There is no such thing as a "recovery run"...
Running is more than just putting one foot in front of the other. Each run has a purpose, whether it’s about building endurance or improving speed. Understanding the difference between aerobic and anaerobic runs can transform your approach to training.
Aerobic Runs: Building Endurance
Aerobic runs occur when your body has enough oxygen. These include easy runs, which should be at a conversational pace, allowing you to chat with a friend or sing to a song. Despite being called “recovery runs,” they are essential for building endurance and should comprise about 80% of your training. Even at this easy pace, your muscles are still working hard and experiencing micro tears, preparing you for more intense efforts.
Anaerobic Workouts: Boosting Speed
Anaerobic runs happen when your body doesn’t have enough oxygen, such as during speed workouts. These runs, including intervals, fartleks, hill repeats, and tempo runs, focus on enhancing your anaerobic capacity, speed, and efficiency. A typical speed workout might consist of a warm-up, followed by intervals at a threshold pace, and a cooldown. Limit these harder efforts to about 20% of your runs to avoid overtraining.
Long Runs: The Backbone of Training
Long runs are crucial for building both aerobic capacity and endurance. Often performed at an easy pace, they make up a significant portion of your weekly mileage. Occasionally incorporating hilly routes or long run workouts can add strength and power to your training, keeping you race-ready.
Honor Your Pace
Learning to run at specific pace efforts—easy, marathon, threshold, and interval—is a skill that takes time. Understanding how each effort feels helps you become less reliant on your watch and more in tune with your body. As you become familiar with these paces, transitioning between them will become second nature.
Conclusion
Embracing the purpose behind each run can elevate your training. Whether you’re focusing on endurance or speed, understanding the balance between aerobic and anaerobic efforts is key to becoming a stronger runner. So lace up your shoes, honor your pace, and let each run bring you closer to your goals!
