speed over a longer period of time. Lasting between 45 seconds and 6 minutes, these puppies are fast. So you’ll need a recovery jog of about half the distance or the same amount of time of the repeat.

Sprint Workouts

Where speed workouts train for speed over a period of time, sprint workouts boost your top-end speed and consolidate your stride and form. Anaerobic capacity intervals are extremely fast. Though they last only 15 seconds to 1 minute, you’ll need a very long recovery period after each one—two to five times the duration of the sprint or one to two times the distance of the sprint. By flooding your muscles with lactic acid and then letting them recover, your leg strength and sprinting ability will improve. Just wait till you see your new finishing kick!

Hill Workouts

Kenyans and Ethiopians all train on hills. Enough said. But seriously, we think hill training is one of the best workouts you can do. Love them or hate them, hills strengthen your legs, your lungs, your turnover speed, and your ability to tolerate lactic acid build up. Plus, knowing you’ve trained on hills gives you a mental boost when you face them on race day.

The best hills for training have a medium slope and take between 45 and 80 seconds to ascend. Run at 5K race pace, which is equivalent to your mile race pace effort. Focus on good form with a powerful push off and strong arm swing. Jog down the hill slowly to recover. You can also practice your downhill running technique by occasionally running down at 5K race pace too. Keep your body under control—you’ll probably be sore afterward.

Repeat Speed

Whenever you run a workout that includes repeats, concentrate on running each interval faster than the one before. The first repeat should be on the “slow” end of the range, and the last one should be at the “fast” end. These workouts train you not to go out too fast and to continually push yourself harder and harder throughout a race. You’ll get faster as a result!

Warm-up/Cool-down

Start each workout with a thorough warm-up to prepare your body and mind to work hard—10 to 30 minutes of easy jogging plus stretching and a few strides should do the trick. Build your warm-up pace slowly, finishing slightly faster than your workout pace. End each workout with a cool-down. A slow 10 to 30-minute jog followed by stretching is ideal. This is the best time to create greater flexibility.